LegendaryLife Blog

Before getting surgery done, make sure this guy isn't your surgeon!

With all that has happened in the past few months, a few articles I wanted to write about fell off the screen which I am now salvaging and writing about. Part of living a legendary life is having a body that is enables you to do as you wish.

Background Info

RNCentral.com has some really good advice, straight from front-line nurses who have very thoughtful and first hand experience to save you a lot of money by living healthily. Sickness can be avoided with a good lifestyle including plenty of exercise and a great whole food diet but sometimes, hospitals are a necessity, so here are some tips from Heather Johnson that ensure you leave as healthy as possible.

General Advice

1. Care about your Care

Nobody cares as much about your health as you do (or should). If there are some decisions to be made, make sure you are involved in the process.

2. Ask Questions

There is no such thing as a dumb question, only a dumb answer. If you don’t understand why a procedure, medicine or other things are happening to or around you. ASK!

3. Get YOUR care done by somebody you know!

Doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers are there to HELP you but having somebody you know, such as your own doctor, will make a world of difference in easing your stress levels. Somebody you have a medical relationship with will also have knowledge about YOU that maybe another practitioner doesn’t which may affect outcomes. Always make sure your personal doctor knows you are in a hospital undergoing treatment and feel free to consult with them.

4. Become an open book

No detail is too small or insignificant to be told to a medical practitioner… tell them everything about your health and any conditions you may be suffering from. Knowledge goes a long way towards successful treatment.

5. Become your own expert

If you suffer from a medical condition, make sure YOU become an expert in it. Not only will this help to create informed decisions regarding your care but it also allows you to have an intelligent conversation with your doctor or nurse.

Medications

6. Know and tell your drug history

Every supplement, prescription and over the counter drug you take should be listed along with amounts (quantity / dose) and given to the person caring for you. Drug interactions are a very nasty thing that are avoidable.

7. Allergies

If you got them, be sure to tell!

8. Ask about prescriptions

Your health practitioner will know far more about drugs than you ever will but that doesn’t mean you don’t politely ask them to give you additional details about it which you can then research on your own to learn more about.

9. Don’t over/under dose!

Numbers are usually abstract things but when it comes to medicine, they can have serious consequences if they are wrong even by a decimal point. Be sure to double and triple check all dosing with different people before taking your medicine.

10. Double check your medicine

Don’t assume anything, once you get the medication, open it right away, make sure your name is on the bottle and the dosing is correct. If things look a little odd, point it out!

11. Can you read it?

If you can’t read your doctor’s handwriting, then how do you expect a pharmacist to? Make sure the drug name is clearly legible and be sure to ask him to tell you the name orally as well so the two match.

12. Side Effects are BAD

Every drug, even placebos, have side effects. Make sure you read and understand them before taking medication, prescription or otherwise. If you feel “not right” after taking a medicine, call your doctor right away!

13. One stop pharmaceutical shopping

Most pharmacies now track your prescription history in their computers which also double-check automatically for drug interactions and other possible hazards. Make sure you consolidate all your prescriptions at one pharmacy.

14. Measure

Pills may be easy to use but sometimes medication comes in other forms which aren’t as easy to measure. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if there is an easy way to get the right dosage if your drug is in powder or liquid form. If needed, ask them to show you how to properly administer the correct dosage in front of you.

Surgery

15. Know what is going on!

If you are going for surgery, after educating yourself as to what will be done to you, make sure that those responsible for your care ALSO have this knowledge. If there are complications, you want somebody who knows both YOU and the procedure to make an informed decision on your behalf.

16. Surgery is to be avoided

If you don’t need something done, don’t get it done. Packing-in multiple surgeries in one shot may also sound efficient and possibly save you some coin but it also exponentially increases the risk and damage being doen as well.

17. Deal with specialty hospitals

Some hospitals are well known for certain medical procedures, make sure you go THERE to get your surgery done. For instance, if you have a hernia, try to go to a hospital or clinic that specializes in hernias… the motto of “practice makes perfect” holds very true in the medical field.

18. Know your Surgeon

Is your surgeon specialized in the surgery he or she is about to perform on you? Do they have all the right and up-to-date credentials? These are things that are best known BEFORE surgery than in a recovery room.

19. Know what is going on!

This needs to be repeated, if you don’t know what is going on and your caregiver is in the same boat… you are asking for problems. Educate yourself and your caregiver BEFORE surgery.

20. Deal with specialists

Specific conditions require specific knowledge, if you are about to go under the knife, make sure you deal with specialists and even better, get a second opinion as well if you have any doubts.

21. Mark your body!

It seems the media is full of stories of surgeons amputating the wrong limb, doing the wrong procedure on the wrong patient and even leaving tools of the trade behind. If you are going in for surgery, MARK YOUR BODY with the name of the surgery and if you have two of them, make sure your doctor, with pen, marks the incision area with a EXTRACT / CUT / TIE (etc.) LEFT or RIGHT as well. The last thing you need in surgery is having to do it again because the wrong side was fixed

Hospital Stays

22. Keep yourself up to date!

If you haven’t heard back regarding a test of any kind that was performed on you, make sure you ask and find-out the results. Don’t assume no news is good news… especially in a hospital with overworked and underpaid staff.

23. General Hygene

Wash YOUR hands before you touch any wounds and make sure your health care provider does the same. The last thing you need in a hospital recovering from a condition is to get another one!

