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the 4 components of vitality

PROGRAM OR LIFESTYLE?

Most conventional fitness and training books focus on weight loss and its aesthetic benefits. They present a program to be completed in a set amount of time and often include before-and-after pictures. The results — toned, lean muscles and a reduction in body fat — are visually impressive and can serve to motivate people.

But Thrive Fitness encourages you to view these benefits as byproducts of your increased fitness level rather than your ultimate goal. The real benefit is what you can achieve once you have obtained fitness. A fit person can do things the non-fit person couldn’t even imagine.

Thrive Fitness has no true beginning or end. Like a fitness program, it will result in linear, successive physical and mental gains — usually within 8 to 12 weeks. But those gains will be ongoing; therefore, I prefer to view Thrive Fitness as a lifestyle.

Once you have a firm grasp of its premise, Thrive Fitness will simply become part of your life. You’ll want it to. Even if your lifestyle has never included regular exercise, Thrive Fitness will help you begin a new and tremendously rewarding chapter in your life. If you are a seasoned athlete, Thrive Fitness may help you to become more efficient, more focused, and able to perform at a higher level.

Initially, the physical and mental rewards will be the catalyst that makes you continue, but eventually you may also begin to enjoy the process of developing the results. In fact, the process itself contributes to many of the mental benefits of living Thrive Fitness; if you enjoy something, you are more likely to become successful at it.

There’s nothing wrong with putting other areas of your life on hold and training hard to lose weight and build muscle during one 12-week period. But I believe that an ongoing, enjoyable, sustainable lifestyle that includes a fitness element is the best way to achieve your goals. You cannot reach those goals if you don’t have the physical and mental fortitude to achieve them.

Thrive Fitness lays the foundation for peak mental and physical health and vitality. Once you are not just healthy but thriving, everything you do in life will be easier — whatever your goals and wherever you choose to focus your newfound energy, drive, and ambition.

The Thrive Fitness program has four components of vitality. There are two core elements — high-return exercise and high net-gain nutrition — supported by two less appreciated factors that, in many cases, are the glue holding the core together — efficient sleep and uncomplementary stress reduction.

High-Return Exercise

Physical exercise is really nothing more than breaking down body tissue — thus encouraging the body to grow back stronger than it was. High-return exercise is only performing an exercise when a solid return on your energy investment is ensured; and therefore it is a core principle of Thrive Fitness. When combined with low-energy output, high-return exercise will help quickly build muscular strength that will result in greater efficiency and therefore will have a major impact on all aspects of life — from greater energy levels, reduced body fat, and better mental clarity to reduced risk of disease.

High Net-Gain Nutrition

Based on my previous book, Thrive, this component outlines why easily digestible, nutrient-dense whole foods are the cornerstone of an effective nutrition plan. The premise is simple: stress reduction through better nutrition. Eating more high net-gain foods maximizes efficient digestion and assimilation of nutrients and eliminates excess work for the body. As a large amount of nutritional stress is relieved, symptoms such as general fatigue and sugar and starch cravings will disappear.

Efficient Sleep

This component describes how high-quality sleep, or deep sleep, expedites the benefits of an exercise and nutrition program. The result of exercise — broken-down cells — combined with the building blocks provided by high net-gain nutrition — to grow back stronger cells — go to work in this phase of sleep. To sleep deeply is to sleep efficiently. Better-rested people have more energy and aren’t reliant upon stimulants such as sugar or caffeine to get it.

Uncomplementary Stress Reduction

While nutritional stress, and therefore a large part of overall stress, can be attributed to poor diet, there are several lifestyle situations that also cause stress responses. Reducing the amount of work you perform will, in most cases, reduce stress. But what about productivity? How does one reduce stress while maintaining a productive life? While the goal of general stress reduction is a good one, we must be mindful to focus our efforts on eliminating uncomplementary stress while maintaining complementary and production stress. In Thrive, I explain each stress and its origins in great detail. And more importantly, I outline how to selectively reduce unbeneficial types of stress while cultivating activities that, although stress producing, will benefit our lives and help us achieve our goals.

In addition, consistently doing things that you don’t enjoy is a major contributing factor to stress. The way you perceive what you’re doing is of utmost importance. I explain the value of perception, its role on stress, and how to ensure your lifestyle is structured in a way that will allow for complementary enjoyment.

As you will discover, each of these four components is dependent on the others, as shown here.

1. High net-gain nutrition reduces overall stress.

2. Exercise breaks down muscle tissue cells and therefore allows good nutrition to rebuild cells.

3. Better rest leads to more energy and hence better quality exercise.

4. Reduced stress leads to fewer junk food cravings.

5. Better nutrition creates a stronger body and hence fuels better exercise performance.

6. Moderate exercise improves sleep quality.

7. Reduced stress leads to lower cortisol levels and hence improved sleep quality.

8. High net-gain nutrition reduces overall stress and therefore improves sleep quality.

9. High-quality sleep reduces cortisol levels and overall stress.

10. Better quality sleep leads to fewer junk food cravings.

HIGH-RETURN EXERCISE

The Breakthrough

In 1990, when I first began training with the ambition of becoming a premier endurance athlete, I performed countless hours of slow- to moderate-paced, easy training: an hour and a half in the pool, an hour at the gym, between four and six hours of cycling, and about an hour and a quarter of running. This training took the better part of the day to complete and left me exhausted by sundown. But my times gradually and steadily improved: Each year I placed higher.

a greater level of fitness makes achieving any goal easier

The patient approach I had taken was paying off. But it was a lot of work, and, to make matters worse, I had to keep on increasing the distance and therefore the time I spent training to maintain my steady improvement. Food preparation, food consumption, the training itself, and the post-training stretching took up so much of my time that the days evaporated at an alarming rate. And all these activities represented a significant energy draw. By the time I’d completed the last workout of the day, I would be fatigued to the point of not being able to do anything but slump in a chair. And since my thoughts had been wandering the whole day during training, by the evening I just wanted a distraction to stop myself from thinking. Watching TV was all I could handle.

Eventually, I was dedicating about 10 hours a day to training. Since I was no longer able to add time to my training, my fitness level reached a plateau. The energy I was putting in simply wasn’t producing the returns it once did. Had I reached my potential?

I spoke with other high-level athletes and found that most of them accepted very small incremental improvements relative to their level of energy expenditure. “That’s just the way it is” was the attitude. The fitter an athlete becomes, the smaller the gains.

As with any pursuit, the more proficient one becomes, the smaller the improvements become. For example, if a world-class speaker were to sign up for a class at a community college called “Speaking 101: How to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking,” he or she would clearly be wasting time and energy.

The same holds true for physical training. If an extremely out-of-shape, sedentary person, for example, were to begin performing five minutes of jumping jacks three times a week, that person’s fitness level would improve. However, if a highly trained cyclist were to incorporate five minutes of jumping jacks into his or her routine three times a week, it would not challenge the body at all. The cyclist’s fitness level is already so high that it cannot be improved by such an easy, non-specific exercise.

spending time and energy wisely is vital for continual improvement

I was experiencing this phenomenon firsthand. And I wasn’t happy about it. But what was the solution? I racked by brain, reviewing my training and nutrition. And then it dawned on me. Something I had never even considered before. Not realizing it, I had become narrow-minded and complacent in my training approach. As an endurance athlete, I trained for endurance the only way I knew how: by performing copious amounts of long, low-intensity training. As long as I was improving, I remained satisfied. But with satisfaction came complacency. The training was working, but was I getting the best return on my energy and time investment? Energy is the most common expenditure that we make on a regular basis. But how often do we consider the return on our investment and whether a particular activity is a sensible way to spend our precious resource?

Return on Investment

Many people cite low energy as one of their top problems, yet they spend their energy on activities that offer little or no return. They had energy to begin with; they simply made a bad investment choice. Spending energy to digest refined, processed food, for instance, is not a wise investment when the alternative is clear (I’ll go into detail about this on page 46). We all have a finite amount of energy. And conserving our energy is more effective than trying to obtain more. If you don’t have much money, for example, you would be wise to stop spending what little you have on nonessential items. Buying a new car every couple of years, fancy clothing, and household goods can only lead to one thing: less money. But if you spend what little money you have on an item that will increase in value and give you back more money than you put into it, you would be making a good investment. The same is true for exercise. Spending more energy to exercise a greater amount is not necessarily a wise investment. In fact, in many cases, less is better. But in all cases, some exercise is essential.

Most of the time, you invest time, effort, and energy exercising and the return is a healthier, more robust you. Pretty straightforward. So when is exercise not a good investment? When do you risk expending more energy than you are likely to gain back? There is no simple answer. As the graph below shows, if the energy investment remains constant, the return decreases during each successive training section.

