Full Strength LIFE

And the Beat Goes On... The New Faces (& Bodies) of Fitness

A couple weeks back I gave a Key-Note talk at a Global Fitness and Transformation event in Tampa hosted by former Body-for-Life Champion Joel Marion. 

Now, I don't do a lot of speaking but I more and more I am inviting the opportunity, even when I can come up with a hundred reasons not to travel.

With this particular came the opportunity to share a new presentation--one that I'd been working on and that I believed to be a true "game changer" in health & fitness (more on this later)--and the chance to meet a number of fellow fitness "guru's" that I've only known from the web.

Of course, it didn't hurt that I was to be the Key-Note speaker, which was a privilege and an honor.

Entering the 3-day event with an beginner's mind, I'd hoped to not just share but also to receive some inspiration and wisdom.

What I walked away with was more than I could have imagined. I met some amazing people, both speakers and guests, and found myself energized, elevated--more resolute inside and assured in the world as a whole.

As you might guess, a good number of the presenters were friends of mine, like one and only Jon Benson, who I'd not seen in too long--although we talk regularly--and who, BTW, looked great!

I also got to see my good friend and fellow Colorado based Transformational Leader, Tom Terwilliger speak. He was every bit the energized power-house and leader I had heard, and expected him to be.

Tom truly owned the show.

Then of course there was a host of what I'll call the "new guard," or the youth movement in Fitness Transformation.

How to Overcome the Resistance of The Lizard Brain

Yesterday Seth Godin blogged about how the "Lizard Brain," sabotages your success—why people say one thing and reliably do another.

The lizard brain, as he calls it, is very real. He just doesn’t call it by name, I will.

A small almond shaped nodule at the base of your brain, the "Lizard Brain" is the primitive emotional center of your brain called the amygdala. It’s holds emotional memory which helps you react to your environment without having to "think about" them.

When you’re at risk of being eaten by a hungry lion, it’s terrific at triggering fear and thus saving your life. The Lizard Brain is not so helpful for running your life, day to day. You’d never want to put it in charge of your diet or anything that requires planning or self-restraint.

This little saboteur, the amygdala is implicated in the inability to maintain a healthy diet as well as achieving all manners of fitness goals. When this “lower mind” takes charge of your actions you’ll do just about anything without thought of repercussion.
 
Can’t figure out how the heck you just ate that entire box of cookies? You ate one, then looked down to find an empty box. What happened?

Your amygdala, aka lizard brain happened.

With this primitive "lower mind" control center taking you over from time to time, how do you ever manage to achieve any success? How do you get focused, stay on track, gain control of your life?

Simple. Focus!

Fortunately, we human beings have a lizard brain, we aren’t one.

We have something else which is essentially the opposite of the lizard brain. We have an amazing and powerful “focus control center” that can provides us access to incredible powers of concentration and helps us to produce just about any outcome “we put our minds to.”

This “higher-mind” powerhouse of self control is called “The Prefrontal Cortex” and it’s in many ways what makes us human. It enables us to generate forethought, keep us moving toward goals, and is the master of self-control.

The PFC is the key to overcoming entropy, breaking through resistance and staying the course—it puts your Lizard Brain on ice. 

Want to achieve extraordinary success?

The real question is not, “How do we resist succumbing to the lizard brain?,” but rather “How do you super-charge, strengthen and activate your Pre-Frontal-Cortex?”

This is something you can do and must do if you want results—for when you’re focused, clear and strong you can achieve anything.

There is a way you can eat, think, move and be that will keep you free from the lizard brain trap and propel you to an entirely new level of success and satisfaction.

Tune in Monday to StartStrongMonday.com for my special
“5 Tips for a Strong, Focused Mind that Breaks Thru the Resistance of the Lizard Brain.”

Click here to Read StartStrongMonday.com

Subscribe and you'll receive the tips Monday.

Omega-3 linked to Younger Biological Age: Study

High blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids may slow cellular ageing in people with coronary heart disease, suggests a new study.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) looked at the length of telomeres, DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that shorten as cells replicate and age.

The ageing and lifespan of normal, healthy cells are linked to the so-called telomerase shortening mechanism, which limits cells to a fixed number of divisions. During cell replication, the telomeres function by ensuring the cell's chromosomes do not fuse with each other or rearrange, which can lead to cancer. Elizabeth Blackburn, a telomere pioneer at the University of California San Francisco, likened telomeres to the ends of shoelaces, without which the lace would unravel.

