Physical Education, SEL, and Leadership: A Call to Action

The Big Idea: There has been a flood of research confirming the benefits of social and emotional learning (SEL) for developing the whole child - including the enhancement of academic skills and the ability to make better decisions. The emerging connection between SEL and leadership coupled with the leadership development opportunities students experience in PE present Physical Education Teachers with a unique opportunity to take the lead in their schools and districts. 

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), good SEL skills can be developed in schools and classrooms in a number of ways, including the intentional design and development of leadership experiences. This comes at a time when leaders in education and the business community do not think we are doing enough to provide kids with experiences that foster the development of skills they need to take the lead in their lives and work.

CASEL and other researchers have found that providing opportunities for students to take the lead in their schoolwork, activities, and interactions helps them to develop individual and social skills that are increasingly in demand - for good reason. In the workplace, SEL has proven to be far more predictive than IQ for every marker of success studied.  Developing core competencies for SEL including the foundational elements of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making are beneficial for students in school now and over time as they move beyond their formal education to work.

The Case for Taking the Lead: This article outlines the case for an important new role for the physical educator in taking the lead in developing SEL and leadership and makes the case for more physical education and active play in our educational system. The nation's response to the Covid-19 pandemic is significantly impacting tax revenues and putting additional pressure on an already strapped education system. Administrators will be forced further to make tough choices which will inevitably lead to further cutbacks in programming deemed non-essential to improving academic performance.

In many school districts physical education has been a target of cutbacks. One approach to ensuring physical education survives and thrives is to leverage the unique role PE and PE teachers play in the lives of students through the intentional development of SEL and leadership and the integration of leadership language, process, and skills in everyday PE activities. Providing the context and connection, students can further apply their skills learned in PE to their work in other classes, at home, and in their community.  

An Opportunity: Schools tend to lack a coordinated plan for integrating SEL and leadership development across classes, grades, departments, and districts. As such, teachers who step up with a comprehensive understanding, concrete strategies, and tactics for moving forward, and a willingness to serve as a resource to their colleagues are positioned to make a significant contribution and will be highly valued. Having seen this approach at work firsthand, I believe physical educators are ideally positioned to take the lead in this important role. It is a natural fit.

The Benefits of Leadership:  When students are provided with opportunities to develop skills and to frame challenges as opportunities to take the lead, they experience greater agency and initiative. The experience of taking the lead instills confidence and connects children to the skills they are developing to solve problems creatively and collaboratively across classes, subjects, and grades. As their confidence in their ability to take positive and productive action to make things happen grows and develops over time, they build the responsibility, resilience, and resourcefulness they need to take the lead in their own lives and in their work.

While you may not find the word leadership in the early learning standards, many states have addressed leadership in their standards in the social-emotional section. Key phrases that relate to leadership are “self-confidence”, “problem solving”, “pro-social,” and “makes independent decisions and choices.” For example, early learning standards for social and emotional development skills for children include “know and state independent thoughts and feelings” and “participate in new experiences with confidence and independence”.

START Leadership: Laurie Bodine the founder of START-Leadership  a San Francisco based education and leadership training company has shown that when teachers work with students to intentionally develop what she calls the leadership mindset, students demonstrate gains in every metric of preparedness and wellbeing. She states

"In our primary research and that of scores of others, we find that the kids who fare best in preparedness and well-being have had parents and teachers who create the time, space, guidance, and opportunities for them to discover, practice, and intentionally develop their leadership skills and abilities in many areas over many years."

With this approach, students become mentally primed and able to approach and take on challenges, respond productively to feedback, adopt effective problem-solving strategies, be diligent and persistent in seeking to accomplish goals, increase their competence, and engage in deep-level learning strategies. They are also more adaptable, able to cooperate, and have been shown to perform at a higher level.

A Call to Action: According to the research from experts in every field, the debate about whether leaders are born or made is over. All children are born with the potential to develop a wide range of leadership skills over a lifetime. As adults, we have the opportunity to model, teach and reinforce the development of skills kids need to take the lead in their work and to assume leadership roles - now and in the future.  If you’ve stayed with me on this and see the potential this opportunity presents to you in your school, district, or region, I invite you to connect and to learn more about how you can take the lead in implementing and championing this work.

Active Aging - The Case for a Holistic Approach to Fitness

Over the years I have dabbled in many different challenges and approaches to fitness from bodybuilding to triathlon. When I was young, I played all the sports I could, hockey, soccer, baseball, football and rugby. We had many children in our neighborhood and we were always outside playing pickup sports, building go-carts and forts, going for day long hikes and reveling in outdoor activity. I remember when my sister and I jumped into the Scugog river at my grandparent’s farm and swam 3 miles into Lindsay. I was 12 and Karen was 9 at the time. I still remember how excited we were to tell our parents, who didn't bat an eye except to say we should be careful when swimming by the pump house as we could have been sucked into their intake valve. Yikes, how times have changed! Today my parents would probably be charged with child neglect.