24. Freedom! Almost…

You got out of the hospital… GREAT!  But do you know what you have to do to make sure you don’t return? If no, make sure you do. Some conditions require specific treatments to be performed.

25. Assign a caregiver

Sometimes you are unable or unwilling, due to the nature of your condition, to tell a medical practitioner what is going on. Make sure that at least one person in this world knows both you and your condition so they can make decisions on your behalf.

BONUS

Getting sick sucks, going to a hospital sucks even more… avoid both by living a healthy lifestyle, don’t smoke, drink or do too many crazy things in a row.

The Bottom Line

Become your own health advocate!

Source:
25 Tips to Help Protect Yourself from Medical Errors By Heather Johnson

Most peoples bodies look like this building by middle-age... it doesn't need to be this way!

I realize that the word “disease” is thrown around all to easily in this world, usually in order to give people a reason to take yet more pills and medication but I truly believe that aging is actually a disease that is acquired through lifestyle… let me explain.

What is aging and its cause?

Aging is slow, progressive process, caused by cellular degradation, DNA replication errors (mutations) and general “damage” however you wish to define it within a living organism. It cannot be stopped nor reversed but it can be slowed down with proper lifestyle choices. Let me repeat, aging CANNOT be stopped or reversed regardless of how many products out there state otherwise.

What are factors that increase the rate of aging?

There are a number of things one can do to avoid “getting old before your time” and here is a quick list, there are many more but this should give you an idea of what needs modifying in your life to prevent the acquisition of this aging disease.

Stress

Having a crazy, burn the candle at two ends lifestyle is one of the quickest manners to age yourself. Now, there is good stress and bad stress, worrying about your finances is BAD stress while putting stress on your body physically (within reason) is GOOD stress. I have seen numerous studies directly linking stress and aging… this is probably the biggest thing you need to get a handle on within your life… luckily, it’s also the easiest to change in your life. Other things you can do which stress your body include drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking (pick your poison), taking drugs (legal or otherwise within reason) and a host of other mental, physical choices we put ourselves through on a daily basis.

Food

A typical western diet heavy on meats and low on vegetables / fruits is a great way to not only increase your incidence of bowel related conditions but also a great way to stress all your internal organs (BAD stress) leading to pre-mature aging. You ARE what you eat, no if, ands or buts about it and the sooner you realize that every little piece of food you shove in your mouth plays a very active role in your bodies ability to fight disease, stay healthy and do as you tell it to, the better you will be.

Genetics

Genetics is the ONE factor you have relatively little control over, but as Dean Ornish has found, you can actually, through lifestyle, change to a certain extent, your genetic predispositions. Let me repeat, the genes you where born with aren’t necessarily the ones you end up dying with, thanks to lifestyle choices. This is a MAJOR discovery and one that really got me excited, the body renews itself completely every 7 years, take every opportunity to make sure that while this process is occurring that you are smarter, stronger and healthier than the day before.

(see previous article: TEDTalks: Dean Ornish - activity leads to longer, healthier life!)

Acquired Diseases, Viruses and Infections

A very quick way to age and possibly die way before your time is the acquisition of diseases, viruses and infections, no matter how benign, they will play a role in your lifespan. There are extreme virus like the Ebola Virus which has a very bad survival rate once acquired but viruses like AIDS (HIV-1, HIV-2), with proper medication and genetic profile, mean a shortened but not as dramatic “hitting of the brick wall”. You can get a (bacterial) staph infection which quickly goes away with proper antibiotics or get it on your joints (arthritis) which limit your mobility. Basically, acquiring any common or otherwise diseases, viruses or infections do play a role, so try to avoid them if you can.

So why is aging a disease that is acquired?

I think aging is a disease that is acquired through lifestyle choices in that there are two types of aging, natural and unnatural. Natural is the general process of aging, unnatural is doing such things as watching TV all day on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips. There is nothing natural in eating artificial foods, our bodies are NOT made for it anymore than living a sedentary life is… these are completely unnatural things for us to do and this is how we acquire unnatural aging along with the diseases they play a very large role in developing. The only reason many people are able to live such a long time while abusing their bodies is due to the medical advances that have come with living in a modern civilization… otherwise, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of older folks keeled over on a more regular basis. Our bodies are made to run, hunt, seek and discover, not sit around waiting for our next meal to come out of microwave.

The Bottom Line

Aging is a disease if brought upon by bad lifestyle choices.

This guy isn't wasting a second, he is singing and playing the flute at the same time!

Most people think that free time is just that, well, it isn’t!

What is free time?

From the moment you are conceived, you are in a speeding car heading straight for a brick wall, this brick wall is called death and the road you are on only goes one way. As such, we do not have an infinite amount of time, there are no breaks on this car and it will sadly, never run out of gas. So, most people consider free time as a pause or “break” in life but what most people don’t realize is that this isn’t the case… whether you are sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom or even in love, this car you are in never stops, if anything, it accelerates as you loose track of time.

How to ease off the gas

Now, I used the analogy of a car on purpose, a car can go either fast or slow, even if you are heading towards a brick wall, you an choose, through your lifestyle and decisions in life, to ease off the gas a little. How? Well, don’t smoke, don’t drink, exercise, develop healthy relationships etc… theses might sound like small things but when you consider your body is in a constant state of decay, if you can slow down this process, ever so slightly, the dividends pay off big time later in life. So, if you live an unhealthy lifestyle, including everyday stress that makes your blood pressure rise, time to make some serious changes as, that car, sure isn’t going to stop.

