Strength for Life

How Passion Fuels Your Fitness and Financial Freedom

Nothing makes life more intensely enjoyable than the presence of Passion and nothing more dull and difficult than its absence.

This hit me today as I was reading a terrific Blog about “what makes a premium brand.” In response to a recent tour of an inspired company, blogging juggernaut, Chris Brogan says, something I’ve long known true, “You can’t fake passion.”

Chris Brogan’s quote was: “What I came away with was…a very strong sense that you can’t fake the level of passion that they put into their brand. It’s not advertising. It’s not a slapped on after-effect. It’s built in… brand is human passion… bottled and shipped.”

A profound and universal truth this is. Think about it…

You can’t fake passion in art, in speaking, in relationship, in sex, in acting, in life. Just the same, you can’t fake passion in your work—and real Passion is coveted and demands a premium

Actors don’t fake it—the great ones receive big money because they aren’t faking passion but rather accessing it on demand. They feel it. It’s passion we covet in our athletes, in our performers at every level. Ever seen music done without passion? Probably not since Milli Vanilli. Pretty painful. 

Yet Fake Passion is Everywhere

The fact that you can’t fake passion doesn’t prevent people from trying—early and often. Fake passion is all over the place—especially on TV. A notorious source of passion faked is infomercials. That news anchor worthy big-tooth smile and orgasmic energy over a toaster oven is over-the-top.

And really, how many people actually believe Chuck Norris is truly passionate about that sliding gym thingy? 

Not me. It’s clearly a profit gig. Not wrong, just is.

On stage or on the field, passion is much easier to spot—to experience—than in less “live” things like a book or a meal. For “live” performances demand little from you and I—we can remain passive. On the other hand, the written word requires you to read as a meal requires your involvement. Still, it’s common to hear people refer to “tasting the chef’s passion for food” in a meal.

Passion Drives Performance and Results

My passion for helping people live fuller, stronger, freer and more vibrant lives is manifested in everything I do, from the books or articles I write to the Full Strength Premium Nutrition Shake.

How to Build the Perfect Meal in a Nutrition Shake

I've been in the performance nutrition field for nearly 20 years now and that is inclusive of the invention of the very first ever nutrition shake--or "Meal replacement shake" if you prefer. I don't. Never have liked that term--sounds so technical.

As you might guess, I'm a fan of nutrition shakes. They've played a vital role in my life, and health, strength and fitness levels. I believe and rely on them. And I encourage others to do the same--to embrace the benefit of complete, balanced, integrated, convenient and hopefully delicious nutrition.

The down-side or challenge with this commitment to nutrition shakes is that there's a hell of lot more imitation nutrition shakes out there. Those profit focused people and companies that tell a story but can't back an ounce of truth up. In fact, they are more the norm than the exception.

As you might imagine my problem had become clear: How can I support a form of nutrition / food that is more crap them cream? I could not do it. A few years ago I was left without a decent quality, great tasting nutrition shake to either support or enjoy.

That's when I decided: If I can't find it, if not one else is willing to invest in excellence, I will make it. What began with the code name, "The $5 Nutrition Shake," in reference to my "nothing but the absolute best" approach, became Full Strength, without question the world's finest and only Premium Nutrition Shake.

It wasn't easy or fast. Over a million dollars and 12 months we're invested in the creation of a product that most companies toss together in a weekend but the results actually exceeded even my lofty expectations. It's a truly amazing, premium product that will have you feeling as great as it tastes in minutes, for hours.

And you don't have to just believe me--as I'm the character who created it. One of the world's most respected institutions for the research of nutrition and the human body, The University of Oklahoma, has confirmed Full Strength. In one of the most comprehensive studies ever done on a nutrition shake, Full Strength added to daily nutrition--with NO DIETING involved--produced stunning results in just 10 weeks.

The results of what has become to be known as "The Oklahoma Study" showed that in just 10 weeks, adding Full Strength every day (with no calorie restrictions) produced results rarely seen in performance supplement research, including:

• 83% Greater Weight Loss
• 66% Greater Body Fat Loss
• 55% Increase In Lean Muscle
• 44% Greater Energy Levels

        * In comparison to exercise alone.

And, so as to ease your mind, this is a study which has undergone the most rigorous of investigation prior to being published in two of the most prestigious (and discriminating) journals in nutrition.

To download the full study on Full Strength go here. Warning, this is a big-time real science study in publication--not the common pseudo science stuff that masquerades as clinical research for most.

If you'd like a quicker, easier look at the study results, you can check them out here, first.

In the midst of all the hocus-pocus that permeates the supplement business, all the infomercial junk and online trickery, there it has to be affirming that there is a company and people who are willing to make something real, something great and keep on fighting to make a real difference in your life.

Here's to Your Life @ Full Strength!

