Some of you may be wondering where to start and how you can perhaps do something different to assure your personal best this year despite all the shifts in our world and lives in this moment.

So here is your different new strategy as you step into 2022:

1.    Get super granular and clear on your purpose and deep values relating to your specific athletic goals, fitness aspirations, dreams or desired outcomes. Put simply, what are your REAL goals behind the goals and why? What type of impact will it have on you when you hit that target? How will you or things be different?

2.Review Your Personal Timeline: Your Past, Present & Future: If you don’t know where you’ve been, where you are right now, how will you know where to go next? Ask yourself these questions:

            Past

1.    What are you most proud of, or what was your biggest accomplishment?

2.    What scared you the most about 2021, and what was the hardest thing you had to overcome?

Present

3.    What is missing in your training, your sport or your life?

Future

4.    What is the ONE word that will sum up your 2022? What will be your greatest impact to the world? Who do you want to be next year?

3. Prepare Your Brain for Success: Your brain responds faster more effectively when it’s highly stimulated, has the right amount of good stress, is fully rested, focused and clear of distraction. In advanced brain neuroscience we learned this:

BRAIN STIMULATION: If you are wanting to win or place well in an upcoming race or you want to go next-level in a fitness goal, science research reveals that when you can embody, articulate a deeper meaning or connection to something and the senses from our past, this is referred to as nostalgia the networks of the brain are known to get excitable. 

"Nostalgia in the brain pairs our memory functions with our reward systems," Dr. Hafeez (neuropsychologist) says. ... "Blood flow increases, and neurotransmitters are released to the body and activity heightens in these regions producing generally positive responses." This is why nostalgia can make you feel so good.

For example, having the memory of reaching the podium or fitness goal from a time before, the brain’s network is highly stimulated from that memory. It begins to develop a higher level of deep enrichment therefore opening new pathways in your brain to cement this past experience to translate to the new or similarly associated goal or desire. Remember how you felt, the sweat dripping down your face (body sensation), your feet in the sand at the finish line, the deep feeling of spending everything you had in the tank, the crowd cheering you on (sound).

Next, get really quiet and really feel this, visualize it and imagine it all again a repeat performance feeling like you’re on top of the world. Stay right here. Now, think of your new target, goal or dream. What do you see, how is your body feeling, who do you see in the crowd, what are the water conditions, the air temperature, is your heart racing?

Prepare, train and walk in the shoes of a winner. This is you every day. Act as if you’ve already won. Believe it, be it and be ready.

GOOD STRESS: When your brains has the right amount of good stress, your brain is in good balance. You are able to be incredibly clear, fast, quick on your feet or board, and you’re able to hit your goals and performance much more consistently with higher than above average results.

So, to be successful in your sport and life goals and to keep yourself in play at a super high-performance level, it’s important to be aware of all of this. You can learn through my neuro-transformational coaching how to self-regulate these circumstances or situations so your brain or more precisely your Pre-Frontal Cortex can keep you focused, alert and read to kick some butt. Here is an entire article I wrote on the Brain's Sweet Spot

REST: Speaking of good stress, rest is critical for your brain to help keep the chemicals in balance. Did you know that it has been scientifically discovered that during sleep, the fluid present in the brain and spinal cord called cerebrospinal fluid washes in and out, like waves, helping your brain get rid of accumulated metabolic “trash”?

Abstract: Science.org Nov 1, 2019 discovered while you sleep, “cerebrospinal fluid appears to “synchronize” with brain waves, which likely helps remove brain waste. This includes potentially toxic protein buildups that can impair the flow of information between neurons.”

I’ve always said in all my years of training and coaching recovery and rest are the most important component of training. Just as you plan out your training and workout strategy, you’ve got to give your body AND your brain a chance to reset, refresh and regenerate everything you broke down.

In my practice I go over what is called a body budget and simply put it’s your spread sheet of how and where you may be spending too much or too little of your time on the wrong areas. It’s a great tool. I can help you.

