It's New Year's Eve and we're not only about to start a new year but a new decade. Plus it's 2020. Very few people were around for 1919 and fewer still will be here for 2121. So this is a special one. Many will be looking to start anew. This might be wiping the slate clean and getting a fresh start. It's like making your bed and cleaning your room. You feel a sense of accomplishment and want to keep it up as long as you can. I'm sure this is how many feel with their health and fitness as we prepare for a new year. And if we flashed forward 12 months to this time next year I can tell you right now, without any doubt, whether you will be successful or not. And I know this because of one thing. And that one thing is your habits. Let me share a quick story about habits with you. It involves our 4 year old daughter Vangie. Every since Vangie was old enough to communicate with us I've said the same thing to her at dinner time. I ask her: 'Vangie, do you want to say grace?' Similar to our family...holding hands and praying before we eat. Sometimes she rolls her eyes. Other times she'll ask why we have to? And on occasion she'll just start eating. But even if she's reluctant to do so she'll always lead our family in grace. She'll add her own version every now and again as well. We'll usually hold hands as we pray but she may mix it up and cross her arms to the opposite sides and want the other family members to do the same. She's also be known to link with the person beside her with knuckles and finish the amen...

Have you read the Da Vinci Code? Or any of Dan Brown's books? They're kind of fun if you're looking for a good fictional escape.Recently I read The Lost Symbol by the same author and featured Robert Langdon as the protagonist. In the movies this character is portrayed by Tom Hanks. Anyways, one of the other characters in this book is a scientist and their area of research is noetic science. This looks at the power of the mind and the effect it has on the physical world.Anyways after finishing this book a number of stories in the gym demonstrated the power of the mind. And they both involve golf. The first story involves Mike Lee.Do you know Mike? He's the English sommelier and comes in early mornings during the week. While he trains for health and to feel good a major part of his training is related to golf.[caption id="attachment_5783" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mental strength and visualization is huge in golf.Last week Mike messaged me to share that he had one of his best rounds ever at the Harvest golf course. I asked what he attributed to this success? And here's what he hold me.He said he had played with a couple of tourists that had never played the course before. And so on each hole he was giving them clear notes on how to successfully manage each shot to achieve the best score. I wasn't there but I would guess it went something like this. 'This is hole 8 which although is a par 5 plays more like a long par 4. From the tee you want to aim for the tallest of the 3 trees on the left. When you clear those trees that will put you right in the middle of the fairway just past the 150 yard marker...

A number of years ago I remember attending a conference and the presenter asked everyone to imagine two scenarios. The goal was to make your way across a crowded room that you had been in before to the opposite side exit. The first scenario involved staring down at your toes and not lifting your head to see where you were. In the second scenario you could look up and ahead as far as you could see. Obviously the  second scenario would work better. You could plan your route more effectively. You could anticipate bottlenecks. You could side-step groups of people standing around and not moving. You could take larger steps and proceed more quickly. And the whole time you could keep your eyes on the end goal. And you'd have an idea of how you were progressing and how soon you'd arrive at your destination. With the other scenario you wouldn't be able to take as direct a path. You might end up trapped behind a group of people or at a dead end. You would have to walk more slowly and cautiously. You might be surprised if someone stepped into your path forcing you to stop or adopt a new course. In the end getting to your final destination would be more stressful, would take require more resources in the form of time and energy. Not a fun way to travel for sure. Consider using the same analogy to your health and fitness. Do you stare at the ground and have no idea what is coming up on the horizon? Or are you looking ahead to plan and anticipate your strategies? Let's look at a few examples to see how looking ahead can help you get a better result. SleepDo you have a set time to go to bed? Do...

Sometimes I wonder how many people that train are satisfied with their results? I would suspect that those that don't continue training are not satisfied with the results they are seeing. But there must be some that aren't seeing the outcome they had hoped for and continue chugging along. Maybe they feel if they stopped that their health and fitness would be a lot worse than it currently is. Or maybe they really enjoy the process and the fitness community that they train with. I'm not sure? If we look at just the group that doesn't achieve their goal and then quits I would bet that something was missing. And by something I actually means three things. And these would be the plan, the execution and the review. If we don't have these three things in place it makes it really hard, if not impossible, to achieve the best health and fitness possible. Look at it this way. Imagine if back when you were in school you just showed up. You hadn't selected any classes. You didn't know which rooms to go to. You didn't bring any books, pens or anything to write on. There wasn't an agreed upon time to start. And the day finished whenever. And let's imagine as well that the teachers all showed up at random times. And there was no clear assignment of teaching areas. There weren't homerooms assigned for each grade. No lesson plans had been created. And there was no consideration as to what would be taught, to which students and at which level. All that was known or agreed upon was that there was this structure, that was the school, and there were people, usually older with more knowledge, who showed up to pass on some knowledge to the younger people known as students....