Out of mind doesn’t mean it stops!

Another way people try to fool themselves is that they think that not realizing their own mortality will somehow allow them to escape these mortal coils that bind all of us. More specifically, they somehow think that they will be able to jump-out of the speeding car right before it hits the brick wall. I am sure mankind has tried this since we evolved and so far, considering how many billions of people have died, this approach is doomed to failure. Others deal with their mortality by squeezing every inch of it (and then some) out of everyday by partaking in risky or downright dangerous activities… sure, drinking the devil’s water is fun sometimes but not something that should be done on a regular basis. Basically, whether you wish to admit it or not, your fate will be the same as everybody else’s, rich or poor, educated or otherwise.

So… DON’T WASTE YOUR FREE TIME!

When ever somebody says “time out, you have free time”, take this as meaning you can do as you wish so you might as well dedicated it towards one of three activities:

1) improving your life or the lives of those around you

2) self-reflect on what you can change in your lifestyle in order to “ease off the gas”

3) educate yourself about the world around you

I think if everybody did one of these three little things instead of plopping in front of a television and wasting away hours of their lives on a daily basis… this would wouldn’t not only be far better but people’s lives would be vastly more rewarding in general.

The Bottom Line

You have one life, don’t waste any of it.

Well, it has been one month now since I completely stopped using toothpaste, my oral hygiene regimen of rinsing my mouth with baking soda / salt twice a day followed by brushing my teeth with plain water twice a day seems to have actually IMPROVED things!

Stumbling upon a far more effective alternative to mouthwash

I use to use mouthwash but it seems that, after a few hours, the “ickiness” would always return and overnight, well, in the morning I felt like I had drank from a swamp the night before. All those chemicals moving around in my mouth also don’t inspire much confidence considering all the health issues people are having later in life due to environmental and lifestyle choices followed over a lifetime. There HAD to be alternatives, I read a few online articles a few years back and stumbled upon the “salt” rinsing. It’s quite easy, fill a 1/2 cup of hot water and mix in about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking soda. The result? Well, the best damn mouthwash you can ever have at a fraction of the price of what is being “marketed” as the best. Throw the rest into an oral irrigator and your mouth will be as clean as an emergency room floor (before the patient comes in of course).

Toothpaste, for all it’s wonders, is actually rather useless

I was brought-up being “marketed” by dentists and businesses that if I don’t use toothpaste, my teeth would fall-out and gingivitis was just around the corner… what a bunch of BS! Standing-up to commercial forces even in the face of conventional wisdom is actually a fantastic habit to have! Most of toothpaste ingredients are geared towards polishing, considering it’s thrown-out a few seconds after being “applied”, it makes you realize how either incredibly potent (ei: dangerous) or useless it really is. Consider toothpaste is a rather recent invention, I can safely say that it isn’t worth the status it has been given.

Results after one month

After one month of the no-toothpaste lifestyle, my gums have went from a slight redness along the gum-line to pink! My mouth always feels fresh and clean even after a meal or a few hours of heavy exercise. Even better… “tartar build-up” is gone and my teeth are actually WHITTER! What can I conclude? Well, I wish I started this regimen 30 years ago! It has saved me money and proven incredibly effective! Before you ask your dentist about following this regimen, realize that he or she, although a professional, is still being marketed rather heavily by companies that want you to use their oral products. Try this regimen for a month, go see your dentist, ask them if they see (or you feel) a difference THEN tell them what you have done!

Is Listerine environmentally friendly?

I have nothing against Listerine or other products but when a far more effective (and cheap) method exists that is environmentally friendly, why are we being marketed bogus junk? Just think of the chemical and logistical footprint that a simple product like Listerine has on the environment? A lot of wasted energy to produce an inferior product… that is mass-produced and marketed as THE BEST when it really falls rather short. I have no qualms about the “chemicals” in my salt/baking-soda mouthwash but who knows the long-term ramifications of the chemicals found in most toothpastes and mouthwashes these days. I think our governments have truly failed us on so many levels, it’s astonishing how much of our daily lives are influenced on a subconscious level by marketing whose focus is on profits rather than co-existing within our environment.

The Bigger Issue: The government doesn’t care

If the government really cared about our health, things such as alcohol, junk food (including TV diners), tobacco products… the list goes on, would simply not be available for consumption much less marketed to us on a daily basis. If the government really cared about the environment, mass-production of useless products when environmentally friendly alternatives existed wouldn’t be profitable. If the government really cared about it’s citizens, it would put a higher priority on physical education (government run gyms, school programs etc) instead of promoting a lifestyle of stagnation. Governments are there to help guide a population regardless of economic considerations but this sadly has changed where financial considerations have a higher priority than of the people it “should” be representing.

The Bottom Line

Only by standing-up against conventional wisdom can truth be discovered.

I was recently contacted by the Nursing Online Education Database to review an article they had written titled “50 Tiny Health Habits that Can Save You Big Money (And Add Years)” and I must say I agree with most of what I see. Just to clarify, I have no formal medical training, I am simply a person with many passions and one of them is spreading the word about the very big advantages of a healthy lifestyle!

Article Summary

It’s a known fact that people following a healthy lifestyle throughout your life, though you are never too old to start, save a fortune in medical expenses and lessen or even completely avoid a host of diseases that strike us mortals. Most importantly, a healthy lifestyle will add QUALITY YEARS to a limited lifespan.

