JFK on the Dangers of Americans Getting Soft

Editor’s note: On December 26, 1960, Sports Illustrated published “The Soft American” by John F. Kennedy, in which the then president-elect outlined his concern over the deteriorating physical condition of Americans, argued for the importance of fitness in developing the potential of the “whole man” and the future health of the country, and detailed his plan to make fitness a focus during his administration. JFK lived up to his word, promoting a life of “vig-ah” in general and the “50-Mile March” challenge in particular, and using the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to encourage the nation’s schools to adopt a fitness curriculum.

Beginning more than 2,500 years ago, from all quarters of the Greek world men thronged every four years to the sacred grove of Olympia, under the shadow of Mount Cronus, to compete in the most famous athletic contests of history—the Olympian games.

During the contest a sacred truce was observed among all the states of Greece as the best athletes of the Western world competed in boxing and foot races, wrestling and chariot races for the wreath of wild olive which was the prize of victory. When the winners returned to their home cities to lay the Olympian crown in the chief temples they were greeted as heroes and received rich rewards. For the Greeks prized physical excellence and athletic skills among man’s greatest goals and among the prime foundations of a vigorous state.

Thus the same civilizations which produced some of our highest achievements of philosophy and drama, government and art, also gave us a belief in the importance of physical soundness which has become a part of Western tradition; from the mens sana in corpore sano of the Romans to the British belief that the playing fields of Eaton brought victory on the battlefields of Europe. This knowledge, the knowledge that the physical well-being of the citizen is an important foundation for the vigor and vitality of all the activities of the nation, is as old as Western civilization itself. But it is a knowledge which today, in America, we are in danger of forgetting.

The first indication of a decline in the physical strength and ability of young Americans became apparent among United States soldiers in the early stages of the Korean War. The second came when figures were released showing that almost one out of every two young Americans was being rejected by Selective Service as mentally, morally or physically unfit. But the most startling demonstration of the general physical decline of American youth came when Dr. Hans Kraus and Dr. Sonja Weber revealed the results of 15 years of research centering in the Posture Clinic of New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital — results of physical fitness tests given to 4,264 children in this country and 2,870 children in Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

The findings showed that despite our unparalleled standard of living, despite our good food and our many playgrounds, despite our emphasis on school athletics, American youth lagged far behind Europeans in physical fitness. Six tests for muscular strength and flexibility were given; 57.9% of the American children failed one or more of these tests, while only 8.7% of the European youngsters failed.

A Consistent Decline

Especially disheartening were the results of the five strength tests: 35.7% of American children failed one or more of these, while only 1.1% of the Europeans failed, and among Austrian and Swiss youth the rate of failure was as low as .5%.

As a result of the alarming Kraus-Weber findings President Eisenhower created a Council on Youth Fitness at the Cabinet level and appointed a Citizens Advisory Committee on the Fitness of American Youth, composed of prominent citizens interested in fitness. Over the past five years the physical fitness of American youth has been discussed in forums, by committees and in leading publications. A 10-point program for physical fitness has been publicized and promoted. Our schools have been urged to give increased attention to the physical well-being of their students. Yet there has been no noticeable improvement. Physical fitness tests conducted last year in Britain and Japan showed that the youth of those countries were considerably more fit than our own children. And the annual physical fitness tests for freshman at Yale University show a consistent decline in the prowess of young Americans; 51% of the class of 1951 passed the tests, 43% of the class of 1956 passed, and only 38%, a little more than a third, of the class of 1960 succeeded, in passing the not overly rigorous examination.

Of course, physical tests are not infallible. They can distort the true health picture. There are undoubtedly many American youths and adults whose physical fitness matches and exceeds the best of other lands.

But the harsh fact of the matter is that there is also an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies — whose physical fitness is not what it should be — who are getting soft. And such softness on the part of individual citizens can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation.

For the physical vigor of our citizens is one of America’s most precious resources. If we waste and neglect this resource, if we allow it to dwindle and grow soft then we will destroy much of our ability to meet the great and vital challenges which confront our people. We will be unable to realize our full potential as a nation.

Throughout our history we have been challenged to armed conflict by nations which sought to destroy our independence or threatened our freedom. The young men of America have risen to those occasions, giving themselves freely to the rigors and hardships of warfare. But the stamina and strength which the defense of liberty requires are not the product of a few weeks’ basic training or a month’s conditioning. These only come from bodies which have been conditioned by a lifetime of participation in sports and interest in physical activity. Our struggles against aggressors throughout our history have been won on the playgrounds and corner lots and fields of America.

Thus, in a very real and immediate sense, our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.

However, we do not, like the ancient Spartans, wish to train the bodies of our youth to make them more effective warriors. It is our profound hope and expectation that Americans will never again have to expend their strength in armed conflict.

But physical fitness is as vital to the activities of peace as to those of war, especially when our success in those activities may well determine the future of freedom in the years to come. We face in the Soviet Union a powerful and implacable adversary determined to show the world that only the Communist system possesses the vigor and determination necessary to satisfy awakening aspirations for progress and the elimination of poverty and want. To meet the challenge of this enemy will require determination and will and effort on the part of all Americans. Only if our citizens are physically fit will they be fully capable of such an effort.

For physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. The relationship between the soundness of the body and the activities of the mind is subtle and complex. Much is not yet understood. But we do know what the Greeks knew: that intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong; that hardy spirits and tough minds usually inhabit sound bodies.

