It's befuddling - the fine line between super easy and hard as hell when it comes to understanding what it takes to improve your life. Here's my shot at it. I'm learning that when you decide to eat right and exercise regularly the person you become has it pretty easy and life no longer seems hard as hell. It's been the strangest phenomenon in my personal life. I used to have so many problems and issues. Everything seemed difficult and daunting. There was so much drama and conflict. I was lazy, tired and overwhelmed. Life was a struggle. Not in a million years would I have equated a poor diet and erratic physical activity as the bane of my existence.
In my late 20s and early 30s I began to eat better and workout more regularly - oddly enough new opportunities came my way, my confidence improved and the drama began to fade away. At that time I still wouldn't have thought life outside of my workouts was getting better because of my workouts and healthier food. I never put 2 and 2 together. I chalked it up to luck, nothing more. There were times in those days when I'd get lazy, eat garbage food and blow off workouts and what do you know, life got hard again. I still didn't think the two opposing situations/events had anything to do with each other.
By the time I met BeachBody CEO Carl Daikeler 13 years ago my fitness and food balance was close to great. Not perfect but pretty good. Those early days creating routines for Great Body Guaranteed and Power90 were fun and exciting. I was in the right place at the right time with the right experience to be able to help Carl and Jon create something different and better when it came to in-home workouts. We were striking Gold were it had never been seen before. You'd think by then I'd have a clear understanding that my regular exercise and healthy eating had something to do with my early triumphs, but the answer was still no. More great luck right?
Turns out that the more consistent I was with my workouts and the better I ate, the more opportunities came my way. As a teenager and young adult when I had a horrible diet and very little exercise, my life was a wreck because I didn't have the feel good brain chemistry of a person who was firing on all cylinders from making better choices. When I was in my sometimes-on-sometimes-off phase I was suffering from what I call "Fitness Bi-polar Disorder" because I wasn't consistent enough to reap the life altering benefits of a true health and wellness lifestyle. In only the last 2 or 3 years have I understood how 6 to 7 days a week of exercise and eating whole foods can provide the energy and enthusiasm to take life on. John Ratey's Book "Spark" and Chris Crowley's & Henry Lodge's book "Younger Next Year" were also the catalyst for my present thinking.
I'm writing this because I want you to realize that life can be incredible - not through luck or upbringing or even education. I know plenty of people with a great education and money and they're a mess. Joy, happiness, opportunities, success and the life you want comes from making The Change to a lifestyle that involves regular exercise and whole foods. What seems hard as hell at first will turn your life into a carefree world of endless experiences, plenty of opportunities and the energy and enthusiasm to enjoy life for the rest of your life. The issues and drama of the past will fade way because you had the courage to make consistent fitness and healthy food a priority.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Ned Farr Superstar
Well, another P90X infomercial is up and running strong, right out of the box... again. Since the start of 2010 more and more people have been coming up to say, "thank you for this amazing program called P90X." I tell them I'm just the fitness clown on the tube. It's you following the program, making the plan, eating right and pushing play.
The numbers keep growing and thousands of people each week jump on the bandwagon. I was in Lincoln Nebraska at a team BeachBody event this past weekend, organized by Doug and Tammie Fitzgerald and it was astonishing how many people I met who've made dramatic change in their lives. Dozens of regular folks in Huskers territory (and ten other states) who lost weight, got healthy, strong, lean and ripped in the process.
These good people kept thanking me and my answer was the same. It's you doing the work and it's also the man who took your stories and produced the most amazing informercial in Direct Response TV history. So good in fact that he won a 2009 Telly Award for "Creative Excellence".
Ned Farr is a humble guy who would tell you that it was team of people who made these infomercials so successful. The truth is, he chooses the graphics, writes and plays the music, does the editing himself, the voiceovers and scourers over hundreds of submissions to find just the right 5 or 6 that make the show authentic and compelling.
