Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking But First Take My Course – Attacking Mountains At Any Age

by Leave a Comment

If you want to be a hiking warrior, then it is time for you to take my hiking course. If you are a beginner and want to learn the basics in a fun way, plus avoid a lot of mistakes (ones I have made), then let’s go! If you are a little older and would like to get into the mountains but you have some challenges then I can help. Go to the course:

https://bmontgome.mastermind.com/masterminds/25439

In the course I give you the basics and discuss how you can prevent injuries. If you have bad knees I talk about how to get around that. There is always a way. Maybe you say, I climbed this one mountain in record time when I was 18 years old, but now you are 50 and all you talk about is when you were 18. You can do it again! Don’t stop living just because you are a little older.

Training

You will learn how to train for hiking. What I do and don’t do. If a 76 year old man can keep himself on the trail for 30 years think how much you can learn and how much pain you can avoid!

Did you think you could just go climb mountains every week without training? No! You need to get in shape and stay in shape.

Mindset

This section of the course is worth the price by itself, because it will give you tools to help you achieve goals you set in every area of life. Find out what your “why “ is in every area of life. Learn the motivation formula so you can get yourself to do what you say you want to do.

Mindset is so important if you set a path to climb mountains once a week, three times a week or even once a month.

Diet and Nutrition

I don’t have a diet for you, but I call this section “The Chocolate Bar Diet and Nutrition Plan.” I tell you up front it is really not a diet but my philosophy about diet. I also give you some recommendations for supplements.

However, twenty years ago I weighed 214 pounds and I dropped that weight and kept it off. I am 165 now so I know something about this area. As I say in my book, “Attacking Adversity,” diet and exercise are strategies one and two for getting through any adversity. Simple? Yes, but not easy! Don’t stay on the SAD (Standard American Diet).

Click on the link above and take my course. You will be glad you did!

Go Hiking and Get Beyond Order

by Leave a Comment

How do you get beyond order when you go hiking? Simple, as Jordan B. Peterson has said, nature is chaos. You can’t get much further from order than that.

Getting into the wild is, well, wild! As I write this I am planing a hike in a place known for lots of bears. When you’re out there in the woods, the bears and the cougars are the dragons in your world.

Lions, Tigers, Bears and Dragons

Here in North America there arena’t many lions or tigers unless you include Texas. Texas is the exception. I was going to say you wouldn’t find any real dragons in North America but when I think about Texas I am not so sure. After all doesn’t Tim Kennedy live in Texas?

Yes, I am digressing a bit. It happens when I talk about dragons. Peterson often tells a story of a dragon under a bed somewhere. He says we should kill the dragon when it’s small before it gets so big it can eat you. Good idea for sure. But with bears in the woods you actually want to stay away from the little ones because mom is usually close by.

Whistling In the Dark

It isn’t really dark when I hike before sunrise because I wear a headlamp. I tell myself that the bright light will scare the Sasquatches, bears and cougars away. So I Googled that and it says,
“Bears aren’t typically scared of bright lights because bears naturally have no negative association with bright light and don’t see it as a threat.” So much for that theory. I really wished I hadn’t looked for the information.

What’s left? Whistling! Noise does scare bears away. I am not so sure about cougars. I don’t think anything scares a cougar. If it’s hungry it just wants to eat you. I am not going to Google for an answer. Cougars scare me more than bears.

So go hiking, face real danger and then come home and the little dragon under your bed will seem like nothing.

by Leave a Comment

This was too easy! How could I resist using Dave Asprey’s book title for a short article about hiking? He does promote exercise in his book!

Everybody that hikes a mountain every week is superhuman. That is just a given. If you go hiking once in a while or only every week when you’re “training for a big climb” you are just normal. But if you have no training goals, and you’re out there every week then you are superhuman!

At The Bottom

There are three times during a hike when I feel superhuman. The first is when I start because I am always a little afraid. It is dark and I am by myself. There are bears to consider and cougars. That is when I take a deep breath and get out of the car feeling superhuman. After all what mere human could face the wild like that?

Even as I start up the trail I feel stronger and stronger. More confident. I adjust to the terrain and begin to focus on my first micro goal.

Half Way

When I reach the halfway point it is almost proof I am superhuman. By now I am feeling very strong. I feel all of the muscles in my legs. The initial aches and pains of the hike have subsided. Now it is a steady superhuman burn.

Ready for the second half of the hike and feeling superhuman, I pick up my pace knowing that I will soon be at my destination.

At The Top

Everybody feels superhuman when they reach the top and are enjoying the view. We don’t always acknowledge it, but we should. It is a real accomplishment.

Actually, if I am completely honest there is only one kind of superhuman when it comes to climbing and that is an Alpinist. They climb the highest mountains with the most technical difficulty. You have to be superhuman to do that.