STAY FOCUSED: As I mentioned earlier, your brain craves structure. And when you’re in the flow or zone of your sport or moment you are not aware of the how, the when or the what, the pre-planning and strategy that got you there is focus and structure.

To be highly effective in your sport and/or life, it is of common understanding in the neuroscience research that the left hemisphere of the brain craves structure, order, lists, tasks and needs direction. It is where we analyze and derive positivity and develop a symbolic language.

Developing intense focus requires to have specific intent with an end goal or bigger picture in mind. The intent is to dedicate a consistent, specific amount of time and concentrated effort to a particular sequence, rep, training block or task adding to the final completion of a goal. Hopefully part of this effort is also based in repetition, visualization and laser clarity. No distractions are allowed anywhere near you during this critical body and brain growth. If you need help with this, it’s my specialty.

4.   LISTEN TO YOUR GUT (Intuition): You know that gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach that something doesn’t feel quite right but you’re not sure what it is? You either listen to your gut or you don’t and often regret it later! Finally, there is scientific proof that reveals what that feeling is and why it happens often. Your body, your heart and mind are telling you to pay close attention and trust.

There is scientific evidence, while all is not known; that there are neurons in your gut that communicate with neurons in your heart then to your brain sometimes faster than your brain can compute on its own. Dan Siegel MD discovered that the middle prefrontal cortex interprets information from the heart and intestine, therefore giving us this “heartfelt” or “gut feeling.”

This is where all movement begins and where the foundation of your strength is created. Your core consists of your glutes, (butt), thighs, hamstrings, all the muscles of your abs down to the finite muscles of your pelvis, to include your low back muscles. These muscles also aid in your endurance performance, long bouts of ocean time paddling or surfing and including power lifters and really everyone. In order to stress your arms, upper back and legs, you must have a strong core. If you have malalignments or muscle imbalances, it often stems from a weak core.

PRO TIP: CORE SAMPLE: I always begin every workout performing 3-4 solid, progressive core exercises, 1 set each or I’ll select 2-3, with 2 sets, one simple then extremely difficult. I will also sometimes choose at least one core exercise that also compliments the needs of my sport, SUP surfing. Here’s my selection based on SUP surfing: 10, Floor prone cobras with a 10 second hold, Stability Ball Kneeling for 1 minute, squeezing the ball one second on, one off, then a 2-minute bridge with my shoulders on the large Stability Ball.

You can find lots of CORE exercises on my website blog beginner to advanced. Also, for lots more, Chapter 2 in my book, How to Increase Your Stand Up Paddling Performance, Beginner to Elite is all about the core. The illustrations show beginner to advanced and is not just for paddlers.

The key to increasing your sports performance and fitness success no matter what your goals are, is to mix up how you perform cardio. The other key factor is to REALLY push yourself, and don’t stop when you start to sweat! Do this safely of course. (You may require a check-up first before you ramp it up)

Your body and cardiovascular systems respond well when you stress it in different ways. For example, if you’re only doing the Peloton bike, that’s great but your body AND your heart gets bored and you may plateau. Try doing a cardio circuit either in place of that, or in addition to at the end for like 15 minutes. You’ll have measurable new gains in heart endurance just by doing this a few times. A lot of my clients are adding a sit-down row machine. It’s on my list too.

PRO TIP: SAMPLE CARDIO MIX: I personally will do cardio circuits like this: 3-5 minutes at high speed on treadmill, 5 minutes cardio blast circuit (here’s my recent video) and then topped with a combo strength of continuous walking lunges (light weights are fine) for 3 minutes, x 3-4 rounds.

The physical and mental benefits of cardio (aerobic) workouts are tremendous. Besides the health benefits of lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, lowering stress, increasing libido, raising testosterone and lessening other health risks, the mental rush you get of adrenaline is amazing!

