Boundless Life

BenGreenfieldFitness.com/runnershigh

I recently read the book Runner's High: How a Movement of Cannabis-Fueled Athletes Is Changing the Science of Sports.

As kind of a mash-up of Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and Christopher McDougall's Born to Run  this immersive, investigative look at the hidden culture of cannabis use among elite athletes (as well as weekend warriors) reveals the surprising emerging science behind the elusive, exhilarating "runner's high" they all seek.

Author of the book and my guest on today's podcast - Josiah Hesse - believes that "pot makes exercise fun", or at least, easier or more productive. The link between performance enhancement and cannabis has actually been an open secret for many years, so much so that with the wide-sweeping national legalization of cannabis, combining weed and working out has become the hottest new wellness trend.

Why, then, is there still a skewed perception around this leafy substance that it only produces the lazy, red-eyed stoner laid out on a couch somewhere, munching on junk food? In fact, scientists have conducted extensive research that uncovers the power of the "runner's high" - the true holy grail of aerobic activity that was long believed to be caused by endorphins.

In an extraordinary reversal, scientists believe marijuana may actually be the key to getting more Americans off their phones and on to their feet. In Runner's High and in this podcast, Josiah takes you on a journey through the secret world of stoned athletes, describing astounding, cannabis-inspired physical and mental transformations, just like he experienced.

From the economics of the $20 billion CBD market to the inherent inequalities in the enforcement of marijuana prohibition; from the mind-body connection behind the "runner's high" to the best way to make your own cannabis-infused power bars; Runner's High takes this groundbreaking science out of the lab and onto the trail, court, field, and pitch, fundamentally changing the way we think about exercise, recovery, and cannabis.

Josiah is an author and journalist from Denver, Colorado, whose work has appeared in Vice, Esquire, Politico, and The Guardian.

Hesse casts a wide net in his journalistic curiosities, covering everything from science, crime and politics, to pop culture, the arts, sex and drugs. After a decade of covering the slow-burn legalization of marijuana, Hesse finally wrote the book we discuss today.

-Kion Lean

-Paleo Valley Organ Complex

-Seed Daily Synbiotic

-Beekeeper's Naturals

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, what's up. It's Ben Greenfield. You may have heard that I wrote a new book. It's free at fitsoulbook.com as a digital download. You can also get the physical version for next to nothing. I'm not making any money off this book. I'm just covering my shipping and handling and printing costs. I just want you to experience some of the things I've written within the pages.

Now, because of that, I'm also recording the audio book version, and I want to give you a bit of a taste of that audio book version. 

If you like it all the resources and everything for what you're about to hear are at fitsoulbook.com/resources.

So I hope you enjoy this chapter and you can always find me on social media at Ben Greenfield Fitness on most social media platforms. And perhaps there you can just let me know what you think. 

So without further ado, here we go.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BenGreenfieldFitness.com/donnamills

You've no doubt heard me talk on podcasts before about my epic massages.

We're talking essential oils, carefully selected musical tracks for healing the body, an acoustic sound healing table, a pulsed electromagnetic field mat, and a variety of specific plant medicine compounds and supplements for relaxing the body and turning a massage into a full body, mind and spiritual reboot and cleansing.

But I haven't talked much about the wizard (wizardess, I should say) behind-the-scenes. Her name is Donna Mills, and she is my massage therapist, the most unique and talented therapist I've ever worked with, and my guest on this podcast.

Donna lives in the aesthetically stunning Pacific Northwest, specifically in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She is a woman committed to all things that elevate human consciousness. She is a practitioner of the healing arts, an advocate for civil conversations, and a community educator.

Donna is the founder of HumanWell Integrative Healing where she sees private clients healing through trauma and grief. On the community consulting side of HumanWell, Donna designs integrative workplace wellness programs for large and small businesses.

The name HumanWell was created out of her unwavering need to know “How do we human well? We can see where we are missing the mark in society, but where and how are we getting it right?”

Donna is a social healing practitioner, a narrative disruptor, and a cultural change agent. She is here to invite society into a deeper conversation about civility and connectivity. She believes that, “and justice for all” means just that. For all. She is a fierce advocate for a new narrative of economic justice that elevates our collective human wellness and ability to thrive.

Donna is a Lay Pastoral Minister through the Unitarian Universalist Association and is ordained to perform many celebrations of life, from partner unions to end of life doula services. In this work she gently guides humans through the sacred journey of living and dying. She is often called upon to share her insightful wisdom on the divine, and serves this world with a deep commitment to humanity.

Donna aligns and connects to Source Spirit as High Priestess in her Pagan faith. She also describes herself as a mystic, a tarot reader, an intuitive healer, and a conscious thought leader for these changing times. She practices a very intentful and cyclical lifestyle that includes loads of joy, playful exploration, good food, and always, always, more beautiful humans.