When doing track and field in high school I attempted everything from sprints to the pole vault, never becoming great at any one thing but finding joy in exploring the diversity of the events. When I wrestled in high school, I was surrounded by like minded athletes that were looking to push boundaries and we added weight lifting, circuit training and running to our workouts. I ran my first long distance run during a "walkathon" fundraiser with some of my friends, when we decided to see if we could run the full distance (26 miles) from my home town of Lindsay Ontario to Peterborough. Needless to say, we were not prepared for this and I remember completing the run, heading home for a good soak in the tub. then embarrassingly having to be lifted out by my father after my legs locked up.

These foundational experiences led me to many enjoyable years working in the fitness industry throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and South Africa. Over the years I have gone through periods of inactivity and poor nutritional choices but since entering my 60s I have returned to embracing the variety and fun of physical activity that I enjoyed earlier in my life and committed to eating a healthy diet. I have always loved exploring different training methods and now as I enter my 67th year I feel more energized and ready to take on new challenges than ever. (Below, left at 32 years and right photo at 66 years)

My next mission in life is to root out ageism by embracing aging with vitality through a more holistic approach to exercise, to encourage others to take charge of their health and to share the best practices and experiences of those who are reinventing aging. I see aging not as lost youth but as a new stage of opportunity and strength. I believe embracing a wide variety of physical and mental challenges is the most effective way to ensure brain plasticity and is foundational for healthy aging.

Fitness takes on a whole new meaning, however, when viewed in a holistic manner. Holistic fitness connects your mind to individual parts of your body through conscious movement patterns that energize you, repair and strengthen your body, and help you take control of your life. It recharges your ‘inner battery’ through conscious communication between your mind, body, and spirit, and promotes mastery of your inner self.

When you understand fitness in this context – total integration of mind, body, and spirit – it takes on a whole new meaning. Fitness becomes a way-of-life instead of something you have to do. You create the energy and mindset to eat well, exercise, deal with stress, and get things done. Lasting, sustainable habits replace the yo-yo syndrome. When this happens, you can achieve total wellbeing.

Aging affects all of us differently and my challenge has become a lack of mobility and flexibility especially in my hips and lower back. I have added mobility training to my workouts and recently decided to begin a focus on yoga as a way to re-engage the range of motion in my hips and lower back. This is pushing me outside my zone of comfort, but I see it as a positive challenge that will provide substantial anti-aging benefits. It has fueled my belief that we need to embrace in a wide range of physical activities to help keep us fully engaged with life.

Do you workout at the gym regularly but still feel stiff and inflexible? Or do you practice yoga but lack muscle strength and definition? Are you looking for a way to achieve a stronger, leaner and more supple body and a calmer more peaceful mind? If so I would suggest trying a more holistic approach to fitness that includes strength training, high intensity interval training (HIIT), some steady state cardio, yoga, mobility, meditation and nutrition.

Nutrition is a deeply personal choice and there is much controversy over what constitutes a healthy diet. I encourage you to be mindful of your choices and eat in a way that supports a healthy planet. Try to eat local, seasonal and organic fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. If you eat meat, poultry and fish avoid factory farmed versions and choose pastured meats, wild fish and free range poultry. Avoid processed foods and oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, trans fats and empty carbohydrates.

Mindfulness - Traditionally there has been a split in the fitness scene between the yoga and gym worlds. We still tend to migrate towards those activities we feel most comfortable with, whether it's running, weight training or yoga. I suggest you break out of your comfort zones and explore different aspects of your mind-body connection, even try adding meditation and mindfulness practices to your weekly routines. Practicing mindfulness is a critical part of awakening your consciousness, so that you’re able to make good decisions and work toward filling your time with the things you actually care about.

Significantly reduce your medications by working with your doctor in deprescribing (carefully and intelligently reducing and often eliminating drugs). One of the benefits that exercise, and better nutrition provides is a reduced need for medications. The statistics are staggering. Forty percent of those over 85 in the US and Canada are taking at least 10 medications. Two-thirds of those over 65 are taking at least five medications. That's a lot of drugs, and while many modern pharmaceuticals are helpful, life improving and life extending, physicians are recognizing that when it comes to drugs and the elderly, there is such a thing as too much. There's increasing recognition that while drugs are helping the elderly, overprescribing leads to negative drug interactions, overdoses, and overmedication as people end up taking drugs well after the problem they were taking them for has been resolved.  

The trick is to take small steps every single day when working toward your health and fitness goals. The last thing you want to do is to overwhelm yourself with too much to do, or worse yet, a much-too-big picture goal that leaves you not knowing where to even start. By focusing on small chunks of progress at a time, you’ll feel more accomplished, more confident and more willing to continue trying.

It is important to embrace a growth mindset by embracing challenges. When chasing any challenge or goal with a growth mindset, you need to seek those pitfalls and look forward to “failures” or pain points because hidden in those trying times and those annoying experiences is a treasure of growth and learning. We all have fears, and avoid challenges because of our fears, but if you can shoot straight for the challenges and seek them out, this will change everything.

Three important tips on developing a growth mindset:

• Focus on the process
• Seek constructive criticism
• Stop seeking approval

Closing Thoughts - Raise Your Standards

Let's begin today to combat ageism by changing our attitudes and taking control of our health.

Tony Robbins put it succinctly: "If you want to change your life you have to raise your standards."

