Longevity

Feb

2020

“My Dance Instructor can’t keep up!”

I really do love what I do.

A few days ago I was teaching a class and one of my students came over and we started talking.

She’s a dancer, among many other things, and she told me that her dance instructor, who she said is a much younger man, has to tell her to ‘slow it down’ or he has to take breaks because she can “dance all night” …

Most of her dance partners exhaust because she dances circles around them too.

And this woman is, well, I’m not stupid enough to write it here, however, older than her instructor, ok?

I asked her what she attributes that to and she brought up her response to an email I sent earlier in the week about Barbell Dead Lifts.

The reason she brought it up is because she hit and ‘exceeded’ her goal … which she knows has helped her stay injury free, and dance longer, thus gaining better skill and technique.

Below is a screen shot of that email (and it’s written out below the screen shot)

“Hi John –

I’m not on Facebook, so I can’t check out the video. Just curious about whether your friend Gerry … is a dancer and teacher of west coast swing.

Gerry is in phenomenal shape, and so I thought it might be the same person.

BTW, I am thrilled at having exceeded my winter goal of dead lifting my body weight.

I was able to dead lift 130 lbs. yesterday, which is 10 lbs. above my body weight!!!!!

And I agree with you: I really enjoy dead lifts.

Have a great weekend.

Best,

J.”

Are you ready to dance?

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

Want to help another?

I had one of email readers reach out to me recently and let me know that she’s really enjoying reading my emails.

She also went on to let me know that she is ‘hoping to approach a friend she knows’ about my services here.

However, she’s hesitant to bring this up to her friend because she doesn’t know what to say, perhaps, without appearing pushy or insensitive.

I get it …

You see someone who YOU KNOW could use a different approach, and you desperately want them to WAKE UP and GET IT … right?

I know … Me too …

I think everyone who cannot defend themselves physically and mentally is a liability to all of us, because it forces others to pick up their slack …

Kids and the elderly get a pass … however, adults can and should hold themselves to a better standard when it comes to their health.

Now, as we know, people don’t usually change unless it’s the only option.

As the saying goes … You can lead a horse to water …

That said, here’s a couple ways to approach them …

1. Start a conversation

At some point ask them if they’re enjoying life …
That should lead to some kind of reaction …
Where you can read the body language and words to assess whether or not to keep going …
Some people ‘think’ they’re enjoying, some are ashamed to say they’re not, others will come out and say no …and many are content
A select few are truly enjoying … they tend to be quite comfortable in their own skin.
If they aren’t enjoying, that’s huge for them to admit …
See if you can find out things they can’t do, that they wish they could …
Then ask how committed they are to changing it (scale of 1-10) …
9’s and 10’s are ready …
Lower than 8 … ask: ‘What has to happen for you to get to a 9 or 10 … what would make it easier for you?” …
That tells you right there what they need … and the fear that’s holding them back

2. Share Your Story

Tell them that you’ve been thinking a lot about your own purpose here on the planet.
What you’re meant to do to serve others
And wondering if you’re doing everything possible to be mentally, physically and spiritually fulfilled while you’re here.
So as to be fully present and capable in your work/whatever they do
Then ask them “What is your purpose?”
This will lead to some kind of dialogue where they tell you more.
If it’s not concise and takes them longer than 30 seconds to answer, then they don’t know, which is not a bad thing

These questions provoke emotion … that leads to real answers, and reasons for change … you’ll have to feel them out, and proceed as you see fit.

Depending on the person, you may have to go deeper with them … that is, if you really care about them and THEIR goals …

People want to know (or at least believe) that you have THEIR best interest at heart … they can smell when it’s in YOUR best interest.

So, to the woman who wants to send her friend my way (and maybe anyone you know too) …

Show them you care enough to listen to their needs, and let them know you know someone who can serve those needs 🙂

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

Aug

2019

What ‘should’ you be doing?

Have you ever really wanted to make a change … got started … felt pretty good about it … and then life happened … taking you back to square -1?

You’re not alone.

Life … does happen.

It’s what you do after Life happens, that matters.

I’ve had a few clients recently who got thrown off their A game …

One young woman was sick, and having major anxiety over not being able to work, even though she knew she needed to rest … On top of that, she felt ‘guilty’ and ‘disgusting’ for not having been into the gym for awhile … a horrible cycle to be in … and now she’s struggling with the next phase of ‘adulting’, which creates even more anxiety.
One gentleman had been coming for about 6 months and just stopped coming … after a little digging, found out he’s had some shoulder pain, and a family issue … but he’s upset with the regression and wants to get back to feeling better … and is finding it challenging to do so
Another woman was having success with the Keto diet … a few months after she started, she was having some stress at work, which eventually got better, however, knocked her off the Keto game … and while she wants to focus on it, she doesn’t want it to consume her life … and is having difficulty ‘making it work on weekends’ because during the week, she’s so busy with work that it’s ‘easier for her’ then.

They have found it tough to make it back to things they ‘know they should be doing’ but for some reason, haven’t.

It’s as if it’s not ‘second nature’ or ‘habitual’ yet.

It requires effort, and conscious thought …

The truth is … they will never see success … or even change.

Unless they understand ‘WHY” they’re actually doing it … AND … anchor it to their nervous system through emotional attachment.

Did your grandparents ever give you Hershey bars as a kid, or maybe your aunt or uncle took you out for a Coke once in awhile … and now you smile when you see a Hershey bar or a Coke commercial?

Maybe it was going to a ball game, getting ice cream … or, for me, something like the Indianapolis 500.

Every year around the month of May, I get flooded with memories of going to the race because I used to go as a kid with my dad.