In this sense, physical fitness is the basis of all the activities of our society. And if our bodies grow soft and inactive, if we fail to encourage physical development and prowess, we will undermine our capacity for thought, for work and for the use of those skills vital to an expanding and complex America.

Thus the physical fitness of our citizens is a vital prerequisite to America’s realization of its full potential as a nation, and to the opportunity of each individual citizen to make full and fruitful use of his capacities.

It is ironic that at a time when the magnitude of our dangers makes the physical fitness of our citizens a matter of increasing importance, it takes greater effort and determination than ever before to build the strength of our bodies. The age of leisure and abundance can destroy vigor and muscle tone as effortlessly as it can gain time. Today human activity, the labor of the human body, is rapidly being engineered out of working life. By the 1970’s, according to many economists, the man who works with his hands will be almost extinct.

Many of the routine physical activities which earlier Americans took for granted are no longer part of our daily life. A single look at the packed parking lot of the average high school will tell us what has happened to the traditional hike to school that helped to build young bodies. The television set, the movies and the myriad conveniences and distractions of modern life all lure our young people away from the strenuous physical activity that is the basis of fitness in youth and in later life.

Now Is the Time

Of course, modern advances and increasing leisure can add greatly to the comfort and enjoyment of life. But they must not be confused with indolence, with, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “slothful-ease,” with an increasing deterioration of our physical strength. For the strength of our youth and the fitness of our adults are among our most important assets, and this growing decline is a matter of urgent concern to thoughtful Americans.

This is a national problem, and requires national action. President Eisenhower helped show the way through his own interest and by calling national attention to our deteriorating standards of physical fitness. Now it is time for the United States to move forward with a national program to improve the fitness of all Americans.

First: We must establish a White House Committee on Health and Fitness to formulate and carry out a program to improve the physical condition of the nation. This committee will include the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and the Secretary of the Interior. The executive order creating this committee will clearly state its purpose, and coordinate its activities with the many federal programs which bear a direct relation to the problem of physical fitness.

Second: The physical fitness of our youth should be made a direct responsibility of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This department should conduct — through its Office of Education and the National Institutes of Health — research into the development of a physical fitness program for the nation’s public schools. The results of this research shall be made freely available to all who are interested. In addition, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare should use all its existing facilities to attach the lack of youth fitness as a major health problem.

Third: The governor of each state will be invited to attend the annual National Youth Fitness Congress. This congress will examine the progress which has been made in physical fitness during the preceding year, exchange suggestions for improving existing programs and provide an opportunity to encourage the states to implement the physical fitness program drawn up by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Our states are anxious to participate in such programs, to make sure that their youth have the opportunity for full development of their bodies as well as their minds.

Fourth: The President and all departments of government must make it clearly understood that the promotion of sports participation and physical fitness is a basic and continuing policy of the United States. By providing such leadership, by keeping physical fitness in the forefront of the nation’s concerns, the federal government can make a substantial contribution toward improving the health and vigor of our citizens.

But no matter how vigorous the leadership of government, we can fully restore the physical soundness of our nation only if every American is willing to assume responsibility for his own fitness and the fitness of his children. We do not live in a regimented society where men are forced to live their lives in the interest of the state. We are, all of us, as free to direct the activities of our bodies as we are to pursue the objects of our thought. But if we are to retain this freedom, for ourselves and for generations to come, then we must also be willing to work for the physical toughness on which the courage and intelligence and skill of man so largely depend.

All of us must consider our own responsibilities for the physical vigor of our children and of the young men and women of our community. We do not want our children to become a generation of spectators. Rather, we want each of them to be a participant in the vigorous life.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/jfk-on-the-dangers-of-americans-getting-soft/

How to Fall Asleep in 2 Minutes or Less

Have you ever unexpectedly found yourself with a snatch of time in which to steal a nap? You tried to settle into the chair or nook in which you found yourself, closed your eyes, and then . . . you just sat there, drowsy but awake. Despite feeling quite tired, you couldn’t fall asleep, and soon the time was up before you had gotten in so much as a wink. Talk about frustrating! Not only did you not get to nap, you didn’t do anything else either; if you weren’t going to fall asleep, you could have done something productive instead!

It’s quite a knack to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, regardless of where you are and what’s going on around you. To steal some shuteye at airports and on flights, on break times and car rides, in public places and private spaces — in all the interstices of life. Not to mention how grand it is to be able to go out like a light as soon as your head hits the pillow each night.

It probably seems, however, that this is simply a knack that some folks have and others don’t, with the latter group being much larger than the former.

Yet the ability to fall asleep in two minutes or less, anywhere, anytime, is actually a skill like any other, and one anyone can learn. The technique for how to do so was in fact developed for Naval aviators during World War II, and today we’ll share it with you.

How to Fall Asleep in 2 Minutes or Less

A couple years into WWII, the U.S. military realized it had a problem on its hands. Due to the enormous pressures of aerial combat, many of its pilots were accumulating levels of stress so debilitating that they were cracking under it. The tension caused them to lock up in flight and make fatal mistakes — accidentally shooting down friendly planes, or becoming an avoidable casualty themselves.

