Why do athletes stretch? The reasons vary, but typical answers are: “to prevent injury”, or “to warm up”, or “to reduce soreness”, but mostly “because some coach / trainer / friend told me I should”.

Lets look at what the research says:

Recent studies published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine have shown the decrease in injury due to stretching to be statistically insignificant stating that it would take the average person 23 years of stretching to prevent one injury.

And

The effects of stretching on muscle soreness have been proven to be “too small to make stretching to prevent later muscle soreness worthwhile”.

Regarding stretching as a warmup, a 2003 study from the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise demonstrated that static stretching prior to bench pressing reduced the pressing power. A similar study from Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sports showed a similar decline in muscle strength after stretching.

These results do not build a good case for stretching as a warmup. So then, how should we warm up? It has been shown that a dynamic joint mobility (DJM) warm-up to be more a more effective means to prepare an athlete for strenuous activity. Joint mobility prepares the central nervous system for the demands of strenuous activity by activating mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are movement sensing nerve endings; they are all over the body, but primarily focused in the places that move the most – around the joints.

DJM differs from stretching in that it is dynamic and active, and is typically performed in positions and at speeds encountered in the sport. Stretching on the other hand is often static and slow, and therefore does not prepare the circuitry of the nervous system. DJM does not take the athlete into tension as stretching does but moves just to the edge of tension as the joint is taken through its entire range of motion.

A full body joint mobility warmup such as Z-Health’s Neural Warmup 1 can be performed in under 15 minutes and provides a much better pre-activity warm up and injury prevention than static stretching.

This is a guest post by Lou Mcgovern – Z Health Master Trainer, check him out at his website www.essentialstrength.com

What do I mean by that?

Where are you now with your health? We have been brought up to live with a collected set of beliefs that we have all subscribed to from a young age.  The sad thing is that we subscribe to these beliefs at the points in our lives when our minds do not have the capacity to question them. Much as we subscribe to almost anything adults tell us when we are children. At the same time comments like, ‘it is my genetics’ or ‘that’s just the way I am’ are excuses and give more power to these belief patterns.

We are living each day trying to please someone or trying to impress someone with our knowledge, our looks, our intellect, our wittiness, our charm.  We are all wearing 5 or 6 social masks every single day of our lives, depending on who are with.

Your social mask is not the same when you are speaking to your work colleagues than it is when you are speaking with your loved ones or when you are speaking with a close friend.  We have been brought up learning what masks to wear and in what situations.

The only reason we are wearing these social masks is to be accepted in a society that doesn’t like masks.  So what can we do to break free from a reality that has been built for us, but not built by us?

Make a choice!

There comes a time, or several times, in your life when you have to make a choice between living in a health reality that has been created by others, their choices and beliefs ….. or you can create your own reality. Which one would you prefer?

Right this very second our health has been formed by the beliefs that have been passed down by others, mainly our parents, teachers, siblings and peers.  Right now you can decide that you no longer want to live the health reality created for you and it’s time to create your own levels of health, not average or statistical…. your own high standard.

How on earth do you create your own high health standards?

Wake up!

The very first thing to do to change your health is  to wake up to the fact that the world in which you live is made up of belief systems.  Someone believed that it was possible to fly and went on to master flight, someone believed that it was possible to illuminate the world with light and went on to master the light bulb, someone believed that we could be connected with computers and went on to create the internet, someone believed that we no longer needed horse and cart for transport and invented cars. Some people believe that it is OK to smoke or drink and eat poor food, it doesn’t have to be you belief if you actually choose not to.

It’s time for that someone to be you, it’s time for you break the spell of someone’s beliefs and start making your own spells.  You live in a reality created by others, their ideas of health, of fun, of exercise and socialising – have the courage, the belief, the mental strength, and the power to change your own health.  Don’t join someone else’s revolution, start your own revolution and become the leader and not the follower.

Imagine how you’d look, how you’d feel, what you could do?

What things are you going to do to do to get your health, weight or fitness to the level you want? Who can you get information from? What action will you take now?

I have a confession to make, I HATE weightlifting. I always have. I could never get into lifting weights; I’ve always loved playing ball, I dig calisthenics, I like messing with kettlebells (because it never really felt like weight lifting to me), but deadlifts, and bench presses, and back squats, I just don’t get.

