hi, everyone. i'm angela haupt,from us news and world report's health and wellness team. we're so excited towelcome you to this google+ conversation on themental side of fitness. we'll be taking a look atwhy having the right mindset is so vital to yourhealth and well being. i'm particularly excited towelcome american fitness guru, celeb trainer, and creator ofthe p90x workouts, tony horton.
welcome, tony. hi, angela. how are you? i'm great. it's great to see you, tony. how are you doing today? i'm on fire. come on. i'm ready to go.
feel great. you look it. well, thank you for joining us. we also have threelucky guests here today, all from the fitnesscommunity on google+. we have ev sã¼tterjoining us from moore, oklahoma, today. hi, ev. hi, how you doing?
thanks for being here. we also have sylvia nasser,from hicksville, new york. hi, sylvia. hello, there. and finally, our third guestis adam ali, from toronto. hi, adam. ya there, adam? i see him. i'm here.
yeah. oh, great. there you are, adam. well, thanks so much toall of you for joining us. we're so happy to have you here. and without further ado, we'regoing to jump into these questions. so, tony. up first, tell us. how does your mentalmindset affect your fitness?
well, you know, it's aninteresting question. and i would actuallyalmost reverse it. it's really how my fitnessaffects my mental mindset. so, you know, and i exercisefor very different reasons than i used to. i think when i wasyounger, i was exercising for the sole purpose ofcreating aesthetic change. it was really kind of based in ego. i wanted to have bigmuscles, because i
thought that would impress people. i also exercisedwith the hope that i would become a slightlybetter athlete. but in the early days, i didn'treally have the right formula like i did, maybe forp90x, or x2, or x3 now. but the reason why itrain now, is truly because it changes mymental and emotional state. those two things areso directly connected. and, you know, i don't necessarilyget excited prior to exercising.
but i do know whatthe after effects are. and so, it's the cyclicalthing that happens. if i exercise today, then ihave them the mental acuity and the emotionalbalance that i need to come back and do that again. and achieve more in life. so i have a greatersense of adventure. a greater sense of exploration. and at 55 years old, just themental state of knowing how good
it feels my own skin. i don't have a lot of the issuesthat i had when i was younger, and i know a lot ofpeople still suffer from now, here in this country. where they're just so terriblyunhappy and depressed, and relying on their pharmacist,really-- or drugs or alcohol, or other things, to kind of createsome sort of temporary mental state that did makes them feel goodfor just a short period of time. and so now i train solely,really-- well, i mean,
i like being strong andfit and flexible, too. but when i train, that feelingi have the second i'm done, is just amazing. and i can pretty much ridethat wave for the entire day. and i try to repeat thatday after day after day. so, tony, have you always had apositive mindset about fitness? or have there been some timeswhen you were discouraged? and if so, tell us a little bitabout how you overcame those times, how you pulled through.
wow. no. no, no. i was the c minus studentwith a speech impediment, whose middle namewas scared to death. and my favorite word was no. i didn't have a wholelot of confidence, really, when i was a little guy.we moved a lot when i was a kid. my father was in themilitary, and then he
got transferred with different jobs. so i kind of jumped fromschool system to school system. finally settledconnecticut in fifth grade. and i was a small kid. i was not an athletic kid. i had no endurance, noflexibility, no balance. i didn't have the information,the knowledge, that i have now, that i try to get out toas many people as possible. and i've been to 39 militarybases around the world.
and there's so manyyoung men and women in the military that haveto pass that pt test. and i explain to them,it's also about who you are within yourjob in the military. that's also the same if your35 year old mother of five, or you're a former athletethat's gotten out of shape. and so, there's a lot that i'velearned between then and now. and back then, i wasreally exercising for all the wrong reasons.
i didn't really enjoy exercise. i didn't really understand thatthere was a mental aspect to it. you know, that when youexercise in certain ways, you're releasing norepinephrine,dopamine, serotonin, brain-derived neurotropic factor. and once i learnedall these things, i had the informationto help me sustain my level of enthusiasm for it. so this all happened probablyin my 20s to early 30s.
