TheMagic5: Swimming goggles for every head

I've been swimming since I was 9 years old, sometimes in a club, many years on triathlon courses, now as a hobby, but still with distances of 2000m and more. Swimming goggles are indispensable and my beloved Michael Phelps model is obviously no longer available. As I've often heard about TheMagic5 through advertising, I decided to take action.

TheMagic5 emerged from a Kickstarter project and moved from Denmark to Charlotte, North Carolina. The founders have the appropriate sporting and entrepreneurial background, which I find very appealing. The promise is to create personalized swimming goggles. I tried that out.

First you choose a model and order it. The question "and what should be personalized about it?" is easy to answer. After the purchase, you download an app to your cell phone, with which the personalization can be assigned by order number. The app first measures your face and then, in a second step, standardizes the size (you take a photo with a credit card-sized card on your forehead). And that's all there is to it.

Shipping took 5 days - including a weekend in between. Very good! The glasses come in a high-quality case that protects them from crushing the rubber seals and scratching the lenses. There are also nose pieces included that allow you to adjust the distance minimally, depending on how narrow or wide you like it.

I adjusted the straps to fit my head and they felt great. Today I swam 2400m in them and what can I say? Although the goggles only fit loosely, they are absolutely tight and fit perfectly. No feeling of pressure at all after a total of 1 hour in the water without taking the goggles off. The vision is also brilliant. It remains to be seen whether this will remain stable over time and whether the rather high price is justified.

30 Day Kettlebell Challenge - Mother went Shopping

I have written a lot about the idea of a healthy body as prerequisite for a healthy mind and joyful life. It was about eating properly, weight training(body weight training, calisthenics, functional training) and of course discipline. Over the last 4-5 years, kettlebell training are a key part of my weight training staying in shape. Kettlebells are more or less heavy balls with a handle and can be used for static and ballistic exercises.

Unlike the exercises with dumbbells or barbells, kettlebell exercises involve large numbers of repetitions in the sport, and can also involve large reps in normal training. Kettlebell exercises are in their nature holistic; therefore they work several muscles simultaneously and may be repeated continuously for several minutes or with short breaks. 

Wikipedia Entry

I use competition kettlebells which all have the same size regardless of their weight. That way, I'm more used to their handling even when taking heavier balls. Like many others, I have started during Covid in a time where gyms were closed and also after realising that I'm not a gym person. I started with basic exercises I found on YouTube (e.g. from Bär von Schilling, Geoff Neupert, and Johannes Kwella). If you do this by video watching only, take your time, take low weights, and film yourself or have someone watching you for improving the execution of the exercises.

I also found that I need change stimulus when I workout, that's why I bought some courses from the guys mentioned above, followed their training plans, and also some challenge. Today, I finished the 30 day workout from Johannes Kwella. This is nothing you can do immediately - you should build some strength first and be confident in executing the exercises (there are tons of training plans getting there). I'm proud that I finished the 30 days (now the 2nd time) and I feel great.

Let me show you how the last day looked like: you start with exercise 1 (1 left, 1 one right), then exercise 2 (2 left, 2 right). Then you start again, exercise 1, 2, and then 3. And then exercise 1, 2, 3 and 4, etc. until you have all 11 in a row. Each day is explained in a nice video where Johannes shows you how to do the excercises.

  • 1/1 Turkish Get Up
  • 2/2 Bottom Up Press
  • 3/3 Snatch
  • 4/4 Jerk
  • 5/5 Clean
  • 6/6 Swing
  • 7/7 Staggered Rows
  • 8/8 Cossack Squats
  • 9 Power Swings
  • 10 alternating Leg Passes to Body Catch 11/11 High Pulls
  • 12 Jump Squats

Phew. I feel like hulk now - next is Johannes' double kettlebell program (I worked on Geoff's double kettlebell programs before). Keeping you posted,

Fighting the Yoyo Effect, post Covid Thoughts.