I think my friend Joey said it best: “Lifting weights hurts…”

His meaning was two-fold; but, I’ll get to that is a moment. First, allow me to describe the circumstances around which he made that statement.

It was a bitter cold December day circa 1993. Joey was a few years older than I. He was the older brother of my best friend, Danny. Joey had recently returned from Denver and we were down the playground playing soccer in the cage, just as we had virtually every day since we were little kids.

We all looked up to Joey because he was what we dreamed about being, a professional soccer player. At that time he was playing with the Denver franchise in the Professional Indoor Soccer League (NPISL or whatever it was called at the time). He had served stints in Europe, playing on First Division reserve sides in England, Bundesliga sides in Germany; and now he was back home and playing in, at that time, the only  American professional soccer league.

(Note** The American professional soccer landscape in the early 90’s was still maturing: the United States had yet to host a World Cup, The North American Soccer League had folded almost 10 years previous, less than a handful of Americans had ever suited up for a top-flight European Club, The MLS was a few years away from its inaugural season, and professional indoor soccer was the best thing we had.)

Being (not exactly big) kids hopeful of making our high school varsity teams, Danny and I asked Joey what kind of lifting program they were doing out in Denver. He replied that they had a weight training facility but he never used it. Why? “Because lifting hurts”.

We knew what he meant, lifting made him sore and tight; being sore and tight made him play worse. It made him slower, it made him fatigue quicker, and for a guy who hated losing, it was generally unhelpful. Spending time in the gym also limited his time working with a ball; refining his touch, working on new moves. What Joey realized was, he was already strong enough to hold off defenders, to win loose balls, to work himself out of corners; he understood that if he worked on his touch (with the ball), instead of spending time lifting, he could create more space for himself, wrong-foot defenders, beat people with his moves, or draw fouls and set up free kicks. His strength did not come from a barbell; it came from being a great athlete, and from his love for the game.

The reason I am bringing this up is not to condemn weightlifting. I realize that some folks love weightlifting; for some of you, lifting is your absolute passion. That is awesome. Please do what you are passionate about, and do it well.

I bring this up because as I look around the fitness & training worlds, and I see them teeming with weightlifters; some that are passionate about lifting. Others are in search of health and simply do not see an alternative. To me, health grows out of doing exactly what you are passionate about.

Although I am not passionate about lifting, I have always been passionate about playing. Which is why I put such a value on the Z-Health Performance System.

I’ve been witnessing an awful lot of misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the Z-Health Performance System, and my intuition tells me its because our lens has had too narrow of a scope.

The way that I understand this system, its was designed by examining elite athletes, deconstructing their skill-sets, and modeling them. The diversity of athletic pursuits dictates that an overwhelming majority of athletes studied while designing this system were not weightlifters; yet I continually witness the system being applied only to this extremely small speck of the athletic universe – the “pick up heavy stuff” star… or the “help my (whatever) not hurt so I can pick up heavy stuff” meteor… or the “just gotta get through my workout” moon…

It pains me to see so many people “work out”. When I was a kid I never worked out; Danny and Joey never worked out. We Played. we played our tails off; even when we were down the playground perfecting our step-overs or practicing driving corner kicks.

Am I alone in my belief that the true value of the system is that it (virtually) forces us out of the weight room; that is encourages us to get out and play? To get out and recreate? To go out and compete, without being confined to chasing a PR? That mastering the art of playing most any sport well can be refined to mastering it’s R’s, I’s, and S’s? It’s rhythm, timing, and flow?

Am I the only one that believes the greatest joy in life comes from mastering one’s passions?

Why are we only applying Z-Health to pain relief? Why do I so often hear, “I have to go do my Z, to warm up for lifting”. In the book: Kettlebells for Dummies it says: “Z-Health exercises are great for warm-up and cool down”. Sure, they are, but if that is how you use Z-Health, you are missing so much. So much mastery… So much joy.

Again, if lifting gets you absolutely jazzed, have at it. In all honesty, I don’t mind picking stuff up every now and again; I simply need a lot more variety in my diet.

I know I cannot be alone in my agreement with Joey that lifting (for the most part) hurts. I want to practice playing. Playing ball. Playing in the ocean. Playing in the mountains. Playing in the parks and playgrounds. Playing music. I have too much playing to master to worry about lifting…

And need some of you to play with me…

This is a guest post by Lou Mcgovern – Z Health Master Trainer, check him out at his website www.essentialstrength.com

Though it is still important to make sure the fat is from good quality animals and cooked at lower temperatures for shorter cooking times.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The age-old maxim “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper” may in fact be the best advice to follow to prevent metabolic syndrome, according to a new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease-risk factors.