[little hard to follow but makes sense if you read slowly]

With each replication the telomeres shorten, and when the telomeres are totally consumed, the cells are destroyed (apoptosis).

[main point is these buggers are indicators of the rate cells age]

Previous studies have also reported that telomeres are highly susceptible to oxidative stress. Some experts have noted that telomere length may be a marker of biological ageing.

“Among patients with stable coronary artery disease, there was an inverse relationship between baseline blood levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids and the rate of telomere shortening over 5 years,” wrote the researchers.

[Ta-da! Need I say more? That's big stuff. It means = Eat Fish!]

“These findings raise the possibility that omega-3 fatty acids may protect against cellular aging in patients with coronary heart disease,” they added.

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

5 Things That Strangely Don't Require Refrigeration

I was talking with a friend the other day and he sheepishly mentioned he'd tried that Nutri-System for Men weight-loss food program. Honestly, I was a little shocked that he'd not just asked me about it first, but that's testament to good marketing.

When I asked him about why he didn't just try Full Strength, take the 14-day "Feel Great" Challenge, he said that at 40 lbs. overweight he thought it was "above me."

"I'm just a dude needing to lose this gut and you've fueled the greatest athletes in the world. Why would Full Strength be for me?," he pondered aloud.

Trust me, I was taking notes. I get that his perception is real, although not accurate. As I created Full Strength to be daily nutrition for the "man in the middle" of life. Sure, it's nutrition for better performance but in this case, more performance in life than on the field.

More on that later... 

Weird Food

When I asked him about his experience he said the weirdest, most unsettling part of the Nutrisystem food was that it would be sitting on his porch all day when he got home, and that it didn't require any refrigeration.

In an effort to make him feel better about this odd (and unsettling) fact, I started listing other things in life that, strangely, don't require refrigeration.

Here are a few that popped for me. Please share your additions to this list below:

5 Things That Strangely Don't Require Refrigeration:

1. Soy Milk - No, soy milk does not require the fridge. Placing it in the fridge section of stores is just brilliant marketing. Feel free to stick the soy milk where the light don't shine.

2. Bud - in contrast to Coors, which is not pasteurized and thus cold along every step, from bottling to shipment, to delivery (hopefully) I've always been somewhat aghast at the fact that Bud is as good with room temp as Nutrisystem. Not that either or a favorite beverage for me. :-) (yes, I am native to Golden, CO)

3. Road Kill - that is unless you've dressed it properly and salvaged the remaining good meat.

4. NutriSystem boxed meals - This is a mystery I don't really want the answer to. I'm not sure I could handle this truth. I know that beef jerky, and some cured meats, don't require refrigeration so maybe they're selling jerky burgers and such. 

5. Baseballs - unless of course you're on a Major League team where they're maintained in a giant chilled, humidor like fridge.

That's five. Runner-ups for the list included Twinkies (but we know these aren't food because bugs won't eat them), my PC (long story), Ted Williams head (that's on ice, thank goodness), non-dairy creamer...

What can you think of that doesn't belong in your fridge?

How to Restore, Revive, Renew and Reboot Your Energy

If you’re couch gets ripped or torn, you repair it. When you’re lawn or garden wilt, you revive it.

Do you treat your most precious resource—yourself—with anywhere near equal respect?

Congratulations if you do for most people don’t even come close to offering their body-minds the sort of attention they’d give their car.

I just ran across this ad from a local marketing expert (I found him reading his review of The Last Lecture… but that’s a story for another day).

This ad got me thinking about the importance of self-care and the single most overlooked aspect living a vibrant, healthy, fit life: Renewal.

Renewal, or rejuvenation, is the Yin to exercise and training’s Yang. It’s no less vital to your life energy and fitness than the exhale is to the inhale. In the absence of one, there other is not. 

This is why in Strength for Life the first move towards a life @ Full Strength is not one of action but inaction. It’s not to “do” but to “undo.” This reset is achieved through a simple, yet stunningly effective, 12-day Reboot for Body and Mind.

As I suspected, and the feedback has affirmed, this Reboot is the best, most vital first move towards any effective fitness pursuit, be it Transformation or a season of racing.

The black-hole where recovery would normally go is where the energy is escaping from our lives. It’s a hole you can’t plug with more coffee and sound you can not quiet without rest.