Getting older (I think it started after 30+), I found it more difficult staying in shape. Although I exercise regularly, there were always phases (let's call that the yoyo effect) of gaining extra kilos and it became harder and harder to lose them again. For me, staying at a certain weight and staying fit is key for a fulfilling life. Why? When I add kilos, I have more pain, when I have pain, I'm getting mad at myself and others. Healthy body, healthy mind.

The entire Covid restrictions led to further difficulties in staying in form. Less contacts, less (outside) activities, getting more and more used to staying inside in front of your favourite streaming show.

While I made it to get back on track in terms of exercising, weight remained sort of an issue. Given my age, I went to the doctor for the typical health checks and they found that everything is ok. So it only could be my eating habits. While I try to eat "good" food as often as I can, something was wrong here. Cutting it short: I called my osteopath who is also a good coach for other live situations. And here is what she came up with:

  • There have to be longer breaks between eating (4-6 hours). If you don't do that, the body doesn't really consume the intake and it ends up in additional body fat (there are experts explaining that in all detail, for example Lothar Ursinus in his book "Gesund und aktiv Stoffwechselprogramm").
  • Breakfast can and should be with carbs (no devil, but needed as body fuel), then less carbs and more proteins in the subsequent meals during the day. Be careful which type of fat you have - there's good and not so good fat.
  • In order to follow such a program over time and not falling back into the yoyo effect, key to success is cheat meals where you eat what you want. I also added extra exercise sessions after such moments (e.g. the next day) to compensate.

So far, I follow this program since 8 weeks and after a difficult time really not eating anything in between, I'm getting used to it, even when being on the road for fun or business. Keeping you posted how this goes on and looking forward to your thoughts.

My 2021 in Review - on Success, Failure, and the big C.

Last year was a special year for me. In summer 2021, I have started this blog around topics that inspire myself and fill my days: business, fitness, and fun stuff. Since that time I had 15.000 visitors on my blog and a lot of personal exchange around "my" topics. Thanks to everyone for this joyful experience.

A few thoughts on each focus topic:

  • I consider myself being successful reinventing myself as an advisor for several companies. I was looking for environments where respect, loyalty, and passion are not only words, but core values for growing a business. I really enjoy each of my assignments and I'm particularly happy having executed an M&A market analysis (I have learned a lot around that and will share some thoughts soon) at the end of the year. It's great to use my own experience for such projects, it's really big to share insights, and being part of something bigger.
  • The fitness side of my life was more disappointing. Year on year I set some personal goals, but I failed on all of them in 2021 due to an injury. My key lesson of life here was and is: if you cannot reach your goals anymore, adjust them, make alternative plans, and execute on that. That's how I found new ways (for example working with fitness ropes and digging into Yoga again) to keep a healthy body (as foundation of a healthy mind).
  • The fun stuff side of life was also very rewarding. For example, I made a lot of new contacts just by driving that nice '66 Mustang convertible. You meet all flavors of society at car meetings and that's another experience that I really like. Everyone shares the same passion for one thing and colour of skin, religion, politics, gender, etc. are not important at all.

The biggest impact on our life is for sure the global pandemic. It has changed every aspect of living on every scale. While I enjoyed business travel so much, that came to a complete hold. I like to go to public music events, that came to a complete hold. I like to meet friends personally, that was at least much more difficult. And I have talked a lot about that also before/during/after my business sessions - mostly on Video these days. I know that the pandemic can bring individuals down and make them depressive. We don't hear and read a lot about that. Even more importantly, I'm grateful for everything that I can give and that I receive on my mission of life.

Have a great and peaceful 2022.

Old school calisthenics. Or: "Convict Conditioning"

I have already written a little more generally about functional training and about my introduction to training with my own bodyweight. As already mentioned, I am always looking for new impulses to bring variety into my strength training. I stumbled across the book Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade.