In an effort to stem the loss of pilots and planes, the military brought in Naval Ensign Bud Winter to research, develop, and test a scientific method for teaching relaxation. Before the war, Winter had been a successful college football and track coach, who had also worked with a professor of psychology on techniques to help athletes relax and perform better under the stress of competition. Stationed at the Del Monte Naval Pre-Flight School in California, his mission now was to coordinate with other coaches and professors to create a course that would similarly instruct cadets on how to stay calm and loose under the pressures of combat.

The end goal of the program was to teach the Naval aviators how to relax, so that they could learn more quickly, speed up their reaction time, sharpen their focus, and diminish their fear. The course also aimed to teach “combat aviators to be able to go to sleep in two minutes any time, day or night, under any and all conditions”; instruction in this skill was included to ensure that pilots got adequate sleep, and could sneak in extra shuteye whenever possible.

To accomplish the first goal, Winter taught the men how to physically relax. To accomplish the second, he taught them how to mentally relax. In fact, he essentially defined sleep as the state of being both physically and mentally relaxed.

To fall asleep at the drop of a hat, first you work on the former, and then the latter.

How to Physically Relax

In Relax and Win, the book Winter wrote about the program he developed for combat aviators and then used with athletes after the war, he lays out the exact instructions he gave to cadets to teach them how to relax their bodies; here we give them slightly condensed:

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“Sit back in your chairs and put your feet flat on the deck. Knees apart, your hands limp on the inside of your lap. Now, close your eyes and drop your chin until it rests on your chest.

Let’s breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly. Take all the wrinkles out of your forehead. Relax your scalp. Just let go. Now let your jaw sag-g-g. Let it drop open. Now relax the rest of your face muscles. Get the brook trout look on your face. Even relax your tongue and lips. Just let them go loose. Breathe slowly.

Now, let’s go after the eight muscles that control your eyes. Let them go limp in their sockets. No focus, just let them go limp. Breathe slowly.

Now drop your shoulders as low as they will go. You think that they are low, but let them go more.  Did you feel the muscles in the back of your neck go limp? When you think you are really relaxed, let them go even more.

Now, let’s relax your chest. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Exhale and blow out all your tensions. Just let your chest collapse. Let it sag-g-g. Imagine you are a big, heavy blob on the chair, a jellyfish. Breathe slowly. When you exhale, release more and more of your tensions.

Let’s go after your arms. Talk directly to your arm muscles. First, talk to your right bicep. Tell it to relax, go limp. Do the same to your right forearm. Now to the right hand and fingers. Your arm should feel like a dead weight on your leg. Repeat the relaxation process with your left arm. Breathe slowly.

Your entire upper body has been exposed to relaxation and a warm, pleasant feeling comes over you. You feel good. A sense of well-being invades your body.

Now for your lower body. Talk to your right thigh muscles. Let them go to a dead weight on the chair. Let the meat hang on the bones. Go through the same routine for the right calf muscles. Then all the muscles of your right ankle and foot. Tell yourself that your right leg has no bones in it. It is just a flabby, heavy weight on the deck. Repeat the process with your left thigh, calf, ankle, and foot.

At present you are all relaxed physically, or think you are. For a little insurance, let’s take three deep breaths and when you let them out, blow out all the remaining tensions, one . . . whoosh, two . . . whoosh, three . . . whoosh.”

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If you have trouble getting any of your body parts to feel sufficiently relaxed and jellyfish-like, try tensing them up first, and then letting them go loose.

By following the above protocol, you can achieve a nice general level of relaxation. Winter taught the cadets to cultivate this state in any pressure-filled situation, as it would loosen them up, dial down their nerves, enhance their concentration, and allow them to make better decisions.

From this physically calm condition, Winter then taught the cadets how to “slip over the threshold into a deep, relaxed sleep” by becoming completely mentally relaxed.

How to Mentally Relax

Winter argues that once you’re physically relaxed, if you get “your mind clear of any active thoughts for just ten seconds, you will be asleep.” The key to falling asleep quick is thus to stop the train of thoughts that is usually rumbling through your head. You have to stop ruminating on the regrets, worries, and problems of the day.

Winter particularly warns against having any thoughts in which you are in motion; studies done by placing electrodes on the cadets’ bodies showed that even when you simply think of performing an activity, the muscles involved in that activity actually contract. Modern studies have in fact confirmed this observation, showing that simply imagining yourself exercising activates the same parts of the brain that come online when you’re physically in motion, and actually strengthens the muscles you imagine yourself using. While there might be some benefit to using your mind to “sit and be fit,” thinking about being active while trying to go to sleep can create muscular tension and inhibit its onset.

So, when you’re looking to nod off, you just want to fill your head with the stillest, calmest of contemplations. Winter suggests three good ones to use, though you don’t have to use all three; just pick one, and if it doesn’t work, try another:

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“First, we want you to fantasize that it is a warm spring day and you are lying in the bottom of a canoe on a very serene lake. You are looking up at a blue sky with lazy, floating clouds. Do not allow any other thought to creep in. Just concentrate on this picture and keep foreign thoughts out, particularly thoughts with any movement or motion involved. Hold this picture and enjoy it for ten seconds.

In the second sleep-producing fantasy, imagine that you are in a big, black, velvet hammock and everywhere you look is black. You must also hold this picture for ten seconds.

The third trick is to say the words ‘don’t think . . . don’t think . . . don’t think,’ etc. Hold this, blanking out other thoughts for at least ten seconds.”