Beyond Health: Strength

In Chapter ONE of my latest book, Strength for Life, I present a compelling argument for a new standard for Health--a replacement for the "good enough" disease of Health.

I'm not down on health but getting real about what it absolutely, positively actually is to most people.

Far be it from me to tell you how to live. It's not my style nor desire to preach the virtues of any Lifestyle to you or anyone but rather you make the call... let it be your decision where you want to find your "HAPPY PLACE."

Just let it be an informed decision.

Here's the difference between Health and Strength in summary:

 

The Gaping Hole in Cheerios Cholesterol Health Claim

Boldly emblazoned on the front panel of a Cheerios box you will see the claim: “Clinically Proven to Reduce Your Cholesterol”

Next time you’re walking (or running) down the cereal isle of your grocery store get a good look at a box of Cheerios for it’ll be the last time you see any such aggressive words across the front—for this health claim is about to change.

General Mills, the maker of the breakfast classic, Cheerios (and the 8 other candy-coated varieties) just received a letter from the FDA demanding they remove all product claims regarding cholesterol reduction for these are statements which positions Cheerios as a drug.

“Failure to correct the products marketing may result in injunction or product seizure.” The letter goes on to add.

    The label includes the statements:

• "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks"

• "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol…”

While as you can imagine, this is no joking matter if you’re General Mills, I find myself a wee bit gleeful for I’ve been wondering when someone was going to drop the hammer on Cheerios for this obviously aggressive marketing stance.

After two decades in the nutrition industry I know the difference between scientifically substantiated structure function statements and desperate marketing that makes drug like claims—and this is the latter; a drug claim.

Now, I’m all for health promoting nutrition and would prefer the government have a minimalist role in regulation—as little as is reasonable—but this sort of wordsmithing is careless and cavalier. This is dangerous territory they’re treading in here making such bold claims.

GUYS: get Focused, Get Fit for Summer...FAST with "The 2 for 2 in 2 CHALLENGE"

I was speaking with my buddy, Matt, last night who's been kicking his body into shape... losing the middle and shaping up all around. He's not doing anything crazy--just drinking his Full Strength every day and it's helped him get control of cravings and his eating... and he's training, Strength for Life "style."

Matt and I get together the first week of every month so I get to see his progress on these regular intervals. It's inspiring to see first hand the progress one can make in just 4 weeks. It's like seeing a new man every month!

The Origin of the 2 - 2 - 2 Challenge
The idea of the 2 for 2 in 2 Challenge came up when Matt was looking for a solid goal to continue his progress for the next 60 days. He knows I'm rough him up if he chose some silly "scale only" goal--as weight is the wrong measure for most and certainly for a man.

He asked me to come up with the goal. "Shawn, give me something to focus on, to strive for that's realistic and inspiring." Put on the spot, I gave it some thought and rather than reach for my customary style of complexity, I just looked at him and said add 2 inches and drop 2 inches.

That simple. Add 2" and drop 2".

Specifically, the Drop 2 inches means to drop 2 around your midsection, you waistline. The add 2 inches would be to add 1 inch around your chest measurement and 1/2" to each arm for a total of 2".

Oh yes, and the time frame? In 2 months!

Hence the, Trade 2" for 2" in 2 Months Challenge, to be specific.

Talk about simple--and both challenging and attainable. And think about what the result would be--if you had an extra couple inches of muscle on your frame and dropped 2 around the middle, that would be a dramatic transformation in your being.

What you think guys? You in?

I have to admit, the simplicity and clarity of focus has me inspired. And it's a perfect time to make this sort of tangible, visible change.

Here's to adding 2", losing 2" in the next 2 months!

* NEW * Birth Control Shot for Men--Side Effects Include Muscle Gain, Fat Loss, Elevated Sex Drive...

A just published study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) reports that monthly injections of Testosterone produced a nearly 99% effective birth control rate in men between the ages of 25-40.

When I caught this story this morning on The Today Show I nearly fell out of my chair. I was like, "Gee Mr. Science, you don't say... testosterone injections can make a man sterile? You don't say."

Let me see if I get this: Take man, add testosterone and no more babies!

And the real good news is you get all this with a few minor side effects like increased lean muscle mass, added strength, greater energy, higher sex drive and an overall good outlook on life.

Are you kidding? Give up babies and deal with all that? Hummm....

How much did you say this costs?

Kidding...

I'm on the lookout now for the next scientific breakthrough to come from this group in China. Perhaps something as profound as smoking pot gets people high or eating 37 Twinkies a day makes people fat.

It's sure to be a stunner.

Now, please excuse me I've got to go be rendered sterile. 

“It’s Not Your Fault!” The Joy and The Horror of These Powerful 4 Words

Dating back to before your earliest memories, these may well be the most soothing four words ever put in row.

“It’s not your fault”

Since you first felt them, they have been music to your soul.