At first I thought the title was a bit silly, because you immediately think of yard work, where rusty weights are lifted - as you know it from US films and series. But I quickly realised that there was more to it than that. I particularly like two aspects of the book: 1) the reduction to a minimum of exercises and 2) the gradual increase of the load within an exercise. Both result from the fact that a prisoner has nothing but his body in his cell and therefore has to train in a minimalist way (if he wants to). Of course, this can also be applied to one's own training if muscles are to be built up without much expenditure on material and space. I will go into this briefly.

  1. With 6 Basic Exercises strength can be built up for the whole body. That's all that's really necessary and I always enjoy integrating this approach into my training for a few weeks. The exercises themselves are familiar to everyone, which is one of the great things about them.
    1. Push-up: Chest and Triceps
    2. Squat: thighs (Attention: a lot can be done wrong with squats, I had to learn a lot the hard way)
    3. Pull-up: upper back
    4. Leg lift: Abdomen
    5. Bridge: Spinal musculature
    6. Handstand push-up: shoulders

As usual, functional exercises also train other parts of the body. However, there are also (at least) two exercises for which you need aids (pull-up) or which are not quite so easy (handstand). The pull-up is an exciting exercise - if you can't even do 1 pull-up, you are either too weak or too heavy. Or in case of doubt both. But the book also helps here with the approach of increasing from easy to maximum hard.

  1. Paul Wade goes into detail on how to do each exercise. And brings the exciting concept of 10 steps into play for each exercise. Step 1 is the easiest execution, for a push-up, for example, a push-up standing against the wall. Whenever you reach the training goal for an exercise, you move on to the next step until you reach the top. In the case of a push-up, this is a one-arm (!) push-up. This is then really incredibly hard, but even step 6 or 7 is already top and also realistically doable for everyone. In the pull-up, step 1 is a vertical pull. You stand close to a door frame, for example, hold on to it, slowly stretch out your arms and pull back again. This is a step that anyone can do. The master step (step 10), the one-arm pull-up, is certainly only done by very few people.

Conclusion: I find the book very good, it is simply written and based on practical experience. (Pseudo)science is left out. It is also good that you can start immediately. I would buy the book again and can recommend it.

For pull-ups, by the way, I got myself a rail to which I can attach a bar, for example, which can be easily unhooked again after the exercises or pushed out of the way. I'm sure there are other solutions with less installation effort (in case you're sitting in a cell after all?).

Blackout. Back to nature.

Yesterday I had one of the many online meetings. One of my network components installed an update and suddenly nothing worked. I was very annoyed at first, but it was a coincidence: apparently the internet went down for several hours in the whole of southern Hesse. It takes a while to find out - until more and more messages arrive in the social media, in Messenger, etc. that nothing works anymore: somehow a blackout and obviously something bigger.

But it's not like nothing works any more. Yes, you can no longer edit emails and the video calls don't work properly either. But instead of getting angry, I grabbed my bike (a Stevens Sonora 2.0 with Shimano Di2 - I'll write about that one day) and rode up the mountain. The weather was changeable, but that wasn't bad either. There are rain jackets.

It was a great experience to spontaneously be outside for a few hours and experience nature. The world didn't end because I wasn't at a few meetings. And I simply caught up on the work I'd done in the evening. I know that's not always possible, but if it is - take the opportunity to "digitally detox" and go outside whenever possible. It's great out there.

519 metres in altitude - no one on the road. Wonderful.

Murder for coffee withdrawal

Coffee has been a part of my life since I was in college, back in the late 90s. I could only survive so many lectures in which the professor made little effort and which were therefore just boring. Later, at work, coffee was a companion for many exciting hours when we were researching something new at university, inventing something at the company or working on a tricky deal. In the morning, coffee is part of the wake-up routine and at meetings (now via web session) it is still an integral part. At the weekend, a good coffee is part of an indulgent breakfast. So why on earth would you want to get off coffee? I did and I want to report on it here (yes, I survived it!).

