Alpha Male Manley Lectures: Why The Mind Is More Important Than The Body

My late friend, Luke Smith was an Orange County native. But that's not where we met. Ironically, it was near the beaches of Los Angeles, during the late 1990s...and one of our first bouts was over a pancake-eating contest.

Skip ahead to 2011, I was obsessed with finding healthier alternatives to traditional meals. One of these was pizza, and if you've ever spent enough time online, then you already know that there is an alternative recipe, and for nearly any dish one can think of.

'Lo and behold, there was one culinary website that contained the recipe for a diabetic-friendly pizza. The way that worked, was that the crust was to be made from Philo dough, pepperoni slices from turkey, and then, of course, goat cheese or mascarpone instead of parmesan.

Now, about Luke...he made killer guacamole at his pad. This cat would take his avocado, make a sour cream base...beat that guac up into a batter that was unbelievable, and I mean, Gordon Ramsay could not have made guacamole like Luke Smith.

But then there's a problem: fatty and processed foods were the bulk of Luke's diet. Frozen burritos, tortilla chips with that wonderful guacamole...Luke ate the foods we all wished we could get away with!

Funny thing: after I offered Luke a challenge, he accepted, and that challenge was to throw-together a pizza that could be diabetic-friendly, but still taste awesome. Would you believe it?! Me and a friend bring over the Philo, the turkey sausage...everything. Between the unleavened dough and the turkey pepperoni, this cat had no idea that he was eating something that tasted like "stoner" food, but one that would actually comply with the inner atmosphere of his body, or anyone else's.

For myself, I have never been diabetic, and yet that pizza recipe from the web has become one of my favorites. That same summer, I translated the Philo pizza recipe to my grandmother, who had also struggled with health concerns. Honestly...none of these people would have known that they were eating something good for them, unless they had actually sat down to read the recipe.

What does this tell me?! That the mind of a man/woman is really far more important than their bodies. The mind, the brain is what controls a lot of things that happen in your life. I'd never, in 32 years, practiced Transcendental meditation. And yet, once Aaron Baker introduced me, in 2014, to binaural beats...that whole process made sense.

Believe me when I tell you, and I wish that I could tell Luke, that your mind can astral project, lucid dream...really, just take your whole body into an alternate universe, but you have to set your mind on that very purpose, and then enjoy the process of getting there. But again, looking for those pizza recipes, online, was the true enjoyment of preparing the meal. Learning something new, but for so long, it seemed like me and Luke were just trying to go straight for the "meal."

If there was anything that could've made my friend's life better, possibly even saved it, then it would've been that very knowledge. It's the knowledge that going slow is necessary to be fast, but you have to go more "slow" than "fast." You have to give a hell of a lot more than receive. I don't care what your spiritual beliefs are; this is common sense!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: CORE Centers, The "I Am" Mantra And The Reason For Consistent Cardio

My good friend, Aaron Baker once told me, as I was preparing to board the SciFit recumbent bike at CORE: "This is your race car, and you're preparing for a race." That same day, Baker continued, "This is like your 'gauge panel,' and you're just getting strapped-in!"

Automatically, I knew what this guy was up to: he was indirectly giving me my first lesson in guided visualization. In other words, the SciFit is the race car, the CORE staff was my pit crew, and whatever numbers that I grabbed, during any given workout, were my "dyno results." Once Aaron and I were able to establish that picture, working out at the gym became more like running the track.

But as Taylor Isaacs and I were discussing this afternoon: sometimes you do the cardio for reasons that run deeper than vital stats. For example, my original goal at CORE was to lose weight; now that I've done that, I just keep hitting the bike for my adrenaline fix.

This is a part of spiritual wellness...and it's crucial. Because one of the first things that you'll see, upon entering CORE Centers, is the use of the phrase or thought, "I Am." Here's how Aaron Baker used it, "Sal, you know what 'it' is; you're a 'drag racer!'" The first time that he said this, I thought that he was pulling my chain.

But here's how the thought molecule works: you get on the SciFit, and there's no doubt that you're on a recumbent bike. But then there are several different attitudes and angles that you can plug into that machine.

For example, my buddy Ron has said that I'm riding a "horse," minus the horse itself. Aaron has referred to the SciFit as a "race car," and I myself have referred to it as an "engine dyno," because of the way in which the machine's top half measures the stats of its bottom, again...like an engine or a chassis dyno.

