Become A Beast

Thanks for taking the Weekly Beast Challenge. It's a great way to get us out of the comfort zone. In Week 8, we took on the one vegetable-based meal per day challenge. I succeeded by primarily getting a vegetable smoothie in every day, but also had a salad most days. Diet is the biggest factor in living a healthy life so taking on such challenge beyond the week can drastically improve your quality of life. Looking ahead, Week 9, we are going to take on the 50 lunges per day challenge. You can Google 'lunge exercise' for a million of examples on how to perform. I love the lunge exercise because it employs balance and quad work, both of which I neglect without the lunge exercise. Good luck Beast Squad!

I failed miserably at the Week 7 Weekly Beast Challenge. I'm looking ahead to a successful week where we will tackle a vegetable-meal-a-day. In Episode 87 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I discuss why I failed in Week 7, how we can all reduce, if not eliminate, failure, and we go over the Week 8 challenge. We won't always succeed, but we can always learn and become better. Good luck in Week 8 fellow Beast Squad.

Week 6 had us tackling the diet focus by eating 3 cups of spinach per day. I was successful after mowing through endless cups of spinach in my daily smoothies. In Week 7, we are jumping back to fitness. However, this week is going to be relatively easier than others. In Episode 86 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I share this week's challenge and the reasons why such a simple, overlooked task can be done by all and bring major positive changes to your everyday life.

The accountability factor is one of the primary reasons I succeeded in accomplishing my fitness goals. Yes, focus, effort, and determination were contributing factors, but if it weren't for others making me accountable and my feeling accountable to others, I doubt I would have been able to do the things I've done. In Episode 85 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I share how my friends supported me and kept me on a successful path. Those times I wanted to skips workouts, being accountable was what got me to get my tail in the gym. If you want to succeed at a fitness goal, making yourself accountable to another person will probably be the leading factor to your success. Yes, you can achieve as much as you set out to without accountability factors in place, but I'd bet a lot more on the person who is accountable to others than someone who isn't. Enjoy today's episode! (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

Week 5 saw us tackle the 1 minute wall-sit. This week, we move back to the diet focus. Apologies for the two day delay. The wife and I had our first no-kid trip in 3 years. Needless to say, our trip was a higher priority. I achieved the wall-sit's even with the travel. Since I've been working on lower body exercises since the new year, it wasn't too painful. Wall-sit's are a great easy, do-anywhere exercise. In Week 6 of the Weekly Beast Challenge, we are going to eat 3 cups of spinach each day. Took knock out the Week 6 challenge, stop by your local produce department, go to the packaged lettuce area, and grab the spinach tubs. I have 2-3 always in my house and I stuff as much spinach as possible into the blender for my smoothies. Good luck this week.

We expect too much. I do my best to expect nothing. If I choose to do the actions required to achieve a goal, I will be further than I was before I started and that is the only expectation we should have. It's been quite some time, maybe a decade, since I set expectations of most things. I'm not perfect so I do fall into that trap from time to time, but I primarily live expecting nothing thus appreciating everything that does occur. Expect nothing and anything that does move us forward can be appreciated far more. In Episode 83 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I discuss my approach to a non-expectation-filled life and why you should stop setting expectations aside from the goal. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

Don't fight life. That's one of my motto's. Life can and will throw endless struggles and adversity in your path. Don't fight it though. In Episode 82 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I dive into how I address adversity and how you can mitigate negative results by looking at it as an opportunity. The inevitable is that every day won't be rainbows and roses. That's okay. We develop and become stronger people by embracing struggles and adversity. However, there are ways to successfully come out the other side faster and with fewer bumps and bruises. Listen today for my tips that might help you overcome the challenges that come with fitness regiments, diet approaches, and more. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

Often, we take the wrong approach towards perfection. In Episode 81 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I share my thoughts on perfection and a better way to view your goals. Perfection should not be our sole and primary focus. It can be in our peripherals as motivation, but the journey, experiences, failures, and success' that come along the journey are more realistic and should be acknowledged. Focusing solely on perfection will see us fail, miss out on the journey, and never be satisfied with effort versus completion. I hope you enjoy this episode. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

What if I told you that the year I accomplished the most in the fitness and diet realm was when I had the most boring day-to-day life? Actually, it wasn't boring for me, it was jam-packed, but everyone from the outside thought I had a boring life. This was the case in 2008 and the reason I was able to achieve so many of my goals was simply because I built what appeared to be a boring day-in, day-out schedule that led to incredible efforts via highly intense focused energy. In Episode 80 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I share my tactics for achieving more. It will take sacrifice and a ton of focused effort. The tips that I share in this episode can be implemented with any goal. Those that have success in investing, entrepreneurship, corporate ladder climbing use these skills to achieve more than 95% of people ever will. Enjoy and start having a boring life today. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