It’s the elephant in the room, the not-so-secret secret no one wants to talk about. Perhaps to mention it is to reconnect people with the limits of being human. Yet, choosing to pretend it’s not there, to continue to walk around it, makes all life many times more difficult.

As a result of ignoring your nature, cutting of your half that rests, we end up climbing harder and seeing fewer tangible results. It’s what’s making you crazy, driving you harder and killing your progress.

Ready to elevate your results—in fitness, relationships and life?

Revive your Strength and Energy with the the 12-Day Reboot from Strength for Life. In less than 2 short works you’ll feel more energy, more alive and better, stronger and clearer than you have in years—and be asking, “Shawn, why didn’t you tell me this a year ago?”

Harnessing The Weight Loss Power of a 3-Ring Circus

Failed your last diet attempt?
 
Tired of trying to lose those last 10 pounds?
 
Frustrated by your lack of discipline and motivation?
 
Can’t get the appetite under control? Feel like you’re in a constant struggle with yourself, like there’s two of you—one who wants to be lean and fit and the other who wants to eat deep fried cake for breakfast?
 
You’re struggles are over.
 
Now you can get the sort of rock solid, unshakable discipline that dieting will never provide, that only the most skilled experts in behavior modification can create.
 
Step up to the big time for real and lasting Transformation…
 
Hire your own personal Lion Tamer!
 
If you’re serious about making a change, a professional lion tamer will take you from struggling to freedom in a few short months.

Think about it.

Is there anyone in the world more skilled at behavior modification on a more critical stage? Failure for their profession is deadly so the shear fact that your trainer will be alive is nearly a guarantee you’ll achieve your desired results.

Sure, they’re not cheap but then there’s no price tag on your life, is there? Of course, you’ll deal with nominal public ridicule when your friends find out but hey, in a few months you’ll be the lean, fit one who can poke fun at their fat asses. 

And after they get a look at your amazing results you can bet they’re going to find a lion tamer of their own.

You’ll know when the time is right for you to give it a shot. I wouldn’t use the word desperation that’s just me—you can feel free to use it. And hey, if that doesn’t work you can always try the path to Nutritional Freedom.

Nutritional Freedom may not be as risky and exciting as having a live-in lion trainer but it's every bit as effective in helping you gain your freedom to eat the foods that are best for you the most.

If the Lion Tamer is too costly and perahps a little extreme, step up to the Full Strength 2-Week Challenge, and feel the energy and freedom, fast. Guaranteed. 

How to Build the Perfect Meal in a Nutrition Shake

I've been in the performance nutrition field for nearly 20 years now and that is inclusive of the invention of the very first ever nutrition shake--or "Meal replacement shake" if you prefer. I don't. Never have liked that term--sounds so technical.

As you might guess, I'm a fan of nutrition shakes. They've played a vital role in my life, and health, strength and fitness levels. I believe and rely on them. And I encourage others to do the same--to embrace the benefit of complete, balanced, integrated, convenient and hopefully delicious nutrition.

The down-side or challenge with this commitment to nutrition shakes is that there's a hell of lot more imitation nutrition shakes out there. Those profit focused people and companies that tell a story but can't back an ounce of truth up. In fact, they are more the norm than the exception.

As you might imagine my problem had become clear: How can I support a form of nutrition / food that is more crap them cream? I could not do it. A few years ago I was left without a decent quality, great tasting nutrition shake to either support or enjoy.

That's when I decided: If I can't find it, if not one else is willing to invest in excellence, I will make it. What began with the code name, "The $5 Nutrition Shake," in reference to my "nothing but the absolute best" approach, became Full Strength, without question the world's finest and only Premium Nutrition Shake.

It wasn't easy or fast. Over a million dollars and 12 months we're invested in the creation of a product that most companies toss together in a weekend but the results actually exceeded even my lofty expectations. It's a truly amazing, premium product that will have you feeling as great as it tastes in minutes, for hours.

And you don't have to just believe me--as I'm the character who created it. One of the world's most respected institutions for the research of nutrition and the human body, The University of Oklahoma, has confirmed Full Strength. In one of the most comprehensive studies ever done on a nutrition shake, Full Strength added to daily nutrition--with NO DIETING involved--produced stunning results in just 10 weeks.

The results of what has become to be known as "The Oklahoma Study" showed that in just 10 weeks, adding Full Strength every day (with no calorie restrictions) produced results rarely seen in performance supplement research, including:

• 83% Greater Weight Loss
• 66% Greater Body Fat Loss
• 55% Increase In Lean Muscle
• 44% Greater Energy Levels

        * In comparison to exercise alone.

