The School of Greatness - 644 Wellness Wisdom from the Masters

Episode Date: May 23, 2018

THE FIRST WEALTH IS HEALTH. Lately I have been bringing you some mashups, giving you some of the best advice on a specific topic and the response has been overwhelming. I know you love the long interviews, hearing about all aspects of someone’s life - and I’m not going to stop those. I love them too. But I wanted to take a moment to bring you a best of on something very important to me. It’s something that you need to think about if you want to truly achieve greatness, because without it you can’t go very fair. Yes, it's health and wellness. Without having good health, you can’t really enjoy your life. Trust me I know. I used to not care about my body at all. I worked all day. I would hardly sleep. I was putting on a lot of weight. So much so people started to call me Flewis (Fat Lewis). Once I started taking care of myself, that’s when everything changed. I started sleeping better, I had more confidence, and I was a lot more productive. That’s why for this episode of the School of Greatness, I am bringing you a wellness mash up. To talk about the relationship champions have with their bodies and how you can achieve the same thing, I bring you Aubrey Marcus. Discussing the importance of good habits and Whole30, you’ll hear from Melissa Hartwig. The importance of educating yourself and sleep is talked about by Shawn Stevenson. Lastly, to discuss body image and self worth I bring you back Kelly LeVeque. Learn all about the importance of health and wellness, on Episode 644. In This Episode You Will Learn: How champions treat their body (5:07) How you can start understanding the relationship with your body (7:04) The way you should look at your body (8:45) Best way to start new habits (9:20) What your bones are actually made of (13:19) Why our self worth is tied to our body image (15:24) Why it’s important to celebrate your body (16:56) Plus much, much more.

This is episode number 644, the wellness wisdom from the masters. Welcome to the school of greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, the first wealth is health.

And yes, I believe in that. So much has shifted over the last five, six, seven years for me. When I first started out in my business, I was constantly grinding and hustling and putting in the hard work, but I was never taking care of my health. And it manifested in my body. I gained lots of weight. People called me Fluis for Fat Louis. I had just this low energy. It was always hard to go to sleep because I was up late drinking energy drinks and all these other things. And when I started to realize that my health is the most important thing, that it's going to actually benefit everything else in my life, that's when

everything started to shift in my relationships, in my business, everything, and the way I perceived myself and the world. The first wealth is health. And we have been putting together this master's series where I've been finding the most valuable insights from these inspiring leaders that we've had on in the past and putting together these little mashup master series. We did one on high performance habits that is blown up. We did one on high-performance habits that is blown up. We did one on sex and love and relationships that blew up. We've done one on now wellness. And I'm super excited about this because I want you guys to get insights.

I want you to get some of the best of. I love the long-form interviews, and I know so many of you do because it's just so fascinating to hear people's stories and the insights of how they got from so fascinating to hear people's stories and the insights of how they got from where they are to where they were and the struggles overcoming to building these billion-dollar businesses or being the number one athlete in the world in their sport or whatever it is they're doing, becoming the best in the world. It fascinates me and I'm always

intrigued. So this one is from the wellness masters who are going to be sharing some of their greatest insights on understanding health, holistic health, taking care of your body, and so much more. I'd love to hear what you think. Let me know on Instagram, at Lewis Howes. Leave a message on social media, on Twitter. And the link for this is lewishowes.com slash 644. We've got some inspiring people, and today, let me know which person you liked the most during this over on Twitter or Instagram. Before we dive in, I want to give a shout out to the fan of the week. This is from Darcy in Arizona who said, Lewis has a very refreshing way of interviewing his guests and creating beautiful

content on a variety of topics. I love the courage that you show through talking about your weaknesses, but also honoring your strengths as well. I am a big fan and new to the podcast arena. A true test to me is how I feel after each discussion. I usually listen while walking my dogs, and all I can say is that by the time I get home,

I feel inspired, joyful, and encouraged to be a little bit better each day. So thank you so much. Love the book, The Mask of Masculinity as well. I have five daughters and cannot wait to share with them. So I appreciate it. Darcy Sisson, you are the fan of the week. I appreciate you and everyone who leaves a review

over on iTunes or on the podcast app. It means the world to us. you and everyone who leaves a review over on iTunes or on the podcast app. It means the world to us. If you haven't left a review yet, make sure to do so as we share out the fan of the week each and every week. All right, let's dive into this, the wellness wisdom from the masters. Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy. Principle number seven is champions are in a serious relationship with their body. And I say a serious relationship because I think we often have turbulent and casual relationships with our body, you know, where it's sort of like an arm's length gentle truce where we don't really trust our body. Our body doesn't really trust us. We don't really know like what the hell's going on today. I don't know. tired this thing is going on but champions demand performance on all aspects and they demand

like unified performance from their but their body's got to support what their mind is doing no matter what's going on and their mind has to support what their body's doing right so i've noticed with these champions they know their body it's like it's like that long-term 25 year you know relationship where these people know each other inside and out. And champions have that relationship with their body. And I noticed that when I started hanging out with Bodie Miller. And Bodie Miller, he does all of the different tests. He'll test his lactate level.

