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on October 1st 1997 at around 6:00 in
the morning A boy is
born he had his whole life ahead of him
in time he would grow up and learn to
stand on his own two feet but to learn
to stand on your own two feet requires
strength I am this boy and I feel part
of my journey in this human body is to
learn how to use it to learn what it
means to be
strong to push my boundaries
developing strength goes far beyond
learning to pick up and put down heavy
things the Journey of becoming strong
includes many things and is above all a
spiritual one a journey of
self-discovery this is what that journey
is looking like for me
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when I was little movement was
simpler physical exercise usually looked
like running around with a ball it came
naturally and with little thought but as
I arrived at the threshold of adulthood
the rules changed something different
started to take hold with the stresses
of having to figure out what I was going
to do with my life I needed better tools
too many thoughts were bouncing around
my mind and I needed an outlet but life
doesn't come with an instruction manual
on what to do so I started trying things
I began running because Casey nistad
made it look cool halfway out probably 7
mil in I knew exercise was good for me
but there were bigger reasons that Drew
me to it a fascination with learning how
to use this incredible vehicle God gave
me it began as a form of release to get
outside and let go of pent up energy and
the stresses of the day but it slowly
dawned on me that this was so much more
than that pushing the boundaries of what
I knew my body was cap able of when I
began I could barely run a couple of
kilomet and I was exhausted but
something kept bringing me
back and one day on a run I realized
that my perception of the world shifted
as I moved my mind felt more open and
expansive creative ideas bubbled and
formed I realized that this was having
all kinds of cognitive effects on me I
felt calm and less cluttered my
anxieties melted away seeing the trees
Rush by the sound of my breath this
quickly began to feel like a drug I
could not run very far but I was
astounded to discover that the realm of
what was possible for me expanded as I
continued to push myself soon I couldn't
help myself I was addicted grabbing my
running shoes and heading out the door
meant I would feel some kind of strange
high strength is found in the mind and
slowly I discovered I could direct this
strength in any direction I wanted like
developing my body by lifting heavy
things there's a pleasure in the
discomfort the crisp Clarity only found
when outside of my safe bubble of
comfort and I came to realize that I
enjoyed grappling with my
mind it wasn't discipline or any natural
ability that helped me get increasingly
fit it was curiosity and a desire to
learn and it was this mental fortitude
that I found within myself to withstand
the discomfort more than my literal
ability to lift weights began to feel
like TR
strength I say this because I've lived
long enough now to know that there are
times when life asks more from you it'll
Knock You Down Standing back up on your
own two feet is not just a physical task
it is a decision it is an act of will
born of a desire for more from life and
it is a decision you have to consciously
make every day the exercise is just
practice training for facing the
unpredictable twists and turns of
life I have a long way to go but I feel
that what I'm able to handle continues
to expand strength is not the absence of
feelings it is not about becoming numb
to pain it is an okayness with pain it
is an acceptance of what is happening of
not being in control of what you are
feeling that is what I originally did
not understand about becoming strong
real strength is choosing to stand up on
your own feet day after
day real strength is continuing to
choose to stand on your own two feet
even when it is hard and with a
willingness to always take just that
next little step there is nowhere you
cannot
go exercise and getting in shape is a
very mental Journey finding the
motivation to push yourself and to work
out is more than half the battle and I
have found it to be by far the most
challenging to do so in the times when I
haven't been doing very well better help
who are the sponsors of this video offer
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therapy a lot more accessible it helps
to talk to someone and especially
somebody who is trained in helping you
figure out what is going on internally
to figure out your emotions and to work
through what's going on in your life but
even that is not enough right because on
top of it you have to click with who
you're talking with you have to feel
comfortable enough to open up and that I
think is one of the things that makes
therapy very difficult I know so many
people that go yeah I tried a couple of
therapists it didn't work out and
eventually I gave up which is a bummer
but also at the same time an
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safe it's really easy to sign up and get
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to betterhelp.com Nathaniel Drew
