Heart

Dec

2019

Do you play angry?

I am part of a local networking group called the Fort Washington Networking Professionals and this past week I had an opportunity to give them all a 10 minute presentation about what we do here.

I focused this speech more around the philosophy of why we do it, while giving the audience an insight into who I am, and why I have such passion about my purpose.

After a recent experience where I took a trip for healing purposes, I’ve felt quite unencumbered by any thought patterns that held me back previously, as my thoughts and words just flow now.

This allows me to care less about the fears others project on me, and helps me make the decisions that are closest to my heart, the one that feels right, from the gut.

Evidently this came across in my speech, as at the end one gentleman stood up and gave me a standing O, kinda awesome, and later another gentleman came up to me …

He said “John … you do business angry … like Lawrence Taylor played Football … mean … and he was one of the best to ever do it.”

At first glance that might appear to be an insult, however, I knew exactly what he meant.

Lawrence Taylor on the football field was a nightmare for everyone else but those closest to him, his teammates.

I kinda feel like I’m the same about those who get in my way with regards to making sure people have the information they need and the person who loves them enough to hold them accountable to higher standards.

I will not fail in that regard and thus, it comes across as I ‘play angry’.

I know it’s more like my passion bleeding out, wearing my heart on my sleeve.

Just who I am, and I wouldn’t want to be anyone else.

How about you, do you play angry?

Be Well – John

Changing the way Life is done.

Mindset. Fitness. Nutrition.

www.BairKnuckleStrength.com

P.S. Here are 4 more ways you can become happier and healthier:

1. Podcasts

Some of the greatest insights and healing for me, have come from listening to podcasts in the last few years. This long-form type of communication, I’ve found, has been extremely important for understanding context, while learning how to make sustainable change.

That’s why I have started to find ways to get our story on some podcasts, and give you an opportunity to really go deep with us, and see what we’re all about. That way, you can decide if this tribe fits your personality. Click the link below to go to our podcast page, where you can find all our episodes!

Click Here To LISTEN

2. Rise

Rise is the story of ‘never feeling powerful … to … never feeling powerless’. It’s about John Bair’s life, why he does what he does and how his suffering created happiness.

This handwritten book takes you through an intimate, yet, self-revealing journey, which allows you to implant yourself into the story, as it relates to your own, and reveal the steps you’ll need to take, in order to make change a successful reality.

Available in DIGITAL, AUDIO, BOOK

Click Here To Get Your FREE Copy

3. Join our BADASS Community on Facebook

We want to work with and be around as many BADASS people as possible. Folks who might forget how BADASS they are and just need the space to remember.

So, we started a FREE group on Facebook called BADASS, which is our own private community where we go deeper into what we do at Bair Knuckle Strength.

The truth is, it makes the world a happier, safer, more enjoyable place when you love your BADASS self.

If you’re ready to see what we do, just CLICK HERE!

4. Fitness Scorecard

Have you gone through the Fitness Scorecard yet?

Confused where to start, or what to do next with your health and fitness journey?

Well, step 1 is to understand where you currently score across the 8 Fitness Indicators.

Start your journey toward your personal fitness breakthrough by completing your Fitness Scorecard Today: CLICK HERE

Aug

2019

Rise

Today would’ve been James Kling’s 37th birthday.

He was my other brother from another mother.

We lost Jimbo and my brother Tony between 2007 and 2008.

After they passed …

Our worlds …

Forever changed.

At the crossroads of …

Die

Change .

The choice was hard …

The road was harder …

It’s why I started Bair Knuckle Strength.

It’s why I think you’re BADASS.

It’s why I do what I do.

It’s my gift to my brother for his pain.

It’s my gift to my cousin on his birthday.

Here is the Story …

May it serve you well.

Available in DIGITAL, AUDIO, BOOK

FREE COPY: CLICK HERE

Be Well – John

Changing the way Life is done.

Mindset. Fitness. Nutrition.

www.BairKnuckleStrength.com

P.S. Here are 4 more ways you can become happier and healthier:

1. Podcasts

Click Here To LISTEN

2. Rise

Rise is the story of ‘never feeling powerful … to … never feeling powerless’. It’s about John Bair’s life, why he does what he does and how his suffering created happiness.

Available in DIGITAL, AUDIO, BOOK

Click Here To Get Your FREE Copy

3. Join our BADASS Community on Facebook

We want to work with and be around as many BADASS people as possible. Folks who might forget how BADASS they are and just need the space to remember.

So, we started a FREE group on Facebook called BADASS, which is our own private community where we go deeper into what we do at Bair Knuckle Strength.

The truth is, it makes the world a happier, safer, more enjoyable place when you love your BADASS self.

If you’re ready to see what we do, just CLICK HERE!

