24 Hour Poker Player

Question:

I have a client who will be playing in the World Series of Poker this coming summer in Las Vegas. How do I train someone to be able to stay awake and alert for 24 hour playing periods? What other recommended exercises should we work on in general to get him ready to win the series. Any nutritional advice would be helpful also.

FYI: He is a big hefty man, diabetic, works out five times a week and works long hours during the week. He is a periodontist, so he is hunched over patients for long periods and has long oral surgeries scheduled. He is in reasonable shape but still needs work.

Answer:

This is a very interesting question that could be discussed for hours, but since we don’t have that luxury, I'm going to give you a short and interesting response. First things first, you can’t be in “reasonable shape” and be a hunched over, overworked diabetic with an addictive personality. By the sound of it, he needs to truly begin to understand and learn about himself before growth can happen. Being diabetic and not watching your lifestyle is like playing Russian roulette. It is your job to coach him towards a life of increased health and vitality.

When our machinery is working properly, daily life begins to move and flow with ease. When our machinery is out of sync, injury, disease and stress levels increase. Your physical being is a manifestation of your mental, emotional and spiritual well being. If you are negative, eat poorly, have no sense of self and bury your emotions, your body will suffer the consequences. 

There are many different ways to approach the situation. I don’t know of nor will I recommend any exercises to get your client to stay up for 24 hours. However, I can recommend some basic nutrition and lifestyle principles that will allow for increased performance on or off the job.

Principle #1: Think Right

You did not mention how his mental/emotional state is, but I sense that his vitality is low. You need to read and educate him on the mind and his emotional state. Teach him that everything we do in life is preceded with a thought. So, if we think right, than we will attract the like.  It is somewhat like posture, the position from which movement begins and ends. If you begin with good posture, then everything in between will be efficient, and you will end with good posture. Good thought (positive energy) sustains/nourishes life and creates efficiency, while poor/stressed (negative energy) thought eat at the body.

Principle #2: Eat Right

When it comes down to eating, most diabetic and overweight individuals do not eat a well-balanced diet. In this principle, you need to educate him about eliminating the American C.R.A.P (Caffeine, Refined/processed foods, Alcohol, Pasteurized/homogenized milk) diet. He will be replacing it with whole/organic foods that are right for his metabolic type. (For more on this, visit www.mercola.com). With clients who have difficulty concentrating, loosing weight and staying energized all day, metabolic typing works wonders. When you are putting the right foods as well as the right ratios of foods into your human engine, the energy from the food will be utilized as energy and not stored as fat. So what you have is an efficient and finely tuned body. The problem today is that most people eat out of habit and only eat foods that make them feel good while they are eating them. You need to educate him on how he needs to fuel his body not only for that moment but to endure work and long tournaments.

Principle #3: Drink Right

How much water does he drink? Most likely, not close to enough. We could sit here and talk about water all day, but the main thing to get from this is that we are made up of mostly water. We need to replenish what we use on a daily basis. The body requires water as well for a lot of hormonal and physiological processes. Without it, the body ends up having to squeeze excess water out of your bodily waste. The end result of that is constipation, which is another article in itself. My recommendation would for him to drink half his body weight in ounces of water per day, with a pinch of Celtic/Celtra sea salt in each bottle. Organic Celtic/Celtra sea salt is a natural antihistamine; it assists with hypertension, is a catalyst in kidney function and endocrine (sexual organ) function, boosts cellular energy and so on.

Principle #4: Sleep Right

At this point, sleep is something he should work on. He should be getting to bed no later than 10pm and up no earlier than 6am. The reason for this is, we release certain hormones for physical repair between 10pm and 2am and release specific hormones for psychological repair between 2am and 6am. If you do not replenish your energy bank account, than the physical and mental capacity.

Principle #5: Move Right

Last, but not least, is exercise. Now, at this point, is heavy duty cardio and high density training the thing you should be prescribing? No. I would focus more on corrective exercise at a low intensity. Focus on stability exercises to assist in correcting his posture and educate him on how to move (primal movement patterns) as well as assess his work ergonomics.

Summary

All this might be overwhelming at this point for you, so how can you possible teach your client to do this (read Chapter 1 of "How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy" by Paul Chek)? It can be quite challenging, but a challenge usually leads to growth. I would start by educating him about the stressors (EMF, nutritional, physical, mental, emotional, chemical and environmental) in his life. These stressors cause our bodies to break down, cause disease and create a mind that is always two steps behind. By following the principles above, you have the basic recipe for success. Not only will he lose weight and improve his posture, he will have sustained energy, mental clarity, stabilized blood sugar levels and be able to have increased performance whether it is at work or play.

Now, if this is something he will be doing regularly, than I would educate him as much as you can and then let him go. There is no chance in this universe that doing that to your body all the time is healthy. Everything you try to do with him will be compromised secondary to him always taking money out of his energy bank account and never depositing any energy back in. (Note from the Editor: Stay tuned to an upcoming article series about how to make energetic “deposits” and to cultivate what the Chinese refer to as “chi.”) However, if you explain everything I have mentioned above on a level that he can understand and apply, then he will be one of your greatest success stories.

Health is not merely of the body. It is the natural expression of the body, mind and soul when they are in rhythm with the One Life. True Health is the harmony of life within us, consisting of peace of mind, happiness and well being. It is not merely a question of physical fitness but is rather a result of the soul finding free expression through the mind and body of that individual. Such a person radiates peace and happiness, and everyone in his presence automatically feels happy and contented.
- Dr. Stone