Cardio is not only necessary in shedding weight but it’s also necessary if you’re an endurance athlete or require short bursts of high intensity output. I’m not going to list all the different approaches, how often, what, training results etc. I have written a MASSIVE chapter on all of the formulas, examples, methods, workout samples, sample circuit workouts and so much in my book (which is really for everyone!) Chapter 6, How to Increase Your Stand Up Paddling Performance, Beginner to Elite. I’ve also written another huge cardio article here on my blog.

While your sport or personal goals may be unique and different than someone training for JAWS, EVERYONE could probably add a little heavier load to their current strength training routine. What I’ve discovered in all of my years as an athlete and coach is that most people underestimate their own strength.

Strong muscles keep your bones and body in good alignment and can also push you over the finish line in the most critical competitive moments. It’s also important that you perform your weight routine in a safe manor. The horrible things I see people on Instagram doing make me scream at my phone. While weight training and lifting seem easy, watching and making sure your other supportive muscles are in the right position while you perform your rep is super important.

PRO TIP: How to Safely Increase Muscle Load: First establish your baseline of how much you can comfortably lift on a consistent basis, making notes of your upper body and lower body strength gains over say a month. Generally, for the upper body you can go up 5-10lbs and the lower body start with 10lbs up to 20lbs. Add this adjustment to your workout routine and keep track. (Note this is not for the body builder type)

I’ve been a huge proponent of balance training and incorporate it with every workout for myself and my clients especially for all of the ocean sports we do on Maui. Besides keeping your reflexes sharp and ready, balance training offers a different type of strengthening that supports your major muscles joints and keeps the smaller fine muscles firing.

PRO TIP: Try this simple, fun and challenging progression: Bend your knee slightly on one leg. Then balance on that leg for 15 seconds. Next close your eyes and time yourself to see how long you can balance. (don’t grab your toes in your shoes or on the ground – relax them) Each time you repeat and practice the brain remembers and rewires this new challenge for success. Good luck!

The most successful athletes and people I know have surround themselves with the best “health and coach” team of experts. If you’ve never hired or invested in yourself in this way, then you will never know the power of what you can really do. This applies to sports, physical and mental wellness including a personal consultant, trusted advisor, dream maker, a guide to help you expand your true potential.

·     Neuroscience Coach

·     Personal Trainer

·     Physical Therapist

·     Acupuncturist

·     Massage Therapist

·     Therapist

·     Nutritionist

Now, this is a huge dream health team. Not everyone could manage something exactly like this BUT when your health is your wealth, I’ve personally come to learn that I can’t put a price on what it takes to keep my mind and body fit and moving. My world must keep moving in all capacities. My personal coach I’ve hired holds me accountable to actions on a regular basis so I can keep creating, keep expanding my mind and grow my business and life. My amazing physical therapist is gold and keeps my body functional and moving so I can do all the things I love which in the end helps stimulate my mind. My mental therapist keeps my emotional health in check so I can continue to honor my core values and myself to allow for a more enriched, healthy life.

It’s important to discover where you may need the most support in your life to help your overall well-being and start from there. It’s essential to be challenged, have another pair of eyes on you, having a confidant to really listen, and to enjoy the feeling of all of your body working well in unison with your mind and the world around you.

I can’t wait to learn what the year has in store for you or what your single word is that will sum up your year. Drop me a line if you’d like to share.

And then I read Suzie’s post about her Neuroscience advanced brain-based coaching. And what was really an eye opener for me, was her statement that this knowledge about my brain could be transformed into my personal secret weapon. Would that be the answer, a shifting of my mindset? And after a coaching session with her, I am back out in the ocean, visualizing and setting my goal for my time on the water, realizing what my triggers are and training my brain to focus on a positive start of my day.

I've had the pleasure of training Kevin and his wife! They are quite the power couple and so strong and inspiring. I've also worked very closely with one of his patients former, US SKI Team athlete Chris. Talk about rebuilding knees! A GREAT READ and inspiring for all!