Introduction to Michael Barrett and the Healthy Wealthy Boomer concept.

The actual development of the Healthy Wealthy Boomer philosophy evolved from 1971 to present. This philosophy is expanded in the book: Healthy Wealthy Boomer: The Plan to Make the 2nd 50 Years Better than the 1st.

Richard Bach – the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull – said,
“You teach best what you most need to learn.”

Nothing Can Change Who You Really Are…

Ultimately, there is really nothing that we or anyone else can do – or say – that will change who you are because there is nothing you need to change. Underneath the confusion, emotional trauma, and the dings and glitches, you are perfect and whole and you were born that way.

How can any of us change perfection?

The basic premises of the Healthy Wealthy Boomer philosophy are:

1. Health means physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial, strength balance, and tone. 
2. The basis of real wealth is health.
3. The mind, emotion, energy and physical body are an integrated holistic system and each of the parts affect the others. Health is a well tuned system and most of it is not physical – yet the physical is very important.

Regarding baby boomer health much of today’s communication focus – on the internet and in the media –  is not about being healthy. Mainstream philosophy is based on preparing for the worst and the assumption that it is inevitable that every one is going to be sick. We will become feeble both physically and mentally as we age.

Certainly healthcare is not about being healthy or dis-ease prevention, it’s all about managing disease. We weren’t born to die, we were born to live. So get up and start living.

We Get Better With Age…

In contrast, we make the assumption that we’re going to be well. Healthy Wealthy Boomer thinking says that we get better with age, like a good cheese or wine. Rather than bracing for illness and learning how to manage dis-ease we accept the fact that not only does life begin at 40, we start to get a handle on what is going on around 50.

We’re not wearing out, we’re just breaking in. Not only that it is clear now that with some lifestyle and attitudinal changes we can begin to reverse the aging process and actually change our physiology.

Aging is a thing to celebrate, honor and respect as is the human body. Health is a choice and choosing to be healthy is a prerequisite to an exciting, bountiful and powerful second half of life.

About the Financial Component of Health…

Aside from feeling good physically and being able, mobile and active, what fun is being broke and dependent as we get older?

It isn’t and it is not a value that makes sense. The natural default of the universe is energetic strength and abundance. Many people start careers and become successful after age 60.

What’s holding us back other than our own perceptions of limitations?  Nothing…

Live Workshops, Training and Coaching

We offer live workshops teaching these principles and actually doing the work as a group so that participants can walk away with both a set of tools for daily living and a working knowledge of how to use them.

At Healthy Wealthy Boomer we have created a 90 day guide to take the first step:

Look Better and Feel Better in 90 Days. It is a companion workbook for the main book: Healthy Wealthy Boomer: The Boomer Plan for Making the 2nd 50 Years Better than the 1st and to our workshops.

Stop Thinking Old and Snap Out of the “Getting Sick” Mindset.

Anyone can change – at any time. I am living proof of this and I have learned to walk my talk and I know people a lot older than me with tons of energy.

We look forward to your feedback and working with you personally.

We’d love your feedback on the posts and your comments, input and contributions about ideas, content and suggestions.

I AM Michael Barrett and I’m Awesome Just Like You.

Google

The title of this book: “Millionaire Teacher” caught my attention in a review by John Chevreau on Wealthy Boomer.

Here’s a video of author Andrew Hallam to get a sense of who he is.

Andrew Hallam

Millionaire Teacher | Wealthy Boomer | Financial Post

opinion.financialpost.com12/21/11

While he is Canadian, Hallam teaches in Singapore, where he does NOT enjoy a DB pension. So his tale of amassing $1 million before age 40 is a little more interesting than the average Canadian teacher arriving at Freedom 55 millionaire status solely by a DB pension. …

Chevreau describes how Hallam wrote the book from a hospital bed during a bout with cancer in 2009. It’s an informative article about an interesting man who created a 9 step method for teachers (who teach over seas) to create a retirement portfolio that makes sense.

This subject of financial intelligence for teachers reminds me of Robert Kiyosaki’s motivation to provide financial education to the masses. That motivation was seeing his father (the well paid head of the educational system in Hawaii) struggle with money throughout his life and particularly as he got older.

Hallam expands the idea of teaching the principles of financial intelligence to the world of educators. And from my reading of Robert Kiyosaki’s work, I’m certain that Kiyosaki would validate Hallam’s warning about financial services sales people.

And we at Healthy Welahty Boomer would add one more recommendation to Hallam’s advice to teachers:

Buy the Cash Flow Board Game from Rich Dad Company and PLAY IT OFTEN.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM a Baby Boomer.

What defines a Wealthy Boomer?

