Full Strength LIFE

My Freind Joe & 30,000 Heroes

There's less than 12 hours to go until my friend Joe Williams of Boulder, CO prints out the last of thousands of letters and sends them on there way to Afghanistan. 

This instant "moral booster" now dubbed "Dear Hero 2009" was conceived last week while Joe was taking his garbage out. 

Here's the actual email I received from Joe.

Before you read it and after, know there are a few hours left for you to send a Dear Hero Letter to dearhero2009@gmail.com .

Please consider doing so. You'll make some young boys and girls very happy.

Joe's Email to me:

Dear Shawn,

Please help us grant a holiday wish! 

Today as I walked outside, my garbage man stopped at my house as he does every Wednesday morning. As I was waving hello, he walked over and said he had a favor to ask. 

He said that his son is serving in Afghanistan and when asked what he wanted for Christmas his son replied that all he wants is to walk around to his fellow soldiers and hand out morale-boosting letters on Christmas Day. So he asked me if I would write one letter.  I went back inside and told my girlfriend the story and we immediately decided that this was bigger than just one letter. 

We immediately called a few friends to ask for their support and found out that one of our best friends was driving HIS son to the airport for deployment to Afghanistan just today. We then realized that almost all of us know someone who is serving our country and everyone could use a letter of support.  

So we are asking you to help us.  Please send an email to: dearhero2009@gmail.com. 

Your letter will be printed off and folded into an envelope and delivered to his son in Afghanistan.  No postage required.  Just an email.

Regardless of your politics or how you feel about any war, this is not about that.  This is about a father trying to make his son’s Christmas wish come true.
 
We realize there are non-profit organizations that do this, and we fully support their incredible work.  However this is just simply for a humble man to support his son who is thousands of miles away. He is expecting one letter on our porch next Wednesday morning.  Let’s inundate him!  Please send your email by Tuesday evening (November 24th) so we have time to print and stuff!  And by all means, please forward this on to anyone you think might be interested in participating!
 
Thank you for your support!
 
Joe Williams & Alison Curwen

I hope you will consider supporting Joe and Alison and more so, the tens of thousands of young men and women who are in harms way, under immense stress and horribly alone in so many ways.

Yours in Strength!

Shawn

Gravity: Friend and Foe

I know a lot of people who fancy themselves powerful forces in fitness but even the influence of the great Jack LaLanne pales in comparison to the most powerful force in all of fitness: Gravity.

Think about it. It's gravity that gives force and resistance to every otherwise inert dumbbell and barbell. Even the vast majority of machine rely on this prolific, mysterious force.

Without gravity running would be as leisurely as laying on the sofa, and we'll all be "the next Lance Armstrong" on a bike. And climbing Everest would be as heroic an achievement as chewing gum and almost walking.

Yes, when it comes to getting in shape, getting leaner, fitter and stronger gravity is your best friend.

Then, just when you're certain Gravity is your bestest bud, your vital training partner keeping you strong and fit, you step on the scale! And gravity turns on you.

For it is truly the force of Gravity that a scale reads.

My advice is simple: Make friends with this powerful force, learn to work with it, even master it in all aspects of manipulation--much the way a lion training befriends the ferocious beast.

Do this and you will find that Gravity is not really so ferocious, that it's not and never has been against you. Do this and you will find gravity content to be on your side, even when you're on a scale. 

When Life’s Got You In A Sleeper Hold, Do This…

Life can get the best of the best of us.

Too much swimming upstream, too many long days and short nights, too many local tragedies and international disasters can act like Kryptonite to even the strongest and bravest among us.

When it feels like you’re flailing your arms to stay afloat or worse yet, “doing okay” Life’s got ya in a sleeper hold.

You’re playin’ not to lose rather than to win—and there’s no surer way to lose than that.

In steps the Power of Challenge.

A Challenge brings out our best, awakening your Strength.

It wakes you up, ignites your power, gives meaning to Life.

Life without challenge is, by definition, sleep walking.

Yet, when life’s got you in a sleeper hold, everything looks to be an insurmountable Challenge.

Hell, balancing your check book just as well be repelling off the Empire State building.

When every Challenge is in the “other” category—the one that shuts you down cold, it’s time to take control and put power back in your Life.

It’s time for simple, daily, repeated, positive action—success you can celebrate will have you back to Full Strength, “Kryptonite F.r.e.e” in short order.