She excels at growing food and wild foraging, loves to be on the water, is a collector of smiles, and can be found spending teatime with her favorite feline, Professor Moosey Softpaws.

Episode sponsors:

-The Boundless Cookbook

-Kion

-Four Sigmatic

-JOOVV

-Water and Wellness

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, what's up. It's Ben Greenfield. You may have heard that I wrote a new book. It's free at fitsoulbook.com as a digital download. You can also get the physical version for next to nothing. I'm not making any money off this book. I'm just covering my shipping and handling and printing costs. I just want you to experience some of the things I've written within the pages.

Now, because of that, I'm also recording the audio book version, and I want to give you a bit of a taste of that audio book version. 

If you like it all the resources and everything for what you're about to hear are at fitsoulbook.com/resources.

So I hope you enjoy this chapter and you can always find me on social media at Ben Greenfield Fitness on most social media platforms. And perhaps there you can just let me know what you think. 

So without further ado, here we go.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BenGreenfieldFitness.com/katalystpodcast

In a recent weekly roundup, I reported on what I called "Possibly The World's Most Efficient (New) Workout: The "Katalyst", and told you to get ready for the next frontier of electrical muscle stimulation.

In my Boundless book, on my podcast, and elsewhere, I've talked in the past about how I use electrical muscle stimulation, also known as “EMS,”

...but with all other forms of EMS I've used in the past, although getting great results for injury rehab, muscle growth, targeted muscle "re-training" and more, I've also had to deal with all sorts of wires, time-consuming electrode attachment, confusing user interfaces, and a pretty clunky experience that takes up a lot of time.

But this brand new electrical muscle stimulation suit called the “Katalyst” is a total game-changer. You literally just pull on the suit and select from any of the workouts on the app and a personal trainer not only walks you through the entire workout, which involves functional fitness moves like squats, side lunges, presses, cardiovascular and power movements, and a whole lot more…

…but the intensity is automatically adjusted by your trainer as you go, and so it also creates a highly customized workout. This is one of the coolest time hacks for exercise that I've discovered in a long time and—coming from a guy who has done a lot of different workouts—I can tell you that this thing is not some gimmicky “As Seen On TV” technology that you use to get a six-pack while you're sitting on the couch eating Twinkies.

Instead, I think this technology is going to take the fitness world by storm. Pro athletes can train muscles they've never used before and retrain injured muscles while complete exercise beginners or those in rehab can lift weights without excess stress on the joints.

Again, the Katalyst suit is a total game-changer, and this thing is flying off the shelves now as folks discover the magic of EMS. Here's where you can get the Katalyst suit today (that link gives you "early access" to getting a unit for yourself).

But I also wanted to get the Founder and CEO of Katalyst - Bjoern Woltermann - on the show to take a deep dive into exactly how this new technology works.

 Bjoern is the Founder and CEO of Katalyst, a revolutionary home fitness product that can actually improve your fitness through every phase of life. Using proven Full-Body EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) technology, Katalyst removes common barriers to fitness like time, ability and motivation, and replaces them with a 20-minute, full-body workout that works with your body rather than against it.

Because there are no weights and no joint impact, Katalyst empowers all people to live longer, healthier and happier lives. A startup veteran and economist by trade, Bjoern was introduced to Full-Body EMS as a way to fit strength training into his busy travel schedule and to rehabilitate a back injury.

After training every Monday for six weeks, Bjoern was amazed to find himself both pain-free and in better physical shape than he had been in years. He soon realized that this technology had the potential to significantly improve millions of lives.

Driven by an innate desire to serve people, Bjoern founded Katalyst in 2015 to bring Full-Body EMS to the United States. Aside from Katalyst, Bjoern is a devoted husband and uncle who loves to travel the world and is committed to a healthy lifestyle.

• 2012, had a corporate job flying all over the world
• This resulted in chronic back pain
• Advised to strengthen core and lower back, otherwise serious injury would be incurred
• Introduced to an EMS clinic (20 minute treatment is too good to be true)
• Two different reactions: horribly uncomfortable or relatively manageable
• Breathwork is important for the comfort level
• After 6 weeks, he was pain free, no pain meds, etc.
• Body Street studio EMS
• EMS is far more popular in Germany than the U.S.