and i'm always gatheringmore information. i've read john ratey's book spark. the effects of a physicalactivity in the brain. it made a big difference. younger next year,chris crowley's book. deepak chopra. you know, anybody and everybodythat has some great information about the connection betweenmind, body, and spirit. well, speaking of body, nutritionobviously plays a big part--
proper nutrition-- in yoursuccess as a fitness guy. so tell us a little bit more abouthow proper nutrition also affects your mental andemotional well being. well, it is a 50/50 equation. i mean, a lot of folksexercise with the hope that they can kind ofeat whatever they want. and some people aregenetically gifted. they're really athletic,they have a high metabolism. maybe they're an ectomorph, whichmeans they're naturally thin.
and lucky them. they get to kind ofeat whatever they want. but ultimately, if you wantto performance your best, it's making sure that you're eatingfruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats,whole foods, natural foods. foods that are not manufactured. foods that don'tcome from a factory. foods that, when youlook at your plate, you would hope that yourgreat-great-great-grandmother
would recognize what you're eating. and it's really that simple. and so, is it paleolithic,is it raw, is it vegan, is it vegetarianism,is it flexitarianism? i was vegan-vegetarian for a longtime, because during that period, i thought that'swhat best served me. but as i've gotten older,a lot of the protein sources i was lookingfor weren't there. i couldn't get it througha shake, i couldn't
get it through vegan proteins. and i'm not saying itshould be one or the other. but i think what happensto a lot of folks, is they treat their presentdiet like a religion. and so, you've got to be flexible. it's like anything else. i think the moreopen-minded you are, and the more variety that you have,then there's a greater likelihood that you're going to feeldisciplined without deprivation.
it's that fine linebetween those two. the minute you start feelingdeprived in this phenomenal new fad diet you're doing, trust me,you're gonna go off to the corner and you're gonna eatyour cupcake, or you're going to have some frenchfries or something. and then you're gonna have thatguilt that goes along with it. i'm just saying, makesure that your breakfast, lunch, and dinner is super healthy. and that's where the bulk of yourcalories come every single day.
and if you can do that, then youcan enjoy a chocolate chip cookie, or some key lime pie, orbreaks on those snacks that have a smallercalorie count to them. that's basically what i've done. i didn't eat any meator fish or chicken. now i'm doing free-range chicken. i'm doing wild beef,buffalo, and elk. i'm a fan of that elk. and this has beena big shift for me.
and i feel better than ever. but i'm not here todisseminate information to get anybody to doone thing or the other. i just want people tomove on a regular basis. and i want them tomake healthier choices, so they don't feeldeprived meal after meal. pretty simple. great. so now, let's hear somequestions from our guests.
so, ev, we will turnit over to you first. all right. well, thank you. this is wonderful to meet you, tony. i'm a p90x-certifiedteam beach body coach. you're very wise man. i am. i'm a wise man followinga very wise man. my greatest, i guess, successesas a beach body coach,
have been with the peoplewho struggle, with the people who aren't sure how to get started,with the people who give up. with the people who, atsome point in their lives, they come into hardship, andjust mentally kind of break down. whatever that hardship could be. and so, my question is-- youare probably the person who has inspired to fitness,more than anybody else, the people whosay they can't do it. how do you go about encouragingthose people who-- they
see those posters that say,never give up, failure's not an option, 100% or nothing,or, no excuses whatsoever. how do you inspire thosepeople who are in doubt? who are struggling to look pastthat, and go, yeah, i can do this? well, you know, that'sa great, great question. i think you've gotten to thecore of what's most important, so that people cansustain this lifestyle. there's so many people that i know. they get started on a program, andthey'll quit after the third week,
or maybe they'llquit halfway through, or they'll get all theway through the program, and-- whether it beone of my programs, or some other beach body program,or whatever it happens to be-- they've gone to the mountaintop, andthey don't know how to sustain it, or to continue. and i think, really, thekey is-- the reason why p90x works, x2, andx3-- is there's a plan. there's a plan in orderfor you to follow.
and it's three months long. and so you decide i'm going todo month one, two, and three. i'm gonna go throughall three phases. and then you have to make adecision somewhere close to day 90. what am i going to do now? so, obviously, we have a panoplyof products here at beach body. and a lot of folks willtake their indoor training, and start playing inthe outside world, or maybe they'll jump into crossfit.
