Sep 29, 2017 | Blog
Those of you who have followed me or the Primal Potential podcast for a long time know that “I can do hard things” is one of my mantras. Lately, it’s practically an unending chant.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
I spent too much of my life talking myself out of things – talking myself out of living fully. I spent more time focused on what I couldn’t do, wouldn’t do or didn’t think I was capable of than on what I could achieve.
I basically talked myself into weakness & fear.
Workouts were too hard. Self-discipline was too taxing. Consistency was out of reach. I was self-prescribed as too shy, too tired, too stressed, too fat…you get the picture.
Now, when I find myself wrestling with fear or inadequacy I remind myself: I can do hard things.
I ask myself, “what’s the worst that can happen?”
Usually, the worst that can happen is embarrassment or discomfort.
It’s never anything permanent or dangerous.
If a workout scares me, the worst that will happen is that I’ll be really tired & have to stop. So what? What’s bad about finding those limits? In fact, that might be something I should strive for rather than avoid!
Most recently, I’ve been reminding myself that I can do hard things as I prepare for my daily hormone injections. (If you missed it, I’m freezing my eggs.)
I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? It stings? It hurts? I cry?
Okay. None of those things are fatal, just temporarily uncomfortable. I can do hard things.
You can, too.
….
The last thing I wanted to do this morning was go to the gym. I thought through about 14 different valid reasons to skip before I asked myself, “fast forward 3 hours – what will make you feel better? Having completed the workout or having skipped it?”
No brainer. I’ll feel better with the workout done. Decision made. To the gym I went.
Because I need to avoid high impact stuff while administering these injections, I swapped out box jumps for step ups. The workout looked like this:
“Tine”
3 Rounds:
500 Meter Row
12 Deadlifts
15 Step ups
It felt good. I wasn’t looking forward to it but I felt great when it was done.
On the food front:
I started the day with bulletproof coffee.
Around noon I had my cabbage salad bowl with raw cabbage, bacon, eggs, walnuts and Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo.
I sipped on more coffee while driving down to Cape Cod (quick trip just for the night – I have to be back in the morning for a doctor appointment) and while out to dinner I had 1 shot of tequila & shrimp cocktail.
Make it a great weekend! I love you guys!
Sep 27, 2017 | Blog
We had a great conversation in the Primal Potential Masters Club the other night about change.
We often seek change when we’re unhappy. We usually think we’re unhappy because of our circumstances (job, finances, relationship, etc).
Really, our happiness or unhappiness comes from our choices, not our circumstances.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here.
It’s easy to convince yourself that you’re unhappy because you hate your job or because you’re single.
It’s easy to create a story about the fact that your financial burdens make you unhappy.
Here’s an empowering, simple truth: peace comes from your choices, not your circumstances.
It’s amazing how your perspective can change on your job when you prioritize taking impeccable care of yourself.
It’s amazing how much clarity you’ll have about a relationship when you’re taking impeccable care of yourself.
It’s amazing how much more calm & happy you’ll be when you’re taking impeccable care of yourself.
There are two things you can do to create immediate & dramatic change in your life:
- Improve your attitude about your circumstances
- Take impeccable care of yourself
Those are the magic bullets.
Taking impeccable care of yourself might have to do with what & how much you eat. It might have to do with sleep. It might have to do with how you care for your home or your finances. You get to decide what it means for you but this fundamental truth remains:
Peace comes from your choices, not your circumstances.
You have so much more power than you think you do. You have so much more power than you’re taking advantage of!
…
Today was a great day at the gym. I really didn’t want to workout when I got there, but I told myself to take it one minute at a time, and I got in a great workout!
I need to avoid impact activities while I’m going through this egg harvesting process so I incorporated wall balls instead of the barbell facing burpees the workout called for. It was still a heck of a burn!
“Weightlifting Wednesday”
Push Press
5-4-3-2-1
followed by…
“Pushed Around”
Every 3:00 x 4 Rounds
15/12 Calorie Row
10 wall balls
Max Push Press
No rest between rounds
My shoulders will be feeling that one tomorrow! So many push presses!
On the food front:
I thought I’d be getting tired of my cabbage salad bowl but I am not. Not even close. It’s one of the highlights of my whole day!
This morning’s bowl included shredded cabbage, bacon, eggs, walnuts & Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo. Keep in mind that because this is such a big meal with so much fat and a decent amount of protein, it’s usually brunch or brunch-like for me. That’s what works for me, my body, my activity level and my hunger. That doesn’t mean it’s what works for you. #youdoyou
A few hours later I had a few handfuls of macadamia nuts. Again, I’m not usually a big snacker but since I’m feeling a little crummy, snacking seems to help a bit.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like macadamia nuts are hit or miss. Some brands are super delish and others are either bland or off-tasting. Sometimes I think they taste like soap. I get nervous when I try a new brand but these ones I got from Thrive Market are legit! They definitely meet my standard!
Dinner. Chicken thighs and bacon. That’s what I want. It’s super random but nights are challenging for me with my hormone injections and if it’s fat loss friendly & easy, it wins.
Make it a great day!