4. Fitness Scorecard

Have you gone through the Fitness Scorecard yet?

Confused where to start, or what to do next with your health and fitness journey?

Well, step 1 is to understand where you currently score across the 8 Fitness Indicators.

Start your journey toward your personal fitness breakthrough by completing your Fitness Scorecard Today: CLICK HERE

Jul

2019

When the ambulance wails

This past Friday started like a typical Friday.

Up at 4 am, to be in by 5 am, for a Potential New Member.

Really nice guy, over 50, who is looking to get in shape for his kids wedding next year.

We had already met once, and had a conversation about his goals.

One thing I always insist upon is medical clearance from a doctor, for resistance training specifically.

He had clearance and because of some previous heart issues, he was hyper-aware of how his body felt if he was in a poor state.

He came in Friday at 5 am.

We did his movement assessment to address any limitations and then administered the strength tests, which he passed.

Like anyone, he has a few movement things to work on, however, based on these assessments and tests, he was ready to take class at 5:15 am.

As we do in every class, we went through our RAMP (Range of Motion, Activation, Movement Prep) or ‘Warm-up’ sequence.

These exercises get you moving well, and are a little strenuous, so as to increase blood oxygen and get your heart primed to start pumping more blood.

Then we moved on to our CORE segment, or Ab exercises, which were tough, but doable for this man, based on his assessment.

Then we moved into our POWER segment.

He asked to take a break.

That’s never an issue, because we know you are the CEO of your body and encourage you to listen to it.

When our hearts have been pumping a little bit, as this gentleman’s had, sitting down isn’t conducive to heart health … so, I asked him to step out front of the studio, get some air, and keep moving a bit.

He went out to get some air …

I came back in to resume class and one of my students noticed this man swaying a little.

We went out to check and as I got closer to him, he started drifting away from me, stumbled, and fell backwards onto the ground.

I couldn’t quite grab him in time before this happened, and his head missed a set of concrete steps by a couple inches.

He was still awake, just really loopy and my student called an ambulance, while another student came out to help me with this man.

I had my hand under his head, and she was checking for his pulse, as I was getting ready to administer CPR.

I called this man’s name and he spoke, more conscious, and took some deep breaths … I did not administer CPR 😉

My heart started beating again at this moment, as I could tell he was there with us and just needed some air, a little water and a maybe hug.

I could feel the adrenaline coursing through me, followed by the cortisol dump … it was scary.

He was embarrassed and apologized profusely.

“John, I’m really sorry.”

I assured him there was nothing to be sorry for, as there was no way to predict this event, and that he did nothing wrong, there is no blame.

We can still get him where he wants to be … and that he can only go up from here, because having an ambulance called on your first day only ends one of two ways … and he’s still with us.

The moral of this story is … there is no sense beating yourself up … only sense in building yourself up.

Mentally.
Physically.
Nutritionally.

I applaud this man for wanting to better himself.

Keeping yourself healthy and capable is not a guarantee of anything, except that your body WILL NOT be a limiting factor in your enjoyment of life.

Science is proving the benefits of Strength Training and is the one thing that is GUARANTEED to keep your years younger and more enjoyable.

Read that again …

Strength training GUARANTEES you more youth and fun … nothing else does that.

No matter your level of health and fitness, no matter your age, no judgement here …

You DO NOT have to be in shape to work with us.

You DO NOT have to feel bad for where you are.

You DO NOT have to know how to get to your goals.

All you have to know …

Is WHY you want to change AND be committed to it.

Life is precious.

We can go at any moment.

Make sure you don’t die with your music still inside.

Play it baby … Play it!

Be Well – John

Changing the way Life is done.

Mindset. Fitness. Nutrition.

www.BairKnuckleStrength.com

P.S. Here are 4 more ways you can become happier and healthier:

1. Podcasts

Click Here To LISTEN

2. Rise

Rise is the story of ‘never feeling powerful … to … never feeling powerless’. It’s about John Bair’s life, why he does what he does and how his suffering created happiness.

Available in DIGITAL, AUDIO, BOOK

Click Here To Get Your FREE Copy

3. Join our BADASS Community on Facebook

We want to work with and be around as many BADASS people as possible. Folks who might forget how BADASS they are and just need the space to remember.

So, we started a FREE group on Facebook called BADASS, which is our own private community where we go deeper into what we do at Bair Knuckle Strength.

The truth is, it makes the world a happier, safer, more enjoyable place when you love your BADASS self.

If you’re ready to see what we do, just CLICK HERE!

4. Fitness Scorecard

Have you gone through the Fitness Scorecard yet?

Confused where to start, or what to do next with your health and fitness journey?