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supporting my work and now let's dive
into my simple steps on how to get in
shape all right so my entire philosophy
on Fitness is built around Simplicity
and enjoyability it's supposed to be
something that you want to do if I
didn't enjoy exercising I would have
never made it this far I do this because
I have found the amount of Fitness
information out there to be completely
overwhelming and also confusing using
and often times contradictory it's like
people don't seem to agree I feel like I
get 80% there by doing just a few simple
things but I'm by no means a pro and I'm
happy to hear your suggestions in the
comments below if you feel passionate
about this or if you have anything to
contribute to what I say
here this doesn't have to be complicated
so having said that the only gear that I
own are a few weights a kettle bell and
some resistance bands this is partially
because I do a lot of travel and there's
obviously no way to travel with weights
only an insane person would do that so
to find another way I honestly don't
like spending hours and hours at a gym I
find that boring in fact for most of my
adulthood I haven't even had a gym pass
95% of my workouts have happened either
at home or at one of those like
calisthenic workout spots at a park that
you can find in pretty much any major
city or even minor City it's just that
I'm looking up at a tree while doing it
like that's so much nicer in my opinion
gyms can be nice too but it's like if I
can be out in nature I feel like I get a
lot of energy to be active and to do
physical things so it makes more sense
for me to do it here I do things this
way also because gym passes can be so
expensive and to me it's like not worth
it if I can do a lot of the same sorts
of things for free some of my workouts
are as short as 20 or 30 minutes and
that might feel like just such a short
amount of time but the difference
between doing that and doing nothing is
tremendous a big part of my philosophy
as you're going to see over and over
again is that movement and exercise is
necessary and normal and the less
friction there is to do it the more
often you'll find yourself doing it like
give yourself good odds to do this as
often as possible and then simply as a
result of that you just get in better
shape it's like it happens as a natural
byproduct and then it becomes something
that's just habitual right like at this
point I don't feel like a day is
complete I haven't had a full day if
there isn't some kind of movement that
is a part of it it's like you're kind of
slowly building off of the work that
you've already put in I have never heard
of anyone else talk about it in these
terms but I see my body as a sort of
slow long project now I just want to
share some of my favorite exercises I
love push-ups you can do them from
anywhere push-ups are great because
they're very easy to modify and with
different variations you can work out
different muscles already just doing
normal push-ups is great but if that
becomes too simple as it did for me
after a while then you can take it up a
level by doing either diamond push-ups
placing your hands lower down on your
body closer to your hips or elevated
push-ups where your feet are on some
other surface that's higher up so
there's more weight on your upper body
and to do that I mean all you need is a
chair or anything that you can prop your
feet up on form I have found is
extremely important you want to try to
keep straight lines right so you have to
engage your core right and go straight
line right it's easy to do either
this you know with my back kind of down
like this if you're not able to do it
properly it's better to do less reps I
don't really count reps uh or even
number of sets to be honest with you
because I find that very boring and I
find that the emphasis becomes how many
of these can I do instead of how well
can I do them I just pay close attention
to my body when I'm doing the exercise
until I get to the point where I'm
struggling to properly do the exercise
with proper form instead I focus more on
a concept called time under tension how
long you're actually working the muscles
so often times I find that you get a lot
more out of one long slow intentional
push-up than doing a bunch that are just
poorly done I love doing dips great way
to work your tries you can do it with as
little as two chairs or even when I'm
like in a hotel room one chair and the
end of the bed that's all you need when
it comes to weights I'll do bicep curls
I used to do it this way but actually
that would create a bit of pain in my
lower arm so I switched it to this after
a little bit of research I found that
there's Alternatives and this works a
lot better for me bands are a fantastic
alternative if you're looking for a
lightweight option to travel with you
just Loop the band under your feet you
know tighten it so that it's the right
length and then pull I use my weights to
work out my shoulders as well and you
can also use them to get your back I
hate working out my core I find it to be
the most unpleasant probably of all
areas of the body I'll do a wide variety
of core exercises for me you can't go