Bad habits to avoid or stop immediately: Smoking, drinking, unhealthy snacking, promiscuity, tanning, nail bitting, drug abuse (including caffeine), leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating too fast.

Good habits to have: take vitamins, drink plenty of water, avoid sleep deprivation, exercise, avoid second-hand smoke, eat breakfast, eat your vegies, wear sunscreen, wear good shoes, stretch and floss regularly.

How to de-stress yourself: maintain a good posture, relax your jaw, get some sun, meditate, take your time when eating and most importantly, take a break!

Avoiding those evil diseases: wash your hands, drink green tea, eat fish, drink milk, scrape your tongue, eat a high fiber diet, wash your kids toys regularly, clean your sheets and towels and throw kitchen sponges away!

Invest in yourself: get tested for STDs, become best friends with your dentist, replenish your beauty products, get a flu shot, buy generic, don’t share (toothbrushes, shavers etc), save your money (in an account), avoid the junk food, go to the gym.

Personal habits that help: know your families medical history, accept your mortality, cook for yourself, find somebody to share your life with (no matter how brief) and push yourself to become more then you think you are capable.

My review of key items on this list

Overall, I think this is a great article, Laura knows what she is talking about! Some things I don’t completely agree with while others I believe need to be re-enforced.

Promiscuity

Here is a scary fact repeated many times but needs to be said again, a full 1/4 of Americans are walking around with an STD, whether they realize this or not, yes, that may include you (reading this now). This can range from HPV to AIDS and everything in between. Some are incredibly nasty while others are relatively benign, but an STD is an STD no matter how you describe it. Entering “morals” into the equation as to why promiscuity is “bad” is best left to religion, not the medical community in my opinion.

Drug Abuse

I have had first hand experience with the evils of drug abuse with both of my sisters, one of which died as a result. What I can tell you is that countries who behead drug pushers and traffickers are right on… people who make a profit off other peoples misery deserve no less a reward. The irrational and extreme mood swings, exponential aging and the breakdown that drugs cause within a family are incalculable. I am talking about hard drugs but I also saw my grandfather slowly die due to a life of smoking cigarettes. Drug abuse isn’t just the hard stuff, but any type of drug abuse, from smoking to prescription drugs can only spell problems in your later years.

Daily vitamins

So far, there have been NO studies out there supporting the use of vitamins or multi-vitamins, not one. If you eat a whole, balanced diet, multi-vitamins are not needed for a healthy life. That being said, I take a multi-vitamin twice a day, there may be no proof that it works, but I consider it an insurance policy as I can’t turn back the “health clock” within my body should such a study come out. There is A LOT of hype regarding the vitamin industry, buy the cheapest ones that have everything including the kitchen sink in them… multi-vitamins should be following this shot-gun approach for maximum effectiveness.

Exercise

Walking, running and climbing stairs has been shown to NOT BE ENOUGH. Any exercise regimen must include weight training. Why? Well, unlike running and general cardio-vascular exercises, which are great… weight training increases your muscle mass (promoting fat loss), keeps your body tones and stimulates your central nervous system including an optimization of your neuro-muscular pathways. Why is this important? Well, these all decline with age and lack of use, get them optimized when you are young and their degradation will happen at a slower rate.

Wear Sunscreen

I realize both sides of this argument but I do not wear sunscreen but when I go outside, I always have a hat, long sleeves (even in the summer) and avoid the sun during its peak hours, roughly 11am till 3pm. Sunscreens are effective but for me, they cannot replace common sense. If you go to a beach and spend a few hours in the sun, absolutely wear sunscreen but for daily activities like walking a dog… I consider this a waste of money and time.

Floss

I have to be honest, I don’t floss… what I do instead is put half a cup hot water, mix it with a heaping tablespoon of salt, a pinch of baking soda and wash my mouth with this at least once or twice a day. Why? Well, I believe it’s far more effective then flossing, not only does the salt get under the gum-line and between teeth but it also promotes blood flow. More importantly, this KILLS every bacteria and virus that may live in your mouth. I still brush my teeth of course, but since I have followed this regimen a few years ago, morning breath, tartar build-up and icky mouth feelings dissapeared! Kill them all and nothing is left to do you harm is my philosophy regarding oral care.

Drink Milk

You know what, I don’t agree with this what-so-ever. Where do cows get their calcium? Plant materials. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables will give you far more calcium then any glass of milk could ever hope to do. I believe the marketing of milk has been detrimental to the healthy eating habits of most people, they assume wrongly that milk is the only or BEST source of calcium on the planet, which it is not. Most milk is mass-produced by boosted cows and guess what, this stuff leaches into your milk. I use milk for recipes and that is the extent of my use for this substance.

Wash your kids toys

Before you rush-out and buy some cleaning chemicals, get yourself a steamer, they cost almost nothing and are by far more friendly to your child’s body. Using steam will kill everything, doesn’t produce environmentally damaging chemicals and is a far cheaper method of cleaning.

Replenish your beauty supplies

I think women are at their most beautiful when they wear NO make-up. I believe that the entire fashion and cosmetics industry is a farce that essentially tells women that they are ugly unless they SPEND MONEY on their stuff to look great. Sorry, but a healthy lifestyle will do far more good then any of this garbage will ever do. Preying on self-esteem of woman in order to gain access to their pocket book is just plain evil in my opinion.