And, so as to ease your mind, this is a study which has undergone the most rigorous of investigation prior to being published in two of the most prestigious (and discriminating) journals in nutrition.

To download the full study on Full Strength go here. Warning, this is a big-time real science study in publication--not the common pseudo science stuff that masquerades as clinical research for most.

If you'd like a quicker, easier look at the study results, you can check them out here, first.

In the midst of all the hocus-pocus that permeates the supplement business, all the infomercial junk and online trickery, there it has to be affirming that there is a company and people who are willing to make something real, something great and keep on fighting to make a real difference in your life.

Here's to Your Life @ Full Strength!

“It’s Not Your Fault!” The Joy and The Horror of These Powerful 4 Words

Dating back to before your earliest memories, these may well be the most soothing four words ever put in row.

“It’s not your fault”

Since you first felt them, they have been music to your soul.

Feel their power.  Repeat “It’s not your fault,” to yourself 3 times and feel the stress begin flow from your body.

Perhaps no four words in history of man have been the cause of more relief and more grief.

For there are certainly times in every life when we needed to hear these words and they were, without question, appropriate.

That time when you closed the car door and your baby sister was trying to get her hand out. Not your fault. No malice there.

The power in these words is magical and it’s just that magic that make them so damned insidious as we grow up. For regardless of whether you were hit from behind while waiting at a red light, or you got drunk and ran over a neighbor mail box, you still long to hear the magic words, “It’s not your fault.”

The child inside us wants desperately to be relieved of guilt and responsibility.

The good news is if you did run over the mailbox, drunk, it’s going to be pretty difficult to find the bigger idiot who will tell you that its not your fault. So, for the most part we’re safe.

But wait!

Along comes a clever marketing genius who recognizes this needy child inside each of us and “Shazaam!!,” the era of “It’s not your fault” marketing is born.

You’re bankrupt, and it’s not your fault.

“Your fat like a circus elephant, but hey, it’s not your fault.”

To which the inner child, goes, “Phew… thank goodness! I was starting to suspect I might be involved.”

I imagine there is actually relief when some nice looking spokeswomen assures you that the only reason you accidentally became 187 lbs overweight is you didn’t know not to eat 38 dozen Twinkies and drink a 12 pack of Pepsi a day.

Seems the science came in and no one told you! Oh! Those bad, mean people.

Actually, they’d tell you something more like it's the air mixing with protons in your vegetables skin that's causing fat cells to accumulate. Or that it’s all cortisol causing it (which isn’t true by the way).

But wait, the fact that people use and abuse these magic words to entice you to buy things—while less than noble in my book—is not the most serious problem.

The Real Serious Problem with “Not Your Fault” Thinking

When you, I or anyone wants to desperately to be relieved of guilt that we buy into “It’s not your fault” when it—even partially—is, there’s something much more devastating happening here than the loss of a few bucks.

Think back to a time when these words were used appropriately in your life. To a time when the event, the slip, the slide the crash, really wasn’t your fault.

What was the real message being told to you?

“It’s not your fault.” = You had no control in the matter.

In fact, you couldn’t and shouldn’t have even done anything about it. It’s was not and is not within your power.

See it? Do you see the frightening message your not just hearing but your buying into when you accept this death sentence of your personal power?

Let me see if I can make it any more crystal…

When you buy into the belief, concept, excuse that “It’s not your fault” that you’re out of shape, broke or whatever it is, you’re not just releasing guilt your releasing all your power.

You’re accepting the ultimate victim role and have effectively neutered any power, control or influence you may have had going forward in the situation.

If it’s not your fault your 20 pounds overweight, and you believe that. How can you do anything about it.

Now get that I’m not talking about what your mind—as you know it—for your thinking mind may want to argue this.

I’m talking about what the message, the directive that your subconscious—the core that drives you—is following.

It takes but a few minutes of study on the power of suggestion, the strength of your subconscious mind and belief system to know that it’s far more powerful than all the willpower and discipline you could muster for a ten minute sprint.

My advice to you: Next time someone tries to lull you to sleep with these four magic words, you stand up and yell at the TV man or woman: 

“Your wrong! You are wrong!”

“I am at this precise point in my life because of the choices I’ve made so far. My successes and my failures are of my own doing. And I know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that I have the power to create my life exactly the way I want it to be.”

So there!

Take that Mr. marketing wiz!