Since we all have busy lives and many opportunities to spend our energy, we must decide at what point would we rather spend our energy elsewhere or, alternatively, invest it more wisely to yield a better return. Is it possible to change the principal of your investment to gain a larger payback?

Absolutely yes. Sensible, well-calculated energy expenditure to gain maximum returns is one of the core components of Thrive Fitness. For me, the pursuit of a better investment would lead to the creation of Thrive Fitness.

for optimal fitness gain, only make investments that yield a worthy return

More Effective Training

I figured that if I took a closer, more scientific look at what was actually happening when I was training, a better way of exercising might present itself. While I knew that countless factors come together to comprise a successful endurance athlete, the two prime elements are cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength. If both these elements are strong and performing at an equal rate, performance will be solid.

In order to break through the plateau I had settled at, I needed to figure out my next steps. So I made a trip to the sports performance laboratory in Vancouver, where I was put through my paces to see how I measured up.

I ran on a treadmill while my vitals were monitored on a computer. A breathing apparatus was inserted into my mouth and a clip was put on my nose to prevent any air leaving or entering through my nose. That way, all the air that entered and exited my system could be monitored and measured. Every few minutes, the oxygen saturation of my blood was measured. The protocol was for me to run at a steadily increasing pace until the exhaustion became more than I could bear. Since the pace of the treadmill was being increased every two minutes, it was estimated that I’d have to stop running at about 20 minutes. I made it to about the 22-minute mark, but that was it, the intensity had ramped up to a point that I was unable to take in enough oxygen to supply the requirements of my muscles. I had been “maxed out.”

The outcome was fascinating. It shed light on what I had overlooked for years in my training. The test indicated my heart was in good shape. No surprise there. It was described as “pumping blood throughout my body in a strong and deliberate fashion.” My tireless hours of aerobic training had built a strong heart.

However, my muscular system did not fare as well. My legs showed signs of fatigue considerably earlier in the test than did my heart. Performance in an endurance sport, as with many things, is only as good as the weakest link. And my muscles were my weak link. But how could that be? I spent hours every day swimming, cycling, and running, all of which require thousands of muscle contractions. Why had my muscles not made the gains in endurance that I expected from all that relentless endurance training? And, more to the point, what could I do about it? I certainly couldn’t train any more. I would have to train smarter.

I needed to rework my strategy. This was my problem: Aside from the heart and the rest of the cardiovascular system, the muscles, primarily those of the legs, need to be in top form to obtain peak performance. With each muscle contraction, energy is expended. The amount of energy needed to cause a muscle to contract is based on two main factors: the size of the muscle and, more importantly, the efficacy of the muscle. The fitter the muscle, the less energy the body needs to cause it to contract. That’s important. An endurance athlete gains a large benefit when energy can be conserved with each muscle contraction. The endurance cyclist, for example, will contract his or her leg muscles 180 times per minute when cycling at an average cadence of 90 rotations per minute. That equates to 10,800 contractions per hour of the largest muscle group in the body, the gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, and to a lesser degree the gastrocnemius muscles. Even a modest savings in energy expenditure to perform a muscle contraction will yield significant energy conservation. Of course when you don’t spend energy, you still have it. Improving muscle efficiency is a phenomenal energy booster.

increased muscular strength reduces the strain placed on the heart

That was it. I needed to get stronger to improve my endurance. I began lifting weights, with the expectation of developing stronger muscles. After a few weeks I noticed I was making progress. I looked stronger — well, bigger anyway. I had gained about eight pounds. But this extra strength didn’t seem to be doing me any good. My running and cycling times actually got slower. What was happening? As I discovered, I was getting modestly stronger, yet since my weight was also increasing, my strength-to-weight ratio was actually declining. For an endurance athlete, that’s a red flag. Endurance athletes need to be strong yet remain light, so that it takes less energy for their muscles to move. The energy that is saved can be used to improve endurance and ultimately performance.

So why was the weight training not working for me? As I discovered, most weight training programs are built on one variation or another of a traditional bodybuilding philosophy. Bodybuilders are unique athletes. While it may seem odd, strength is not an important component of their sport, and muscle functionality, efficiency, fluidity, and strength-to-weight ratio play no part. Rather, the goal of bodybuilding is to develop large, thick muscle mass with symmetry and definition. The winner is assessed on appearance only.

stronger muscles reduce overall stress that the body must endure

In the 1970s, modern bodybuilding rose to mainstream popularity and began the fitness craze that would span the decade and spill over into the 1980s. It is thought that the now-legendary documentary Pumping Iron — shot primarily at Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California (“the mecca of bodybuilding”), and chronicling a brash 28-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bid to win a sixth consecutive Mr. Olympia bodybuilding tile in 1975 — kick-started the imagination of American people who aspired to become fit, if only in appearance. Bodybuilding is undeniably a sport — but it should not be considered synonymous with strength training. In fact, many consider bodybuilding to be a form of performance art. Beautiful to some, but by no means is bodybuilding pursued for the sake of practicality, functionality, or health.

To propel my endurance to the next level, I needed a program that would build strength without increasing bulk. But because of all of the endurance training I still needed to perform for my cardiovascular fitness, I wanted a strength training program that required little time or energy investment. And while I enjoy going to the gym, I wanted the option, if pressed for time, to be able to perform the program at home with limited equipment. These were tall orders.

I began experimenting with higher intensity strength training. Within a short time, results began to reveal themselves. This was exciting. Not since the early days had I experienced such improvement in endurance in such a short time frame and after only a small energy expenditure. As I refined the program and allowed it to organically evolve over the years based on carefully gauging my performance in a log book, I arrived at a system that was remarkably solid. It yielded top returns on energy, time, and effort.

In fact, this system was so effective at increasing strength with minimal time and effort that I was able to significantly cut back on the amount of endurance training I performed. I went from training 10 hours a day to 3 — a 70 percent drop. Even more notably, my endurance did not level off (as I had feared it might); it actually improved. I was astounded. By creating peak muscular strength while exerting only small amounts of energy, I had broken through to the upper echelons. And I had so much more time and energy for other activities. The extra energy simply came from better investment choices. I wasn’t spending nearly as much and, as a result, I had more. Plus, since I was no longer logging monstrous training miles, the chances of reaching my stress threshold — and possibly overtraining — greatly diminished.

bigger muscles don’t necessarily mean stronger muscles

This amazing realization changed the way I thought about training and building fitness. I maintained the premise of my new exercise plan but adapted it for the “real world.” Thrive Fitness allows you to achieve peak efficacy without specific equipment and without spending copious hours of time. A tight parallel can be drawn between that of daily living and an endurance event. In fact, I don’t hesitate to say that the demands of modern life are closely akin to those placed on a competitive endurance athlete. There is no choice but to keep pushing through. And I don’t feel as though I’m exaggerating when I suggest that life is an endurance sport. Thrive Fitness is an exceptionally good way to improve overall efficacy and therefore fitness. Increased efficacy places less strain on the heart and other muscles that you rely upon daily, and as a result, you will experience a considerable increase in energy levels and a reduction in stress and its debilitating symptoms.

Strength equals efficiency. But endurance athletes aren’t the only ones to benefit. Building strong, functional muscles that move with grace and ease is the cornerstone of Thrive Fitness. The less energy we exert to cause a muscle contraction, the better. Ease of movement with minimum effort is a wonderful thing. While fluidity may be the result, improved functional strength is the basis on which grace of movement can be built.

modern life is an endurance sport that requires appropriate training

With ease of movement comes a reduction of stress. Since work is simply a form of stress, the less work we can create for ourselves, the less strain we put on ourselves.

The reduction of stress leads to a reduction of cortisol levels. Lowered cortisol levels reduce the chance of developing sickness, and allow the body to build lean muscle more easily, lose fat more quickly, and sleep better. Starting on page 50, I explain the value and methods of stress reduction in detail.

Spending Heartbeats Wisely

As I found out, the role of muscular strength could not be understated in my bid to become a better endurance athlete. Since stronger muscles are more efficient muscles, they are less of a draw on the heart. And that holds true not just for high-level athletic activity but also for day-to-day activity.

Consider this comparison. If your legs are weak, a higher percentage of their overall strength is needed, for example, to ascend a flight of stairs. More blood is required, causing the heart to pump faster. If, however, you are able to walk up a flight of stairs using only a fraction of your legs’ strength, your climb requires less blood to be pumped throughout the body; your heart doesn’t have to work as hard.

