Dr. Jack Kruse is a respected neurosurgeon and CEO of Optimized Life, a health and wellness company dedicated to helping patients avoid the healthcare burdens we typically encounter as we age. He is currently in private practice in the Gulf South.
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Kruse’s research has been published in respected dental and medical journals. His popular blog, www.JackKruse.com, gets over 250,000 unique worldwide visitors per month from countries like Australia, Germany, Russia, and Zambia (Africa).
LOGAN GELBRICH
Born in Santa Monica, Logan feels right at home coaching at DEUCE Gym. With a background in collegiate (University of San Diego) and professional (San Diego Padres) baseball, Logan is used to high performance, heavy workloads, and accountability.
Luckily, Logan was blessed enough to work with world renowned strength and conditioning coaches, sports psychologists, and nutritionists during his career. It’s during this time that the seeds were sown for the belief system that guides his coaching today.
Forever a “student of the game,” Logan is always looking to strengthen and question his understanding of human movement and nutrition.
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., professor of psychology at SaybrookUniversity, is a Fellow in four APA divisions, and past-president of two divisions (30 and 32). Formerly, he was director of the Kent StateUniversity Child Study Center, Kent OH, and the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, in Brooklyn NY. He is co-author ofExtraordinary Dreams (SUNY, 2002), The Mythic Path, 3rd ed. (Energy Psychology Press, 2006), and Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans (Greenwood, 2007), and co-editor of Healing Tales(Puente, 2007), Healing Stories (Puente, 2007), The Psychological Impact of War on Civilians: An International Perspective (Greenwood, 2003), Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence (APA, 2000), and many other books.
Learn about Stanley:
stanleykrippner.weebly.com
What Is MindPump?
What exactly IS MindPump? MindPump is an online radio show/podcast that has been described as Howard Stern meets fitness. It is sometimes raw, sometimes shocking and is always entertaining and informative. Your hosts, Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer and Justin Andrews have over 40 years of combined fitness experience as personal trainers, club managers, IFBB fitness competitors, and fitness thought leaders.
The fitness world is filled with charlatans and snake oil salesmen pushing the latest and greatest (and sometimes downright dangerous) workout programs, supplements and faux science on the unsuspecting masses. Sal, Adam and Justin use MindPump as a platform to shed the light of TRUTH on health, fitness and a host of other topics. By listening to each episode of MindPump, you will be able to absorb over 40 years worth of workout wisdom in record time so that you can cut through the BS and experience the absolute fastest way to reach your health and fitness goals.
https://www.mindpumpmedia.com
Jill Miller is the co-founder of Tune Up Fitness Worldwide, creator of the corrective exercise format Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model® Method. With more than 27 years of study in anatomy and movement, she is a pioneer in forging relevant links between the worlds of fitness, yoga, massage, and pain management.
She is known as the Teacher’s Teacher and has trained thousands of movement educators, clinicians, and manual therapists to incorporate her Therapy Ball products into fitness and medical facility programs internationally.
Jill and her Roll Model products have been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox News, ABC News, and in publications such as O, Shape, Fitness, W, Self, Yoga Journal, Redbook, and Prevention. She is also a contributing fitness expert to the LA Times and the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Arthur De Vany was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1937. He graduated from Montebello High School in 1955 and signed to play professional baseball for the Hollywood Stars. Art was one of the very few pro baseball players to lift weights, a now-universal practice, which led scouts to give him the nickname of Superman in their scouting reports. The name stuck and recently the Times of London called Art Superman's slightly fitter granddad. Dr. De Vany went on to earn his Ph.D. in Economics at UCLA and to become a respected scientist who is known over the world through his articles and books. He is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World and is the author of the acclaimed Hollywood Economics. Art is Professor Emeritus of Economics of the University of California, and is a member of their acclaimed Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences. A lifelong student of metabolism and fitness, Art has lived as a Paleo/Athlete for some 30 years and is called a patriarch of the Paleo movement. Art has spoken to many groups about his work, including ZURICH MINDS and the Enlighten meeting of physicians in Paris
Grab his book here!
