TGIF: PERFECT Workplace

Guest blogger: Barry Moniak

Back To CHARLIE MIKE

As a kid I was fascinated with the process of becoming bigger, stronger and more coordinated. Over time I was equally perplexed with the reality of growing old and feeble. In my early twenties I crossed paths with a Deepak Chopra book, stating that medical science had not identified anything in the human body responsible for triggering the aging process. That was all I needed to adopt a philosophy of getting increasingly more fit forever.

At 55, for no apparent reason, my bubble was popped when I became the proud owner of a herniated disk in my lower back, causing formidable nerve damage down my right leg. The doctors were ever so helpful in explaining to me that there was no way of knowing how long it might take for the nerves to heal … or if they ever would. Instead of being the guy who might climb Mt Everest at 100, I was moving towards being the guy sitting in the rocking chair on the porch … watching life go by. The specialists said my condition was a result of weak core muscles. Well having taught Martial Arts and Skiing, along with decades of weight training, hiking, biking and Yoga I contested their diagnosis. Then as if adding insult to injury … they began educating me on the difference between the smaller primary or core muscles, and the larger secondary and tertiary muscles. And, that in fact, because my secondary and tertiary muscles were so well developed … they actually caused my injury.

A few months later my wife Laiya incurred a neck injury, again for no apparent reason, which was also a result of weak core muscles. In her blog post she describes her ordeal and how we came to the Perfect Pushups to begin our healing process.

What I want to share with everyone is what all has happened to us since then and the synchronicities that continue to happen. The road back to strength wasn’t easy or fast. It took more determination at our age than anything we’d ever undertaken. About 9 months following my injury Laiya and I were driving to San Diego for a speaker’s convention. We were discussing how to use our Perfect Pushup recovery story in our presentations and I told Laiya that we had to meet Alden -- long story short, in less than 24 hours, we were being ushered into the San Diego Convention Center and introduced to Alden Mills.

Laiya's blog led to a call from Daniel Mule, the Salt Lake City Public Treasurer and in charge of the Utah Association of Public Treasurers Conference coming up. We just returned from delivering the program to the UAPT, where both of us actually demonstrated using the Perfect Pushups while in business dress clothes. The group absolutely loved it, and now Daniel is quite the celebrity amongst his peers (his picture leads off the blog). The workout I’ve adopted most recently, which can be done in 10 minutes or less, without breaking a sweat or wrinkling my clothes is:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do:

(1) superset of 45 regular Perfect Pushups, 10 regular Perfect Pullups, and 30 full squats standing on two Bosu balls.

(2) A few hours later I do another superset using the same formula, using a wide grip on the Pushups and Pullups.

(3) A few hours later I do my last set using a close grip. Every week I add a few more pushups, at least one more pullup, and a few more squats to the count.

Back to the beginning of my story … because of the Perfect Pushups we’re back on a getting stronger and ever more fit campaign. I guess in SEAL Speak … I’m back on CHARLIE MIKE!________________________________________________


Check out Barry's End In Mind website to learn more about his work in leadership development, effectiveness consulting and motivational speaking. He can be reached at barry@endinmind.com.