Creating An Executive Life Part 1

If you're a follower of my content on LinkedIn, then you've seen I talk a lot about different strategies for optimizing your health, getting in shape, and living what we call, an Executive Life.

And while each post on its own is designed to help give you actionable pieces of information on how you can go about improving the areas of your health and fitness you want to work on, everything I share is part of a bigger picture plan for accomplishing your goals in the most efficient, healthiest way possible for you.

As the creator of the Executive Life Transformation program, I wanted to give you an in-depth look on how we use that information to create effective, personalized programs for our clients, AND give you some insight into how you can do the same for yourself.

If you're someone who's been struggling to improve their health, lose weight, have more energy, better your performance on a daily basis, or just want to feel more comfortable in your clothes, then you're not going to want to miss the next couple of newsletters we have coming.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to discuss...

- How I assess and set up client plans in a way very few others do.

- How to balance sleep, stress, recovery, etc, within the context of your training and nutrition plan for maximum results.

- How to build rock-hard, indestructible habits

...and much more.

My goal here is to give you actionable information to help you start making meaningful, long-lasting changes to your health, body, and live your Executive Life.

The 5 Pillars of an Executive Life Transformation:

1. Lifestyle Assessment

2. Expectation Management

3. Habit Mastery

4. Simplified Nutrition

5. MED Training

Everything you need to do to get in the best shape of your life for the rest of your life falls under one of these 5 categories.

So, let’s start at the beginning...

Most people, when they first scratch the itch to get in better shape, do it on a whim. Maybe their doctor told them they need to start exercising or eating better. Maybe they caught a glimpse of themselves in the mirror and were wondering when all their muscle got replaced with flab. Maybe their favorite pair of pants got too hard to button.

Regardless of the details, most people undertake a new diet and exercise program because they want to feel or look better.

And that’s where Pillar #1 comes into play: Lifestyle Assessment.

Before you can determine where you want to go and how you want to get there, you need to take a thorough assessment of where you’re at right now.

Part of that includes how you feel and what your body composition is, yes. But if you’re basing your goals and program solely on one or both of those, you’re setting yourself up for failure before you even start.

Action Starts With Assessment.

Before you can plot the best course of action (aka program) to get you where you want to go, you have to have a good idea of where you are and what’s holding you back from reaching your goals.

This starts with basically asking yourself questions. And this is where we call into play a lot of what we talked about in our previous emails:

- How are you sleeping? Are you getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night? Are you sleeping through the night or are you waking up a lot? Are you waking up refreshed and ready to go or are you tired and groggy and does that carry throughout the day?

- Do you feel stressed a lot? Find yourself anxious, short-tempered, or moody? If you track your heart rate, do you notice it constantly above 60 bpm at rest? Do you find it difficult to relax or is your mind constantly racing about work or world events?

- Do you suffer from regular digestive issues like bloating, indigestion, constipation, etc? Do you find certain foods in your diet cause issues regularly?

- Are you frequently experiencing fatigue or low energy?

- Have you been consistently dieting for long periods of time or with regularity within the past year? Do you make your own meals at home or are you eating out a lot? Do you drink regularly? How much?

- Do you feel weak or notice a lack of progress in the gym? Do you find it difficult to get pumps when lifting? How much cardio are you doing vs how much strength training? How many complete rest days are you taking each week? How many steps are you getting per day?

I know it feels like a lot of questions, especially if you just want to drop 20 pounds and feel better in your clothes. But the answers to these questions are the key to unlocking your struggles with losing those 20 pounds in the first place.

You should be getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night, sleeping through the night, and waking up refreshed.

You should not feel constantly stressed, always be working or thinking about work, and taking time regularly for yourself to relax and de-stress.

You should not be experiencing regular digestive issues, fatigue, or low energy.

You should not regularly be dieting for longer than 4-6 months without at least that much time spent at maintenance or a calorie surplus. Your food should be mostly whole, minimally processed, with occasional alcohol thrown in there if you wish.

Your performance in the gym shouldn’t be regularly suffering. You should have at least one full rest day per week, with a handful of other days with just light cardio. And when you’re in the gym, you shouldn’t be spending more than an hour there most days.

In an ideal scenario, this is what your program would look like. However, most people’s scenarios aren't ideal. And that’s okay. Because that actually gives us an idea of what we need to address in order to help get results that you’ve since struggled to get.

And it also leads into our second pillar: Expectation Management.

Managing expectations doesn’t require a big, long, in-depth explanation, but it’s a short, important one.

Simply put: The more things above that are out of alignment, the harder and harder it’s going to be to see progress and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish.

Which is why a lot of the time, the goal before the goal is to optimize your lifestyle so you can more easily burn fat and build muscle.

Because the more boxes we can check above, the more your health overall will improve, which in turn will make accomplishing those goals you’ve been struggling to hit, much, much easier.

This is the basis of an Executive Life Transformation: Giving your body what it wants so it in turn can give you what you want.

However, sometimes that means putting some of your goals on hold for a bit, so you can get your body in the most advantageous position possible for improving performance and body composition.

These first two pillars are arguably the most important, because they set the foundation for your entire plan. Most people want to skip right to 4 & 5, without giving any thought to 1-3.

But that’s where fitness becomes challenging and inconsistent: Because you’re not taking the time to put yourself and your body in the best position to accomplish your goals before you even get started.

In our next newsletter, we’ll continue the conversation around the 5 pillars of Health First Fitness, so you can keep building the last fitness program you’ll ever need.

Until then, if you have any questions, shoot me a DM and we can chat more about where you're at, and how we can get you where you want to go.

Coach Jorden

P.S.

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