Have we forgotten compassion? Have we forgotten simple kindness? Every Baby Boomer wants to live a life without lack, one of abundance and comfort – enjoying the love of family and friends. How much do we care and what are we doing about it?

Change For A Dollar tells the story of “the forgotten man”.

It reminds me of another video about the forgotten man that we watch on a regular basis. It’s a movie with William Powell made in 1937 during the tail end of the Great Depression called “My Man Godfrey“. While classified as a comedy, it really is a story of compassion and helping people stand on their own two feet.

Sometimes it seems that we Baby Boomers have lost touch with who we really are. We have forgotten – amid the busy-ness of life – to remember gratitude, and loving kindness to the others around us as we scurry around in our lives. This week I watched a video clip at Awesomenessfest.com where the speaker said:

“I have learned that we are loveable because we are human beings not human doings.”

We have learned – too often – to take things for granted, or the value of family, or gratitude for what we do have.

Seeing a video like this reminds me how important it is to be grateful and compassionate about how many people face difficulties today that did not exist 20 years ago. And yet it is virtually the same struggle that has been going on for centuries. Change for a Dollar is about a helping hand, a smile, and “hand-up” when we need it – and mostly seeing people, really seeing them. It is about the loneliness of being invisible.

Being the catalyst that triggers expansion is the type of change we need, not just change for the sake of it. Effective change requires purpose and compassion and gratitude and vision. We can lose the material stuff, we can lose our direction –  fall off our path and make bad decisions along the way – without losing our integrity.

Do we throw in the towel or ask our self what can I do about this?

It touches my heart to watch this video and reminds how many times I forget to remember who I AM and what I am grateful for.

Little things do make a difference.

Without compassion, without gratitude and without kindness, what does abundance mean? This is the character part of the wealthy boomer – and what is wealth without character?  It’s like living in an empty shell –  living an empty life.

This video reminds me what it is about helping people that truly brings me joy and that this is the work I love. It shines the light of hope on humanity.

Ask yourself, “What type of change can I make for a dollar?” If you like this video – you can donate a dollar at the end. I did.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM a Certified Core Health Facilitator.

Day Three of the Healthy Boomer 6 Pack Challenge – what an amazing day at Siesta Key beach.

It’s interesting what happens when we challenge each other in a healthy way – striving for excellence on a collective level. It’s a really positive thing to do on many levels. First and foremost, there is so much negative in the press, over the airwaves and in most conversation that counter balancing that negative with uplifting language, visuals and thoughts is so refreshing and empowering – in-powering actually. That is creating power from the inside out versus getting our power from a source outside ourselves.

By always speaking in language that enhances, we make a healthy contribution to the people and events around us. It costs nothing and it is contagious.

People like to feel good and it stands out clearly against so much negative.

Being a healthy boomer starts with thinking and speaking positively. All that is required is a choice. Making a habit out of it is what takes diligence. This is the fundamental precept in my challenge. Become a healthy baby boomer.

Start Thinking Healthy.

Start Speaking Healthy.

Start Acting Healthy.

Start Being Healthy.

This does not require a PhD in Physical Therapy or that you are working out like a professional athlete. You can start right this minute. Get up and stretch, take a walk, have a glass of water, smile about something, quiet yourself and enjoy the sunrise or go out and look at the moon for a while.

We can do many things to improve our health easily. Diminishing and virtually eliminating stress is a really good place to start. Make a choice to remove anger from your life. Smile and laugh more.

Watch a funny movie and laugh hard – often.

Quit sweating the small stuff.

If nothing else, take up the challenge strictly from the standpoint of making the determination within yourself that in 90 days you will be laughing more. That’s a huge step in the direction of health.

Whatever reason works for you – use it.

Maybe you have high blood pressure and you’re under a lot of stress and you have kids. Think about them being without a dad or a mom five or ten years down the road if you do nothing about your current situation. That’s a good motivator for many.

Think of it this way…

Life can be a lot more fun than it has been. Where do I start having fun?

Ask yourself:

Isn’t life more fun when I feel better physically?

Remember the tireless energy as a kid?

What happened to that?

Focus your attention on that to start with. Simply go into a place when you were small (in your mind and heart) and remember what that feels like. Think about what it used to feel like when you would sleep at night as a child.

How comfortable and safe you felt.

That memory and that knowledge is still locked deep within you – so you already know how to do what I am talking about.

Summon it forth.

Choose to start having fun and get a  new start enjoying your health.

Change what you think about health and take up the Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge whether you want six pack abs or not.

Choose to be a Healthy Wealthy Boomer and Make the Second Fifty Years Better Than the 1st. There is no asset of greater value than excellent health –  so starting developing that asset again and be a wealthy boomer too.

