Kevin Dahlstrom
@Camp4 • 94,968 subscribers
Marketing guy. Currently building ⚡️ https://t.co/FNe8v1zP3I Also climb rocks and raise girls. Join my free email list at https://t.co/PmsiQhN25w
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In the 3 years since I severely herniated a disc at L5/S1, I’ve tried everything under the sun to rehab and prevent reinjury. If I had to recommend just one exercise, it would be this one. It’s the single best exercise for strengthening the posterior chain and the intricate scaffold of muscles that support the spine. It’s a $100 piece of equipment (link in the comments below). Start with static holds and work your way up to 2 minutes. Then start moving as shown below and work your way up to 3 sets of 30. Then you can do more advanced things like added weight and one-leg static holds. A 3-minute deep squat each morning plus this exercise 2-3 times a week plus hanging knee lifts is a great basic back mobility program. If you want to go deeper, check out my full back program in the comments below.
Kevin Dahlstrom1,070,119 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
I think about this place often. My friend paid $150k for this flat in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, “the Switzerland of France”, then put ~$50k into renovation. —World class ⛷️ 🚴♀️ 🧗♂️ —Great weather year-round —50 steps from the local market —1 hr from a beach & airport in Nice
Kevin Dahlstrom3,901,972 görüntüleme • 1 yıl önce
There’s only one thing I’m jealous of. Yesterday, I picked up a friend at his house. It was chaos — toys scattered everywhere, two toddlers running wild, remodeling in progress. I told my friend’s wife: “I know life feels hard right now, but you’ll look back on today as the best of times.” If you have kids at home, you’re living the golden years right now. Savor every moment.
Kevin Dahlstrom796,411 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
A younger guy recently asked me a really smart question: “What’s one thing you’d tell your 30-year-old self to do differently for health & longevity?” This one is a no brainer: I’d invest 5+ hours a week into MOBILITY training. In fact, I’ll take it a step further… EVERYONE—young or older—should replace most of their traditional weight training with mobility work. Stop chasing numbers, adding bulk, and risking injury! Elite mobility guys are ripped, strong as hell, and have unmatched functional fitness. More importantly they stay injury-free. So what’s mobility training? It’s exercise designed to increase: 1) Range-of-motion of joints (not the same as “flexibility”) 2) Functional strength & neuromuscular coordination 3) Skeletal stability (to repair & avoid injury) Yoga and Pilates are forms of mobility training but modern mobility training combines multiple disciplines. Just do a YouTube search and you'll find tons of videos and programs designed to address specific goals or issues (e.g. bad knees). Mobility work allowed me to avoid surgery and recover quickly from a severe back in injury in March. The video below is a basic back program that I do twice a day — it only takes 10 minutes and has been a game-changer. This is just the tip of the iceberg — I plan to go much deeper into mobility and hire a coach (if anyone knows a great one in Boulder LMK). I’m convinced that if I’d discovered mobility training when I was younger I would have avoided 20 years of chronic back issues and performed better athletically. 🤙
Kevin Dahlstrom1,356,373 görüntüleme • 2 yıl önce
“I’m never late. I’m never frenzied. If you’re frenzied, it’s YOU.” In my 30 years in business I've worked directly with hundreds of entrepreneurs & C-level execs, several self-made billionaires, and even a few icons. What I observed—which may seem counterintuitive to some—is: 👉The most effective people aren't "busy". They have plenty of time for all the important things. They don't rush from one thing to the next. It's not because they have less complicated lives than the rest of us. It's exactly the opposite—*because* they have massive demands on their time, they’re RUTHLESS about these 5 things (they're all simple, but not easy): 1) Focus on a few important things 2) Say no to unimportant things 3) Set boundaries (and don’t compromise them) 4) Measure output, not input (results, not effort) 5) Recognize the importance of free time Just listen to Jeff Bezos in his prime (pun intended): "I get up early, I go to bed early, and I like to putter in the morning. My puttering time is very important to me—that's why I set my first meeting for 10am." If you feel busy and frantic, the problem and the solution are found in the same place—the mirror. 🫵 (h/t Amanda Orson for the inspo — she’s a good follow!)
