Category: Mental Fitness

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Jeff Cain: Modern Life Lessons through Classic Literature

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Jeff Cain sits down and shares his passion for literature. From Homer to Shakespeare to more modern classics, Jeff helps us see the enduring lessons and stories to be learned from prominent literary pieces. Work-life balance? Got it. Loyalty to friends versus honor and duty? Got it. Sordid family dynamics? Got it. Struggles and victories? Got it.

CALL TO ACTION: PICK UP A BOOK WITH REAL PAGES, IDEALLY ONE THAT CARRIES LEGITIMATE LITERARY VALUE, AND START READING. FIND AN ANTHOLOGY OF LITERATURE OR TRACK DONE SOME OF NORTON’S ANNOTATED CLASSICS.

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35 Andy Wooster Rises From the Dead

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We sit down with submariner Andy Wooster to breakdown his near-death experience after a strenuous day at the gym. His undiagnosed heart issues left him unexpectedly in a life-and-death situation. Andy’s humble retelling of the events shines a light on all the people involved in helping him stay alive and his own determination to respond with resilience

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33 Endurance Sports

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Dan and Matt discuss the physical and mental demands of endurance events. They cover long-distance running, Ironman competitions, rowing events and mention several other massive endeavors. From exploring the limits of the human body to understanding and leveraging the appropriate mindset, the hosts share their perspectives on the uncanny feats all of us are capable of achieving. The Central Governor Theory comes and Dan recommends “Endure” by Alex Hutchins

The hosts revisit the last episode’s call to action and share some personal victories and struggles.

Call To Action: Lean into discormfort…at least a little bit and widen the expectations you have for yourself.

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32: Empathy Vs. Compassion

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Dan and Matt discuss the differences between empathy and compassion and the importance of each in terms of leadership, relationships, and any other sort of interaction. Is compassion “better” than empathy? Can we have compassion without empathy? Empathy without compassion?

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Audience Q & A

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When we put out the call for audience questions we weren’t sure what we’d get. Our audience came through with some great questions. How do we manage rest days? Is it possible to minimize the plateau when it comes to personal records? What’s the best way to redirect our fitness efforts away form personal ego? How can we create mental toughness? Dan and Matt break it all down in this episode. Big thanks to Lauren, Ian, Jay, and Jené for contributing these great questions.

Interested in Matt’s workshop on living a values-driven life? You can check it out here.

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28: Lee Stadshaug Finds Her Strength

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Lee Stadshaug was vocal about how The Victory and The Struggle podcast has helped her move through some significant challenges, so we decided to invite her into the ‘studio’ to hear a little more about it. We were blown away by her transformation. She shared the story of how she when from a lifestyle completely lacking physical activity to a routine of weightlifting, body-weight exercises, running, and everything else involved in CrossFit. Most of her physical strength comes from consistently showing up at Kitsap CrossFit, but she didn’t start out hitting the gym, and she’s extended herself well beyond it. Her mental and emotional strength may be even more impressive. Her story is inspirational to anyone that’s ever doubted themselves, told themselves that they’re too old or too weak. She earns her fitness and she’s earning the confidence that comes along with it.

Call to Action: Give yourself grace. Allow yourself moments to acknowledge your struggles and move forward to the best of your ability.

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26: Laura Finster on Resilience Through Injury

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Seeing Laura Finster crutch into the gym and and workout with a fully immobilized leg was an inspiration for Dan, Matt, and countless others. She shares her victories and struggles through the process of dealing with pain, physical limitations, and the emotional and mental challenges associate with a severe leg injury. Before her leg was back in action, she suffered a rib injury in a car accident…and all of her challenges were amplified.

Call to Action: Do something that scares you, and give yourself credit for the challenges you’re taking on.

Here’s Laura rocking a workout with a full leg brace.

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23: Cultivating Growth Culture

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Dan and Matt share some of there favorite resources for cultivating an environment designed for growth. They discuss podcasts, books, and even a few videos. There are innumerable sources of destructive/negative messages and sometimes we need to be a bit more intentional about where we focus our attention.

Call to Action: Share. Share. Share all the resources that you’ve found inspiring, thought provoking, life-changing, or otherwise contributed to your growth.

Track down some of the favorites from this episode with the links below.

Books
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
One Day Contract
Talent Code
The Happiness Trap
The Anatomy of Peace
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe
Mindset

Podcasts
Chasing Excellence
Building a Story Brand
Practical Stoic
Spartan Up
Art of Manliness
Skeptics Guide to the Universe
Doug Loves Movies (just for fun)
Making Sense with Sam Harris

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Gil Bahnsen and the R2AK

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Gil Bahnsen shared his journey in preparing mentally, emotionally, and physically for the massive challenge of competing in the Race to Alaska (R2AK).  He’s building his own boat and plans to sail it from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska – that’s 750 miles of frigid ocean water.  Gil discussed his inspirations, his struggles, and his hopes for a successful journey.  He is also using this challenge as a way to advocate for male victims of childhood sexual abuse (see the links below for more information).  You can also follow his team, Kingsfold,  via their website or facebook page.

Call to Action:  Dust off an old project or goal and make it happen.

Race to Alaska: https://r2ak.com/

Team website: http://kingsfold-r2ak.com/
Team Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KingsfoldR2AK/
Boat construction blog: http://kingsfoldtravelogues.com/

Male Sexual Abuse and Assault Resources: https://1in6.org/ and malesurvivor.org

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Avoiding Self-Sabotage

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In episode 15, Dan and Matt discuss a couple forms of self-sabotage that they frequently see in the clientele they work with (and in themselves).   Dan focuses in on the bad habit of responding to compliments with negativity, judgment, and/or resistance.  Matt describes the challenges of trying to be supportive when working with a help-rejecting-complainer.  It’s a bit of shorter episode, and these are topics worthy of revisiting.

Call to action: When someone compliments you, pause, resist the urge to deflect or be self-critical, then just express gratitude for the positive feedback.

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Derek Daley

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Dan and Matt interview Derek Daley from Legacy Outdoor Adventure and the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Center.  He shared his passion for using wilderness and adventure therapeutically in the treatment of mental health issues including addiction.  His mission goes beyond treating those with diagnosable problems, Derek advocates for EVERYONE to get off the couch and get outside.  We explore some of the common misperceptions surrounding wilderness therapy and discuss some of the most recent research findings related to safety and effectiveness.

Call to action: Get outside and go for an adventure #rxoffthecouch

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Zach Forrest

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Dan and Matt interview Zach Forrest about his evolution as a person, a manager, and a leader.  Zach provides some interesting perspective about how his military career and time as a Navy SEAL provided some skills that were invaluable and others that made leading civilians more difficult.  We also learn about how Zach built the Max Effort family of Crossfit boxes in Las Vegas.

Call to Action: Consistently check in with yourself and make sure that you can answer this questions: What have I done today to inspire people?

Heading to Las Vegas or just want to learn more about Zach’s business, check out Max Effort