| Saturday - November 21, 2009 Nearing 60, I'm in the best shape of my life. I love the idea that I can keep up with wrestlers half my age, but what I like best is that I no longer suffer from chronic back pain, mid-afternoon fatigue, fading stamina, and the other supposedly inevitable consequences of age. Physically speaking, I have knocked off 30 years of aging by a combination of diet, yoga, Pilates, and Jiu Jitsu. My exercise routine used to take me a couple hours each day. But I've reduced that time drastically since being introduced to Dr. Al Sears's revolutionary philosophy of physical fitness. To quote the doctor himself: "The quality and intensity of the exercise you do is more important than the quantity. "Researchers at Laval University in Quebec divided men into two groups: long-duration and short-interval exercisers. They had the long-duration group cycle up to 45 minutes without interruption. The short-interval group cycled in bursts of only 15-90 seconds, while resting in between. "The long-duration group burned twice as many calories, so you would assume they would burn more fat. However, when the researchers recorded their body composition measurements, the interval group showed that they lost more fat. In fact, the interval group lost nine times more fat than the endurance group for every calorie burned." Dr Sears has tested this concept on hundreds of his patients at his clinic. And, indeed, most achieved lower body fat by exercising in shorter bursts of higher intensity. Partially based on these findings, he developed his PACE (Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion) program for maximum health and fitness. The PACE program was introduced in his excellent book, "The Doctor's Heart Cure." Briefly, here's how it works: -
Start with a 2-minute warm-up at a gentle pace. -
Accelerate to a moderate pace (an intensity of 5 on a 10-point scale) for 1 minute. -
Recover for 1 minute by working at an easy pace (an intensity level of 3 on a 10-point scale). -
Repeat this alternating cycle of high- and low-intensity exercise several more times. -
Gradually increase your intensity during the high-intensity portions of the workout to an intensity of 6, then 7, then 8. -
Throughout the workout, remind yourself to breathe deeply. Focus on powerfully exhaling all your air. As you inhale, feel your body expanding the oxygen-delivery capacity of your heart and lungs.
I've revised my Jiu Jitsu workouts to emulate the PACE system. That has made a huge difference. I no longer have to do separate strength and fitness workouts. All I do is JJ and stretching. I figure I have saved about 300 hours a year by making this change. (If my goal were simply fitness and not to become better at my sport, I would have saved even more time.) You can accomplish a lot in 300 hours. For example, you could: -
Write a full-length screenplay. -
Become a passably good speaker of French. -
Paint six landscapes or 36 abstract/expressionist pieces. -
Become a Blue Belt in Jiu Jitsu. -
Start a small business. -
Make a good friend. -
Spend five weeks in the wilderness... doing nothing. All that and still be in the best shape of your life!
What happens when doctors go on strike? According to THB Managing Editor Jon Herring, a lot of good things. When Israeli physicians went on strike in 2000, the number of deaths in that country went down. They went down so far, says Jon, that funeral directors were protesting the strike! Emergency rooms weren't closed. And nobody was denied vital services. But what decreased -- drastically -- were visits to outpatient centers. Fewer prescriptions were written. And most elective surgeries were cancelled. Hospitals and doctors are invaluable for traumatic injuries. But when it comes to maintaining robust health and preventing illness, healthy living and personal responsibility is the key.
Success in business, and in life, depends on making good decisions and avoiding self-destructive behavior. This is especially true when it comes to investing. Most investors lose money because they have bad psychological habits... habits that work against sound trading decisions. You may be making the same mistakes. Ask yourself: -
Do I sometimes get so excited about the market that I risk more money than I should? -
Do I have trouble making trading decisions or hesitate closing out losing positions? -
Do I "bail out" of profitable positions too quickly? -
Do I get "buy" signals from my trading system -- even some that alert me to a big move -- but feel anxious about getting into the market? -
Do I frequently miss big trades or investments that I am sure would be winners? If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you will definitely benefit from the new service from Investor's Daily Edge: Sound Profits. IDE's in-house experts in options, dividend stocks, natural resources, and bonds will show you how to trade confidently. Their recommendations are not only timely, they're backed up by decades of hands-on experience and exhaustive up-to-the-minute research. Check out Sound Profits here.
Having dinner with your family is enjoyable. It also has benefits for your kids. University of Minnesota Medical School researchers found that teens who often ate dinner with their parents were better off in several ways. They had better grades and less depression. And they were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use marijuana. One example of the study results: About 50 percent of the girls who hadn't eaten with their families during the past week were smokers. By comparison, only 17 percent of those who had eaten with their families every day smoked.
Speaking of having dinner... how fat are you, really? Did your doctor tell you to lose weight? It may be good advice. Then again, he may have based it on bad science -- the outdated Body Mass Index (BMI). Calculated from height and weight, it can be grossly misleading. For example, according to the BMI, Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime -- at 6'2" and 257 pounds -- was obese. The problem with the BMI is that it doesn't distinguish between fat and lean body mass. And muscle weighs more than fat. Ideally, a man should have between 10 and 14 percent body fat. A woman should have between 16 and 20 percent. Here are two ways to determine how much body fat you have: 1. The skin-fold test, which is done with a caliper. It's not only accurate, but is the simplest way to measure body-fat percentage. You can purchase a caliper at exercise-equipment stores. 2. A tape measure can give you a rough but useful approximation. Simply measure the circumference of your waist at your navel. Record the number in inches. Then measure the circumference of your hips at their widest point. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement to get your waist-to-hip ratio. For men, the ratio should be no more than .90. For women, it should be no more than .80. Your fitness goal should focus on increasing lean body mass and reducing body-fat mass. Keep track of your progress. In most cases, measuring your body fat once a month is plenty.
DL, a senior executive, sat next to me on the plane ride to LA. During the four-hour flight, he read a detective novel. It relaxed him, he said. I wasn't impressed. My view is that business traveling time should be spent on business. It's only fair. After all, the business is paying for your ticket. There's no better time to catch up on paperwork than during a plane or train trip. What I like to do is: -
knock off accumulated e-mails -
write "personal" business notes -
review my daily journal for new ideas and forgotten promises to myself -
plow through accumulated reading matter While I'm doing this secondary stuff, I find myself thinking of "the big picture." In fact, some of my most important business decisions have been made on airplanes. So forget the junky novels and video distractions. Get something done. Then enjoy the feeling of stepping off the plane free of the burden of a ton of backed-up work.
Ready to sit out the cold and flu season? In his latest Undercover, THB Managing Editor Jon Herring has revealed the three things he does to avoid colds and the flu. They are simple, completely natural changes anybody can make. Here's what one reader had to say: "I concur with your premises in this article. I used to always get sick at least 2-3 times a year with cold or flu or step throat. Over the last 5 years I have taken a high quality supplement with Selenium and Vitamin D. In addition, the big big change was I went from craving sugar, and high-glycemic foods (candy, donuts, waffles, white bread, honey, potatoes, white rice,etc.) to mostly avoiding all of this. I haven't been sick at all in 5 years! "The second thing to mention is that my seasonal allergies have been totally diminished or eliminated since changing my diet and adding supplements! "Thanks for the great, helpful information." - Milt Check out Jon's article and let us know what you think at AskETR@ETRFeedback.com.
[Ed. Note: Michael Masterson welcomes your questions and comments. Send him a message at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com.] | 
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