The study, published online March 30 in the International Journal of Obesity, examined the influence exerted by the type of foods and specific timing of intake on the development of metabolic syndrome characteristics in mice. The UAB research revealed that mice fed a meal higher in fat after waking had normal metabolic profiles. In contrast, mice that ate a more carbohydrate-rich diet in the morning and consumed a high-fat meal at the end of the day saw increased weight gain, adiposity, glucose intolerance and other markers of the metabolic syndrome.

“Studies have looked at the type and quantity of food intake, but nobody has undertaken the question of whether the timing of what you eat and when you eat it influences body weight, even though we know sleep and altered circadian rhythms influence body weight,” said the study’s lead author Molly Bray, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health.

Bray said the research team found that fat intake at the time of waking seems to turn on fat metabolism very efficiently and also turns on the animal’s ability to respond to different types of food later in the day. When the animals were fed carbohydrates upon waking, carbohydrate metabolism was turned on and seemed to stay on even when the animal was eating different kinds of food later in the day.

“The first meal you have appears to program your metabolism for the rest of the day,” said study senior author Martin Young, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease. “This study suggests that if you ate a carbohydrate-rich breakfast it would promote carbohydrate utilization throughout the rest of the day, whereas, if you have a fat-rich breakfast, you have metabolic plasticity to transfer your energy utilization between carbohydrate and fat.”

Bray and Young said the implications of this research are important for human dietary recommendations. Humans rarely eat a uniform diet throughout the day and need the ability to respond to alterations in diet quality. Adjusting dietary composition of a given meal is an important component in energy balance, and they said their findings suggest that recommendations for weight reduction and/or maintenance should include information about the timing of dietary intake plus the quality and quantity of intake.

“Humans eat a mixed diet, and our study, which we have repeated four times in animals, seems to show that if you really want to be able to efficiently respond to mixed meals across a day then a meal in higher fat content in the morning is a good thing,” Bray said. “Another important component of our study is that, at the end of the day, the mice ate a low-caloric density meal, and we think that combination is key to the health benefits we’ve seen.”

Bray and Young said further research needs to test whether similar observations are made with different types of dietary fats and carbohydrates, and it needs to be tested in humans to see if the findings are similar between rodents and humans.
“We’re also working on a study right now to determine if these feeding regimens adversely affect heart function,” Young said.

###

About the UAB School of Public Health
The UAB School of Public Health is a community of scholars and professionals working and teaching in varied arenas of public health with the goal of fostering research and best practices crucial to the health of the United States and its peoples. The school offers more than 20 areas of study and manages dozens of research and community-service centers.

About the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease
The UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease emphasizes excellence in patient care, teaching plus basic and clinical research. Clinical research is closely associated with individual clinical cardiology services and encompasses a variety of opportunities and interactions with faculty associated with numerous large federal- and industry-supported clinical trials.

One of the natural treatments that is often advocated for PMS is the mineral magnesium. In a study published recently in the journal Clinical Drug Investigation women with PMS were treated with 250 mg of magnesium a day over a 3-month period [1]. The treatment led a reduction in PMS symptoms of about a third. However, this study was seriously hampered by not having a ‘control’ group (a group taking a placebo to compare results with), which makes drawing conclusions about the real effectiveness of magnesium impossible.

In clinical practice, I have found magnesium of some benefit in treating PMS, but I have not found it any where as effective as the herbal remedy Agnus castus. Below, I have pasted in an article originally by Dr John Briffa published in 2001 which focuses on the use of this herb in the treatment of PMS. Agnus castus is believed to help combat the hormonal imbalance known as ‘oestrogen dominance’ that in natural medicine is believed to be at the root of many cases of PMS. There is some research which supports this herb’s use in PMS. In practice, I find that it significantly reduces PMS symptoms in the vast majority of women within 2-3 menstrual cycles.

References:

1. Quaranta S, et al. Pilot study of the efficacy and safety of a modified-release magnesium 250 mg tablet (Sincromag) for the treatment of premenstrual syndrome. Clin Drug Investig. 2007;27(1):51-8.

