In the fifth episode of Biohacker’s Podcast, Biohacker Teemu Arina and MD Olli Sovijärvi interview Ben Greenfield. He is an ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, Spartan racer, coach, speaker and author of the New York Times Bestseller “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life”. In 2008, Ben was voted as NSCA’s Personal Trainer of the year and in 2013 and 2014 was named by Greatist as one of the top 100 Most Influential People In Health And Fitness. Ben blogs and podcasts at http://www.BenGreenfieldFitness.com, and resides in Spokane, WA with his wife and twin boys.
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Check out some of the highlights of Ben’s podcast below but make sure to watch the whole thing to learn some amazing biohacking techniques to implement in your life right away including Bens favorite supplements, meditation techniques and foods.
“For me two ways how I got into biohacking initially would be ironman triathlon and body building. Now I don’t care that much about getting jacked or even about doing ironman – I’m kind of past that phase in my life. Now more of my interests lie in happiness, longevity, anti-ageing and some of those things that you start to think about when you get to the age being past 30 like I am now.”
“When it comes to longevity – it’s about always challenging your mind, challenging your body, challenging not only your muscles at different angles but also your neurons at different angles. I’m a huge fan of not just doing exercise but everything from guitar to poetry, music, reading, languages – always throw curve balls at your body.”
“Ultimately meaning of life is to serve others, to love others, to help as many people as possible, and to give people meaning in life. The purpose of life is not to go out and achieve happiness for yourself, the meaning of life is about leaving this world a better place than you found it, serving and loving as many people as possible while you are here.”
Key books from Bed Greenfield that have inspired him:
- “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” by Charlie Munger for finances
- “Seeking Wisdom” by Charlie Munger about human fallacies, irrational psychology
- Bible for basic spiritual wisdom and knowledge
- “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S Lewis and “The Lord of The Rings” series by J. R. R. Tolkien
- “Wool” by Hugh Howey, fiction series
- “Starting Strength” by Mark Rippetoe for appreciating the value of lifting heavy things and doing so on biomechanically sound way
- “Deep Nutrition” by Cate Shanahan for really good science based treaties of eating a diet that’s really low in inflammation
- “Antifragile” by Nassim Taleb
According to Ben, there’s three things in life that are important for happiness and meaning:
- Do something that you are passionate about. Be ok with that passion changing, be ok with life being a series of moving targets but so long as you really enjoy what you are studying, what it is you are pursuing in business.
- Never underestimate love and relationship. One basic principle live life by is know that the sun goes down on your anger, meaning when you go to bed at night all the relationships and all the people in your life should be ok. You should have good relationships and you shouldn’t go to bed bitter or angry about something or not having talked honestly about someone.
- Finally, we are all living a part of a greater story. When you look at life that way, not only does it let you make better decisions because you see yourself living out of story rather than making unmindful decisions on the spot; you also have a little less apathy, a little less propensity towards depression or feeling of hopelessness because you know that no matter what happens there is a certain amount of fate and predetermined purpose in life. You are not just a piece of flash floating through the planet who is going to die and be gone some day. We’re all living a part of a greater story that has been designed by this higher power and our job is to simply do the best that we can to serve and love other while we are doing that.
“Live your passion, have loving relationships and know that you are a part of a greater story.” – Ben Greenfield
Ben Greenfield will be speaking at Biohacker Summit on 24 September 2015.
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