Coaching, programming and nutrition are important components of a fitness program. But they aren't the most important. At this point many will be rolling their eyes or scratching their heads. What else could be more important? Certainly not supplementation, recovery or equipment. We would argue that mindset trumps all of the things that normally are seen as the essential elements in a fitness routine. Because let's face it...great coaching, programming and nutrition mean very little to someone who doesn't want their goal. It means little to someone who doesn't believe in their goals. And it means very little to someone that isn't willing to make changes to achieve their goal. And with the right mindset is the commitment to do something on a consistent basis. This is part of the secret formula of success which is to do things repeatedly. Success doesn't come with training 1,2 or maybe 3 hours per week. And it doesn't happen by eating healthily during the week only to drink beer and eat pizza during the weekend. And it doesn't happen by getting to bed on time four nights of the week and staying up too late the other three nights. Success happens when we do the right things regularly. [caption id="attachment_4934" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Positive, consistent habits lead to success. After having coached, presented to and interacted with tens of thousands of clients and teams I can tell you this be true. Consistent positive efforts lead to successful outcomes. But I was curious what consistency meant to our clients? I wanted to know what consistency meant to them? And how does it relate to their health and fitness goals? Here's what they had to say. 'Consistency means overcoming inertia. A body at rest wants to stay at rest. If I'm always resting it's harder to get going again.''When...

Recently I was making my way through the interior of BC giving presentations at conferences and corporate functions. And there was a message that came through with all the presentations which  only seemed appropriate to include here as well. And this message had nothing to do nutrition. Or training. Or supplements. Or any of the obvious things that have to do with fitness or performance training. Instead the message had to do with mindset. And I used a couple of stories to make the point of how to set the proper mindset for training. Because often times we'll hear of people who get started on a fitness program and don't see results. Or they make a nutritional change but the pounds aren't coming off. They make a number of lifestyle changes which should help them achieve their goal yet they don't realize the success they had hoped for. And sometimes this is due to not having the proper mindset for success. What we normally ask people is if they believe they can achieve their goal and if they are motivated to do whatever it takes. Because it's not uncommon to find out people that don't achieve success didn't believe in themselves from the get-go. And further they weren't too excited to do whatever it takes. You can imagine if someone doesn't have their mindset oriented properly they may struggle to get to the gym for their early morning workouts. And they may find it difficult to adapt to a new nutritional plan. And getting to sleep on time may be less of a priority. But once they have the proper mindset great things can happen. And success inevitably follows. During the presentations I shared a couple of stories related to mindset. The first has to do with believing if someone else...

Hey! How’s it going? I hope you're doing well as I’ve got a great success story to share with you. This story is about Darlene Sunderland and she has realized some amazing results over the last bit with her training. You know Darlene, right?  She usually trains with group at 6am. If you can’t put a face to the name, she’s the one whose chanting AH CHA CHA CHA or dancing to the Black Eyed Peas in between sets. Besides that she is also very dedicated to her partner, her job and running ½ marathons.  Darlene is a great example of someone who is willing to put in the work to get what she wants. She’ll work a nightshift until 7 am and still meets us to run sand dunes at 730 am. She’s well deserving of the results she has achieved here with us. Now, before I get to telling you everything Darlene has achieved in a short amount of time I should back up and give you the background. I’ll let Darlene take over here for a bit. “I live a pretty boring life, but I love what I do and my life. I enjoy going for long hikes with my dogs, running, traveling, learning and spending time in the wild. I also have this newfound love for running up hills. Some may call me crazy because I also really enjoy cleaning my house. I find cleaning to be very therapeutic. I guess overall, I love to stay busy. Rock Your Jeans Got Her StartedIt was a chain reaction on how I rolled through the Okanagan Peak Performance Inc doors (no pun intended).  My partner is a member of OPP, and I kept noticing a change in her fitness level & health since she joined and wished that I...

When was the last time you achieved something substantial with your fitness training? For example, when was the last time you set out to compete in a race and succeeded? Or you put your mind to losing the extra 20 lbs you've been carrying around? Or you made an effort to address the knee pain that's been holding you back from skiing and other activities?For most people this is an ongoing cycle of disappointment when it comes to training. And unfortunately for these same people there are a number of reasons (cough, cough excuses) why success was not realized.'I ran out of my supplements during the training phase''My training partner quit on me''I got really busy (at home, work, in general)''I wasn't sure what to do and how to do it'This last weekend Okanagan Peak Performance Inc was proud to host the 3rd Annual Okanagan Strength & Conditioning Conference. Speakers and attendees came to Kelowna for 3 days of learning, networking and professional development. And from one speaker to the next there was a theme that kept popping up. And this theme had to do with how you approach a goal or task.[caption id="attachment_4286" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Plan the hunt. Do the hunt. Review the hunt.For example when Dr. Stephen Norris, vice-president of Winsport Canada, spoke he talked about the importance of having a plan, executing the plan and then reviewing the plan. And when noted-strength coach Dan John spoke he compared the concept to hunting. He said you need to plan the hunt, then do the hunt and finally evaluate the hunt.Below I'll break down in more detail what each of the presenters was getting at and how to apply it to your own situation.Step 1 - Have a PlanThe sad truth is that most people that approach tasks in life...