Accept your mortality (embrace your age)

Love the skin you’re in, age gracefully and embrace your age sound nice but I disagree. The moment you accept this, in my opinion, is the moment you accept the inevitable that you can do little to nothing to FIGHT aging. I work hard at the gym to extend my lifespan and slow the aging process (the eye candy is a bonus) but you won’t see me ever sitting around saying “wow… I have really aged… great!”. Aging is a battle that I realize I cannot win but that doesn’t mean I will stop trying!

The Bottom Line

Great article… hopefully this gets other to take their health seriously!

Buzvia: 50 Tiny Health Habits that Can Save You Big Money (And Add Years)

I got a comment today from a reader of the article I wrote titled LegendaryLife Profile: Mariusz Pudzianowski in which I stated that although bodybuilding has seen huge strives in physique, the same gains in strength in the power lifting world haven’t been achieved. This is the answer I would have given to my younger self knowing what I know now.

Question from Australia:

What I like to know is that these people (as you had mentioned) are from a specific gene pool. Is it possible for a person who does not have the genetics such as theres to achieve strength and fitness not to their level but close to it?

Answer:

Let me be the first to tell you I am not a doctor, sports physician nor expert in the fields of genetics or optimal training so my answer is based off the discussions I have with athletes of all ages, 15 years of studies in the field and personal experiences. Nobody wants to be “second strongest man” so I will re-phrase your question. “Even with bad genetics, can I become the world’s strongest man?” My answer to you is both yes and no. Take this advice at your own risk and don’t even consider following any of it until you understand the WHY behind it.

Yes, you can

Let me be the first to tell you that genetics play a large role in how much strength you can achieve but what is a far bigger factor is your personal ambition to achieve this goal. Some of the most gifted people genetically can amount to absolutely nothing simply due to a lack of desire. If you think you can become the strongest man in the world, then you have a heck of a shot better chance then the average person with achieving this goal. The more important question I have to ask is are you willing to do what it takes? I have met more then my fair share of bodybuilders, gifted athletes and just freaking huge gym rats, by the age of 35 have shot their joints to hell. You see, muscles are capable of growing bigger and stronger up to a certain point far faster then your joins or ligaments can. There are guys who take steroids who can double their strength within six months but let me be the first to tell you that you wouldn’t want to spend one day in those bodies a decade later. Read up on past sports heroes, pro-wrestlers and even great power lifters, what you will find out usually isn’t anything to brag about. Many need hormone replacement therapy the rest of their lives due to steroid abuse, they need a constant stream of sleeping pills and pain killers just to get through the day and their personal lives are a mess. The body can only take so much abuse before it begins to shut off, hence why steroids, growth hormone and a host of other drugs including pain killers must be used on a regular basis just to keep the momentum going or gains from fading. There are exceptions to every rule, but if you really push yourself beyond your physical limits, you will pay a price one way or another.

Ron Coleman for instance looks like the healthiest person in the world, he is HUGE, POWERFUL and quite intelligent but he is completely dependent on “supplements” the rest of his life. He is the result of fantastic genetics meeting incredible determination with lots of help. He is like the 0.1% cream of the crop with an extremely gifted body but he has also been working out most of his life, just look at the photos of him as he progressed in bodybuilding and you will see a slow progression from well built into HULK over an extended period of time. He has earned, in every sense of the word, the body he has but I wouldn’t want to be in his body if he ever reaches the age of 80.

Remember that only in this century was the 5 minute mile broken, somebody had the will to make what others said was impossible, the next day many others achieved exactly the same goal… moral of this story is if you truly believe you can do it, it will happen.

No, you can’t

Now for the cold hearted reality, if you are unwilling to take the drugs, unable to handle the mental stress of lifting huge amounts of weights and don’t have the muscular or bone structure that is capable of supporting massive amounts of pressure then you will never become the strongest man in the world nor anywhere close to it. You may be an incredible one in a 10 million man exception but odds are that you are not. We are all limited by our genetics, sure, drugs allow us to somewhat morph from one body type into another but the underlying structure that supports everything cannot change enough to turn an extreme ectomorph (skinny, has trouble building and maintaining muscles, long arms and legs) into an extreme mesomorph (muscular, builds muscle very easily and athletic build). Your body type is a birthright given by your ancestors, hence why I believe the next revolution in augmenting body types must come at the genetic level BEFORE the body has had time to form itself fully, soon after conception in a petri dish.

Here is my advice to you

I don’t believe in hiding the facts from anybody but before you do anything, learn to eat, train and build goals for yourself to make your dream of being almost as strong as the Bill Kazmaiers of this world a probability. I am assuming your in your teenage years, so don’t even consider taking steroids, growth hormone or any other supplements as they will screw you up big time (protein and creatine are fine). Your body is swimming in testosterone, this is THE TIME to take full advantage of this, eat and train like a madman, strive for 10 pounds of muscle PER YEAR. Work on your foundation, hit the gym and read all you can about bodybuilding and improving your health. After a few years of doing this and once you have stopped growing (your growth plates have sealed), if you still want to be the worlds strongest man, then additional supplementation is a must. I know it isn’t politically correct to say this but you don’t become a 280 pound man with huge muscles by just eating oatmeal every morning. Be warned though, once you take this path there is NO going back. You will have the body of a God for maybe 10-15 years if things are done well but expect a future of erectile dysfunctions beginning after your first cycle even with post cycle therapy (clomid, nolva etc.). Expect to become addicted to pain killers and don’t expect to be in any kind of healthy shape, if your body doesn’t pop beforehand, in your senior years. From one guy to another, to be blunt, if you have the body of a God but can’t do anything with a woman you are deeply attracted to in bed, it will tear your mind apart and crying like a little boy.

