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.

AM Cardio on an Emptry Stomach: True or False [FAQ]

I received a question today from one of my Inner Circle members, Steve. He asked about the rational--whether he should be doing cardio on an empty stomach in the AM or not?

Here's Steve's Question:

Is there a way to ask Shawn a brief question? I want to know if he would recommend eating a snack prior to morning workouts. In ABSolution, he recommended an empty stomach.

Is this still his philosophy?

Thanks for all your help and Happy New Year!

Steve...

My answer in audio follows:

The short version for text answer is...

Yes! I still believe it to be an advantage for fat-burning. It's admittedly over-hyped, like most similar advantages but it does help burn a greater percentage of calories from fat.

I think Tom Venuto has done a masterful job of supporting my argument here.

The one thing, as you'll hear in the audio FAQ, I suggest (and practice) eating something before a morning strength workout and going into cardio on "E"mpty.

Without the 150-200 calorie snack before a Strength workout you'll lose strength and intensity and your workout will suffer too much.

Hope this helps!

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. 

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?

Red-Hot Fat-Loss, Literally!

Get Ready for a Hot, Spicy Bowl of Weight-Loss Coming Your Way Soon.

In the continuing search for the weight-loss magic-bullet, a New Study suggests that the compound that gives red pepper it’s signature heat, capsaicin, may help prevent diabetes like symptoms in obese people.

“Our data suggest that dietary capsaicin may reduce obesity-induced glucose intolerance by not only suppressing inflammatory responses but also enhancing fatty acid oxidation in adipose tissue and/or liver, both of which are important peripheral tissues affecting insulin resistance,” wrote the researchers, led by Rina Yu from The University of Ulsan in South Korea.

With the latest reports indicating over 300 million obese adults worldwide, and over 25% of the US population, the market potential for drugs and nutritionals interventions which can lessen the damaging impact of obesity related inflammation disorders, which include  type-2 diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance and liver disease is, for lack of a better word, enormous.

What does this mean to you?
For starters, expect to see a radical increase in the use and marketing of “natural red chilly pepper” (aka capsaicin) in weight-loss supplements. It’s the sort of natural ingredient that can create good traction in the minds of people because it’s “natural” and the connection to “heat” or being “red hot” plays on the strong correlation we have with “burning” away fat; however inaccurate this connection is.

You can also expect to see the miracle red-pepper power leak into food positioning, with an added emphasis on anything even remotely spicy, like chili. Yes, I think you’re likely to see, if not a full-on “chili weight loss diet,” a strong hint that eating chili (and similar foods) is conducive to weight loss.

All this will occur even though this study was not about weight-loss nor done in humans. It was a mice study and the results have not recreated in humans.

My Advice on How to Apply This…
I’m sharing this for both your entertainment and to strengthen your “marketing deflector shield” for the onslaught which is likely to follow. I find that more informed means more rational and less likely to be caught in the trap of a skillful marketer.

As for red-hot peppers, I like spicy food—especially after a “big night out” or when I have a cold—and I’m prone to believe there is something in red peppers that’s good for us. Just the same, I really doubt that eating a load of dried rep-pepper extract is going to lead to radical weight loss or instant good health.

My advice for overcoming or resisting excess body fat is to eat well, exercise and create a powerful, life enhancing relationship with food. Diets may be necessary along with various levels of intervention along the way. A Lifestyle, the ultimate destination for us all, is earned not purchased.

More Facts About Red Chili Extract  
Used in folk medicine as a remedy for rheumatism for centuries, capsaicin intake has been linked to inhibiting the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, as well as a growing body of science suggesting it may cut fat and energy intake when added to the diet. Some experts recommend caution, however, as high intake of hot chilies has been linked with increased risk of stomach cancers in the populations of India and Mexico.

The Risk of Healthy Living... See, I told you so.

I belong to the international group called, EO, which conveniently stands for Entrepreneurs Organization. You may have heard of it in it's previous life as Y-EO, when we were all Young enough to carry that title. Fortunately for me, and many of my peers, they figured out that entrepreneurism is not something one out grows with age.

As a part of this cool, rather elite, group of entrepreneurs around the globe, I get invited to some great events, most live... some virtual.

Well, today I received an invite to a health summit of sort. "Okay. Cool... Health." I'm thinking when I open up the invite. 

Here's what it says, verbatim:

On 21 April 2009 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, EO members have an exclusive opportunity to learn from Susan Locke, M.D., the medical director for the Healthnetwork Foundation. Susan will facilitate a Webinar on the importance of health screening for prevention and early detection of disease.

Dr. Locke will outline ways to modify your lifestyle to decrease your risk of developing cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. She will also discuss the importance of scheduled diagnostic tests as a means to detect subtle health issues before they become severe health issues. 

Well, gee... That all sounds nice, right?

I think it's wise to detect a disease early and I'm big on prevention. But what caught my attention was just how "disease centric" the entire thing is. It is precisely the way modern, western medicine has arisen and the way we've all been taught to think, in terms of managing or avoiding disease.

It's as if disease is a big steel pole and we're all on a rope spinning around it. It's only a matter of time before that rope gets short and we go "bonk."

This is precisely the focus of Chapter One in Strength for Life, the dangerous dance with health, which most people define precisely the way Webster's does, "the absence of disease."

As a result we have a life centered around and driven by illness vs. health and as a result health becomes--literally--the absence of illness rather than the presence of vibrancy, of life, of energy, of joy.

And don't think this is simple semantics--it's a lot more than that. I'm talking to you about the way we really work, the stuff that is really driving you towards or away from... you can not be compelled towards a vision of health when it's defined in your psyche as "not being sick."

That's a "running from" not a "running towards" goal.

I encourage you, as I do everyone I meet, to reassess what health means to you. Define what it feels like, looks like and how amazing you want to live. Be intentional about it. And

The vision and word I point to is, "Strength."Not simply a physical capacity...

Strength is an abundance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy--the capacity to make a contribution in this life and world. It's inclusive of health and so much more...

Here's to your Life @ Full Strength!