Hey Folks,
Welcome back to Life Ingredients , the place where we take care of the whole person - spirit, mind, and body. Every edition is a reminder that real health isn’t about chasing perfection, but about building habits that make you stronger, more composed, and more capable of creating a life you love.
We start the way we always do- by moving. Now let’s get to work!
LIFE INGREDIENTS FITNESS Upper Body Blast After last month’s leg day, and the lecture I gave you about never skipping it - I’m in a more… forgiving mood. You “ate your vegetables” so to speak, so yes, you may now have dessert. To put it more plainly: I’m sharing an upper-body workout that has no heart-pounding conditioning component.
This month, my trainer Steve is here with a plan that gives you plenty of work for every major muscle in the upper body: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. I personally love this one, and the sleeve-busting pump I got from it.
Ladies, I don’t want to hear another word of worry about how you’ll get “too big” or some such. To get big muscles you need to train heavy over a period of many years and eat big (to say nothing of the vast hormonal differences that influence the size gap between men and women). So yes, you may do this workout without fear of looking like a bodybuilder. Click the video for a tutorial.
View Complete Workout LIFE INGREDIENTS FOOD Bison Ragu Big, bold fall flavors are on my mind until further notice, and as I combed through my recipe library, this one stuck out as one of the biggest and boldest I’ve ever created. It’s hearty, rich, cheesy, salty, and so comforting that after I saw this picture I knew I needed to make some tonight. And to pre-empt the most frequently asked question about this recipe: I know that bison meat is not that common and you may not have a butcher from whom you can request such things. That’s fine; ground pork is an acceptable substitute. Enjoy!
View Complete Recipe For a baseball player, his opponents, the umpires, the crowd, and the millions watching at home are all outside of his locus of control. When he stands in the box, his locus of control is focusing on the pitch, and swinging or not swinging. That’s it. Of course this is easier said than done, but it’s a high-profile example of a concept that every one of us would do well to take to heart for the sake of our mental health.
On a busy TV set my locus of control is really just two things: 1) How much I’m helping the effort with my own hands—pitching in with the renovation, demonstrating a cooking technique, etc. and 2) My own behavior towards others, which includes my ability to calmly articulate the mission, delegate responsibilities as necessary, and judge the quality and progress of everything that’s happening. Let me tell you: Number 2 is a whole lot easier to do when I have the humility to acknowledge that everyone else’s behavior is outside of my locus of control. All I can do is stay calm and try to lead by example. After that, people will follow or they won’t. If you’ve chosen the people around you well, then they will follow.
Think now about your own locus of control. What is within it? Other drivers on the highway during your morning commute? How your boss chooses to speak to you? The work ethics of your colleagues? You already know the answer to all these. It’s a big, fat nope. You control the work you do with your own hands, how you treat others, and most importantly: how you react to those things outside of your locus of control.
It's interesting to talk to people about this concept and see their reactions. Some people are initially disheartened when it dawns on them how very little is within their locus of control and how the vast majority of human experience involves things outside of that locus. For my part, the concept has totally set me free. Any job, any goal, any problem, all of it becomes so much smaller and more manageable when you place the varying components in their appropriate place: inside or outside of your own locus of control.
When you accept the truth of this, it’s totally liberating, and sets you free to go be the very best version of yourself: whether that’s mashing home runs in front of millions of people or just showing up and being present with your family.
I don’t know what the future holds for you. No one does. But if you can concentrate on what’s really matters to you—and focus solely on those aspects that you can control—then I know you’ve got this.
Until next time, remember the words I live by:
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