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator

The Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge begins just as we officially enter into summer…

It’s kind of weird being in Florida – experiencing the complete seasonal transition for the very first time in its entirety. Know why? It’s because our bodies are used to a different winter cycle - I think - and on some level our bodies are still waiting for winter to come – even though it’s already officially summer. We moved here in the summer in 2009 and as far as our bodies are concerned we haven’t had winter yet.

Funny how the body works – not really funny actually, more like interesting – how we can be such biologically driven creatures and not even be aware of it on a conscious level. We certainly do have biological clocks – cellular clocks – that are synchronized with our attitudes, the weather and our environment – even when we don’t realize it. And this becomes more and more obvious as we get older.

In many ways, that is what this challenge is about.

The Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge is both about the outcome – a baby boomer six pack – and also becoming really conscious about our internal clocks, how we approach our health as healthy boomers, having fun being conscious of our physical condition and how we express ourselves physically in the world around us.

Five years ago, my life was a mess. I made the choice to change it and I have. It ‘s been turbulent at times and I’ve made a ton of mistakes along the way since that time.

Just the same I did it…

In spite of huge issues that came along in life, we stuck it out.

As they say at Harv Eker’s Enlightened Warrior Training Camp:  “Never give up.”

And although we almost threw in the towel a couple of times, every time we got knocked down we got back up and got back into the arena. And we made it through – both tempered and strong – in one piece operating, at full capacity for the first time in a long time.

And after all the years of confusion, I KNOW WHO I AM 100% again and I AM 100% Healthy. 

It was impossible to be healthy carrying around all the emotional baggage, the self anger, anger at others and all the layers of confusion accumulated over a life time – childhood, a family, divorce and all the other life events that offer challenges and open the door for miss-takes and confusion to set in without being aware of it.

Coupled with the years of qigong practice and all the positive things I have done over the last 40 years to enhance my health,  the last 12 months we’ve done the work to clean out the energy, dump all the layers of confusion and remove all the energy glitches that made us go weak.

And now they don’t…

They’re gone now. Now comes the work of naturalizing the results and healthy behavior patterns as the new defaults. So I’m going for it and by the end of summer I am going to have a baby boomer six pack and that’s a personal promise.

Healthy Boomer Six Pack Abs Challenge

I CHALLENGE YOU to take up the Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge and join in. Play with us and re-discover that natural core of health you were born with.

Imagine how great you will feel in 3 months, 6 months and a year from now - if you get started right away. 

How about 10 years from now?

Remember what it felt like to be a kid?

NANNY NANNY NANNY, I’m healthier than you are…

Tag, you’re it.

You know you’ve been thinking about it for a long time.  Another 20 years will go by – fast – before you know it.

Get up, put your walking shoes and start…

What’s holding you back?

I’m going to make it happen, how about you?

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Healthy Wealthy Boomer: June 1 – Healthy Boomer Challenge

The Health Wealthy Boomer definition of health is being healthy mentally, emotionally, Spiritually, energetically, physically and financially. Inherent within this definition is the premise that total health is the single most important component of being a wealthy boomer – our most valuable asset.  Let’s look at this idea and expand it.

First a couple of statistics…

The U.S. Census Bureau says that by 2030, after all baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) have turned 65, more than 71 million senior citizens will be living in the USA.

Currently, more Americans than ever are obese: one-third of the adult population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-05-obesity-age_x.htm

Whatever your personal situation is, far too many Baby Boomers are putting on weight and don’t exercise. Many of us who used to be in the 15% body fat (or lower) category are creeping up to the 25% range. There are much more in-powering choices and life patterns we can make than obesity, particularly as we age.

Many Boomers have decided that it’s  too late to do anything about it and believe they are stuck permanently with sore joints, weak legs and being tired all the time – because that what happens after 50.  Collectively, this is what we have been taught to accept as truth.

I disagree.

If you left a new car out in the elements and never waxed it from day one, eventually the paint would peel off. Who would ever treat a nice car that way – particularly at $25-40K+? You wash it and wax it regularly to protect the paint and to prevent oxidation. You change the oil and get the transmission serviced so it will last as long as possible.

Bodies need love too. If you are not already doing so, start loving your body and yourself. Treat yourself like an honored guest.

If you wait until 2030 to take action, it may be too late. On the positive side, you still have 20 years to become a healthy boomer. A few years ago at a Peak Potentials Train the Trainer 1 Certification intensive, Blair Singer made an interesting point via demonstration that puts 20 years into perspective.

