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<blockquoteThe biggest stopping point is the feeling of inadequacy, discomfort, mistrust, or a lack of self-efficacy. </blockquote - Jonathan
<blockquoteThe biggest stopping point is the feeling of inadequacy, discomfort, mistrust, or a lack of self-efficacy. </blockquote - Jonathan
<blockquoteThe strength model offers promise in identifying strategies to minimize short- term decrements in self-control and assist in developing interventions that foster better self-regulation. </blockquote - Hagger et. al
<blockquoteHabits gather by unseen degrees,As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. </blockquote - Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XV, line 155. Dryden's
<blockquoteThere is a wide gap between knowing… and doing. </blockquote - John Berardi,
One of the most important topics in coaching that has only recently been studied in depth is willpower. Also known as “discipline” or “ego,” social scientists have finally begun in-depth explorations of how willpower works, is affected, is used, and is improved with training and time. The majority...
One of my first clients as a personal trainer was Erin, an 80 year old Irish woman who came into the gym, straight from Mass on a Tuesday, only to find her previous personal trainer had stood her up for the 3rd time. She was hopping mad, and just wanted a personal trainer who would show up. “My...
I don’t know where you are, but here in the USA this week is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving might have started out as a noble celebration of abundance, but as with most things in a land where Calvinist pilgrims tried to divine who was “elect” by the earthy accumulation of wealth, more is definitely...
I love goals. People love goals. But goals are a tricky thing for most people. It sounds silly to say, but as someone who teaches people how to set goals for a living I can tell you that most of the people I talk to do not understand the goal of a goal. In sports, where the word goal comes from,...
My latest post, "Win or Learn" on Hello Healthy, the MyFitnessPal blog is all about the way we talk about training to ourselves and how to keep moving forward when it feels like we're standing
I live down the street from the headquarters of Twitter and have seen the company move headquarters a number of times all over my neighborhood of SOMA. Interestingly, the original idea for “twttr” was using SMS text messages to communicate to a small group, which Jack Dorsey prototyped and launched...
Almost 4 years ago, I made a transition from coaching fellow Marine Officer Candidates to helping regular people with regular fitness problems. My median client age went from 20 to 40, the amount of time I had with each person dropped from 12 hours a week to 1 hour, and the average motivation went...
My favorite artist is Tobi Wong. He was a designer who called his art “paraconceptual.” That’s an art-school word that means he made his art by appropriating other people’s work and tweaking it to make a grander statement. Like dipping Tiffany’s pearl earrings in black rubber and selling them in...
What's do you think is the best movie ever made? Citizen Cane? The Godfather? Casablanca? Now what do you think is the worst movie ever made? Showgirls? Battlefield Earth? The Room? Finally, what is your favorite movie of all time? Star Wars? Love Actually? Gross Point Blank? The reason I am asking...
There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. -Michel de Montaigne I began dabbling in Olympic Weightlifting in January of 2012. Dan John taught me to hang snatch with a wooden dowel on the beach at Pacifica, and I did some form of the lifts every day until I underwent the trauma of the...
"Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity." -Francis Bacon My job as a strength coach is not terribly fancy (despite the fact that I am). I teach people The Five Basic Human Movements (plus that other one) and help them get stronger. When I...
I bring up language a lot to my clients because the way that we talk and think about things greatly impacts the likelihood that we will do or will not do them. The words we choose can act like a barrier to entry. I'd much rather "take my dogs for a walk" than "go outside and stand around while my...
A few weeks ago when I was at Discus Camp, I got a chance to hang out with some great coaches. I met Chip Morton last year and he surprised me by telling me how much he likes by blog and had been reading it for a while. This year we talked for a good bit about how easy programming is when you use...
For the last two years at exactly this time, I’ve packed up the Coach Stevo Show and flown to tiny Denison University in Granveille, Ohio to hang out with Dan John and the extended family of John Powell’s Throws Camp, aka “Discus Camp.” I’m not a thrower. I’m not a track athlete. But every year I...
Every client stumbles. Weddings, birthday parties, and vacations can be previewed and planned for, but sometimes clients just get distracted or blindsided. They lose focus on the goal and get a little off the path. As a coach, I recognize that I am working with a limited and variable amount of my...
When I am starting a coaching relationship with a new client, there are some obvious assessments. I run them through my little mobility screen. I take them through the Five Human Movements (plus One). I ask them about what they have been eating. There are however, many other things I am assessing...