• BGF podcast w/ Jay Schroeder (old, may not be available)
• Science discovered by Russians in the 60's
• TENS treatment is a different treatment than EMS
• Early 2000's, body transformer was a more efficient means of delivering EMS
• First commercial device was around 2007
• Used by elite soccer teams (athletes signed NDA's because of it worked so well)

• FDA-regulated category
• Hurdles too high for manufacturer's to expand in the U.S.
• Some European universities carry out 2-3 full-blown studies on EMS per year
• Hockey players 1.5% faster after EMS
• New way to activate muscles; easier to target specific muscle fibers

• Previously unused and dormant muscles
• "No muscle left behind"
• Much more complete muscle activation
• Increasing the recruitment of muscle fibers in each rep
• Get to exhaustive state of the muscle faster
• Activate more muscle fibers at the same time - subconsciously this is how it's supposed to feel
• Need extreme loads to activate fast-twitch muscle fibers or very quick movements w/ conventional weight training
• Cardio mode causes the muscle to be active, transform energy into motion
• Aerodyne bike is the ultimate EMS workout

• How much muscle activation is going on at a given time
• A workout that takes over one hour is condensed into 20 minutes
• Body simply needs to cool off
• Water provides adequate conductivity

• No shortened muscle
• No tension
• One of Ben's training clients had knee pain disappear after using the Catalyst for a couple of sessiosn
• Unused muscles are in a tight state, protective measure
• Previously injured areas become loosened
• Relax the muscle, get back to a natural function

• Promotes blood flow
• Very low frequency
• Pumping effect to the muscles

• Study of 100 women over age of 75
• Two of the women dropped out, not because it was too stringent
• Gained muscle mass, reversed atrophy
• Increased walking speed 10-20%
  • Walking speed, grip strength and ability to get off the floor are good metrics for longevity
• Gained bone density

• Do strength/power one day; followed by 10 minutes of cardio
• Day 2, cardio only
• Day 3-4, do strength again

• BGF podcast w/ Jeff Spencer
• Vasper machine

• Things are in the works to do EMS detached from the current system
• Trainers are actually getting the treatment while the user does
• Roles of customer and trainer are very different
• Immersive experience for the customer
• The system learns over time
• Levels are always individual to a person

-The Katalyst Full Body EMS Suit (click here for early access)

-The Boundless Cookbook

-Kion Refer a Friend

-Organifi Green Juice

-Therabody

-Butcher Box

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

• Ben will be speaking at the Ancestral Health Summit in L.A. on August 12-14, 2021
• Keep up on Ben's LIVE appearances by following bengreenfieldfitness.com/calendar

-The Boundless Cookbook: Optimize your physical and mental performance with nutritious and delicious Greenfield family recipes. This is your roadmap to a culinary journey that includes ancient food and wild game preparation tactics, biohacked smoothies, meat rubs, cocktails, desserts, and beyond—without any restrictive diet, limited ingredients, or tasteless “health foods”! Pre-order yours today here!

Check out Ben on Instagram for epic posts and photos about his morning, day, and evening routines, recipes, and much more!

Follow Ben on Twitter for daily news flashes and the latest health, fitness, and anti-aging research.

Join Ben's Facebook page for conversations with listeners and even more useful information, posts, and support!

-Kion Dark Coffee

-Paleo Valley Beef Sticks

-Ra Optics

-Butcher Box

bengreenfieldfitness.com/430

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, what's up. It's Ben Greenfield. You may have heard that I wrote a new book. It's free at fitsoulbook.com as a digital download. You can also get the physical version for next to nothing. I'm not making any money off this book. I'm just covering my shipping and handling and printing costs. I just want you to experience some of the things I've written within the pages.

Now, because of that, I'm also recording the audio book version, and I want to give you a bit of a taste of that audio book version. 

If you like it all the resources and everything for what you're about to hear are at fitsoulbook.com/resources.

So I hope you enjoy this chapter and you can always find me on social media at Ben Greenfield Fitness on most social media platforms. And perhaps there you can just let me know what you think. 

So without further ado, here we go.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BenGreenfieldFitness.com/paulaustin

Paul F. Austin is a pioneer in the 21st century responsible use of psychedelics for healing, leadership and personal transformation.

He has been featured in BBC, Forbes, and Rolling Stone for his accomplishments in entrepreneurship regarding social awareness towards the benefits of microdosing psychedelics. Paul is the author of the book “Microdosing Psychedelics: A Practical Guide to Upgrade Your Life” and the founder of two companies in the emerging psychedelic space, Third Wave and Synthesis. ‍

It all started with his personal 7-month microdosing protocol, through it Paul experienced the tangible benefits of microdosing LSD, including an acceleration of learning ability, easier access to flow states, and an improved sense of presence. His experience with microdosing inspired him to push for legitimizing psychedelic substances via the topic of microdosing. ‍ Most importantly, intentional psychedelic use helped him to further uncover his own truth, enabling an alignment of purpose and mission with contribution to community and society. Paul’s unconventional path has now placed him in a position to serve the lives of many millions through psychedelic education and literacy.

