Strength for Life

Welcome to a major theme of Strength for Life. It’s not about change. Anyone can change. For a week. Or twelve. The question is: Have we TRANSFORMED?

Have we created significant change that will last? Strength for Life is all about creating the structures in your life to create true transformation.

Follow Shawn’s wisdom and no doubt you will.

And how about a new look at “strength” as we polish our vocabulary:

Sign me up!

I like the sound of that.

“Strength is the something extra; the mental, physical, emotional reserve – the fuel that makes for an extraordinary life. Where ‘health’ is like living paycheck to paycheck, strength is money in the bank – a reserve. Strength is true wealth.”

Yikes.

Here’s the best (or is it worst?!?) part: “64% of obese people don’t think they’re obese – ‘it’s the other guy or gal. Not me.’”

It’s really (!) hard to change when you won’t even honestly appraise your current reality.

How about you?

Where do you fit in the equation? Are you at your ideal weight? Do you feel vital and strong?

Ahhh… The gap. What a harrowing place to be! I like to draw these two lines:

Is there a gap between what you’re CAPABLE of doing/being and what you’re ACTUALLY doing/being? If so, watch out. That’s where regret/anxiety/disillusionment hang out.

Close the gap and there’s no room for that madness.

Actually do what you’re capable of doing? Enter bliss.

Do you think you’re too old? Might want to re-think that.

Do you have parents you think are too old to be into this? Might want to re-think that, too.

As Shawn says: “As this research indicates, the symptoms of aging are less dependent on age and more related to lifestyle. Thus, a lifestyle that includes regularly engaging one’s body with strength training can make you strong now and keep you going strong for life.”

Ahh… Focus.

Do you have the ability to concentrate all of your energy on the moment?

Whether that means giving your full attention to your spouse or child or task at work or rep at the gym—nothing, dare I say, is more important than our ability to shift our focus at will.

Not a bad deal when a “fitness” book teaches you how to train your mind while you train your body, eh? (That’s why I said this book will transform you from the inside out. :)

“Perhaps more than any other factor, it is the mastery of your focus—which precedes mastery of your energy—that separates the average performers from the peak performers in life. The freedom to place your focused attention where you want it, when you want it, offers a competitive advantage in a world where the average attention span is measured in seconds, not minutes. It’s precisely the skill that has so many high profile leaders adopting meditation practices. Steve Jobs of Apple, music icons Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, Oprah, Bill Ford of Ford Motor Co., and the Clintons are a few of the prominent names that belong to the rapidly growing population of Americans—currently reported to be more than 20 million—who have embraced the practice of meditation.”

Amen.

Now, let’s look at how we apply this focus to our training:

FIT. It’s an acronym for “Focused Intensity Training.™”

Who do you think will get better results? The guy (or gal) who spaces out during his workout? Kinda aimlessly going through the motions in between water breaks and idle chat? Or the individual who heads to the gym with a purpose and brings a deep level of focus through his intense workout? Right.

And, just for the record, who do you think will get better results in the office? The guy (or gal) who spaces out during his work day? Kinda aimlessly going through the motions in between coffee breaks and idle chat? Or the individual who heads to the office with a purpose and brings a deep level of focus through his intense day?

How are you showing up?

Hah. That rocks. The image of a world-class athlete going to an “exercise camp” cracks me up. You want to achieve specific results? You have an intense drive and motivation to achieve them? Then train. Don’t “exercise.”

The good news is that not only is Shawn a master technician—giving us the framework we need to systematically train, he’s also a master motivator—giving us the tools and (journal) exercises we need to light a match under our desire to fuel the whole process. Again: powerful stuff.

Why train? Shawn offers “The 7 Wonders of Strength” that powerfully capture the “why” we should care about strength training. Among his points:

Sign me up for that! I have to admit, this is probably the #1 reason I train. I like to create. I know that if I’m going to bring my best to the world, I must optimize my body. That’s a given. How about you?

More: “Michael Craig Miller, M.D., editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, summarizes what scientists have been uncovering for several decades, regular training ‘improves your mood, decreases anxiety, improves sleep and resilience in the face of stress and raises self-esteem.’ He adds that exercise itself makes for a ‘pretty good anti-depressant too, equal to drugs or psychotherapy in some studies.’”