Kevin Dahlstrom921,490 görüntüleme • 2 yıl önce
Last summer, during a climbing trip in France, I reinjured my back (not while climbing). 12/10 pain and I had to be wheeled through the airport. The flight home was an experience I never want to relive. I resolved to go all-in on rehab. If you’d have told me that 9 months later I’d be able to do this, I’d have called you crazy. After all, I’m a tall, old guy—I’ve never even been able to touch my toes. Jefferson Curls are perhaps the single best exercise for strengthening the intricate scaffold of muscles that support the spine. It also increases range of motion throughout the posterior chain. These days almost everyone has weak hamstrings, glutes, and back from sitting too much. If you have chronic back, hip, or knee problems the solution probably isn’t surgery or chiropractic or meds, it’s movement with resistance. There are no shortcuts—just consistent hard work. Invest in spine health *before* it becomes a problem—your 50-year-old self will thank you.
Kevin Dahlstrom486,233 görüntüleme • 1 yıl önce
Today is 5/13. For rock climbers, 5.13 is a special number. It’s where elite-level climbing begins. This is me sending my first 5.13 — at the age of 50. Bragging rights aside, 5.13 is also a uniquely good benchmark for all-around fitness. Here’s the thing: You can be a good runner or cyclist and still be unfit. In fact, imbalance is rewarded. Ryan Hall said he was the least healthy he’d ever been when he became the first American to break one hour in the half marathon. Likewise, you can lift big numbers and look ripped but still be unfit. But if you can climb 5.13, you are by definition fit because it demands: —Strength —Endurance —Power —Coordination —Mobility —Balance It’s the reason highly varied, functional sports like climbing, surfing, and jiu-jitsu are the best way to get fit. You can try to train all that stuff in a gym… or you can pursue mastery in a sport. The latter is way more fun. Happy 5/13 to those who celebrate.
Kevin Dahlstrom25,470 görüntüleme • 22 gün önce
Two years ago, I severely herniated a disc in my lower back (L5-S1). —12/10 pain —couldn’t walk for weeks —lost foot control —narrowly avoided emergency surgery After a decade of back pain, I’d had enough. I resolved to become bulletproof. I tried everything under the sun and over time, cobbled together a back mobility routine that helped me rebuild and become more resilient. My full routine is in the comments below, but there’s a shortcut—if you do these two simple exercises 3 times a week, you’ll get 80% of the benefit: 1) Back extension. Buy a $100 piece of equipment from Amazon. Start with static holds, work up to 2 minutes, then start moving as shown. Work up to 3 sets of 30. Then you can add weight and/or start doing one-leg static holds. 2) Hanging knee lifts. Start by dead-hanging (without lifting your knees) then slowly work your way up to 3 sets of 15 lifts. Then you can add weight using a product called Monkey Feet. Stick with it—there are no quick fixes for back problems and it can take a few months to turn the corner. Note: It’s important to warm up before doing these exercises. I usually do a 1-3 mile walk, then planks and bird dogs as shown in my complete routine in the comments below.
Kevin Dahlstrom138,716 görüntüleme • 6 ay önce
Conquistadors of the Useless In 1999, I stumbled into a dusty grain silo that had been converted to a climbing gym. Little did I know, my life would never be the same. What I found was a community of people who were… happy. Most weren’t wealthy, but they lived rich lives and never lacked purpose. Meanwhile, my colleagues in the C-suite were… mostly miserable—rich but unhealthy, both physically and spiritually. Legendary French alpinist Lionel Terray referred to climbers as “Conquistadors of the Useless.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek way of acknowledging a paradox: Climbing is a pointless pursuit, with little practical or economic value. And yet… For me and many others, it’s as profound as it is pointless—essential to the human spirit. Which has more value: climbing a mountain or building a spreadsheet (or a business)? It’s a trick question. The truth is, we’re all Conquistadors of the Useless. Mankind’s entire existence is a blink of the eye on a speck of dust hurtling through infinite space. Nothing matters. Everything matters. You decide what is pointless and what is profound—what fills your spirit. That’s all there is to conquer. POSTLOGUE: Earlier this week, I gave my talk, How to Build a Kick Ass Life, to a prominent entrepreneur’s organization. Afterward, a guy game up to me and said, “When I heard you were going to speak to us, I did your Ideal End State exercise. It was life-changing. I just wanted to let you know that what you’re doing matters.” Spirit filled. Maybe rock climbing isn’t so pointless after all. (A video of my talk is in the comments below.)