Well, step 1 is to understand where you currently score across the 8 Fitness Indicators.

Start your journey toward your personal fitness breakthrough by completing your Fitness Scorecard Today: CLICK HERE

Mar

2016

Cardio. Is it necessary?

How do you get the heart rate up? What zone is your heart rate? What are you doing for cardio?

Look, I get it, these buzz-phrases are all over the internet and in the health magazines and it makes you feel like you are missing something that you should be doing.

These things are annoying, mis-leading and sometimes unhealthy.

When people ask me those same questions, I say: ‘I lift weights…faster.’

Have you ever carried some groceries across the parking lot? Ever picked up a small child and walked with them? Ever shoveled snow?

Did you feel your heart pumping and blood rushing through your veins?

Ta-Da, Heart rate was up and in the zone…Is that not cardio???

Just today I had a 69 year old client perform a squat without weight, with proper alignment and his heart rate went to 158 beats…after 1 squat?!?!?!

The accepted conventional wisdom and pseudo-science logic seems to still ‘think’ (operative word…not, KNOW) that cardio is the way to ‘Burn’ more calories and shed body fat.

It happens all the time. People come in and we run through intake questions: Health History, Medical Concerns, Current Routine, Goal(s) and some others. When we get to the current routine questions, I ask people what they’ve been doing and what are their goals.

I’m usually perplexed when people tell me they want to lose fat and change their appearance/body composition to more muscle and that their routine includes hours upon hours of ‘cardio’ and stretching. I understand, lifting weights seems daunting or ‘too hard,’ yet people will go out and ruin their bodies and joints by running for an hour or taking a 100mile bike ride every weekend, warrior style.

Before I get targeted by the Cooky Cardio Clan, I’m not attacking cardio. If it’s something you enjoy, that great! However, there is a better and faster way to reach your goals and in some cases, too much ‘cardio’ is killing your results…seriously.

Exercise truly is the best form of medicine. Nutrition truly is the best form of health care. Strength training truly cures almost everything that ails you.

Cardio is not the best form of Fat Loss, Body Composition or really anything.

No….It’s not.

Cardio, for our purposes, is defined as a: long duration – moderate intensity – steady state effort like; jogging, running, cycling, swimming, stair stepping, treadmilling and the like.

According to the most important biomarkers in regards to your longevity, Cardio (aerobic capacity) is the least important part of aging well and living longer.

Top Bio-markers
-Muscle Mass
-Strength
-Resting Metabolic Rate
-Body Fat
-Aerobic Capacity

These bio-markers can be affected by too much cardio, causing you to lose muscle, store fat and slow down your resting metabolic rate (# of calories burned during rest.)

Cardio also promotes excessive cortisol (stress hormone) and the longer the cardio session, the longer it takes for your body to return to pre-cortisol levels. Testosterone (we all have some), which peaks at about 30 minutes into your training session, is inhibited by Cortisol.

A higher Testosterone: Cortisol ratio is anabolic (muscle-building) versus a lower Testosterone: Cortisol level which is catabolic (muscle-wasting).

To be fair, all exercise promotes cortisol, even my beloved strength training. Yet, compared to traditional cardio, strength training is superior because the benefits far outweigh the negatives especially if you’re getting your nutrition and recovery game under control.

So think about this: after about 30 minutes of running, cycling etc. your body is in a muscle-wasting environment. Folks training for Marathons and triathlons are losing muscle after training at least 30 minutes…yet, we all know their events can last for hours!!!

In a class here at Bair Knuckle Strength, we ‘warm-up’ the joints and prepare our bodies for strength training with about 20 minutes of various movement drills that are designed NOT to spike cortisol. We move on to about 25 minutes of Strength training, followed by roughly 5 minutes of Metabolic Conditioning (Energy System Work) and topped off with 5 minutes of a cool-down/stretching period.

Our students are educated to replenish their glycogen (energy) stores by consuming fast acting protein and some fast acting carbohydrates almost immediately to within 1-hour post-session, which stops cortisol in its track and promotes Anabolism (muscle-building) not Catabolism (muscle-wasting).

A great example is a study from 1999 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. This study put two groups on a calorie restricted diet, with one doing ‘only cardio’ and the other doing ‘only resistance training.’ Both groups lost weight (28.2lbs and 32lbs respectively), but:

The ‘only cardio’ participants lost 9lbs of muscle and decreased their RMR by 210 calories/day.

The ‘only resistance’ group lost 1.8lbs of muscle (because of the deficit), and increased their RMR by 63 calories/day!

In other words, the ‘only resistance’ group will burn 273 more calories than the ‘only cardio’ group EVERY day going forward, without doing anything extra. Plus, they will be stronger, look better and move with less pain which sets the table for slowing down the aging process on the cellular level.

