The fitness industry has a saying: simplify for results; complicate for profits.

In order to stay in business, muscle magazines have to publish fresh articles every month, trainers have to provide clients with novel routines, and equipment manufacturers need interesting new machines to sell. Yet, when it comes to actually getting in shape, coaches and trainers are well aware that the methods for strengthening muscle and reducing fat have not changed substantially in at least the last 3,000 years. Indeed, the taut abs and toned limbs of classical Greek and Roman art prove that the ideals of physical fitness have been consistent for millennia.

(And All Other Prejudice)

First, a disclaimer. I am well aware that the title of this post may come across as arrogant and reductive. How can I, some random guy on the internet, claim to have the answer to something as huge as racism? What gives me the right to even claim something like that?

I’m going to answer those questions, but this isn’t about me, it’s about all of us, so think of me what you will, I ask only that you consider what I have to say.

Common Ground

Let’s start with something we can all agree on, but often forget. Your experience on…

Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love TEOTWAWKI

Global pandemic, mass unemployment, empty store shelves, governments in turmoil, frightened citizens sheltering at home … Doesn’t it feel like our lives have turned into the opening montage of a disaster movie?

Faced with this maelstrom of uncertainty, people (at least in America) seem to have two responses: either they believe that the situation will get better and go back to normal within a reasonable timeframe; or they are worried that the worst is yet to come, and that it’s going to be very bad for quite a while.

Which…

Dr. Fauci's recent suggestion that we abandon the custom of shaking hands confirms that we are rapidly approaching the hyper-sanitized dystopia of the 1993 film "Demolition Man."

The movie's plot is negligible. Sylvester Stallone is a cop, and Wesley Snipes is a criminal, both of whom are frozen in 1996 Los Angeles, and thawed out in 2032 to duke it out in a "San Angeles" neither of them recognizes. …

Why would a young man arm himself with a gun or knife, go to an unprotected area full of defenseless strangers, and try to kill as many people as possible, usually including himself? The “Active Killer” — that most modern of criminals — is perhaps the 21st Century equivalent of a medieval werewolf: a core of genuine human violence artificially aggrandized by widespread fear and ignorance.

Sherlock Holmes famously identified three universal attributes of crime: Means, Motive and Opportunity. Unless he had a complete understanding of all three, Holmes did not consider a mystery to be solved. Yet today, the…

The fact of the matter is that, with exercise, consistency is the most important factor. WHAT you do doesn’t matter nearly as much as WHETHER you do it. With people stuck at home while gyms are closed for COVID-19, lots of folks will be picking out new exercise programs, and the challenge for many of us will be sticking with those programs long enough to make exercise a healthy, long-term habit.

In the book, “The Power of Habit,”Charles Duhigg explains that every Routine action (whether good, like exercise, or bad, like smoking) is associated in the brain with both a…

What Is A Carb?

First of all a carb is not a TYPE of food, it is a PART of food. There are three substances that are classified as carbohydrates.

1. Sugar. This can be sugar from fruit, honey, or a box labeled “Dixie Crystals.” While there are different types of sugar that we eat, they are all considered “simple” carbohydrates.
2. Starch. This is a long chain of sugar molecules. Once we eat it, the body breaks it down into sugar. However, because it is “complex,” the process takes longer.
3. Fiber. Fiber is also considered a complex carbohydrate, but unlike sugar and starch, it is…

In Emotional Agility, psychologist and TED Talk favorite Susan David encourages us to seek the wisdom in our sadness, anger, and heartbreak. Conversely, in Positive Intelligence, neuroscientist Shirzad Chamine argues that mental anguish is the equivalent of physical pain — useful as a warning, but unhelpful and unnecessary once its message has been received.

Both authors agree that we should not ignore difficult feelings, and suggest tactics to manage them. From this common starting point, they diverge completely.

“Too much stress on being positive is just one more way our culture figuratively overmedicates the normal fluctuations of our emotions,” David…