or they'll join a gymor something else. the shift is differentfor everybody. but, really, what i think alot of people are missing, is they're missing a purposeand a plan and accountability. those are really, really thenutshell of the-- nutshell-- but that's really the key,i think, to the whole thing. for me, personally, if i didn't haveworkout partners seven days a week, i'd probably-- me-- i'dmiss half of my workouts. and so, you are thecompany you keep, right?
so, if you're hanging around with abunch of people who don't do much, and smoke, and eat fastfood, then chances are, that's where you're going to end up. so, and the people that getup at 5 o'clock in the morning and do an hour and a half yogaclass at that hour in the dark. i don't know who theyare, they're superstars, you know, i bow to your greatness. that's not me. so the other thing is a plan.
and, you know, it's funny. we don't miss brushingour teeth every day. we don't miss our meals. we don't miss sleeping every night. but for some reason, we can't getour workouts on a regular basis. and so the idea here isto come up with a purpose. come up with a plan. hang out with like-mindedpeople who are fired up, and want to be consistent, andwant to change their lives,
and stay that way untilthey're 109 years old. right? and so, ultimately, i think, really,the key here is if you don't have the people to hang out withto do these types of things, you've got to go find them.are they in your family? are they somebody online? i don't know, there's peopleeverywhere who are also struggling. go knock on their door, go givethem a call, send them an email. and find out who they are and startworking out with other people.
the other thing too, is a plan. i mean, you know, ifyou're on this planet and you're getting by,to me you're surviving. there's so much more. you're either going to survive,or you're going to thrive. and when you exercise every day,and you make healthy food choices, you're going to thrive. you're going to be thinkingoutside of your comfort zone. you're going to be doingthings you never tried before.
because you're gonnahave a different life. you're going to be different person. i mean, we're talking about themental aspects of physical fitness. when you move on a regular basis,it changes your brain chemistry. and when you changeyour brain chemistry, you have so many more opportunities. i mean look at you. you're p90x-certified,you're a coach, you have a completelydifferent lifestyle.
because you've made some choiceswhen it comes to your diet, and when it comes to your movements. and so, all i would tell people is--and look, you can't help everybody. the worst kind of adviceto give is the kind that's never been askedfor in the first place. i don't care if it's yoursiblings, or your parents, or your best friend, man. i mean, they've got to come to you. but maybe they don't havethe right information.
but the minute they do come to you,it's time to say, what's your plan, what your purpose. tony's purpose is if heexercises today, today rocks. if he doesn't, it's not as good. the past is history,the future's a mystery. what are you going to do rightnow to make today awesome? and so, is it power half hour? is it p90x3? those are only a half an hour.
maybe you've got timefor p90x, and you want to be the bestshape of your life. then figure out thathour time frame. lock it into your lifestyle. write it down in advance. and go kick some ass. i mean, that's really,really what it comes down to. and it's not like this isso hard and so impossible that people can't do it.
we have built this pretty big,successful company on the truth. we're not selling you some pieceof equipment that's going to end up at the bottom of your driveway ata garage sale six months from now. there's a lot of companies out theretrying to make a bunch of money, and when that thing fails, theymake up another piece of crap. what i'm trying todo, is letting you figure out how to use the humanbody, mother earth, and sir isaac newton's law of gravity, to goout there and improve yourself. and that's really what it is.
take anything i've just said, makeit your own, and spread the word. if you can help two more people,dude, they'll help two more, and they'll helptwo more after that. and then we've started a revolution.we already have. let's keep building on that. i try to convince peopleit's really p-infinityx. ev, it's p-lifetimex. thank you, tony. thank you ev and tony.
that's some good stuff. so, sylvia. how about you? what have you got for tony? well, first of all,i just want to say, it's such a pleasure to bespeaking with you, tony. i'm really excitedthat i actually get the opportunity toask you this question. and i really resonatewith your message a lot.
so, out of the years of experiencethat you have working out, what is your favorite workout? and can you demonstrate that for us? you want the whole workout? parts of it. i'll give you a move. it's funny, i've gotso many favorite moves. there's one now, in p90x3,called donkey kicks, which is pretty crazy.