My goal is to live to 150 years old, as such, steroids, growth hormones and many other supplements are in my future but I won’t even consider the possibility until I am mid to post manopause (male version of menopause) in my early 40s… even then, these will be maintenance levels of maybe 80-100 mg a week of testosterone, nowhere near abuse levels that are exponentially higher. Sure I will end up with size 18 shoes and cranium the size of a basketball by the time I die but this will be my choice to make. It’s your body and your choice but I would advise you heavily not to even touch drugs of any kind until you have reached at least 200 pounds in bodyweight with a single digit body fat percentage in your early 20s, naturally being the strongest guy in the biggest gym in your town. If you cannot achieve this, then I am sorry but you simply don’t have the genetics to be THE strongest man in the world, you will become strong, no doubt about it… but not THE strongest, becoming instead, best friends with your neighborhood dialysis machine by the time you hit 30 if not sooner with no cute girlfriend or wife to soak up your tears after realizing you just threw away your life.

Where the need for male strength all began

I believe that men, at some primal level, are attracted to being the biggest in the land. For instance, I am slightly taller then Mariusz Pudzianowski but he outweighs me by 100 pounds of pure muscle. If we met in a jungle and had to fight for the last woman on Earth, unless I had a gun, I wouldn’t stand a chance in hell even if I had a baseball bat. Since the dawn of time, animals (including us) have fought for reproductive opportunities for that one incredible, one in a million, female… before wealth came into the picture, which provides security in our modern age, physical prowess was the deciding factor. Women want a man that can protect her and her child from danger. For instance, if you where in a jungle full of tigers, would you want to have a child with Woody Allen or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

The Bottom Line

I know I probably swamped you with more information then you can probably comprehend, I tried to keep it as simple as possible. Your job now is NOT to follow my advice blindly but understand the WHY behind my response. This isn’t even touching the surface of what you need to know, the answers are out there, it’s your job is to find them. Best of luck!

Check out Big Ron Coleman’s Website to get some inspiration as to what IS possible, he IS the strongest bodybuilder out there right now and I think his body looks better then Bill Kazmaier’s or Mariusz Pudzianowski’s for that matter.

See also: LegendaryLife Profile: Bill Kazmaier, LegendaryLife Profile: Sergio “The Myth” Oliva and LegendaryLife Profile: Mariusz Pudzianowski

For those who may not know who Randy Pausch is, he’s the university professor who was told he had only 6 months to live, as such, he decided to give one last lecture to his students. If you had only one last lecture to give, what would you speak about? This is great advice from somebody who has lived a very good life and some of these words may help you achieve your goals in the future.

Lecture’s Key Points

Aptly titled, his lecture is about achieving your dreams and allowing others to achieve theirs, here are the key points from his lecture:

• he grew up always being happy in his childhood, always dreaming about what could be, he was a child of the 60’s while people where landing on the moon when he was young
• dream specific dreams, they help to establish focus and make things happen
• get the fundamentals down otherwise the fancy stuff doesn’t work
• when people stop pointing out to you the things you are doing wrong, it means they have given up on you
• critics that carve you up are actually expressing their love for you
• experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted
• learning that is done indirectly is the most valuable type as they tend to stick with you through life and aren’t as easily forgotten
• you don’t have to be the smartest, most talented nor physically gifted person to succeed in life and lead others
• it’s cool to meet your boyhood idol but even better when they come to visit you because you have done something special
• brick walls are there not to keep you out but to provide a challenge to keep others out (how badly do you really want to achieve this goal?)
• it’s easy to sound smart when you study a subject intensely and ask others for advice
• wait long enough and people will surprise you
• it’s important to realize when you are in a pissing match and even more importantly to get out of it as quickly as possible
• there is a good way and a bad way to say “I don’t know”
• giving people a bar to strive for only does them a disservice, tell people they can always do better then they will, DO BETTER. People will always better themselves at a far faster pace then if you give them specific criteria to be met
• if you are going to be a pioneer in anything, you will get arrows in your back and experience many headaches but it will be all worth it when you look back
• find somebody better then you to give a project you hold dear
• self-reflection is the best give you can give anybody
• parents and mentors are vitally important to achieving a successful life
• being humble is a very difficult habit to build and maintain
• respect authority while questioning it
• never loose your childhood wonder, it’s what keeps your mind young and energy boundless
• it’s fun to do the impossible
• loyalty is a two way street
• actions speak louder then words
• never give up on achieving your goals
• you cannot get “there” alone, earnest people are worth more then any salesman could ever hope to be
• apologize when you screw up and focus on other people
• brick walls show us our dedication
• don’t bail out, the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap
• when you do the right thing, good things will come out of it
• get a feedback loop and LISTEN to it
• show gratitude
• don’t complain, just work harder
• be good at something that makes you valuable
• be prepared, luck is where preparation meets opportunity
• if you lead your life the right way, karma will make your dreams become reality

If you wish to watch this for yourself, here is the video of the entire lecture thanks to Google.