What does it take to succeed?For the sake of this conversation I'm referring to athletic performance but the same analogies would apply for success in weight loss, injury rehab or any other physical pursuit.What does it take to be at that top level?I like to refer to something we refer to as 4 Levels of Learning and here's what is looks like.Level 1 - Unconscious Incompetence[caption id="attachment_3772" align="alignleft" width="180"] Don't waste your efforts going the wrong wayBasically this means 'you don't know what you don't know'. Someone is making mistake and spinning their wheels but has no idea this is happening.For example, imagine if were in a running race and you made a wrong turn. So you are going in the exact opposite direction of the finish line. You run as hard as you can giving your best effort but are surprised when at the awards ceremony you aren't on the podium receiving a medal.You can't understand it? You ran hard. You pushed yourself as much as the winners, if not more, yet you are not rewarded for your efforts.Another way of thinking about this would be to watch someone in the weight-room with terrible technique performing some type of exercise.Let's use kettlebell swings as the example. The person doing the swings has heard all of the great benefits of swings yet continues to suffer injuries and doesn't see any improvements in their performance.Yet when any coach sees them swing they cringe and want to help them fix their technique.In both these situations we have individuals who are making mistakes but don't even know it. It's this type of situation where people who do nothing may see better results due to the fact the efforts of the ones trying are full of errors.Level 2 - Conscious IncompetenceFor this level let's continue...

Recently I've enrolled in a certification course through Precision Nutrition. And someone was asking me why I had registered for this course? They said I had a pretty good handle on nutrition, stayed current with the primary literature and had some great resources to turn to when we required something specific for our clients.And I said it had to do with wanting the best for our clients. And believing that this course would help us do our jobs a little bit better.So as I cracked open the text book and got started with the course I was immediately impressed. The authors had identified five limiting factors to success. And by success I'm referring to body transformation, rehab or athletic performance.Anyways below are the five limiting factors. Take a read through each and then ask yourself 'which one is holding you back from success? Or if you've already had some success, which one is your weakest link and if addressed would propel you to another level?' Limiting Factor #1 - Genetics I've just finished Arnold's autobiography and in it he talks about the movies he has movies and of course 'Twins' stands out. This was not only his first comedy but unique in how much money he made due to the unique contract he structured based on the potential success of the movie.Anyways, the premise of the movie is the Arnold and Danny DeVito are twins separated at birth. Arnold's character received the preferred complement of the genetic material in terms of brains and brawn whereas his sidekick DeVito gets the short end of the stick genetically speaking.Now I know there are a number of other movies we could discuss related to our genetic profile (Gataca comes to mind) but the point is there is huge value to choosing the right parents. Limiting...

WINNINGDid Charlie Sheen teach us nothing? “Winning” is back in the news again, but not thanks to everybody’s favorite TV hedonist. No, this time it’s in the form of a (supposedly) frequent refrain uttered by one Eldrick Tont Woods: “Winning takes care of everything.” Does it sound familiar? It should if you’re a fan of golf or the man-god that re-invented it. Apparently Tiger Woods has used that particular phrase about winning regularly since (at least) 2009, though I assume it’s usually with regards to reporter questions about the….umm….shall we say “distractions” of his personal life. And it makes sense I guess, if it’s being used as a deflect of sorts for what Tiger sees as overly intrusive questioning. Winning At All Costs? But Nike just decided to use that quote in a Facebook/Twitter ad to cheer their recent champion on his latest win. They sent out a shot of Tiger sizing up a putt with the words “Winning takes care of everything” emblazoned across the front of it, and a Nike swoosh next to the word victory. Seriously, what in the hell is Nike thinking? Is this really the way they want to draw my attention back to Tiger and their brand? An AP article quotes a Nike spokeswoman named Beth Gast as saying that that the ad references Wood's mentality that he competes to win. "When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there.  The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance." Enough Winnings Makes Cheating Ok Right. “cause winning really does “take care of everything.” I’ll have to tell Chris and Megan and Matt that I now want my workout regime to include twice annual liposuction appointments. And steroids....

Remember back when you were in school? Maybe you're still in school and this is very familiar. But for those of us that aren't going to school anymore we'll have particular memories.Sometimes they are good memories of teachers that helped us get to the next level and develop. We probably did better in their classes and worked a little harder. And maybe we had some smart friends to do some group study sessions with to help us along.The point is when we have success in school, or in many other things for that matter, there is often someone else we can look to who helped us. With school this would have been a teacher, a tutor or a friend.But the cool thing is that this applies to all areas of your life. Think about it.When I think back to when I made the best gains in the gym it was when I had a training partner. But not just any training partner. It had to be someone who was equally committed. Someone who shared similar goals. And most importantly someone who was a step ahead of where I was. Someone who could show me the ropes and help me get to where I wanted to be.This is very similar to the saying that your income is related to the five people closest to you. That's not the exact expression but it's something along those lines anyways.And it applies to your health and fitness as well.We could hang with these 5 guys...or...with these 6 people.Most likely the second group is going to be a better influence. They will probably get more sleep. They will probably train more frequently and more intensely. They will make better nutritional choices. And they probably won't smoke and drink.Of course these are all generalizations.Fit people stay up too late....