Why I believe You Should Get Commando Fit - The Aussie Steve Willis Way

When you commit to something of importance, you make what some call "sacrifices". In the pursuit of health and fitness, we make many. In Fact, more than most. But you need to adopt the mindset that these are not "sacrifices", you are not in fact giving away something. In the definition of the word I will remove religious connotations (For I do not refer to the spiritual aspect for the purpose.)

noun

1. an act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering to a deity.

verb

2. give up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations.

When you decide to put your health and fitness and well-being first, some might think this is a sacrifice. Not everyone is born perfect, we did not all adopt healthy eating and nutrition from day one. We face challenges in life. When those challenges start to overwhelm us, we look inward. We decide to change, or we consider change. Those of us that are strong enough to face this, and no longer continue to reside in the comfort zone of life, choose to succeed. We want something better. We are tired of the things that have held us back. I wrote in my previous blog the motivational video that said:

Most people you know what they do? Most people go through life, quietly and safely, tip-toeing their way to an early grave. 

Now I get great displeasure from even writing that here, but sometimes truth is hard. Brutal truth is even harder, and those lines apply more to this topic than any other I can think of.
I have made every single sacrifice in my pursuit that I never believed I could ever dream of making, I have cut out foods and embraced challenges I never thought I could actually follow through, nor stick with, let alone Enjoy and embrace.
It has been the best and wisest choice I have made in the history of my 38 years on this earth.

I want to introduce a man many of us already know as a household name in Australia, Commando Steve - also known as Steve Willis, born the same year as me 1976.
His motto is There are No Excuses. He has been a major factor and involved in the Australian version of The Biggest Loser. He joined the army in the mid 1990s, hence the Commando term, He started off working Infantry before joining the special forces. He later studied Personal Training whilst working as a labourer. He has said in interviews that the military enabled or enforced a strict sense of discipline and motivation in him that transpired into his current mindset.
He is a beast and in the gym a powerful force beyond his years, I am certain he puts many a young hopeful to shame - even when they decide foolishly to test him.

I am spending alot of money on eating clean and my lifestyle, again, back to the sacrifices element. But I do not see this as any sort of sacrifice. I would rather look at it as an Investment.
Yesterday I needed to exercise serious budget restraint, I had the option of buying his latest book or to be more sensible and get it later when I had more money.
I decided to weigh up the options in the city as I walked toward Target. I listened to the inner voice that said you are not that bad you can invest in this.
It was only $16, a crazy price that I tweeted the other day, and Target replied which was most amusing I liked this - and the time they replied was around 7pm - On the ball for a company!

I love this book already so much. I must explain I am not promoting this book or person for any motivation of a financial nature or reward. This blog is free and public and I have no desire to change my methods of inspiring and helping others from my heart not from my wallet.
I am simply trying to get some of us to look at life from a different angle. The Commando angle - are you sick of your life? Are you unhappy with the weight around your mid-section?
Do you want to change but are not sure how to apply making or adopting these changes?
Are you tired of being tired? Do you want to live longer so you can live to see your children get older and grow into wonderful human beings?
Do you want to get rid of the worry you are dying slowly and cannot do anything about it?

The book impressed me highly with the recipes, The exercise guides with proper form and guidance I can refer to when needed.
The mindset shines through.

Worth every cent and I have a feeling it will reimburse me for the future in more than dollar value.
Here is a video for Commando Steve: and below it the cover picture of the book.
It is titled Get Commando Fit I will link Amazon for my international friends:

http://www.amazon.com.au/Get-Commando-Fit-Book-Series-ebook/dp/B00N1ZX7SS

Lastly, well done Steve a true Aussie champion dedicated to a cause and goal to inspire and help others - Bless you and shine the light forward.
Please consider coming down to Tasmania soon and do some book signings and promotions of health and fitness - get the Hobartians off the couch!
Respect.

Thankyou Louise Hay Positive Growth is Attainable by Anyone

Okay, I was planning to quote some Louise L. Hay material but after some online research it appears to be a copyright grey area... so I am just going to wing it myself with some thoughts based on her general wisdom that I have learned from her great work recently. I will put it entirely into my own words and express how I wish to share it - I will include an interview with the great lady at the bottom of this blog I found on YouTube if you choose you can listen to her, and watch her speak her insight.

A few months ago I purchased her CD 101 Power Thoughts from Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/101-Power-Thoughts-Louise-Hay/dp/1401903967/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422210908&sr=8-1&keywords=101+power+thoughts

I can now look back on this as the catalyst of rapid mindset change and growth.
It opened up a door that was already partially ajar, thanks in great part to my spiritual leader and friend the Australian well-being expert, Author and Meditation CD publisher, Dr. Gillian Ross. It led me to a new path that I am so grateful to walk upon each and every day.

