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LE Magazine August 2002
Real Life Role Model
John Abdo's three-pronged approach to life enhancement, and
more
John Abdo’s metamorphosis into Olympic trainer, life
motivator and radio and television personality, could be
traced back to 1982, the year that a cracked vertebra in his
lower back finally caught up with him, leaving him 50 pounds
overweight, chronically fatigued and depressed. In addition,
he had been forced to sell off most of his possessions,
including his car and home, to make payments toward his
$100,000 debts. He worked hard then to heal himself,
strengthening his muscles and energizing his central nervous
system through a variety of specialized activities, most of
which he invented himself.
John studied and consulted with many others who faced
similar challenges and he sought help from spiritual mentors.
His faith ultimately led him toward a vision of a work-out
machine that would not only help him, but would also benefit
millions of people with lower back problems. The result was
the AB-Doer, designed to ensure a complete midsection workout
which, in turn, provides the greatest support possible for the
spinal column when exercising. Today, more than 2.5 million
homes include the AB-Doer, which became commercially available
in 1999.
Combining a healthy mental and physical lifestyle and
attitude with his own unique eating plan, John dropped the
excess weight and dramatically improved his energy and
outlook. The change was so powerful that he began dedicating
himself to sharing his experiences with others in need of
physical and emotional change.
“My lessons have taught me what to do and what not to
do, and now I can share that with others to help them achieve
their own goals,” he said recently from his office at JA
Fitness, the company he founded in Marina Del Rey, California.
“And the good news is that change is easier than you
think. The only real struggle is with what’s between our
ears—our own negative attitudes.”
To ensure that John is giving people the best advice
possible, he often relies on Life Extension Foundation for
leading-edge thinking and reliable research. “Life
Extension Foundation has been my top advisory council,”
he says. “Every time I write a book or an article, you
can bet there is something in there that I got from Life
Extension. It’s a phenomenal source of
information.”
But what he most admires about The Foundation is that those
who run the company “walk the talk.” As a frequent
attendee at health seminars and trade shows, John sees many
people who preach health and longevity, but only as long as it
fits into their business plan. “I see these people who
are supposed to believe in health, but actually sit around
drinking beer and smoking cigarettes,” he says. “For
them, promoting health is just a way to make money.” Life
Extension’s personnel, on the other hand, practice what
they preach. For this reason John has looked to Life Extension
over the years, on his road to success.
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| John Abdo understands how to design
a balanced and healthy eating plan. |
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Health starts on the inside, as John well knows. Through
Life Extension, John has had several comprehensive blood
work-ups done as a way to gauge what’s going on
internally. He sees this kind of exam, which points out
deficiencies, as a better gauge of wellness than other tests
that look at body measurements, blood pressure or a run on the
treadmill to test the heart. Besides, John’s results are
usually extraordinary. The last test showed that his
biochemical make-up is the same as that of a teenager,
findings that confirmed to him that he’s on the right
track with his health plan.
Having confidence is a large part of John’s approach
to health—and life. Overcoming negative thoughts is the
core theme in his lectures, consulting work, exercise tapes,
television appearances and radio commentary. “We can do
all the exercise in the world, but if we have bad thought
patterns and aren’t optimistic, even our healthy looking
bodies won’t be healthy,” he says.
The psychological component to health is often
under-appreciated as people force themselves to do what they
think is right for their bodies, without truly enjoying the
journey. “Every thought has a physiological effect on the
body,” he explains. “So if you exercise when you
don’t really want to, you’re actually sending
negative signals to the trillions of cells in the body.”
In John’s three-pronged approach to life enhancement, the
mind is the headquarters, calling the shots for the other two
key pillars—the neurological and the physiological
systems.
By neurological, John means training the central nervous
system, as he did during his back injury, to keep energy
flowing throughout the body to stimulate strong and healthy
tissues. He likens neurology to the body’s electrical
system, responsible for channeling energy to every cell. Yoga,
light aerobics and stretching exercises all support healthy
central nervous functions by removing barriers to the
circulation of nerve energy.