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The cadets at the pre-flight school had been broken into two groups: one which took the relaxation course, and the other a control group. The former outperformed the latter in every mentally-taxing class, discipline-requiring drill, and physically-intensive test. And after six weeks of practice, 96% of the aviators were able to fall asleep in 2 minutes or less — anywhere and anytime. Not only that, they could do it even when they drank coffee (though having caffeine in your system does make it harder), and even while the simulated noise of machine gunfire and cannon blasts played in the background!

After the war, Winter taught the track athletes he coached the same relaxation techniques, and became one of the greatest sprint coaches of all time, producing 102 All-Americans and 27 Olympians; at one time, his runners held all 10 world records for sprinting events.

Winter strongly believed that the wartime program for relaxation he helped develop to fight combat stress, and which athletes subsequently used to deal with the pressures of competition, was just as applicable to the tensions and fatigue civilians faced in their everyday lives.

You can use this general relaxation method to get physically relaxed whenever you’re feeling stressed out, and then tack on the mental relaxation exercise when you want to fall asleep fast. It’s handy for when you find yourself with a short window of time for a snooze; Winter thought even a 5-minute nap was incredibly refreshing. You could also use it to take a “hypnagogic nap” — a micro nap that artists like Salvador Dali used, in which you allow yourself to doze off for just a second in order to glean the creative insights that can arise on the threshold between sleep and wakefulness.

Or, of course, you can simply use this technique when you go to bed, to more quickly and contentedly enter your nightly block of sleep.

Keep in mind that being able to relax physically and mentally, and thus being able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, is a skill, and like all skills, you shouldn’t expect to get the hang of it and have it work the first few times you try. You have to practice over and over again, until you get better and better at loosening up and calming down. That doesn’t mean you should work hard at trying to relax; that will just backfire and create tension. But you do have to practice this routine consistently.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/

Keep your head: 4 steps to build your mental toughness

Jeremy Hall knew his mission was on the verge of going to pieces.

The year was 2003, and the Iraq War had just begun. Hall was a member of a secretive U.S. Army special operations unit nicknamed The Activity (think SEAL Team 6 but more secretive).

And at that moment, he was in a bunker in the heart of Baghdad.

“We had a team that was about to go out to a location and take out a high value target, but we had an equipment breakdown,” recalled Hall. “People started asking, ‘Are these coordinates right?’”

That’s when things got worse. “A man went down. Then another,” says Hall, whose job was to coordinate data from satellites and intercepted cell phone signals. “People were getting shot at. Our base was getting mortared. You could hear gunshots and RPGs going off outside.” Just when it seemed it couldn’t get worse, one of Hall’s colleagues experienced a migraine panic attack and Hall had to take over his duties:

“I realized I couldn’t control the level of resources I had, but I can control my reaction to this because these people are relying on me. I said, ‘I’m going to be a rock right now.’”

With a variety of Special Forces commandos depending on his team — “Green Berets, Delta Force, combat patrollers, that sort of thing” — Hall knew there was no other option but to make the best of the situation. “We just stayed firm and focused on what we were doing and our adrenaline kicked in once we made the decision to stay calm.” Ultimately, the team executed the operation without any more casualties.

“It would have been easy to say, ‘Oh crap we don’t have our normal tools,’” says Hall. Instead, he asked himself, “How can I make the best out of this scenario — what can I do in actionable steps to achieve our goal?”

Why Your Mental Toughness Matters

Even if you’re lucky enough to never be in a situation as stressful as what Hall faced, you will face situations which will test your mental toughness. It’s a part of life.

Whether it’s losing your job, or your business going under, or losing a loved one, life is filled with stressful situations. These are times when your mental strength will be challenged and your resilience tested. As a husband, as a father, or simply as a man, we are often expected to be mentally tough, yet we often don’t know how.

AoM has previously covered different dimensions of the topic of mental toughness, writing about how to strengthen willpower, how to tap into hidden wells of strength, and how to cultivate your mental toughness through small discomforts and positive thinking.

In this post I want to share four exercises that are inspired by the stories of brave men who have endured the hardships of war that can help any man strengthen his mental toughness.

You may never be caught in a firefight on a foreign battlefield, engage in a Special Forces operation, or lead men into battle on hostile grounds. My goal here is to teach you a few tips from those who have experienced these challenges, so that you can have greater mental toughness in your own personal and professional life.

And if you follow all of these tips, then the next time you meet a Green Beret or a Navy SEAL, you can say, “Hey, I’m just as mentally tough as you!” (No, seriously, do not do that.)

4 Exercises for Strengthening Your Mental Toughness

You may be wondering at this point: what is mental toughness, after all? “Much of mental toughness is simply attitude and self esteem,” writes Stewart Smith, a former Navy SEAL and author of The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness. “I am of the personal belief that through tough physical training, proper mindset, and a high level of maturity that mental toughness is born.”

In other words, mental toughness comes from a combination of factors rather than any single one. Here are four strategies that can help you achieve that rare combination.

1. Train Yourself to Increase Your Confidence

Jon Paulson was just 19 years old when he enlisted in the Marines. He spent six months training at Camp Pendleton in San Diego in 1964-1965. “The training is very, very rigorous,” says Paulson. “You do things over and over and over again and you become good at it. And being good at something gives you confidence.”