After the lecture

As some of you may know, this lecture became an international hit in 2007 after it was given. He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his situation and the lecture, spent a day with the Pittsburgh Steelers to accomplish his goal to play for the NFL and even better, Disney through it’s subsidiary, purchased the rights to his story for millions of dollars, providing his family with financial security long after he is gone. I think the only way to explain this is the last summary I wrote about his lecture, if you lead your life the right way, karma will make your dreams become reality.

The Bottom Line

Dreams are as important as breathing (hint hint).

PS: I wish everybody a very happy and prosperous 2008!

More information about:

• Randy Pausch himself at Carnegie Mellon
• Transcript of this lecture
• Alice Programming Project
• Entertainment Technology Center
• Randy Pausch on Wikipedia

In North America and to a lesser degree in Europe, when you call customer service, more often then not, your being patched directly through to an Indian call center to handle your requests. Taxes with companies such as H&R Block are also subcontracted to India including a lot of manufacturing, resource allocation and even strategic development. If you have some money and don’t have time to become pregnant yourself, it only makes sense to outsource that to India as well!

Pregnancy

It’s no secret that the entire process of pregnancy takes a number of the woman, that, till now, was simply a birthright, there where no other alternatives. The hormonal, psychological and physical toll or pregnancy stay with her the rest of her life along with the stretch marks. Pregnancy isn’t without it’s risks but as women push their child bearing years into their mid to late 30s, infertility becomes a growing issue as well. India serves an unlimited number of young, economically disadvantaged women who are willing, if the price is right, to become a surrogate. The process occurs through in-vitro fertilization (sorry guys) using the man’s sperm and the woman’s eggs, they are then implanted into the surrogate. The end result? Your child in every sense of the word, sharing no genetic material with the surrogate and your wife or girlfriend gets to keep her amazing body, having a child without ever taking a day off work nor pain associated with giving birth.

Womb for Rent

Now, this surrogate isn’t getting pregnant with your child for the fun of it, she expects to be financially compensated. In India, a woman can expect around $4 500 for the entire process, not a lot by First World standards but this is 15 years of wages for the average maid! She gets pregnant and wins essentially a lottery that sets her up on a better path in the future. She wins as she gets out of relative poverty, the family wins as they get a child out of the transaction. Both winners right?

Self-Induced problem

It’s no secret that one of the major factors causing infertility is age, the longer people wait before starting a family, the harder it will be. A woman as at her peak reproductively in her 20s, out in nature, this isn’t a problem but in the real world, that is right before university, after high school! It seems nature hasn’t adapted fast enough to our ever changing world and now, couples the world over, are paying dearly for it. A woman having a child in her 20s, unless within a very secure relationship, has a higher chance of being marginalized the rest of her life. I wrote a few months back about my experiences working in Canada and Australia at minimum wage jobs, what I may not have mentioned is that the vast majority of the women that where there, you guessed it, started their family in their early 20s if not younger. They where mostly divorced or never got married to begin with, most of them hated their jobs as much as their lot in life. For men, although we can have children all our lives, our peak is in our mid 20s. It isn’t just infertility rates that increase with age by the way, genetic defects rise as well such as Autism, Down Syndrome and a host of other conditions that a family would want to avoid at all costs.

Moral Issues

This isn’t just happening in India, it’s happening around the world, even in the industrialized world so I am not picking on India specifically. The biggest question you need to ask in these circumstances is that if the woman was economically advantaged, would she want to become a surrogate for a family she has no relationship with? Although there are exceptions, I bet 95% of the time the answer will be “Hell No”. So, the question must be asked, is renting a strangers womb for 9 months a moral act? I know that on the streets of Bangkok (Thailand), you can rent a young woman for $20US for a 24 hour period (use your imagination) so is this much different? How much different is renting a woman for 9 months compared to a 24 hour period, or even buying a liver for that matter? These are poor women, who have no real choice, selling the only thing they have to try to better themselves. Alternatively, most people rent their brains and bodies 8 hours a day, so how is even this act different? I am not here to preach, but just think about this and feel free to share your comments.

The Bottom Line

There is no way around this, renting a person, now matter how well intentioned, is still renting a person.

Buzvia: Giving birth becomes the latest job outsourced to India

Of all the things that bug me which are completely out of my control, my very own mortality is the biggest to come to terms with. As soon as we are conceived, we begin down the one way path leading to our eventual death. Life is great, but why does it have to end as a pre-requisite?

The Search for the Fountain of Youth

I believe I have discovered the Fountain of Youth, but no in the traditional sense, you will still get old and die but the pace of this demise will be greatly reduced. How? Well, eat only healthy foods, exercise with weights and do plenty of tough cardio. The stronger your body is when you are young, the stronger it will be when you are old… which is when it counts the most! Short of little green men and woman coming from the deep expanses of our universe giving us the gift of immortality, I doubt I will see medical science advance enough during my lifetime or that of my children’s children in which our lifespan will be greatly enhanced. We already, thanks to medical advances in the 20th century been able to almost double our “livable” lifespan with the use of wondrous medical procedures and exotic drugs to starve off the inevitable.

We don’t have enough time!

I am already 31 years old and so far, probably lived off a quarter of my functional lifespan, my goal is to be the first to get to 150… even if it means I am an old drooling insomniac by that time! Like the one minute mile, everybody says it cannot be done, but there is NO reason with the incredible advances in modern medicine that will occur over the next hundred years, the availability of healthy foods and research that, if you start young enough, a body and mind cannot reach this. Suffice it to say, I look both sides of the street before crossing! I am astonished at not only how fast time goes by but at how slow the progress we make in our own lives takes. To get more life out of our daily lives, you either have to speed up what is happening around you or simply live longer. There is so much to be done, so much to learn, experience, see, invent and enjoy during the limited time we have on Earth that it’s a shame that we have such short lives! It’s like trying to fit a mountain in a fish tank!