One observation I have made from reading many countless stories from others who have experienced profound growth, is the initial event or the common theme that seems to trigger or inspire it. This to me seems to be created from change, or an event that prompts change. This can be a devastating life battle, or a shattering struggle or challenge. Or perhaps simply from one's own desire to improve a life they are unhappy with.

In my personal case, and many others, it was the decision to improve the body. A Nutrition upheaval or physical choice to lose weight and get healthy. Louise is a strong promoter of the simple facts of which we need to nourish our body, give it good quality nutrition, exercise and love ourselves. She actually encourages people to consult a nutritionist if they are unsure, or research how to eat better and live well.

Why would she promote this? I can sense some of you asking this, and you might respond with things such as... you are perfectly comfortable in your skin and happy in your current life without the need to adopt any dietary changes. If this is the case, why do you complain about your job, why do you worry the minute you wake up from a bad night's sleep, affected by alcohol from the night before? Perhaps you are nicotine reliant, or you smoked some dope last night, or popped prescription meds to get you through your crippling anxiety. Or you use anything you can to comfort the pain you just denied? Why do you say you want to lose that belly fat or get to the gym, but you do not have time for exercise? You have children and a busy life, you cannot fit it in ... and so on. Why do some of you say you do not worry and are mostly happy, but if you truly looked within you know you worry the minute you prepare to go to work; or you worry about the amount of time you overslept from lack of motivation or drug use.

The justifications or excuses you will hold onto...You might try and say you are happy doing drugs it gets you through the pain, you smoke cigarettes because you feel it relaxes you - you need to calm a busy life and reduce your stress. But at the same time you wish you could also quit. You want to quit drugs but you are stuck in the circle of friends and a place that makes it hard to consider moving away from... perhaps like me, you had this crazy romantic connection with drugs from the feelings they gave you when you experimented with them years earlier. Perhaps some of this was almost positive or at least you thought it was, so you hold onto the memory that drugs calmed you and gave you a happy time. Even if in reality they did the opposite and almost caused you death.
You may try and tell me in regard to nutrition - but you love your soda too much, you cannot give up your refined sugar and chocolate or fast food treats. The effort is too much, or that you tried in the past and failed. Or you are too heavy, it's too late. You have a medical condition that prevents you from exercise... or you are allergic to vegetables, you can only stomach french fries, and nothing else makes you feel full. Healthy people only eat rabbit food and those fit people look anorexic anyway. And gym guys & girls are all muscles and no brains - full of ego. You are too fat to walk into a gym the others would intimidate you - you would feel uncomfortable because the other members look better than you.

I am not judging, hell I have done ALL OF THE ABOVE at certain times earlier in my life, so believe me I cast no ill feeling toward whatever anyone else does.

Louise makes the point, to fully understand the reasons why others behave the way they do, we would need to walk a mile in their shoes. The world is a cauldron of interesting vibrant different combinations of unique souls. A person cannot be a blueprint of someone else. This is a theme I need to touch on, discover your uniqueness, embrace it. As soon as you find comfort in conforming; which is dictated to us by our parents and the education system from day one, we are paralysed and crippled by emotional restraint.

Like Louise says we are all born happy vibrant babies, it is the influence of others particularly during childhood that forces us into creating set patterns for our attitudes, our beliefs, our anger, our emotional responses, how we deal with relationships love and life as a whole.
I am not saying our Mothers and Fathers are particularly at fault, but some of them without even knowing it, are forcing their behaviours and lessons learned from their childhood onto their children.
This can have a great positive effect, or in stark contrast, have the potential to end a life. Or create a person so abused and crippled by negative experiences they serve no purpose to themselves, or to life.

Again, the concept of change..,the above is not a forced pyramid of power that confines us for the rest of our living days. I love a motivational video that has the quite profound statement that shocked me and might shock you as well:

Most people you know what they do? Most people go through life, quietly and safely, 
tip toeing their way to an early grave.

That might sound harsh and abrasive but I can tell you, when you used to do it, and then you learn to overcome it, you realise the truth in it.

I run into people in my life everyday that talk, and now I listen. I used to try and focus only on what I wanted to say. I got quite impatient at waiting for them to pause, so I could blurt my point of view or what I wanted to say. In fact I was so drawn into myself I sometimes did not even absorb what the other person said. Or just interrupted them whilst they spoke and blurted it anyway; which is the essence of rudeness and gains little respect or love. I hear them now talk about things, I pick up the general energy they feed out. I can sense the positive and the negative. Sadly in far too many people the latter is more prevalent.

I can see so many that want change, but they do not understand it's possible, or are just unwilling to even consider it at this point in their lives. Some are so negative they might just plain hate on the reasons other people have made positive changes and succeeded. They resent it and turn it against the person. Largely based on the fact they could not make the change themselves and want to try and knock the person down a peg or two.