it's sort of a mix betweenbreak dancing and capoeira. you know what? let me move the chair, and we'llknock it out here right now. ok. it's funny, because i've beento all these military bases. and i recently didnine cities in 13 days, and we always finishedwith this move. and i would demonstrate the move,and everybody would look at me and think i was crazy.
but when you break itdown, it's pretty easy. so, i'm going to dothe move and spend about a minute breaking it down. and then you can havesome fun with it at home. so, donkey kicks. there's my camera. so, you're going to get in a frogsquat here, like this, right? so, the idea here is try to getyour feet flat on the floor. can you see me ok?
hands are going to go near the feet. now, i'm gonna take my weight. i'm going to shift itfrom my feet to my hands, and i'm gonna kick up in the air. and then i'm going to kick throughto the left, and then to the right. i'll show it to you.here we go. it looks like this. through. a lot of folks at home aresaying, is he out of his mind.
but here's how you modify it, right? because i'm the kingof modification, i'm the king of showing folks steps. so the kick through partis pretty easy, really. so, all you're going to do is-- ifmy left hand stays on the ground, my left foot's going to kick. the other hand justgoes up to your chin. it's kind of a stylepoints move, really. so all you're doing is this here.
not that hard, really. and then you put it back. then you just switch hands. this part, pretty easy. right hand down, rightone kicks through. now.do you have to get to the ceiling? but i'll show you, ifyou just kick-- just leave the ground fora second, and bring your feet back where they started.
so, it's like this. kick. just like that. and over the course of time, you'refeeling pretty good about yourself, then you really go for it. there you go. donkey kicks. those are fun. thank you for showing us that one.
i'll try that. i'm glad you asked that question. because the ideahere, in my opinion, is-- and if you look atp90x, especially p90x2, and now we've condensed it allin a half an hour with x3-- is to work on your weaknesses. and to do the kinds of exercisesthat take time to learn how to do. there are so many fitness programswhere you're kind of dancing and you're punching and you'rekicking, and those are great.
but your body adapts, because thoseare movements that are not dynamic, the range of motion issmaller, and they're not necessarily skill-based. punching and kicking can be, becausethere's hand-eye coordination there and stuff like that. but the idea here isto choose the kind of exercises thatreally challenge you. and so, every time you dothat, your confidence goes up, your body changes naturally.
and we're getting back to the mentaland emotional thing that happens with fitness, is it buildsthis sense of confidence. it takes people who could never dothese types of movements before, and now can. and there's such a sense ofwell being that comes with that. and that's the mentalaspect of physical movement. well, that was a-- --donkey kicks. that was pretty impressive, tony.
i think a lot of us will be doingdonkey kicks at home tonight, so. it's the move of2014, i'm telling you. we can see that. so, thank you. excellent demonstration. and now, with that, let'sturn it over to adam. adam, what is yourquestion for tony? all right, tony, i'm thrilledto meet you virtually. and my question is, when a newclient, as a new fitness client,
what will you tell them,in regards to-- if they're fearful of starting fitness? and how do we get themto go across that mental barrier? are you a trainer?are you helping people get in shape? is that why you ask that question? yeah, i'm a fitness traineras well as a motivational speaker. and one of the questionsi always get from newbies is that they're fearfulof taking that first step, or they've never been exposedto active living.
well, a simple way of doing it,especially as a trainer, is have them write two lists. things that are physicalthat interest them, things that don't frighten them, things where they havea certain amount of curiosity. and then make another listof things that scare the hell out of them. that way you know exactlywhat they're interested in, and maybe they've got a history with—maybe they just like to walk, or maybe they used to play softballat one point, years back.
and look, you're gonna findsome people who haven't done anythingphysically, ever. but at least if they're coming to youand they're looking for help, they at least havea certain curiosity about it, so there must be thingsthey're interested in. so instead of pigeonholing theminto a spinning class, or a pilates workout,or a yoga-specific or bodybuilding kind of a thing,or martial arts, usually when they're starting out,you want to take these folks
and have them beginto focus on things where they're not so scared, where maybe they've donecertain movements before, or at least they're curious. and what that doesis at least it gets them working, at least it gets them moving. you can start to work onthe consistency aspect of their fitness. so typically,when folks come to you, maybe they haven't worked outin months or even years,
and the main goal is to get them movingfive to seven days a week. and if they're movingfive to seven days a week, doing somethingthey're kind of curious about, there's gonna bea much higher success rate. there's gonna be a much greater sensewithin them of feeling like they can show upon a regular basis. and then, i don't know,it depends on the individual. you have to kind of work with them. but a month, 45 days, 60 days into it,
you start looking at that other list. like, okay, here's all these thingsthey used to be scared to death to do. maybe yoga was somethingthat scared the hell out of them. but maybe now, 60 days, they're down 20, 25 pounds. and then you say to them,"hey, look, let's try something different." because i know from experience,certainly from p90x use and other kinds of programs,the more you focus on your weaknesses, then the greater likelihoodthat you're gonna really change,
and change for the better,and build your confidence, and have a better mental state. so work on their strengths initially, and then trickle inthose little movements, those types of workoutsthat challenge them. i mean, you gotta gofrom walking to running. you gotta go from hiking to climbing. you gotta go from climbing to ice climbing.it's just stages like that. absolutely. i agree.
one step at a time,one day at a time. yeah, man. i mean honestly,it's really ultimately about getting them to show up. because like everything else, you gottashow up to brush your teeth every day. and if you didn't, that'd be nasty,you know what i mean? you gotta try to get some sleep every night,7 and a half, 8 hours of sleep. it's healing.there was a great study— i'm gonna get off here for a nanosecond,but there was a great study on the ten thingsyou need to do to be happy.
guess what #1 was? exercise.guess what #2 was? sleep.that's both ends of the spectrum. those two ends of the spectrum, moving like crazyand doing nothing, have to happen togetherfor you to be happy. and then everything elsefilters down from that. pretty cool. awesome. well, thank you adam.tony, speaking of workouts
that maybe you're sort of fearfulat the beginning, i know you've said beforethat yoga and pilates maybe weren't your favorite at first, because they'rea real challenge for you. mm-hm. tell us a little bitabout those experiences and how they're beneficial to younow that you've stuck with them. well, yeah. you know, it's funny.you can go through a lot of years of doing straight cardio and weightlifting,and thinking that's gonna be okay.
and for a lot of folks,that's kind of enough. but i certainly have noticedas i've gotten older that i need to continue to work onwhat i consider to be the future of fitness. because we've gotteninto this resistance, resistance/cardio-only modes. i go into gym after gym after gym,and i see people on equipment, and they're workingin these linear fashions, and they're not challenging themselveson multiple planes. they're not challenging themselveslike an athlete would challenge themselves.
if you look at insanity,or you look at p90x2, those are movementsthat are pretty dynamic. and so you've gotta really focuson your form, you gotta focus on function. but if you do it right,you take your ego out of the equation, then you're body's gonnatruly change, and it will be more challenging, and you'll seejust much better results, right? so i was stuckin that cardio/weight training mode
for a long time. and then, you know,there was this really attractive girl that invited me to yoga,and so i was forced to go. only because, you know,she seemed very nice. anyway, i'm in downward dogfor about a minute and a half, and i'm in a full flop sweat, you know, sweatinglike it's a 9.2 earthquake. i thought to myself,"why is this so hard?" but in that moment,based on my experience at that point,
i understood that that was okay. at that point,p90x wasn't even out yet. only power 90 was in its infancy. and i learneda valuable lesson that day, and that was thatyou need to keep coming, 'cause you're not very good at this thing,and you need to be doing this more often. and now pilates is reallysort of my new ultimate challenge. getting on that reformeris very challenging. and so it's weird, because i went froma guy who was scared to try new things
because i thought i would be embarrassedin front of other people, because i didn't want to appearlike i didn't know what i was doing. now i don't care. i don't care what people think.i don't care what people say. they're probablynot talking about me anyway, 'cause they're too busyfocusing on themselves. so i just constantly put myselfin situations where i'm a mess,and i'm learning. i was in vegas this past weekat rhino fitness,
and it was a pure parkour,ninja warrior gym. oh my god.climbing walls, and ropes, and nets, and you're thirty feetabove the ground, and your finger laddersand peg boards. oh my gosh,i had my butt handed to me. i was in there for four hours, and i couldn't raise my armsfor two days. but there were certain things in therethat i could do pretty well. i was good at the slackline.i was good at the peg board.
but there were a bunch of things in therewhere i was intimidated. but i got over that pretty quick, and i just got in there,and did my best, and— forget the rest. hello. i knew you'd know that, man,i knew you'd know the answer to that. so there you go. so, tony, i'm curious. do you listen to music while you work outto motivate yourself?
you know, if so— what's on your playlist, tony? well, let's keep in mindthat i was born in the 50s, born in the 50s. i like some of the new music too. i like the justice bieber—i don't know. beaver? i'm sorry.no, i don't listen to the beaver. or the gaga.i'm not into the beaver or the gaga. i'm too old for that.not to say they're not great young people.
i sound like an old man."i'm not into the beaver!" but you know, i've got zeppelin.i've got cream. i've got the police.i've got the who. i've got the eurythmics. i've got a lot of bandsfrom the 80s—u2, spandau ballet—no, not spandau ballet. but the go-go's. yeah, i mean anything thatgets me up and gets me moving. there's a lot of new bands too—the reflektors,
which is kind of a new bandout of canada. if you don't know the reflektors,that's some rock. and they're a 10-piece band. i mean, that's really awesome.i love them. and i'll just, you know—i'm pandora boxing everything. anything that gets me moving,gets me going. but i do like the classics. i do like the beatles, the stones, the who, zeppelin, cream.
i was in a grocery storeand there was a cream song on, and the kid behind the counterwas 17. my head was going like this, and he looked at me.he said, "who's that?" i said, oh, you don't even knowwho cream is, young man! open your mind to the cream! eric clapton in the early days. oh yes. gorgeous stuff. so that's what i train to.
great. well, this has beensome really good stuff, tony. i think you've inspired all of usto go out and make today awesome. so thank you to you.thank you to all of our guests today. tony, do you have any finalparting words of wisdom for us, on how to keepour attitudes high every day? well, the big conundrum, and i think one of the questionscertainly today was staying motivated. what is it that you can do so that you can make that change,sustain that change,
live that lifestyle,and have the life that you've always wanted? there are so many peoplewho are struggling. they're having these illnesses,and injuries, and problems, and they're focusing on things that are just keeping themin a survival place. all i can say is,if you can find a program— one of mine or somebody else's—i prefer mine. but if you can,show up, man. find some other peoplethat challenge you,
and get good at something, and share that with other peoplewho are looking for your help. i'm telling you, man,you can have all the money, all the cars, all the stuff, all the bling,all the clothing, and you get these short-term,ephemeral little moments of "yay!" but i'm telling you, man,when you exercise on a regular basis, you make today awesome! and it's fun to feel good. i mean, it's really about feeling good.
looking good is part of it,but feeling good comes from eating welland exercising. you know, i'm not hereto plug too many things. my new book coming out is called"the big picture." it's really about that. it's coming out in februarythrough harpercollins. it's a phenomenal book. there's not a workoutor a recipe in there. it's really about understandingthe importance
of how, if you take care of yourself,you can take care of your family, you're more productive at work,you're a better citizen. when it comes to nutrition,if you're struggling, we've got something called shakeologyhere at beachbody. we spent a lot of time,a lot of money on this product. and it's really the healthiest meal of the day.it truly is. some ice cubes and shakeology,boom, you're on your way, and you're losing weight,you're feeling well. it's about making sure that you eat clean,eat healthy foods,
and it's about making surethat you find like-minded people who want to go out thereand live an awesome life. it's there. if i can do it, a c- studentwith a speech impediment who barely got through school,holy cow. it's for everybody.it really is for everybody. so just start,find some cool friends, eat better, and exercisefive to seven days a week, and you're off to the races. great words of wisdom.
thank you. thank you all very much again,and good luck with the donkey kicks. yea-hey!donkey kicks.
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