Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself
by Rich Roll
30 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself:
The prize never goes to the fastest guy,” Chris replied. “It goes to the guy who slows down the least.” True in endurance sports. And possibly even truer in life.
David Goggins quote I’d read years back—the idea that when you believe you’ve reached your absolute limit, you’ve only tapped into about 40 percent of what you’re truly capable of. The barrier isn’t the body. It’s the mind.
when the mind is controlled and spirit aligned with purpose, the body is capable of so much more than we realize.
Pursue what’s in your heart, and the universe will conspire to support you.
the words of writer Daphne Rose Kingma came to mind: “Surrender is a beautiful movement in which you gracefully, willingly, languidly fall, only to find midway that you have been gathered into some unimaginable embrace. Surrender is letting go, whether or not you believe the embrace will occur. It’s trust to the hundredth power—not sticking to your idea of the outcome, but letting go in the faith that even the absence of an outcome will be the perfect solution.
You can stand in the light. And you can set a positive example. But you simply cannot make someone change.
I have come to appreciate that great beauty lies in destruction.
Morning routines vary wildly for these high achievers. Some wake up at 4:00 A.M. without fail. Others arise when their body says it’s time, prioritizing their eight hours of rest. Some hit the gym immediately upon waking, while others spend this valuable time in quiet reflection, in meditation, journaling, writing, or immersed in a creative pursuit. But there is one thing that none of these people do. None of them meet the day by unconsciously reacting to their environment. They don’t arise hurried or rushed. They’re not flipping on the news or reaching impulsively for their phone to check e-mail or Instagram. In a word, they’re not distracting themselves with matters inconsequential. Instead, they honor this time. They take it seriously. They meet it with mindful intention.
I felt bad, yet I knew I’d made the right choice. I was following my heart.
when purpose aligns with faith, there can be no failure and all needs will be met—because the universe is infinitely abundant.
Because she understood what I was only then coming to realize—that safety isn’t just an illusion, it’s a cop-out. I know it sounds trite, but there’s simply nothing like a near-death experience to remind one of the impermanence of everything. And living imprisoned by fear only to die with regret over dreams postponed was a life neither of us was interested in.
The only way through was to surrender—to
The only thing I knew with clarity was that a voice deep in my heart continued to chant, Keep going. You’re on the right track.
the typical amateur endurance athlete trains far too hard on the aerobic and active recovery days. But not nearly hard enough on the intense days. A certain level of proficiency can be achieved this way, but full potential is never realized.
Do what you love; love those you care about; give service to others; and know that you’re on the right path. There’s a new path waiting for you, too. All you have to do is look for it—then take that first step. If you show up and stay present, that step will eventually become a gigantic leap forward. And then you’ll show us who you really are.
I loved the pain, and the pain loved me back.
When you think you’re done, you’ve only tapped into 40 percent of what you are truly capable of.
And as long as you are living, work remains to be done.
Reverse mapping. Working backward from that November deadline, break down the ultimate goal into periodic stepping-stone goals—smaller, achievable milestones peppered throughout the calendar at regular intervals. These stepping-stone goals will serve as guideposts to measure progress toward the ultimate goal. Mark each stepping-stone goal in blue.
In essence, my smoothie concoctions not only allow me to eat an incredible amount of low-fat, high-fiber, nutrient-dense foods in one sitting (unlike juicing, which discards the majority of the produce, and thus the fiber), it does so by essentially “pre-digesting” the foods for me, sufficiently breaking them down before ingesting. That, in turn, promotes a high degree of easy absorption, rendering the nutrients readily available for my body to use.
Decision fatigue. The importance of creating an effective roadmap to achieve your goals cannot be overstated. But one of the more undervalued benefits of this strategy is that it removes something called decision fatigue, which refers to the deteriorating quality of decisiveness after a long session of decision-making. Again, most people burn out and fail because they haven’t constructed a concrete architecture to specifically dictate what is to be done, where, when, and why. As a result, decisions regarding the priority of a particular day’s actions are often reactive, and not well considered.
But I never overdo it on fruit juices; after pasteurization they’re essentially zapped of much of their nutritional value and are devoid of fiber, leaving mostly sugar.
Eradicate decision fatigue by constructing a rock-solid plan. Prioritize it. Better yet, when life allows, create an impermeable boundary around it. And do not waver. This way, all your decisions are already made. The thinking mind is not required, free to focus its energies where it is most needed. There is only do or do not. Configure your schedule to ensure you consistently choose “do.
Another key component of the Plantpower Diet is nutrient density. At least twice a day I prepare a primarily greens-based smoothie drink. Although a standard blender will suffice if your budget is tight, I strongly urge you to upgrade to a premium high-powered model. I prefer the Vitamix. It’s pricey, but worth every penny. In fact, it’s the one kitchen item I simply can’t do without.*4 Neither the Vitamix nor its rival, the Blendtec, are your garden-variety blenders. With motors that could power a Jet Ski, these machines can literally make juice out of just about anything. How powerful? Using the top-of-the-line Vitamix, I once blended an avocado pit and drank it. Please don’t do this.
TIP: Love your coffee but can’t accept letting it go despite its acidic nature? Try cold press brewing—an alternative brewing method that not only reduces bitterness but also removes 60 to 70 percent of the acidity found in your favorite cup of joe. For more information, see Appendix V.
Despite the incredibly heavy tax I impose on my body, training at times upward of twenty-five hours per week for ultra-endurance events, this type of regimen has fueled me for years, without any issues with respect to building lean muscle mass. In reality, I believe that eating plant-based has significantly enhanced my ability to expedite physiological recovery between workouts—the holy grail of athletic performance enhancement. In fact, I can honestly say that at age fifty-one I am as fit as I have ever been, even when I was a world-class-level competition swimmer at Stanford in the late 1980s.
The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the toxins we absorb through our skin, and the stress we manage all factor into our body’s pH. And although there’s a consensus among nutritionists and medical experts well versed in these matters that somewhere in the range of 80 percent of the foods we ingest should be alkaline-forming and 20 percent acidic, the typical American diet—combined with our fast-paced, stress-inducing urban lifestyle—is overwhelmingly acid-forming. Processed foods, sodas, meat and dairy proteins, polluted air, and simple life pressures all contribute to what is called “metabolic acidosis,” or a chronic state of body acidity. Why is this important? When the body is in a protracted or chronic state of even low-grade acidosis, which most people’s bodies these days are, it must marshal copious resources to maintain blood pH somewhere in the optimal 7.35 orbit. Over time, the body pays a significant tax that manifests in a susceptibility to any array of infirmities: fatigue; impaired sleep and immune system functionality; a decrease in cellular energy output, nutrient absorption, bone density, and growth hormone levels, which over time lead to a reduction in muscle mass; an increase in inflammation and weight gain, leading to obesity; the promotion of kidney disorders, tumor cell growth, mood swings, and osteoporosis. And I haven’t included in that list a variety of bacterial and viral maladies that flourish in the acidic environment.
Instead, excess protein is physiologically converted to an inefficient energy source or alternatively stored as fat. And concerning everyone, copious studies have established beyond doubt that over the long term, excess protein intake from animal-based sources can be harmful, significantly contributing to the onset of a variety of congenital diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer, impaired kidney function, and heart disease.
TIP: Squeezing fresh lemon juice or adding a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to your water is a simple and effective way to immediately alkalize your system. And it’s very effective in combating the onset of head colds and the flu.
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. CONCLUSION Life