Before I describe what Blair did, let me tell you a little about who Blair Singer is (in case you don’t know). Blair Singer is close friends with Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad,  a real estate investor and all around entrepreneur). Blair is a Rich Dad Adviser and a highly respected “sales trainer” – the guy companies call in to get results in sales by training their staff. Blair was also a student of Marshall Thurber, a genius in his own right and a protege of Bucky Fuller.

By the way, Blair Singer is a healthy wealthy boomer…

Here is a short video entitled Blair Singer: Secret Formula For Business Success that will give you a sense of how dynamic and talented Blair is and why he is such a successful trainer:

So back to my story…

Blair called volunteers to the front of the room ( we had about 600 attendees of which I was one) and had them line up facing the audience across the entire width of the room – and I would guess it was about 200 feet across. Then he had the volunteers stretch out a single rope all the way across the room each person in line holding the rope and keeping it level. He said that this rope represented a “whole lifetime”.

Next he talked about how a person can learn almost anything they need to in 90 days – with the right instruction, information and diligence.

Then Singer had another volunteer attach a piece of red string 3 feet long to the “life rope” and he asked the group,

“What do you all think that 3 feet of red string represents?”

He got all kinds of answers – and everybody’s attention.

Blair finally said,

“That 3 feet of string represents 90 days of your life. You can learn how to do just about anything in 90 days. And look what a tiny portion of your entire life that time really is. If you think about it, no matter how hard the challenge or how uncomfortable it makes you feel, you can both learn:

• whatever you want to learn, or
• need to learn or
• have to learn

and you can stand whatever it is for 90 days knowing it is such a small percentage of the total. Don’t you agree?”

He got absolute consensus from the group. In the big scheme of things, the time period is truly insignificant relative to your entire life. It really was an effective visual – and we often learn easier visually.

In this case, I certainly did.

Here is my Baby Boomer challenge to you:

Take the next 90 days and do something to improve your health.

Be realistic.

Take a step and start creating new habits.

Here are my basic suggestions:

• Start walking more…  Use the stairs at work, park in the far corner of the parking lot when you shop, walk to the store to get the paper or buy a quart of milk instead of driving 5 blocks. You get the idea. Start taking a walk everyday – intentionally. It relaxes you, it stretches your muscles and it activates your metabolism. Walking for health is something all of us can do.
• Keep a journal of what you do.  Keep tabs on what you are doing everyday so you can look at your progress on your self improvement journey. Not a big deal – maybe: “I walked 15 minutes today.”
• Find out about meditation – take a class or watch You Tube videos, or meet with a friend -  and if you already know about meditation, start doing it again.  Meditation is one of the best things you can do for your health. It improves so many things by default. And if nothing else, just sit quietly on the back porch for ten minutes (no phones, television or noise) and watch the sun come up or enjoy your garden or look at the moon. Getting quiet is a very good thing to do on a regular basis.
• Drink more clean water. Learn how to hydrate your body better.
• Stretch every day.
• Start going to bed earlier.

Do this for 90 days and you will feel significantly better than if you continue to postpone that period of time represented by the 3 feet of red string.

Why wait?

The purpose is to create new habits or re-create them…

If you choose to go further with this, we have created courses  and workshops that really work and help people learn how to walk their talk. Get in touch on our contact page and let’s move forward.

In 20 years, you can actually be healthier than you have been in a long time and you can still become a healthy boomer. Why wait any longer to get started? You can do this incrementally gradually increasing the distance you walk and the intensity with which you exercise. Cut back on fried foods and start eating more Omega 3′s.

Start gradually and work up and in no time at all you’ll look forward to talking a brisk walk and having a tall glass of water. Think how much more energy you will have in 20 years compared to what you will feel like physically if you don’t start now. Many of the effects of aging can actually be reversed, so why wait?

Speaking of Boomer Health: What is your health worth to you?

As far as being healthy goes in 2030:

• what will that health be worth to you then? Or said differently,
• what will it be worth you in 2030 to get your health back?

To my way of thinking, being a healthy boomer is a really good investment in your future – and in your wealth – because the root of real wealth is based in pure health. It is one of those intangibles that you can control in your life. And in time, the results will become tangible – one way or the other.

When you are healthy, you have more creative energy, more energy to work, start new projects and build your wealth along the way. On the other hand, not only is it hard to work and be creative when you feel lousy, it’s no fun. How can you distinguish between wealthy boomer and a healthy one? Do you agree that health an essential component of abundance and wealth?

It’s amazing how many people I have met in the last couple of years – in their mid to late 60′s that wish they had taken better care of their bodies when they were younger. I have also met a number of people who are healthier now – in their 60′s and 70′s than many people I know in their 40′s.