All muscles become stronger when they are used and then given time and nutrients to regenerate. The heart muscle is no exception. And the stronger the heart becomes, the more efficiently it is able to do its job of pumping blood around the body. The amount of blood that can be pumped with each beat is referred to as the heart’s stroke volume. As the heart becomes stronger, so, too, does its stroke volume. The greater the stroke volume, the better, since the heart will be able to pump the same volume of blood around the body while using fewer beats (that is, muscle contractions). Of course, a heartbeat uses energy. The fewer heartbeats required, the less energy expended. Once the heart gets stronger with exercise and its efficacy improves as a result, it won’t need to work as hard to perform the same job. Efficacy equals energy savings. As I mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to increase the overall amount of energy you have is to limit the amount you spend on activities that offer no return. Since our hearts beat constantly, even a small savings in efficacy will translate to a significant energy gain.

stronger muscles move with fluidity and embody greater functionality

Have you ever heard the expression — usually uttered by those who don’t enjoy exercise — we only have so many heartbeats and we must spend them wisely? This belief goes back to ancient India, where yogis would focus on their breath during meditation in an effort to slow their heart rate. Conserving heartbeats was thought to prolong life; if the heart beat too much, it would wear out prematurely.

Well, there is some truth to this. It is, in fact, advantageous for us to reduce the amount of work our heart needs to perform. Since it never gets a break throughout our entire life, it can wear down. However, reducing activity to slow its beating is not the best long-term approach. While deep breathing and meditation can improve our overall health for several reasons, building a stronger, more efficient heart is the key to longevity. A stronger heart beats more efficiently and therefore does not have to beat as often.

The average at-rest heart rate for an adult who’s in reasonable health is between 70 and 75 beats per minute (bpm). Performing daily activity such as walking, office work, and eating will typically increase an average person’s heart rate to between 85 and 90 bpm.

Line A on the graph represents an average person in good health during a typical day. The average heart rate of 88 bpm gives a daily total of 126,720 beats.

If this same person began exercising 30 minutes a day, his or her average heart rate would be elevated to about 150 bpm for the duration of the exercise. This equates to 1900 additional beats. But although exercise initially increases the heart rate, eventually its effect will be to bring down the total number of beats needed over the course of a day.

those with a strong, efficient heart have more energy

Line B represents the same person with exercise incorporated into his or her daily schedule. The heart rate spikes to 150 bpm during exercise, but then it regulates for the rest of the day. After about three months of regular exercise, the average heart rate drops, as shown in the graph. When the heart gets stronger from exercise, it begins pumping more efficiently and therefore doesn’t need to pump as often. The benefits are significant. The person’s heart rate is down to about 59 bpm, or 84,960 a day, when not exercising. That is 41,760 fewer beats every day.

Most of us spend the bulk of our day operating at a moderate heart rate. In that sense, daily life is an endurance sport. A lower average heart rate is a valuable asset for anyone, but especially for a high-performance athlete. If an athlete starts an exercise session with a lower heart rate, it will take that athlete longer to reach his or her anaerobic threshold. Anaerobic threshold, sometimes referred to as the lactate threshold, is the point at which the body can no longer remove waste products and therefore performance declines.

Another excellent way to reduce the energy requirements of your heart is to improve your maximal oxygen consumption. Abbreviated to VO₂ max, it is a measure by which aerobic fitness can be gauged. A VO₂ max test shows the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can transport and utilize during incrementally increased exercise intensity. While it can be performed on either an exercise bike or treadmill, the treadmill will yield the most accurate results. During the test, the speed and incline are increased until the runner is forced to stop because of fatigue. In many cases, the runner collapses from exhaustion.

Those with a high VO₂ max can use oxygen more efficiently, thus reducing strain on the body. It’s not just athletes that benefit from an improved VO₂ max. Increased VO₂ max has real-world benefits that include reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, respiratory ailments, and general fatigue, as well as improved fitness and overall health. Even a modest boost in VO₂ max has been shown to dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness levels. On page 136 I explain how you can raise your VO₂ max in under 20 minutes per week.

even a modest boost in VO₂ max will significantly improve performance and reduce risk of cardiovascular disease

AT A GLANCE

• Thrive Fitness is a lifestyle, not a merely a program. Its gains go way beyond fitness.

• Better muscle tone and lower body fat are a byproduct of Thrive Fitness, rather than the ultimate goal.

• Thrive Fitness provides a high return on energy and time investment. Therefore peak fitness can be built quickly and efficiently.

• Stronger muscles move with greater ease, fluidity, and grace.

• Increased muscular strength reduces the heart’s workload and therefore boosts energy.

• Increased maximum oxygen consumption can significantly improve overall health and greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. Oxygen consumption can be improved in a short amount of time and with minimal energy expenditure.

The Non-Physical Benefits of Exercise

As I mentioned in the Introduction, I first began running as a means to get fitter. Compared to most kids, I had begun skating and playing hockey late, at the age of 13, which put me at a disadvantage. I thought that if I was in better shape than those more experienced kids, it would level the playing field. It didn’t — I was still a bad hockey player. However, while I was getting in shape for hockey, I discovered that I liked running. Eventually I stopped playing hockey altogether, and running became my athletic focus.

As my fitness developed over the weeks and months, I no longer had to concentrate on the act of running. At a moderate pace, it had become effortless. This is the point at which everything changed for me. Because I didn’t have to engage in conscious thought to be able to run, my mind would wander. Ideas I could never have imagined as belonging to me would flow every time I ran, almost as though my head was a radio receiving signals from outside. A whole other part of my brain had been accessed.

After a while, I developed the ability to come up with viable solutions to problems I had been actively thinking about and mulling over for months. After mulling over a dilemma for days of puzzling about a dilemma, actively trying to find a solution only to come up with nothing, solutions seemed to just pop into my head during a run. While I began running to improve my physical fitness, I continued running to maintain my newfound thought patterns. I don’t want to suggest that I’ve become dependent on them, but I certainly appreciate the way in which I can tap in to creativity that I hadn’t realized I had. As my fitness and running improved, so did my ability to spontaneously come up with ideas. Some weren’t very good, but that was okay, since it only takes one or two sensible ideas to make a difference. I found that as the new ideas became older ideas, my brain would subconsciously sift through them while I was running and, without any active thought, separate the good from the bad.

physical exercise helps stimulate creative thought

If you’ve read Thrive, you may have noticed that I dedicated the book to Lynn, Seymour, and Stanley. Each is a large park in the Vancouver area. I grew up close to the entrance to Lynn Headwaters Regional Park. It is joined to Seymour Demonstration Forest, forming 15,000 acres of parkland on Vancouver’s North Shore. With hundreds of miles of winding trails through evergreen forest and varying terrain, they are truly a runner’s paradise. I did about 80 percent of my running there and the other 20 percent in Vancouver’s legendary Stanley Park, which has about 1000 acres of forest and trails surrounded by ocean beaches.

Writing Thrive took only as long as I needed to type the words (which was a long time because I’m a slow typist, but that’s beside the point). The overall premise of the book had been written in my mind while I was exercising. Each day after I returned from a run or bike ride, I would write down the central ideas that had popped up in my brain. Within a few months, I had all I needed for the core of the book. From there, I simply (and in some cases not so simply) expanded on each major point and organically evolved the book.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

I did discover, however, that there’s a sweet spot with exercise and the creative process.

big-picture ideas are easier to develop during physical activity

More exercise is not necessarily better. Your optimal amount depends on several factors. One is fitness level. The fitter you become, the more exercise you can perform before getting fatigued. Physical fatigue is always closely followed by mental fatigue, and once you are mentally fatigued, your ability to generate free-flowing thought and creativity will be greatly hindered or snuffed out altogether. The idea with physical exercise is to stimulate the brain, not cause it significant fatigue. So while longer bouts of exercise are helpful for the creative process itself, the fatigue that follows reduces the ability to apply that creativity. For example: If my morning run ends up being much longer than an hour and a quarter, once finished I’ll be too relaxed. Complacent even. That feeling is nice, but the contentment that comes with it is, of course, not conducive to a productive day. It’s too satisfying, and as a result the drive to work hard is lessened. And due to the extra physical exertion and resulting mental fatigue, I’m ready for a nap by three in the afternoon — which is fine when you train full-time, but not ideal if you’re trying to draw as much as you can out of your productive self. But less is also not necessarily better. The point at which my mind begins to wander varies, but it’s usually around the 40-minute mark. So if I exercise for 30 minutes, I achieve neither the desired brain stimulation nor optimal level of relaxation. I may even feel agitated for the rest of the day, which is not ideal for productivity either.