Coffee belongs to the sgt. stimulants. We do not need them to survive, but consume them because they simply do one thing: they taste good and they provide (short-term) happiness. This is also the reason for the danger of addiction, which varies depending on the stimulant. But that's not why I gave up coffee, because I love drinking coffee. It was rather a recommendation in the context of a 1-week cure fast to do without any stimulant. And I can therefore confirm that coffee is a) addictive and b) giving it up can lead to real withdrawal symptoms. In my case it was mainly persistent and sometimes severe headaches, but also restlessness, followed by listlessness and a certain irritability. This only got better after 2-3 days, but I managed it with a lot of discipline. At least for one week.

What has it done for me? I see (at least) the following advantages:

  • Conscious perception of body and mind: You learn to pay more attention to the signals and to act accordingly.
  • Concentration: focused work is also possible without coffee. Take a break to enjoy your coffee instead of drinking gallons of it.
  • Natural flow: without coffee you learn to follow the flow of your biorhythm. Work in the high, rest in the low.
  • Better sleep: for me, coffee works 100% and I can't fall asleep if I have another cup after a certain time. Without coffee I can simply sleep better and recharge the batteries.

What's the next step?

Forever giving up coffee and other stimulants. I'm too much of a hedonist for that (another topic for another article). However, the planned and controlled withdrawal has taught me mindfulness (another topic!) for pleasure: to enjoy pleasure consciously . I've since significantly reduced the amount of coffee I drink, and I've been enjoying every cup double and triple ever since. For me, this now applies to many other indulgences and foods as well. If you ever get an idea like that, let me know if you've managed to do it without making a killing.

The power of discipline

In all my years as an entrepreneur, sportsman and private individual, I have observed that discipline is a virtue that can help you move mountains. For me, discipline is therefore a positive term. It means "the mastery of one's own will, feelings and inclinations in order to achieve something."

Discipline is important to achieve goals. If you want to be successful, I think discipline is essential. Because success is rarely luck, but the result of perseverance (do not stray from the path), consistent action (decide and do) and personal responsibility (vs. blame always the others). It is quite possible to provoke success, and therefore happiness, with discipline. A positive cycle to the freedom and self-determination created by discipline.

Applied to oneself, one moves from discipline that is often externally determined to self-discipline. Wikipedia says: "Several long-term studies in recent decades found that the level of ability to self-discipline in childhood, as determined by tests and examinations, was a sure indicator of diverse success in later adult life." I have always considered myself to be very (self)disciplined and can only confirm this from my perspective and career.

In the following articles I write about my experiences with discipline and where it can lead. Privately and at work. Examples of this are manifold:

  • Coffee withdrawal (just went through this in the context of the next topic - I can already tell this takes a lot of discipline for a techie).
  • Fasting
  • Digital fasting
  • Writing a diploma thesis (is called Bachelor and Master today, isn't it)
  • PhD thesis
  • Build a house
  • Various sporting goals, e.g. finishing a triathlon
  • 30 Days Kettlebell Challenge
  • Start a company and make it big

I'm already looking forward to the follow-up articles on this topic, but now it's time to get out into the air. Because the sun is shining and I have to enjoy it. What is your attitude towards discipline?

Training with your own body weight

After trying out a few studios(Kieser Training, Venice Beach, etc.), I stumbled across the trend of "bodyweight training". I'm someone who likes to read up on new topics, so I bought Mark Lauren's book Fit without Equipment. The biggest advantage I see with this form of training is that a) you don't have to travel (you can do it anywhere - at home, in a hotel, outside, etc.) and b) you don't need any equipment apart from perhaps a training mat. The work itself seems to me to be a milestone in the bodyweight movement. The author was a former soldier and instructor, but that shouldn't put you off. The exercises are possible for everyone - after all, you are training with your own body.