We all lie to ourselves at times. It's how we negate this as often as possible through personal responsibility and forward thinking that truly matters. I lie to myself that a food journal isn't needed. One of the top rules of following a proper diet is to keep a food journal to dramatically increase the odds of success. In Episode 79 of The Become a Beast Podcast, we explore a few different lies we tell ourselves regarding diet and fitness and how to combat them. There are ways we can prevent ourselves from self-sabotaging our success. Listen in for my latest advice that will help you succeed starting today. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

Last week saw us take on the gallon of water challenge. Unfortunately, I failed miserably. If we don't prepare ourselves for success, we will fail. That's what happened this past week with me. I didn't prepare each day to accomplish the challenge. The positive of this is that I am not taking my hydration a lot more seriously. I hope you did better in Week 4 than I did. In Episode 78 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I discuss how I failed last week, what I'm doing to correct that going forward, and share what week 5's challenge is. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

I'm a huge fan and supporter of finding and following idols and mentors. They can be catalysts to a life gone astray. In Episode 77 of The Become a Beast Podcast, we look at how a mentor and/or idol can help motivate and inspire us to get out of our comfort zone and experience struggle and success. Too often, I feel we are urged to not put others up on a pedestal. I believe putting people on a pedestal is a great way to improve our own lives as long as the person we are putting on the pedestal belongs there. Today, I share how you can make sure you are looking up to the right people and how to leverage their influence in a positive way in your life. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

If you were to pass tomorrow, what would others remember you for? Yes, this may sound like a morbid conversation, but it shouldn't be. It should be a motivating one that gets us to get off our butts and live the life we want others to remember us by. In Episode 76 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I share why this came up for me the other day and how I try to live my life. I am absolutely guilty of falling into the comfort trap so don't feel like you're alone in this journey. Listen in for my advice and more on The Become a Beast Podcast. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

I'm relatively small physically in comparison to the other muscle-bound men at my gym. Yes, I'm 6'1", but the other guys have 50 pounds of muscle on me. Yet, I carry a stature that makes me one of the biggest guys in the gym. How we carry ourselves, goes a lot further than physical presents. Look around you the next time you are in a public setting and acknowledge those you recognize first. They, whether men or women, are usually smiling, tall proper posture, engaged, and eye's up. The smallest person in the room usually has drooping shoulders or poor posture, head down, make little if any eye contact. I bring this up because of confidence. Not in regards to talking to the girl three tables over that you have been eyeing. I mean confidence wherever you go and whomever you are with. When you walk in the door, how you can command the attention of everyone there. In Episode 75 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I provide some tips for becoming the biggest person in the gym or any room you enter and how that will

In 2005, my outlook on life changed forever. After visiting the beautiful and carefree land of Australia, I came home with a new approach to everything in life and the results were incredible. In Episode 74 of The Become a Beast Podcast, we dive into what small change you can make to your approach and response to everything you encounter in life. I've implemented this for a decade now and each person I have shared this with can attest to it's affect. Listen in to today's episode for how you too can make improvements to your life through just two small words. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

The times that I have implemented a morning fitness routine, I have found sustained success in my fitness levels. That doesn't mean I always implement the morning routine. I just have the best chance of succeeding when I do. In Episode 73 of The Become Beast Podcast, I talk about how I have implemented morning workouts in the past and current and why I am a big advocate for doing so. If it is absolutely impossible for you to workout in the morning, it's not the end of the world. This is just my suggestion and explanation as to it's benefits. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

My 2 year old son has done more damage to my everyday diet than any weekend in Vegas could ever do. Today, in Episode 72 of The Become a Beast Podcast, I talk about how having a kid has drastically effected our approach to eating clean and how we address such. If you are a parent and struggling to eat clean with kids, this podcast episode is just right for you. Listen in for tips on how to better your diet with youngsters running about. It can be done no matter how difficult it may seem right now. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)

Last week, we tackled 100 squats a day and boy, did my legs not love me for that. To say I was sore the first few days is an understatement. However, lower body workouts are something I need to implement more of so this will keep me on the right track. This week we head back to the diet focus. There's one simple act everyone could take each day to help energize their body, cleanse their system, and lose weight and I share what it is in Week 4. Trust me, Week 4 is going to be an easy week but you will need to set reminders to act. Listen in... (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)  

Juicing has become a huge craze in the US in the last few years. There are plenty of health benefits to juicing, but, as with most things, there are downsides. In Episode 70 of The Become a Beast Podcast, we discuss how juicing can help you get nutrients and vitamins you might be missing out on as well as why juicing shouldn't be the only way you get fruits and vegetables in your diet. Don't get me wrong. Juicing is great, but there is more to consider as we might be missing out on a major component when juicing. Listen to today's episode for more.  

Approach. How do you approach anything? Positive outlook? Frustration? With a plan? There are endless ways to approach life and what comes with it. Whether we achieve our goals or not is a direct result of our approach to them. Goals are great. But...how we approach them is far more important. We all know what goals are, but, at times, we all fail at how we approach them. Focus on the approach far more than the actual goal and results will come and you’ll be less likely to give up throughout. Our goals will get us going but the approach will lead to results. Listen in to today's episode for the important of approach with goals. (Click here to listen, rate, and subscribe on iTunes)