Physical Health

The Black Ring — Discipline. Strength. Body Armor.

I watched both of my parents get weaker as they aged. They did very little to build muscle throughout most of their lives — and the consequences were devastating. When they got the flu in 2018, it took a full month for both of them to recover. It seemed like they aged years in a matter of weeks. Once the falling started, it became a one-way road: canes, then walkers, then wheelchairs — all within five or six years. My mother fell in 2023, broke her hip, and never walked again. At one point she was on more than ten medications simultaneously. Ten. How does that happen to a person?

It happens when the body is never given the armor it needs to fight back.

Muscle is your body armor. It not only protects you from falls and injuries, it absorbs glucose like a sponge and actively fights internal inflammation. The same logic that applies to retirement savings applies here — it takes decades of consistent investment before the compound returns begin to outweigh the individual contributions. Decades of lifting, walking after meals, and cardiovascular training slowly build a body that can fight off what life throws at it. Starting after you retire produces the same diminishing returns as opening a 401K at 65. The time to start is now.

And there are no shortcuts. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Do not put anything into your body that did not come naturally from the earth to speed up muscle growth. It will backfire. Every time.

Why So Many Struggle

Look around. Out-of-shape people vastly outnumber in-shape people — and there is a reason for that. We wake up, eat something loaded with carbohydrates that converts to glucose, sit in traffic or at a desk all day, snack on ultra-processed food, come home exhausted, deal with life, watch television, sleep, and repeat. The food industry has engineered this cycle deliberately. 55% of adult calories in the United States come from ultra-processed food — and 60% for children. These products are designed to be cheap to make, last forever on a shelf, and be impossible to stop eating. That is not an accident. That is a business model — and it is destroying our health.

When we consistently put damaging things into our bodies, the body works overtime trying to clean up the mess. But the body cannot do everything at once. Think of bad cells — potentially cancerous ones — as thugs hanging on a street corner. Your immune system is the local police force, constantly patrolling to make sure those thugs do not cause real trouble. But when your immune system is consumed by fighting the inflammation caused by a poor diet, the police never make it to that corner. The thugs grow bolder. That is one of many reasons why some people develop cancer and others do not. Your body finishes developing around age 25. It then takes roughly 30 years of bad habits for the damage to fully surface — which is why you see so many serious health problems emerge in people’s 50s and 60s. I have seen it firsthand.

What Needs To Be Done

So what does a strong Physical Leg actually require? Here is what I have learned and what I practice:

• 1. Build solid muscle through weight training.

  Muscle is your body armor. It protects you from injury, helps you recover from accidents, and actively fights inflammation. You should be able to lift a heavy bag over your head without injuring yourself. Build for that.

• 2. Double up on leg day.

  My mother never prioritized her legs. Weak legs led to a fall. A fall led to a wheelchair. She never walked again. Strong legs are your independence insurance policy. There is no good reason to skip them.

• 3. Build strong lungs and a strong heart.

  Running, tennis, basketball, swimming — push your cardiovascular system regularly. Your heart needs exercise just like any other muscle. Oxygen-rich blood reaching your muscles is not optional — it is essential.

• 4. Stay flexible.

  Strength without flexibility leads to injury. Stretch consistently. Explore yoga. Train your fast-twitch muscles so you can catch yourself before a fall becomes a catastrophe.

• 5. Prioritize sleep.

  The research on sleep and health is overwhelming. Poor sleep undermines every other effort you make. It is not a luxury — it is a biological requirement.

• 6. Clean up your diet.

  If you consistently put food into your body that causes internal inflammation, a prescription-free life is out of reach. Internal inflammation is like a bruise on the inside of your body — invisible but constantly damaging. No one would choose visible bruises all over their skin. Why accept invisible ones?

• 7. Lose the excess body fat.

  There is nothing good about excess body fat. People who are overweight increase their risk of insulin resistance by three to ten times. Insulin resistance drives internal inflammation which drives the need for medications. This is a chain reaction you can break — but only if you choose to.

• 8. Fast. Regularly.

  This is where the body heals itself. Twenty-four, thirty-six, and forty-eight hour fasts done monthly or bi-weekly give your immune system the space it desperately needs. When you eat constantly, especially foods that cause inflammation or send insulin flying through your arteries, the body never gets to do its repair work. Let it.

There is so much more you can do to strengthen your Physical Leg. But these eight principles, practiced consistently over decades, are the foundation. Not shortcuts. Not supplements that promise miracles. Consistency, discipline, and time. Join me.