Watch this short video as I explain the fastest, easiest way to take control, claim your power, super-charge your confidence and get you back in the game—playing to win big.

Take the 14-Days to Full Strength Challenge

Now, I invite you to step back into your rightful place, to get that confidence back on your side, and feel the control and power that is your birthright.

Step into your power in 14 short days, take the 14-Days to Full Strength Challenge.

It’s backed and 100% Guaranteed by yours truly. You’ve nothing to lose but fear and anxiety?

Don’t wait for things to turn in your favor—take action and turn them yourself.

The 2-Weeks to Full Strength Challenge will have you back at Full Strength, playing to win, fast.

Click Here to Get Started Now

Extraordinary: The New Gold Standard

Thanks to our over-the-top, everything in excess culture dripping wet with marketing you've likely become as immune to the word "Extraordinary" as you are to cursing, nudity, violence and the sound of car tires pounding the asphalt.

It's a damn shame the deafness the comes with extended loudness means we lose a huge part of our senses--we become less attune, less aware, less in touch and less present to. 

Sensory deafness means we don't perceive brilliance when we step on it for we're our systems became exhausted by the shallow likes of a Britney Spears.

Well, in the event you too like so many have forgotten, misplaced, dislodged of just plain forgotten what is meant by the word:

                                       "Extraordinary"....

I give you this video clip as a new standard.

Should you ever have occasion to use the word in print, pantomime or passing, may I suggest you take a brief moment and watch this performance and ask yourself again, "Is what I'm about to say truly extraordinary? or is it simply 'good?'"

Extraordinary: Definition according to Webster's:  1) a : going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary  b : exceptional to a very marked extent...

In my book, what you will see in this video is nothing less than EXTRA-ORDINARY... beyond that which we are accustomed to... dare I even suggest this performance is reaches beyond the confines of the human realm.

Yes, Bettye LaVette (in her performance tribute to the Who at Kennedy Center Awards) shows once and for all that you don't have to invent the wheel to make it roll in an entirely new and inspiring way.

Here's to a new standard for extraordinary!

Chocolate of Vanilla? [A Live Poll]

There may be no question more instantly polarizing—meaning easy to answer—than this one:

See how quickly you answer it:

Build television sms voting polls at Poll Everywhere

Thanks for playing along. I'm testing a new polling system that looks pretty cool. You can even answer the poll by texting on your phone, in a live event.

Beyond "Have to" Exercise, To Fitness Freedom

“Have to” vs. “Want to Fitness”

As I write this, I’m watching Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White flip and fly high through the air out of the half pipe on his snowboard. Watching him is amazing. It’s truly art in motion.

Absorbed in the moment, it occurs to me that this sort of expression—this talent and skill—can not be the result of “have to” approach. There’s no one big enough or mean enough in the world to make someone “have to” fly head over heals, 720 degrees around.

This is truly an expression of some other energy, some greater desire. Even if it we’re a “have to” for yourself you’d not achieve this level. It’s impossible.

“Have to,” also known as "obligation," is one of the four levels of motivation, on the path to Mastery, that I detail in my book, Strength for Life. This is the level from which most people first engage in fitness and transformation.

The good news it’s the motive that gets you going but it’s not the motivation that can keep you going. It wears out quickly and wears you out too.

"Have to" results in more “have to”'s and next soon you “have to” hire a lion trainer to get your ass out of bed.

The sort of amazing human expression that Shawn White show arises from a higher place, a “want to” energy. I “want to” fly, is fueled by feedback, reward both intrinsic and extrinsic (from the outside). 

"Want to" is an expression of self, an energy you can not contain. And the more you express, the more you revel in “want to” the more quickly you move to the ultimate freedom, “Mastery.”

Mastery is the instantaneous expression of excellence. It’s where you cease “doing” and start “being” the thing, be it snowboarding or strength training. It’s the ultimate freedom for you no longer rely on carrot and cattle prods to get you moving.

"Want to" get out of the “have to?”

Find the thing you most want, animate the energy that gets you moving—no right or wrong. At one time it may have been getting the girl or guy. Perhaps it’s a “want to” win a contest, a “want to” compete, “want to” impress, “want to” achieve.

One tip, shallow as it may be, usually the transformation best happens in a public domain for that which is done in secret, is well, secret. And that means it’s usually things we “want to” keep that way.

Find something you “want to” brag about.