I might be the guy demonstrating Jump Knee Tucks and Corn Cob Pull-ups, but it's Ned Farr who gets you to take the first step. He's the guy who explains Muscle Confusion so it makes sense and he's also THE MAN that creates an infomercial so inspiring that millions of people have picked up the phone to start an incredible life long journey.
Thank You Ned Farr Superstar!
The numbers keep growing and thousands of people each week jump on the bandwagon. I was in Lincoln Nebraska at a team BeachBody event this past weekend, organized by Doug and Tammie Fitzgerald and it was astonishing how many people I met who've made dramatic change in their lives. Dozens of regular folks in Huskers territory (and ten other states) who lost weight, got healthy, strong, lean and ripped in the process.
These good people kept thanking me and my answer was the same. It's you doing the work and it's also the man who took your stories and produced the most amazing informercial in Direct Response TV history. So good in fact that he won a 2009 Telly Award for "Creative Excellence".
Ned Farr is a humble guy who would tell you that it was team of people who made these infomercials so successful. The truth is, he chooses the graphics, writes and plays the music, does the editing himself, the voiceovers and scourers over hundreds of submissions to find just the right 5 or 6 that make the show authentic and compelling.
I might be the guy demonstrating Jump Knee Tucks and Corn Cob Pull-ups, but it's Ned Farr who gets you to take the first step. He's the guy who explains Muscle Confusion so it makes sense and he's also THE MAN that creates an infomercial so inspiring that millions of people have picked up the phone to start an incredible life long journey.
Thank You Ned Farr Superstar!
Friday, January 01, 2010
Day 1
Here it is... 2010. Now what? New year, new decade and new opportunities. I'm going on QVC twice in the next 24 hours and my job will be to convince people to pick up the phone and order P90X. Hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people will be watching, but only a handful will take the first step and call us while we're on the air. Some won't be ready, some maybe too old, some just hate exercise, and many others will wait for the "weight-loss-with-food" program to buy. Another group are still under the impression that a machine will change their life.
Everyone knows by now that the start of a new year creates the desire to be a better person. Smoking, drinking, bad eating habits, procrastinating, better work habits, spend less, save more, get fit, lose weight, and so it goes. Enthusiasm that will last well into April. Turns out that long term change is really hard and falling into old habits can happen with very little pressure from the outside world.
Turns out that success comes to those with good mentors, a rock solid plan that fits your lifestyle, a means to stay accountable, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people. Many many folks with the best of intentions have been winging it year after year with little or no change. I meet far too many people who have fallen off the wagon. They were on the program but something happened and before you know it 3 or 4 weeks went by and 10 to 15 pounds come back and they're right back where they were. Sound familiar?
1. Follow the person and/or program that makes sense to you.
2. Write down a plan that forces you to stick with your goals for the next 12 months.
3. Finds 3 ways to stay accountable even under the most adverse conditions
4. Run from lazy naysayers and find people who want more out of life.
Do It ~ Bring It!
T. Horton
Everyone knows by now that the start of a new year creates the desire to be a better person. Smoking, drinking, bad eating habits, procrastinating, better work habits, spend less, save more, get fit, lose weight, and so it goes. Enthusiasm that will last well into April. Turns out that long term change is really hard and falling into old habits can happen with very little pressure from the outside world.
Turns out that success comes to those with good mentors, a rock solid plan that fits your lifestyle, a means to stay accountable, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people. Many many folks with the best of intentions have been winging it year after year with little or no change. I meet far too many people who have fallen off the wagon. They were on the program but something happened and before you know it 3 or 4 weeks went by and 10 to 15 pounds come back and they're right back where they were. Sound familiar?
1. Follow the person and/or program that makes sense to you.
2. Write down a plan that forces you to stick with your goals for the next 12 months.
3. Finds 3 ways to stay accountable even under the most adverse conditions
4. Run from lazy naysayers and find people who want more out of life.
Do It ~ Bring It!
T. Horton
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