If you don’t use it, you will loose it

Although this is an extreme statement as you never really LOOSE anything in life, it points to a simple fact about our bodies. If you look at today’s seniors, those that lead an unhealthy life are, for the most part, not looking too good even if they are still alive and kicking. No matter how far science has evolved, it still cannot undo the damage caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, why, from day one, you MUST live a healthy lifestyle and surround yourself by like-minded people. Second, I have seen story after story from “old men” in their 80s living a very physically tough live that have the muscle tone of men half their age. They don’t know what obesity is, they don’t have medical problems and are incredibly active… enjoying all that life has given to them. Lesson to be learned? Well, you need to live a physically active lifestyle, optimize your Central Nervous System (CNS), optimize your critical muscle motor pathways, optimize the efficiency of your internal organs, optimize your inter-neuron connections and most importantly, optimize your entire outlook on life. When shit happens, take the bump in the head and move on.

Wasted Lives

If you smoke, you are wasting away your life in more ways then one… most importantly, you are taxing today’s body, for no real good reason at the cost of your future health. If you are an alcoholic, you are no better then a smoker in my opinion… good luck getting past 60 with anything resembling a healthy body. Same goes with obese people and those who are junk food obsessed. What I am saying is that, if you live an unhealthy lifestyle, no matter how much you try, until you quit these nasty habitual practices, you are wasting away the most precious resource we are all enjoying… LIFE! Life is an incredible gift, honor your parents, your future progeny and most importantly, yourself, by taking it seriously!

How to defeat mortality… is religion the answer?

Well, some people turn to their religion of choice as a way to mentally deal with mortality. I can’t say that this isn’t an attractive notion, the idea that our physical bodies may have an end but our mental soul does not. Heck, if there was even one sliver of a chance that this may be a reality, I would fight to be first in line! But, being a “don’t believe the hype” Athiest, I cannot logically come to terms with the notion of an after-life any more then I figure out the unifying mathematical theory for the universe. If it’s true, then it will be a welcome surprise to me, but I am assuming that the closest I will come to an after life is in the stomach of the neighborhood worm.

How to defeat mortality… is a physical monument the answer?

So what does that leave me? Well, immortality is possible, but not in any way that I will be able to live it out. Our own planet will explode billions of years from now once the Sun becomes a red giant so the answer cannot have anything to do with laying a monument on this planet. Even if technology existed to create an impenetrable diamond tomb for myself with a computer somehow connected to my mechanically life-supported brain, I would still be screwed to die billions of years in the future as I would be the only last surviving human being or possibly life within the universe at that point.

How to defeat mortality… is a virtual self the answer?

Alright, any type of foundation on this planet, much less this solar system or any other just isn’t do-able over the next 100+ years. Even if I had the financial resources of Bill Gates and all the worlds top billionaires at my disposal, it would still be useless. Why? Well, even if I could somehow create a technology that beamed out “me” radio waves deep into outer-space or send out probes with the contents of my DNA code for future aliens to re-animate me… I am still screwed to die! Why? Well, in several tens of billions of years from now, the vast universe we all inhabit will be gone. Nobody is sure if it’s from cooling due to continual expansion or an implosion into an infinitely small dot but either way, once the laws of physics break down, nothing survives.

So where does that leave us then?

Short of a multi-dimensional escape route that exists outside of all types of boundaries created by physics, no matter their variables, the only thing we can do is enjoy the time we have here as much as possible. Most importantly, take good care of oneself of those around us.

The Bottom Line

Life is like an ATM machine that cannot accept deposits.

Paraphrasing what Maya Angelou said during an appearance on the Opera Winfrey show “my breasts seem to be in a race to reach my knees”. It’s no secret, age, gravity and motherhood all take their toll on womans breasts. Well, a company in Israel has had enough and developed a solution that requires relatively minimal surgical intervention.

Replacement for cosmetic breast surgery?

Up until now, breasts where augmented or reduced for optimal perkiness using laborious surgical techniques that involved risks (as all surgeries do) that didn’t always give the desired results once the healing process was complete. The recuperation is painful and only temporary as the race for the knees continues.

What is MIM (Minimally Invasive Mastopexy)

Israel researchers have developed a much simpler technique which essentially holds the breast tissue in a silicon bra cup using the patients own internal architecture as a support. As such, the name of the new technique is MIM or Minimally Invasive Mastopexy and promises better results in a fraction of the recovery time over a far longer extended period of time. Put another way, MIM is essentially an internal bra that feels and acts the same as a normal breast.

Alternatives to ANY surgery

As the breast tissue is mostly composed of fat, there is little that can be done to form them naturally but strong pectoral muscles will go a long way along with a healthy diet if you are out of shape. Although still in the experimental stage, I would expect this to become a standard procedure in a very short period of time.The Bottom Line

All surgeries carry risks, the less a technique requires, the safer it normally is.

Buzzvia
http://crunchgear.com/2007/08/14/technology-marches-forth-better-breasts-on-the-horizon/

Buzzedvia
http://israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1738&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Health&