The physiological, or muscle system, is perhaps the most
widely accepted element to overall fitness. John advocates
variety in his exercise regime. He looks for a combination of
aerobic work for cardiovascular health, and the elimination of
toxins and muscle toning for muscular strength and to ignite a
fat burning metabolism. His new tape series, “Vital
Living from the Inside-Out!” includes a seven-minute
“no excuses” workout routine that addresses both
aerobic and anaerobic needs in a way that accommodates any
schedule and fitness level.
An approach to health that includes equal parts neurology,
physiology and psychology works like this: “Think of the
body as a lamp,” John explains. “The light bulb
represents your muscle and the nervous system acts as the wire
that connects the bulb to the electrical outlet. But what you
still need is the light switch—and that’s your brain
or your attitude—to turn the whole thing on. You have to
have all three elements to work in harmony.”
John is a good role model for how this should work. At 47,
5’9” and 170 pounds, John’s body fat is just 6%
of his overall weight. (Normal body fat for a man John’s
age is 19%.) Despite his impressive physique he follows the
advice that he gives people on his worldwide fitness lecture
tours—“Don’t push yourself so hard that you
grind your teeth during a workout.” In other words,
don’t overdo it. “Fitness and diet can become
obsessive,” he says. “You don’t want to be
excessive in either one. You don’t have to weight train
everyday or run everyday.”
And you certainly don’t have to diet. “To me,
diets don’t work,” he says. “They fail, not
because they don’t include healthy food, but because they
are based on a ‘have-to’ rather than a
‘want-to’ attitude, and they are too restrictive.
People need to have variety—and they can—while still
realizing remarkable results.”
Incorporating that “want-to” attitude means
striving for balanced sensible nutrition without the sense of
restriction and looming failure that typically accompanies the
latest diet fad. To create a sense of enjoyment, John strives
for food configurations that emphasize variety, taste and
appearance. He typically divides his dinner plate into thirds.
One third is devoted to protein, such as eggs, fish, chicken
or lean red meat. The second third is for fibrous
carbohydrates like asparagus, lettuce and broccoli. And the
final third is allocated to potatoes, rice, beans and other
members of the starchy carbohydrate family. Those three
elements ensure that the body’s basic cellular needs are
met. “Don’t worry about counting calories or grams
or weighing foods,” he advises. “Just eat equal
portions of these three food categories and you’ll be
amazed at the results.”
As for simple carbohydrates, such as fruits, flavored
yogurt and sherbet, John recommends that people with excess
weight issues or insulin problems avoid them or consume them
only in the first four to six hours of the day. Simple carbs,
when eaten alone, will “kick your pancreas into
over-drive.” Fruit can make you fat, unless you are
exercising properly. To avoid rapid rises in insulin you
should consume simple carbs in combination with other food
sources to slow the entry of glucose into the bloodstream.
There is an exception though. Since exercise typically
depletes blood sugar levels and muscle glycogen, you can eat
fruits right before and immediately after a resistance workout
because glucose will then be diverted right into the muscles
and liver, rather than be converted to stored fat.
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John is also a proponent of supplements, dedicating an
entire kitchen cabinet to his collection. He recommends a few
staples including an antioxidant to ensure protection from
free radical damage and many hormonal precursors to maintain a
healthy endocrine system. He likes to have something on hand
to burn fat also and favors L-carnitine, which keeps fat
active in the bloodstream (rather than earmarking it for
storage) until it can be burned off during exercise.
L-carnitine does for fat what chromium and alpha lipoic acid
do for sugar. “These substances move energy through our
system in much the same way that a car’s fuel pump
shuttles gasoline from the tank into the engine,” he
explains. The one caveat though—you have to be sure and
operate the engine. “None of this works if you’re
going to sit in front of the TV,” he says. “But a
few minutes of exercise three or four times a week will do the
trick and add years and quality to your life in the
process.”
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Logging too much time in front of the tube doesn’t
happen to be an issue for John. When he does have a free
moment away from his fitness empire, he likes to escape to the
California mountains to rock climb and enjoy nature. But his
favorite pastime is listening to the stories of people around
the world who have taken his advice and changed their lives.
One woman, for instance, recently told him that she lost 50
pounds on his program and is now getting along better with her
husband and can finally play with her kids, rather than having
to watch the fun from the couch. “That’s my real
reward,” he says. “To know that I’ve been able
to inspire someone to become healthier, happier and more
successful is such a joy!”
—Twig
Mowatt
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