In conclusion, if you like cardio AND you are getting exactly the results you want that’s awesome and I’m happy for you. If you’re not getting those results and hate cardio, try lifting weights, sleeping 8 hours a night and taking a long walk instead.

Please comment below with your results!

Mar

2014

You need strength, more than ever!

Strength is the universal equalizer in anything that involves completing a task worthy of your time, like: Health, Life, Family, Relationships, Business, Sport, Military etc. Those who have it persevere, and those who don’t, perish. Skill can take us so far but, eventually we all have to endure setbacks, frustration, failure, disease and still have the mental and physical fortitude to trudge on and not break, in your darkest hours. That’s the reality.

Life is hard enough with strength and for those who are without it, life can be downright vicious. Your mind starts wandering, the body deteriorates, joints creak and crinkle, bones fracture, gravity starts winning and you are prone to man made diseases, cancers, ailments and medical restrictions. The remainder of your existence is spent in pain, scared, afraid and in fear of over exerting yourself, which reduces you to a passenger in your own life.

But what is Strength and why do I need it? It’s the ability to overcome and to resist being moved or broken by a force. Strength is used to keep your skeleton upright, to believe in yourself when others don’t, to help get a job, to protect your home, to lead a business, help a spouse who needs you, a parent who is sick, in sport to excel – heck even with pesky in-laws, just to keep your mind calm. Strength also improves productivity and success, by allowing you to maintain your health when others do not.

The definition of Successful is: accomplishing an aim or a purpose. Successful people have one thing in common, they don’t let others deter them from their vision – which requires immense strength and courage. Especially when others tell you you’re crazy, to take the easy route and cut you down instead of build you up. You have two choices: listen to them, or not.

Notice, being rich, or the strongest, or the prettiest, or the most ripped or smartest among others, does not a success make, by definition. If your aim or purpose is to achieve those things, then I salute you – you’ve arrived! Success to me is aiming for and or accomplishing a balance between the things you desire from life that make you happy and your purpose – which may include family, business, traveling, friends, experiences and the like.

There is strength in simplicity, which has been said ‘is the ultimate Sophistication’ by Leonardo Da Vinci. We can’t have it all but, we can have enough, in abundance and across the spectrum of our lives, if we work at it. You can’t take stuff with you when your time’s up, so how much is enough: fitness, stuff, money, power, strength, excess etc?

The world has enough bad people and coaches that break people down, never to build them up and inspire the confidence necessary to carry on a lifestyle of strength. I intend to go the other way by helping those who have never touched a weight, to those who need an intervention from weights. The benefits of strength are staggering and in particular strength training for your body. Why?

When you need help and support, have fallen on hard times, are sick, have cancer, overweight, insecure, scared, weak or alone – where do you find the courage to go on? See the point? Strength isn’t just physical, however the benefits of physical strength training have a ripple effect through your body including: improved health, a cascade of healthy hormones, better bone density, more lean muscle mass and better mental health to start.

Improved Health – Moving your body against gravity and external resistance forces the bones and muscles to grow and adapt under the progressive stimulus of training. This primes your ‘physiological gears’ to pump youthful oxygenated blood which nourishes and repairs body cells, aids proper digestion, strengthens the heart, improves disease immunity and controls body composition.

Cascade of Hormones – Strength training improves testosterone in men and helps women fight menopause. It potentiates insulin sensitivity and protein synthesis in everyone. The hormonal response can be optimized by doing the right things at the right time in regards to nutrition and recovery.

Strong Bones – Falling is the number 2 cause of death according to the CDC. Joint Implants, Osteoporosis and Gravity all conspire to weaken you and make you fragile by the minute. It doesn’t have to be that way as Strength training hardens your bones, protects you from falls, keeps your frame from caving in and you out of the hospital with unnecessary fractures.

Lean Muscle – Having more lean muscle is a buffer for your body that acts like body armor. Helping absorb a bad fall, or bump into a cabinet or being tackled on the field. Having more lean muscle helps the body manage sugar better as well.

Mental Health – Depression is no joke, I know. Strength training in particular has been shown to enhance brain chemistry, increase neuro-genesis, boost self confidence and enjoyment of life. A strong body and mind are a cohesive unit and help provide a Healthy Outlook.

I would be remiss if I left out that, Strength Training gave me my life back. I have something to share and it’s my mission to bring the benefits of all strength, physical, mental, emotional – to the people. The more absolute strength you possess, the more capable you are to force your will on the world and truly make a change. The greatest risks can end with the greatest rewards, but only if you have the strength to weather the storms!

Leave a Comment Below and Share with a Friend who needs Strength.

That’s all I have to say – bout thaaaat 🙂 Anyone?