I warn you, when you embrace change, people will love you for it, some will hate you for it. Even weight loss - you might get a friend or two that are so positive and encouraging, whilst you will get one or two that will tell you or remind you of the fact you might fail. Or you are doing it for a reason they disagree with. Please check this great link a article written by Ben Michaelis Ph.D. for the Huffington Post.
He is a clinical psychologist and author. If you want to succeed in life you need to address the "people pleasing" concept many of us are controlled by, and let it go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-michaelis-phd/people-pleasing_b_3110073.html

I cannot understate how good it feels to not care for what anyone else thinks or says to me, particularly when it is negative. I will leave you all with one last train of thought - a train that is on the tracks of self-actualization and not headed down the NYC subway in the 1980s covered in graffiti (I say this in humour Respect to Cope 2 and all those street art legends you guys and girls started a revolution that many others love to Hate.)

You can find joy or gratitude in a compliment, but learn to Not seek it. You do not need any approval or acceptance from anyone but yourself. You do not need to constantly ask others if you are loved, or are beautiful. Or that you need to source unconditional love; that you need to earn it. Dismiss the mindset you are not worthy of love from others unless you have a career, a car or a Miranda Kerr body, or a Hugh Jackman physique. When you learn to love yourself first and foremost, this will be reflected in the people you meet and the people that are drawn into your life. Attract the right - and let go of the wrong and the feelings and mind that has controlled you to this point.

Skip to 9:12 in the YouTube video if you want a Louise Hay direct insight on this.

Shine the light, and walk around the darkness. If darkness comes in do not allow it to linger, open the curtain as soon as possible in your mind to shine the light back in. Replace the dark with light, instead of embracing the dark and allowing it to linger - choose the light instead. Overcome the barriers, and embrace challenge. Do not allow yourself to be held back ...life is in the Now - the present moment - the future can be changed, and the past cannot. Why continue to be held in the past when it is something that you can never change? Look to an idea, an ideal, a word, I like to use one in particular, Hope.

Hold onto that word, Hope.
Even if you do not embrace a single word or concept I have addressed above, if you hold onto Hope when things are beating you down - you will more than likely stand back up again. If you lose it, you may just remain on that canvas and never get back up, even after the final count.
What would this life have been for?
A fight you struggled with, a match that had great potential, but in the end the person who was more capable of greatness than anyone just got knocked out. Anyone and everyone is capable - it is not an esoteric illusion that is only attainable by a select few. The fighter above does not usually get remembered. The person that might have more potential to be is the champion with their victorious fist in the air. The person who helped inspire and create a better world for others. Not for himself or herself. But for others. And a true champion has character and the essence of lesser ego.

Be humble remain true and love, and love yourself as you will learn to draw the love from others.
Let go of all that negative garbage that has piled up, clean it out and learn to only look back when required and not for the shadows but the light. The negative it serves no useful purpose. It just makes the spirit of your place (mind and body) unclean, and makes you unhealthy and unhappy.

If you read this to the very end I applaud you, my blog writing is still in the early stages. I do this not for profit motivation I just want to help inspire others. Please comment and reshare to your hearts content. I always try and respond to each and everyone that takes the time to comment. My gratitude even for sharing your thoughts, you may disagree, agree or not believe a word but I accept and gain insight from everyone.

Namaste.

My Personal Experience with Mental Health and Nutrition the Healthy Lifestyle benefits to alleviate it

I must say this is a special subject dear to my heart, many of you out there suffer the awful nightmare that is mental illness, mental health or anxiety... I have been there myself in some dark places in the past. This blog is personal it does not attempt to provide a blatant prospect of curing it or for you to suddenly find yourself without the torment your mind inflicts on you, it simply offers what worked for me and how there is one word that remains critical in life - that you must always hold onto, especially through the shadows when the darkness and cold trap you - the word is simply:

Hope.

For me I discovered the true power of Nutrition and exercise, two powerful elements. I know the meds probably make you feel strongly unmotivated, as they did to me, and you have difficulty getting from bed most mornings. But the latest science is saying that Nutrition is the next big therapy because eating and fuelling your body with proper food has so much benefit.

On November 5th 1981 in the Brisbane Courier Mail Australian Newspaper it was reported that this man, Dr Abram Hoffer a psychiatrist believed the consumption of junk foods over a long period of time can cause fatigue depression and sleeplessness. He believed it had led to a Western form of malnutrition. He said: 'About 90 percent of people who go to psychiatrists have conditions due, in varying degrees, to poor or inappropriate nutrition'.
Dr Hoffer believed 'A person who is really healthy from a nutritional point of view is seldom unable to deal with psychological problems.' The junk foods he mentioned included white bread non dairy creams made of chemicals commercial French fried potatoes all foods that had sugar added like peas pastries cakes and canned foods like soups.

