One of the greatest joys I have experienced as a dad is captured in this video. The way I see it, one of my most important jobs as dad is to pass the baton of faith to my son. Brandon received the baton and took a bold step in his spiritual journey. Angie and I are very proud of his personal decision and the young man he is becoming.
Man, my eyes well up with tears of joy every time I watch this video. God is so good!
Music is powerful. What we listen to matters. As a teen, I listened all kinds of terrible music. It was the cool thing to do. What I didn’t recognize at the time is how the music influenced my thoughts and behavior. Looking back 25 years later, I can see some poor choices I made (or even just the way I thought about myself and the world around me) were influenced by the messages in music. Unfortunately most of those messages were negative. Don’t believe music matters? Do a Google search for ‘music and behavior impacts’ and read for yourself. The science is overwhelming.
In college I was convicted of my music choices. Convinced of the scientific theory that “garbage in=garbage out” and that music is just like every other input to your life, I decided to trade up my music for something that would encourage my soul instead of drag it down. I chucked all my old music. Everything from the ‘lost my girl’, and ‘woe is me’ country music choruses to the sex, drugs, and death themes of rap and heavy metal bands of the 80’s – 90’s was traded in at a campus music reseller so I could invest in more positive & uplifting tunes.
I’m glad I did. Isn’t it true that your favorite music TODAY is what you listened to when you were a teen or young adult? It sure is for me. Thankfully, I have a solid collection of music I’m happy to share with my teen son and anyone else for that matter. I feel no guilt or shame for the messages in my favorite music. In fact, when I hear some of my old favorites, it takes me back to good times in college. And now I love to sing along with my son (if you can call what I do “singing”) because he loves the music too. We are worshipping the Lord with our ‘joyful noise’, which is way better than singing “Baby Got Back” or “High Speed Dirt.” Yuck.
Just for fun (and because I know you are curious), here is a list of some of my favorite bands.
Audio Adrenaline – So many good songs and memories to go along with them. This band is my favorite – especially the stuff from 2000 and older.
DCTalk – Oh man, when “Jesus Freak” came out in 1995, my mind was blown. These rappers turned rockers are so fun. Very good stuff.
Newsboys – I prefer the old school albums with Peter Furler. Their “Go” album is among my favorite all time. Makes for very fast running somehow.
Third Day – Mac Powell has been around forever, but his voice is legend. Rock & worship as only he can do it. Legit.
Geoff Moore & the Distance – the first Christian band I got into. Happy songs.
Fear Not – only one album, but it is pure old school 80’s hair band rock & roll that sounds like Skid Row. Except they sing about Jesus. It’s really good.
Guardian – another awesome band that should have stuck around longer. Old school rock with witty lyrics about faith, hope, love, and Jesus.
Skillet – I’ve liked these guys since their first record in ’96. They just plain rock.
David Crowder Band – Newer band I’ve grown to like the last 10 years or so. Very unique sound.
Fireflight – I don’t normally like female vocalists, but this is one exception. Hard hitting and deep lyrics.
Day of Fire – Very raw and real lyrics about life & faith from a guy who found Jesus after doing the hard living thing with a popular secular band. This music makes me run faster.
What music feeds your soul?
Do you know how many “weight-loss habits” there are? When you ask Google (you know, THE authority on ANY topic) you will find 34 million or so articles to tell you what to do, what not to do, common advice that is bad, etc. Ask 100 people what the one habit is that makes someone successful at long term, sustained weight loss, and you will get nearly 100 answers. So how can you really know what you NEED to do to lose weight?
To be fair, a habit is sort of nebulously defined. I think we can all agree that a habit is anything you do regularly, but according to the definition used in psychology, a habit also needs to be done automatically — as in, without really thinking about it. Which is why identifying habits by yourself is so hard. How can you think about the stuff that you don’t have to think about?
You see, all habits need a trigger — a little reminder that says, “Hey, you should do this action now.” They also need a reward — a little reminder that what you just did was a good thing. But these are really hard to identify by yourself because they happen below our level of consciousness. It’s really hard to remember new triggers, and it’s hard to remember to reward yourself. Habits are hard. Isn’t crazy that bad habits seem to sneak up on you, while the healthy habits are so hard to keep? This one habit makes all the other healthy habits easy. So without further ado, The Number 1 Habit You Need to Lose Weight is:
FINDING PEOPLE TO SHARE YOUR JOURNEY
Permanent lifestyle changes happen in relationships. Whether they take place with peers, a coach, family, friends, coworkers, the other anonymous people at the meetings, or the participants in one of my healthy living challenges, new habits happen when people get together and help each other out.
Finding your own triggers is hard. Seeing other people’s is easy. Remembering to tell yourself, “Great job!” is hard. Remembering to tell other people is easy. Figuring out how to work new foods, new activities, and new steps into your own life is hard. Watching and learning from a whole bunch of other people like you who are trying to get to the same place you are is just so much easier!
This all-important, Number 1 habit can also be called, “Creating a community of consistency.” And it can be as big a commitment as hiring a coach, or as simple as telling a friend what you’re doing to lose weight or inviting them to join you in a Team Quadzilla Healthy Living Challenge. Whatever you can do to share the load of learning, planning, remembering and rewarding will be one less thing you have to worry about.
Life is meant to be lived in community with others. In today’s virtual world people can easily connect with one another even though there are many miles between them. People are looking for others with the same struggles so they can relate, find encouragement and help, and to be a help to others. That’s a key reason why I started Team Quadzilla. We are all on a journey to do what is right and to be our best. If you are struggling to make progress in your journey, whether physically, mentally/ emotionally, or spiritually let this be your encouragement to find a community to plug into.