That training gave Paulson crucial confidence, which he would need a few months later, when, in July 1965, he was deployed as part of the second wave of Marines to enter South Vietnam. He was in charge of a platoon of 40 men, and was just 22 years old.

“The number one objective in the Marines is to complete the mission; the second is to protect the men in the platoon,” says Paulson. “So the mission supersedes the safety of the men. As a platoon leader, you know you’re going to have to send a squad directly into the line of fire, but you have to do that to accomplish the greater mission.”

When making those kinds of calls, you absolutely must project confidence, he says. “Even if you’re leading just four people, you have to have confidence — and have to have the confidence of those three men in your command,” says Paulson.

The same principle which works for the Marines — aggressive training to increase confidence — can be applied in the civilian world. “If you get up and speak a lot then you get better at it and you will get more confident,” says Paulson.

Exercise:

Paulson was trained for confidence by the U.S. Marines. But you can train yourself to be confident as well.

It starts with steady and deliberate practice, and continually testing yourself to live on the edge of failure.

LaRae Quy, the author of Secrets of a Strong Mind, suggests a strategy to increase your confidence by overcoming smaller failures. The goal is to help you become more confident in the face of larger challenges. Create a “petri dish” in your life, writes Quy, “a little area in which [you’re] not succeeding.” This could mean learning a musical instrument or a new sport or studying a new language.

By challenging yourself on a daily basis with a skill you are not fully mastering, “you develop greater confidence in your skills and training and avoid greater meltdowns when the larger failures do occur,” says Quy.

2. Embrace Your Sense of Duty

Often the simplest form of mental toughness is simply to tell yourself, “It’s my job.”

My grandfather was a B-17 pilot in Europe during WWII, flying bombing missions out of England over German cities.

In May of 1945 he was on a bombing mission over Nuremberg when they were attacked by German fighters and “got the hell shot out of them,” my father said later.

After the war, my grandfather was stationed as an air rescue pilot at an air base in Narsasauwak (now spelled Narsarsuaq), Greenland — an area renowned for its heavy fog.

One day, two airplanes were flying in together from overseas and the fog layer was so low you couldn’t see the surrounding mountains. The planes had limited working instruments and had little chance of landing without assistance.

The base commanders “basically said they can crash land on the ice cap and we’ll try to save them,” recalled my father. “Dad and his crew volunteered to fly up and help the two planes land.”

My grandfather flew above the cloud layer, and using what he knew about the mountain range, had each plane follow him through the fog directly to the runway so they could land. My grandfather received an air medal for the rescue.

I asked my father why he thought my grandfather volunteered to go up. “It was a sense of duty,” he said. “It was his job. He was a pilot and that’s what they do.”

Exercise:

Write down a “job description” for all the different hats you wear in your life. Not just for your work, but in the other roles you fulfill, like husband, father, and mentor (Brett’s post on creating a blueprint for your life can help you recognize and define these roles). Tape these descriptions in a place where you will see them often or keep them in a notebook and review them weekly. No matter your different responsibilities, treat them like duties. Take the option of shirking them off the table entirely. When times get tough, and you’re fatigued, annoyed, bored, and stressed, remember that it’s your duty to get your job done. You agreed to do it, and a man keeps his word. People’s lives may not literally hang in the balance, but your associates and loved ones do absolutely depend on you and your ability to stay strong when things around them get shaky.

3. Do What You Do For Your Team

Each of the men I interviewed for this article said versions of the same thing, across multiple generations and across multiple wars. They each said they fought for each other, rather than any larger principle or purpose.

“You get to know your fellow troops,” says Paulson. “You get to know your buddies really well, very very well. Not one person who fought in Vietnam ever [fought to] prevent communism from spreading. Not one.”

Instead, Marines fought for one another, for their fellow soldiers, said Paulson. “The Marines have a saying, ‘No one left behind,’ whether the person is dead or alive. It’s really true.”

Jeremy Hall, who fought in both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, agreed. “It was more about the team — it was about the men and women who I was serving with,” says Hall. “It wasn’t about the cause. It wasn’t patriotism, though I was patriotic. It was about the people I was with — these were people who were trying to create better lives for themselves. They just happened to serve during a period of war.”

The lesson for me is that when you endure a challenge in life, you need to have a strong team around you. Whether you are fighting to keep your company afloat, facing an illness in the family, or just lost a job, your mental strength is more likely to come from those who you have around you — your team — than it is commitment to any larger cause or purpose.

Exercise:

Write down the names of your trusted teammates — it could be your family, colleagues, or friends. Under each name, write down two things you can do to strengthen your bond with that person. Work to surround yourself with people who you trust and care for, and you’ll be more likely to endure during times of challenge.

4. Find Pride on the Inside

Today’s culture is filled with awards and rewards. You get a trophy just for being on the team.

In fact, you don’t need a ribbon or a certificate to take pride in yourself and your accomplishments.

Hall told me a story of a sudden knife fight he got into in Iraq in 2003 with “a very fast-moving Iraqi.” The man slashed Hall’s wrist, but he “hung in there and knocked him out.” As he fell, another special forces soldier shot the man in the head.

Hall didn’t receive a purple heart for the injury because the paperwork was never processed. When I asked Hall if he was disappointed by this, he shrugged it off. “That’s just war,” he said.

Hall didn’t need a purple ribbon on a metal clasp to take pride in his achievements. Nor does he allow himself to feel disappointment by not having the distinctive medal.