And that's the big difference to training in the gym. A classic example is a push-up, which trains the chest muscles, triceps, shoulders and torso. In the gym, I would do this with certain machines or dumbbells to train the chest or triceps muscle group specifically and usually in isolation. There is a risk that you will injure your muscles or, even worse, your joints, tendons, etc. because the weights are too heavy. When training with your own body, this can be avoided if you proceed step by step and slowly increase the load. Because you can also do this with your own body. For example, beginners start standing upright with push-ups "against the wall", move on to push-ups on their knees and then to "normal" push-ups. You can then increase these by keeping your hands closer together, putting your legs on a bench, etc. I confess that I have never seen so many variations of the good old push-ups (which we always had to do as a disciplinary measure during swimming training as children and teenagers). And so it goes on in the book for all possible muscle groups. The functional approach avoids one-sided training, as several muscle groups are always strengthened.

The individual exercises are always described with pictures and an accompanying text on over 100 pages - that makes up just over half of the book. According to reviews, the new edition also presents the exercises in a much more contemporary way and describes them even better than before. However, the exercises alone are only worth anything if they are combined in a meaningful way. This is why the exercises are followed by various programs lasting several weeks, which guarantee progressive muscle building - if you persevere. They are divided into First Class (beginners), Master Class (advanced) and Chief Class (extremely advanced). A self-test is included for correct classification. For example, as a beginner you should be able to do 10 push-ups, as an advanced student 8 one-arm push-ups per side (hand placed on a medium-high surface) and as an extremely advanced student 8 "normal" one-arm push-ups. It quickly becomes clear that most people start a program like this as beginners - and that makes perfect sense. If you stick with it, you will quickly notice how your strength increases and how you can move on to the more challenging exercises.

Finally, something about the beginning of the book. In the first 50 pages, Mark Lauren introduces himself, introduces the topic of bodyweight training, talks about fitness, nutrition, motivation, etc. I think it's worth it to at least skim through that. However, there are also sections that I ignored right after reading - especially on the topic of nutrition, I rather advise to consult works of a nutrition professional.

I find the section on motivation the most important, also because it talks about the excuses you can think of to skip a workout. Discipline over the long term is and remains the key to success in this and any other workout. If you find this too difficult alone, you should look for a training partner, this type of training is also great for a lockdown-compliant video call session.

I would buy the book again and it has given me valuable impulses for the way of training and permanent motivation. It was a turning point for me towards functional training, which I still do to this day in one form or another. You have to approach this, as always, with life in mind. Which exercises suit me? Which ones don't? There are definitely some that I simply couldn't do and had to replace with alternatives.

And here's my suggestion as a test to start here and now: how many push-ups can you do right off the bat? 1? 5? 10? I look forward to hearing your feedback. There is also an app to accompany the book, which I will report on separately.

Functional training

Most people don't move enough, which inevitably leads to misalignment and pain. In times of home office, this can even get worse. Even if you do sports, such as cycling or jogging, problems can arise if you lack body stability. Strength training is therefore essential in my view. The aim should be to get the body so stable that you can move without pain in the long term. In addition, having good muscles helps you burn more calories, making it easier to control your weight. I used to train in studios(Kieser or Venice Beach), but then at some point I stumbled across functional training1.

When training with equipment, muscles are targeted and also trained in isolation. You go to the lat pulldown to train the latissimus. You go to the leg press to train the thigh muscle and the large gluteal muscle. Etc. For many people, this is enough because they value shapely and well-defined muscles. But this will not help to get the body holistically stable.

This is different with functional training. The idea here is to build up strength using your own body weight or suitable aids in movement sequences that are close to natural or sport-specific movements. The exercises involve several muscle groups and joints. I have considered here so far:

I always alternate between these training approaches or mix them - on the one hand, to avoid boredom. On the other hand, to always provide different muscle stimuli (they otherwise also get bored and the training effect stagnates).

1 Michael Boyle: Functional Training. ISBN-10 : 3742301489, 2017