Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself

by Rich Roll

Our environment is more than the company we keep. It’s our physical surroundings. It’s the characteristics and quality of our habitats. And it’s what we allow into our personal space.

In a nutshell, upgrade your surroundings. Because what you expose yourself to matters more than you are consciously aware.

fight the urge to have it all figured out. Stop unnecessarily overcomplicating things. Understand that this is fear. It’s a natural reaction to placing yourself outside your comfort zone. But it’s not your friend.

mood follows action. Taking action, even if it’s just sitting up in bed, drives changes in your emotional state—not the other way around.

how you feel about doing something need not impede the deed.

You simply cannot think your way into acting differently. You cannot feel your way into behavior change. These strategies will fail you every time. Instead, mute the idle chatter of the mind that keeps you stuck. Decline the impulse to indulge your low-grade emotional state. And just take action. Because what matters is what you do, not necessarily how you feel about the doing.

Take the next best action, and then move on. It’s fine. Because the goal isn’t perfection, it’s consistent forward progress. Aspire to be great, sure. It’s fine to set the bar high for yourself. But sometimes even great is the enemy of good. And good is better than nothing. Understanding

Failure along the way can be a result of many things. It may be due to poor planning, a lack of commitment, or an inability to follow through. It could be driven by an untreated addictive impulse, a lack of belief in yourself, or an ill-conceived sense of purpose. Often it’s the result of misplaced focus, waning enthusiasm, or external factors outside your control. Or perhaps you find yourself unable to let go of that old story you tell yourself about your limited capabilities, clinging to it like a toxic blanket because the enemy you know trumps the discomfort of the unknown that goes hand in hand with personal growth. Understand

first that failure indicates courage.

The fact that you failed actually doesn’t matter. It’s just not important. What is important is your relationship with the event, and how you respond to it.

disengage from the negative emotions that swirl around the misstep. In other words, stop flogging yourself. That’s a second mistake on top of the first, fueling a vicious cycle that rewards failure with more failure, taking you out of the game altogether. You’ve been there before. You know where that path leads. Don’t go there again.

the entire idea of failure is a lie. A fabricated distortion of perspective. A concept without a home in your experience. An illusion. A word to be removed from your lexicon as if it never existed in the first place. Because failure is nothing more than opportunity. Welcome it as an occasion to grow. To learn. And ultimately to flourish.

And as long as you are living, work remains to be done.

Protect momentum. Respect it. Then harness that powerful wave, ride it with all your might, and never let go.

service is the magic bullet that fortifies our lives with meaning. It provides a transcendent sense of purpose. And most of all, it delivers that which we seek most—joy.

What is unique about you and your life experience that can be leveraged for the benefit of others? Perhaps it’s a skill. Maybe it’s just a story. It matters little. What does matter is that you identify it. Then share it. Give of yourself freely. Prioritize this like it’s your job. Watch as a sense of purpose begins to flood into your life. And with that will come joy.

Let go of the end game. Instead, fall in love with the process. Show up for life with enthusiasm and commitment. Connect with spirit. Wrestle with your soul and relish every hardship. Along the way, be patient. Go gently. And give freely of yourself to others. Because it’s the journey that truly gives your path meaning. And there truly is no destination.

And if you’re not growing, you’re not living.

May you undertake this great hero’s journey. And when we meet along the path, we shall sing our songs, together.

So rather than steak, milk, eggs, and whey supplements, opt instead to eat lower on the food chain and source your protein needs from healthy plant-based sources like black, kidney, pinto, and other beans, almonds, lentils, hemp seeds, spirulina, and quinoa. Even eating less-concentrated sources of protein like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and bananas will get you exactly where you need to be.

alkaline-promoting, whole-food plant-based diet is the most rapid recovery tool available to the athlete, a buffer against weight gain and lifestyle disease,

dark leafy greens high in alkalizing chlorophyll to aid in cell regeneration—foods like kale, spinach, swiss chard, spirulina, and marine phytoplankton. Plus, I add endurance boosters like beetroot, chia seeds, and maca powder, a rotation of avocado, coconut, and hemp seeds high in essential fatty acids, and blackberries and acai for antioxidants. Pepita (pumpkin) seeds provide extra iron, and bell pepper and citrus fruit provide vitamin C, which enhances the body’s ability to absorb the iron. And if the blend is too bitter, I add a small amount of orange or apple juice for flavor.

So the focus shifts away from energizing foods to reparative foods—from catabolic (exertion mode) to anabolic (restorative/growth mode). I’ll take some antioxidants to combat stress and exercise-induced free radical damage, but I’m not talking about vitamin pills. I’m talking about blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, acai and goji berries, moringa, spinach, kale, carrots, and spirulina. I’ll also think about eating some walnuts for protein and drinking coconut water for electrolytes.

Accordingly, I combine red pepper or citrus fruits such as oranges or grapefruit (all high in vitamin C) with dark leafy greens or pumpkin seeds (high in iron) in my daily blended smoothies. And as an extra step, I always keep a bag of pumpkin seeds in my car, along with some fruit to munch while I drive—a

But there are a few bars out there I like—organic and natural varieties such as those offered by 22 Days*2, Picky Bars, Niibar, Go Macro, Aloha, and Health Warrior.

Happy Cow mobile app, a free global directory of all the best vegan and vegetarian restaurants and grocers.

JUICER: I strongly suggest you invest in a home juicer. We prefer the masticating variety, which chews and grinds produce at low speeds to preserve the food’s enzymes and nutrients.