wrong with things like planks or
variations on a crunch I find it helpful
to just go on YouTube and do like a
15minute ab workout where you're
following along with the person
otherwise I just get so bored doing it
on my own in the world of Fitness you
can split up exercises between push p
and pull exercises and it's good to hit
both and I found it easier to do pull
exercises at those calisthenic workout
spots and so that's where I do like
chinups or pull-ups and I guess you
could also do that at home if you have
like a strong beam that you can grip
easily I don't so I don't have that
option I also love doing dips with the
bars at these calisthenic spots and you
can also suspend yourself with those
bars up in the air and work your core
there's also this lower back exercise
that you know I don't know what this is
called but I found it extremely
important and helpful for me to do now
as for legs I did get lucky with stocky
Argentine marona legs so between running
a couple of times a week and living on
the sixth floor without an elevator I
basically don't even have to think about
it but when in doubt squats are always
great I also mention legs and back
because they're extremely important to
work out as well I think they sometimes
get overlooked because the chest or the
arms get the most attention but what I
found is that it's very important to
think about the balance of your body if
I don't think about this I'm much more
injury-prone almost like you can become
topheavy or front heavy and that's not a
good thing one Discovery I made is that
just doing calisthenics and home
workouts doesn't cover everything like
you know it can create a little bit of
tension in my upper back and I'm also
not really working my heart in the same
way and so I found that runs actually
interspersing them between these home
workouts that I do covers a lot of the
area that I'm not covering it works out
my heart but also it remov moves the
tension in my upper back and I don't
know why exactly that is it's just
something that I discovered works for my
body this is not a video about diet and
nutrition that's an entire other massive
topic but I will sort of State the
obvious here which is that if you want
to bulk up you do have to think about
caloric intake like you have to consume
more than you're burning and then on top
of it not all fuel was created equal so
it's important to think about what
you're consuming but I'm going to stop
myself there because I'm on the cusp of
entering let's say tricky ter
because I really am not an authority on
any of this stuff now in terms of how I
have gotten into shape I think a lot of
it comes down to the fact that I have
hardly ever let a week go by without
doing some form of exercise I've just
gotten very consistent with it because
of the positive Association and because
of how my identity has become wrapped up
in this right I am somebody who's active
I'm somebody who doesn't feel like
they're living a complete full life
without this and it also helps me sleep
better at night I mean these sorts of
things are huge motivators for me and
the mental Clarity element of all this
is really important as well because I've
crafted a life where you know my work
revolves a lot around writing and
articulating my thoughts and feelings so
being sharp to do that is really
important and I hardly ever feel sharper
than when I am exercising or right after
a great workout and then I think beyond
that this is the ultimate or one of the
ultimate confidence boosters I feel like
when you put your mind and body through
challenges other ch es that pop up in
life feel more manageable you can take
on the world and that is huge feels like
you take a more active role in your life
you know you're not a victim to the
things that happen to you personally I
think it's an obligation if you are
healthy and not everybody has this
luxury and this privilege right do
something with this incredible vehicle
that you have use it it is a gift from
God I feel and you're not going to have
it forever entropy is going to do its
thing to all of us and your body will
break down over time so while you've got
it use it I think it helped me a lot to
stop caring what other people think
feels like there's a lot of judgment in
the world of fitness and a right way and
a wrong way to go about things and I was
afraid of whatever the criticisms I
might receive but none of that stuff
matters the amount of time you work out
or the number of reps or whatever
program that you're following doesn't
matter I think what matters more than
anything is that you're doing it and you
know the journey continues for me I hope
that this was helpful obviously this is
a vast vast topic so there's so much I
haven't covered I'd love to hear all of
your thoughts on this in the comment
section feel free to rip me up into
pieces and if you like my work if you
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the description below I really like to
share bits and pieces of advice and
wisdom and inspiration that I find
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follow me along over there as well thank
you for watching and I hope to see you
very soon
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