Play Hard

Play hard, create mental energy, make money.

In The Biology of Success, Dr. Bob Arnot asserts that “Exercise is the magic bullet for creating mental energy.”

“Researchers,” he say, “have found that one bout of exercise can shift our current psychological state from a foul mood toward a far more positive one. What’s more, this positive shift may last for several hours after the exercise has ceased.”

Arnot goes on to report that, “William Morgan, Ed.D., a professor at the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that the overwhelming consensus is that the better the physical fitness, the better the mental health! Exercise wards off depression, anxiety and other affective disorders.”

“Steady, rhythmic exercise with little impact – for example, walking, biking, rowing, cross-country skiing, hiking and stair climbing – give you immediate energy. . . . Cycling is a perfect example. On a bike you can almost go forever. More practically, you can cruise along in a trance for hours at a time, yet you can also suddenly hammer at high intensity with little risk of injury found in high impact sports such as aerobic dance.”

Arnot points out that vigorous exercise is far more effective than moderate exercise in lowering tension levels, and in building mental energy -- for making money your way. Vigorous exercise, he says, is also the best way to control your weight, because it puts your body into fat-burning mode for several hours after the workout.

“A well-balanced moderate fitness program would include at a minimum: (a) thirty minutes of brisk walking every day – you can accumulate this in three ten minute walks, and (b) two or three times a week some weight lifting and stretching, or other activities that condition the muscles.”

One of the best, most respected sources of information about exercise physiology and exercise programming, is the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. Two of the best, most respected places on the globe to go to get the equipment and stuff (e.g., running shoes, hiking gear, bikes, and skiis) to get you outdoors to play hard (have fun, and build energy), are REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.), a Seattle-based co-op, and Patagonia, widely regarded to be one of the most socially and environmentally conscious companies on the planet.

Play hard: it will boost your outlook and your energy.

A key, sometimes overlooked step in the eat well, supplement, play hard, create mental energy, make money sequence, is . . .