I don’t even really care about racing all that much, however, I always look to see who won …

Today, you see this with people who ‘love their iPhone’ or ‘Vacation at Disney’ … because they’re emotionally invested in those things.

That’s what has to happen with whatever results you’re looking to achieve.

If you have to ‘think about it’ at crunch time … you’ll lose … every time.

If you tie some emotion to your decisions … when you’re faced with a difficult decision, you’ll be able to withstand the uncomfortable nature of growth and make the best choice for you, to achieve your result.

Example: The reason WHY I’m in business and have decided to dedicate my life to serving others through Mindset, Fitness, and Nutrition is because I let my brother down and many others along side him.

Before he died, I did not give him the love or attention I felt he needed and did not show up in his life to the best of my ability …

I was selfish and in pain … so I stomped on his feelings and needs…

These days, I aim to not ever be that guy again … even though he’s lurking under the surface, it’d be easy to ‘fall back into old patterns’ and become a loser like I was …

However, imagine knowing that you could have loved somebody better, and now you don’t get that chance …

People don’t change until it’s the only option … which is why so many suffer needlessly.

Now, when I’m faced with a decision of doing something ‘I know I should’ like eating well, training my body and taking time for personal and spiritual development … there is no thought … it just gets done.

Because I’ve tied the emotion of letting my brother down … to it.

Which means if I don’t do those things to take care of myself … it’s as if I’d be watching him die all over again (in my mind and body, which don’t know the difference) ….

I can never go through that again … it was hell.

With that kind of force behind your decisions … how can you fail?

However, most are too scared to go that deep and uncover the real reasons behind there ineptitude.

I was forced too … you might have a choice …

So tell me …

What should you be doing that you’re not?

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

Dec

2015

How to find motivation, inspiration and your reason why…part 2

Welcome back!

My answer to question #1 or my reason for living – is because I feel I still have much more to accomplish to reach my potential. Not in a vain way for myself, but rather, helping to build a strong community of people who want to be an asset to society and not a liability. I have a passion for physical culture, because it literally changed the trajectory of my life. The saying: ‘the strong survive’ is true. They also have more fun, more money, are more productive and have less; injuries, pain, worry, sickness and anxiety, overall.

Strength is a very important bio-marker as we age, meaning, without it, you are more likely to be at a higher risk of depression, injury, illness or worse. A big part of this is self-serving, I’ll admit, because I sure as hell do not want to pay (emergency service, insurance or whatever) for the lazy buttheads who sit on the couch all day and do nothing, living off the powers that be. I could make more money doing something else, but I will be in the trenches helping the cause, by teaching folks real world strength because I believe in it that much.

You can apply that answer to #2 and to #3. I get up to spread the word of strength and I do it for my community, because I see how much strong, compassionate people can positively make an impact. So for me, I want everyone to experience that. It’s what drives me to be up at 4:20 am every day, commute to my studio in the pitch dark and help others the way strength has helped me.

I only have this insight, because I had no purpose or reason why. I was in that dark place of depression, blaming others, doing nothing, being miserable and watching my life slip away. It took horrible tragedies for me to get on the right path and while I never wish that for you, you can certainly take something away from my experience.

The people who are not training for life or doing anything to better themselves for their future can certainly do it for someone elses benefit. Don’t want to care about yourself? Well, what about your child, or spouse, or parent, or neighbor or whomever – who may need motivation, inspiration or a reason why? There is somebody who is watching you, counting on you and they need you to step up. You give them every reason to live with purpose, instead of living afraid and hopeless.

Do you really want your kids to have to pick the ‘home’ you end up in? (be nice to them) Worse, do you really want the state to pick the home because you don’t have anyone around? I’m guessing, no. What about time with your grand-kids? Well, it would be quite a tragedy to miss out on the memories and experiences you could share with loved ones. How much fun can you really have if you are injured, sick, depressed and emotionally unavailable most of the time?

Think of it this way. If you don’t take care of yourself – someone else will. By making the choice to do nothing, you’ve made a choice. If you’re not strong, capable and energetic then you will be miserable and get left behind…. who wants that? Life is too short for misery.

On those shitty days where you don’t feel like training, go. If you’re not keeling over, have a fever or bed ridden, then think about your why and go (do something)! Seriously, know the difference between you really can’t go and you don’t ‘feel’ like it because your a little tight or tired. Life is tough. It requires movement because movement strengthens the body, keeps you sharp and nourishes your brain like food nourishes your body. Your body is the protector of your brain, where all those happy memories and habit loops reside, take care of it. It’s what makes us beautifully human. This takes conscious awareness, being in the moment and making strength and happiness a habit, not; a hoping and a wishing…

That’s how we get to the bottom of the bad habits and create positive long lasting habits. Finding your reason to get up, to keep going and live life with purpose. Making that the first thing your brain thinks about before you decide to flip someone off or skip a workout and scarf a whole box of donuts.

So again, please, what is your reason or purpose for living?

Taking care of yourself is vitally important for the future of those you care about, to ensure their safety down the road. If you don’t like something about your life, you can change it and if you can’t or won’t change it, then your complaints are moot. If you’re not going to do the work for change, you will not help society in any positive way. I hear living on an island can cure you of that.

Studies have shown that folks who feel as if they ‘have no purpose’ or ‘hope’ will die or get sick much more prematurely, than people who feel as if they ‘have something to accomplish’ or ‘a reason for living.’

Which brings me to a funny story I heard one time, or maybe a tale, but the point is relevant. (and I’m paraphrasing)

‘A man tells a woman that the apocalypse is near’

‘The world WILL end tomorrow’

The woman’s response was epic…

‘NO way in Hell is earth gonna end tomorrow’

‘I have too much shit to do!’

Click Here for a sample of folks who have gotten stronger with our approach and have fun, with a purpose for life.

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?