Mount Shasta, CA, June 23, 2026: In addition to my morning wake-up routine–about 10 minutes of taichi, stretching, and tension exercise–and my X3-Bands resistance-training at home with the heavy-duty stretchy bands and the occasional kettlebell, and my sometime stride up the 4-block hill behind my house, I’ve added 1-2 weekly sessions of workouts with some folks from the gym.

Overall, my plan to restore health and strength is working. I’m down almost 90 pounds, back at my post-college weight around 155#, bloods and blood-pressure and everything my doctor can measure is better than before. Energy up, mood superb, sleep better, and I had to give away most of my clothes and get smaller ones.

Cool beans.

Now if you do not believe me, here is evidence. Observe the desperado second from the left …

This is a little advert for a free 6am Sunday morning exercise, and we normally meet at what used to be a gas station downtown. It’s a CVS pharmacy now, but the main thing is that they aren’t open at 6am on Sunday. 🙂

In addition, I normally do one session in the gym, similar kinds of exercise. The guy that runs this, Scott Rodriguez (third from the right) has a degree in kinesiology and knows functional movement, so it’s different each time. That means it hits on places that my regular exercise doesn’t catch. I can’t keep up with most of the others, but I don’t need to.

I simply follow two rules:  1) keep moving, and 2) lean into the difficulty.

My target is to have my muscles shaking by the end, or maybe even going weak a bit, but not cramping. All I gotta do is push it to that point and I’ll grow stronger. My secret plan, of course, is to see if I can last longer.

Will the Last be First?

Those who knew me back in the day will either be surprised or appalled that I’ve already outlasted most of my peers, many or most of which were in better shape, didn’t smoke, were much smarter about things that matter. But life, and our culture and poisoned foods take their toll, so most of them are gone now.

Leaving me. Who would have thought?

The Moment that Things Changed

I was around 35, living and working in my business in San Francisco. My wife and I had a small apartment near Carl and Cole, on Grattan street. I then received a small publication called Brain-Mind Bulletin, which reported on left-brain/right-brain types of things, and there was a brief blurb for a book by Dirk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, called “Life Extension.”

And I thought … “Now who WOULDN”T want to get that book?”

Living Longer. What a Concept!

The idea that we could purposely extend our lives. What? I’d never imagined that idea before.

I read about a bunch of exotic vitamins and how growth hormone works. Now, as it happens, ten years earlier, living in a house of creative folks in Los Angeles, a minor starlet named Carolyn Judd lived there, and she told me about vitamins, back when NOBODY took vitamins. There were only two health-food stores in all of Los Angeles. She helped me get started.

These vitamins seemed like a good idea, so since that day, back when I was 26, I’ve been taking my vitamins every day.

And after reading the Life-Extension book ten years later, I continued taking my vitamins and even added a few. Some for longer life, some to make learning how to play music go faster, things like that.

At 40 I finally Quit Smoking

After over 200 failed attempts to quit smoking, finally one worked, and I successfully stopped smoking and never returned.

So these are the only three things I’ve done for my health in all my past decades:

1. I started taking vitamins at age 26.
2. I read a book about Life Extension at age 36, and thought that would be a good idea.
3. I stopped smoking, finally.

But after a While, Health Started to Slide

In the years following, now and then I tried different kinds of exercise, tried to eat healthy, but it was haphazard, and no particular plan lasted for long. I tired of going to a gym, I tired of weights in the garage. I tired of healthy food and returned to pizza, and bread, and fast-food hamburgers.

And my weight climbed up.

Up, up, up.

Year after year.

And by my mid 70’s I was 238 pounds, round and flushed, out of shape, and–one day–I’d finally had enough.

And Then I Stumbled Across a Particular Sequence that Changed Things

I can’t claim any particular discipline, wisdom, or toughness. It’s just that one thing I tried worked, and it made the next thing I tried easy, and that led to the next, and so on.

(For specifics, if you want them, see this article in my online “How to Do Things” publication: It’s called “How to Restore Your Ideal Weight,” and you can click on the title to open it in a new tab.)

And first thing you know, I got unaddicted to carbs. And then I stopped eating all day from dawn to into the night. And then my weight started coming down and energy resumed, and many annoying symptoms faded. And then I searched for the lowest-common-denominator exercise I could do quickly at home for the best results, figured that out, got the X3 Bands system, and became fairly regular at using it, because it’s not all that hard, takes only 15 minutes, improves testosterone, and increases strength, which is the best indicator for longevity.

Now I’ve added a bit more.

Because I say, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth OVERdoing.”

Just kidding. It doesn’t actually take me much time, and it actually feels good. This is all due to the special sequence for putting it into a place, just one step after another, each step making the next one surprisingly easy.

And I’m delighted with the results.

🙂

PS: Along the way, my research showed how the food supply of my youth has been increasingly poisoned by corporate interests who have changed the food chain from farm-to-table as it was in my childhood … to a more profitable (for them) chain of food-and-chemical ingredients to factory to distribution to restaurants and grocery stores of “convenience” products, the vast majority of which are now intentionally designed to addict us and keep us coming back. Unfortunately, the stuff added that does that also fattens and sickens us and causes the current pandemics of obesity, diabetes, immune disorders, Alzheimer’s and other health and mental breakdowns.

Just a reminder. Average 25-year-olds in 1940 …

(For details on this study of 15,000 subjects in 1940, see: “The Tyranny of the Taste-Bud Trap.”)

And average 25-year-olds today …

(The two studies are not exactly parallel, but it’s the closest I could find. I’m surprised that the *average* 25-year old is so overweight, but that’s what the recent study revealed, and this image is created to show today’s weights.)

We aren’t weak of will. We’ve been poisoned. Tricked and poisoned. And as we undo this silly situation, and give the body what it needs, the natural healing in your body restores your health, and lengthens your life.

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, I’m placing the science and experiments and things that actually work on my online publication, which is called “How to Live Long, Prosper, and Find Peace.” There is never a cost. Nobody pays anything. Just visit, find one or more written-up systems, try them. They’ll work. Enjoy the gift. 🙂

You’ll find it here —

“How to Live Long, Prosper, and Find Peace.”

(Click on the title to open in a new tab. Check recent articles or Table of Contents. You’ll find something useful.)