After he left Vietnam, Jon Paulson found he didn’t need any modern trappings of success either.

“Any time that I would get in a situation where I lost a client or lost a deal or lost a job, I would say, ‘What am I getting worked up over this for, I’m alive, I’m happily married,’” says Paulson. “I’m not climbing the corporate ladder, and I’m not going to be a multi-millionaire, but that doesn’t matter to me.”

Paulson said it was enough to have pride that he was a good leader and that he was brave in leading 40 men into battle. “I think anybody would say Lieutenant Paulson was calm under fire when we had to rush a hill or take out a machine gun. He didn’t stay behind. He led.”

Today, Paulson is dealing with the effects of constant contact with Agent Orange while in Vietnam, but he doesn’t regret his involvement in the war. “I feel very proud of what I did. I don’t feel proud of calling in jet bombers on a village; I don’t feel proud for what our country did to the Vietnamese people, but I do feel proud of what I did for my platoon. I was a good leader.”

Exercise:

Write down a list of all the things you are proud of in your life, especially things you’ve never been recognized for by others. Notice the satisfaction you feel from your accomplishments and worthy traits, and realize you don’t need the validation of others for them to be real. Like Jeremy Hall, your life should not be any different because you have a ribbon or an acrylic award you use as a paperweight on your desk. Take pride internally.

Go Exercise Your Mental Toughness

Hall says one of the most important aspects of mental toughness is not to worry about failure, but simply to make sure you always try. “I had a mentor who said you can fail and we’ll figure out how to execute the next time, but what I can’t stand is if you don’t try your best,” says Hall. “I’m not going to be a winner at everything I do but I can at least find out where I am going to win and get better at that.”

Personally, I have never been in war. I feel fortunate I never had to decide which group of my closest buddies would lead the charge up a hill toward a gunnery like Paulson has, or fight my way out of a knife fight, like Hall has.

But I have suffered setbacks in life, and I know I will again. And you will too. And that’s why spending time learning from brave individuals who have demonstrated tremendous mental strength is well worth your time.

So go out there and exercise your mental toughness. Challenge yourself on a daily basis with a skill you have not mastered so you can improve your confidence for when times get rough. Embrace, and take pride in, your own sense of duty.

Be proud of yourself and don’t let external rewards or awards determine your self-worth.

And surround yourself with a team you trust. Remind yourself when you go through struggles, you are all in it together.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/keep-your-head-4-exercises-for-building-your-mental-toughness-inspired-by-war/#at_pco=smlrebv-1.0&at_si=5b9d954c5b7721ba&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=4&at_tot=5

10 best ways to make exercise an unbreakable habit

Exercising regularly is surely one of the most commonly made New Year’s resolutions. And surely one of the most commonly broken. Gyms around the world fill up with freshly-minted members in January . . . who are almost all gone by February.

If you’ve resolved and failed, and resolved and failed to start working out consistently, you know it can be a really discouraging cycle. Cementing the exercise habit can seem like an impossible task.

But it truly doesn’t have to be, as long you take the right approach. Below we share 10 key tactics that will help you make exercise an unbreakable habit.

#1: Do something you enjoy doing. 

I’ve been barbell training for the past two years, and during that time I’ve missed just a handful of workouts, and only when stricken with an extreme illness (I still work out if I’m just a little sick). I’ve trained on Thanksgiving. I’ve trained on Christmas. I’ve trained on vacation. But I don’t have this streak going because I’m super dedicated and disciplined and force myself to work out even when I don’t want to.

I merely enjoy barbell training. A lot! I don’t work out so regularly because I’m a hard-as-nails badass, but because I want to. Because I like it.

When it comes to exercise, people tend to think that for it to work, it has to be unpleasant. They think exercise is like eating Brussels sprouts; you may not like the taste, but you’ve got to get ‘em down because they’re good for you. Yet while these folks can flog themselves to exercise for a few weeks or even a few months out of a sense of dour obedience, they’re ultimately kicking against the pricks. Eventually, their dislike for their chosen regimen overpowers their will, and they stop working out altogether.

It’s true that to be effective all exercise will involve some discomfort. And it’s true that certain kinds of exercise are more or less effective than others. But all exercise is good for you, any exercise is better than none, and if you choose the right form of it — the form that’s right for you — it can in fact hurt so good and be a source of great pleasure.

Lots of people will say you should do CrossFit; that you should run; that you should do barbell training. These people mean well. They likely enjoy those activities and have gotten results from them and want you to experience the same benefit. But if you don’t like what they think you “should” be doing, you’re not going to do it.

Instead of should-ing on yourself by exercising the way some person or some magazine told you to, find something that you enjoy doing. This will take some time and experimentation. If you don’t like road running, try trail running. If you don’t like running at all, try rucking. If you don’t like lifting weights, try a bodyweight program. If you don’t like working out by yourself, try joining a CrossFit class, or a martial arts school, or a team sport.

I spent nearly ten years begrudgingly doing cardio-heavy and CrossFit-like workout programs before I discovered my love for barbell training. I recently found that I also enjoy rucking and MovNat as well, so that’s part of my exercise routine, too. Exercise is now something I look forward to — it in fact feels like one of the best parts of my life; consequently, it would take more discipline for me not to do a workout than to do one!

Bottom line: if you want to make exercise a habit, start off by picking an activity you enjoy. If you do that, you’ll be 90% there to becoming a man who exercises religiously.