As you might imagine he was laughed off the face of the planet for even suggesting this "crazy nonsense" at that point in history.

I had to edit the video and change it to a short version the old one failed to play audio on some mobile or cell devices, so enjoy this tribute or reference to Abram Hoffer and his specific reasoning on how the system gives a person little hope and that all schizophrenics and people with mental illness are most often led to believe recovery or living a normal productive life will never be possible.

Note the part in the video where he discusses some key elements that are sadly neglected by the mental health system - getting a person under a stable roof and comfort, then giving them the full support needed and also giving them the chance to eat all the nutritious food. This is something most people with mental illness are incapable of enjoying, due to many different factors.

I might add a positive story because I feel I need to offer a light:

Speaking of my experience - my second episode in my teens was a drug induced Psychosis, and I was discussing a story with someone who touched my heart more than the drugs or therapy ever did yesterday. Many of you would know the UK band The Stereo MCs?

It was 1993 I was in Psych, and in a hell of a place mentally, the darkest hell hole of shit stinking motivation sucking health damaging, soul destroying - a landscape littered with carcasses of people that some are no longer with us, many of them are dead from suicide or drug abuse or the illness just crippled them, broke them in half and eventually won.

Important note: I give FULL CREDIT to the wonderful nurses and doctors, most of them are so highly dedicated to the cause of helping us they sacrifice everything in their lives to pursue the gift of healing and trying to allow anyone to get better. They put their hearts into the patients they treat and take the pain back home with them to their families and loved ones some nights and days - bless you all!

There was this one nurse, a male nurse. He was super cool, like a strong good looking man that all the females admired (yay!) and he was into gym or athletic based sports stuff too I think from memory.

He sat down with me many times and in the midst of the haze tried to give some advice to me.

He suggested the drugs I had done like Lsd and mushrooms and marijuana were capable of destroying me, in fact he even said some people have never recovered fully from acid and it drove them to death, because when your brain is wired like mine, the drugs just do not suit it, they do not suit the best of minds at the best of times, but when you have certain tendency towards factors this is even worse.

But one-day early into the admission he did something most profound, he came up to me, he knew and understood we both shared a passion for music, he handed me a cassette tape and simply said You need to listen to this album.

It was a band I have never heard of and I loved hip hop as well as all kinds of music, I was a budding Graffiti artist and anyway I was drawn to it.

The Stereo MC's - Connected.

This album turned out to be therapy, the lead singer Rob commented yesterday on Twitter perhaps #alternative medicine in a light hearted manner to me which made me smile.

It kept me going through some dark times with the uplifting positive lyrics and message.

You listen to the album you can tell the lyrics are written by someone enlightened and a powerful mind - I have not heard anything quite like it ever since.

The nurse allowed me to duplicate a copy (Sorry Rob but this piracy was beneficial and I did end up buying multiple copies of your cd later lol)

I played that album quite a lot to death in fact and my dear Mother loved it more than me LOL, she actually told me and encouraged me to play it more !!!

So what I am saying is that certain things in life can give you a glimmer of light and hope.

I got off drugs and never took them again.

Never relapsed again. I am 38 years old now.

I battled some serious anxiety issues but with Nutrition and exercise/healthy lifestyle I have not endured an episode of that since the end of winter 2013.

I got back in touch recently with the professor of adolescent psychiatry who treated me in 1991 Prof Dr. Robert Kosky, a highly respected expert in Australian circles, he retired a month or two ago.

My story sent him into this a most happy man, he told me some things that stood out:

Colin, I believe firmly that if you stick to your strength training fitness nutrition and healthy lifestyle, you will never have another issue for as long as you live.

Also he added it may surprise me he leaned away from harsh meds in his later years and toward more natural holistic treatments, I only add this because one of the meds he prescribed me back in 1991 was subsequently banned worldwide, after it was eventually discovered it was causing instant death in some schizophrenic patients.

If you are on medication you ALWAYS NEED TO CONSULT your doctor and never consider ANY CHANGES WITHOUT speaking to them, this includes EXERCISE.

I got an ECG done a full health check up on my heart ... never throw yourself into fitness without getting the all clear and consulting the right people who know.

Anyway this is all I needed and wanted to say enjoy the video interview and I will add a Stereo MC's video also just for great memories and to Rob Birch - Respect! - I will add when I looked you up and discovered you are a fellow gym rat and healthy lifestyle/exercise advocate and lover - and not into the concept of abusing illegal drugs - it just made me contact you! Thanks for replying it made my day - as promised here is the blog I wrote that I told you I might consider sharing. Enjoy. and You may Retweet if you desire but a fave would be enough!

Edit I will add another video another great motivational Matuesz M from YouTube I think the concepts in this one apply to this blog