Mount Athos

Author: MarkBruns

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                         <h1 id="daily-fitness--wellness-topics-june-1-2025---september-8-2025"><a class="header" href="#daily-fitness--wellness-topics-june-1-2025---september-8-2025">Daily Fitness &amp; Wellness Topics: June 1, 2025 - September 8, 2025</a></h1>
+<p>Fitness and wellness are where we START, because of the obvious ... we need to be fit and well enough to continue -- if we don't take care of these FIRST, then then other things are not going to matter for very long.</p>
 <h2 id="by-category"><a class="header" href="#by-category">By Category</a></h2>
 <h3 id="1-christian-spiritual-health-51-days---13"><a class="header" href="#1-christian-spiritual-health-51-days---13">1. <strong>Christian Spiritual Health</strong> (51 days - 13%)</a></h3>
+<p>The MOST important aspect of wellness is spiritual wellness. Without spiritual wellness, everything else can be done by a robot or an AI. The most important aspect of life is contemplation of the BIG WHY, ie praying for discernment of the will of the Creator. NOTHING else can come before this, unless you want to pretend that you're the most tasty hog being fattened and conditioned to provided the best specimen of meat for slaughter. <strong>The most important aspect of life is contemplation of the BIG WHY, ie praying for discernment of the will of the Creator.</strong></p>
 <p><a href="#day-1---june-1-2025--christian-spiritual-health-beginning-with-gratitude">Day 1</a> | <a href="#day-11---june-11-2025--transformative-discipleship-technology-tdt">Day 11</a> | <a href="#day-21---june-21-2025--quantum-synthesis-or-transformation-of-consciousness-holy-hour-daily-rest-the-sabbath">Day 21</a> | <a href="#day-31---july-1-2025--embodied-witness-christian-discipline-and-attractional-faith">Day 31</a> | <a href="#day-41---july-11-2025--christian-spiritual-health-gratitude-for-ability-to-break-free-of-geography-and-participate-in-scientific-seminars">Day 41</a> | <a href="#day-51---july-21-2025--christian-spiritual-health-stop-worshiping-dead-shit">Day 51</a> | <a href="#day-60---july-30-2025--christian-spiritual-health-behave-like-the-phoenix">Day 60</a> | <a href="#day-71---august-10-2025----spiritual-health-quiz-less-certainty-more-contemplation-more-questions">Day 71</a> | <a href="#day-81---august-20-2025--spiritual-health-derives-from-gratitude-gratitude-enables-wisdom-to-process-the-paradox-ore-mined-by-ai">Day 81</a> | <a href="#day-91---august-30-2025--christian-spiritual-health-faithful-consistency">Day 91</a></p>
 <h3 id="2-strength-training-43-days---11"><a class="header" href="#2-strength-training-43-days---11">2. <strong>Strength Training</strong> (43 days - 11%)</a></h3>
+<p>Strength training is not necessarily second in importance, it might be tenth ... something has to start us off, AFTER we acknowledge that spiritual wellness is the foundation for all other forms of health and fitness. Strength training matters as much as it does because of the discipline that it engenders ... frankly, there are side-benefits, eg large leg muscles are better at disposing of glucose and keeping our blood in a more ketotic state. MOSTLY, strength training's benefits are primarily mental or emotional. Continuing to LIFT when one believes that one might not be able to lift, but is going to give it all the effort one has is one of the most important disciplines that we can develop. Strength training is key to wrestling for this reason, ie it's not exactly about the ability to outmuscle or move an object -- it's about the mental discipline of pushing THROUGH a limit. The obstacle becomes the way ... yes, sometimes the obstacle wins ... but generally what matters is the discipline of pushing through the obstacle ... that's why strength training is important. It is NOT important because humans are going to replace skid steers to carry buckets of material or giant cranes to lift heavy objects -- strength training matters, in an age where we have machines to lift things for us, because of the the mental discipline of pushing THROUGH a limit.</p>
 <p><a href="#day-2---june-2-2025--strength-training-foundation-assessment">Day 2</a> | <a href="#day-12---june-12-2025--strength-training-upper-body-focus">Day 12</a> | <a href="#day-22---june-22-2025--strength-training-lower-body-foundation">Day 22</a> | <a href="#day-32---july-2-2025--strength-training-progressive-overload">Day 32</a> | <a href="#day-42---july-12-2025--strength-training-core-stability">Day 42</a> | <a href="#day-52---july-22-2025--strength-training-functional-patterns">Day 52</a> | <a href="#day-62---august-1-2025--strength-training-using-strength-training-metrics-as-a-way-to-gauge-extended-fasting">Day 62</a> | <a href="#day-72---august-11-2025---strength-training-1000-questions">Day 72</a> | <a href="#day-82---august-21-2025--strength-training-mindfulness-rather-than-extra-time-in-the-weightroom">Day 82</a> | <a href="#day-92---august-31-2025--strength-training-summer-strength-assessment">Day 92</a></p>