He'll check his ketone level. He'll check his heart rate. But he's done that so many times that he's like a human biometric. He's like, yeah, I'm pushing lactate numbers around like eight. I'm like, what are you talking about, dude? I'm like just gasping for air, you know? And he's like, yeah, I've been in this, you know, heart rate band of about 200 to 220 for this, which is optimal for this. And he just knows his body that way.

Like he knows when it's time to go on a ketotic diet and do this kind of – he does like a ketotic cleanse every now and then. And he's just so amazingly in tune with his body that it actually allows him more slack than a lot of other people because he likes to party. He likes to hang out too. I mean that's part of the Bode Miller legend. But he knew his body so well. He knows when he can push his body in all aspects he knows when he can take time off and when it's time to go because he just has that kind of relationship where he can ask his body like we're gonna be all right here like how much sleep do i need body and body be like well

man i mean six would be great but if you got four we'll do it and it's like okay body i got you wow so they have that kind of intimate relationship How can we start understanding how to have that relationship with our own bodies? What can we do? What tests? On a basic level, so we feel like we have a general understanding, maybe some of these extreme things we won't be able to do right away. Yeah. What can we do? Well, it depends on your field. If you're an athlete, yeah, lactate numbers are going to be important, knowing your heart rate, knowing these different thresholds, but

knowing different central nervous system markers and things like that. But for most of us, it's going to get a lot more simple, like knowing what creates those energy resources, what causes the brain fog, you know, so really understanding on a fundamental level how the input equals the output, what you're putting in your body, what kind of foods, you know, paying attention to like when you have that kind of foggy, tired feeling, diagnose it. Like, okay, what did I do? What was different? Was my sleep different?

Was my food intake different? Did I eat something that perhaps caused the inflammation, which then traveled into my bloodstream and is clogging up my brain? Was my digestion working too hard? You know, and so really that's a big piece of what the total human optimization picture is. It's just identifying these different correlations between the input and output in your body. And it can also be mental too.

Like what kind of frame of mind is best for my body? Because so much evidence is out there that mindset is crucial to physical health. Yeah. And Aubrey actually has an exercise we put in the School of Greatness book. So for those listening who have the book and the chapter on mastering your body and your health, there's an exercise at the end to find out what's missing in your health to figure out how to optimize it. So you guys can also go through that chapter and that exercise and figure out what's missing in your health right now to optimize it, to take it to that next level.

Yeah, our bodies are like cars. We got to look at them more just objectively. It's like your car is going off. Anytime you're tired or anytime something's weird, think of that like an engine light. And then you're the mechanic, though, so you got to go fix that shit. Sometimes the doctors help. Those are like the master mechanic. But for daily maintenance, it's on you, buddy.

You got to figure this shit out. You got to go make sure you're putting gas in the engine, the right type of fuel. The oil change, doing everything you need to fill. Everything. Yeah, all of it. And he was like, we should do this like 30-day squeaky clean. The thing that made me a really good drug addict also makes me really good at

like taking on new habits because I was like, okay, when do you want to start? And he's like, now. And I literally handed the Thin Mints to my friend Zach and I was like, cool, let's go. And we did. And that was the start of the very first Full 30. And did you have it all figured out? Like we're not going to have this, this, and this or it was kind of? It was really loosely based on the framework of a paleo diet.

But when I went back, so I blogged about it on my like personal training blog back in 2009. And when I go back and read, it was super loosey goosey, right? Like don't eat this, try to eat less sugar. Like it wasn't anywhere near, it wasn't super well-defined, but still got great results. It sounds like it did. It got, I got incredible results and like, but different results than what he, he is was more mostly physical. Mine were mostly like helping me identify a really unhealthy emotional relationship with food and helping me change that in a really permanent and profound way. Because I feel like when we have a structure, when we have guidelines, then we can be creative within those guidelines. Yeah. In life and with food.

I like that. Yeah. But, you know, as an artist, sometimes we're just like, okay, paint me a painting. Yes. It's hard to be creative. Yes. But when you say, I want you to paint me a painting with red, black, and green. Yes.

And I want you to have like circular motions. Yeah. Then you can be creative and artistic with the structure and the context. And I think when I had the context and the structure of the Whole30, it made me be more creative of how I could make my food, things that I could order. Now it limited me in some ways, but it gave me structure. Yeah. And I think that structure creates discipline as well. Yes. A lot of people find the rules of the program, which are very black and white,

very on or off, freeing. Because as you said, it takes some of the decision fatigue out of their brain. It eliminates the need to like white knuckle willpower your way through every decision. We say no added sugar. So when you pick up a label and you read it, you don't have to think, is this two grams of sugar? Is that too much? Is it not enough? Is it better? Is it worse? Like it's just sugar? Nope. It's out. And a lot of people find that very freeing, especially in the beginning, because when you're trying to create a new habit or change a habit, it's like when I went to rehab, they stick you all in a box and you're isolated from the rest of the world because in the beginning you're really fragile. It's kind of similar. Yeah.

