What does the optimal person look like, and what can that person do?

Introduction by Paul C. Tijerina in collaboration with Colby Phillips

For more information visit: http://www.paulctijerina.com/

Too often so many people are fixated on a certain “look.” We often hear it all the time, all day every day!

Understand, from an evolutionary perspective, good looks equated to good health. A good physique typically meant good movement mechanics, strength, conditioning, agility, and mobility COMBINED WITH proper eating, sleep, sun exposure, low stress, and social interaction.

Genetics do play a small role in body composition – everyone has a predisposition to a certain body type. You can take 2 men or 2 women, same height, same diet, same habits, and same movement capacity and strength, and they can look very different. I am SPOT ON with my nutrition, sleep, sun exposure, stress levels, social interaction, and I’m pretty damn good at my movements. Colby is awesome at all these things as well, maybe not as spot on with the nutrition and lifestyle factors as me (but really close), stronger in most movements (but not all :). So we both are very similar sizes, similar movement abilities, similar strengths, and similar habits, and yet with our shirts off he looks like Captain America and I look like a gorilla. FYI I’m very happy with that.

Optimal-Person

So one big takeaway is, our idea of what we want to look like, VS what our body will make us look like when we do everything properly. Be flexible, in my opinion, the best attitude would be this: 

“I’m going to train hard with a focus on proper movements, and I’m going to eat healthy and focus on all the things that contribute to vibrant, optimal health, and let my body do what it’s going to do, which may or may not be exactly what I have pictured in my head.”

Overwhelmingly, however, what determines an optimal body is three-fold:
• proper movement abilities (which includes mechanics, consistency, and intensity).
• proper nutrition.
• proper lifestyle factors that are crucial for health

 Benchmark Movements for The Optimal Person (Colby)

These are things that everyone that is complaining about losing weight or wanting a certain look should strive for. Try to imagine or visualize the person that can do all the things listed below. What does that person look like?

Stop for a moment and look at what you can do, how well you can do it, and how well you can maintain your form while adding intensity. Are you focusing on technique, form and consistency? Because if you can do these things properly, you will have a certain physique.

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Now, in order to be able to do those movements, your body requires YOU to be a certain way. YOU must focus on TECHNIQUE and FORM first. Most of the top athletes in the gym, including, but not limited to, Myself (Colby), Johnny, Ryne, Paul, and many others, care more about technique and consistency then we do about the numbers. Therefore, one of your movement goals should be to be able to do all these movements as listed above.

Also, understand, you don’t need any special programming, you don’t need a special plan to get there! What you need to do is show up to each and every class with the mindset and attitude that you are going to work on TECHNIQUE and FORM first, and also spend some time on your own, working on your weaknesses.

Now in order to do these movements, YOU must also address other things crucial for optimalhealth in order to give your body the ability to move like you want it to, and therefore look a certain way. If your eating habits are crappy, you don’t allow yourself enough time for a healthy sleep schedule, your stress is extremely high, etc.  You are not allowing your body to become what it needs to become in order to be able to do these movements.

Learn to be the SHT (Paul)

For optimal, vibrant health, for optimal body composition, and to look and feel your best, movement is an extremely important part.  Movement is what shapes your muscles, joints, connective tissue, and to a degree bones underneath your subcutaneous fat stores. Heck, many of us are ADDICTS when it comes working out!  But NOT because we think it’s “burning calories.”  We are working on skills, and strength, and mobility, and consistency.  Which just so happens to shape our musculature and give us a desired look.  Because again remember, in my opinion, learning what foods to eat, how to eat those foods, and learning to address crucial lifestyle factors that are synergistic with everything else that we do, is as important or more important than your fitness routine.  In fact I would say that nutrition and lifestyle factors account for 80% of this total picture!

So what are the benchmark nutrition and lifestyle factors for the optimal person?

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You can learn about all of these crucial concepts when working with me in my private practice or when going through our SuperHuman Transformation.

We have such an amazing synergy of health at 2402 N. Tenaya Way. we have the single best gym I’ve ever experienced anywhere in my life, including the best coaching and the best fitness community ever. We also have access to restorative and flexibility based programs through people like Nichol McIntosh and others. And we have access to my food and lifestyle factors. Where else can you find this powerful combination?

 

“To Hydrate or not to Hydrate,” is that really the question?

Article by: Paul C. Tijerina, Nutritional Therapist & SuperHuman Life Coach.  For more information about Paul, visit http://www.paulctijerina.com.  

A great resource and one of the foundational books I read early on in my career was by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water” http://amzn.to/1RFKJvA where the author links many modern degenerative disease and health issues to lack of hydration, quality issues, and so on.

We all know hydration is important, but. . .

Most people consume massive amounts of teas, coffees, sodas, and flavored drinks with real, natural, and artificial flavors.  MOST people are completely divorced from drinking water as their primary source of hydration.  And even when they know they should, they have a hard time making the switch.

