Ben Greenfield’s Top 10 Unconventional Ways For An Improved Body In 2013

Written by: Ben Greenfield

The past decade has seen mind-blowing developments in performance and body enhancing tools, methods and strategies – things that go way beyond the Shake Weight and the ThighMaster.

So what can you expect in 2013? Here are a few of my hunches, and feel free to leave your own predictions below in the comments section:

#1. Alternative Medicine For Injuries – When it comes to healing an injury with lightning speed, or eliminating pain, you’re still going to find deep tissue massage, ice, and ultrasound at physical therapy clinics; but many alternative medical practitioners are going way above and beyond these methods, and integrating techniques such as cold low level laser, prolotherapy, vibration, IV antioxidant therapy, pulsed electromagnetic frequency, advanced muscle integration technique, and more. Most people don’t realize that you can access many of these techniques and items in your own home, or in clinics very close to where you live, but that’s going to change as knowledge of these methods expands and reaches the general public.

#2. Music & Sound – Anybody knows that “Eye Of The Tiger” has potential to give you goosebumps and get you amped up for moving (unless Pantera is your thing), but most are still unaware of how powerful music and sound really can be when it comes to healing the body, enhancing performance, helping you sleep better, and more. From binaural beats to alpha-brain wave soundtracks, your .mp3 player is capable of much more than you think. Just imagine being able to select a specific track when you need to think hard, a different track when you need to perform better, another track for sleep, and so on. That’s a reality that will catch on.

#3. Epigenetic Triggering – Services like 23andMe and Genographics are popping up all over the place, and genetic testing is now under a hundred bucks from the comfort of your own home. Once you know what you’re prone to, you can modify your life accordingly to decrease your risk and the risk of your offspring. The next step will be learning how to pull epigenetic triggers to actually enhance your body, and not just to reduce risk – and this field is moving extremely fast.

#4. Inflammatory Food Factors – In 2010, researchers at the University of Sao Paolo reported results of a small pilot study in which something called the “Inflammation Factor Rating” accurately predicted food inflammatory responses in human subjects.   A larger trial is now underway, and in the meantime, you can now find charts that list the inflammatory potential of just about any food. When combined with the biomarker testing I’ll describe in a moment, you can give yourself a huge advantage when it comes to healing your body faster while avoiding chronic inflammation.

#5. Nutritional Ketosis for Performance – Although it may seem like a horse that’s been kicked to death lately in the low carb community, we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of the ability of nutritional ketosis to enhance fat utilization and spare glycogen. Most people just don’t know how to test their blood ketones, keep ketones elevated without bonking, and implement proper dietary protocols – but even short periods of ketosis strategically spaced throughout the year may bestow some pretty big performance advantages. You’re guaranteed to see more athletes and serious exercisers learning how to do it in 2013.

#6. Jedi Mind Tricks – There is still a disconnect for many people when it comes to using the subconscious mind to get the most out of their bodies. Even though books like “Inner Game of Golf” and “Psychocybernetics” have been around for years, even simple self-hypnosis or visualization techniques are left by the wayside in favor of just “pushing harder”. But when you learn how to pull the right mental triggers, you can leave the competition in the dust, and also form good habits and break bad habits far easier.

#7. Temperature Regulation – In a culture of air conditioning and heaters, many people lose out on the advantages derived from the body’s hormetic stress response to temperature fluctuations. Cryotherapy and cold thermogenesis can have enormous application for inflammation control, fat loss and cardiovascular enhancement, and tools and techniques (along with smart limitations) for using these stressors are going to be big in 2013.

#8. Biomarker Testing – With the prick of a finger and a drop of saliva (and yes, even a smearing of poop), you can find out a ton about your body – from hormones to parasites to genes. Physicians and hospitals have long been able to use such biomarkers, but in 2013 you’ll see the continued development of affordable assays that allow testing in the comfort of your own home, and the ability to get lab panels your doc would never even have thought of ordering for you.

#9. The Gut-Brain Connection – You’ve no doubt heard Robb Wolf talk about the gut-brain connection, the HPA axis, and even fecal transplants – but it’s still the “Wild Wild West” when it comes to cleanses, good bacteria, bad bacteria, parasites and gut neurotransmitters. Learning how to clean your gut, restore balance, and optimize your digestive system has big performance and fat loss implications, and this may be the year when you find your your shit don’t need to stink as much as it might now.

#10. Chinese Herbal Medicine – Biohackers the world round are now trumpeting their use of smart drugs, but for thousands of years, Chinese medicine has contained knowledge of how to use safe nutritional herbs and mushrooms to connect meridians and enhance blood flow to the brain – without the potential harm and addictive potential of the stuff you see in the movie “Limitless”. Gentle and more natural ways to enhance mental performance will be another growing trend of 2013.

Want more?

Then keep reading, because this March 8 & 9, at an event called “Become Superhuman”, I’m gathering the best-of-the-best in the realms of performance, fat loss, recovery, digestion, brain, sleep and hormone optimization to teach you how to optimize your biology – and how to take advantage of all the unconventional methods I’ve just described, and much more.

If you show up at this event, you’re going to you’re going to come away completely set for life to achieve everything you want for your body, mind and performance, whether you want to maximize fat loss, break through a weight training barrier, fix your gut, achieve an Ironman triathlon, or push your body and mind to the absolute limits of human performance. Get in now with $50 discount code “PALEO” when you register at http://superhumancoach.com/become-superhuman-live-event/. I hope to see you there.

Squatchy

Christopher Williams (a.k.a. Squatchy) is a paleo aficionado, educator, personal trainer, wellness coach, and hobbyist chef. He also works as part of the Robb Wolf team.