In this five part series we will cover what I think of as the “basic essentials” for creating and maintaining a healthier body and more importantly, a happier heart.
In 2005, during my final year of undergrad, I received an unforgettable voicemail from my little sister saying “Mike, call home. Dads dead.”; my dad died in his sleep from a massive heart attack, he was only 55. I can still recall the physical presentation and the perceivable signs of distress that I could not appreciate back then but now are clear as day. My dad’s passing was pivotal in my decision to pursue beyond strength and conditioning and led to an education in the form of chiropractic college. My underlying motivation was in creating a bigger soap box to potentially help people from, but more importantly delay someone else receiving a similar voicemail.
Fast forward to today and the topic of heart health is as relevant as ever for myself and everyone I know, the collective heart is under attack and it’s losing. When I review the past 17 years, from the point heart disease personally introduced itself, I can say unequivocally we’ve made things more complicated than they should be and we’ve gotten far away from the basics.
When I say “basics” I’m referring to those things that are accessible to just about everyone, essential to basic body functions and come at an extremely low cost of doing business. Basic implies simple and inherent yet overlooked, undervalued and even forgotten to some.
After 40 years of struggling to manage Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic collagen/connective tissue disorder with potential for effecting a variety of organs and bodily systems, I was forced to become aware and retrain my own basics for the powerful subtle change and healthy transformation contained within.
Always remember, it’s not what you do but how you do it and how you do anything is how you do everything-especially when considering the simplest and most basic of things. With that being said, here’s the StrengthX fab five for heart health:
Breathing
Walking
Grip
Stress Management
Sleep
Stay tuned for a deeper dive into this list where we will discuss tools and strategies to become more aware and improve performance efficiency so that these once lacking elements may transform into big streams of physical passive income aiding in longevity, resiliency and healthy aging.
Til next time, stay strong and never give up.