Updation

I have a bunch of cool videos shot and some more “hacks” for range of motion, but my dissertation is taking longer than I thought, so I will have them up this Saturday.

It seems my header on my blog went goofy, so I am working on that and hope to have it fixed early next week.  Still working to get it more compatible with our Mac friends too.

In the meantime, I have a very special treat for all of you!

It is a true honor and privilege to have a very special guest post from By Josh Hanagarne, World’s
Strongest Librarian.

Be sure to check out his awesome blog at

Worlds Strongest Librarian

Take it away Josh!

Moving My Body, Saving A Life

By Josh Hanagarne, World’s
Strongest Librarian

Has your body ever betrayed you? How about your brain? Do they ever seem like they’re doing whatever they want? Do they ever seem to want different things?

I ask because I can answer YES to all of those questions…and then some. I was in Washington D.C. one sunny day when I suddenly punched myself in the face as hard as I could. This surprised the other people near me, but they weren’t surprised as much as I was.

But all I could do was look down at my bloody shirt and think, I need to do laundry.

Tic, Tic, Boom

In 9th grade I got diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and we all thought, “Hmm, this is sort of weird.”

Tourette’s makes you do two sorts of things:

1.You move involuntarily
2.You make noises involuntarily

For about ten years it was just a nuisance. Then I went one round with myself in D.C. and things started ramping up from there. I screamed uncontrollably until I got a hernia from the pressure. I dislocated fingers. I chewed my mouth to pieces, and so on.

And on and on and on. And if it sounds miserable, it was.

Things are no different now, but things are wonderful

For nearly 15 years, my body was my enemy. Rather than engage it, I chose to ignore it. That didn’t work very well. But later when I got into weights and kettlebells, things changed. I learned to dominate this sack of flesh and it began to change.

My symptoms didn’t change. They never will. But the discipline I’ve picked up along the way makes everything seem bearable. Once you’ve picked up kettlebells and worked hard, nothing else feels as intimidating. Not even the knowledge that either one of my hands might break my jaw at any moment.

If it happens, it happens. As long as it doesn’t interrupt my training, I’ll keep smiling. Getting stronger is the answer for me. But the point came where I couldn’t figure out how to maintain my rate of progress.

Mobility – The Missing Ingredient

I recently spent one week training with “Unbreakable” Adam T. Glass in Minot, North Dakota. Adam knows a lot about the body and how it works.

I’d dabbled in mobility work before. Mike T. Nelson of this very website did a ZHealt session with me before the RKC and it cleared up some lingering problems for me.

During the week with Adam I learned that Mike is one of Adam’s coaches. We spent more time that week talking about mobility than anything else. I had no idea that I knew so little. But rather than be intimidated, I was inspired and excited.

It’s hard not to be when you start hitting personal records (PRs) again. After about 5 minutes of Z-Health work, Adam fixed my shoulder that had been bothering me for a year. Five minutes after that, I pressed a 92 lb kettlebell with the arm that hadn’t pressed for that year. It was a huge PR and my eyebrows shot up just as quickly as that kettlebell.

I could go on all day about this, but I won’t

If I could say one thing to you and have it stick, it would be this: forget what you think you know about the body. I would love nothing more than to pick Mike’s brain for a year and be one of his guinea pigs.

I thought it was fun to get stronger, but feeling my body move better is satisfying in a different way. And the two are inseparable. I had used weights and kettlebells to take control of my life again. Now I’m seeing that mobility work will let me take control of the weights and kettlebells at a much higher level.

No matter where you’re at in your training, no matter what your relationship with your body is, both can improve-drastically.

Find someone who knows more than you do about the body. Help yourself and let them help you. You cannot overestimate the potential of a perfectly functioning body. And the perfectly functioning body is the one that breaks records and reaches its potential.

I hear Mike Nelson is pretty good at this stuff.

I’ve seen these principles of mobility in action. My training saved my life. Mobility is improving the rest.

Josh Hanagarne
Get Stronger, Get Smarter, Live Better…Every Day

About the Author: Josh Hanagarne, RKC, is the twitchy giant behind World’s Strongest Librarian, a blog about living with Tourette’s Syndrome, kettlebells, book recommendations, buying pants when you’re 6′8″, old-time strongman training, and much more. Please subscribe to Josh’s RSS Updates to stay in touch.

“In 15 minutes, without any equipment, Mike was able to fix a shoulder issue that I’d been dealing with for nearly 9 months.
The pain was gone. By the end of our first session, I was moving better than I had in a long time. Some

of the science he quoted was above my head, but I am not about to argue with the results I got. I left our session with a program that I have since practiced for a week on my own. I feel better and move better every day. I can’t wait until these four weeks are complete–Mike says I will be moving as well as anyone by the end of the pro

gram and so far I have no reason to doubt.”

Josh Hanagarne “Worlds Strongest Librarian”

Update,  Josh left this comment on the blog just the other day in case you were wondering what would happen after about 3 weeks.  Would the effect stay?  Many can get an acute (short term) result, but what about weeks later when the athlete goes back to their normal routine (still doing the drills though, of course).  Josh put the few minutes in a day and here are his own words.

“Thought I’d give you an update on my Z-Health progress–fantastic. I can’t believe how good I feel. It was great to meet you!”  josh

I had the distinct honor and privilege to do a movement coaching session with Josh when he was here in town for the RKC.   Josh is indeed an extreme human and is the World’s Strongest Librarian and used kettlebells to literally beat his Tourette’s Syndrome into remission.  Amazing!!  You can read all about it at this link

How To Have Tourette’s: The Singing Stone And The Space-Age Bribes

My hats off to Josh!  Josh is also a brand new RKC too!  Hell yeah!

Be sure to check out his great blog at  http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com/

What are you waiting for? Do you want to move and feel better TODAY?

Drop me a line and get set up for you Z-Health movement coaching session today!  I am one of only 6 Z-Health Master Trainers worldwide.  Email me at michaelTnelson@yahoo.com   Subject: Z Health session.

All sessions are booked on a first come, first serve basis and the open time slots are rather limited, so hop to it today.

I am currently in Arizona right now getting ready for the first day of the Z-Health 9S Advanced Nutrition class, so I am super excited!  Further training in exercise physiology is always like a vacation to me; even after years of study.   Note: I will have intermittent email access, so if I you don’t hear back from me, don’t fret and I will get back to you soon.  I have some updates set to go out here while I am gone, but I may be late getting to all the wonderful comments.

Rock on

Mike T Nelson