https://www.amazon.com/New-Evolution-Diet-Paleolithic-Ancestors-ebook/dp/B004EBT6SS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497218880&sr=8-1&keywords=the+new+evolution+diet
Music video from intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UydkrbDCMxE
Jason Nemer is the co-founder of AcroYoga. He has been blessed to have many great teachers on his path. His family was always very supportive of his many passions. His younger brother brought him into gymnastics and from there he found acrobats playing at the gym and was hooked on both. During his teenage years he trained with some of the top Russian and Bulgarian acrobatic masters. Competing among the best acrobats in the world inspired his practice and taught him about humility.
In 1991, after 4 years of dedicated practice at the age of 16, Jason represented the US at the World Championships of Sports Acrobatics in Beijing. In 1996, he performed acrobatics in the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic games.
Yoga came to him in his last semester of university in 2001. After that first class there was no looking back. Connection to the breath and the lifestyle philosophy of yoga filled him with so much joy and new ideas of how to bring his past passions into a new form.
Currently he travels to teach, study and bring communities together. He believes this practice can be used as a tool to heal and connect people in a playful dance that can promote global peace.
Dr. Mark Cheng has his Masters and Doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees in Chinese medicine and acupuncture, as well as his California State acupuncture license (L.Ac.), allowing him to practice professionally. He also taught Tui-Na (Chinese manual therapeutics) for two of the strongest Chinese medicine colleges in the Los Angeles area.
Not content to rest on the strength of his coursework, Dr. Cheng also made regular efforts to study with the top Chinese-style manual therapists, Western physical therapists, and strength training experts to gain a wider understanding of the human body and the safest, most efficient ways of helping it perform at a higher level with less pain and dysfunction.
Today, Dr. Cheng owns a successful private practice in Santa Monica, California, gives speaking engagements, workshops, & seminars internationally, and is constantly working on producing better instructional resources for improving athletic performance in elite athletes and more pain-free movement and strength for everyday people.
Learn more at http://drmarkcheng.com/
Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOw_AWSlpp8
Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the co-founder/director of research for the Flow Genome Project. He is one of the world’s leading experts on ultimate human performance.
His previous book, The Rise of Superman, was one of the most talked about books in 2013 and the first book in history to land on national bestseller lists in the sports, science, and business categories simultaneously. In it, Steven decodes the science of flow, an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.
His writings have been translated into over 40 languages and appeared in over 80 publications, including The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Forbes, Wired and TIME. He also writes “Far Frontiers,” a blog about science and culture for Forbes.com, appears frequently on television and radio, and lectures widely on technological, scientific and cultural issues, both to corporate and education institutions.
Alongside his wife, the author Joy Nicholson, Steven is the cofounder of Rancho de Chihuahua, a dog sanctuary in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. He has a BA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MA from Johns Hopkins University and, whenever possible, can be found hurling himself down mountains at high speeds.
Learn more at http://www.stevenkotler.com/
Dr. Andy Galpin
Director of Education: Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sport Performance at CSU Fullerton.
Andy took his limited talents to Linfield College to join their Football team and pursue a degree in Exercise Science. While he experienced great success in both (2004 National Championship and 2x Captain and immediate inductee into the "All Ugly" Team), the true reward of this time was the meeting of lifelong friend (Doug Larson). The two fed each other's pursuit of knowledge of human performance and led them to attend the University of Memphis for the Masters degrees in Human Movement Sciences. A bit of luck and excellent faculty mentoring led Doug and Andy to meet Mike Bledsoe and the man formally known as "Barbell Buddha" Chris Moore - all of which later led to the creation of the #1 Health & Fitness Podcast in the world Barbell Shrugged. It also marked the start of Andy's competitive Weightlifting (culminating in his 7th Place finish in the 2007 National Championships), Mixed Martial Arts, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu careers.
Needing to know more about muscle, Andy spent 4 years studying the structure and function of human skeletal muscle at the single cell level, a feat which earned him a PhD in Human Bioenergetics in 2011. This also resulted in the friendship with frequent collaborator Dr. Jimmy Bagley and the ability to open up his own "Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory" at CSU Fullerton.