By being proactive and taking preventative measures in preparing for your aging self, you’re already on the path to raising your standards. You’re helping to shift our culture to uproot ageism by taking care of your future self and setting an example for the people around you.

Yes, You Can Get Take Control of Your Health after 60

6 Steps to a complete health transformation.

Break free of obesity, chronic pain and fatigue. Begin today by embracing lifestyle choices that put you in charge of your health.

Step 1 – Diet – Eliminate inflammatory foods.

It all begins here, you can’t outwork or outsmart a bad diet. How we react to food is mostly dependent on our inherited genes. Our journey to optimum health begins by determining how we respond to the foods we eat. I suggest beginning with the Whole30 program. This plan requires the elimination of inflammatory foods for 30 days and then asks you to carefully re-introduce them to see which ones initiate an inflammatory response.

Here are eight common indication that someone may have a chronic inflammatory condition:

• Body pain, especially in the joint
• Skin rashes, such as eczema or psoriasis
• Excessive mucus production (ie, always needing to clear your throat or blow your nose)
• Low Energy, despite sufficient sleep
• Poor digestion, including bloating, abdominal pain, constipation and loose stools
• Spare Tire around your waist - cardiovascular medicine experts call belly fat a "hotbed" of inflammation.
• High blood glucose levels
• Puffy face and bags under your eyes.

Some of you will be able to handle the reintroduction of dairy, nightshades, legumes and grains others will not. Rule of thumb is to minimize processed foods and sugar, try to eat local, seasonal and organic vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, pastured meats, free range poultry and wild fish.

Primal Food Pyramid

Step 2 – Exercise Add a couple of sessions of moderately high intensity interval training (HIIT) to your weekly fitness plan. This is exercising that gets your heart rate up to over 80% of the maximum heart rate for your age for short periods followed by recovery intervals. It’s best to utilize a variety of movements that engage multiple muscles and mobility for best overall health and fitness results.

Amazing benefits of HIIT of training:

• Increased V02 (improved cardio-respiratory fitness – your heart fitness score) 
• Decreased Systolic and Diastolic Pressure 
• Increased High Density Lipoproteins 
• Decreased Triglycerides and fasting blood glucose 
• Decreased Oxidative Stress and Inflammation o Increased Adiponectin, insulin sensitivity 
• Increased PGC-1 alpha (key regulator of energy metabolism) 
• Increase in the maximal rate of Ca2 re-uptake o Increased availability of Nitric Oxide 
• Improved Cardiac Function o Improved Enjoyment of Exercise 
• Improved Quality of Life 

Move more:  Get out and go for a walk with your spouse or take the grandkids on a hike, anything that gets you out of the house and into the fresh air. Fresh air and sunshine have numerous health benefits for us all. ... Fresh air and sunshine can help seniors fight common aging challenges as well. Spending time outdoors lifts our spirits, warding off feelings of loneliness, isolation and depression

Lift something heavy – Strength train at least twice a week.

After 60, you can lose 3 percent of your muscle mass a year, which comes out to about 4.5 pounds of muscle strength per year. Strength training helps you regain the muscle you lost and helps your cells remain younger since exercise slows cell aging. Exercise doesn’t just make you feel younger, it may turn off the aging process in your chromosomes.

The Benefits of Strength Training

• Reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, back pain, and depression. 
• Help you manage your weight. 
• Improve your balance. 
• Help you sleep better. 
• Improve glucose control. 
• Increase strength and muscle mass while raising metabolism. 
• Promote more independence as you get older 

Step 3 – Meditation and Yoga - Research has shown that meditation and yoga for seniors, which combine meditative discipline and a purposeful flexing of muscle groups, can improve digestive health, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve sleep patterns, and alleviate feelings of depression.

Step 4 – Get Engaged Socially

Tips for Improving Social Engagement

• Cultivate social connections with people of different ages, including younger people.
• Join a club or take a class to meet new people.
• Visit, call, or email regularly with relatives, friends, and neighbors.
• Volunteer, or visit a lonely neighbor or friend.

Benefits of Social Engagement

• Improves physical health. Another benefit of being socially active is that in many instances it correlates to keeping you physically active as well. Seniors who have a higher level of social relationships are more motivated to maintain good physical health as opposed to their less socially engaged peers. This can lead to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk for some cardiovascular problems, arthritis and some cancers, not to mention improve nutrition and boost the immune system, as we tend to eat more in social settings. 
• Increases longevity. Research from the Assisted Living Federation of America showed that seniors that were more active socially were more likely to live past the age of 90, and on average lived 5.4 years longer than those who were less engaged. This can be linked to the increased physical and mental stimulation that seniors with more active social lives enjoy. 
• Avoiding isolation and loneliness. According to studies, seniors who are engaged in regular social activities reported higher self-perception and lower levels of loneliness. In fact, research has shown that socially isolated seniors are more likely to develop long-term illnesses such as arthritis, chronic lung disease, impaired mobility and depression. 
• Creates a sense of belonging. Along with the many health benefits, staying socially active can give seniors a sense of belonging and make them feel more connected to the world. Participating in group activities and conversations allows seniors to create a support system as they age.