• Will you be getting healthier all the time by the time you are 65?
• And will you be actively building your wealth and living the life you want, or
• Will you be working every day to pay the rent and eat like so many people in their 60′s today?

There’s no time like the present.

In fact there only is the present. The past is history and the future hasn’t come yet.

Wake up, tune it and get with it.  I double dare you…

The choices you make today will determine what you become in 20 years. When the time comes, don’t say “nobody told me”. Are you really too busy to care of your health?

Get started now on the Healthy Boomer Challenge.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM a Core Health Facilitator and Boomer Health Coach

Update on the Baby Boomer Six Pack Blog…

A few weeks ago, I declared my intention to get into training mode physically and mentally targeting SIX PACK ABS by my birthday.

I hereby announce that I have to postpone this for two months – maybe three.

I am still working on re-establishing my daily routine and implementing the system I created in “Look Better and Feel Better in 60 Days“. However, I will hold off on the intense workout routine until I complete some “corrective training” to re-align and reduce the compensation effect related to the information that follows.

Note the operating word : Postpone – not BAIL…

Here’s why…

When I spoke to my mentor (Dr. Ed Carlson) about it at lunch in Gulfport, Fl the following week, he took a good look at my posture and suggested that before I go into training mode, I should go visit Randy Clark in Clearwater, Fl. Randy is partners with Paul St John (yes THE Paul St John – founder of the Paul St John Method of Neuro-muscular Therapy) at the St John-Clark Pain Treatment Center.

Dr Ed Carlson (my mentor) and Paul St John are old friends and have worked together for many years. A few years ago, Paul St. John and Randy Clark became partners.

Smart People Listen to Good Advice…

I had heard Randy speak at the Core Health Facilitators Update several weeks preceding this conversation and found his work to be fascinating. Over the years – although stubborn and resistant at times – I have learned that smart people listen to good advice. In 11 1/2 months Dr. Ed Carlson has never once given me a bad piece of advice. So I went to meet Randy.

Here is my take on how integrative neurosomatic therapy works…

Basically what these guys do is manipulate the muscles to release contraction. And recently they have learned something new. It is actually easier to get the muscles to relax by massaging and manipulating the “organs” associated with different muscles groups and associated meridians. Apparently this is far more effective than working on the muscles directly and in a very short period of time, by manipulating the organs the muscles relax automatically.

As therapy progresses, and the muscles relax to a normal state, many skeletal alignment issues correct naturally as a function of releasing the tension in the muscles.

While it is far more complex than this, this description is basically the idea. There is a lot that Paul St John and Randy have learned about the relationship between the neural net and muscles – and how they “interact and fire”.

In a nutshell, contracted muscles that stay that way for an extended period of time actually create a “lock” and significant tension in the surrounding muscle groups, associated meridians, organs and connecting tissues. This muscle contraction often creates tilts in the skeletal systems and can create long term complications if not treated.

My Personal Physical Situation Right Now…

In my personal case, Randy Clark showed me that this muscle contraction (and compensation) has created a head tilt to the right as well as a pelvic tilt to the right and several issues related to the neck and shoulder.

Unresolved this could transform – over time – into a permanent physical pattern for me and this is unacceptable.

So…

In addition, my primary front abdominal muscle is “not firing”. Apparently when the surgeon cut through that muscle for a hernia operation in 1977, the neural connection to that muscle shut down. What that means is that when the brain sends the signal to “fire” that muscle, the message never gets there through the neural net. From their clinical experience and observation over a long period of time, this is quite a common problem after surgery – for many types of abdominal surgery for both men and women.

The rub is that most physicians are not aware that this is the case and 9 times out of 10 they recommend physical therapy as the post operative treatment. What this means (if these guys are right and I think they are) is that the recommended post operative therapy (which is exactly what the doctor ordered) is often exactly what is not needed for the client. What they need instead is to relax the muscles, where the physical therapy actually induces muscle contraction.

Anyway back to my situation…

No wonder doing 2500 ab crunches a day (I worked up to that because as my friend Holly says, ” I tend to be an overachiever”) in a workout program several years ago did nothing to help my front abdominal core. The ab muscle itself was not firing. So all the surrounding muscles had to take up the slack and “compensate”. Needless to say this can create numerous issues – like a chain reaction in the body. I have a high pain thresh hold, so over time my body adjusted to the contraction and the compensation and – in time – this became normal.

Dr. Ed Carlson often points out that:

“There is a difference between normal and natural. Natural being the most healthy and normal being what MOST of us do, most of the time.”