It will take a bit of trial and error, but you will discover your sweet spot, when exercise complements your productivity by poising your body for the day and allowing your brain to shape its thoughts into ideas and solutions. Someone who has never consistently led an active lifestyle may initially need just a 15-minute walk each morning. A steady buildup of physical activity will lead to improved overall results. On page 91 I provide an Adaptation program to help you begin an injury-free workout. Suggestions for beginning an injury-free running program start on page 101.

Left Brain, Right Brain

There are two halves to the brain, and each of us tends to favor one side more than the other. The left brain is used for tasks that require a sequential, linear, analytical approach. Following a standard set of rules to solve a math problem is an example of left-brain problem solving. People who are left-brain dominant tend to use logic to solve problems.

Conversely, the right brain is used for holistic, random, big-picture-focused, and intuitive thought. Those who are right-brain dominant have a greater interest in aesthetics, the arts, and music and focus on big-picture ideas, patterns, and creativity. They create from the top down. Seeing the big picture, they build with that in mind.

Defined as the process of making unexpected leaps, creativity is not a linear process. Like any thought, creative thought can be stimulated and channeled during activities that lend themselves to a wandering mind. Swimming, running, and cycling all stimulate the right brain. But if you are not quite ready for these activities, you can start by walking.

About a year ago, while I was on a book tour, I sustained a running injury. Because I had no races on the horizon and my schedule was packed, I felt okay about taking a little time off from daily exercise to give my body a chance to heal. But by the third day I was having a harder time than normal making decisions and was not thinking as clearly. I didn’t have my bike with me and there were no swimming pools nearby. So the next morning I decided to walk for exercise. Though the mental effect was not as pronounced as with running, I certainly noticed a positive response.

Generating Creativity

Experts who study the field of creative thought say that we all have the capacity to think in a grand, abstract way. Some people inherently have a greater amount of creativity than others, but most of us could make better use of what creativity we do have. We just have to figure out how to stimulate our creative spark and have it ignite into accessible, readily flowing ideas.

physical activity can help us make better use of our right brain’s attributes

Writing my first book presented a creative challenge for me. From the start, I wondered how other writers dealt with a creative dry spell. Some authors appear to have the ability to churn out high-quality, creative prose day in, day out. Newspaper columnists, for example, write and submit their articles just hours after the event takes place in order to get it laid out, printed, and delivered to front doors across the country the following morning. What is that seemingly elusive creative spark that appears to come and go, not following any noticeable pattern? Paradoxically, I found the answer in someone who has discovered the ability to apparently summon creativity at will.

I met Dan Piraro at a social event one summer evening in New York City. Not only has this artist mastered and made significant use of his creativity, but he appears to do it every day. Dan Piraro is the man behind Bizarro, a syndicated comic in hundreds of daily newspapers worldwide. Dan has to come up with an original, witty comic every day. He can’t afford to have a prolonged mental dry spell; his job and reputation hinge on his ability to overcome creative roadblocks and to constantly produce. So how does he do it? That’s exactly what I asked him. His response: “I hop on my bike and ride around Brooklyn. Ideas simply begin to flow. When I arrive home I write down all the thoughts that came to me. From there I weave them into solid ideas and ultimately Bizarro. Often I’ll be able to amass two weeks’ worth all at once, just from one ride.”

Dan’s words were reassuring to me. Even the creative elite, who appear to produce with machinelike regularity, go through creative peaks and valleys, just like the rest of us. What separates peak achievers from the rest is their ability to take control of the creative dry spells that will inevitably crop up at some point. Having the ability to stimulate the right brain, thereby drawing what new ideas we can from it, may be more important than possessing lots of pure creativity itself.

Mental Outsourcing

The left brain is responsible for performing linear, sequential calculations based on a set of rules — the kind of thinking computers are good at. If we let technology perform many of these duties for us, if we “outsource” our left-brain responsibility to computers, we free up both halves of our brain for other thought processes.

For example, following a map and making sense of driving directions is the job of the left brain. If we plug the address of our destination into a GPS, we reduce our brain’s workload. For those who are left-brain dominant, this creates an opportunity to allow their mind to wander and focus on cultivating their right-brain attributes. And for those who are right-brain dominant, it allows them to do what they do best: come up with big-picture abstract plans. Instead of focusing on which exit you have to take, you may come up with names for characters in that novel you’ve always wanted to write. While we can’t rely on machines to carry out our right-brain tasks for us, we can, to some extent, delegate to them our left-brain tasks.

I find, however, that the ideas that flow through me when I exercise are just as quick to leave as they are to arrive. I therefore make an effort to remember the sensible ones until I’m done exercising. I used to attempt to mentally store the information and enlist the help of my brain to keep it all straight once I got home. But recruiting the brain to remember information that can be easily written down is a poor use of mental resources. Now I just write the information down immediately — and then I can forget it. Finding out that I can get a pad of paper to do a job that normally I’d use my brain to do was refreshing.

It’s akin to having the chief scientist at NASA fill his days with cleaning the cafeteria floor while he should be figuring out how to put humans on Mars.

for greater creative functioning, give your brain a break

Releasing Endorphins

Endorphins are brain chemicals released during exercise that reduce pain, improve the ability to fall and remain asleep, and induce a feeling of well-being and happiness.

Athletes can use the pain-reduction effect of the endorphin release to their advantage. Toward the end of a long, hard race, athletes are able to push themselves to the brink; the endorphins that their body releases dull the physical pain to a mild discomfort, enabling them to exert themselves beyond their usual pain tolerance. This is one reason why the day after a race, the competitors are barely able to walk.

Athletes and those who are physically active consistently report a higher level of happiness than their sedentary counterparts. A recent Duke University study on clinical depression conducted on 156 people found that 60 percent of those who exercised 30 minutes three times a week, for 16 weeks, were able to get rid of their depression without using medication. The researchers speculated that this was a result of two different effects of endorphin release. People with clinical depression are thought to have a neurotransmitter imbalance, and endorphins may help to correct this. And people with depression tend to have low energy — but at the same time are unable to consistently get a good night’s sleep. The endorphins released during exercise improved their sleep quality.

But it’s not just people with clinical depression who benefit. Reports show that endorphins released during exercise can also help those with situational depression. Feeling better (even if it’s simply due to a chemical release in the brain) is the first step to being able to identify, acknowledge, and address the situation that is causing them to be depressed.

endorphin release can help you feel better and therefore perform better

Yoga and meditation are among the best known and oldest forms of using the body as a means to boost mental health. In general, North Americans who do yoga or meditate regularly are in better health than those who don’t. However, this statistic can be somewhat misleading, since North Americans who practice yoga and meditation are usually more health conscious to begin with, they are less likely to eat a Standard American Diet, and their income is higher. Their lifestyle as a whole contributes to their health, not just the fact that they practice yoga or meditate. However, that said, yoga and meditation can do something important for anyone seeking better mental health. And what’s interesting is that it’s not what we get that is of benefit, it’s what we don’t get: excess information.

Select Information Diet

Normally thought of as a good thing, information is in fact a problem in modern life. There is simply too much of it, most of it useless. And harmful. Yes, harmful. You may think you can just ignore useless information, but it occupies space in your consciousness and thereby slows the rate at which you can make use of information you actually need. Think of a computer’s memory being filled and cluttered up by a constant bombardment of spyware downloads, resulting in a reduced processing speed.

If we retain only important information, the brain will be better able to process that information, make sense of it, solve problems, and allow the subconscious room to work. Yoga and traditional meditation result in restricted information intake and thereby give your brain a well-deserved break. Active meditation in the form of running and cycling provides an opportunity for the brain to mull over information it already has, while restricting entry of new information. No need to go on an information fast — a select information diet will enhance your brain’s ability to form thoughts, make connection between ideas, solve problems, and think clearly under stress.

time during the day that is not spent consuming information can be used to bolster mental health and productivity

Active Meditation

When we engage in sports that require quick thinking and extreme focus, we are less likely to be able to slip into the creative realm. While the increased blood flow to the brain can help us reach a meditationlike state, the very nature of these sports makes it difficult to not focus on anything. Focus is, of course, direct, specific thought, which is the opposite direction of where we need to go when trying to tap into the subconscious. A parallel can be drawn between the way in which the brain functions during meditation and being physically active while relinquishing focus. Active meditation, as it’s appropriately called, has many of the same mental benefits offered by traditional meditation. Most people find active meditation easier to get into due to the increased blood flow in the brain.