Energize your Life! Get motivated to take charge of your energy and your life.

It’s all about energy. The reason we encourage people to improve their fitness and nutritional habits is because we believe doing so provides the foundation needed for Peak Performance.

The more fit and healthy you are the more energy you have available to engage in work and enjoy being active during your off hours. Quite simply, more energy contributes significantly to a better quality of life.

An energetic person has the intensity, the persistence and the prolonged stamina to accomplish long-term goals. This kind of energy involves an observable determination that is always present -- a constant striving to accomplish whatever it is the person is trying to achieve. It stems from a single strong belief in what the person is attempting to accomplish and a passionate commitment to do it.

To get more energy you have to produce it. If you find yourself complaining that you don’t seem to have enough energy to do your job properly, to work-out or to spend quality time having fun with your friends and family then it’s time to do something about it. You’re just putting gas on the fire if you plop yourself on the couch when you get home from work.

Your body loves to do nothing. Then it doesn’t have to work so hard. That means you don’t burn as many calories. That means you have a hard time losing weight. That means you gain body fat. That means loss of lean muscle and that means NO ENERGY.

You need to force your body out of your comfort zone. Yes, if you’re particularly low in energy it is critical for you to get off your duff and get moving. Yes, there is the initial stage of effort even to just go for a 5, 10 or 20 minute walk.

But it get easier, you must know that. Even after a few workouts, you’ll easily notice an increase in your energy levels.

Strength training makes you stronger, so you can do more tasks without undue muscle fatigue. Aerobic exercises condition your heart and lungs delivery nutrient rich blood to working muscles and organs and don’t forget sound nutrition. The right balance of nutrients, at the right times, in the right amounts gives you the fuel to function at your absolute best every day.

But high energy won’t be handed to you on a silver platter. You need to go and make it happen!

Energy is a required element for a Successful Life

I believe your attitude and frame of mind can be greatly impacted by your level of energy. Remember everything you do is contagious. If you are discouraged, pessimistic, or lacking in energy, people will feel it. Conversely, when you are upbeat, energetic, and optimistic, people also feel it. It will have an effect on your family, friends and fellow employee and help you generate the life outcomes you hope to create.

Those seeking Peak Performance don’t leave their energy level to chance. They are intentional about creating it.

Tips To Have More Positive Energy

Simplify your life. The first step in achieving more positive energy in your life is to simplify your life. Many of us are charging so hard after so many things that we tend to get negative when those things don't happen immediately. Slow down, take a look at the next experience that you want to manifest and how can you get there. Then, look to simplify your life. Get rid of the clutter, the mental things and the physical things that you're holding onto. Release the things that are holding you back. I know this can be challenging but in order to have more positive energy in your life you need to create that space. 

You can make a choice. Understand it is your choice to either be positive or negative. It is not what other people do to you; you are allowing them to make you feel a certain way. Only you can make that decision. If other people are pushing your buttons, you are allowing them to be pushed. Make the decision to be positive today, and start in this moment.

Have a self-improvement plan.  It is critical that you have a self-improvement plan. What are you working on currently that will take you to the next level? The key is to make sure you're growing and moving forward.  I would suggest that you have a few things that you're working on for pleasure or for wealth attainment that are going to help you move forward.

Learn to say no. It is important to be able to say no. This can be extremely challenging when you're at work or you’re building a business. There's nothing that will hold you back than having too many projects going on at any one time and then taking on something new when somebody asks you. Manage your project’s improvement and overall productivity by making sure you don't have too many things going on at any one time. This will keep you more positive and give you more energy. It is okay to say no.

Stay present. In order to stay positive you cannot live in the past or the future. Many people are stuck in a mindset where they are thinking about what is going to happen in the future, or they can't move past the past. The power is in this present moment. Be mindful and stay focused.

Get proper nutrition and exercise. In order to have positive energy you have to exercise and get the proper nutrition. It’s important to take time to make sure every meal is a spiritual and healthy meal. Remember using energy creates energy, that means when you move and exercise you start to feel more energy. Starting today, make sure you're on the plan to eat right and exercise.

Take physical and mental breaks. You can't run 100% all the time. You need to make sure you're taking breaks physically and mentally.

It’s important to remember you can change your life by changing your attitude - decide to be energetic. This is huge. Unless you are ill, you can be more energetic by simply acting more energetic. I am always surprised at how my emotions follow my body. If I walk faster, sit on the edge of my seat, and smile, I will eventually feel more energetic.

Your energy level will have a big impact on those people in your life who are important to you whether it’s your fellow employees, friends or family. The good news is that you can be more energetic and set a positive example by becoming more aware and intentional about developing it.

Decide today to take charge of your health and your attitude and begin living a life of energy. Become an energetic, impatient optimist and help change the world.

Energy Index – How much energy do you have available for Peak Performance?

An exciting new way of interpreting Fitness Test Results

At Peak Performance we are always on the lookout for cutting edge ideas that help you take charge of and improve your life.

We believe the foundation of a healthy lifestyle begins with an effective fitness program and always recommend starting out on your fitness journey with a fitness assessment that determines your starting point and measures the success of your fitness and nutritional programs.