My personal challenge to everybody who wants to change their life (and particularly Boomers) from normal to natural:

“I intend to set the bar high as a healthy boomer challenging all Baby Boomers to move from being NORMAL to NATURAL and I invite all of you (whether you are a Boomer or not)” – to participate.”

In 2003, I broke my left wrist in 7 places . In 2005 and 2006 there were additional injuries. The first was when I did a one point landing – full body weight – on the side of my neck and right clavicle. From 2005 until 2010, the clavicle was partially separated the whole time (until an amazing man, Grand Master David Harris reset it). I also sustained a knee injury, landing on a piece of steel full body weight in 2006.

I mention these experiences because they exacerbated the issues that had existed within my body without my knowledge for many years.

So here’s the deal…

When I get:

all the “coiled and contracted” muscles in my body relaxed and normalized and then naturalized

and when we correct the mis-alignments

get the ab firing again and

build muscle in the right places – correctively – to hold everything in alignment, the way it should be

Then I will actively take up the abs challenge again. Maybe the new target will be September instead of July, not sure yet. I am really glad that I found these things out because building significant muscle mass and more tension would have potentially compounded the problems and created serious negative long term side effects.

Thanks Dr. Ed and Randy Clark…

Future Baby Boomer Six Pack Updates

From April 28-May 2, I attended the annual Silent Re~Treat that Dr Ed Carlson has been facilitating for over 25 years. During that 4 1/2 days of Unceasing Meditation, I learned a good deal about what else has been going on in my neck – not just the “what”, also the “why” and what to do about it.

This is part of the solution to my situation and the physical expression of who I AM.

I’ll talk about the emotional and “feelings” aspects of this and how it integrates into my overall personal solution in further Baby Boomer Six Pack Updates…

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Baby Boomer Six Pack – All You Can Drink…

Gotcha. I’m talking about six pack abs – not beer. You know the kind of sexy abs that look great at the beach. I’m on a mission and I could use your support. Will you help me?

First A Little Personal History

Back in November 2008, I was talking to my close friend on the phone who said that he and a mutual friend of ours had decided to lose weight together. So on that call, I committed to my friend to join in and get below 200 pounds by my birthday the following July (2009). Along came July and I was under 200 pounds for the first time in a number of years.

This year, I’ve made a different commitment with less time to accomplish it. What’s the commitment?

6 PACK ABS BY MY BIRTHDAY IN JULY.

This is on the radical side – time wise -and a tough target but I’m confident that I can do this. Last time I lost the weight almost exclusively as a result of increased physical activity – initially by walking 5-7 miles a day in the mountains of Pennsylvania and later by adding back in Tibetan Rites, Qigong and reduced food intake to my daily routines.

I’ve tried the six pack abs thing before unsuccessfully. I even blogged about it in 2008: Why Can’t I Get Six Pack Abs?

Why Will I Be Successful This Time?

My plan will succeed because I’m refining my physical routine again plus adding a significant focus on raw foods and being specific about getting enough of the right kind of fat.

This is my physical regimen between now and July:

• Walking 3-5 miles a day aggressively
• Tibetan Rites every day
• Qigong 3-4 times a week
• Free weights: (to build up my upper body to strength level that preceded my broken wrist in 2003) 3- sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 alternating on each arm with starting with 10 pound weights and working my way up to 40 pound weights.
• I will also be using diet suggestions and core exercises recommended in Mike Geary’s incredibly successful e-book: The Truth About Abs.

Note: Personal Recommendation – Over the last couple of years, I’ve been following Mike. I think he is the genuine article and really walks his talk. I always read his newsletter and the more I read it, the more I realize that our health philosophies are really in alignment. Lots of things I have been saying for years keep coming out in his newsletters. Nice to get validation from a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition specialist. I highly recommend Truth About Abs for anybody serious about health and getting in shape – and the bonuses that come with his – e-book are really awesome.

Something else is different too.

Combined with Geary’s core strength recommendations I’m adding another tool: Core Health. Coupled with my physical regimen this creates a Baby Boomer Secret Weapon – and if I am right – the tools for a Baby Boomer Six Pack.

In 2009, I found Core Health. I liked it so much that I moved from Montana to Florida to study it with the founder, Dr. Ed Carlson, and after months of study and multiple joyful, expansive weekend intensives, I received my certification as a Core Health facilitator last December.

While the physical aspects of exercise and diet are very important, there are other things that are just as important and perhaps even more so – attitude and energy. From what I have learned in Core Health during 2009, I am convinced that when I lock in my commitment to succeeding at creating 6 pack abs using the DTQ techniques and making new energy decisions, I will succeed 100%.

The proof is in the pudding. Results are all that matters.