#2: Put your training schedule on your calendar.

Besides picking an activity that they don’t enjoy doing, the other thing that keeps people from regularly exercising is not setting aside time for it on their calendar. For these folks, exercise is one of those things that they’ll get to . . . if they have time for it. But, of course, they never do, because something else always comes up.

If you want time to exercise, you have to make time for it. And the best way to do that is to schedule your workouts on your calendar and treat them like doctor’s appointments. Just as you’d tell someone you were busy if they wanted to do something at the same time you were scheduled to see a doc, you’re going to inform people you’re busy when they ask you to do something during your workout “appointment.”

#3: Experiment to find the workout time that’s best for you.

At what time should you schedule your workout “appointments”? That’s up to you.

Many people find that it’s best to exercise first thing in the morning; that way, when they get tired and stressed, or “urgent” to-do’s pile-up as the day goes on, their workout doesn’t end up getting pushed off the schedule. When you put the big rocks in first, all the small rocks can fit too.

However, that’s not an inviolable rule for everyone. Everybody’s got different work/life schedules and different rhythms to their daily energy and motivation. Maybe you’ll love working out at lunchtime or at night. You’ll never know unless you try. Experiment with different options and see what works best for you.

#4: Remove obstacles with a pre-workout checklist.

When I interviewed bodyweight training coach Anthony Arvanitakis for the podcast, he told me that one thing he does to ritualize his workouts is to use a pre-workout checklist. His checklist includes making sure his phone is charged so it won’t quit playing music in the middle of his workout, putting the phone in airplane mode so calls and texts won’t create distractions, filling up his water bottle, preparing equipment in his gym so nothing’s missing and everything’s right at hand, and changing into certain workout clothes.

Arvanitakis keeps this checklist on an index card and reviews it each day, as he says he finds doing so “comforting.” As he observes, “The most difficult part in a workout is getting started,” and “Having that list gets you in the flow.” It eliminates decision-making and friction, so there’s less standing in the way of you getting your sweat on.

Listen to my podcast with Anthony about making exercise a habit: 

#5: Have clothes specifically dedicated to working out.

Another thing Arvanitakis recommends is having sets of clothes you specifically designate as your workout clothes. He thinks of his workout gear as his “uniform” and feels that donning it helps him get in the mindset to exercise.

When you put on clothes you don’t associate with anything other than exercise, this “uniform” does indeed help you get into workout mode and feel ready to go out to “battle” at the gym. 

#6: Have a plan for your workout.

Don’t just plan your pre-workout ritual, but know exactly what you’ll be doing once you hit the gym as well.

When most people take a first stab at working out, they just show up at the gym and do whatever exercise the gym spirits move them to do. A few bicep curls here, maybe some medicine ball action, followed by some leg presses. Thirty minutes after aimlessly wandering around the gym, they get bored and hit the sauna. After a few weeks of unproductive “workouts” like that, and unsurprisingly seeing no results, they stop going altogether.

Uncertainty is a big motivation killer. It causes paralysis by analysis so you end up doing nothing. And when you do nothing, your body and health don’t change. And when your body and health don’t change, you lose motivation to exercise.

To avoid this fate, have a workout plan for yourself before you head over to the gym. Know exactly which exercises you’re going to do and for how many sets and reps. Write your plan down, bring it with you to the gym, and refer to it frequently throughout your session so you stick to it. If you’re running, have a weekly running plan for yourself so you know that you’ll be working on speed one day and endurance another.

You’d be surprised at how much having a plan can keep you motivated to work out. It removes motivation-sapping uncertainty and ensures you actually see motivation-boosting results.

Not sure what your workout plan should be? I’d highly recommend not trying to come up with it willy-nilly on your own, but instead committing to a set program that’s been designed by experts. Here’s a list of programs I recommend which suit a variety of fitness goals. I, of course, heartily suggest Starting Strength above all, but if that’s not your thing, that’s fine. Just pick a plan you think you’ll enjoy, and then work that plan.

#7: Just get moving, even when you don’t feel like it.

As mentioned above, the hardest part of working out for a lot of folks is simply getting started. Oftentimes, you just don’t feel like exercising. You don’t feel like getting out of bed or off the comfy couch. You don’t feel like leaving the house. The pull of inertia is strong.

Fortunately, one of the great truisms of life, is that if you take action without feeling like it, the feelings will follow. If you don’t feel like working out, but get after it anyway, you’ll almost always get into the flow and start to enjoy it.

Of course, this sets up a catch-22: you’ll feel like working out if you start working out, but how do you start if you don’t feel like it?

Try making a deal with yourself. Decide that all you have to do is go to the gym and work out for 10 minutes; if after 10 minutes you don’t want to do any more, then you can go home. It’s an easy deal to commit to. Of course, what happens 9 times out of 10 is that once you’re at the gym, and moving your body, you get into an exercise-positive mindset and want to continue on and do a full workout.

#8: Aim for consistency in frequency, rather than consistently A+ workouts.

A key to making something a habit is putting together a chain of successes, which is, at least at first, rarely or never broken. To lay down a new groove in your life, you’ve got to etch away at it without interruption.

So always err on the side of doing something, even when circumstances prevent you from doing a “perfect” workout. Feeling just a little sick? Still work out, but go a little easier. Have a crazy busy day? Still work out, but make it a little shorter. Traveling?Still work out, even if you have to improvise with the equipment available in the hotel gym. Sluggish and grouchy and can’t get into the mood to exercise even after you’ve tried? Still move, however tepidly, through your planned workout.