Feel their power.  Repeat “It’s not your fault,” to yourself 3 times and feel the stress begin flow from your body.

Perhaps no four words in history of man have been the cause of more relief and more grief.

For there are certainly times in every life when we needed to hear these words and they were, without question, appropriate.

That time when you closed the car door and your baby sister was trying to get her hand out. Not your fault. No malice there.

The power in these words is magical and it’s just that magic that make them so damned insidious as we grow up. For regardless of whether you were hit from behind while waiting at a red light, or you got drunk and ran over a neighbor mail box, you still long to hear the magic words, “It’s not your fault.”

The child inside us wants desperately to be relieved of guilt and responsibility.

The good news is if you did run over the mailbox, drunk, it’s going to be pretty difficult to find the bigger idiot who will tell you that its not your fault. So, for the most part we’re safe.

But wait!

Along comes a clever marketing genius who recognizes this needy child inside each of us and “Shazaam!!,” the era of “It’s not your fault” marketing is born.

You’re bankrupt, and it’s not your fault.

“Your fat like a circus elephant, but hey, it’s not your fault.”

To which the inner child, goes, “Phew… thank goodness! I was starting to suspect I might be involved.”

I imagine there is actually relief when some nice looking spokeswomen assures you that the only reason you accidentally became 187 lbs overweight is you didn’t know not to eat 38 dozen Twinkies and drink a 12 pack of Pepsi a day.

Seems the science came in and no one told you! Oh! Those bad, mean people.

Actually, they’d tell you something more like it's the air mixing with protons in your vegetables skin that's causing fat cells to accumulate. Or that it’s all cortisol causing it (which isn’t true by the way).

But wait, the fact that people use and abuse these magic words to entice you to buy things—while less than noble in my book—is not the most serious problem.

The Real Serious Problem with “Not Your Fault” Thinking

When you, I or anyone wants to desperately to be relieved of guilt that we buy into “It’s not your fault” when it—even partially—is, there’s something much more devastating happening here than the loss of a few bucks.

Think back to a time when these words were used appropriately in your life. To a time when the event, the slip, the slide the crash, really wasn’t your fault.

What was the real message being told to you?

“It’s not your fault.” = You had no control in the matter.

In fact, you couldn’t and shouldn’t have even done anything about it. It’s was not and is not within your power.

See it? Do you see the frightening message your not just hearing but your buying into when you accept this death sentence of your personal power?

Let me see if I can make it any more crystal…

When you buy into the belief, concept, excuse that “It’s not your fault” that you’re out of shape, broke or whatever it is, you’re not just releasing guilt your releasing all your power.

You’re accepting the ultimate victim role and have effectively neutered any power, control or influence you may have had going forward in the situation.

If it’s not your fault your 20 pounds overweight, and you believe that. How can you do anything about it.

Now get that I’m not talking about what your mind—as you know it—for your thinking mind may want to argue this.

I’m talking about what the message, the directive that your subconscious—the core that drives you—is following.

It takes but a few minutes of study on the power of suggestion, the strength of your subconscious mind and belief system to know that it’s far more powerful than all the willpower and discipline you could muster for a ten minute sprint.

My advice to you: Next time someone tries to lull you to sleep with these four magic words, you stand up and yell at the TV man or woman: 

“Your wrong! You are wrong!”

“I am at this precise point in my life because of the choices I’ve made so far. My successes and my failures are of my own doing. And I know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that I have the power to create my life exactly the way I want it to be.”

So there!

Take that Mr. marketing wiz!

The Risk of Healthy Living... See, I told you so.

I belong to the international group called, EO, which conveniently stands for Entrepreneurs Organization. You may have heard of it in it's previous life as Y-EO, when we were all Young enough to carry that title. Fortunately for me, and many of my peers, they figured out that entrepreneurism is not something one out grows with age.

As a part of this cool, rather elite, group of entrepreneurs around the globe, I get invited to some great events, most live... some virtual.

Well, today I received an invite to a health summit of sort. "Okay. Cool... Health." I'm thinking when I open up the invite. 

Here's what it says, verbatim:

On 21 April 2009 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, EO members have an exclusive opportunity to learn from Susan Locke, M.D., the medical director for the Healthnetwork Foundation. Susan will facilitate a Webinar on the importance of health screening for prevention and early detection of disease.

Dr. Locke will outline ways to modify your lifestyle to decrease your risk of developing cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. She will also discuss the importance of scheduled diagnostic tests as a means to detect subtle health issues before they become severe health issues. 

Well, gee... That all sounds nice, right?

I think it's wise to detect a disease early and I'm big on prevention. But what caught my attention was just how "disease centric" the entire thing is. It is precisely the way modern, western medicine has arisen and the way we've all been taught to think, in terms of managing or avoiding disease.