I am going to blog about this process the whole way and post videos and blogs about my routines from now until my birthday. I’m looking for some support. Just an occasional “atta-boy” and blog comments along the way would really help. Are you with me?

Away we go…

Watch as my baby boomer six pack materializes before your eyes between now and July.

I Am Michael Barrett. I Am a Core Health Facilitator and I Am a Healthy Boomer.

Wusthof Chef Knives
Source:wusthof.com

Baby Boomer Men Who Cook Love Sharp Knives

Having sharp knives is a point of contention with me – or perhaps more accurately – dull knives. Many kitchens have knives that ‘saw’ through foods rather than dice, slice or chop.

One of my favorite places to spend spare time is in the kitchen because I like to cook and I’m getting better at it. It’s kind of becoming a “sport-hobby” for me – as a genuine wannabe chef. Because, I am a Healthy Boomer and very conscious about the quality of food that I put into my body, the preparation of food is done with great care and conscious attention to detail. Good cooking tools and sharp knives are essential in the kitchen in order to create delightful and healthy meals fast.

Over the years, I have made a sincere effort to learn how to sharpen a knife correctly – with only limited success to my satisfaction. In part, this is because those who tried to show me didn’t know either.

After college, I took several woodworking classes making furniture using traditional woodworking tools. Part of the curriculum was learning how to sharpen hand plane blades and chisels.

Source:japaneseknifesharpening.com

I accomplished some degree of success first using Arkansas oil stones and a lot of elbow grease. Later I learned how to use Japanese water stones to sharpen to these tools to a mirror finish.

Every cutting edge requires a specific bevel angle, or what’s called a primary angle. On steel knives the angle usually varies from 15-25 degrees depending on the style of knife and how it is manufactured.

In order for a the cutting edge to work effectively, there needs to be a relief angle – in addition to the primary bevel. On square edged tools like a chisel, this can be achieved by grinding a second bevel. Another way to create a relief angle is by using a grinding wheel to create a hollow grind. What creates the most effective cutting edge on a chisel is actually a combination of the two: First a hollow grind, then a secondary angle and finally the primary edge

What really makes a cutting edge work efficiently is the second bevel angle. In this context, you end up with 3 bevels on a cutting edge. The primary angle, the second angle and a relief bevel. Here is an excellent description of how to sharpen a knife on Mike Casey’s Knife Sharpening Page.

Scroll down to Figure 5 to see the three bevel angles described above. This visual may help. A triple bevel cutting edge creates a very strong and durable cutting edge with exceptional ‘relief’ to reduce friction and resistance when the cutting edge is in the material you are cutting.

On the Subject of Edges and Honing

Here is a good series of magnifications showing the cutting edge of a knife sharpened using an F. Dick SM 111 sharpening machine.

Sharpening A Square Edged Tool…

Sharpening a square edged tool is fairly easy because we only have one plane to be concerned with. As long as we keep the cutting edge at a 90 degree to the grinding surface, it’s pretty straight forward.

We need some type of jig or fixture to maintain that relationship so we can create a constant angle across the entire cutting edge.

The SM111 is a great way to grind, remove the burr and hone fairly quickly and consistently. This looks like a good machine that runs about $2600.

A Radiused or Contoured Cutting Edge Is a Different Story.

When we sharpen a contoured edge, maintaining constant bevel edges across the entire cutting edge surface is a different story.

It requires a way to maintain a constant bevel around the contour of the knife. If you use water stones, this requires a great deal of skill and practice although this can be a very effective way to sharpen knives.

Look at these before and after pictures and see Dave Martell can do with waters stones, by hand.

What about a regular guy who isn’t an expert with water stones?

A Chef’s Recommendation…

Edge Pro Knife Sharpener
source:http://www.edgeproinc.com/

With an Apex Knife Sharpener, Putting a 600 Grit Finish on the Cutting Edges of Your Knives Is a Snap…

About a week ago, I was talking to a chef from the Ritz in Sarasota and he told me about the Apex Edge Pro. He bought one himself to keep his $250-300 knives razor sharp. He was actually looking at a new fillet knife when I spoke to him because he needed to fillet a large grouper for a function at the Ritz that night.

Watch this sharpener in action, it’s so easy to use.

When I got home, I took a look at what Chef was talking about. I’m impressed. So much so that I am going to get this system myself. It’s about $575 with attachments and a carrying case.

What qualifies me to talk about sharpening?

I founded and was the managing partner for True Cut Saw and Tool in Hamilton, Montana for six years. We did industrial grinding for the woodworking industry specializing in cemented carbide tooling. Our niche was carbide tipped router bits. We sharpened, manufactured and retipped router bits, shaper cutters and circle saws, maintaining a high level of professional quality.

