What Makes Ben Greenfield Tick

I’m often asked…

…why…

…instead of podcasting, interviewing and speaking about one specific topic, I have such a huge variety of guests on my show, from vegans to Paleo-ists, from biohackers to mushroom harvesters, from minimalist exercisers to ultraendurance masochists…

…why…

…instead of recommending one single mighty exercise program, I write about and feature everything from super-slow training to powerlifting to obstacle racing to body weight workouts to yoga and beyond….

…why…

…instead of recommending one single supplement or brand, I instead experiment with and talk about a huge variety of superfoods, herbs, oils, tinctures, patches, supplements, supplement stacks and supplement companies…

…and why…

…instead of using and recommending one single quantification or biohacking device, I talk about and use everything from heart rate variability to intranasal light devices to in-ear phototherapy to wearable infrared and beyond.

As a matter of fact, because I’m constantly immersed in, studying and experimenting with the most intriguing, the most enchanting and the most useful things to better your body and brain, I’ve been accused of being a guy with a confusing and ever-shifting message, a flake, shallow, a charlatan, a hypocrite, and a sleazy internet marketer who promotes every newest workout, diet or supplement on the face of the planet!

——————-

So please allow me to set the record straight here with three quick facts for you.

Fact #1: Since I was 15 years old, and for nearly two decades, I’ve spent time immersed in everything from tennis to bodybuilding to water polo to basketball to volleyball to obstacle racing to Ironman to hunting to freediving to fiction writing to guitar to violin to being single to being married to being a father…you get the idea. And during that time, I’ve committed to 7 day body part split workouts, isometric training, electrostimulation, neurofeedback, water aerobics, strength-only, endurance-only, spinning, Zumba, infrared sauna, transcranial direct current stimulation, kickboxing and beyond.

Take-away message: it’s OK to have different body and brain training approaches for different skills and desired outcomes. My goal is to simply spend time in the trenches so I can educate and equip YOU with as much helpful information as possible so that you are able to choose the correct movement approach, workout, exercise or “hack” for your specific goals. That’s not going to be the same for everyone, and I certainly don’t recommend you do it all at once (looking at you, yoga guy holding the kettlebell underwater with an electrostimulation cap).

Fact #2: Posted on my office wall is a sign that says: “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Take-away message: even though it’s just fine to do so, you don’t *have* to do the same thing your whole life (e.g. Ironman triathlons or bodybuilding or yoga). You can branch out and live life to the fullest, and for you, this may mean experimenting with many different pleasures and pursuits planet Earth has to offer. And sometimes people will find it confusing when your passions change like new chapters in a book. That has certainly seemed to happen to me (e.g. Q. “But Ben, you said last year that you found Tai Chi was the best way to reduce stress and now you say it’s freediving…you’re such a flake!” A. “That’s because my opinion changed based on personal experience”). Hopefully that does you more good than harm.

Fact #3: Every week, I look at dozens of blood and biomarker results from clients all over the globe, and spend countless hours doing phone and Skype consults, coaching everyone from athletes to CEO’s to soccer moms, and doing online exercise and nutrition programming. While working with so many different individual body types, metabolisms and personalities, I have developed different biohacks, different diets and different supplement stacks for different people and have found that those needs often drastically change depending on what you happen to be doing in life at the time (e.g. long breath-holds vs. fat loss vs. ketosis vs. pulling an all-nighter studying vs. libido vs. hunting in the wilderness, etc.).

Take-away message: when I recommend or talk about a specific fat loss supplement, or meal replacement powder, or a probiotic, or infrared device, o