However the fitness test result numbers produced by most assessments are sometimes difficult to interpret and it’s often a challenge to understand how they relate to your overall health.

That’s why we were intrigued by a new algorithm for fitness test results developed by Laturi Corporation a Finnish Company that specializes in Fitness Assessments for the corporate wellness market.

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Their approach is to provide a quick, accurate and informative fitness assessment that provides individual employees with their personal Energy Index - an estimate of the amount of hours of peak performance energy they have in their energy bank for the day.

Energy Index indicates the amount of time during which you can experience your peak energy output.

The Energy Test provides information about your health and your body’s potential performance. The overall test is comprised of easy to perform subtests that include a fitness assessment, a wellness questionnaire and biometric data. These subtests reliably estimate different health risks and provide meaningful results for people of all fitness levels.

The maximum Energy Index result is 16 hours. Of this, about eight hours is spent at work, and the remaining eight hours remains for free time. If your Energy Index Fitness Test results indicates an Energy Index of between 4 and 6 hours you will have trouble providing peak performance during your eight hours of work and most certainly have little energy left over for your free time.

My Energy Index – 12 Hours 5 Minutes of energy available for Peak Performance

For information on the Energy Index test for you or your company feel free to shoot me an email and I will send you some information. (johnsaville21@gmail.com)

It's a New Year - Commit to Quit Wasting Time and Get in Shape!

It’s amazing to me how many people waste time at the gym.

There’s a Rolling Stones song about having time on your side. And there are a lot of people who treat working out as though they have all the time in the world.

If you’re independently wealthy and can afford to take your time while working out because you don’t need to go to an actual job, great, but most of us are busy people. In fact, I’ve read several surveys about reasons for not working out, and No. 1 on the list always seems to be “lack of time.”

There is merit in being efficient in the gym. First off, it gives you time for other, non-gym stuff in life, and most importantly breeds greater mental intensity. You know that when you’re on a tight schedule, you need to kick some ass, so you do.

Personally, I am never in the gym for more than 60 minutes max and that includes having a shower. It’s interesting to observe people who practically live in the gym, spend several hours “working out” and yet they never seem to improve.

I get that social support is great for fitness motivation, but if you’re constantly chatting, it really distracts you from the task at hand: working out. What’s more, it’s important to time your rest breaks between sets appropriately: short breaks for endurance lifting (+12 reps), medium length breaks for hypertrophy (6-12 reps) and longer breaks for strength focused work (<6 reps). If you’re gabbing away all the time, you may end up taking longer breaks than necessary and doing less overall work in the gym.

For me, today was a leg day – Heavy Squats and hack lifts, thigh extensions, leg curls, calf raises and squat jumps followed with couple of sets of 50 kettlebell swings - very intense and done within 40 minutes. My routine is to get in, work with super intensity and get out.  I stay focused and limit any conversation to before and after the workout.

It’s a New Year so the gym was full of people starting their resolutions hoping to regain their health and fitness. As often happens I was asked by someone how I got in shape, that they’d been working out for a year and hadn’t really improved.  I told him that it was 80% diet and 20% working out and most of your working out should be hitting the iron, but the working out had to be intense and that you needed to push yourself. I told him to embrace the pain, pain isn’t your enemy; it is your call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and then spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I told him there is no quicker way to changing your body than to build muscle and that it was quite simple really:

• Pick up something heavy. Put it down. Do it again.

• Don’t quit when it gets hard. That’s when it starts to get good. Keep going.

• Sweating is good for you. As a friend of my mine once said “if you ain't sweating’ you’re just bullshitting’.” 
•  Have fun with it. You don’t need to do the exact same routine and exact same exercises day after day. You just need to give each exercise your all.
• Use free weights - If you can’t bench or squat your body-weight you don’t have any business playing around on machines. After you develop some strength is when you will get benefit from machines, not before.
•  It’s all in the mind. That’s where the battle is won or lost. 

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Here’s why you should commit to making weight training the cornerstone of you fitness program:

Weight Training will make you feel strong and fit – There is a reason this is number 1, it is the most important aspect. A feeling of strength and power will give you confidence you possibly never had. We have all heard the saying a strong body is a strong mind and it is absolutely true. Strength IS confidence.

Weight Training will help to burn more fat – There is a prevailing myth that the only way to burn fat is to do cardio. Nonsense, building solid muscle mass with an adequate diet is the absolute best way to get rid of those love handles. Muscle mass raises your metabolism. Muscle mass burns fat. Build more muscle to burn more fat. If you don’t have muscle mass to begin with cardio may help you lose weight but you will not get the toned look. At best you will look skinny-fat if all you do is cardio. That’s good enough for some, but it’s not good enough for you.

Weight Training will increase your energy – It’s an invigorating feeling getting under a bar and lifting what you never thought you could lift. That energy stays with you. There is no better high than after an intense workout; no chemical substance can match the feeling of calm after a great workout. Enough of the routines, driving to work, needing cup after cup of coffee, only to be exhausted by the time you get home, enough energy to eat pizza and watch tv all night long. Turn off the TV, put down the pizza, and pick up some weights. You will thank yourself later.