I was also a foodservice broker in Seattle for 5 years and have interfaced with thousands of chefs. Cutlery has been an interest of mine for many years.

A key to Baby Boomer Health is eating right. Baby Boomer Men who cook love knives. Knives are an integral part of food preparation and eating right.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM A Healthy Boomer

Are You a Healthy Boomer?

If you are – good for you. If you’re not yet, you can be. 2010 is the year for great possibilities.

New Years resolutions tend to be an annual ritual for many of us as we reflect upon the year that we are leaving behind and look forward to potential in the new year. Why do health club memberships skyrocket every year about this time and then peter out around March?

Basically new years resolutions never work and there is a good reason for that which I will address later in this post.

What gives ME the right to “preach”?

Because I AM a Healthy Boomer.

It is not an accident that guys half my age call me Mr. Energy. I have been focused on a healthy and natural lifestyle since 1971 – with some glitches and bumps along the way – but overall, throughout most of that time, I have chosen a path of “excellent health and vitality” as my standard. My lifelong motto has been this: I DON’T DO SICK. I have chosen a life of health as a conscious decision.

At age 18, I decided to take responsibility for my health. I made a choice to follow a path that would lead to longevity – and a vibrant, healthy life – not just a long one. I started looking at people around me and noticed how some older people had beautiful skin and bright shiny eyes and others seemed withered, with dry skin and dull eyes. Some had a bounce in their step with lots of energy, while for others, walking was difficult and labored.

I made a life choice – there and then – that I would be a member of the former group, and not the latter.

As a result of that life choice, my health journey began with the following questions emerging within my consciousness and becoming a dominant force in my life:

• How do I do that?
• How do I live a long and vibrantly healthy life?
• What constitutes this kind of lifestyle?
• How do I define this for myself?
• What rules do I need to live by?

That may not seem like a big deal to you – now – as you read this.

Consider this: On a personal level, what were you thinking about – around health - at age a 18?

In retrospect, for an invincible, highly energetic, 18 year old ‘hot shot’ – with a metabolism that required 6 full meals a day – that was a pretty profound choice and decision.

One of the things that had led up to that decision was the loss of my dearest and closest friend about a year earlier. He and his brother were both killed in a head-on by a drunk driver. His death forced me to consider mortality for the second time in my life.

Only this experience was different, it went to my core.

I went deep and sought resolution within myself. As I pondered life and death coherently and cogently, I chose to redirect my life towards another path. I withdrew from the circle of friends I had known and associated with – completely – and embarked upon my own path, alone. On some level I understood that if I did not, I would end up like my dear friend had.

Health became a driving force as a martial arts enthusiast and an “A” student in my first year of college, as a full time accounting major.

The regimen of rigorous training – 6 times a week at the dojo – and 3 to 4 hours of study daily quickly formed a solid pattern of self discipline – a skill that has been a real benefit since.

Self Discipline Is a Key Ingredient to Health…

Where it is most important – in my experience – is upholding our choices and being disciplined in our own willingness to follow through on those choices over the long haul. Consistency is what creates self discipline. And consistency in our attitude creates good health over time.

Over many years I have observed human behavior in a class and training environments – originally in martial arts and for the last 22 years, in qigong and the self development world. What I know is that people have to start where they are, with the existing skills they have – and build success upon those.

This is my mission with Baby Boomers to promote and in-power Baby Boomer health.

Why Don’t New Years Resolutions Work?

Here’s why.

Changing your mind does not change your energy body – your blueprint – until your mind and your energy body are in alignment. When you change in your root – in your energy – the change is permanent.

How do we do that?

I have looked for a method that works for everybody my whole life and in 2009 I found it. It’s called Core Health, a system of comprehensive kinesiology that both encompasses and expands upon:

• behavioral kinesiology and
• energy psychology

I liked it so much I moved from Montana to Florida and have just completed my certification as a Core Health Facilitator.

This is the most comprehensive and effective system I have ever studied and I want to teach anyone  – who is sincerely ready for a change in their life – how to change their lives with new energy decisions that are permanent.

Find out more about Core Health Workshops and Heart Forgiveness and Funny with Money for 2010 and make this the year you become a Healthy Boomer. Workshops forming right now in the Sarasota, Nokomis, St Petersburg and Tampa areas.

We travel to your city for group trainings. We also do corporate training to achieve enhanced workplace productivity through more conscious employees, better working relationships, less absenteeism, and increased energy levels.

Get in touch on the contact page and let’s talk.

We do win-win in a big way and we love our work.

I AM Michael Barrett. I AM a Core Health and Heart Forgiveness Facilitator and I AM Healthy Wealthy Boomer.