Once, when I was really into muscle cars, I dropped the gear on the Step One down to the equivalent of a 4.11 posi, chose the track profile that had the steepest hills, then whenever I was climbing upwards, I would visualize my "boost," time the hill that I was climbing, then launch off of it and grab speed, simply for the sake of "power braking the car."



As it stands, I'm peaking at 614 watts, my all-time record speed is around 218 RPM at 67-68 watts, and I've ran at least 3.5 miles in one session. But that's not what you care about when you're trying to apply it to the ground.

So what keeps me going for bigger numbers anyway? If you've ever built a muscle car, then you already know what it's about. Going for bigger displacement, or larger numbers, is not necessarily beneficial. Often, when you're building a Chevy big-block, you don't need to build the motor to 461 cubic-inches, but you do it anyway!

And then with hot rod motors, there is also that sense of balance: "lean" vs "rich," "hot" vs "cold." When you're on the SciFit, you all too often have to use the same analogies. Believe it or not, it does translate, and why I always like to share this data with people, is because it's so unbelievably crucial to my mental wellness, which does often find itself healing in the midst of what I would describe as "automotive analogy therapy," or simply put, "Automotive Therapy."

Again, "I AM a drag racer." THIS IS a "race car." Whatever language you plug into that sentence becomes your reality. Once, I said that I was an "endurance athlete." Tesla Motors, on their website, has said that their electric sedans are "inspired by an endurance athlete."

I can't build a real, street-legal race car, or at least not in the moment. So my body has to be the "running gear," or "engine." And having that kind of a sensation or experience is important in balancing your mental stability, or that's how I see it.

So I am proud to be able to say that I peak at 614 watts at whatever running speed. Because it's like I said during my early days at CORE: the business is genius, because it gives the challenged community the ability to say, "Today I hit the gym!"

Again, language: "I AM a drag racer." "I AM a dirt bike racer." Whether that person is literally in/on that vehicle or on a recumbent bike, as long as that person plugs that data into the correct equipment, that person is still a dirt biker, drag racer...whichever!

I don't have to lift the SciFit up to 218 RPM, but I want, need even, those bragging rights. I need it, because it's one of the few ways in which I can grab that kind of an ego boost.

What can I say?! I AM a muscle car builder at heart, and because that mantra is one that rings true, I can't help but maintain a competitive want, a "want" for "bigger cubic-inches," and an overall improved sense of airflow.

Tri-Five Chevrolet: My First Love, My Best Life, And My First "Job!"

During the summer of 1998, I was graduating from junior high, and my mom must've known, both of my parents really, that as early as age 13, I was on my way to Universal Tech.

On the day of my middle school graduation, there were only 3 three pronouns that I had in mind: Melissa D'Addio, Stacy Valentine...but wait a tic, why am I being driven-around in our family's Chevy van, when some other kid is being whisked-away in a glass-packed Lincoln?!

Skip ahead to that afternoon. My mom had given me a graduation card, and it read, "Here's 20 bucks for college, or the '57 Chevy." There's a backstory to this. In junior high, I was living at home in Northridge. The challenge that I issued to mom was this: I'll walk laps across our living room, if she would pay me per lap, so that I could save up for a shoebox, at least by the time I was in high school.

Well that never did pan-out, because kids, as it does turn out...$15-20 per session is just not enough for a '57 Chevy, and this is even under the context of a 1998 economy, and from what I remember about growing-up, it wasn't too bad!

Mom and dad are car people, and no matter how hard they may try to argue that, every single car that they ever purchased, literally from freaking 1980 to the present, was an extension of their personalities.

I can already read their minds: the kid's fanatical about cars that weren't expensive ones. A Monte Carlo, a '57 Chevy...when me and my sister were growing-up, those were extremely beautiful cars, and then they were also the kind that we drove to backyard BBQs.

In 2007, I found myself at Cal State Northridge, studying literature and creative writing. One night after class, I went to Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake, because that was the original. I told my mom about a Monte SS that had been at the cruise that night. It was one of the few times that mom and me had connected over automotive, because that was me and dad's thing.

But I was her first child, and as you learned from my previous blog, I have a muscular condition called arthrogryposis, so doing the car thing in front of mom was just as important as it was in front of the old man. Going back to the '57 shoebox that I was supposed to have had by high school, it never did happen, but during the times that mom was paying me to walk those laps, I felt the car coming together.

One of these days, I may have to call my mom at her work in Reno, just to let her know that I'll be walking those laps, largely due to Aaron Baker and CORE. With that kind of RND to back it, hell...why not even go for a raise?!