Bio
Dr. Terry Wahls is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa where she conducts clinical trials. She is also a patient with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, which confined her to a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years. Dr. Wahls restored her health using a diet and lifestyle program she designed specifically for her brain and now pedals her bike to work each day. She is the author of The Wahls Protocol: How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine, The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles (paperback), and the cookbook The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life: The Revolutionary Modern Paleo Plan to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions.
She conducts clinical trials that test the effect of nutrition and lifestyle interventions to treat MS and other progressive health problems. Learn more about Dr. Wahls’ clinical trials here. She also teaches the public and medical community about the healing power of the Paleo diet and therapeutic lifestyle changes that restore health and vitality to our citizens. She hosts a Wahls Protocol Seminar every August where anyone can learn how to implement the Protocol with ease and success. Follow her on Facebook (Terry Wahls MD) and on Twitter at @TerryWahls.
Check out Terry's new book at:
https://www.amazon.com/Wahls-Protocol-Cooking-Life-Revolutionary-ebook/dp/B01J2STXB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492446636&sr=8-1&keywords=terry+wahls+cookbook
Joe Cambell intro link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxrEdH1Evik
Dr. Stuart M. McGill is a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, ON, Canada). His advice is often sought by governments, corporations, legal experts and elite athletes and teams from around the world. Difficult back cases are regularly referred to him for consultation. Any product associated with this website has been tested in Dr. McGill's laboratory at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Learn more at:
http://www.backfitpro.com/
Joseph Cambell intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGx4IlppSgU
Tero Isokauppila, is the founder of Four Sigmatic Foods, and he's on a mission to make mushrooms more accessible to everyone. Tero founded Four Sigmatic in 2012 and is now sold in over 25 countries.
Four Sigmatic's functional mushroom coffees, hot cocoas and elixirs are delicious and I personally use them on the daily!
Tero is a wealth of knowledge around health and nutrition which makes it ironic that in this discussion we get into the idea of over-reading and the process of creating genuine ideas.
Learn more at foursigmatic.com/align
Mike Bledsoe is one of the founders and owners of Faction Strength & Conditioning Home of CrossFit Memphis. He's a co-host on the top ranked Barbell Shrugged Podcast and Host of the Bledsoe Show.
I first met Mike at Paleo F(X) in Austin Texas and discovered we have more commonalities than I've found of the majority of folks I've met in the Crossfit/strength community.
In this two-part conversation, we uncovered some of those common interests including the effect of language on movement, trauma's impact on posture and his development as a business owner.
Hear the rest of this two-part discussion at www.thebledsoeshow.com/
Bullet points on Mike's background:
- Bachelor’s degree in Health & Human Performance
- USA Weightlifting Performance Coach Certified
- CrossFit level 1
- CrossFit Endurance
- National Strength & Conditioning Association – Certified Personal Trainer
- Coaching CrossFit over 5 years
- Running a CrossFit gym for 5 years
- Competing and Coaching Weightlifting for 6 years, Coached multiple athletes to Nationals
- Adjunct Professor at University of Memphis in the Health & Human Performance Dept.
- Guest speaker at California State University Fullerton on multiple occasions to discuss running a business & programming for athletes
Hi, I'm Max Shank.
I've written 3 books and taught over a hundred courses in countries around the world. These experiences have allowed me to help 10's of Thousands of people across the globe improve their lives through physical fitness. I also have the pleasure to operate the best damn gym in Encinitas, CA (Southern California) called Ambition Athletics, where hundreds more get better every day.
I like to experiment and explore the human condition. Fitness is my primary method of developing life-altering skills. In addition, I've picked up guitar, piano, and drums as an adult. Recently, I built my dining room table with my own two hands using no screws or nails. Life is full of opportunities for growth and I look forward to exploring as many as I possible can!
My mission in life is to give people the freedom to pursue any athletic endeavor for their entire lives.
