As athletes, we are always pushing our bodies to the limit, trying to see what we are capable of. To compete at the highest levels, it's important to have help with your mindset. You saw a lot of examples of this if you listened to my interviews with Deena Kastor, Nick Symmonds, and Katherine Switzer. In this interview with Lisa Bonta Sumii, LCSW for the Power Up Your Performance Podcast, we talked about mental skills training and how what we learn as athletes can transfer to all the areas of our lives.

Lisa has 21 years experience as a therapist, but started working with athletes over the last two years because her 14 year old daughter began playing softball. In that process, the culture of competition was reintroduced to her. Lisa was a competitive soccer player growing up, so her own identity as an athlete was reignited.

She saw the intensity, the pressure, and the responsibility of being an athlete at a competitive level at such a young age and recalled her own...

Last year, I did a podcast, Fitness Trends for the New Decade, and since 2020 was not the year we expected in any way, I decided to take a look back to see what I said a year ago. Did I hit the mark? Were we headed in this direction before COVID-19 threw our lives into disarray? 

I'll share my predictions for 2021 in a new episode the first week of 2020. But here are a few of the things I predicted last  year as we started the new decade. We might have gotten off to a rocky start, but I think the things I mentioned last year are even more important than I would have imagined a year ago.

If you want to create the life of your dreams, you need to take care of your body, mind, and spirit. Here are five trends I believe have staying power:

1. Meditation. Meditation will become more important as we continue to learn how mindfulness techniques impact health. Meditation helps improve sleep, anxiety, depression, and stress. It promotes happiness, increases pain tolerance, and...

We are in that time of year where we are winding down, and there's pressure to put big goals out there for achieving big things in the coming year. 

The problem with new year's resolutions is that they don't last. In two weeks, the majority of us will forget all about the resolutions we set while sitting in front of the fire with a glass of wine.

Change is HARD, and our bodies and minds naturally resist change. After a year where we faced challenge after challenge, the thought of setting resolutions may seem daunting. (And, I'm not much of a resolution person to begin with.)

Rather than setting resolutions, which feel a lot like a list of things  I can and can't do, I prefer to choose a word of the year, which I think of as a word that guides my decisions. When faced with two compelling opportunities, which one is more in alignment with the word I chose at the beginning of the year? When tempted to go down another rabbit hole, or try yet another new thing, is it...

We may be eager to put 2020 behind us, but amid the uncertainty and stress, we learned a lot.

• We discovered we are more resilient than we thought,
• We learned who we can depend on,
• We found new ways to work remotely, to sell our products online, or to pivot so we could continue to bring in income,
• We figured out new methods for teaching and learning,
• We sought out creative ways to connect with family, neighbors, and coworkers,
• And, hopefully we learned that those with privilege felt the effects of the pandemic less, and that we need to find ways to level the playing field and help our brothers and sisters get the support and opportunities they deserve.

In 2020, we felt great highs and deep lows, and the Top 10 Power Up Your Performance podcasts of the year reflect the needs for hope and optimism. I've  recorded 54 podcast episodes (with three more to go) this year. Here's the top 10 list for 2020:

10. Episode 115. Become Your Best Advocate and SOAR: Jen...

We are officially in "New Year, New You" season, that time of the year where all the ads prey on your insecurities and try to convince you that their product will make you love your life and make you 1000% more fabulous. 

Advertisers are counting on you to think you're old, fat, wrinkled, and out of shape. So, let's get this straight: you are more than your appearance, your age, your pace, your shoe size, or the size of your yoga pants. You are amazing just the way you are. 

Are you loving and kind, do you make time for the people who are important to you? Do you stand up for people who don't have a voice? Who don't have the same privilege as you? Do you care about other people? These are the things that matter: who you are on the inside.

 At a recent visit to see my doctor, he said something that really hit home for me. He said: Health is pretty simple. You need quality sleep; food that nourishes, and hydration. And, you exercise; make time for connections,...

You know that feeling where you feel out of place when you join a group run because you're worried about pace and distance, and maybe the whole experience is even ruined because you spend the whole run worrying about whether you're holding your training partners back? And then you get so caught up in that mindset that you don't even enjoy the run? And so the run really doesn't even relieve stress because you've gotten yourself so worked up that you might be more stressed than when you started? 

In Episode 136 of the podcast, I share an observation from a triathlon I did several years ago. Everybody I was training with was at 40-60 years old at the time. Most of the people no longer had the ultra slender body that you would stereotype as being a "triathletes' body." Being perimenopausal and menopausal, most of the group carried a little extra weight around their mid-sections (which is completely normal and should be talked about more too!)

One of the things that has...

Right now, life is chaotic and uncertain. Schools are all online for the remainder of the year--if they haven't been canceled altogether. Seniors and their parents are grieving the abrupt end of high school and college experiences without the closure and celebration that's been envisioned for a lifetime. Those who are able to work from home are transitioning to home offices. And in the middle of it all, there are a lot of people who are unemployed or who risk losing their incomes. To say that the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is deeply affecting the way we live is an understatement.

Times are crazy. But over the next several weeks, we will settle into new routines. While those working in video conferencing, distance learning, or inbound marketing might be busier than ever, others will have considerably more downtime. We will learn to lean on each other, to support one another, and we will find new and creative ways to stay connected.

Over the next several weeks, look for blog posts...

I'm writing this on Sunday night, and the Kansas City Chiefs have just won the AFC Championship – advancing to their first Super Bowl in 50 years. Once again, the Chiefs played a remarkable game, serving us a ton of life lessons, so I want you to read on... even if you're a Titans fan (and even if football is not your thing!) 

You can listen to the entire episode, or read below for the major points. Listen via the player on this page, or search Power Up Your Performance on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeart Radio.

 

Seven Life Lessons We Can Learn from the Super Bowl Bound Kansas City Chiefs:

1. A setback doesn't mean you are starting over from scratch. Last year, the Chiefs lost the AFC Championship game. They learned from it and applied the lessons to their off-season preparation and their play. We all need to accept "failure" as an opportunity to learn and understand that we are never starting over, only building on past lessons.
2. Mindset is...

Anyway, since I am not a fan of cold weather running, I took this question to Facebook, where as always, the beastly runners came through with layering and product suggestions.

The game between the Chiefs and the Texans was CRAZY last weekend! If you weren’t watching, the Chiefs were down, at home 24-0 in the first 20 minutes of the game--in the loudest stadium in the NFL. Fans were screaming at their televisions and walking out of the stadium, in pure disbelief. How could our Chiefs show up to their biggest game of the year and play like a bunch of rookies?

There's even an article about "Bad Luck Chuck," who left the game because he determined he was a jinx. After he left the stadium, things turned around--and now Mahomes and the Chiefs are asking him to "do what's best for the Kingdom" and watch this Sunday's championship game from home. Chuck doesn't seem too worried about his big sacrifice, according to the Kansas City Star, he's received calls from a producer from the Ellen Show, and fans have reimbursed him for his ticket.

I recorded a podcast about this because I'm fascinated by the speech that Patrick Mahomes gave his team...