Agnus castus for the treatment of PMS - 30th January 2001

Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) is thought to affect about 90 % of women at some point in their lives, with a significant proportion of these suffering regularly from severe and debilitating symptoms. While conventional treatment for PMS is based on the Pill and antidepressants, there is evidence that increasing numbers of women are seeking a more natural approach to this problem. One of the most established natural treatments for PMS is an extract of an exotic fruit known as Agnus castus. Just this month, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a study which proved the effectiveness of this natural remedy in the treatment of PMS. Over half the women in this study had significant improvement in their symptoms, and the treatment was found to be safe and generally free of side-effects – unlike the contraceptive pill. A favourite folk remedy for hundreds of years, Agnus castus appears to be making its way into mainstream medicine. Now would seem to be an ideal time to examine the effects of this herb on the body, and explore its potential in the treatment of PMS and other hormone-related problems.

Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) is a term used to describe a combination of various physical and mental symptoms that usually occur in the week or two prior to menstruation. Typical features of PMS include irritability, depression, tearfulness, fatigue, food cravings, abdominal bloating, breast fullness and tenderness, fluid retention and weight gain. The condition is highly individual, with the exact blend of symptoms and their duration varying considerably between women.

PMS is related to hormonal fluctuations in the second half of the menstrual cycle. One common feature of women with PMS is higher-than-normal levels of a hormone known as prolactin which is secreted by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. Excess prolactin in the system can itself upset the balance of other hormones, and in particular is thought to result in a deficit of the hormone progesterone. Progesterone balances the effects of another hormone – oestrogen – in the body. A lack of progesterone can therefore give rise to a condition known as oestrogen dominance, which itself often seems to be an underlying factor in PMS.

Research from Germany shows that Agnus castus (also known as Chasteberry, Monk’s pepper and Vitex) can reduce prolactin levels and increase the production of progesterone. These effects help to correct the hormonal imbalances common in PMS, thereby helping to ease its symptoms. The recent BMJ study is not the only evidence which supports the use of Agnus castus in PMS. Last year, the Journal of Women’s Health and Gender Based Medicine published a study which examined the effect of Agnus castus in more than 1600 women. The study lasted three months, after which time 93 %. of the women reported an improvement in or elimination of their PMS symptoms. Four out of five women rated themselves as ‘much better’ or ‘very much better’. In keeping with these very positive findings, 85 % of the doctors assessing the women rated the effectiveness of Agnus castus as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. The results of this study are even more encouraging than those of this month’s BMJ article. Interestingly, the original research used twice the dose of Agnus castus employed in the more recent study (20 mg of herb twice a day compared to only once a day).

While PMS is common, it is not the only consequence of hormonal imbalance in the female body. Many women find that the condition of their skin noticeably worsens before a period. One study dating from 1967 showed that Agnus castus may be effective in the treatment of the ‘acne flare’ common in the pre-menstrual phase. Agnus castus may also help in some cases of infertility. While female infertility may have many different causes, hormone imbalance, including high levels of prolactin and low levels of progesterone, can be a factor. Women with such imbalances may benefit from treatment with Agnus castus, though it may take a year or more for benefit to become apparent. Once pregnancy is confirmed, Agnus castus should be stopped as it may interfere with important hormone changes at this time.

Agnus castus appears to be an extremely safe and well-tolerated herb. In studies, side effect rates are low (typically between 1 – 5 %), and tend to be mild in nature. The normal recommended dose of Agnus castus is 40 mg of dried herb or 40 drops of concentrated liquid extract once a day, or 20 mg of dried herb, twice a day. Agnus castus preparations are readily available in health food stores.

By Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D.

Aspartame, more commonly known as NutraSweet or Equal, is one of the most toxic substances being consumed today. The artificial sweetener, currently used in over 4,000 products worldwide, entertains a sordid past and has been one of the most tested and debated food additives in the history of the FDA.

While the manufacturer maintains that aspartame is not a danger to your health, the scientific studies don’t necessarily agree. The FDA has approved the product for mass consumption, in spite of overwhelming evidence that aspartame can have neurotoxic, metabolic, allergenic, fetal and carcinogenic effects.