Special thanks to Coach Stevo for doing the heavy lifting on this article. Coach Stevo is the nutrition and behavior change consultant at San Francisco CrossFit. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and an MA in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. He teaches habit-based coaching to wellness professionals all over the world and he contributed to Intervention by Dan John in 2012.
Every Desk Jockey understands the stiff and sleepy feeling that hits around 2:30 nearly every afternoon. Sitting all day staring at the screen and banging away on the keyboard is exhausting and potentially hazardous to your health.*
To save us from looking like the guy pictured above, I made a video of a very short and simple routine you can do at your desk to loosen your stiff muscles, increase your blood & oxygen flow, and wake you out of the afternoon coma.
Stretches
Neck Roll
Shoulder Roll
One Arm Hug
Overhead Side Stretch
Triceps stretch
Shoulder Blade Squeeze
Spinal Twist
Hand/ Wrist Stretch
Quads & Hammy Stretch
Strength
Desk Dips
Desk Pushups
Seated Leg Lift
Chair Squat
Forward Lunge
Tippy Toes
One Leg Balance
Wall Sit
Coach tips:
*While some research suggests that “sitting is the new smoking”, other research argues that maybe sitting isn’t as bad as we think. However, virtually all research agrees that people in general are far less physically active than previous generations and we need to move more to optimize our health. I agree. Let’s get moving people!
My Take On Running Shoes
All runners have preferences regarding their run gear, especially when it comes to shoes. Since every runner is different and every foot is different, it stands to reason there will be literally hundreds of different shoes to choose from. With all the choices, it can be confusing to know what shoes you “should” be running in.
In my opinion, there is no perfect shoe. Shoe technology has advanced so much in recent years that if you are looking at shoes that retail over $100 (never pay retail price BTW – more on that later), there is a pretty good chance they will work for you so long as you consider a couple basic elements. I can hear the shoe nerds and run geeks now, “Blasphemy!”
Fit
Let’s not make fit more complicated than it needs to be. Are the shoes comfortable or not? Sometimes it’s hard to tell when you are trying them on for the first time. A really cool looking shoe on sale that doesn’t fit just right at first will not likely fit better the more you wear them. Trust me on this. Oh yeah, just because a certain shoe fit you well does not guarantee the new model of the same shoe will. Don’t force the fit. One more thing: If you are new to running, I highly recommend visiting a real running shop. Not a department store, but a shoe store that specializes in running. Have someone watch you walk and run, get your gait analyzed, and heed their recommendations for the type of shoes that would suit your foot best. This should be a free service.
Drop
A measurement in mm from the heel to the toe is called the drop. The higher the number, the bigger the “heel” padding of the shoe. Low drop shoes can also be called minimalist or racing or flats. Most average runners like me prefer shoes with more than minimalist padding, but everyone is different.
Intended Use
Some shoes are made for trail running, winter running, track sprinting, ultra-marathons, and everything in between. They will usually be described as such. Don’t buy track flats because they are cool looking and on sale if you intend to do winter trail running. You can generally trust the shoes description. Buy shoes that align with your primary run surface and distance.
Appearance
This is simply personal preference, but it’s still important. I’ve learned that I’m not going to find the perfect color shoes to go with my outfits and I don’t care. In fact, it seems to be the trend now to have wildly contrasting colors to your shoes. I embrace the color clash now. To each his own.
After all that, let me tell you about my new wheels – the Newton Fate 2.
I won’t get all techie on you about the fabrics, cushioning, and science behind the design because you can read about that from the aforementioned shoe nerds and run geeks online. I will tell you that these shoes are pretty cool, and they feel unlike any other shoe I’ve run in.
The Newton Fate 2 has a unique outsole that encourages mid-foot striking for optimum run efficiency. At first it feels like an extra pad under the ball of your foot (between toes & arch) that takes a bit to get used to. But once you do, I feel like it helps spring me into my next step and helps me to stay off my heels. I think these will be my new “fast shoes.”
The fit is snug yet comfortable for my size 11.5. I thought it ran a bit small compared to other brands of the same size, but I think that has more to do with the feel underfoot than anything else. I haven’t experienced any blistering or rough spots in my toes, which usually indicates a bad fit, so I’m satisfied. The toe box is roomy and flexible as well. Laces seem a wee bit short, but it’s better than being way too long.
The drop is just 4.5mm which is small compared to what I usually run, but with the Newton P.O.P 2 (Point of Power) pad and lugs at the forefoot, I think it’s easier to run in than a traditional “flat” shoe.
The Newton Fate 2 is a lightweight road runner more geared for shorter distances and racing. Although I’m sure you can have success in marathon distance with this shoe, I’ll reserve it for shorter runs. Traction is nice for paved and firm non-paved surfaces, but this shoe is not designed for aggressive trail running.
These shoes look cool. I like red shoes because they make me feel fast and they clash perfectly with everything I wear. There are reflective details on every side which is nice for early morning runs when drivers aren’t quite awake yet.
Bottom Line
I’ve tried lots of different shoes and I’ve liked most of them. I’d say that I only missed once or twice on my shoe choices over 8 years or so that I’ve been running seriously. I look for shoes described for the intended use I’m looking for, their appearance, and price. I’m not married to any particular brand and I won’t pay retail price for running shoes. Ever. I’ve had great success with Active Gear Up where I routinely pay less than $60 for my shoes retailing at $120 and up. I chose the Newton Fate 2 because they were described as lightweight road runners that encourage a mid-foot strike and they were on a killer sale and in my preferred color. Now that I’ve worn them several times I can say they are comfortable and they make me feel fast, which is a tall order. I’d go for Newton’s again and would recommend them to anyone.
Team Quadzilla 