I want for everyone else, what I have been able to achieve. The ability to try anything I want, while continuing to get better every day. This is the secret to a lifetime of what we call health and fitness.
I'm here to give you physical freedom, and to help you get better every day.
Join me, it's far more fun this way.
Better every day,
-Max
Learn more at http://maxshank.com/
Because of my academic medical training, I knew that research in animal models of disease is often 20 or 30 years ahead of clinical practice. Hoping to find something to arrest my descent into becoming bedridden, I used PubMed.gov to search scientific articles about the latest multiple sclerosis research. Night after night, I relearned biochemistry, cellular physiology, and neuroimmunology to understand the articles. Unfortunately, most of the studies were testing drugs that were years away from FDA approval. Then it occurred to me to search for vitamins and supplements that helped any kind of progressive brain disorder. Slowly I created a list of nutrients important to brain health and began taking them as supplements. The steepness of my decline slowed, for which I was grateful, but I still was declining.
In the summer of 2007, I discovered Functional Medicine, an organization devoted to helping clinicians use the latest scientific discoveries to take better care of those with complex chronic diseases. As a result I developed a longer list of vitamins and supplements that were good for my brain. Then I had an important epiphany. What if I redesigned my diet so that I was getting those important brain nutrients not from supplements but from the foods I ate? I used what I had learned from the medical literature, Functional Medicine, and my knowledge of the Hunter-Gatherer diet—the most nutritious of any diet—to create my new food plan. At that same time, I also learned about neuromuscular electrical stimulation and convinced my physical therapist to give me a test session. It hurt a lot, but I also felt euphoric when it was finished, likely because of the endorphins my body released in response to the electrical stimulation. In December 2007, I began the Wahls Protocol™. The results stunned my physician, my family, and me: within a year, I was able to walk through the hospital without a cane and even complete an 18-mile bicycle tour.
Learn more at terrywahls.comAbout Ryan Munsey
You can do anything. You’re capable of more. Unleash your potential. Maximize your potential
For most people in the world today, its like we’re living in this shadow life where we are are afraid to step out in the light and afraid to live to our fullest potential. We live small, we play small, we hide who we truly are for fear of being ostracized or labeled as different if we stray from the status quo or reveal our true self.
I SAY SCREW THAT! (Imagine punk hair cut, Rage Against the Machine music and ostentatious Ray-Bans. Or I could just insert a picture for you…)
TO ME, this whole fitness, nutrition, “bio-hacking” movement is a vessel that we can utilize to help us move towards the “MORE” that we are chasing…
We have found that we can manipulate our habits and our actions to get more muscle or lose more fat, get better sleep, have more sex, make more money, and we can be smarter, increase focus, we can be more productive, we can improve our lives and move our reality closer to the dream life that we have for ourselves.
That’s what this page is all about! Yes we can manipulate calories and control insulin so that you can lose body fat. Yes we can program the perfect sets and reps to help you achieve whatever fitness or strength and conditioning goal you might have, but it’s more than that – It’s about what those things do for the rest of your life.
About Dr. Jack Kruse
Dr. Jack Kruse is a respected neurosurgeon and CEO of Optimized Life, a health and wellness company dedicated to helping patients avoid the healthcare burdens we typically encounter as we age. He is currently in private practice in the Gulf South.
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Kruse’s research has been published in respected dental and medical journals. His popular blog, www.JackKruse.com, gets over 250,000 unique worldwide visitors per month from countries like Australia, Germany, Russia, and Zambia (Africa).
The Great Diet Deception: How US Politics Have Duped the World
A neurosurgeon’s journey into America’s obesity and disease epidemic
In the 1970s, wheat and high fructose corn syrup became staples in the American diet after significant backlash from the American people over inflation and soaring food prices. Nixon and his cabinet committed to reshaping the nutritional landscape so that high food prices would never be an issue in American politics again, and the US food pyramid was born.
Today, in the face of rampant heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases like celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and thyroiditis, we have learned that America’s health crisis began with a political move made nearly forty years ago by elected officials who didn’t want to deal with the fallout of inflation. Some of our most popular beliefs about good health are, in fact, lies that were sold to the American people as propaganda.
