He chose… poorly.
A few years ago, I wrote a story about Laird Hamilton. We had a pretty good talk before I wrote it. He seemed nice, if a little on the cocky side, which wasn’t surprising. I think to be really good at something, you’ve got to know that you are. Laird is really good at surfing gigantic waves, lifting heavy things, and perhaps most importantly, not giving a shit about the incredible amount of haters he has.
Everyone hates Laird because he’s arrogant and rides a paddleboard and made that weird golf cart thing and has strange worm lips. But fuck all that. I like Laird, because he doesn’t give a shit whether anyone likes him or hates him. I live two minutes away from him, see him all the time, have introduced myself a hundred times, and even woken him up with a 4 am phone call(due to a time-zone issue)… and HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM. It’s incredible. I was annoyed for a while, but there’s just something likable about being so unlikeable.
Outside of surfing, though, Laird is pretty much a celebrity. A lot more people know who Laird Hamilton is than say, Mason Ho. And Mason Ho is far more likable than Laird Hamilton. I’ve never met Mason, yet he signed a picture of himself for me “Suck it, Alex.” Laird would never do that. But Mason will probably never become an very successful business man with a line of super foods, clothing, paddleboards, golfboards, etc.
Anyway, Laird recently told the LA Times his plan to live forever. Among other things, it includes hanging upside down, eating a shitload of fat, and standing on a golf ball. Here are just a few of his tips for finding the fountain of youth. Head over to LA Times to read the rest.
1. Golf-ball your bare feet: I grew up barefoot in Hawaii and didn’t give a thought to walking on gravel, but I’d notice some people who’d been in shoes their whole life couldn’t even cross the driveway. The feet are loaded with nerve endings and are the key to balance — and I’m in the balance business. In fact, we all are.
I also believe the Earth is charged with an electrical frequency that matches your nervous system and immune system. So the bare feet allow us to absorb that energy and is a critical part of your wellness. Having them trapped in a boot, toes squeezed together, affects your whole system. To restore dexterity and balance after I’ve been in shoes too long, usually at my home in Malibu, I warm up a couple days a week by standing with one foot on a golf ball. I roll it around, poke it, put weight into tender spots. It’s amazing how your system will be stimulated through working your feet.
2. Forget age. Just keep driving the car: I take better care of myself today not as an accommodation to age but to maintain continual high levels of performance and just to feel good. I have a friend, Don Wildman, who’s 83 years old — and the guy’s an absolute stud who works out with weights, mountain bikes, paddles, surfs every day. Don’s a living example of what it’s like when you just keep driving the car.
I think what happens is that we decide we’re old and we just stop, and everything stops working. There’s so much stigma and weirdness around being older. Don and I were watching a tennis match and the announcer was saying, “He’s 34 years old!” Get over it — and keep moving. Don’t wait until you have a health scare or collapse. Get off your [butt] and feel better now.
3. Be a fat-burning monster: I don’t eat energy bars when I’m out on the water all day. In fact, I don’t need to eat anything. My body runs off its body fat. That’s because I’m Paleo. I consume hardly any refined sugar (only if it’s in a salad dressing), a few raw dairy products and almost no wheat or grains. I eat plants and animals. I actually grew up that way in Hawaii. [Paleo researcher-kineseologist] Paul Chek taught me that your body has enough fat on it to run for days … and that sugar fouls up your machinery. So after I cut alcohol, I began eliminating sugar and sugary fruit. I refined it over the last two years listening to [Primal lifestyle guru] Mark Sisson and other Paleo people.
If you’re eating right, a triathlete can go for hours and hours on a couple tablespoons of almond butter and your own body fat. But if you eat refined carbs, your blood sugar spikes up and down and you’re sucking down gel packs to get it back up. I love espresso. … You could give me five shots of espresso, a quarter stick of butter, a quarter stick of coconut oil and other fat, and I’ll drink that. I could go for five or six hours and not even be hungry at the end. Because I’m burning fat.