There's a lot of addiction and recovery language built into the Whole30, which I didn't even realize until kind of after the fact. Yeah, of course. Yeah. I started to ask the right question. You know, questions are so powerful. So I asked, what is my spine actually made of? And then dug into the research and I was shocked. Because when you think of your bones, what's the first mineral or nutrient you think of? I think of calcium. Exactly. I'm ignorant though.

No, this is where everybody lives. The majority of us, there's like 200 other factors that are equally as important. That's just the big marketing one. Right. And so it's things like magnesium, silica. I needed vitamin C to help to regenerate tissues. I didn't know that. Sulfur-bearing amino acids, all these interesting things I'd never heard of. And no way was I getting that via Papa John's and Sunny Delight. So I changed the way that I was eating and I was starting to get- Eggnog muffin wasn't bringing the nutrients, man? No, no. I was missing it, man. I was missing the mark. And so I started to look for the foods that had those things in them. And then there was a radical transformation in my health. So the last

piece was sleep, rest and recovery, man. When I started to do all this good stuff for my body and training again, and again, I just started where I could. I started off on an elliptical, then a stationary bike, walked, picked up the weights again, and I naturally fell into a normal sleep pattern. And six weeks later, man, after making that decision, I lost 28 pounds. The pain I'd been experiencing every day for two and a half years was gone. Ultimately, about nine months later, I got a scan done and I had two herniated discs that retracted on their own. I lost three fourths of an inch in height and I grew half an inch back, which was crazy, right? And the degeneration was starting to essentially be reversed.

And the last physician I worked with, he was just standing there looking at the picture. You know, the MRI is just like, wow, son, whatever you're doing, keep doing it. I haven't seen this before. You had no clue. Yeah. And so that's when I fired my doctor. Wow. But with love, with love.

Sure, sure. But yeah, I kind of got what I needed from that experience. And even when I went to get a scan done, I already knew I was well. It was just kind of an affirmation. Now, why do you think our self-worth is so tied to our body image? Well, I think that we have to address the fact that there is an innate sexuality that people who like Giselle or supermodels or Brady, you look at these like fit football players and sexy models and their body is appreciated. It is beautiful. And we can't knock them down for having that body, but we also have to embrace

having that body, but we also have to embrace what is our natural figure as well. And I think what we, what it is, is pretty animalistic because men and women are attracted, like you're attracted from the outside first, and then the attraction stays from the inside, right? The outside is what gets you attracted and the inside is what keeps you attracted. And it's unfortunate sometimes because people get really caught up in the way that they look. And what I try to coach my clients in is not having these goals that are so outside of reality, but to really celebrate the wins, whether that is gaining two pounds of muscle and being stronger and feeling more energized or clearing a little bit of skin, or even just sticking to a plan for a little while that can build confidence around how we feel. Or maybe you've worked out and eaten clean for a couple of weeks and you treat yourself

to a new romper or a dress or a pair of heels. I mean, or you treat yourself to a massage or a facial or whatever it is that you're into. I think it's really important to celebrate your body because so many of my clients will look at these people like a Victoria's Secret model or the Insta model in the bikinis and the girls who follow them and they want to be just like them and they want that body. But the problem is if they don't have that body, then they don't feel confident. If they don't feel confident, they don't feel sexy. And then they don't give off that confidence and sex appeal. And they it's detrimental to themselves because a lot of guys think they're attractive. And the same goes for guys. If they don't put off that they feel confident and sexy, then the girl is going to vibe off of whatever that aura is or that

energy is that they're putting off. And that has a lot to do with not being perfect, but putting in the effort and like loving what you got and taking what you have to the next level, whether that's taking yourself to the next emotional level by meditating, taking yourself to the next like mental level by education and learning and like going to the school of level by meditating, taking yourself to the next like mental level by education and learning and like going to the school of greatness or whatever it is that you're doing to better yourself. I think all of those things you do to better yourself

can make you more confident in who you are and more comfortable in your skin. And whether you're a size two or a size 12, you gotta rock what you got. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this wellness wisdom mashup from the masters. Again, the first wealth is health, said Emerson. And it's all about mastering your body, your emotions, and your health.

And if you don't have that, something will always be holding you back in every other area of your life. Your relationships will be more strained. The way you think about yourself, your viewpoint on the world, your work, everything would be more strained if your health is strained. Now, I'm not saying all your problems will go away. If you've got great health, those challenges will still be there. you've got great health, those challenges will still be there. But they'll be less strained, because you'll have that inner confidence and know that you're putting in the work to keep a healthy body and healthy mind. If you enjoyed this, make sure to leave a review over on

iTunes or the podcast app right now. And again, every week we shout out the fan of the week. So I'd love to see some of your reviews and let me know what you think. The full show notes is at lewishouse.com slash 644. And again, leave a comment over on Instagram or Twitter, take a screenshot of this and let me know what you liked most about it and share with your friends. It's all about spreading the message of greatness. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we bring you the most inspiring individuals, insightful ideas, and tools to help you unlock your inner greatness. I'm so grateful that you come back here each and every week and share this message with your friends. If you have any questions, any reviews, any thoughts, feel free to connect with me on Instagram and let me know there by leaving a comment. As always, I love you

very much, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music