When you question how such a substance has not been banned, one simply needs to look at the billions of dollars generated by the sale of aspartame each year. In light of the staggering number of dollar signs involved, it’s easy to see that the artificial sweetener industry has reached Big Tobacco status. With so much money at stake, the truth suffers almost as much as the health of the consumers, while the shareholders’ wealth continues to grow exponentially.

The Ingredients

In 1965, James Schlatter, a chemist for G.D. Searle, was developing an anti-ulcer drug when he accidentally stumbled upon aspartame. Made up of aspartic acid (40%), phenylalanine (50%) and methanol (10%), aspartame is 200 times sweeter than natural sugar.

• Aspartic Acid

Aspartate is a neurotransmitter in the brain, facilitating information from one neuron to another. Too much aspartate allows an influx of calcium into the brain cells, triggering an excessive amount of free radicals which kill the cells. Aspartate is referred to as an “excitotoxin” because of the nerve cell damage that it causes. Many chronic illnesses have been attributed to long term excitotoxin exposure, including multiple sclerosis, ALS, memory loss, hormonal problems, hearing loss, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, hypoglycemia, dementia, brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders.

In 1971, Dr. John Olney, neuroscientist and one of the world’s foremost experts on excitotoxins, informed G.D. Searle that his research had revealed that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of mice. Searle did not inform the FDA of these findings until after aspartame’s approval in 1981. This would prove to be one event in a startling pattern of lies and deception.

• Phenylalanine

Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Human testing has shown phenylalanine levels in the blood are increased significantly in those who chronically use aspartame. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause the levels of serotonin to decrease, which can lead to depression, schizophrenia and make one more susceptible to seizures.

Studies conducted on rats by G.D. Searle found phenylalanine to be safe for humans. However, Louis J. Elsas, II, M.D., Director of Medical Genetics and Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine told the U.S. Senate in 1987 that, “Normal humans do not metabolize phenylalanine as efficiently as do lower species such as rodents and thus most of the previous studies on aspartame effects on rodents are irrelevant.” Unfortunately, this fell on deaf ears and failed to garner additional testing.

• Methanol

By far, the most controversial ingredient in aspartame is methanol (aka wood alcohol). An EPA assessment of methanol states that it is “considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidated to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic.” This oxidation occurs when methanol reaches 86 degrees F (30 degrees C).

• Formaldehyde

A product broken down from aspartate is a known carcinogen and causes retinal damage, birth defects and interferes with DNA replications.

The EPA recommends a consumption limit of 7.8 mg/day. A 1 Liter aspartame sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol, seven times the EPA limit.

The most common maladies related to methanol poisoning are vision problems including misty vision, progressive contraction of visual fields, blurring of vision, obscuration of vision, retinal damage and blindness.

Interesting Aspartame Statistics

• In 1984, 6,900,000 lbs of aspartame were consumed in the U.S.
• In 1985, G.D. Searle (NutraSweet) was bought out by Monsanto, 14,400,000 lbs. of aspartame were consumed in the U.S. that same year.
• 15,700,000 lbs of aspartame were consumed in the U.S. in 1986.
  
• 17,100,000 lbs were consumed in 1987.
  
• NutraSweet stopped providing consumption data to the USDA after 1987!!! (Can you imagine what it is today!)
  
• In 1996, the FDA removed all restrictions on aspartame and authorized its use in all products, including heated and baked goods. This was done in spite of the fact that aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde above 86 degrees F.
• Today, aspartame accounts for over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. How sweet it is?A few of the 90 different documented symptoms include: headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss and joint pain. Which one are you ready for?

Source: www.naturalnews.com

Have you or anybody you know experienced any adverse reactions to Aspartame? Please share your comments on this dangerous substance in the comments box.

Good health starts with good food, and good food starts with good soil. Weather we like it or not, it is a fact that our existence is inexplicably linked to the health of our planet and inparticular the health of the soil.

This documentary is a fantastic account of one man’s efforts to help educate Indian farmers on the benefits of returning to traditional agricultural methods and save them from the horrors of multi-national agri-chemical companies.

5 Reasons Why You Should See This Film:

• To learn about the importance of biodynamic and organic agriculture
• To realize that your food choices make a real impact on the health of the planet
• To be introduced to a very special farmer with a special mission
• To learn that agri-chemical companies might not have your health at heart
  
• How returning farmers to natural methods holds great promise for the world

You might not be aware of the fact that many Indian farmers are committing suicide at an alarming rate. Why you might ask? Because agri-chemical companies are convincing them to buy GMO seeds and then up-sell them on the chemicals designed specifically for that crop.

