What Makes Ben Greenfield Tick

He's an expert in human performance and nutrition, voted America's top personal trainer and one of the globe's most influential people in health and fitness. His show provides you with everything you need to optimize physical and mental performance. He is Ben Greenfield.

Power, speed, mobility, balance, whatever it is for you, that's the natural movement. Get out there. When you look at all the studies done, studies that have shown the greatest efficacy.

All the information you need in one place, right here, right now on the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast.

I'm often asked why, instead of podcasting, interviewing and speaking about one specific topic, I have such a huge variety of guests on my show. From vegans to paleoists, from biohackers to mushroom harvesters, from minimalist exercisers to ultra endurance masochists. Why, instead of recommending one single mighty exercise program, I instead write about and feature everything from super slow training to powerlifting to obstacle racing to body weight workouts to yoga, yoga and beyond. Why, instead of recommending one single supplement or brand, I instead experiment with and talk about a huge variety of superfoods, herbs, oils, tinctures, patches, supplements, supplement stacks or supplement companies. And why, instead of using and recommending one single quantification or biohacking device, I talk about and use everything from heart rate variability to intranasal light devices to in ear phototherapy to wearable infrared and beyond. As a matter of fact, because I'm constantly immersed in studying and experimenting with the most intriguing, most enchanting and most useful things to better your body and brain, I've been accused of being a guy with a confusing and ever shifting message, a flake, shallow, a charlatan, a hypocrite and a sleazy Internet marketer who promotes all the newest workouts, diets or supplements on the face of the planet. Well, please allow me to set the record straight here with three quick facts for you. Okay, fact number one. Since I was 15 years old and for nearly two decades I've spent time immersed in everything from tennis to bodybuilding to water polo to basketball to volleyball to obstacle racing to ironman to hunting to free diving to fiction writing to guitar to violin, to being single to being married to being a father. You get the idea. And during that time, I've committed to seven day body part split workouts, isometric training, electrostimulation, neurofeedback, water aerobics, strength only, endurance only, spinning zumba, infrared, sauna, transcranial direct current stimulation, kickboxing and beyond. The takeaway message on all that is this. It's okay. To have different body and brain training approaches for different skills and different desired outcomes. My goal is to simply spend time in the trenches so I can educate and equip you with as much helpful information as possible so that you're able to choose the correct movement, approach, workout, exercise or hack for your specific goals. That's not going to be the same for everyone, and I certainly don't recommend you do it all at once. And yes, I'm looking at you, yoga guy, holding the kettlebell underwater with an electrostimulation hat on. Fact number two Posted on my office wall is a sign that says a human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. What's the takeaway message there? Well, even though it's just fine to do so, you don't have to do the same thing your whole life. Like Ironman triathlons or bodybuilding or yoga. You can branch out and live life to the fullest. And for you, this may mean experimenting with many different pleasures and pursuits that planet Earth might have to offer. Sometimes people will find it confusing when your passions change like new chapters in a book. That certainly seemed to happen to me. Eg, people say but Ben, you said last year that you found Tai Chi was the best way to reduce stress and now you say it's free diving. You're such a flake. Well, my answer to that is that's because my opinions change based on personal experience and research. Hopefully that winds up doing you more good than harm. Fact number three, Every week I look at dozens of blood and biomarker results from clients all over the globe and I spend countless hours doing phone and Skype consults, coaching everyone from athletes to CEOs to soccer moms, and doing online exercise and nutrition programming. While working with so many different individual body types, metabolisms and personalities, I've developed different biohacks, different diets and different supplement stacks for different people and have found those needs often drastically change depending on what you happen to be doing in life at the time. For example, long breath holds versus fat loss versus ketosis versus pulling an all nighter versus libido versus hunting in the wilderness, et cetera. The takeaway message to that is when I recommend or talk about a specific fat loss supplement or meal replacement powder or probiotic or infrared device or electrostimulation tool or heck, a razor. It doesn't mean I recommend every single person on the face of the planet needs to rush out to buy that tool immediately. All it means is I've discovered a cool new thing that is going to help some people in some situations. And if you listen to my podcast and read my articles, you'll become pretty well educated about whether something I recommend is actually meant for you at this point in your life. And if you don't know or if you're confused, then ask me. You can do that anywhere@BenGreenfieldFitness.com or on my Facebook page at Facebook.com BGFitness or on Twitter at Twitter.com BenGreenfield I'm not a hard guy to get a hold of for questions, honestly. So quick summary. Number one different strategies need to be used for different desired outcomes. Number two Life is like a book with new chapters as you go and that should be exciting, not confusing. Number three Take everything I say with a grain of salt because you may need to actually go out and discover or simply ask me whether it applies to your specific situation. Ultimately, I'm a connector. I do my best to connect you with people and solutions that address your specific problems or questions. I'm an author. I write what I keep my fingers crossed will be educational, enchanting and non run of the mill information about health, fitness, fitness, nutrition, longevity and happiness. I'm a teacher. I love to teach you how to get the most out of your body and your brain. And I realize that some people would be less confused if I stuck with just one exercise, one workout, one diet, one supplement and one biohack for the rest of all time. But that's not the life I live. Some days I eat kale, some days I eat bok choy. Some days I eat spinach. And some days I fast. Some days I take tian qi adaptogenic herbs. Some days trubrain smart drugs. Some days reishi mushrooms. Some days nothing. Some days I do yoga, some powerlifting, some body weight training, some cold water swimming. Sometimes I don't eat meat for a week and sometimes I have steak. Every day I have different approaches for different days, for different needs, for different goals. And yes, that means that on any given blog or podcast I might tell you about five different new ways to solve a problem you're facing. And those ways might be completely different than five other ways I just told you about a year ago. That's because I'm constantly learning Constantly evolving. Constantly adapting. It doesn't mean I'm some slick, slippery marketer who's kicking handfuls of cash under the table so I can jump in front of a microphone or keyboard to promote every silly thing that comes across my radar. Trust me, hundreds of products, diets, books, supplements and people come across my radar every week, and I'm extremely selective about any I choose to experiment with, trial or tell you about. So there you have it. I realize that it can be confusing to follow a guy who's constantly immersed in and chasing new ways to live life to the fullest. But I also like to think it's a heck of a lot of fun. And I promise you won't be bored when you follow me. Okay, now I'm off my soapbox and now it's your turn. Would you rather I create the Greenfield Workout, Greenfield Diet, Greenfield Supplement, and Mighty Greenfield All Encompassing Wristwatch so that I can get laser focused and stop confusing people? Or should I keep on keeping an open mind and exploring every corner of the earth for things that help me and you to continually get a better body, grow a better brain, and become a better person? Well, if you want to pipe in, you can go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com and let me know over there. Or go to Facebook.com BGFitness or Twitter.com BenGreenfield and fill me in. How can I do a better job helping you? All right, thanks for listening. I'm Ben Greenfield from BenGreenfieldFitness.com over and out.

You've been listening to the Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast. Go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com for even more cutting edge fitness and performance advice. Sam.