One of my favorite John Wooden (the legendary basketball coach) lessons is when he moved from Indiana to UCLA to coach at a state-of-the-art facility.

(Or so that’s what he was promised)

This new facility wasn’t built until 17 years later…

In the meantime, Wooden had to run practices on the 3rd floor of the Men’s Gymnasium, which was poorly ventilated… had dim lighting… no private locker rooms… and was filled with other sports. So on one end of the basketball court was wrestling practice, the other had gymnastics and the cheerleaders tumbling next to the court.

All this hustle and bustle in cramped quarters gave it the name:

“The B.O. Barn”

To make matters worse, games were played in this tight space, until the fire department forced them to downsize their seating so they had to have home games at the local colleges instead.

However, despite this highly challenging (and odorous) practice environment a few unexpected consequences happened:

“Because of our lack of a real home court an unanticipated benefit occurred. Our team became a much stronger road team because we were virtually on the road all the time... Adversity often produces the unexpected opportunity. Look for it. Appreciate and utilize it”- John Wooden
 
This is just one example of how Wooden was light-years ahead of his time for coaching… leadership… and personal excellence.

That’s why I devoted the latest Mind-Body Breakthroughs newsletter to help you get inside the mind of this genius and use his ‘mental playbook’ to charge through any challenges and break new records on your fitness goals.

Check out his profound philosophy bee-low:

Four Fitness (and Life Lessons) from The Wizard of Westwood

Kelan Ern

One of my favorite rabbit-hole topics is mindfulness – especially its impact on health and fitness.

One recent study looked at its power on motivation specifically:

In this 2024 study, 1,247 subjects (from 91 countries) were divided into two groups: A mindfulness group (who did meditations that focused on body scans, intention setting, self-reflection and deep breathing). And a control group (who listened to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland).

Each group took part in their session digitally for 10 minutes a day over the course of 30 days.

The result:

Both groups had greater improvements in anxiety and overall wellbeing.

But the mindfulness group demonstrated significantly greater levels of interest in health improvement. Meaning: higher motivation for improving sleep habits, exercise and building health habits.

(Even two months after the study, many people from the mindfulness group reported they were still on course with making heath improvements.)

Researchers believe it has to do with mindfulness’s impact on controlling thoughts, emotions and behavior. According to lead researcher Dr. Masha Remskar:

“This finding may represent the way that mindfulness can cause a gradual shift from external motivation to intrinsic, or internal motivation”

This shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation is one of the most powerful psychologically but cracking this code is no easy feat.

However, this along with other research shows mindfulness may be the spark for it.

So how do you become more mindful in your fitness?

Here are a few tips that have helped with my own personal workouts:

1. Remove the distractions (phone, TV, and possibly even music too)

2. Continual refocus on the present moment (the dumbbells you are lifting… the biceps you are working… the squats you are doing… the surroundings and experience around you).

#2 is simple but not easy. Sometimes our mind is scattered, distracted and pulling us in a million directions.

But it’s worth it to keep coming back to the present moment.

(In fact, some say that challenge is what builds those “mental muscles”)

Not only does it become more automatic with time but you’ll find a new level of experience with exercise and physical activity that isn’t possible when you are just “going thru the motions”… mentally somewhere else… or trying to get it done with.

For more ways to transform your experience (and results) with health and fitness, check out:

Mind-Body Breakthroughs

Kelan Ern
Fitness Coach

Last month during Oktoberfest in Munich, I was chatting with a 50-something-year old woman (from the U.S. of A) who was concerned about her traveling workouts.

Apparently, she usually hit the gym 6-7 days per week and felt out of sorts only getting a few workouts in while spending several weeks abroad.

Tis a common concern for those who are in a well-grooved workout routine.

Whenever they go on vacation, they fear will lose muscle… gain all their weight back… or have to start all over again.

Having recently taken a two week break from lifting weights (while in Switzerland & Germany), here’s what I noticed:

• Maintained upper body strength (I didn’t feel nearly as strong but was able to hit similar numbers as a few weeks prior).
• Maintained hip and shoulder mobility (most likely thanks to 3-5 stretches each morning)
• Muscle soreness after the workout was higher – this was especially the case with upper body exercises.
• Motivation for lifting weights increased (take away motivation is a real thing)
• Maintained cardiovascular endurance (probably thanks to the abundance of walking… running to catch trams… and climbing hills)
• Decrease in grip strength (No surprise here, during my trip there was nothing I was gripping for dear life…  except possibly a railing when looking over the edge of a mountain)

These may not apply directly to you but the point is:

If you were still physically active and didn’t blow it completely on nutrition…

One to two weeks off won’t erase months of progress.

You aren’t starting over.
You aren’t back to square one.
You don’t have to play catch up.

Just resume your routine.

And you’ll get back in momentum sooner than you think.

For more ideas on how to restore your momentum and get in even better shape this year, check out a free issue Mind-Body Breakthroughs

Kelan Ern