Weight Training will teach you discipline and hard work – You must remember, nothing good ever came from something easy. It takes hard work, pain, and sacrifice.

Weight Training will make you healthier – After several months of weight training you will notice you get less colds, flus, and other sicknesses. That is because regular exercise improves sleep patterns.

Better sleep + regular training = stronger immune system.

Your body has become stronger from the inside out. Weight Training will also help bone strength and density, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, depression and a host of other illnesses.

Weight Training will improve poor posture – In the age of the computer, many of us sit for long periods hunched over. This is horrible for our posture. Most people have weak backs, weak abdominals and walk with a hunch. Strengthen your body, especially your back and your abs, and walk upright with a purpose, a drive. Don’t walk hunched over like you’re ready to die at any moment. Life is for the living. Hit the weights.

Weight Training will help you look good naked – A strong body signals the opposite sex that you are healthy and that is sexy.

Weight Training is FUN – After you get through the initial phase of forcing yourself to get to the gym you may realize you actually enjoy being there. There is nothing better than pushing through plateaus and lifting weights heavier than you have ever dreamed. Breaking past your previous limitations is a thrill. It gets to be damned fun.

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There’s a confidence gained in the gym that people who never train cannot understand. When someone first starts out and can barely bench 45 lbs and ups that to 225 lbs with steady, solid training the feeling of accomplishment is immense, when someone starts out deadlifting 95 lbs and ups that to 405 lbs that’s a huge boost to the ego. That’s something you can be proud of. Even if no one else in the world understands where you came from it doesn’t matter, you have accomplished what you once thought impossible and no one can take that away from you.

Discipline comes along for the ride. If you never had any before, you will after you start training. Weight training requires you eat right. You won’t even want to eat junk food anymore, your body will crave the good foods and you’ll want to eat those good foods. Heavy weight training requires you get good sleep, and you will. Weight training requires you get up off the couch and go to the gym and accomplish something. If you can manage that you will see what all the hype was about.

The real benefits of weight training have nothing to do with reducing body fat or a having a nice build. The real benefits have everything to do with relieving stress, getting out aggression, building confidence, giving you a positive mental attitude, giving you pride and developing discipline, all things which are foundational to Peak Performance and will help ensure a successful year in all aspects of your life.

Overcoming the Fear of Success

How would you answer the question “Are you successful in life?”

I know many people who would say that they are not successful; at least they have not reached success in the areas that feel important to them.

This website is about Peak Performance not mediocrity. So let’s prepare to commit to a New Year with a winner’s attitude and consider what it means and what it takes for each of us to lead a successful life.

Most identify a fear of failure as the reason they are not successful. The fear of failure is perhaps the strongest force holding people below their potential. In a world full of uncertainty, a delicate economy, and countless misfortunes that could happen to anyone, it’s easy to see why most people are inclined to play it safe.

But playing it safe has risk as well. If you never dare to fail, your success will have a low ceiling. Most people underestimate their merit and ability to recover from failure, leading them to pass up valuable opportunities. The ability to fail big and fail often has been a mark of the spectacularly successful throughout history

However this blog is focused on those of us that are striving for Peak Performance and have started on the road to success, overcome several failures and are suddenly overcome with another fear, the fear of success. The fear of success is a common issue that arises when you are genuinely creating change and moving forward in your life. Not giving up when you start getting somewhere is often the biggest challenge we have to success. To let the Peak Performer in you out you need to stop resisting.  If it’s your fate to be great then do it!

All fears of success would be greatly reduced if we took our power back. It’s important to note that change comes from choice and we have always had that power. In fact often our deepest fear is that when we really reclaim our power and succeed, we have to face the knowledge that we have always been powerful enough to change all along and that we could have changed a year or five or 10 years ago.

Your friends and family will either support you or they won’t. The ones who resist you (the majority) are saboteurs out to stop you from real success. If you can do it and they can’t, well, sometimes that’s an uncomfortable thought for them to wrap their mind around.

Often we let the opinions of friends and families justify a mediocre existence. So how do you convince your friends and family that you will succeed and be a big success and that they should believe in you?

You don’t convince them of anything. You should never conspire with saboteurs and you should never seek approval from people who are irrelevant to your success.

Your friends and family may not be on the same wavelength as you and they are not the real enemy to success. It is not them that need to be convinced.

It is you who needs to convince yourself. You need to avoid self-sabotage, don’t be a traitor to yourself.

As Buddha once said “He is able who thinks he is able.”

The good news is, no matter how old you are and no matter how many times you have turned your back on success it is never too late. When you make the change you will only have one regret: “I should have done this sooner. My god, why did I wait so long? “. After you’re done feeling sorry for yourself from this realization, you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off and say these words: I can do it, I will do it and no one will stop me.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

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·         Everyone's scared. 

• No one has it all together. If you talk to any successful person, you'll find out that, not only were they scared to begin doing something different, they still get scared every time. It gets incrementally easier, but the fear never goes away. Professional athletes still get nervous before the game. Musicians still have butterflies in their stomachs before concerts. Authors freak out the night before their books are released. What you're feeling is no different than anyone else.

• Embracing fear is the most important consciousness shift needed to success.

