“We’re talkin’ bout’ practice. Practice. Not the game. We’re talkin’ bout’ practice.” The famous words of Allen Iverson after being asked about missing practice. IF you’re not familiar, check it out HERE. Iverson is a prime example of an athlete that relied more on his talent than on his work ethic. It makes you wonder…what would Allen Iverson have been if he took practice as seriously as he took the game? Maybe one of the greatest to play the game? Maybe the catalyst to winning a championship? All this is left to speculation, but I do know one thing, he would have been BETTER. Don’t get me wrong, Iverson is one of my favorite athletes of all time; I wore his shoes for years! But practice is one of the most important components of “getting better”. So why are we talking about practice? Leading a healthy lifestyle & performing functional fitness...Read more

Pride used to consume my exercise. Let’s call it… “Meathead Syndrome” I thought to get stronger, I must lift more weight almost every time I hit the gym. I’d do the typical meathead routine: Run on a Treadmill for 5 Minutes Stretch for 5 Minutes Bench, Squat, or DL heavier than I did the previous gym sesh Hit 1 Million Accessory Exercises Run on a Treadmill for 20 Minutes Stretch for 5 Minutes Now this worked for a little while when I first started. Hell, ANYTHING works at the beginning; we call it the “beginner effect”. If you introduce a new stimulus to your body, it has to adapt quickly, but without sound programming, these adaptations come to a screeching halt! When proper care/instruction in the gym is not available: results slow, form becomes less than optimal, and the risk of injury increases. This is the point when we can’t reach depth on...Read more

Coming off a fantastic weekend of friends and fun, we pretty much went non-stop. Doing all the touristy mumbo jumbo everyone talked about when we first got here. Byron and I both knew that we wouldn’t do any of it until someone came to visit; and sure enough, 8 months deep into Chicago residency we finally have a touristy weekend. We wandered around Chicago: walked along Michigan Ave, saw the bean, did an amazing architectural tour, attempted to do the Tilt view at the John Hancock building….not entirely bummed it wasn’t working. The view was pretty phenomenal without the anxiety of being “tilted” at a whatever degree angle. We stayed out later than normal playing corn hole (full disclosure…I watched, I can’t be bothered with that game) and completing a 1000 piece puzzle. Ironic that I turn 30 this year and all I want to do is stay up late...Read more

I am not sure when I started evaluating myself, my actions or my comments but this has become one of my most valuable personal growth lessons. The human brain is extremely powerful and our influence on the brain makes it all the more powerful. If we wanted to, we could convince ourselves that the sky is purple. My main point for bringing this up is to inspire you to embrace an internal locus of control. Many of you have probably heard of having an internal versus external locus of control. “A locus of control orientation is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation).” (Zimbardo, 1985) Give yourself some credit, we have way more control then we sometimes let on. We have control over our actions whether they are good...Read more

You are probably thinking “how in the world am I supposed to prepare meals with everything I have stacked on my life plate?” Here are a couple of tricks that worked for me through a period of crazy transition. Included: Crockpot tips, overnight oats, and tips to keep your nutrition on track during busy times! Stressed? Too much work? Not enough play? Not enough time in the day? You are probably thinking “how in the world am I supposed to prepare meals with everything I have stacked on my life plate?” During the process of relocating our gym just down the street…I felt all of these things. I’m the first to admit I love my little bubble of a life when things aren’t quite so…crazy.  All I kept thinking was I know I am not sleeping enough and the last thing I want to do is fall off the food...Read more