Break Out Of Your Shell

It is still Easter week, so we are constantly reminded of resurrection. Resurrection in the religious sense, yes, but also how it applies to us. Last night, I received an email from a co-worker who had fairly recently contacted me regarding how he may be able to get healthy and fit, but he hasn't done anything with the recommendations and/or offers of support I extended him. So in last night's email, he asked me a follow-up question regarding a product recommendation, and I was surprised but excited that he is taking another step towards ultimately deciding to commit to his health and progress with a home fitness solution. At work today, he mentioned that in church on Easter, he was reminded of resurrection, and he thought of himself and how he should resurrect his health! This is a great thing! Apply what we are learning in our religions in our daily lives! This is really the point, isn't it? I mean, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may learn to sacrifice. And he was resurrected so that we may learn from the promise of a new day! Hallelujah!

Earlier this evening, I was watching a recorded show called "Life", a nature series narrated by Oprah Winfrey. In this particular show, they were showing spider crabs and how they travel to a particular location to molt and mate once a year. These crabs need to do this because they have been growing larger and more importantly, have been growing a larger shell underneath their current one. So they will actually crawl backwards out of their current shell and leave it behind! This shell will eventually harden and become their new body and they will return to the deep and continue on with their new life! I found this is a metaphor for what we need to figure out how to do to resurrect ourselves and our health. We are living and growing inside day to day, and there comes a time when you will feel it is time to make a change. This is the time when you need to crawl out of that protective shell you have known in the past. Break out of your current shells and learn how to grow in health, in wealth, in life. Think about this. I am here for support and coaching when you are ready, and if you are already on your way, KEEP PRESSING PLAY and keep developing new shells! Thanks for reading everyone!

Rise and Shine

Happy Easter! I've been up already for a while, and my mind has been buzzing so I couldn't fall back to sleep. Last night, my family and I watched "The Blind Side" while eating dinner. This was an amazing true story of courage, faith, compassion, sacrifice, and love. If you want to find out what the movie was based on or a synopsis, look it up or rent it today. I don't want to get into the details of the movie, but I do want to talk a bit about the words I just mentioned.

Courage. Faith. Compassion. Sacrifice. Love. Powerful qualities to have, don't you think? As we are in a new Easter season, we are faced with the story of Jesus and how he possessed these qualities. One of the most difficult things to do is to maintain these things in our lives, and live their meanings. It is even harder to maintain love, for example, for those who would mock or persecute us. It is hard to love people who don't show us love. It is hard to show compassion for people who don't show us compassion. It is very difficult to maintain faith and courage when it seems that hope is all but lost. And it is extremely difficult to sacrifice things that we have gotten accustomed to, or to sacrifice something we would want for the sake of someone else, especially when we might never be recognized. But doing the right things are definitely more often than not the harder things. And when we start doing these things we will learn. We will learn not only how to live these qualities, but we will learn so much more about what is in us and we might see the love God shows us through our love to others. This can be so powerful in our lives. Remember that when we face tough times, there are people who have it better than us. But there are also countless others, even more, that have it so much worse than we do. We must consider ourselves blessed to be in a position to learn humility and courage in our tough times so that we may show others how to do the same.

Easter. A time of reflection. A time of promise. A time of rebirth. It is time that we rethink our situations. Analyze where we are now in our lives, in this year, in this week. Let's make a commitment to improve. To not aim to be perfect, but maybe to try to live better. Let's make a commitment to learn more each day and to value each day as a new promise for the future. When we start to see the opportunities amidst the difficulty, we will see brighter sunrises, clearer skies, and our eyes might be opened up to newer more colorful colors in a wider spectrum. Good morning everyone. Happy Easter. RISE AND SHINE!! Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a blessed day!

Nutrition: An Introduction

Today's Power Call begins a series on nutrition. Nutrition is the most popular subject I get asked about, and admittedly, it is an everyday challenge and progressive education even for the most disciplined and knowledgeable athletes. Below is the player for the call. Please listen in and contact me with a nutritional topic or question you'd like to hear in an upcoming call. Thanks for reading and listening!

Great Friday

Today went extraordinarily well for me. It was a lovely day outside, for one. 80's in April in Chicago? Sunny? And I got off work an hour and a half early? I came home, had an awesome INSANITY workout, got all the grocery shopping done for the day, and was on time to pick up my wife and bring her home. That's the shortened version, anyway, but I did reflect on the significance of this Friday. Good Friday. One of the most significant if not the most significant day in Christianity. This is the day Christ made the ultimate sacrifice so that I might learn how to sacrifice. How blessed we are to have such an example to live by. I do want to tie this in to fitness and health, so I will. If there is ever a time where you ever think you can't prioritize your health because you can't make a sacrifice for it, think about today and what it means. Think about what you would sacrifice for the sake of the ones who love and care about you. If you can't do it for yourself, do it for them. So, for today and every day, reflect on the sacrifices you need to make and keep making and remember that someone has always made greater sacrifices. Whether you believe that person to be Jesus or someone else influential in your life, it is important that we remember. Have a good...Great Friday! Thanks for reading everyone!

Knock Knock.

I have mentioned in a previous blog about what Jim Rone said in one of his speeches: "...life gives you difficulty mixed with opportunity..." I'd also like to point out that it is more often than not that a great leader rises when he/she is faced with almost overbearing difficulty. I surely can say that my life changed when I faced one of the most difficult times in my adult life so far. And many others have done the same. Think of it as "fight or flight" in a much grander sense. Today, one of my friends, and a truly inspirational and spiritual individual, Jason, told me that he had recently lost his job among gaining weight back that he had recently worked to lose, and so on. We texted back and forth, but we both agree that now is the time, when faced with such adversity and humility, that he must become the man he's always wanted to be. Before, he had good spirits about this, and he is a born leader, but now I truly believe, though losing his job was not intentional or an immediately positive thing, that he will be able to clear his mind and commit his whole self to succeeding in his fitness and health goals. Further, he will join my team as a coach, and will be able to commit to creating and sharing his success, and helping others achieve their goals, and together, we will be partners in success.

As with myself and the rest of my team, we do not push products or manipulate individuals. We work to identify needs and help our trainees and future coaches to conquer their obstacles and shatter their goals, and the process is repeated. I feel that I could be like many trainers and simply formulate a program, meet with individuals, and instruct them on what to do. However, by showing someone a program and having them follow this, teaching them about nutrition and fitness, and why they do or don't do certain things, and helping them develop as a person more than anything else, they become empowered and are able to become leaders. I figure the best way to become a great leader is to develop great leaders. And that is exactly what I intend to do. I feel like a crusader of sorts, and I really don't care if you who read this think that sounds cheesy. I truly believe it. I am done with pretension, and I choose to put myself out there. Yes, I may get hurt. Yes, I may be willing to offer more of myself to others than they deserve or intend to offer me. But to those that accept and appreciate it, our victories and achievements will be well worth it. Stop building someone else's dream and start realizing yours! Please contact me about coaching and make a difference and build wealth for yourself while you help others. "It is never to late to start; it's always too late to wait." Listen for the door, people. Opportunity is knocking. Knock, knock. Thanks for reading everyone!