• The more successful you are the stronger the fear becomes. People will sabotage themselves so they don’t have to feel the fear anymore. Fear stops cowards and fear powers winners

• When you’re successful everything is on the line, all eyes are on you and they’re all waiting to see if you will fail. It’s easy to give them what they expect, another failure. When you’re a failure nothing is on the line and there is no more pressure.

•   It’s not the absence of fear that makes you great. It’s action in the face of that fear that makes you great.

• If you want something better for your life then that you have to fight through that feeling of fear. The New Year is a great time to commit to stopping the procrastination and excuses for 30 days. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish. Then you can extend it 30 more days, and then 30 more until it becomes an established pattern of behavior.

·         No one's paying attention to you.

•  In reality people are often so worried about how things are going for them they don't have time to be concerned about anyone else - especially you. Consequently, people spend time worrying about other people, who really have no time to worry about anyone else because they have problems of their own. See how silly this all is? Oh, sure. There are some people who are paying attention to you. But, they're usually your spouse or family or really close friends. The kinds of people are going to be supportive of you, anyway. That's a good kind of attention.

·         You have to know where you want to go.

• What's the old saying? “If you don't know where you're going, any road will do”, I believe is how it goes. You need to figure out what your dreams are for yourself. Once you've figured out what you want to do, you can put a plan together to achieve it.

• I have come to believe that everyone needs to start somewhere. If you have a lot of credit card debt that you want to get paid off, that's a fine dream.  Just start dreaming and however big or small they are is good enough for now. Visualizing and accomplishing goals, however small, starts an important psychic chain reaction that lays the foundation and becomes the catalyst for success.

·         Do what makes you happy, and don't worry about others. 

• Obviously, you have to be smart about this. I'm not saying run out on responsibilities and obligations you have set for yourself. What I'm saying is that there are very few people in this world whose approval you should be after. Your spouse and kids, maybe your extended families, if they're supportive; that's about it. If a person doesn't have a vested interest in your success, you can confidently disregard what they think about what you're choosing to do. The only way you can count your life as truly successful is if you're doing what you're meant to do, regardless of what society at large thinks of it.

 

·         Success is a Creative Dynamic

• Whenever something is created, there's always something else that is destroyed. This is referred to as the courage to create -- because there is always that conflict. As you create something, something else is destroyed. If nothing else, ignorance is destroyed. And this very dynamic of creativity also applies to success. It'll often be followed with guilt -- feeling guilty that you've done something. That you've changed the order of things or that you've stepped outside the normal range.

• There may even be a feeling of doubt: "Have I done the right thing? What if I'm not heading in the right direction?" It's so very strange. We hear so many people who are succeeding wonderfully well, but their fear is: "Yes, but what if this wasn't what I was meant to do? What if I was supposed to become something else? Suppose my destiny was something else? What if I've somehow managed to land in this arena of success, and I'm flying along like crazy, and one day will wake up and realize I've missed the boat?"  Doubt and the concern around that -- that's part of the creative function.

• These fear reactions are normal. Understanding that will enable you to rebuild and restructure a whole different foundation for being successful. You can take the weight off and realize that it's not going to make you smarter or better-than or give you license. You can be prepared for the chaos, and when it comes, you can work with it. You can handle it. You don't have to freak out and run away. You can be prepared for the guilt and doubt that's going to arise in the very dynamic of creativity.

Keep Everything in Perspective

It’s important to keep in mind that no matter how important success might seem to you, it is still important to embrace it with balance; otherwise your journey towards success will turn into an obsession that will ruin everything that you truly love in life.

I’d like to end with noting that success is not a destination, it’s a journey, and it’s important that we take each step feeling grounded and balanced. Do not forget to spend time with your loved ones, enjoy your hobby or follow your passion, take care of your health and grow spiritually. This is the meaning of true success, the one that you can achieve only in balance.

Remember it is your right and purpose in life to be successful in whatever you are doing. If you believe in that then nothing will ever stop you from living a balanced and joyous life.

Want to be a Peak Performer? Think like Leonardo Da Vinci

When we look for examples of how we can live Peak Lives there is one individual who has set the standard throughout history – Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate Renaissance man: an accomplished scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, and writer. He along with contemporaries Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus were considered Polymaths.

The concept of Polymath embodied a basic tenet of Renaissance humanism that humans are empowered and limitless in their capacity for development, and it led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. In other words these individuals were consummate generalists.

In our rapidly changing world the importance of adaptability is paramount and we can learn some important lessons from our Renaissance ancestors. Despite the corporate world’s insistence on specialization, the workers most likely to come out on top are generalists – but not just because of their innate ability to adapt to new workplaces, job descriptions or cultural shifts. Instead, according to writer Carter Phipps, author of Evolutionaries, generalists will thrive in a culture where it’s becoming increasingly valuable to know a little bit about a lot. Meaning that where you fall on the spectrum of specialist to generalist could be one of the most important aspects of your personality – and your survival in an ever changing world. Developing your generalist capabilities will give you context. Only by understanding the work within fields to the right and left of your own can you understand the bigger picture, whether you are talking about a corporation (i.e. - Sales analyst understanding the supply chain as well as internal operations) or the world as a whole.