In 2007, New York native Dr. Jack Kruse, then a Nashville-based neurosurgeon, suffered a torn meniscus in his knee at 6’2”, 357 lbs. Ashamed and frustrated that he’d let his health spin out of control, Dr. Kruse knew his life had to change. He devoured anything he could find on obesity and disease, reading between 5 and 6,000 articles over 18 months, uncovering research on the new science of leptin receptor biology and the dietary lies and propaganda of the USDA, agra-food complex, and the pharmaceutical complex. Dr. Kruse realized he was dying from the same epidemic that now plagues 150 million Americans and billions worldwide as the Standard American Diet is imported to the rest of the developing world. Leveraging leptin’s cutting-edge science and using evolutionary biology as the beacons for optimal health, Dr. Kruse lost 77 lbs in three months and 133 lbs in a year.
His most startling discovery defies everything modern medicine believes about health, weight-loss, and managing disease: obesity is not the result of too many calories, not enough exercise or living a slothful existence. Obesity is an inflammatory brain condition that is completely reversible. His bio hack showed him that obesity is a thermodynamic problem causing us to lose energy to our environment and not a state of energy excess that people believe. He leveraged his findings to help patients in his private practice lose weight and reverse major diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, and sleep apnea. He eventually developed his “Leptin Rx Reset,” a protocol that acts as a brain surgery without ever using a blade, completely rewiring the hypothalamus by aligning with our natural circadian rhythms and mastering the “timing” of our evolutionary blueprint. His findings include:
- The timing of when you eat is more important than what you eat,
- Snacking or eating “small meals” every 2-3 hours as commonly advocated by conventional medicine all but guarantees life-long obesity,
- Anyone can lose massive amounts of weight without ever counting a calorie,
- Rigorous cardio exercises (like long distance running or chronic cardio routines) leads to stem cell reduction and shaves years off the end of your life, and
- Eating fats conventional medicine told us to shun is ideal for Optimal Health.
In June of 2011, Dr. Kruse began blogging about his findings, and people all over the world began to marry the Leptin Rx to an ancestral diet (known as the Epi Paleo Rx template with incredible results, chronicled in forums all over the internet. One such thread on a popular paleo diet forum has logged over 1.5 million hits in just over a year. Dr. Kruse is on a mission to reshape healthcare in America by educating the masses and their doctors on what it looks like to achieve optimal health and reverse chronic disease.
Dr. Jack Kruse is a respected neurosurgeon and CEO of Optimized Life, a health and wellness company dedicated to helping patients avoid the healthcare burdens we typically encounter as we age. He resides in Gulf South close to New Orleans with his family.
About Ben Greenfield
Author of the New York Times Bestseller “Beyond Training“, Ben Greenfield's balanced approach to fitness, nutrition and health comes from his extensive experience in the fitness and wellness industry as one of the country's leading personal trainers and wellness consultants. In 2008, Ben was nominated by the NSCA as America's top personal trainer, and in 2013 and 2014, Ben was voted as one of the top 100 most influential individuals in health and fitness.
A frequent contributor to health and wellness publications and a highly sought after speaker, Ben's understanding of functional exercise, nutrition, and the delicate balance between performance and health has helped thousands of people around the world achieve their goals and improve their quality of life.
Learn more at https://bengreenfieldfitness.com
BIO
Jaiya is one of the most progressive and well educated sexual wellness experts. She works with couples and singles to help them overcome intimacy issues, deepening connection and communication, leading to the creation of more fulfilling relationships. Jaiya holds certifications as a Somatic Sexologist, Sexological Bodyworker, and Tantra Teacher. When Random House needed their newest sex expert they sought out Jaiya and she co-authored the book Red Hot Touch: A Head To Toe Handbook for Mind-Blowing Orgasms with her co-teacher Jon Hanauer. Together they also created their best-selling, award winning DVD series by the same title. Jaiya strives to eradicate sexual shame and invites those she works with to explore how much pleasure they can possibly experience.
