Natural Doctor In Helena MT

I am the slow life doc, but I often do push my limits just a tad in the hope of “getting ahead.” However, more often than not, I find that instead of getting ahead, pushing those limits simply allows me to maintain the status quo. I think it is probably just a sign of the times.

So… I did complete The Beast Quest. May 6, 2023 was a wet, raw day with the temperature in the 40s in Bigfork, MT. I trained hard and even did a little cold conditioning in preparation. All my hard work and training simply allowed me the benefit of completing the course. It was not pretty and it certainly was not “fun.” It was a painful and agonizing experience.

There were seasoned Spartan warriors who were not able to finish that day but rather chose to walk off the course in order to live to fight another day. It was a long slog through mud the entire way. We were unable to keep a fast enough pace to maintain adequate body temperature. Four water crossings certainly did not help matters. We were soaked to the bone. There were Ultra competitors who were out there too long and had to be pulled off the course, disoriented and hypothermic. It was a battle of mind over matter. It was a battle for survival.

My nephew says, “Never again.” At least not The Beast in Montana in May! We had to keep our hands in our armpits or pants just to keep them barely functioning. Most of the obstacles that tested grip strength were impossible to navigate. We soon learned to appreciate the penalty loops or having to do burpees for not completing obstacles because it helped to boost our body temperature. It was rather absurd that we actually found ourselves grateful for penalties… imagine that! However, my nephew, grandnephew and I persevered. We battled. We prevailed against The Beast. We accomplished our goal!

What’s the moral of the story? No matter how hard one works or trains, or how well you think you are prepared for what lies ahead, you just never know what challenges await. Life can be very humbling. The Beast was very humbling. All our hard work and preparation was not rewarded with the glory of personal bests or broken records. Our hard work and training simply allowed us to finish and receive our “Beast Finisher” shirts, which was a huge accomplishment!

I encourage my patients to prioritize self-care with the goal of achieving the best health possible. There is no better feeling than the feeling of being healthy and fit. In these uncertain times, I strive to be as healthy and strong as possible so I can better handle whatever challenges life throws my way.
​

So… how do you train for something like the Beast? Cross-train! If you go to www.spartan.com, they have some basic training recommendations to offer you. In general, you need to have a decent level of overall fitness… strength, aerobic fitness, and agility. Most importantly… you have to build your fitness SLOWLY! It’s so important to go slow because the whole idea is to increase your level of fitness and make yourself stronger. If you go too fast you run the risk of getting hurt… and then you can’t train anymore!
​
Please don’t forget to stretch a little bit each day. There’s this stuff in the body called fascia… it’s the stuff that conventional medicine traditionally has considered does nothing in the body other than just hold all our parts together! If you don’t stretch regularly, the fascia builds up in the areas of highest stress and makes us very tight and stiff. How come that’s not a good thing? If the fascia gets too tight and stiff, it can put pressure on nerves causing pain or perhaps restricting blood flow to certain parts of the body. Fascia also joins with the dura mater… literal translation is the “tough mother” that covers our brain, spinal cord and the spinal nerves as they leave the spinal cord to connect with various parts of the body. If the fascia is pulling inappropriately on certain parts of the dura, it can inappropriately affect nerve impulses traveling to particular organs in the body or even restrict proper circulation to parts of the spine and brain… perhaps even negatively impacting hormone release by the pituitary gland! So, be sure STRETCH a little each day! It’s so important to keep your body loose and limber!