But wait! Alpinists use ropes. There can really be only one kind of superhuman and that is the rock climber that does not use ropes like Alex Honnold. In fact, maybe there is only one superhuman and that would be Alex.

https://stayonoffense.com/2020/01/25/596/

Go Hiking And Be Awesome

by Leave a Comment

If you want to be awesome it is easy. Put your boots on and go climb a mountain. There is something magical when someone asks you what you did today and you can say, “I climbed a mountain.” It’s awesome!

Now it isn’t always easy. If the sun is shining or it is mildly cool, no problem. But if there is rain or snow that is another thing.

Are You Fit?

To be awesome you need to be fit enough to get to the top of the mountain and have enough energy to get back down. So how do you do that? The best way is to climb more mountains. It is like when someone asks how do I get so I can do ten pull-ups. The answer is to do more pull-ups.

You can also spend time in a gym. There are exercises that will prepare your legs for climbing. Just stepping up and down on a bench will help you. However, if you want to be an awesome hiker you need to be able to carry some weight on your back. Remember, you’re not a mountain “runner” or “trail runner.” That is totally different. They carry no weight. An awesome hiker has at least 25 pounds of weight on his or her back.

Are You Dedicated

In order to be an awesome hiker, you need to be dedicated to hiking consistently and not just once in a while. There is something I use to get into the right state of mind the day before a hike.

Sometimes the weather is bad and hiking up some mountain is not something I want to do at all on a two day weekend. So I need a ritual that gets me in the right state of mind. In the morning if someone asks me if I am going hiking the next day I say yes, but not enthusiastically and usually tell them I need to get psyched up for it.

So in the afternoon I just begin my preparations. I get my pack ready. Water bottles ready. Extra clothes ready. The ten essentials ready. That is all it takes. By the time I am done, I usually am psyched for it. However, there have been times when I arrive at the trailhead and it is pouring rain when I don’t want to get out of the car. That is when I take a deep breath and do it.

Go hiking and be awesome!

Go Hiking And Find The Strength Within

by Leave a Comment

No matter what difficulties I am facing from day to day, when I get up in the mountains I find a strength that I don’t have when I am not climbing. I think it is one of the ways I connect with my creator.

Of course, you are outdoors in creation. Being outside in the forest aligns with our nature as humans.

The Quiet

There are places in the mountains away from freeways and even the sound of waterfalls where you can hear your heartbeat. In these places, I am rejuvenated. I find the strength I didn’t know I had.

Having places like this gives me a place to rest. Resting when climbing mountains is typically not what I do. However, in these cases, I make an exception.

The Clouds

Am I the only person that finds strength in clouds? Especially in the mountains where they hide part of a view or make a landscape almost spooky.

Everyone has seen clouds take the shape of familiar things or scary things. You might see a dragon or an angel. Somehow, in the mountains, these images are more powerful and can transfer that power to the person watching.

The Trees

I know I have talked about being a tree hugger before this. The trees surround you and I suppose that is why you hear the term “nature bathing.” The large ones are so old. I read once that old trees talk. It is just that they talk so slow you can’t understand them.

Trees seem so much more stable than me. Rooted deep in the ground seemingly unmovable. And I think you can borrow some of that stability just by being around them.

The quiet, clouds and trees all combine to strengthen the spirit within. So go hiking!

Go Hiking And Feel Powerful

by Leave a Comment

Hiking does make you feel powerful. Just the physical movement gets your blood flowing and then as you climb higher and higher you feel stronger.

Sure it is hard, but deep inside you feel power. It grows as you climb. Wait! Stop! How can the be? Ok, here are some ideas.

Mantras

Mantras keep you focused on the task at hand and not how difficult it might be. Here are my favorite, all of which I stole from somebody else. You can steal them from me if they fit.

Life is good. I am strong. I can do this all day long.
I’m strong and powerful. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
My body is my home. My home is my temple.
I’m strong, I thrive, at 165.
Measure your day by what you sow and not by what you reap
Find happiness in the short term misery of discipline so you don’t suffer the long term pain of regret.

When I am hiking I am saying these six mantras over and over again. They help me focus and I believe they get drilled into my subconscious.

Micro Goals

I may have talked about micro goals before. In the Unbeatable Mind community which Mark Divine began they are a staple. When it comes to hiking they are perfect. You feel a little tired or maybe a lot tired. So you pick a rock or a tree up ahead and just tell yourself you are going to go as far as that tree. Of course you keep going after you get to it. Then set another micro goal.

Eventually after you have set enough micro goals you will reach the top. Then it is time to back down and that is not as easy as it seems at first. So set some micro goals then as well. Now go hiking!