Water is the most important nutrient in the body:

  • you can go 8 weeks with out food, but only days without water.
  • water makes up roughly 60% of our total body mass.
  • it is found in all tissues.
  • most of the volume of cells is water.

Water is the most common nutritional deficiency in the American population.

If the body’s water content drops by as little as 2%, it will cause fatigue.  a drop of 10% will cause significant health problems:

  • crazy digestive issues including low stomach acid and constipation.
  • cardiovascular issues
  • immune system depression
  • musculoskeletal problems (movement and coordination)

a loss of greater than 10% can cause death.

Early signs of dehydration

  • fatigue
  • anxiety
  • irritability
  • depression
  • cravings
  • cramps
  • headaches

Mature signs of dehydration

  • heartburn
  • joint pain
  • back Pain
  • migraines
  • fibromyalgia
  • constipation
  • colitis

Roles and benefits of hydration

  • improves oxygen delivery to cells
  • enables cellular hydration
  • removes wastes and flushes toxins
  • transports nutrients
  • prevents tissues from sticking
  • moistens oxygen for easier breathing
  • lubricates joints
  • improves cell-to-cell communication
  • cushions bones and joints
  • absorbs shocks to joints and organs
  • maintains normal electrical properties of cells
  • regulates body temperature
  • empowers the body’s natural healing process

As athletes, many of these roles are absolutely crucial!

Where our body gets water

The body can produce about 8% of its daily water needs through metabolic processes.  the remaining 92% must be ingested through the foods we eat and the beverages we drink.

  • 8% metabolic water
  • 28% ingested foods
  • 64% ingested liquids

Where our body loses water

Even though the amount and distribution of water are regulated within the body, water is not stored, anywhere. Therefore, we must consume water daily to stay healthy.  here is where we lose our water:

  • 4% GI tract
  • 12% lungs
  • 24% skin
  • 60% kidneys

My water consumption guidelines

Over the long-term, we recommend drinking to thirst.  but to first get to where you can instinctively drink to thirst, you need to “prime” your body’s hydration with our standard hydration goal:

  • body weight / 2 = ounces per day
  • maximum 1 gallon per day

This is a great starting point for most people, and a great long-term goal, although over time you don’t have to be as neurotic about it.  Give yourself a solid 6 months of using this goal before drinking to thirst. As a dedicated athlete, understand, your water demands will be more than the average person!  Therefore, abiding by these guidelines is going to be even more crucial than someone who does not work out 🙂

Mineralized hydration

Most of the fluids in your body are not water.  your body must convert clean water that you drink into the other fluids that it needs, such as mucus, saliva, interstitial fluid, tissue fluid, digestive juices, and so on.  Therefore, we like to give the body water with nutrients:

  • pinch of unrefined Himalayan sea salt
  • few drops of a product we love called Concentrace http://amzn.to/1Uqn5dm
  • infused with various other things such as fruits and herbs which can give it flavor and nutrients

As a dedicated athlete, we are blowing through nutrients as we work out.  replenishing these nutrients with mineralized water is extremely beneficial.  in fact, I would say it’s even more important to rehydrate after a workout than it is to worry about getting a post-workout meal in.  rehydration is going to help with protein synthesis, and restore many of the metabolic and healing processes that get interrupted or damaged during workouts.

About bottled water: Tap water is crap water.  However, bottled water is not much better:

  • water is bottled at a remote location.  the bottle requires massive amounts of petroleum and natural gas to make.  it’s then driven or shipped using more fuel and inefficiencies.
  • when you buy bottled water you’re not just buying water, you’re paying for all the chemical inputs as well.
  • bottled water, no matter how clean the water is, leaches chemicals into the water.

The most healthy and cost-effective way to drink water is to filter it yourself, or get it from a filtering station.

Multipure Drinking Water Systems utilize proprietary solid carbon block filters to reduce contaminants that affect appearance, taste, and most important, quality of water.

  • they do not waste water (like RO’s)
  • they do not require electricity
  • they do not add anything
  • they do not take away beneficial minerals

Multipure vs bottled water:

  • Multipure reduces aesthetic and health concern contaminants – much bottled water is not much better than tap water.
  • Multipure reduces the waste from disposable plastic bottles.
  • Multipure filters are much more cost effective.
type of water cost per gallon
imported bottled $3.84
domestic “purified” bottled $2.23
home delivery bottled $1.71
water vending machine $0.25
Multipure $0.09

 

For more information and to receive a discount, please message [email protected] and reference Multipure.

Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems remove toxins by foreign water thru a semi permeable membrane, which allows only water to pass through, but not certain impurities or contaminates.  RO systems produce extremely clean water, but can be a little more expensive and difficult to install.  You can purchase RO systems at places like Home Depot or even on Amazon such as this model here http://amzn.to/1TeMHIJ.