This creates a large financial commitment and if the crop fails, which is often the case, the farmers are left in debt and see no other way out. This is never the case when seeds are collected free of charge from nature from the previous crop.

This film is a fantastic account of how even against the odds of the agri-business giants one man and a collection of committed individuals have helped change the face of farming in India for good.

This film will show you a new and positive reason why to choose organic and biodynamic foods. For the health of yourself and the planet share this film and this message with those you love.

Own the DVD Today                               Click Here To Purchase

Insightful, and cost effective!

In a way, simplifying your life for vagabonding is easier than it sounds. This is because travel by its very nature demands simplicity. If you don’t believe this, just go home and try stuffing everything you own into a backpack. This will never work, because no matter how meagerly you live at home, you can’t match the scaled-down minimalism that travel requires. You can, however, set the process of reduction and simplification into motion while you’re still at home. This is useful on several levels: Not only does it help you to save up travel money, but it helps you realize how independent you are of your possessions and your routines. In this way, it prepares you mentally for the realities of the road, and makes travel a dynamic extension of the life-alterations you began at home.

“Travel can be a kind of monasticism on the move: On the road, we often live more simply, with no more possessions than we can carry, and surrendering ourselves to chance. This is what Camus meant when he said that “what gives value to travel is fear” — disruption, in other words, (or emancipation) from circumstance, and all the habits behind which we hide.
– Pico Iyer, “Why We Travel”

As with, say, giving up coffee, simplifying your life will require a somewhat difficult consumer withdrawal period. Fortunately, your impending travel experience will give you a very tangible and rewarding long-term goal that helps ease the discomfort. Over time, as you reap the sublime rewards of simplicity, you’ll begin to wonder how you ever put up with such a cluttered life in the first place.

On a basic level, there are three general methods to simplifying your life: stopping expansion, reining in your routine, and reducing clutter. The easiest part of this process is stopping expansion. This means that – in anticipation of vagabonding – you don’t add any new possessions to your life, regardless of how tempting they might seem. Naturally, this applies to things like cars and home entertainment systems, but this also applies to travel accessories. Indeed, one of the biggest mistakes people make in anticipation of vagabonding is to indulge in a vicarious travel buzz by investing in water filters, sleeping bags, and travel-boutique wardrobes. In reality, vagabonding runs smoothest on a bare minimum of gear – and even multi-year trips require little initial investment beyond sturdy footwear and a dependable travel bag or backpack.

While you’re curbing the material expansion of your life, you should also take pains to rein in the unnecessary expenses of your weekly routine. Simply put, this means living more humbly (even if you aren’t humble) and investing the difference into your travel fund. Instead of eating at restaurants, for instance, cook at home and pack a lunch to work or school. Instead of partying at nightclubs and going out to movies or pubs, entertain at home with friends or family. Wherever you see the chance to eliminate an expensive habit, take it. The money you save as a result will pay handsomely in travel time. In this way, I ate lot of baloney sandwiches (and missed out on a lot of grunge-era Seattle nightlife) while saving up for a vagabonding stint after college — but the ensuing eight months of freedom on the roads of North America more than made up for it.

“Very many people spend money in ways quite different from those that their natural tastes would enjoin, merely because the respect of their neighbors depends upon their possession of a good car and their ability to give good dinners. As a matter of fact, any man who can obviously afford a car but genuinely prefers travels or a good library will in the end be much more respected than if he behaved exactly like everyone else.”
– Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

Perhaps the most challenging step in keeping things simple is to reduce clutter – to downsize what you already own. As Thoreau observed, downsizing can be the most vital step in winning the freedom to change your life: “I have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all,” he wrote in Walden, “who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or sliver fetters.”

How you reduce your “dross” in anticipation of travel will depend on your situation. If you’re young, odds are you haven’t accumulated enough to hold you down (which, incidentally, is a big reason why so many vagabonders tend to be young). If you’re not-so-young, you can re-create the carefree conditions of youth by jettisoning the things that aren’t necessary to your basic well-being. For much of what you own, garage sales and on-line auctions can do wonders to de-clutter your life (and score you an extra bit of cash to boot). Homeowners can win their travel freedom by renting out their houses; those who rent accommodation can sell, store, or lend out the things that might bind them to one place.