Check out your sexual blueprint at http://eroticbreakthrough.com/align
WHO IS VINNIE TORTORICH?
My name is Vinnie Tortorich, Celebrity Fitness Trainer, speaker, podcaster and best-selling author of Fitness Confidential: Adventures in the Weight-Loss Game.
Some call me “America’s ANGRIEST Trainer”. Why am I so angry? Because your good intentions have been stolen! You have been duped! Yes, despite all your good honest efforts you just keep gaining weight and feeling worse.
Does this sound familiar? ‘No matter how much I exercise and how ‘healthily” I eat, I can’t seem to keep the weight off or my cholesterol’s too high or my arthritis/allergies are giving me trouble or my knees/back hurts or I have sleep apnea….” I hear this over and over again and I KNOW it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a solution, they just don’t want you to know it. That, ladies & gentlemen, is why I’m angry.
http://vinnietortorich.com/
DAN JOHN VITA
An Introduction to Dan John
Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record.
Dan spends his work life blending weekly workshops and lectures with full-time writing, and is also an online religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. As a Fulbright Scholar, he toured the Middle East exploring the foundations of religious education systems. Dan is also a Senior Lecturer for St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London.
His books, on weightlifting, include Intervention, Never Let Go, Mass Made Simple and Easy Strength, written with Pavel Tsatsouline as well as From Dad, To Grad. He and Josh Hillis co-authored “Fat Loss Happens on Monday.”
In 2015, Dan wrote Can You Go? on his approach to assessments and basic training. In addition, Before We Go, another compilation akin to Never Let Go became an Amazon Bestseller.
Daniele Bolelli is a writer, martial artist, university professor, and podcaster. He was born in Italy and currently lives in Los Angeles.
| Author (books): |
| 1996 – La Tenera Arte del Guerriero (in Italy) |
| 2003 – On the Warrior’s Path (American edition) |
| 2008 – On the Warrior’s Path 2nd edition (American edition) |
| 2011 – On the Warrior’s Path 2nd edition (Russian edition) |
| 2011 – 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know: Religion (American edition) |
| 2011 – iGod (Italian edition) |
| 2013 – Create Your Own Religion (American edition) |
| 2014 – Create Your Own Religion (Finnish edition) |
| 2014 – Fistfight, with Mike Vallely (short booklet) |
| Podcasts: |
| 2012 – The Drunken Taoist |
| 2015 – The Mike V Show |
| 2015 – History on Fire |
| Other Media: |
| 2012 – I Am Bruce Lee (featured in the Spike TV documentary) |
| 2012 – Leglock DVD (created an instructional dvd about leglocks) |
| 2014 – Taoist Lecture Series (created a 7 hour + audio series about Taoism) |
Check out Danieli at http://www.danielebolelli.com/
Free Audio book at audibletrial.com/align
Follow podcast chronicles @alignpodcast on Instagram
About Dr. Jack Kruse
Dr. Jack Kruse is a respected neurosurgeon and CEO of Optimized Life, a health and wellness company dedicated to helping patients avoid the healthcare burdens we typically encounter as we age. He is currently in private practice in the Gulf South.
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Kruse’s research has been published in respected dental and medical journals. His popular blog, www.JackKruse.com, gets over 250,000 unique worldwide visitors per month from countries like Australia, Germany, Russia, and Zambia (Africa).
So, tell us about the guy behind Mark’s Daily Apple!
I’m a former elite endurance athlete who has made health and fitness my life’s work. In my younger days, I was on the track toward medical school for a while (BA in Biology from Williams College), but I got detoured by a different track—literally—and a dream of making the US Olympic team for the marathon. As the decades passed, I realized that my calling was as an independent researcher, critical thinker, motivator, and communicator—to get people to take responsibility for their health and fitness (often in the face of flawed conventional wisdom that can lead even the best-intentioned astray), and to inspire people to be open-minded, passionate, and enthusiastic about leading a healthy, happy, fit, balanced, active lifestyle, with the least amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice possible.