On Thanksgiving

For me, Thanksgiving is one of the more solemn holidays.

Like many people I spend the time with my family and have a traditional meal, etc., relishing the time with those I love and keep close.

Perhaps, like you, I have a small nuclear family that I value above all else because they are the reason I get up every morning.

I do not speak of them much because they prefer to be in the background and remain anonymous, avoiding the sometime celebrity that follows my public appearances.

But I give thanks for and to them everyday, especially on this day.

Here are some other things you may relate to as well:

I am grateful for having the best friends any man could ever wish for.

I give thanks for my health and the ability to create more of it and share these discoveries with others. I can say that at my current age (50-ish) I am as fit and healthy as I have ever been and I look forward to the next decade with the positive expectation of more of the same, perhaps even better.

I will share that with you as well through my continued writings.

I am grateful that I live in the USA.

In spite of the media feast on the supposedly dead carcass of our economy, I know two things for sure: First, the rest of the world (yes, even China and Japan) will falter miserably if we are weak economically. We still matter that much, much to the chagrin of the rest of the world. And two, the economy will turn around and be resilient and strong again, hopefully devoid, at least for a while, of the greed and stupidity and duplicity that got us into this mess in the first place.

I am grateful that I avoided all that!

I am grateful that I believe with all my heart that I make my own future and that it is not totally dependent on all the outside forces that others seem to dwell on.

I am grateful that I understand that adversity is merely the flip side of opportunity.

I am grateful to my critics and to the people who dwell on the negative aspects of the world, my world and their world for reminding me of what I do not want to be.

I am grateful for the new wonderful people who continuously enter my life.

I am grateful for the people who have left and the lessons they taught me.

I am grateful for the mind I have been given and the ability to see and create things that did not exist in the past because every man and woman wants to leave a legacy and to a large extent Dr. Dave’s Best will be mine.

I am grateful for my home, my car, my bikes, my hobbies, my talents, the beautiful area I live in and my continued ability to share and uplift people with them.

I could go on but you get the picture.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope you do too and that you are able to recognize it.

Thanks for spending this little time with me and have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving and a gratifying rest of the year!

Doc

P.S. To all of you who will be joining me at my Boot Camp in Boca this February, my sincere gratitude as well and be ready for a tour de force in fitness and fun!

How to increase your calorie burn by twenty percent

How to increase your calorie burn by twenty percent

A few months ago I took a little run through the Canadian Rockies. I ran 78 miles to be exact and when I crossed the finish line of this race known as the Canadian Death Race (because if you finish you probably cheated death) I had achieved something that only 35% of the people who started as solo runners did.

I finished the race!

Now there were many factors in this. As a matter of fact, I am in the process of writing a book about the experience but I can distill it down to a few biggies.

And it's one of those biggies I want to tell you about now.

Trekking poles.

After attempting to come down one of the mountain sides in practice I realized there is no way my quads and my legs are going to survive such a race. Enter "Dr. Death" also known as Dale, the originator of the Death Race. After a 5 minute session on trekking pole use, I was set and I found them to be one of the major keys to completing such a long, hard race over such difficult terrain.

They especially helped me literally fly down the mountain sides without breaking my neck. This helped make up for my less than stellar speed on the climbing side of things.

So when I got back from the Death Race I decided that just about any run on any trail I would take would see my trusty trekking poles by my side.

Thus when I showed up at some shorter races in my local area I got a bunch of funny looks and a few comments about "the dude with the ski poles".

Most had never even seen them let alone seen anyone using them.

What my running friends didn't know is that trekking polls stand poised to be "the next big thing" along with band training in the fitness industry.

And with good reason, they help you burn more fat.

I could go on and on about why I use trekking poles for my trail runs, but the main reason I want to bring them to your attention is that recent studies in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research have shown that they increase the calorie burn without increasing the perceived exertion of the exercise.

So whether you walk or run, you burn more calories and you don't feel more tired.

It has been estimated that you actually burn about 20% more calories using the poles because they engage your upper body and core.

So if you are looking for a way to improve your walking/running efficiency in terms of calorie burning this is a great way to do it.

And if like me you live in areas of ice and snow in the winter, the poles behave like extra legs so now you have 4 legs instead of 2!

Get out, move and enjoy!

Doc