As many may have noticed I recently became the big 5.0. My loving and compassionate wife kept asking why you are putting a period between the five and zero. I told her it makes it a little easier for me to deal with. I want to think of aging similar to changes in software; hopefully improving with each version.

The first thing I did when I decided the 5.0 philosophy was to examine where am I now and why am I here and where do I want to go. I decided to take a balanced approach in to the three major life areas Spirit [Mind], body, and Soul. I have been working for some time on Spirit and Soul but the body… well; let’s just say I had a bunch of junk in the trunk. I have tried different routines and different diet concepts but eventually I would hit the 220 wall. I would try to get below it but for some reason I just couldn’t get there. At my worst I was over 250 lbs. I had my first health scare when I was 34 and another when I was 39. I think it scared my wife more than it did me; in her words if you die, I will resurrect you and kill you myself for leaving me. Don’t get me wrong I have tried many different things but I hit the 220 wall and bounced back to 230 kind of sucks having to have two different pair of pants it is amazing what 10 pounds does to your waist. A vicious cycle more like a rut. So I asked myself what would I tell a potential client that was wanting to make some adjustments in their life and the response was to get a coach. I have always been good about giving great advice and seeing people succeed with the advice that I gave them; however, when it comes to following my own advice; not so much. The realization was I can’t do this on my own; I can’t use my wife as my partner for this adventure (she could go to soft on me or worse) So I decided I am dealing with body so I am going to have think nutrition and getting the body moving so I found a Fitness Trainer. Here in Tulsa there are several excellent trainers but I chose to go with Elite Training Tulsa they were close to the house and would work with my schedule. I met with Whitney Finch and he put me through the paces to evaluate how much work was needed. We visited about my goals ideal weight back to where I was when I was 18 180-185 lbs.; get my core strengthened and to fix some upper body issues. I enjoyed the way he closed the sale with me he said I know where you want to go and I can help you get there but what is your commitment to yourself. I decided my budget would allow me to have a trainer 2 times a week. Actually the budget would allow me about once every other week if I were truly honest about it. But I needed help to hit this goal I knew I could not get myself there by myself. Whitney also told me this if you can get yourself here (pointing in the studio) we will get you there (pointing to my goals)

I was telling the wife about the big plan for my reveal on the 4^th of July; I know I won’t be exactly where I want my body to be but I will definitely be close; her response was why? I told her about those 20 somethings and late teens boys that will be at the family reunion and I wanted to look good, she said is that really the reason you are doing this; not really dear it is so that you have my hard body to look at laughing out loud. Not really the real reason but bonus points the real reason was I wanted to be healthier, I didn’t want to get stuck in an attic or under a house; I didn’t want to be short on air. A funny thing happened the other day my Wife and I went to visit our 19 year old son. Matt is a great kid, quite stubborn, but still a great kid, he is about 6′ 4 “while he was in school he was about 175-180 ripped abs made fun of the old man and his kegerator. Was always talking about how he would always be looking good. When we went and saw him he was about 210 and had a pouch; me I’ve been working for a few weeks down from 225 to about 213 keg starting to disappear looking a little more like 1.5 liter bottles.

Chris M. my regular trainer said if you want to move faster towards this goal I will give you homework to do; it involved going on walks and some running. Not bad concepts. I live in Tulsa, not a very pedestrian friendly town (it is starting to get better). Tulsa is more designed for vehicles large streets no sidewalks. So I see a post from a friend of mine Rick Cooper talking about free running and the video attached reminded me of the scene in Quantum of Solace which I learned was called Parkour (I am thinking hardcore) So I have been adding a few obstacles; which is fairly easy in the neighborhood that I live in we have several retaining walls and the like so it has been fun. Chris has taught me that variety in your workout helps the body burn more efficiently and using High Intensity training in short periods yield higher results. I am with my trainer twice a week for 30 minutes, when I leave I am soaked; hit the shower and go to work. Today I discovered another key piece in effective workouts and the reason you should work out in the morning. If you do this right you can get some great results. One component of my nutrition program is that I use an interval fast, I don’t usually eat anything past 7:30 p.m. I wake up around 4:30 in the morning make me a fresh honey lemon water drink and then take the dog for a walk (run) if it training day I get to the studio at 5:30 otherwise I do a few pushups and sit ups trying to wake up sit ups and waking up sometimes has an issue you lay back and your eyes shut. If it was training day when I get back at 6:05 from the studio a glass of GPS recovery shower if I have time a bowl of oatmeal with almond milk and some craisins. On none train days I always get the oatmeal.

About 8:30 a small handful of almonds and some water about 10 a banana noon time for a quick greens salad (kale, spinach, and cabbage) with some cherry tomatoes some craisins and toasted edeme with balsamic vinegar lemon dressing. And water to drink. About 3:00 time for another handful of almonds. After work I come home and usually have something that falls into a whole food plant based meal; every now and again I will put in some lean meat. I try to minimize sugary sodas and drink primarily water and green teas.

What is a whole food plant based meal; visualize food as it comes from a farm sweet potatoes sliced into wedges tossed with some cold pressed olive oil seasonings, and nutritional yeast to make some delicious sweet potato wedge fries maybe a nice tossed green salad with some black beans. There are many great recipes out there; so be an adventurist. Understand that when you rebuilding your body you have to have good building blocks your body uses the food that you give it to make those blocks. You become what you eat. The most important part of developing a training program and to hit it consistently is to make it fun.

Today I shared a small portion of the Why behind the 5.0 project that I am working on. The key to achieving any goal is to understand the why? When you know the Why and it is big enough you will achieve that goal.