An additional consideration in life-simplification is debt. As Laurel Lee wryly observed in Godspeed, “cities are full of those who have been caught in monthly payments for avocado green furniture sets.” Thus, if at all possible, don’t let avocado green furniture sets (or any other seemingly innocuous indulgence) dictate the course of your life by forcing you into ongoing cycles of production and consumption. If you’re already in debt, work your way out of it – and stay out. If you have a mortgage or other long-term debt, devise a situation (such as property rental) that allows you to be independent of its obligations for long periods of time. Being free from debt’s burdens simply gives you more vagabonding options.

And, for that matter, more life options.

To learn more from Tim Ferris The 4-hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

[Note from Tim: I took Walden with me, along with Vagabonding, when I traveled the world beginning in 2004. Less is More came a few months later, and I still reread it every six months or so.]

Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (Dover Thrift) by Henry David Thoreau
The philosophical account of Thoreau’s experiment in anti-materialist living. An American literary classic for over 150 years.

Less is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: an Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity
Quotes and essays on the value of simplicity, from the likes of Socrates, Shakespeare, St. Francis, Benjamin Franklin, and Mohandas Gandhi — as well as the Bible, the Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated
A best-selling book that uses a nine-step process to demonstrate how most people are making a “dying” instead of a living. Practical pointers for achieving financial independence by altering your lifestyle.

Voluntary Simplicity Second: Revised Edition: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
First published in 1981, this is a popular reference and inspiration for those looking to live a simpler life. Strongly themed toward environmental sustainability.

The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living
Luhrs is the founder and publisher of The Simple Living Journal (and the companion website). Book contains tips for living fully and well through simplicity.

Possibly one of the most common questions I receive when it comes to an exercise routine is, “Is there a BEST time to work out?” I know many swear by starting their day with exercise and many others use physical activity as a way to wind down from the stress of a hectic workday. Exercising after 8 pm can often prevent sleep and be stressful to the hormones.

There was an interesting article in The New York Times over a year ago that I bookmarked about this subject. The article, titled, “The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise,” validated my opinion—any time of day beats no exercise at all. The author reports that science has proven working out between 4 and 7 p.m. is a slightly better time for physical performance than morning, based on hormones. The article explains “the body’s temperature and hormone levels peak in late afternoon, making muscles more flexible and producing the best ratio of testosterone (the muscle-building hormone) to cortisol (the hormone that does the reverse).”

However, the article goes on to say that the advantages of an afternoon workout are slight and that the human body can adapt to working out at any time of the day. That being said, I must once again stand on my soapbox and say, a calorie burned at 6 a.m. is the same calorie burned at 6 p.m. The key is to work out whenever you have time, any time of day, any day of the week. I remind my clients all the time that when it comes to exercise, you have to break some rules to get your workout done.

Now, there are rules we follow for exercise because they make sense and keep us healthy and safe. For example, we have heart rate training zones to guide us so we burn fat and don’t overdo it. We have strength training rules that tell us how often to lift, how much and how to do the moves safely. We have guidelines for mobility for stretching to reduce injury and muscle soreness. But every so often, when we read exercise rules and guidelines in the media, we end up feeling defeated if they don’t exactly fit in with our lives, needs and goals. Take a look at how you exercise now. Are you that person who’s silenced by inaction because you can’t do it perfectly according to the rules?

I love morning exercise; for me, a workout at 7:30 a.m. is the ying to my yang. I make sure I have a balanced breakfast at least 60 mins or longer before and get it done before I start the workday. But when I find a client who absolutely won’t go for morning workouts, then I suggest another time of day. You may find that what works for you is a little different than what you might have read, or heard on TV. I’m not knocking fitness experts because I am one! I’m just asking you to remember to be true to yourself and bend the rules to fit in your lifestyle so you actually do something, rather than nothing.

On the flip side, when I’m training an athlete or someone who is working toward a serious goal like a marathon, then rules and schedules are absolutely important to their outcome. You can’t run a marathon at your potential without following a well-mapped program. But if you are that person trying to just lose a few pounds, feel better, have more energy and stop being cranky—then BEND THE RULES to work for you, not against you. The best time of day is the time you will be able to complete a workout consistently over time, and at a time that suits you.

What time can you schedule in and stick to each day?