Spirit Science And Sex: GET WITH IT!!!

Since 2013, I have been a member, paying or otherwise, for what is unarguably the West Coast's most innovative wellness centers, CORE Centers of Northridge, California. And for those of you who don't know who Aaron Baker is or what it is that he does, then the only thing I can tell you is that it's about time you learned!

Truth be told, Aaron Baker, Robert Stone and the rest of the gang at CORE are way more bad-ass then I could ever be, but the reason they are is because they're calculated, and though CORE is a place geared toward physically-challenged clients, the idea of being calculated, in terms of physical fitness, is simply not being taught to anybody, or at least not as many as there should be.

So what makes CORE Centers different than any other gym you'll visit is this very idea of using "mind formulas" or "spirit science" to help others to get better, and as a personal testimony, I can tell you that their technique absolutely works. For this reason, I endorse Aaron Baker and CORE Centers in Northridge, and when you're in Southern California, I strongly suggest that you check the place out!

With that, I would like to expand upon the very notion of "spirit science" as it pertains to attracting women, but not only this; the overall question that I had to ask myself is, how can I use audio entrainment to become more of an alpha male?!

This was a question that I asked for myself, but I asked for other guys in my situation. Unfortunately, I did come to discover that binaural beats, affirmation videos and the like could not really bring hot chicks to my front door. However, what I did find is that by reconditioning my brain to a more "alpha male state," that very condition of being, in and of itself became that much more believable.

So what were the "symptoms" that followed as a result? In order to answer this question, we must do a little time travel...first to the late '80s and early '90s, and then from there to 2009. So what happened back in the early 1990s that informed or shaped my view of women? Simple: my dad and uncle read Playboy, and consequently, there were plenty of dirty mags lying around grandpa's bathroom floor.

But what about 2009...what happened then?! In 2009, I was only 25 years old. During that time, ICarly was a popular show on Nickelodeon. It was that one comedy that boosted Miranda Cosgrove's television career, and truth be told, ICarly was a show geared toward 13-19 year olds. I was 25, but I was also excited because the star of the show was a brunette who, by the time she left that show in 2012, was legal...and she looked ITALIAN!!!

But in one episode of ICarly, Carly Shea, Miranda Cosgrove's character, left a "bad boy" who she had been dating. The reason: the guy, a black leather toter, secretly had a love for "Pee Wee Babies." Because this guy liked to play with stuffed animals, he could no longer have sex with Carly, assuming that that's really what they were doing in the backdrop.

What lesson did I learn from this? That a bad boy can be as "bad" as he wants, but until he truly does become an alpha male, that same guy is just blowing smoke. But what does it take to transform into that kind of a person, or even better...character?!

What I can share, based on personal experience, is one of two things: either you just need to drop a shit load of acid and alter your consciousness that way, or the better solution, which is also the healthier one...listen to affirmations daily. And that means that you have to listen to these audio tracks when you really don't want to.

Leo Gura from Actualized.org says, in almost all of his affirmation training videos, that repetition when watching affirmation videos is extremely important. Listening to affirmations, online or on tape, must be a daily practice, according to Gura. My personal experience has shown that he's right; it's also shown me that Actualized is one of the web's one stop shops for everything self-empowerment.

Also, nearly any self-empowerment video you watch will tell you to use headphones; that's because when practicing audio entrainment, that audio must be fed directly to the ears. The problem is that when audio mixes with the atmosphere, the subliminal effects are not nearly as strong.

But again, we have to remember that binaural beats, affirmations and other forms of audio entrainment do not work magic; there is no amount of audio entrainment that's going to bring you money and/or sex.

However, for the single guys out there who are reading this, I tell you one thing and one thing only: binaural audio is important to our mental health. I don't care if you're chasing after the San Fernando Valley's hottest girl, Scrooge McDuck's money or a Buick Grand National...who fucking cares?!

Again, for those of you who are familiar with Aaron Baker and CORE Centers, then you no doubt follow Mike Chang and Elliot Thistle online as well. As an act of confession, I will say that I follow Chang a lot more closely online then I do Baker or Thistle, but that's not because I admire those two men less than I do Mike Chang.

However, if you listen to Baker, Chang or Thistle, the one thing that all three of these guys will tell you is that being educated is the key to being bad-ass. But if you're trying to get rich and laid through brute force, then that shit's just not going to happen!

Bottom line: there's a formula behind every move...you want "Carly Shea," then go get her!