That. Is a good thing. :)

Shawn addresses the fact that many people are concerned (particularly but not exclusively women) that strength training will make them “look big.”

He says, “Here’s the irony: strength training actually makes you smaller. That’s because a pound of muscle is much smaller and takes up less space than a pound of fat. A pound of fat is about the size of a cantaloupe. In contrast a pound of lean muscle is about the size of a baseball. Using this analogy imagine how amazing you would look and feel if you swap 20 pounds of fat (think 20 cantaloupes) for five pounds of lean shape-defining muscle (think 5 baseballs).”

Love that visual. I don’t have that fat to lose, but if I did: Sign me up!! :) You?

I REALLY like Shawn’s (revolutionary) idea of a “Base Camp.” Right when we get giddy about transforming our lives, what do we do? We turn EVERYTHING around in a day, go hit the gym Rocky-style and then what? We wake up sore and tired and wondering what bus hit us. Or, worse, we get injured. Or, more subtly, that little part of our mind is sitting back just kinda looking at us saying, “OMG. What is he doing now? This isn’t going to last.”

I’m all about radical, immediate transformation and love the William James comment: “To change your life: start immediately; do it flamboyantly; no exceptions.” but there are times when we need to pause and look at the long view and, while making an absolute commitment to the new ideal, ease our way into the change to ensure long-term sustainability.

Shawn gets that. And in his book he shows us how to set up our “Base Camp” to optimize our 12 weeks of hitting it. Me likes. His “5 Rules” for his 12-days of Base Camp? “1. Eat ‘Lean, Clean, and Green’; 2. Drink water in abundance each day; 3. Enjoy a minimum of 7 hours of restful sleep each night; 4. Flex your muscle of gratitude and positive focus each day; 5. Regroup with the Base Camp Training Plan.” Simple. Powerful stuff. How ‘bout a couple more “Did you knows?!?”:

Water: “Drink at least ten 8-ounce glasses of water daily to stay properly hydrated. For an athlete, a 1% drop in hydration can reduce performance output by as much as 20%. For the average person dehydration increases the accumulation of toxins in the body, stunts metabolism, increases risk of cancer and accelerates the aging process. In a dehydrated state the mind and body do not operate at optimal levels.”

Sleep: “In one study published in the ‘Journal of Sleep’ individuals who slept for only 4 hours produced cortisol levels on average 37 percent higher than those who got a full 8 hours of sleep.”

Another Amen. What is your compelling vision for your future? Where will you be a year from today? Shawn has some very cool ideas that will help you get clarity and create the goals that will propel you into your greatest future. He even brings in some Newtonian physics to prove his point. Love that. :)

I’m going to leave this to the book. Get it and rock it. And know this: The clarity of your vision and the force with which it propels you to your goals is one of the most important factors in your life. (I know you already know that but a friendly reminder can’t hurt, eh? :)

We all know the truth in Aristotle’s wisdom that “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” But I gotta agree with Shawn here and LOVE the distinction he makes between habits and their more refined and regal cousin, rituals:

“People tend to talk in terms of ‘good habits’ and ‘bad habits,’ but I prefer to think in terms of rituals and habits. Think about it. Whenever you hear someone say, ‘She has a habit of –’ the thing that comes next is rarely positive. The difference between rituals and habits is that you choose to do rituals; you have some degree of awareness and intention. People tend to admire your rituals.”

How do you bring your greatest vision to life? How do you achieve the goals that propel you toward that vision? Simple. Rituals.

Begs the question: What rituals do you have in your life? What rituals do you need (!!!) to create in your life? You know—the stuff that you KNOW your Highest Self would love to be doingshould be doing. Write those down. Start integrating them into your life.

I love that. How have you been sculpting your body?

Shawn’s program is all about catalyzing your vision and goals into a guided 12 weeks of transformation. It’s impossible to go into the detail of his strength, nutrition and psychological training plan here. In fact, all of the big ideas we’ve looked at so far are from the first 90 pages of the 250+ page book. If you’re feelin’ it, I highly recommend the book as a great tool to transform your life. From your mind to your muscle. From the inside out.

To living with full strength and energy. For life.