Even if 9 times out of 10 when you start a workout without feeling like it, you end up getting into it, there’s still that one time where you don’t. Try to at least go through the motions anyway. My strength coach Matt Reynolds calls these times “blue collar days.” You’ve just got to put on your hardhat, put on your coveralls, and do the work. You simply punch the clock and get the job done. You don’t clock out having made big gains with your physique, but that’s okay — you still strengthened the “muscle” of your exercise habit.

Of course, listen to your body (and be sure you’re doing recovery right), but also don’t take an all-or-nothing approach to your workouts. When conditions aren’t perfect, it’s better to continue the habit chain, and do something, than to decide it’s all a wash and do nothing at all.

When it comes to habit formation, consistency is king.

#9: Exercise for something.

Motivation research shows that when we have a clear purpose for a task, we’re more likely to do that task regularly. So have a why for your workouts. It could be something high-minded like being ready for emergencies or living a long time for your kids and/or grandkids, but it could also be something vain like just wanting to look good with your shirt off. Whatever it is, write it down and refer to it every day. When you don’t feel like going to the gym, read your purpose to remind yourself of why you’re trying to exercise regularly.

For me, competitions serve as a big motivator for training. Signing up for a barbell meet gives me something very concrete and date-specific to train for, and knowing that I will be performing my lifts in front of lots of people lights a fire under my rear to keep up my training.

If you’re looking to run more this year, sign yourself up for a 5K or an obstacle race a few months from now. Your goal might not be to win the race, but just not to look like an out-of-shape schlub hoofing through the course like an asthmatic water buffalo. Shame is a powerful motivator.

#10: Get accountability.

Some people find it useful to get an accountability partner for their workouts. This could be a personal trainer or a coach, or it could be a friend. Getting a barbell coach was a game changer for me and my training. Besides the feedback on my lifts, the accountability factor has played a huge role in my compliance with the programming. I don’t want to let my coach down by wussing out on a session. Again, shame can be a powerful motivator.

If you want to take the accountability up a level, then put some stakes on the line. Paying for a coach or trainer is one way to do this. Knowing that you’re putting your money in a metaphorical paper shredder every time you miss a session can motivate you not to miss a workout. Join The Strenuous Life, where you’ll have to do 60 minutes of physical activity on most days for 12 weeks to complete the TSL Challenge. Or use something like stickK to set up a wager with a friend that says if you miss more than two workouts in a row, you have to pay him or even some organization you detest a certain amount of money. The amount needs to be large enough so that it hurts if you fail to meet your end of the bargain.

Conclusion

Making exercise a habit doesn’t need to be hard. Find something you enjoy, plan for it, prioritize it, and point it towards a purpose. Keep adding one link after another to the chain of your new habit, and soon you’ll find yourself becoming the kind of man who finds it difficult not to exercise.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/10-best-tactics-making-exercise-unbreakable-habit/

Patients blame hospitals for high medical bills

When asked which groups are most responsible for surprise medical bills, 82% said hospitals were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ responsible.

Patients are nearly as likely to blame hospitals for their surprise medical bills as their insurance company, finds a new survey from NORC at the University of Chicago.

When asked which groups are most responsible for surprise medical bills, 82% said hospitals were “very” or “somewhat” responsible.

Eighty-six percent of respondents said insurance companies are “very” or “somewhat” responsible.

This hospital blame game played out in real life recentlywhen St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, got slammed in the media over a teacher’s $109,000 heart attack bill.

The bill was featured in Kaiser Health News’ and NPR’s “Bill of the Month” series, which scrutinizes high or confusing medical bills.

Several factors reportedly stacked up against the teacher, including his insurance coverage and visiting an out-of-network hospital. Indeed, the NORC survey shows 20% of respondents’ surprise bills were a result of a doctor not being part of their insurance network.

However, it was St. David’s Medical Center that got the brunt of the blame in the media.

They also eventually ate the original bill: NPR reported that after its story, the hospital reduced the patient’s responsibility to just $332.

The NORC survey shows that getting surprised by a medical bill is fairly common: 57% of respondents have experienced this kind of healthcare sticker shock.

“Most Americans have been surprised by medical bills that they expected would be covered by their insurance,” Caroline Pearson, senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, said in a statement. “This suggests that consumers may have difficulty understanding their insurance benefits or knowing which providers are included in their plan’s network.”

Of course, the “surprise bill” is only the tip of the nonpayment iceberg, though: A Commonwealth Fund survey from May showed that 46% of people would not have the money to pay a $1,000 medical bill within 30 days in the case of an unexpected medical event.

That’s why some hospitals are turning to a consumerist approach to pricing and billing, including competitively pricing their services, publicly publishing their prices, and giving consumers ways to pay their hospital bill upfront.

https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/patients-blame-hospitals-high-medical-bills

Circulation Article Paints Positive Risk Benefit for Alnylam’s Onpattro – Cowen

Cowen analyst Ritu Baral weighed in on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY) after Onpattro APOLLO cardiac subpopulation data was published

https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/Circulation+Article+Paints+Positive+Risk+Benefit+for+Alnylams+%28ALNY%29+Onpattro+-+Cowen/14609905.html