It's as if disease is a big steel pole and we're all on a rope spinning around it. It's only a matter of time before that rope gets short and we go "bonk."

It's what I talk in depth about in the section one my Strength for Life, the dangerous dance with health, which most people define precisely the way Webster's does, "the absence of disease."

As a result we have a life centered around and driven by illness vs. health and as a result health becomes--literally--the absence of illness rather than the presence of vibrancy, of life, of energy, of joy.

And don't think this is simple semantics--it's a lot more than that. I'm talking to you about the way we really work, the stuff that is really driving you towards or away from... you can not be compelled towards a vision of health when it's defined in your psyche as "not being sick."

I continue to encourage everyone, yourself included, to reassess what health means to you, what it looks like and how great you want to live. And consider what I advise in my books, to my friends, to my clients, to adopt a new, fresher more energizing vision for a vibrant life.

The vision and word I point to is, "Strength." Strength is an abundance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy--the capacity to make a contribution in this life and world. It's inclusive of health and so much more...

Here's to your Life @ Full Strength! 

Study Shows Nutrients in Full Strength May Protect Men Against Prostate Cancer

MEN: Do Read This!

"Selenium and vitamin E may offer protection against prostate cancer by changing the expression of certain genes in prostates linked to tumors, says a new study from Texas." 

In the recent publication of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, scientists from the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center in Houston report that men with prostate cancer showed an altered gene expression and being given vitamin-E and selenium—a gene expression similar to that in men with no prostate cancer.

Over 500,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year, and with this cancer directly causing over 200,000 deaths, preventive measures are critical.

While it’s not pleasant to think about cancer, especially your own, the unsettling facts are that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. I imagine that’s in part due to the fact that it’s harder to diagnose after your lifetime.

The optimism over the role that Selenium and Vitamin E may play in prostate cancer prevention are not new to this most recent study. There have been previous studies that showed a positive connection. These were put in question when another study failed to show conclusive connection.

This new data from Texas adds to the debate and appears to indicate that, at a gene expression level at least, vitamin E and selenium do offer protection against prostate cancer.

The Full Strength Boost of Selenium & Vitamin

When I created the premium nutrition shake, Full Strength, rather than just tossing in vitamins as label dressing—the common practice—I integrated a custom-tailored array of vital nutrients for a man’s optimal health. In addition to boosting antioxidants and mental focus factors, I beefed up the essential nutrients that support healthy testosterone levels, including zinc and selenium.

Selenium, like Vitamin-E, also functions as an antioxidant. When combined, vitamin-E and selenium, have been linked to anti-aging properties because it appears to inhibit physical and mental deterioration while supporting the metabolism by stimulating healthy thyroid functioning.

Selenium is also been shown to have promise in combating other forms of cancer. One study, for example, showed that people given 200 mcg of selenium for 7 years had a 50% decrease in cancer rate, and the men had a 65% drop in prostate cancer. For this reason, there's strong evidence to believe it may be anti-carcinogenic or, at the very least, instigate some additional research in this area.

Conclusion

The conclusion from this study, for me, is that I’m glad I have my Full Strength every day. For it assures I’m covered. For other men on the Full Strength Lifestyle, they can take comfort as well.

For all men, based on these studies, getting regular, effective intake of both selenium and vitamin-e looks to be a wise thing to do. You may choose to do this through supplements but personally, while there a lot of things I like supplements for, I prefer my vitamins and minerals come through food, be that off the vine or integrated nutrition like Full Strength.

You can find more on Vitamin-e and selenium by following each link, including list of the foods highest in each nutrient.

Here’s to your Strength… for Life.

Is the “G” boosting your “P” or just making you “F”?

Have you seen the hot, new super-performance energy drink called simple “G”?

What? It's not new at all!

Just the same ol’ "C"alorie packing, "S"ugar loaded, "Sa"lt lick of a drink formerly known as Gatorade!

That's right... The same tub of colored sugar water that many people pretend is a performance enhancing, energy drink when their performance is walking from their desk to the elevator.

The same Gatorade the millions of people rely on the neutralize their half hearted exercise attempts, as they consume more liquid calories in 10 seconds then they burned off in an hour.

Yep, it’s the same ol’ “G” pretending to give you “P” when it’s really just making you “F”[at].

GO Ahead, Drink One...

I know... "G" is such a powerhouse brand it's almost sacriligious to suggest it's not the sauce of the peak performer. Hence, in an attempt to mitigate any heavy backlash, I'll give you the same advice I offered readers in my latest book, Strength for Life. 

Go ahead, enjoy a Gatorade at half time of the Superbowl... that you're playing in. Fact is you can get away with ingesting these sort of calories when you're athlete active and 20-30 something... but for the typical fitness enthusiast or person trying to get in better shape, this brightly colored sauce is just the right size to ensure you stay the same size or larger.