Nspyired is about getting in shape, eating better, and living a healthier life. A few years ago I realized that I needed to do more than just stay in the gym. I?ve always been in decent shape because I played college baseball, but I noticed that once I started to age, it became harder and harder to keep the weight off.
Most people attribute that to ?getting older, ? but I reject that. Everything that happens to people can?t be justified by calling it ?getting old.? I want to be just as healthy twenty years from now as I am today.
To achieve that, I think that food makes a difference. In fact, I believe that what you feed your body is the foundation of good health.
What we eat determines how well you move.
How your body looks.
And the quality of your life.
The problem is that eating healthy is not common sense anymore. You can walk down any aisle in the grocery store and see anything labeled ?organic,” ?healthy,? or ?low-fat.?
Hell, I even saw a bag of “organic” gummy worms….
Just because the label says healthy doesn?t mean it?s healthy. My goal is to learn how to live a healthy life and share what I learn with you.
Remember, everything that works for me may not work for you, but I?m just giving it to you. Something may stick and make a difference in your life.
ABOUT ME, BEN!
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ben Lanier, and I currently live in Raleigh, NC. I was born on Independence Day, so everyone celebrates my birthday. The funny thing about that is I?m not really one to celebrate my own birthday. It?s just another day to me, luckily I?m engaged to a woman that loves to celebrate birthdays, so for the last five years, I?ve finally started to enjoy a birthday party.
Just to let you into my background a little bit, I?m not a fitness professional or a certified trainer, I?ve just developed a love for lifting weights, and I admit I do love food, perhaps too much. Which is part of the reason I?m trying my best to learn to eat better, for too long I?ve eaten whatever it is I?ve had a taste for. And that?s just not right.
Since the age of 5, I?ve played baseball, and I’ve played until I graduated from college. Even after college ball, I couldn’t resist playing in an Adult Baseball Leauge.
The moment I started playing tee-ball, I?ve been absolutely obsessed with baseball, and I?ve had the dream of playing baseball at the highest ranks?the Major Leagues.
Of course, by now you know that didn?t happen, but as a high school kid, I definitely thought it was possible. I was a shortstop in high school playing varsity for 3 years.
I stand about 5?8? on a good good day, but sometimes I feel 6 feet tall, that could be seen as a little cocky, but I think it’s confidence. Seriously though, I knew that to compete at a higher level I needed to be strong to stand out at only 5 foot 8 inches.
So I hit the weight room and fell in love with it.
I loved seeing improvement, I loved feeling stronger, and I loved to see my body develop and change.
In 2004, it started to feel like all of the work was starting to pay off, I was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 47th Round. I was happy, but it definitely didn?t go to my head, there are only 50 rounds in the draft, so I knew that I was just getting started.
My senior year, I committed to North Carolina A & T to play baseball, but eventually I ended up in playing baseball in Lynnwood, Washington about twenty miles north of Seattle at Edmonds Community College. After I had finished my playing days there, I transferred to Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.
That’s the extent of my college career, I never played pro ball, but I gave it all I had. So I have no regrets about anything I?ve done. If anything, the one thing I?ve taken from playing ball is my love for the weight room.
Now I do CrossFit and 
I workout about 5 days a week. I?m addicted to it, and I love the community that’s associated with CrossFit. One of the mental shifts that I?ve taken from CrossFit is my attitude towards food. I try not to eat for sheer pleasure anymore.
I still have meals where I let loose and enjoy, but I focus on eating tasty meals that are healthy and provide me with fuel for the day.
That?s just a little information about me, It?s not everything I am, but it?s a part of me. I?m enjoying life now, and I just want to continue to learn about living a healthy life.
THE NAME NSPYIRED
Just really quick, I just want to tell you where I?m going with the name Nspyired. I hope you know by now, but it?s pronounced inspired.
I call it Nspyired because I believe that inspiration is sometimes the starting point for great things. It?s not all that we need to sustain us in achieving something, but it can get us started in change.
Much of what I?ve heard is that High Blood Pressure runs in my family and that there was nothing that I could do about it. I?ve heard that I can run and workout and it may delay it, but I?m still going to get it.
You know it could be true, I may get high blood pressure, and other food related diseases one day, but I?m fighting it. To defy that I?m literally inspired to learn and change my life, and in return, I hope that I can do the same for you.
With that said, Welcome to Nspyired!