Journal

LIFE INGREDIENTS with Robert Irvine: Issue #36

Jun 29, 2026

Hey Folks,

Welcome to Life Ingredients, the newsletter where I talk fitness, food, and motivation. These are

the great passions of my life—the three pillars that 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 and more capable of creating a life you love.

We start the way we always do—with movement. Now let’s get to work!

LIFE INGREDIENTS FITNESS

SHOULDERS & ABS WORKOUT

This shoulders and core workout from my trainer Steve Wrona is a marvel of efficiency. A lot of

novice lifters might not understand the link between shoulders and core, but there’s good reason

to pair them together; that’s how real life works. You can’t press or hold something of substantial

weight over your head without engaging your core. In fact, you’ll find that a lot of the most

powerful strongmen in the game—men who routinely lift ungodly sums—get most of their core

training done thanks to the time their abs spend under tension while they are overhead pressing.

I love how this workout really emphasizes that connection. I also appreciate how Steve never lets

me cheat and just roll into the workout the way I would have in the past. He demands a proper,

intelligent warmup that gets the rotator cuffs ready for action. You might be tempted to skip this

part yourself, but don’t. Just five minutes of smart mobility now can save you months of pain

later. As a guy who’s had a few surgeries to repair torn muscles and tendons, please take it from

me.

View Complete Workout

Now, on to the the food!

LIFE INGREDIENTS FOOD

GRILLED COFFEE-RUBBED COWBOY RIBEYE

The cowboy ribeye has a two-sided reputation. On the one hand, it’s rightfully considered to be one of the best, if not THE best cut of beef you can buy. Juicy, tender, and delicious as long as you don’t burn it. On the other hand, it’s known as very pricey, an ostentatious luxury item. Well, that’s only true if you’re going to eat the whole thing by yourself, cowboy. Following healthy portion size guidelines of 6-8 ounces of beef per person, one of these bad boys should serve four. Add in the fact that it’s incredibly easy to cook and needs just a little bit of help from some thoughtful seasoning (see recipe below) to bring out its naturally bold flavors, and I think there’s a strong case that this cowboy can indeed make a good family man.

View Complete Recipe

LIFE INGREDIENTS MOTIVATION

I recently ran across the poem “Listen To The Mustn’ts” by Shel Silverstein and even though I’ve read it before, it’s one of those things that, whenever it pops up, it just grabs a hold of me and makes me so happy that I have to share it. It’s short and sweet and perfect. If brevity is the soul of wit as Shakespeare said, then it truly gets no better than this:

LISTEN TO THE MUSTN’TS

By Shel Silverstein

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,

Listen to the DON’TS

Listen to the SHOULDN’TS

THE IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me—

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

See? I told you it was perfect.

Well, if you know me at all, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out why I love this poem so much. There’s that magic word “impossible” right in the middle of the poem. And then there’s Mr. Silverstein saying, “Kid, impossible is nothing.”

Shel Silverstein intuitively understood what I’ve been trying to get across to people throughout my entire career. “Impossible” is nothing more than a story that we tell ourselves. It’s an obstacle, opponent, or task that we build up in our minds to be greater than it really is. And we only build it up because we lack experience and support.

So when we invest in our own growth and development, and when we surround ourselves with great people—talented people who aren’t afraid of hard work and aren’t afraid to share their big ideas—then all of a sudden what seemed impossible isn’t so big, bad, and scary anymore. All of a sudden, it seems achievable. And the moment the “impossible” feels achievable, that’s when the very notion of impossible loses its power over us. It opens our minds and we stop thinking of all the things we can’t do and start thinking of all the things we can do. It shifts our focus from wanting to having, from lack to abundance, from a feeling of powerlessness to a feeling that our own success is inevitable.

In short: When we refuse to give up and then we march forward toward seemingly insurmountable odds and come out winners, we do more than win the day. We level up. We earn new power for ourselves that we can then take into the next mission, the next assault on a supposedly impossible task.

The thing you see as impossible right now has no more power over you than what you give it. So, if you’re going to give something power by building it up in your mind, shouldn’t it be… you?

Until next time, remember the words I live by:

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

Decorative Signature Recreation for Chef Robert Irvine

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