Sep 13, 2017 | Blog
I have created a lot of suffering in my life. I was unhappy with my weight, I lacked confidence, I felt frustrated and hopeless. I was really afraid that nothing would ever change – that I would never change.
If I hadn’t done the work to change how I think, I wouldn’t have been able to change my life.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here to listen on Anchor.
⠀
Looking back, I was the source of my own suffering. It was my very own choices that were creating the feelings I hated.
⠀
I was unhappy because I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was isolating myself because I was unhappy. ⠀
⠀
It was powerful to ask myself, “Why am I unhappy? What choices am I making that create these conditions?“⠀
If I’m being honest, it was tough to swallow my pride and own the fact that I was the source of my own suffering.
By saying yes to temptation, by saying yes to laziness, by saying yes to fear, I was saying no to happiness.
If you want to solve a problem, you must first stop participating in it’s creation.
What would it look like if you refused to participate in your own suffering? What would need to change?⠀
Last night I had a video chat with my Primal Potential Masters Club and we were talking about phrases we use to talk ourselves out of hard work or talk ourselves into staying in our comfort zone.
One client shared that she works so hard & is so driven in her career & home life that she just doesn’t have the energy to be motivated & driven with regards to her health.
I suggested a reframe.
Perhaps you don’t have the energy you think you need precisely because you aren’t taking care of yourself. It’s very likely that your focus & motivation in other areas are NOT to blame for your lack of energy and self care.
It’s your lack of self care that is to blame for your lack of energy. And investing in taking great care of yourself would boost your energy, it would create more vitality and happiness – it wouldn’t take from it.
The thinking you used to create the problem cannot help you solve it. You need to think differently.
Guys, change is much more a mindset than it is a skill set. We’re too focused on tactics and not focused enough on mindset.
That’s why next week I’m hosting a free mindset & motivation masterclass. I want to help you create these shifts I’ve been creating in my own life and with my Fat Loss Fast Track & Masters Club clients.
If you know you’ve got to change your mind in order to change your body – if you know you’ve got to think differently to be truly happy, I hope you’ll join me!
https://primalpotential.com/bestrong
…
I love Wednesday workouts because they’re primarily strength days. Welcome to my wheel house! These are the workouts I enjoy the most.
“Weightlifting Wednesday”
EMOM 10:
0:00 – 5:00: 3 Pausing Snatch Grip Deadlifts
5:00 – 10:00: 3 Snatch High Pulls
rest 5 minutes
10 Minutes:
Build to Heavy Power Snatch
then
“Head to Toe”
AMRAP 8
8 GHDs
10 Burpees
The AMRAP was hard as heck – those GHDs sneak up really quick! Here’s an example of what these bad boys are for those of you who aren’t familiar. I had these in a workout last week & my abs were sore for more than 5 days! Love that!
On the food front:
I shared with you guys a couple days ago that I’m playing with Mark Sisson’s Keto Reset concepts to help increase mitochondrial biogenesis, increase fat burning and decrease inflammation.
Don’t miss episode 388 of the podcast for more info on it, but here’s the short version:
- No more than 50 grams total carbs (this is total, not net)
- 0.7 grams protein per lb lean body mass (around 110 grams)
- It is a phase – a cycle – not a permanent restriction or limitation
The 50 grams of carbs today looked like:
My 110 grams of protein looked like:
- 4 slices of bacon (28 grams)
- 3 eggs (18 grams)
- 3 chicken thighs (60 grams)
Today was pretty easy on the food front. I planned to have my salad bowl around noon but I was hungry right after my workout so I ate it early. It absolutely satisfied my hunger until early afternoon when I had some celery and Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo.
I had the Divine chocolate bar just about an hour later because I wanted it.
For dinner I had last night’s leftover chicken thighs with the rest of the chipotle lime mayo.
Will you join me next week for the mindset masterclass? I sure hope so!!
Jul 18, 2017 | Blog
Well, today didn’t start quite as I intended…
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, click here.
My early-morning was great. I was up by 4:30 and had a great morning of work & reading. By 6:55a I was out the door for the gym and I had a great workout.
I had some knee pain during the workout, but it wasn’t as bad as it’s been so I pushed through. After cooling down, the pain got quite a bit worse. Fortunately, I was headed to see my chiropractor right afterwards. (If you’re in the Boston area and want an incredible chiropractor, it’s Dr. Chad Messina. He works on some of the world’s best athletes and he’s incredible.)
Not the news I hoped to hear…
I’m sidelined. No bearing weight on my right leg for two weeks & then we’ll re-assess. It’s actually more than that – he doesn’t want me contracting my right quad. So that means biking is out, rowing is out, burpees, jumping, any lifts that require me to be on my feet.
He wants me on crutches for the next two weeks, keeping weight off my right leg as much as humanly possible.
When he finished making his case I said, “What does that mean for CrossFit?” hoping he’d give me a list of things I could still do.
In his wisdom he said, “I don’t care about CrossFit. It’ll be there when you’re better.”
Now, he does care about CrossFit and is himself a great CrossFit athlete but his point really hit home with me.