 <h3 id="3-cardiovascular-health-40-days---10"><a class="header" href="#3-cardiovascular-health-40-days---10">3. <strong>Cardiovascular Health</strong> (40 days - 10%)</a></h3>
 <p><a href="#day-3---june-3-2025--cardiovascular-health-heart-rate-awareness">Day 3</a> | <a href="#day-13---june-13-2025--cardiovascular-health-outdoor-summer-cardio">Day 13</a> | <a href="#day-23---june-23-2025--cardiovascular-health-interval-introduction">Day 23</a> | <a href="#day-33---july-3-2025--independence-day-is-work-from-home-independence-from-presenteeism-day-using-tabata-hiit-wods">Day 33</a> | <a href="#day-43---july-13-2025--cardiovascular-health-land-based-martial-arts-alternatives-to-swimming-or-water-exercise">Day 43</a> | <a href="#day-53---july-23-2025--cardiovascular-breathwork-situational-adaptation">Day 53</a> | <a href="#day-63---august-2-2025--holistic-body-awareness-cardiovascular-optimization-as-a-measurement-tool">Day 63</a> | <a href="#day-73---august-12-2025---cardiovascular-health-unlocking-deeper-insights">Day 73</a> | <a href="#day-83---august-22-2025--cardiovascular-health-beyond-willpower-the-system-for-having-ones-heart-in-it">Day 83</a> | <a href="#day-93---september-1-2025--cardiovascular-health-fall-transition-cardio">Day 93</a></p>
 <h3 id="4-nutrition-36-days---9"><a class="header" href="#4-nutrition-36-days---9">4. <strong>Nutrition</strong> (36 days - 9%)</a></h3>
+<p>If the USDA Food Pyramid didn't make it obvious enough ... <em>somebody</em> has devoted a lot of energy, investement and talent to the task of persaudinging you to eat crap that is bad for you, ESPECIALLY sweet, tasty, addictive crap that provides no nutrients and basically nothing but caloric intake. MOST food sold in supermarkets -- basically ALL food sold by the fast food industry and all-you-eat buffets is basically poison that you should avoid at all costs. The healthiest lifestyle [for people over forty] on the planet one that is like that practiced by the monks on Mount Athos who fast 200 days per year, eat only in obedient observance of Feast Days; when these monks do eat, they do not speak or treat food as an emotional crutch -- instead, the monks focus on the sustenance of what they are eating and how it gives them the nutrients for their contemplative lifestyle.  The ONLY modification that the Ancient Guy recommends to the Mount Athos diet is the substitution of meat for whole grains, rice, bread ... but otherwise, the Ancient Guy diet includes L. reuteri yogurt with strained whey, leafy green vegetables from the garden and vegetables and berries to supplement the carnivorous otherwise meat-only diet.</p>
 <p><a href="#day-4---june-4-2025--exercise-more-sweat-more-summer-hydration-focus">Day 4</a> | <a href="#day-14---june-14-2025--nutrition-adopting-a-fasting-lifestyle-for-summer">Day 14</a> | <a href="#day-24---june-24-2025--nutrition-timing-optimization-and-ketogenic-diets">Day 24</a> | <a href="#day-34---july-4-2025--nutrition-personalized-mitochondrial-assessment">Day 34</a> | <a href="#day-44---july-14-2025--nutrition-seasonal-strategies-for-exploiting-unlimited-fresh-produce-from-the-garden">Day 44</a> | <a href="#day-54---july-24-2025--nutrition-fight-cancer-and-improve-brain-function-with-ketosis">Day 54</a> | <a href="#day-64---august-3-2025--metabolic-transition-fasting-juice-fasting-masticating-juicing">Day 64</a> | <a href="#day-74---august-13-2025---nutrition-discipline-gratitude-and-awareness">Day 74</a> | <a href="#day-84---august-23-2025--nutrition-theological-exploration-of-eating-and-why-just-eating-causes-problems">Day 84</a> | <a href="#day-94---september-2-2025--nutrition-seasonal-transition-foods">Day 94</a></p>
 <h3 id="5-intellectual-wellbeing-36-days---9"><a class="header" href="#5-intellectual-wellbeing-36-days---9">5. <strong>Intellectual Wellbeing</strong> (36 days - 9%)</a></h3>
 <p><a href="#day-5---june-5-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-learning-goals">Day 5</a> | <a href="#day-15---june-15-2025--neuroplasticity-and-changing-the-soul-mind-body-landscape">Day 15</a> | <a href="#day-25---june-25-2025--intellectual-health-intell-gathering-toolchains-and-knowledge-engineering-stacks">Day 25</a> | <a href="#humans-are-fundamentally-liars">Day 25 COMPLEMENT</a> | <a href="#day-35---july-5-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-developing-elite-skills-and-upgrading-disciplines">Day 35</a> | <a href="#day-45---july-15-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-and-the-ai-enabled-agora-reimagining-ai-for-highly-distributed-decentralized-human-connection">Day 45</a> | <a href="#day-55---july-25-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-skin-in-the-game">Day 55</a> | <a href="#day-65---august-4-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-charting-a-course-for-lifelong-learning-in-the-ai-era">Day 65</a> | <a href="#day-75---august-14-2025----intellectual-wellbeing-100-day-plan-for-building-personal-knowledge-engineering-system">Day 75</a> | <a href="#day-85---august-24-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-learning-from-challenges">Day 85</a> | <a href="#day-95---september-3-2025--intellectual-wellbeing-back-to-school-mindset">Day 95</a></p>