The No Headphones, No Tee-Vee, No Social Media Workout

To call me “old school” would understate the truth. I’m one of those throwbacks who believes in Zen-like silence when you exercise.

I don’t exercise in a gym because tee-vees are blaring inside and I’m more interested in focusing on my workout than I am in watching the schnews, much less hearing it as background noise.

I don’t wear headphones when I train because I’m more interested in my own thoughts and the intuitive flashes I receive than the lyrics of some sad sap who knows neither who he is nor where he’s truly going in life.

When it comes to social media, I see many, many people training before a screen for their friends to witness. Some of these people are my buddies, and after I brutally raz them about the practice, they are entertaining the idea of amending their ways.

One gentleman, for example, recently moved and left his tee-vees behind. In a new home now with his wife and three children, there’s no television or video games. Guess what? He’s now down 30 pounds and his children have never been so happy or so astoundingly productive in and out of school.

Being a throwback isn’t supposed to be easy, especially when you receive a short supply of “go with the times” genes.

My daughter is involved in dance and tennis. Practicing dance without music doesn’t make sense because you perform to music. As for tennis, I think it’s a bad idea. You don’t play a game with music blaring, so get used to staying calm and focused when all is silent around you. Seems to be a simple task, but it’s not because most people cannot handle the silence.

Tiger Woods, as an example, recently admitted to playing eight hours of video games per day. Eight hours of violent video games. Is it any wonder he has trouble with his short game? You can talk about his knee and back surgeries all you want, but he’s still whacking the ball pretty damn hard off a tee. As for putting and chipping, he’s below average. I sincerely believe if you got the Tiger away from the video games and any other screens he’s in front of, you’d see a turnaround in his game because he’d regain control of his brain.

Over the past two years I’ve spent a significant amount of time in China, training in tai chi. I walk to and from practice each day, putting in approximately 15,000 steps per day – or seven miles. Then I train a minimum of four hours per day in silence at a facility. I also put in another hour practicing qi gong or doing some other form of training.

All of it in silence. Old school.

Upon my return to the United States, I see the new school way taking root and I shake my head as I say to myself, “You cannot develop internal power and focus in front of the booty box, with headphones on or while playing video games.”

This morning one of my brothers came over to workout with me. I’m very proud of how he’s dropped 30 pounds in the last 40 days. He’s on a mission to regain his former youth and by golly, he’s doing it.

For years he smirked when I told him to quit eating sugar, starch and fast food.

How’d he lose his weight?

Ummm, how about this: No sugar, no starch – eat at home, do qi gong and bodyweight calisthenics with me as well as walk and bicycle on his own.

When he shows up to train there’s total silence in the house. And when we train the only words you hear are me occasionally saying, “Inhale – exhale.”

After a while even those two words are abbreviated further: “In – out.”

It’s a simple formula. You regain control of your brain and this in turn leads to regaining control of your body.

This means: No tee-vee. No music. No video games. And very little talking.

What a way to train.

And it produces results most people cannot fathom.