Increased blood circulation within the brain can in part be credited for the improved ability to function and delve into creativity. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to feed the brain. The region of the brain responsible for complex reasoning and concentration, the frontal lobe, has been shown to significantly benefit from more freely and rapidly circulating blood. Increased blood flow to the frontal lobe on a regular basis has also been shown to reduce the risk of two neurodegenerative conditions, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

physical activity combined with meditation yields unique health benefits

Building Neurotransmitters

While sports that require quick thinking, focus, and coordination do not lend themselves to creative-thought production as readily as repetitive-movement sports, they do in fact help stimulate and even change part of the brain. When the brain learns new movements that require coordination and targeted concentration, it changes physically by making new neurotransmitters. Constant learning therefore helps prevent neurodegenerative disease by keeping the brain active and in a constant state of development and construction. Any new learning is helpful, yet learning new exercise routines is of superior value, since it generates greater blood flow while a new way of thinking is being formed. The combination is complementary and augments brain health. However, once someone has become proficient at the new exercise and can do it seamlessly, without thought, the benefit to the neurotransmitters declines. But if a new exercise is introduced, that brain growth is maintained.

Additionally, on a biochemical level, exercise has been shown to stimulate the production of brain chemicals that encourage the growth of new nerve connections. It is thought this may explain why athletes have lower rates of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Choosing Your Activity

Examples of repeat-pattern aerobic activities, which stimulate the right brain and therefore creativity after proficiency is reached:

Biking
Hiking
In-line skating
Rowing
Running
Speed skating
Swimming
Walking (briskly)

Examples of continually changing movement activities, which increase brain activity until proficiency is reached:

Basketball
Hockey
Racquetball
Squash
Table tennis
Tennis

It makes sense to become proficient at one or two of the repeat-pattern activities from the first list that you find most enjoyable. Using them as your base aerobic exercises will serve you well. Physically, they ensure your cardiovascular system remains in peak condition. Mentally, they bolster your creativity, improve your memory, and enhance your problem-solving ability.

learning while being active maintains and builds brain health throughout life

The continually changing movement activities from the second list require constant thinking, coordination, and planning ahead, which also help build neuroconnections. The goal here, however, is never to become too good at any of them. Once the brain has learned the new skill to a level of comfort, these cerebral benefits diminish. These activities are still of benefit, however, since information changes throughout the activity, and the brain must think, make decisions, and tell the body to do it.

AT A GLANCE

• Physical exercise offers a vast array of non-physical benefits.

• Being active can bolster creativity and help develop big-picture ideas through right-brain stimulation.

• Regular exercise can improve subconscious function and problem-solving ability.

• Mental outsourcing can improve mental performance.

• A select-information diet and active meditation can improve brain function.

• Learning new physical movements contributes to the construction of neurotransmitters and therefore may reduce the risk of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

HIGH NET-GAIN NUTRITION

Understanding Body Fuel

Soon after I made the decision to at least attempt to become a professional athlete, I began to investigate the benefits of nutrition. Knowing that I’d have to do a huge amount of training if I was going to be successful, I wanted to ensure I began with the most effective program. I looked at the training programs of some of the top professional Ironman triathletes in the world, with the intention of mimicking their routine. To understand what separates the best from the average, I also looked at training programs of average-performing amateur triathletes. What I found surprised me.

The average athletes’ programs differed very little from those followed by the elite. If training discrepancies are minimal, then what causes some athletes to become great while others remain average? As I discovered, training isn’t the only factor. In fact, the most significant difference has little to do with training. It has to do with recovery. The difference between average and breakthrough performance is mostly determined by the rate at which the body can regenerate from physical training. On reflection, this made perfect sense. Since training is really nothing more than the breaking down of muscle tissue, athletes who can restore muscle tissue the quickest will have an advantage. They will be able to schedule workouts closer together and thus train more than their competitors. Over the course of a few months, the extra workouts will translate into a significant performance gain. Of course quick and efficient cellular regeneration is of value to non-athletes as well, because the everyday wear and tear of regular life also breaks down cells.

Once this concept solidified in my mind, cellular regeneration became my focus. I found out that nutrition has the greatest impact on recovery: Food choices can account for up to 80 percent of the total recovery process. Having a newfound appreciation for diet, I began to take mine more seriously. Nutrition itself had never really interested me. But the high-energy lifestyle that proper nutrition can provide was unquestionably something I wanted. If cleaning up my diet was an integral part of becoming a professional athlete, as I speculated it might be, I wanted to know everything I needed to know about it.

rate of cellular recovery is the largest contributing factor to peak performance

I researched nutrition extensively over the years and eventually developed my own nutritional philosophy. It’s simple: Improve nutrition to reduce stress, because stress is the root cause of just about all ailments, from minor irritants to major diseases. Initial symptoms of stress are poor-quality sleep, general fatigue, and the desire to eat sugary foods. If you don’t address the cause of each of these symptoms, they will progress into body fat gain, inflamed joints, and mental clutter. If these are allowed to continue, they will likely result in one variation or another of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, arthritis, or osteoporosis.

I called the resulting nutrition program the Thrive Diet and published a book about it in 2007. The Thrive Diet is extremely effective when adhered to in its entirety, but it does not require an all-or-nothing approach. Incorporating even just a few elements of the Thrive Diet will significantly improve the results of Thrive Fitness.

Did you know you have the ability to grow a younger body? Regular exercise encourages the body to regenerate muscle tissue more rapidly and actually keeps it in a constant state of regeneration. If the cells have been constructed recently, the body is biologically younger. But the body needs high-quality building materials to construct those new cells — in the form of high-quality nutrition.

If you live Thrive Fitness, high-quality nutrition will improve the results. Exercise breaks down muscle tissue. With rest and proper nutrition, the muscle grows back stronger than it was before the exercise broke it down. That is the training effect. However, the training effect can be significantly boosted if nutrition is not only complete, but also timed correctly. When you eat is almost as important as what you eat. I explain this in detail on page 174.

regular exercise and high-quality food collaborate to build a biologically younger body

What Is High Net-Gain Nutrition?

Since a calorie is a measure of food energy, you understandably might assume that the more calories you consume, the more energy you will have. But if that were the case, people who eat lots of fast food would have boundless energy. And they don’t. The missing element is net gain.

The net gain of food is the term I have given to the energy and usable sustenance we are left with once digestion and assimilation of the nutrients have taken place. Foods with a high net gain are whole, plant-based, alkaline-forming foods that are nutrient dense and easy to digest, so that our body can easily assimilate and use the nutrients. (Animal-based whole foods — organic, free-range meat and wild fish — are highly acid-forming and therefore not considered of high net gain.) A diet based on these high net-gain foods — as opposed to simply supplemented with them — will yield impressive health results. A diet based on low net-gain foods, on the other hand, leads to increased physical strain and stress, general fatigue, and cravings for sugar and starch. Not only that, the greater quantity of energy expended through digestion and assimilation will simply leave us with less.

As I mentioned earlier, in relation to energy expenditure during exercise, if you don’t spend it, you still have it. If the body is left to decide, it will likely choose to use that energy to improve immune function and quicken restoration of cells damaged by stress — essentially, anti-aging activities.

When we base our diet on high net-gain foods, we gain energy through conservation as opposed to consumption. As you might expect, the first results of such a diet will be more energy immediately following a meal. Unfortunately, most commonly consumed foods in the average North American’s diet require almost as much energy to assimilate as they provide. (Note that the nutritional value of food listed on the label pertains to what is in the food, not what net gain the body actually gets from it.) When we eat highly processed foods, fatigue sets in not long after because of all the energy the body must exert in digesting that food. But when we eat high net-gain foods, we can sustain an even energy level throughout the day. This will reduce the desire to snack on unhealthy foods. We won’t need to — or want to — consume as many calories when eating a high net-gain diet. It won’t take long for our body to respond the high levels of nutrition and the reduced number of calories. Energy goes up, body fat goes down.

consumption of high net-gain foods conserves energy, resulting in more energy

While we can all benefit significantly from a body that operates more efficiently, athletes have the most to gain. This is because humans cannot function efficiently above a certain core temperature. The extra energy that must be generated and spent to digest and assimilate refined food raises the core temperature. The lower the core temperature starting point, the longer the athlete can exercise at a greater intensity before reaching that maximum optimal core temperature. All other factors being equal, a lower operating temperature allows us to perform more work (higher intensity exercise) before experiencing fatigue.

But that’s not the only advantage. Let’s look at an example. If two runners are equal in every respect except for their core temperature, the one with the lowest temperature has the advantage. Because Runner A is farther from reaching his body’s maximum temperature, he can speed up, going ahead of Runner B while expending no additional effort. In addition, because Runner A is farther below his maximum temperature, he perspires less and thus dehydrates less quickly, thereby further enhancing endurance. And because his body does not have to exert as much effort, his heart doesn’t need to beat as fast. As we saw earlier, a lower heart rate means that the body has to expend less energy to maintain physical workload. Therefore endurance will be even further improved.

