The Daily Five by Eric Johnson

Practicing self-awareness is the key to getting more out of life. Begin by identifying the limitations that are holding you back from what you would like to achieve. Take an honest look at your practices or have someone you trust perform an assessment. From there, you can address and strengthen those weak links. As a strength and conditioning coach, I always start the process with a movement screen to identify inefficiencies. From this, an optimized warm up and program are developed to address those weak links and avoid movement patterns that may be troublesome. Make sure you can touch toes before you deadlift and reach overhead without compensation or pain before you press or perform pull-ups.

There’s an endless amount of ways to practice movement and exercise. Choose a method that allows you to achieve the 7 foundational movement patterns – squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, rotate, and carry – in an effective and enjoyable manner. Then get after it.

We, as humans, thrive on occasional stress. Even though you may believe all stress is “bad”, there are two types that our bodies experience – distress (negative) and eustress (positive). Moderate levels of daily, manageable stress (like in training and exercise) is needed in order to signal our body to adapt and in return, grow and improve in a certain capacity. How much adaptation will take place is determined by the recovery process. Therefore, resilience and growth relies heavily on quality nutrition, sleep, and stress management. Improve this recovery process by placing some breath work between your training and post-workout meal in order to shift into a parasympathetic state to improve digestion.

Willpower is a limited resource. Every decision you make throughout the day comes from the same reserve. Case in point, it’s a lot easier to choose that not-so-diet friendly food choice over another when you’re tired and hungry. It’s easier to put forth a lackluster effort into your training when you don’t have a plan. And it’s even easier to skip it all together when that workout isn’t scheduled. The best approach is to take the decisions out of the equation. Outsource your meal prep, hire a coach, and choosing a meal before eating at a restaurant are effective ways to maximize your willpower.