Two companies have been borne of Paul's mission: Third Wave and Synthesis. This led him to create “Third Wave” which explores pragmatic ways to change the cultural conversation around psychedelics, focusing on the intersection of science, psychedelics, and self-actualization. ‍ Within Third Wave, Paul leads his team in building an educational platform to ensure psychedelic substances become responsibly integrated into our metamodern cultural framework. Currently, Third Wave offers long-form psychedelic guides, online training focused on the skill of microdosing psychedelics, and an industry-best network of clinics and retreat providers, creating a space for individuals to come fully into their own agency, power, and autonomy.

In 2018, he co-founded Synthesis, and led several high-dose psilocybin truffle retreats, leading branding, marketing, and public relations before stepping back to focus on Third Wave full-time. Setting off at the age of 21 from West Michigan, Paul lived in five countries and traveled to 60+ over the span of six years before moving to New York City in August 2017.

Propelled by an insatiable curiosity for the unknown, Paul's travels led to an incredible expansion of being and growth, setting the stage for his professional career in psychedelic leadership and advocacy. Paul is often seeking balance between city and countryside: the unrelenting energy of big city life pared with the tranquility of nature. When not working, he loves to read, camp, drink espresso, steam himself silly in eucalyptus, and laugh at the irony of life. Third Wave began in 2015, with an intent of changing the cultural conversation around psychedelics. They offer free education, paid online courses, and peak performance coaching.

Paul's work there has been featured in the BBC, Forbes, and Rolling Stone. Synthesis is a legal psilocybin retreat outside of Amsterdam. For many clients, attending Synthesis is a profound and meaningful experience, one that leads to improved well-being and significant clarity on purpose and direction. Outside of Paul's entrepreneurial endeavors, he speaks about the intersection of psychedelics, personal transformation, and professional success.

Episode sponsors:

-Boundless Cookbook

-Kion Dark Roast Coffee

-Joovv

-Therabody

-Organifi Gold

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BenGreenfieldFitness.com/hairgrowth

As I was recently reading in a fashion magazine, hair has always been the primary indication of confidence for most men. When you consider that two-thirds of men see hair thinning by the age of thirty-five, and men’s hair restoration is a $1.5 billion industry, you began to understand how much confidence is contributed to a man’s hair.

But why?

In a Canadian survey conducted by researcher Rosemary Ricciardelli, men identified hair as being the primary link between their youth and attractiveness. Ricciardelli observed how men with a full head of hair — even the ones who weren’t particularly otherwise attractive — go out of their way to bring attention to their hair when meeting someone new.

These full-haired men tended to be more relaxed and confident in demeanor when dealing with other individuals because they feel like they represent the standard for the ideal man.

Ricciardelli helped prove this theory by asking the participants to physically describe their ideal male figure. All of the participants described men who were clean-cut with a full head of hair. We’re unconsciously groomed (pun totally intended) and conditioned (ha!) to think that a healthy man has a full head of hair. But how does this psychologically affect the way men actually feel in their hair? Perhaps a full head of hair reassures them of their healthy biological standing. Maybe the loss of hair reminds men of their mortal vulnerability.

Even men with gray hair prefer the color change over balding.

Beards also matter, as facial hair is also a key part of men’s self-identification. In one study, men with facial hair were considered more aggressive than clean-shaven men. Both men and women found men with facial hair to be more masculine, with a higher social status, than men who were clean-shaven.

More interestingly, men who are bald tend to accentuate their facial hair as compensation for balding. With the double whammy of baldness and facial hair, a man’s masculine appeal could be through the roof. So, to continue on the topic of hair and beard health in men (and the former in women too) that I visited on my recent podcast with Dr. Cameron Chesnut, I decided to continue to explore the topic of hair optimization.

My first guest, Jay Campbell, who first joined me on the podcast "Is Metformin Really Dangerous, Little-Known Peptides For Muscle Gain & Fat Loss, Testosterone Replacement Therapy & Much More!" is a 4x international best selling author, men’s physique champion, co-founder of Aseir Custom and founder of the Jay Campbell Brand and Podcast.

He is also a a Champion Men’s Physique Competitor and the best selling author of the Testosterone Optimization Bible and of The Definitive Testosterone Replacement Therapy Manual: How to Optimize Your Testosterone for Lifelong Health and Happiness. He also wrote a very popular article on my website entitled Testosterone Decoded, Shattering Testosterone Myths (& Everything You Need To Know About Testosterone Optimization Therapy).

As a global influencer on health optimization and raising human consciousness, Jay is no-nonsense, authentic, and fearless in his servant mission of leading humanity towards the Golden Age. Since returning from 12 days in The Sacred Valley of Peru, he's recently experienced a profound awareness of the importance of #RaisingTheVibration of humanity to reach planetary consciousness aka unconditional love. J

ay also introduced me to the company "Aseir", which he cofounded along with Nick Andrews (see below). Aseir makes a copper peptide GHK-CU and Carbon 60 (C60) (first explored in my epic podcast with Ian Mitchell

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.