Nutrient-Dense Foods

By consuming more easily assimilated foods, we can conserve energy and reduce stress. Foods in their natural, nutrient-dense state can be digested and assimilated with less energy expenditure. When we eat nutrient-dense, natural foods, we don’t need to eat — or digest — as much as when we eat less nutrient-dense foods. In addition, when we feed the body the nutrients it needs, the brain “turns off” the hunger signal.

Raw Foods

Foods that have not been heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit are termed raw foods. There are several performance advantages to eating a large quantity of raw food in place of its cooked counterpart. Ease of digestion and assimilation, which directly translates into additional energy by means of an increase in net gain, is the most significant. Enzymes that contribute to overall health and aid digestion are not present in cooked food; heating above 118 degrees Fahrenheit destroys them. Therefore, before the body can turn cooked food into usable fuel, it must produce enzymes to aid in the digestion process. A healthy person can create these enzymes, but it costs energy and therefore creates a nominal amount of stress. Enzyme production diminishes with age, leaving us solely reliant on diet to acquire them. In fact, if enzyme-rich foods are not the base of our regular diet, our enzyme production system will have to work overtime and can actually become overtaxed and weakened later in life. Including enzyme-rich foods in our diet on a regular basis will help safeguard our bodies’ ability to manufacture enzymes. Interestingly, a person who cannot produce digestive enzymes and does not obtain them through food can acquire the same diseases as someone suffering from malnutrition.

While at only slightly above 118 degrees Fahrenheit enzyme quality will sharply drop off, the next significant quality decline in food will come at a temperature of about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the point at which essential fatty acids convert into trans fats. Additionally, food cooked at a high temperature can cause inflammation. When sugar is heated to a high temperature with fat, it can create end products known as AGEs, which the body perceives as invaders. The immune cells try to break down these end products by secreting large amounts of inflammatory agents. If the cycle continues, it can result in problems commonly associated with old age: less elastic skin, arthritis, weakened memory, joint pain, and even heart disease.

Alkaline-Forming Foods

The pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity. Within the body, maintaining a balanced pH is an important part of achieving and sustaining peak health. If our pH drops, our body becomes too acidic, adversely affecting health at the cellular level. People with low pH are prone to many ailments and to fatigue.

enzyme-rich foods help ensure the body makes optimal use of the nutrients in the food

The body can become more acidic through diet and, to a lesser extent, stress. Since our bodies are equipped with buffering capabilities, our blood pH will vary to only a small degree, regardless of poor diet and other types of stress. But the other systems that have to be recruited to facilitate this buffering use energy and can become strained. Over time, the result of this buffering will be significant stress on the system, which will cause immune function to falter, effectively opening the door to a host of diseases.

Low body pH can lead to the development of kidney stones, loss of bone mass, and the reduction of growth hormone, which results in loss of lean muscle mass and increase in body fat production. And since a decline in growth hormone production directly results in loss of lean muscle tissue and the acquisition of body fat, the overconsumption of acid-forming foods plays a significant role in North America’s largest health crisis. But food is not the only thing we put in our bodies that is acid-forming. Most prescription drugs, artificial sweeteners, and synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements are extremely acid-forming.

Low body pH is also responsible for an increase in the fabrication of cell-damaging free radicals and a loss in cellular energy production. Free radicals alter cell membranes and can adversely affect our DNA.

an alkaline body has significantly higher odds of being a healthy body

In addition, viruses and bacteria thrive in an acidic body, which can lead to a wide variety of diseases. Did you know that it is impossible for cancer to develop in an alkaline environment? When acid-forming food is consumed, starting with digestion and continuing until elimination, it produces toxins the body must deal with, because they lead to premature aging through cell degeneration. Highly refined and processed, denatured foods produce toxins, have no usable nutrients, yet retain their caloric value — the worst combination.

Athletes in peak training are the most affected by acidic body pH. Already physically stressed, many athletes also suffer various types of mental stress such as performance anxiety. Increased metabolism further lowers pH. Since acidity is a stressor, cortisol levels rise, resulting in impaired sleep quality, thus further exacerbating the problem.

Vigorous exercise creates stress in the form of muscle trauma. Physiologically speaking, hard exercise is a stressor, and rest and recovery turn that stress into fitness gains. Athletes require protein and alkalizing foods to help their muscles regenerate. The correct balance of exercise stress and recovery is the recipe for growth.

Cortisol and the Elimination of Biological Debt

Biological debt is the term I use to describe the unfortunate, energy-depleted state that most North Americans live in. Often brought about by eating refined sugar or drinking coffee to gain short-term energy, biological debt is the ensuing energy “crash.”

There are two types of energy, one obtained from stimulation, the other from nourishment. Generally speaking, the more a food is processed, the more stimulating it will be to the nervous system. When we consume caffeinated beverages or refined foods, we get energy almost instantly. But it is short-term, unsustainable energy; the stimulation of the adrenal glands is inevitably followed by fatigue. In our culture, we tend to use additional stimulation to overcome this fatigue, which in turn produces more fatigue, and so on. In contrast, when we eat natural and whole foods, our body is less stimulated and more nourished. Energy derived from good health, so-called cost-free energy, does not take a toll on the adrenal glands, nor does it regularly need to be “stoked” with stimulating substances. People who are truly well have boundless energy without reliance on stimulants such as caffeine or refined sugar.

Stimulation places demand on the adrenal glands and therefore causes production of the stress hormone cortisol. Elevated cortisol is linked to inflammation, which is a concern for the athlete. Higher levels of cortisol also weaken cellular tissue, lower the immune response, increase risk of disease, cause body tissue degeneration, reduce sleep quality, and are a catalyst for the accumulation of body fat.

In Thrive I describe my first exposure to significantly elevated stress levels. I was train ing too much, and my body could not regenerate quickly enough to support the pace at which I was breaking it down. To make matters worse, I had not yet made the connection between stress production and nutrition and my diet was average at best. A high amount of physical stress coupled with nutritional stress resulted in an elevated cortisol level, which remained high for an extended period. After about four months, my stress problem had become chronic. I displayed all the telltale signs, but, not understanding the relationship between stress and hormones, I ignored the general fatigue, difficulty sleeping, irritability, mental fog, and cravings for sugar and starchy food. While these symptoms of too much stress were bothersome, they weren’t nearly as debilitating to me as an athlete as those that followed. I actually began to gain weight. And it was all fat. I was getting fatter, even though I was training 35 to 40 hours per week. I didn’t realize why at the time, but the reason became clear later. Because of my chronically elevated cortisol, my adrenal glands had become fatigued. So fatigued that they were completely burnt out.

stimulation always results in fatigue

But exercise is not the only cause of adrenal fatigue and exhaustion. Adrenal fatigue, the first step toward adrenal exhaustion, and almost always caused by excess stimulation, is one of the greatest problems facing those of us who live and work in a fast-paced environment. Affecting 90 percent of North America’s population, it has reached epidemic proportions. After overconsumption, the greatest reason for obesity in North America is that we are simply inundated with more stress that we can deal with in a sustainable, healthy manner.

Maybe you’ve seen them, people who come to the gym week after week, month after month, and even year after year but never seem to get leaner. Despite consistent exercise, they can’t lose extra body fat or reshape their body. As I discovered firsthand, the underlying problem may be too much stress — from several sources — which culminates in a variety of health problems.

too much stress results in fatigue and body fat accumulation

The solution? Stop exercising. Taking time off from training can be one of the best ways to kick-start results. In some cases, it’s the only way to get back on track. The reason these people don’t make any gains is that their cortisol is elevated. And because exercise is a form of physical stress, it elevates those levels even further. Rest, eating a high net-gain diet, avoiding foods and drinks that stimulate the adrenal glands, and reducing stress in other areas of life will help bring down cortisol levels, at which time exercise can be reintroduced. When overall stress levels are low, that’s when significant exercise gains are made.

Sometimes, however, lightly stimulating foods such as yerba maté, green tea, and macha can be consumed to yield a significant boost in athletic performance. But afterwards, the athlete will have to take appropriate steps to recover from this extra adrenal stimulation. Following the nutritional guidelines in this book will help you stave off adrenal burnout. A particularly beneficial food to help keep the adrenals functioning at their peak is maca (see page 171). I provide pre-workout recipes for boosting pre-workout performance on page 183 and recipes to speed recovery and help the adrenals repair on pages 188 and 206.