I immediately started considering one of my go-to reframing questions, “If this could be for me, how would it be so?” Basically, if being sidelined for two weeks could be in my very best interest, if it could be a good thing, how would that be the case?
- I can work on gymnastic movements like pull-ups and toes-to-bar
- I can incorporate more fasting protocols, which I love but don’t do much of because of my workout intensity
- I can find a pool and do some swimming, which I love but rarely make time for because my CrossFit workouts take up the available time I have daily for working out
- Allowing myself to heal will make my workouts even better when I get back to them
- I’m catching the injury (hopefully) before it’s a serious issue requiring surgery and a much longer recovery
By the time I got my car I was thinking, “This actually is a good thing!”
I guess my point is this: we all choose our perspective and can convince ourselves of almost anything.
You can convince yourself that losing weight sucks and is hard or you can convince yourself that it’s an exciting gift you’re giving yourself and you’re falling in love with the process.
You can convince yourself that you’re unmotivated & stuck or you can convince yourself that today you’ll find solutions to move forward.
You can convince yourself that there are a million things in your way, you’re tired, you have no time or energy. Or, you can convince yourself that there are plenty of things you are able & willing to do to make progress and you’re going to capitalize on them today.
So while my workouts won’t look like I thought they would for the next couple weeks, this setback is actually a great gift and I’m going to make the most of it.
Here was today’s workout. It was a freakin’ great one. I loved it!
“Fifth Wheel”
AMRAP 5
7 Rounds of “The Chief” (115/80)
Max Calorie Bike
rest 5 minutes
AMRAP 5
6 Rounds of “The Chief” (135/95)
Max Calorie Bike
rest 5 minutes
AMRAP 5:
5 Rounds of “The Chief” (155/105)
Max Calorie Bike
1 Round of “The Chief” = 3 Power Cleans, 6 Push-ups, 9 Air Squats
What that ends up being is 54 powercleans, 108 push-ups and 162 air squats + 3 bike sprints.
Yeah. It got me good!
On the food front:
I mentioned yesterday that I’ll be eating a lot more cruciferous veggies as I approach my egg harvesting. I also might be doing some more fasting since my workouts will be changing.
After this morning’s workout I had 3 cups of cauliflower rice with a few ounces of steak.
Around 1pm I had a large salad to which I added extra raw red & green cabbage.
Dinner was several cups of broccoli/cauliflower rice (pre-chopped from Whole Foods) with butter, avocado and grilled chicken. Nom nom nom.
Jul 11, 2017 | Blog
We make hundreds of choices each day. Without a clear paradigm for decision making, these choices can exhaust & overwhelm us. Worse, they can hold us back, keep us from our best life and anchor us to a life that is less than what we want.
When you have a framework for decision making or a simple filter through which you see your choices, you can eliminate a lot of the frustration, inconsistency & feelings of overwhelm.
Anything you can do to make choices easier & faster will not only ease your mind, but it will likely accelerate your progress.
I have a few such frameworks, but I’ll share one of the simplest ones with you:
Which choice makes me feel free?
At first glance, eating the cookie makes me feel free and depriving myself of the cookie makes me feel restricted. That’s first level thinking. That’s looking at the immediate choice & not the consequences of the choice.
Think beyond the pleasure of the moment. Looking at the consequences, which choice makes me feel free?
Eating whatever I want whenever I want it makes me feel trapped. Trapped in a life without progress. Trapped by habits I want to break. I did not feel free when I was obese. Not even a little bit.
Other choices, like minimizing the amount of indulgences I choose, working out regularly & getting as much rest & relaxation as my schedule allows – those things make me feel free.
Do what makes you feel free – free to live your best life, free to create your best health, free to enjoy all that life has to offer.
——-
I wasn’t really in the mood to workout this morning. I ripped the side of my hand during yesterday’s workout, I didn’t sleep well last night, my knee hurts, it’s raining & I’m buried in work.
But, I asked myself this question: which choice makes me feel the most free? Without question, working out makes me feel stronger & more capable.
I happily modified today’s workout to make sure I don’t further aggravate my knee. I swapped running for biking.
“Play Dead”
AMRAP 5:
42 cal bike buy in
12 Deadlifts (155/105)
12 Barbell Burpees
Rest 5:00
AMRAP 5:
28 cal bike buy in
9 Deadlifts (185/135)
9 Barbell Burpees
Rest 5:00
AMRAP 5:
14 cal bike buy in
6 Deadlifts (225/155)
6 Barbell Burpees
Needless to say, this got intense but I feel so great now that it’s over!
On the food front:
I wasn’t very hungry yesterday but I am today! I’m sure all those deadlifts contributed to that! After my workout I had steak & brussels sprouts.
Around 12:30pm I had chicken & broccoli over cauliflower rice. I had to eat dinner before 6p because I had a video conference from 6p until long after my bedtime and I didn’t want to be eating on it! Around 5:30 I had a cobb salad with added grilled chicken.
I hope you choose thoughts & things that make you feel free today!
PS: If you’re new to these posts, listen to this podcast episode to get the scoop on what changes I’m making in my life and you can start back at my first daily post here.