A great example of generalism or the ability to weave ideas into the broader fabric of life is the 2011 TedTalk of historian David Christian which presented a “Big History” of the entire universe from the Big Bang to present in 18 minutes, using principles of physics, chemistry, biology, information architecture and human psychology. Generalism at work.

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7 Habits of the Renaissance Mind

Human beings are gifted with an almost unlimited potential for learning and creativity. You can uncover your own hidden abilities, sharpen your senses, and liberate your unique intelligence by following the example of the greatest genius of all time, Leonardo da Vinci.

1.       Develop Curiosity

Curiosity is an "insatiably curious approach to life and unrelenting quest for continuous learning". Great minds have one characteristic in common: they continuously ask questions throughout their lives. Leonardo's endless quest for truth and beauty clearly demonstrates this. What makes great minds different is the quality of their questions. You can increase your ability to solve problems by increasing your ability to ask good questions. Like da Vinci, you should cultivate an open mind that allows you to broaden your universe and increase your ability to explore it. Here are some ways to apply Curiosity.

Keep a journal. Bring a journal wherever you go and use it often. Write your ideas and thoughts there. Try to write several statements a day that start with "I wonder why/how..."

Observe according to a theme. Choose a theme and observe things according to the theme for a day. For example, let's say you choose "communication". For the entire day, observe every type and instance of communication you come across. You can then record your observations in your journal.

Stream of consciousness exercise -  Pick a question and write the thoughts and associations that occur to you as they are. Don't edit them. The important thing is to keep writing. This is also referred to as freewriting.

2.       Apply the Principle of Demonstration

Demonstration is "a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistake". Wisdom comes from experience and the principle of Demonstration helps you get the most out of your experience. Here are some ways to apply Demonstration:

Check your beliefs. Do you hold any beliefs that you haven't verified through experience?

Three points of view - First, make a strong argument against your belief. Next, take a distant view of your belief (for example, as if you live in a different culture) and review it. Finally, find friends who can give you different perspectives.

Analyze the advertisements that affect you. Look at the advertisements in your favorite magazine and analyze the strategy and tactics they use. Find the advertisements that affect you most and find out why.

Find “anti-role models” to learn from. List the names of some people whose mistakes you want to avoid. Learn from them so that you won't encounter the same pitfalls.

3.       Use Your Senses

Work on the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience. One of Leonardo's mottoes is saper vedere (knowing how to see) upon which he built his work in arts and science. Here are some ways to apply your senses.

Write detailed description of an experience. For instance, describe your experience of watching a sunrise in your journal.

Learn how to describe a smell.

Learn to draw.

Listen to different sounds around you. Learn to listen to different intensity of sounds from the softest (e.g. your breathing) to the loudest (e.g. traffic).

Live in the moment. Practice mindfulness.

4.       Embrace Ambiguity, Paradox and Uncertainty

An essential characteristic of da Vinci's genius is his ability to handle a sense of mystery. Here are two ways to apply Cryptic:

Befriend ambiguity. Not knowing something does not make it ambiguous! It is when you DO know something but its meaning is indeterminate.

Ask yourself questions that relate two opposites. For example, ask yourself how your happiest and saddest moments are related.

Practice the Socratic Method. The goal with the Socratic Method is to examine possibilities, and that is done by asking questions, not by giving answers. Socrates was known (and criticized) for asking questions to which he didn't have answers.[2] The key to using the Socratic method is to be humble. Don't assume that you or anyone knows anything for sure. Question every premise.

5.       Learn how to think with the Whole Brain

Thinking with the “whole brain” is the development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination". Mind mapping is a powerful method that can help you combine logic and imagination in your work and life. The end result of mapping should be a web-like structure of words and ideas that are somehow related in the writer's mind

6.       Cultivate Grace, Ambidexterity, Fitness, and Poise

Leonardo had amazing physical ability that complemented his genius in science and arts. Here are some ways to develop your mind/body connection:

Develop a program for physical fitness. Your program should include three things: flexibility exercises, strength training, and aerobic conditioning.

Develop body awareness. Study anatomy. Try yoga. Dance. Do some contact juggling. Whatever strengthens the connection between body and mind, go for it.

Cultivate ambidexterity. Leonardo could work with both his right and left hand and regularly switched between them. You can cultivate ambidexterity by using your nondominant hand for relatively simple tasks like brushing your teeth or eating your breakfast. Later you can use your nondominant hand for writing.

7.       Develop a Recognition of and Appreciation for the Interconnectedness of all Things and Phenomena

This, in other words, is systems thinking. One main source of Leonardo's creativity is his ability to form new patterns through connections and combinations of different elements. Here are some examples:

Find ways to link things that seem unrelated. For example, you can try to find connections between a bear and the World Wide Web, or geology and the Mona Lisa.

Imagine dialogues. Imagine talking with a role model to gain new perspective and insight. Or you can imagine how some role models would discuss your problem.

Think about how things originate. Take an object and think about what elements are involved in its creation and how.

References:

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day Paperback

By Michael J. Gelb

Evolutionaries

By Carter Phipps

Ted: Ideas Worth Spreading - ted.com