Principles of the Thrive Diet

To sum up, the Thrive Diet is based on foods that are

• raw or cooked at low temperature

• naturally alkaline-forming

• high in nutrients that are usable by the body without having to be converted

• nutrient-dense and whole

• rich in vitamins and minerals (rather than supplements)

• 4non-stimulating

When you transition to a new way of eating, start gradually and build slowly. Remember, even positive change is perceived as stress by the body. By progressively incorporating new elements into your current diet, you will allow your body to 4physiologically adapt. By avoiding a change-related stress response, you will make a healthy diet desirable and doable.

Depending on your starting point, after about two weeks, your body will adapt and you will see that the results are worth the effort. Over time, your body will actually begin to crave high net-gain foods and lose interest in refined, processed ones. By making high net-gain foods a large part of the diet, you will simply have no room for those other foods. The body will get all the nutrition it needs from the new diet and will turn off its hunger mechanism.

EFFICIENT SLEEP

A Good Rest Is Half the Work

As I mentioned earlier, one of the greatest concerns of the professional athlete is lack of training. This often leads to the fear of not being fit enough, which is then usually countered with more training. Naturally, this results in overtraining. In an effort to help alleviate athletes’ fear of rest and help them understand that training is only half of the equation for fitness improvement, many coaches began to use this line: A good rest is half the work.

Sleep Builds Strength

4Physiologically speaking, training actually reduces the strength of the athlete. At the end of a hard workout, when the most muscle tissue has been broken down, the athlete is weakest. But once muscle tissue is broken down by exercise, the body will grow it back stronger to be able to cope with the demands placed upon it. This is the basic premise of physiological improvement: The body’s over compensation for stress stimulates strength gains. In other words, the high-return exercise you engage in during the day breaks down muscle tissue cells, which the body then regenerates to produce stronger and younger cells, using the energy from the high net-gain foods you consumed.

Your body regenerates muscle cells in the deep phase of sleep, when growth hormone is released. High-quality sleep therefore amplifies and expedites the benefits of an exercise and nutrition program. But if stress levels, and hence levels of the hormone cortisol, are too high, the body will physiologically not be able to get into this deep phase of sleep.

growth hormone release helps build muscle and reduce body fat

Provided that cortisol levels are relatively low, your body will start releasing growth hormone (GH) between 30 and 60 minutes after you fall asleep. Produced in the pituitary gland, GH is known as a powerful anabolic stimulus and thus provides several health-enhancing benefits. As the name suggests, it aids growth. Muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments, and cells in general that have been broken down during the waking hours, and in particular as a result of exercise, are repaired. Growth hormone also renews skin cells, resulting in greater elasticity, which in turn creates softer, more supple skin. And GH stimulates the breakdown of fat cells, which results in body fat loss.

How quickly we recover from exercise is in part dependent on the body’s ability to release GH. During times of particularly heavy training, some athletes have a mid-afternoon nap of at least one hour to encourage their body to release an extra hit of growth hormone. And some suggest that GH release can be increased simply by setting the alarm to go off every two hours throughout the night. The rationale: By reaching that 30 to 60 minutes point in the sleep cycle more often, we encourage the body to release GH more often. Success of course hinges on the athlete’s ability to fall back to sleep soon after being woken up by the alarm.

Foods high in starch or sugar will inhibit the release of GH if eaten within 90 minutes of going to bed. In general, it’s best not to eat at all when bedtime is near, with one exception: If you are trying to gain muscle mass, you may want to consume half a serving of Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer mixed with water. Its low starch and sugar content will not inhibit GH release, and the substantial amount of protein, essential fatty acids (EFAs), and fiber will cause the nutrient release into the bloodstream to be slow and prolonged, thus preventing the body from going into a catabolic state (which breaks down body tissue) while sleeping.

high-quality sleep reduces the desire to overeat

Sleep Reduces Appetite

There are two other hormones whose levels depend on sleep quality. Ghrelin, secreted by the stomach, is responsible in part for initiating the sensation of hunger. Leptin, released by the fat cells, signifies satiety to the brain. Levels of ghrelin become substantially elevated when you are tired, and at the same time, the release of leptin is inhibited, with the result that you feel hungry even when your body is, in fact, satiated; you can no longer judge whether you’ve consumed enough food. Therefore, it is common for people in need of quality sleep to feel hungry. This leads to overeating and eventually weight gain.

Prolonged lack of deep sleep also causes a decrease in the body’s ability to use carbohydrate for energy. The first effect is reduced energy levels, since carbohydrate is the body’s primary fuel. The second is that, since it is not burned as fuel, carbohydrate is converted to and stored as fat.

lack of high-quality sleep causes premature aging

Long-Term Effects

People who continue to lack deep sleep face symptoms usually found in those who are considerably older, because lack of deep sleep hastens the aging process. The immediate symptoms are reduced short-term memory, weight gain due to the inability to efficiently metabolize carbohydrate, and even type II diabetes if poor quality sleep is prolonged.

As we saw in the diagram on page 22, sleep is an integral part of overall health. We need deep, high-quality sleep to allow our body to repair itself while we sleep, and to feel rested, have energy, and avoid sugar and caffeine cravings when we’re awake. For a high-quality workout, we need to be well rested and have a sound recovery — both of which are dependent on sleep and nutrition.

How do we make ourselves sleep well? By lowering cortisol levels. That means eliminating as much uncomplementary stress as possible by engaging in high-return activity, eating high net-gain food, and living a low-stress lifestyle.

Quality not Quantity

While some people suggest that most of us should aim to get more sleep, I say the opposite. For the sake of productivity, the less sleep we can get away with, the better. Those extra waking hours give us more time to achieve our goals — provided, of course, we’re alert and functioning at a high level, both mentality and physically. In order for that to happen, we need to be well rested. So, although sleep is a central component of health and well-ness, it is not the duration that is of utmost importance, it’s the quality.

In the modern world, the line between being awake and being asleep has become blurred. Many people spend their days in a state that borders on being asleep. Even after eight hours of sleep, they wake up feeling both physically and mentally tired. And it shows. Their brain wants to get going, so it sends them a chemical message to drink caffeinated beverages and to eat sugary foods. The brain knows that this will help stimulate the body into action. But the effects of caffeine and sugar wear off after a short time, and the result is greater fatigue. Why is this pattern of poor-quality sleep followed by daytime fatigue so common? Stress from lifestyle, but mostly stress from the food we eat. Nutritional stress is caused by the refined foods that are commonplace in the North American diet but also by what could be argued to be a greater problem — the lack of nutrient-dense whole foods.

There has long been a debate about what’s more important for peak health — nutrition or sleep. On one hand, nutrition provides your body with building material to replace aging cells with new, vibrant ones and to reconstruct body tissue. A high net-gain diet also reduces nutritional stress. On the other hand, high-quality sleep is when that repair actually takes place. And high-quality, deep sleep can only occur when cortisol levels are low. Since high net-gain nutrition reduces stress, a healthy diet improves cortisol levels and thus the quality of sleep. Better rested people do not crave sugary and starchy foods, since they simply do not require their stimulating energy. High-quality sleep thus makes it easier to maintain a healthy diet.

quality of sleep is more important than duration

UNCOMPLEMENTARY STRESS REDUCTION

With North Americans reporting steadily escalating incidence of stress-related illness, saying that stress has become an epidemic is putting it mildly. Minor symptoms that occur only days after we surpass our stress threshold can quickly lead to fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and sugar cravings. In the long term, stress can make you ill. While nutritional stress makes up a large proportion of overall stress, there are several lifestyle situations that can create a stress response.

But not all stress is bad. Stress can be divided into three categories: uncomplementary, complementary, and production stress. If we are mindful of these three kinds of stress and their causes, stress is in fact not as difficult to curtail as you might think. You will be able to selectively reduce unbeneficial types of stress while cultivating the kinds of stress that will benefit your life and help you achieve your goals. (I also present more detail on each stress and its origins in Thrive.)

Three Types of Stress

Uncomplementary stress is any stress that does not provide a benefit. Examples include eating food that lacks nutritional value, breathing polluted air, or worrying about things you have no control over.

 

Complementary stress is stress that benefits you mentally or physical in some way, such as moderate exercise.

 

Production stress is stress created in the process of achievement. Examples include working hard on a project that is stressful, yet having something to show for it once it is complete, or engaging in high-level training for sport in excess of what is healthy, yet benefiting by achieving greater fitness.

 

The body has what I call a stress threshold. Once we go beyond it, we may develop overall fatigue, trouble sleeping, headaches, and sugar and starch cravings. Reducing all types of stress will alleviate these symptoms of general stress in the short term.

You may be stressed from overwork and having trouble sleeping because of your elevated stress hormone levels. Although quitting your job to bring down your cortisol levels is probably not an option, a reduction in workload will lead to a reduction in stress and hence cortisol levels. But how do you reduce stress while maintaining a productive life? Especially if you are a high achiever, the last thing you want is to sacrifice productivity in an effort to lessen stress.

The question is, Can we significantly reduce our stress yet maintain our productivity? I’m pleased to say the answer is yes. Nutritional stress is a form of uncomplementary stress that we can eliminate: If we eat well, we bolster our productivity and vitality.

In fact, when done correctly, calculated stress reduction can significantly boost productivity in the long term. A reduction of uncomplementary stress allows us to engage in more complementary and production stress-promoting activities. For example, if we reduce uncomplementary stress through proper nutrition, we have the opportunity to engage in the complementary stress of exercising regularly without fatigue. This will result in greater fitness and all the benefits that come with it. Lower levels of uncomplementary stress can also give us the vitality we need to take on exciting projects that will likely require hard work and therefore cause considerable production stress. But with less total stress, we can embrace these projects. To achieve goals we have set for ourselves, there are times when production stress will need to be high. To avoid reaching our stress threshold, we must eliminate stress from other areas.

Willpower Can Run Dry

As I describe in Thrive, willpower can become depleted. It is important to understand the value of this concept when you start a training regimen. Consistently doing things you don’t enjoy causes stress. So if you have to force yourself to get through each session, the value of your training is greatly diminished.

In a study on willpower, two groups of children aged seven and eight engaged in very different activities. One group was taken to the beach and allowed to play all day. The kids splashed around in the water, built sand castles, flew kites, and basically just acted like kids. The other group spent the day inside a classroom doing schoolwork. But not just any schoolwork. Each child was forced to study his or her least favorite subject. To make matters worse, the children were each carefully supervised by an adult with the aim of relentlessly keeping them on task.

At the end of the day the groups were each led into separate rooms and asked to sit at a table. Unbeknownst to the children, the researchers were able to watch them through a one-way mirror. One of the researchers then entered each of the rooms in turn, putting a bowl of freshly baked cookies on the table. Both groups of children were told that the cookies were not for them. They were asked to please not touch them and told that the adult would return in a few minutes. With that, the researcher walked out of the room.

The group that had a fun, sunny, and enjoyable day at the beach chatted quietly and barely acknowledged the presence of the cookies. The classroom group, on the other hand, were fixated on the bowl. They squirmed, sat on their hands, and made faces of frustration. They kept creeping closer, a couple of them leaning in to inhale the smell. Then a little poke with a finger, a little piece broken off and eaten. Within 15 minutes, their cookies were gone — eaten by every single one of the children.

As the researchers suspected would happen, the beach group were able to exercise their willpower. Because the beach group had spent the day doing exactly as they pleased, the children’s resolve was not taxed, and they therefore had a full supply when confronted with a situation that required it. The classroom group had their willpower depleted in the classroom earlier that day by being forced to do things they specifically disliked, and which therefore created a stress response. They simply used up their reserves of willpower and had none left when it was called upon.

doing what you dislike for a prolonged period of time depletes willpower, making any challenge you take on more difficult

We’ve all been in situations when we have pushed ourselves for an extended period, to the point where we’re unhappy and near-exhausted; there comes a point when we need a break. Having the ability to push through no matter what may be helpful in the short term, but in the long term, it makes anything we attempt harder.

Exercise You Enjoy Replenishes Willpower

If you’ve always perceived exercise as easy and fun, exercise will serve as a willpower restorer after a long day of work. But if you force yourself to do daily exercise that you don’t like, it will deplete your willpower, making it increasingly difficult to seek out and take on new challenges. Conversely, if you have to force yourself in other aspects of life, you are less likely to be successful at switching to a new diet or sticking to an exercise program. Many cite their reason for not sticking to an exercise program or eating healthily as simply not wanting to — despite being aware of the vast benefits. Fortunately, the solution is simple.

People who no longer have the willpower to stick to an exercise program are best not to start one. Not right away. They first need to introduce an element into their life that brings them true enjoyment. Maybe you dislike your job. You come home in the evening having burned all of your willpower, and find it very difficult to motivate yourself to exercise. Changing jobs so that you are happier during the work day and have the willpower to exercise in your leisure time may not be an option. The solution? Stop trying to exercise for now and find something you love to do after work. It will fill up your reservoir of willpower. Once you have regained enjoyment in your daily life, you can start exercising. Even though it may not be enjoyable at first, the endorphin release will help enhance your mood and make sticking with it easier.

reduce stress to improve drive and determination

I was once asked by an interviewer for a magazine, “How are you able to constantly push yourself so hard in training and during Ironman competitions?” I had never thought about it. My instant response was, “I don’t push myself, I just let myself go.” And it was true. I had never viewed what I did as “pushing myself.” In my mind, I was doing what I wanted and letting myself go. It was easier for me to train and race than to not. I perceived it as a low-stress, fun activity; therefore, it was easier for me to do than for someone who had to push himself through every workout. And my steadily improving results reflected that.

When you are selecting a recreational activity, pick one you’ll enjoy. It’s not so much the activity itself as the way you perceive it that is important. For many people, yoga is an excellent form of stress relief. But if you don’t like yoga, performing it in an effort to get healthy will have little value and can actually create more stress than it alleviates.

Consider your likes and dislikes, and aim to find a form of exercise that suits your personality. Do you prefer solitary or social sports, vigorous or gentle, competitive or non-competitive, individual or team, indoor or outdoor?

If you want to use exercise to clear your mind after a challenging day at work, a run or walk by yourself may be a good choice; if you want exercise to be your time of the day, away from others, solo activities are the way to go. If, however, you like the camaraderie and social aspect of exercising, choose an activity such as an aerobics class or circuit training. If you need motivation to exercise, arrange to work out with a friend. If you schedule your exercise like any other meeting, you will quickly get into an exercise routine and be encouraged to stick with it.

Do you like a vigorous activity, such as boxing, or are you more suited to introspective movements, such as yoga? Do you prefer competitive activities to keep you motivated or is competition a turn-off for you? If you flourish with head-to-head competition, try tennis or squash. Do you like team sports? Consider joining a local soccer or ultimate league. Or, if you prefer indoor team sports, try the local volleyball or basketball court. Check with your local recreation center to see what it offers. You will be amazed at the diversity of activities available.

spending mental energy wisely yields improved productivity

This, of course, isn’t limited to sports. You can only fake it for so long before your willpower simply runs dry and you are forced to make a change. Be sensitive to what you like. If you are clear about that, you can offset unpleasant activities with activities that you enjoy in other parts of your life and thus enhance your chance of success. This will build your willpower reserve and allow you to bring to your project a clearer mind and greater ability to work diligently and efficiently.

If you are dreading the thought of having to complete a large project that provides you little interest, recharge your willpower with enjoyable activities. When not working on your project, go out of your way to do things that are especially rewarding to you. Make sure that they are instantly gratifying though; for this compensation mechanism to work, the payoff must be immediate.

In addition to seeking out pleasurable activities, put a hold on doing things you dislike. Since all of your resolve needs to be gathered, stored, and released for your project, let other things go and deal with them later. Stop cleaning your house. Seriously. Let go whatever you can. Believe me, you’ll be able to retain and unleash more willpower than you had ever thought possible. Your productivity will be unparalleled. (It’s a good thing I’m enjoying writing this book or my house would be a mess.)

being properly nourished reduces stress and therefore builds a reservoir of willpower

A mistake I see people make consistently is trying to do too many things at once. Especially when these projects are large, requiring considerable mental resources. You’ll improve your odds of success if you focus on one project at a time and pour all your willpower and mental resources into it. It will be completed with greater quality and in a shorter amount of time. Then move on to the next. All the projects you have on the go will still be completed in the same amount of time.

Studies suggest that willpower can be raised by maintaining healthy blood-sugar levels. Willpower is greatest when the body and brain are well nourished. Applying self-control burns blood sugar, which in turn reduces the capacity to further maintain willpower. Another reason to keep the body well and consistently fueled.

AT A GLANCE

• High-quality nutrition is vital for cellular regeneration and ongoing athletic improvement.

• Regular exercise and high-quality food collaborate in the creation of a biologically younger body.

• Consuming high net-gain foods will result in sustainable, non-stimulating energy.

• The reduction of nutritional stress will significantly reduce overall stress and will boost vitality with no loss in productivity.

• Willpower is finite. When it runs dry, even minor tasks will seem difficult.

• Enjoyable activities restore willpower, resulting in the ability to take on major tasks and overcome significant challenges.