Kevin Dahlstrom110,275 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
Boulder is ground zero for the obscure sport of scrambling, a mashup of free solo rock climbing and trail running. And within that niche there’s an exclusive semi-secret club that counts some of the world’s top mountain athletes as members. To even be considered, you have to log a car-to-car time on the First Flatiron—a 1,000 foot rock climb with a steep approach—of under an hour. My PR is 47 minutes, which is on the slow end. The very best do it in 30. I’m not elite among these elites, but I do have one distinction: I’m the largest member (by a wide margin). Physics is a bitch.
Kevin Dahlstrom95,547 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
The $100 piece of equipment that can save your back. These days almost everyone’s posterior chain is weak, and it leads to all sorts of problems in the spine and hips. The back extension is the single best exercise I’ve found for recovering from back injury and avoiding problems in the future. Start with static holds and after you work up to two minutes, begin moving as shown here. Work your way up to three sets of 30. Then you can experiment with one leg holds and weighted movement. A link to the back extension device I bought is in the comments below.
Kevin Dahlstrom73,435 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
In high school, I was an average athlete. In college, above average. In my 20s, top 25%. In my 30s, top 10%. In my 40s, top 1%. Now at 54, top 0.1%. I'm nothing special—I just never stopped. Everything is a war of attrition. Most won't last. That's your opportunity.
Kevin Dahlstrom111,847 görüntüleme • 6 ay önce
The climber in this epic video is Amity Warme. You’ll never meet someone who is more dedicated to their craft—or more accomplished in it. The scrap of paper pictured below is pinned up in the van she calls home: “Do my choices support my goals?” Folks, it really is that simple. You can read self-help books, listen to podcasts, hire coaches, and attend masterminds… or you can just: 1. Clearly define the life you want. 2. Do things that move you closer to that life. 3. Don’t do things that move you further from it. You don’t need to be perfectly disciplined, you just need to do take more steps forward than back. It seems so simple and obvious, and yet most people… —Aren’t clear about what they really want —Pretend they don’t know what they need to do —Sabotage their life every day with their actions —Blame external forces for their lack of progress Life begins the day you accept the inconvenient truth that you’re in the driver’s seat. You steer your life through the dozens of small choices you make every day. “Do my choices support my goals?” Pin it to your bathroom mirror and try this for 90 days: Define one specific goal *in writing*. Deliberately do things that move you toward it. Don’t do things that move you further from it. That’s your self-help book in one post.
Kevin Dahlstrom66,184 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Sooner or later, everyone is humbled by failure. The only question is: How will you respond when it’s your turn? ⭕️ Episode 1 of The Inner Circle is LIVE. Join Mike Brown and me for an unfiltered 20-minute conversation about our personal failures—and the lessons they taught us. Watch here or listen on your favorite podcast platform (links in the comments below). 🙏 One ask: This is a brand-new project. Would you help spread the word by reposting?
Kevin Dahlstrom69,218 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
Your age isn't how you look. Or a blood test. Or your grip strength. It's how well you move. Young is as young does. The killer of youth is loss of mobility. Maintaining mobility and functional strength should be everyone's top priority. Here's how: 1) Move a lot: Fitness isn't hitting the gym a few times a week—it's a lifestyle. Walk 20+ miles/week, do lots of mobility exercise, and find a functional activity (a sport) that you love and pursue it for life. Lift once a week, using mostly body weight exercises. 2) Be multi-dimensional: There's more to fitness than strength and "cardio". Too many people ignore other critical dimensions—especially mind-body aspects like balance and coordination. 3) Get outside: Do most of your exercise outside, in nature and direct sunlight.
Kevin Dahlstrom35,847 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
When I punched out of the corporate world in 2018 at the peak of my career, my friends thought I was crazy. But my rationale was very simple and logical: I was 47 and didn’t want to spend the next 10 years behind a desk. Since then I’ve literally spent 1000 days outside instead of in an office. Who’s the crazy one? Ultimately, the single most important question in life is: How do you want to spend your time? Having control of your time is a privilege that is earned, but one thing’s for sure… You’ll never get there if you don’t: DEFINE the end state you’re building toward—most people haven’t. ALIGN your actions with it. Most people do things that take them further from their ideal end state, not closer—now THAT’S crazy! 🤪
Kevin Dahlstrom40,357 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
P.S. To further stir the pot: While benching a big number is impressive… Strength is not fitness. Strong enough is strong enough—beyond that it’s better to focus on staying lean and mobile. If you want a good laugh, take a meathead to a climbing gym, where you need bodyweight/grip strength, endurance, power, balance, coordination, and spatial awareness.
Kevin Dahlstrom37,002 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce