This day, like all days, awaits your best. It’s on your side—pulling for you to show up strong and seize it.
Carpe Diem!
But rather than stoke your body and mind for a day of noble dragon slaying, you rush out the door under assault by a cesspool of stress hormones.
Your day of super-hero like performance is not to be. Rather than a gripping, “Boom, Zap, Kapow…” your day is more, “Fizzle, snizzle, flip, flop.”
Let the follies begin.
This is not some mythic fable, it’s the story of your life. At the start of each day you get choose the story; what will it be today? A tragedy, a comedy or a triumphant story of success?
How Do You Rise Up?
When faced with a fresh, vibrant, limitless day, most people wake up and promptly kick the day square in the nuts.
They disrespect the gift of the day and themselves, shunting their potential, triggering weakness and compromise only to find themselves increasingly frustrated and baffled by the lack of achievement and satisfaction.
This is a common story in people who suffer from the false belief that their mind is the master, their body the servant. One the pilot, the other a passenger—good to the degree that it serves. This belief results in treating your body like it is “The Giving Tree,” (Shel Silverstein’s timeless children’s story) as you mindlessly take, take, take from it what you need to fulfill your desires.
What most don’t see—often until it’s too late—is that your body is actually setting the rules, however silently. And just like The Giving Tree, it has increasingly fewer resources to share until one day it’s all gone. Empty. No matter how deeply we long to continue giving, we’re just a stump—nothing left to give.
The Disease of the Modern Day Warrior
When you disrespect your body this way, your energy evaporates, mind fogs and confidence crashes. You’re not just setting yourself back for the day; you’re hammering your manhood, vitality and life.
This is the perfect formula for the silent epidemic that’s decimating the Strength and vitality of the modern-day warrior, the driven “Type-A” man: Lifestyle Induced Hormone Suppression.
What is Lifestyle Induced Hormone Suppression or “LIHS”? Not to be overly simplistic, but it’s just as it says, a Lifestyle—or “way of living”—that is negatively impacting the positive, life-sustaining hormonal expression of your body and gradually draining your energy, vitality and life.
It’s a lifestyle that regularly includes too much stress, too little sleep, too little intense exercise, and poor nutrition practices like too many sugars and simple carbs, alcohol, too few quality proteins, too little healthy fat. In other words, it’s the most common lifestyle of the American man. Hence, the reason why it’s been estimated that nearly 80% of adult American men suffer varying degrees of LIHS.
Although it does tend to arise with age, aging it is not.
While men in their 20’s are often doing nearly everything possible to suppress their natural testosterone and growth hormone they have a “momentum of youth” that allows them to get away with it. Most are able to resist any serious decline well into their 30’s but come late 30’s to 40+, if your lifestyle is pushing your manliness into the cellar, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
Are You Feeling It?
If you’re a man in your 30’s, 40’s or beyond, it’s likely happening to you at this very moment. As you read these words your body is quietly stockpiling fat, divesting lean muscle, losing strength and your energy is plummeting like a stock early recession.
Men typically will not even consider the inevitable demise of their body and loss of their prime until they cross the “big 4-0.” By the time the harsh reality sets in, the decline has been gaining momentum for the better part of a decade.
Are You Needlessly Tolerating Any of These Symptoms?
For millions of guys this daily tragedy and needless suffering has been accepted as the price to get ahead. But you’re paying a high-price: your job performance, your relationships and your physical well-being and energy to enjoy life are all compromised. Precisely what you don’t want when it’s your time to “make it happen.”
Unfortunately, it’s common for a man to confuse these symptoms of LIHS with the natural course of aging. It doesn’t help that your well-meaning doctor is likely to support this mistaken belief. Pharmaceutical propaganda helps condition us all, doctors included, to expect and accept that these symptoms are to be expected—and ideally resolved with a handy-dandy prescription.
In typical reactive thinking “logic,” the type that would “treat” a leaky pipe with bucket to catch the water (rather than fixing the leak), medicine loves symptoms for; A) they seem like the real problem and B) one root cause can—and usually does—produce dozens, to hundreds of symptoms.
The drug makers eagerly await your decline with a myriad of symptom solutions—like the mega-billion dollar business of ED drugs, Viagra and Cialis. Push your hormones down long enough and Viagra is going to be your best friend, but reality is, even when it helps you’re still only treating a symptom, not the source. You may be able to get it up, but there’s something much more important, much deeper that’s missing—your drive, the true sense of your vitality.
The latest way men are getting their “mojo” back is found in the growing business of “after market enhancement” or Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which includes various methods for getting testosterone, and in some cases growth hormone, back to optimal levels.
Now, I’m all for a man being a man—and there’s an argument to be made for making sure you’re running on a “man scale” but fact is you can’t know if, or what you need, when your lifestyle has artificially suppressed your hormones for years or even decades.
You Don’t Have To Accept This Gradual Emasculation
You’re not one to sit around and let life give you an “ass-whipping,” right? Good, listen up. I’m here to tell you, there’s no reason for you to settle for premature life ejaculation. You can stop the slide and start growing younger, stronger and leaner every day.
A cliché, but true nonetheless: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure—nowhere is this more accurate then when it comes to enjoying a life-enhancing lifestyle that keeps your body, mind and hormones soaring at levels a decade less your age.
You can get your energy back, regain your strength and vitality, and reawaken your drive for life, from the inside out. And you can do this simply, safely and relatively quickly without dangerous drugs or medical intervention.
The solution I’m talking about requires no injections, no testosterone boosters or taking a complex array of nutrients to stimulate growth hormones. Rather, the answer is in working from the top-down—resolving with the source, your body’s “master control switch.” Master it, restore the balance and your body, and your hormones, will naturally begin to restore to full strength.
I’d like to tell you it’s more complex than this—and of course, on a cellular level it is. It’s the way systems work, dealing with symptoms can get complex but the closer you are to source, the leaky pipe, the simpler the solution tends to be—plug the hole.
NEXT ISSUE: Mastering Your Body’s Master Control
In the next issue I’ll reveal your body’s master control switch and how to quickly, efficiently get it working to help you lose fat, gain muscle, and reboot your strength and vitality—to get your hop, skip and leap back and return to Life @ Full Strength!
I’m looking forward to sharing this life-transforming “miracle” with you—even though it’s anything but a miracle. While it may not be a shocking secret, you’ll find the mechanism and results shocking.
| Meet The Author, Shawn | |
 | Known as "The Fitness Philosopher," for his deep, clear approach to the cutting through the fitness conundrum, Shawn is a 20+ year veteran in the field of Lifestyle Fitness and Peak Performance. Author of several best-selling book, with one of the most photographed physiques in history, Shawn, with his brother, Bill Phillips (Body for LIFE) catapulted EAS sports nutrition into the world leader and Muscle Media magazine and the documentary movie, Body of Work. He created the first computerized training system in PowerBuilding and the popular Variable Split System for Muscle Mass. Now, in his 40's, a husband and father of two young children, Shawn is passionate about helping busy, high-achieving "men in the middle" enjoy vibrant, energized, amazing, Full Strength lives! He has recently created the World’s 1st and only true premium nutrition shake for men, Full Strength — clinically proven to build muscle, burn fat and boost energy. His most recent book, Strength for LIFE is the "how to" guide to a Lifestyle of Fitness Freedom. |
9. March 2010 at 3:31 pm
Stunning article. A real wake up call. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
9. March 2010 at 4:24 pm
Hey Shawn,
I tried to order but I could not, this came up, and I do not know why…my address and data are correct.
Important Message
We”re sorry, but we are unable to identify any shipping methods serving this address.
Narciso Sotomayor
9. March 2010 at 4:55 pm
Oops… let me see what’s up. I’ll have someone email you asap.
Thanks bro!
Shawn
9. March 2010 at 7:13 pm
Hmm…Is a trend forming here? “Give Your Body the Finger” and “In Defense of a Man’s Life” are both raging testosterone induced swagger, beaded with the sweat of moxy and defiance.
To this might I say a hearty, “BOOYAH”!
Having spent a good deal of time listening to you (a very laid back voice, btw) and reading your work I don’t remember ever coming away with the feeling of “whoa, that Shawn guy is a real a$$ kicker”. Usually it is more like, “What a deep guy” or “What a great idea”. I have always admired the wisdom, thoughtfulness and obvious accomplishments that form your writings. All this to say…
These last couple of posts have been, well, I can’t find the words – just grunt, give a low, deep growl and prepare for battle like a hybrid of King Leonidas and a Klingon. It surprises me how much I responded to them…
Kudos for communicating yet another side of yourself so well…
9. March 2010 at 8:01 pm
Thanks Jeff, I think…
Ha… not sure it’s another side but I’ll take that. I do think I’m bringing some insight and mindfulness to an aspect of the masculine journey that far too few can see at all or straight on.
Being 40’s, and feeling the effects of gravity along with the mind-numbing attacks on the 40+ man from marketing and the complete ignorance of most doctors had better give one a damn roar! And it is me…
I think I have MORE to add in my 40’s than ever before and the idea of being a “good little boy” and following along or slipping quietly into moderate activity can–for lack of better way to put it–kiss my ass!
So, if you’re picking up on my passionate intolerance for passivity, nonsense, misinformation, abuse of anyone for anything, you are right on!
Here’s to you life and my life @ Full Strength! No excuses!
9. March 2010 at 9:36 pm
Absolutely meant as a compliment! “Side” isn’t meant to imply multiple personalities or anything, perhaps “aspect” is a better choice. Sorry for being a little too vague in my intent: I just wanted to add “warrior” to the list of reasons for following your work for so many years.
Word has perfected the spellchecker, now if only the guys at MicroSoft can perfect a DOOFUSchecker to keep me from writing stupid things…
Ooops, there I went again…
10. March 2010 at 1:31 am
Jeff, not all good… you’re funny! That’s a good post… i like Aspect… good word.
Warrior is good…
It’s all about Strength man… with a Capital “S”!!! Or perhaps a Big-Red “S”…
10. March 2010 at 12:10 am
You hit it right on the head, as I read the article I saw myself, and look forward to the next article and taking back the control
Thanks for the wake up call
10. March 2010 at 1:32 am
Right on Bill… it’ll be fun…
Life can be great but that’s not the default option… it’s made great.
10. March 2010 at 1:34 am
Great info Shawn, being 45 myself I have felt all
the symptons you mentioned. I know drinking Full
Strength everyday and having a totally focused work-
out has helped me jump start and balance out all the hormones!
Looking forward to next weeks info,
living the challenge,
living life at Full Strength!
10. March 2010 at 1:53 pm
Hi Shawn-
You talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me ?? I feel like i have aged 5 years in the last 2. You have been inspirational and a straight shooter which i appreciate.I can do the work, but i need to eat cleaner as i feel like i am full of sludge.Moving forward slowly.
warm regards,
Tom
10. March 2010 at 3:35 pm
Rock On Tom…
And you know what I and so many others say, “Awareness is the first step to Strength and freedom.” So let us celebrate your awareness, your recognition… while at the same time we don’t over-celebrate it. For while it’s the first step, it’s just that, the first step. Now comes the fun part… rebooting, resetting… well, not fun at first but the better you feel, the better you feel and better you do at feeling better….
Strength begets Strength… aint that grand.
Now, do me a favor… if you’re not on board, take the Full Strength 14-Day Challenge, ASAP. It’s simply the best, fastest way to do a speed reset on your body and mind. Full Strength’s ability to stabilize and regulate insulin levels, your master hormone, is legendary–stuff of solid science, which you can see in the results of “The Oklahoma Study” on Full Strength.
14-Days to new energy, positive outlook, confidence and a massive step towards life at Full Strength. And best deal, if it doesn’t kick ass for you–which is doesn’t always (some small percentage just don’t respond with such glory) I’ll give you 100% of your investment back. No resistance here.
Find one gateway to the 14-Day Challenge here : http://www.14Strong.com
Thanks Man!! Yes, I was talking to YOU by the way…
10. March 2010 at 2:15 pm
I quite enjoyed reading this post. For me it combined a fun, even humorous, style, with an important reminder.
Jeff described these recent posts as “both raging testosterone induced swagger, beaded with the sweat of moxy and defiance.”
Perhaps, yet I “heard” something additional in this post: something like, “Take good care of yourself, including your body, brother.”
In some ways, I “hear” this post as re-envisioning “acting like a man” in a more deeply mature way than many who might express their views in a superficially similar style.
To which I reply, “Amen – and thank you.”
10. March 2010 at 3:57 pm
Great stuff Vid, as always… thanks for sharing.
And check out the post I just made on facebook, if you’re connected. If not, I’ll post it out here. I went off on the ED drugs and how they are missing the point of intimacy… good stuff.
This stuff just gets me riled up!
Sp
11. March 2010 at 12:26 am
This is amazing. Thx for being you and playing full out, rallying us to do the same, bro!
-bri
11. March 2010 at 1:02 am
Much gratitude Philosopher, sir… but if I were playing ALL OUT would I not be on video, ala yourself?
Ha… there you go… on, next…
To Your Strength!
11. March 2010 at 1:20 am
good point. slacker!
11. March 2010 at 5:28 pm
Thank you Shawn for the kick in the pants. As a 27 year old guy, I really appreciated everything you said. This whole week was a week of LIHS. I was very sedintary this week and was sluggish and depressed all week. That has made me feel like less of a man. I’m looking forward to reading your next lesson to learn how I can get back to a Full Strength life. Thanks again Shawn for all that you do.
15. March 2010 at 12:28 am
Thanks for this post. Exactly what I needed. Looking forward to tomorrow’s post. Just ordered the 14-day Challenge. Bring on the Chocolate Strength!
17. March 2010 at 5:01 am
Thanks Shawn
Always good to get a reminder of what robots we are. Your emails bring focus and good info. Love the book! Graeme
23. March 2010 at 10:34 am
Those are some powerful words Shawn! “Kickin the day square in the nuts!” What a visual demonstration of the power of attitude and mindset.
It saddens me to see such a large population of the world disrespecting their bodies and placing more value on the taste of a greasy trans fat loaded burger than they do on their health and ‘STRENGTH‘. I believe this message has to get out there more and get people to wake up and get their priorities in order.
I believe that these people who are disrespecting their body, health, and mind are robbing themselves of the life that they deserve. They think that they are ‘living a little’ by eating junk too frequently and consuming alcohol more than they should… and they’re right! But I’d rather ‘live a LOT!’
It excites me to know that I’m better today than I was yesterday and it excites me to know that I am capable of so much more. Like you said, each day is a gift and we are a gift. I’m not sure why some people are afraid to tear open the wrapping paper and share the gifts that they’ve been given.
I just pulled Strength For Life off my shelf to read it for a second time. It’s definitely one of my all time favorites. Keep up the great work man!
Scott Tousignant
25. March 2010 at 6:00 pm
Hey Scott,
Thank you for your thoughtful addition to the post. I appreciate your insight.
Robbing themselves of the life they were born to live and deserve! Yes, I could not agree more. And that’s where we come in… doing all we can to inspire and educate!
To Your Life @ Full Strength,
Shawn
15. April 2010 at 3:20 pm
That was a dense post. I am a physician and veteran of Body for Life, P90X, and recently John Romaniello’s Final Phase Fat Loss (wow!). I have a few comments not on what you are preaching but who is hearing it. I love what you are saying, because I cannot tolerate living any other way. I will talk and talk to anybody who will listen about proper exercise and nutrition. What my audience (patients, friends, family, other doctors) tends to do is nod like a lizard, regard me as an exception to the rule, and then go off an contiue making the choices that made them miserable in the first place. I am not a “completely ignorant,” doctor, but I do question my own wisdom about repeatedly telling people the obvoius, only to have them ignore it at their own expense and then complain. You had to have had this experience, Shawn and I suspect that, like me, you would probably get discouraged if you didn’t acknowledge, that at some level, when you are proselytizing, it is a really mantra to your self.
15. April 2010 at 5:24 pm
Ted,
Awesome resume there my friend! Great!
I appreciate your personal success, commitment and common challenge. I think a lot of things, not all of which I can address here–but I will add a post soon that addresses my thoughts.
The short version is, I think we have to and do, do things for ourselves. It’s not a dependent thing nor a preachy thing. I am not a person who wants to play guru or be someone else’s go-juice, anyway so that works for me. I prefer to inspire through action, and share what is on my mind… if it helps or not, fine. Great.
As the human operating system is wonderfully obtuse, it seems the more vested you are in getting another person to move, to engage, the more resistant they will be. Only those who ask, who desire and invited in… and only with them do I or should you bother to share.
I’m now and have always leaned towards working with giving a push to those already going down the hill… meaning those with desire and momentum. I prefer to help the good move to great than to get the unmovable object in motion. Both are important but it’s really style and preference… passion that decide which you will go after.
This is why I am passionate about helping the “man in the middle” of life get back his strength, energy and vitality–to be a force for good in this world. What if I can help get some of the most powerful, influential people on earth back to a strength, energy and clarity they haven’t known in 20 years? How much impact can we make together?
That interests me…
To Your Life @ FULL Strength!
Shawn
15. April 2010 at 10:23 pm
A few more observations: inspiring/leading by example is the only way to get through life unless you are comfortable being identified as a fraud. Professionally, a guy like you has to, because at once you get over 35 you aren’t going to slip by on good looks and endogenous growth hormone anymore ( I joke that in my 20’s I could drive by the gym and get ripped). In my profession, I see consistent inconsistency with doctors advising one thing and doing the opposite. Nutrition, exercise, alcohol, smoking, you name it. So by and large, I consider them more complicit than ignorant regarding proactive health.
What about at home? You have kids…I have three boys and I don’t have to tell you how affirming it is to know that when they look at me, they see truth.
Then there is always the mirror.
Believe me when I express my appreciation for you pulling for the man in the middle, because for every 100 guys who read your site, there will b 5 or so who really get it and move from intention to action and change their lives. I have found a couple of people like this and I just spins my top to see them succeed, because I know they are feeling how I do when I pull it off. Plus it is nice to have somebody to converse with who doesn’t think I am whack job…
Thanks.
16. April 2010 at 1:37 pm
Oh no, Ted, you’re a whack job alright… but a good kind of whack! Ha…
I hear you… and will get back with more. Kids are everything and I so get the used to get ripped driving by.
You get to 40 and you have much narrower window to drive your success and fitness through. You can’t just sail on down the road. The metabolic momentum is lost along the way and you’ve got to start living better to live better.
It gets real… that’s why Full Strength is so damned important… it’s not just nutrient rich nutrition it’s capacity to regulate the body systems is powerful and vital for a vibrant life.
Here’s to life @ Full Strength!
16. April 2010 at 4:30 pm
If I am violating some explicit or implicit rule of posting, feel free to shut me off.
I think you have exposed the crystalline core of the 40 year old predicament: what now know enough to desire is so much harder to attain because of certain physical realities. When I was 20 and could scale walls, I didn’t know what I really wanted and my plan reflected that. 2 decades of successfully identifying what will not bring happiness and being lucky enough to have had some of it find me has given me a true appreciation for the efficient application of my energies for my own good.
It seems to me that your life @ Full Strength levels the physical playing field so the the power of a truly focused 40 year old mind can be brought to bear on any problem.
Thanks.
17. April 2010 at 8:44 am
You know, I got an email the other day stating that the email list is being cleaned up. The amazing thing of it was that just two hours earlier I was at home staring in the mirror in disbelief that I had let myself become a physical train wreck. It’s funny that now that I’m 39 I notice the lack of power. I can actually feel and notice the disintegration of muscle, and it sucks. I see people every day riding in scooters and it makes me think that 90% of these people don’t need to live that life, if THEY would just do something then they wouldn’t have to accept the deterioration process and could enjoy life.
Those are the thoughts that had been in my mind the last few days. So when I saw Shawn’s email, I read it in disbelief. I stared at it and read it again, and again until it finally dawned on me. I’m a hypocrite. And I’ve been extremely lazy. I’ve taken Shawn and Bill’s advice for years. Oh, oh, I’m fat. Do Body For Life for 8 weeks and look halfway good, then I can stop and start all over again with the bad habits. In that one email it all finally sunk in.
I have an amazing career opportunity and believe it or not, my physical condition will go a long way into determining if the venture is a success or not. So thank you for the email and all the advice Shawn. I’m printing your book as we speak so I can read it again and use it as a tool. Once again, thanks for the inspiration and fantastic articles that you put up here!
19. April 2010 at 11:20 am
Stewart,
No accident in the timing of that email, huh? Wild how it all works–or doesn’t for some, as you point out.
Great clarity on what is going through you mind–and the mind of millions of men your age. Only difference is most have never been in great shape and most are happily ignoring the aching emptiness and mounting fear of age.
No harm, no foul… life is not a straight line of perfection. We slip, we slide and now you’re back on. Question is how to take “it” from an activity to a Lifestyle, such that you may have peaks and valleys in the future but never a rut, again. That can and shall be done.
Great recognition also on the importance of your physical well being to your success. The two are interdependent and anyone who would suggest different is living off the ripples of the impact they made 15 years ago–hence, they must believe what they do.
Here’s to your future–a future more brilliant than your past.
To Your Life @ Full Strength,
Shawn
21. April 2010 at 2:54 pm
Ted!
No, not breaking any rules but rather making some good waves… Love it.
I love your sharing… it’s SO accurate. So dead on.
Let’s bring the power, force and Strength… and kick some ass! Excited about the conversation.
@ Full Strength,
Shawn