Hey Folks,

I’m back with another edition of Life Ingredients. This is the newsletter where we nourish the body and mind with exercise, healthy food, and positive thoughts. I write it because I want you to look after every aspect of your physical and mental health and create a life you love.

We’re going to kick things off as we always do, with a good and hard workout.

Now let’s get to work!

One of the overlooked aspects of training consistently over a long period of time is that, well, it can get boring. With my own training, I’m as old-school as they come, and for years I dutifully went to the gym, hitting my Schwarzenegger-style body-part splits without ever complaining. But even I, after a point, need to shake things up, and not just to keep things interesting mentally. Your body is an adaptation machine. Hit it with the same exact stimulus for a long enough period of time, and it stops having a significant impact. Taking on new physical challenges is necessary to break through plateaus, and it has the added bonus of keeping you interested, and shifting your perception of what you’re really capable of. This month, my trainer Steve Wrona cooked up something he’s calling The Countdown Workout. It starts with a long jog on a treadmill and is followed by a few bodyweight exercises for 20 reps each. As the rounds go on, the reps and the time on the treadmill decrease, while the speed and intensity increase. He put me through it the other day and I hated him all throughout the session. Then I loved him in the end.

Click the video here to see him explain it, then go get after it. You’re gonna hate and love him, too!

WORK OUT

Treadmill Jog 10 minutes (easy pace)

20 Lunges, 20 Push Ups, 20 TRX Rows, 20 Sit Ups

Treadmill Jog 8 minutes (slightly increase speed)

18 Lunges, 18 Push Ups, 18 TRX Rows, 18 Sit Ups

Treadmill Jog 6 minutes (slightly increase speed)

16 Lunges, 16 Push Ups, 16 TRX Rows, 16 Sit Ups

Treadmill Run 4 minutes (slightly increase speed)

14 Lunges, 14 Push Ups, 14 TRX Rows, 14 Sit Ups

Treadmill Run 2 minutes (slightly increase speed)

12 Lunges, 12 Push Ups, 12 TRX Rows, 12 Sit Ups

I’m British, so I know a thing or two about dreary fall weather, as it’s something we experience 12 months out of the year. That’s not true. I saw the sun at least a dozen times growing up. Very exciting stuff! Seriously, though, part of why I love pub comfort food so much is because it’s the perfect cure for those chilly, rainy days. The king of these foods, in my mind, is French Onion soup. But you don’t have to go sit at a pub to get it. It’s easy and fun to make. Follow my recipe below to see how true that is. I can guarantee you it’s gonna be one of those recipes you come back to again and again.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

SERVES 4 – Cut or double recipe.

YOU’LL NEED

2 tbsp Grapeseed oil

4 onions, sliced thin

2 shallots, sliced thin

½ cup butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 bay leaves

1 cup dry sherry

2 qts beef stock

5 slices rye toast

8 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded

MAKE IT

1) In a large sauce pot, add grapeseed oil, onions, and shallots.

2) Cook over medium heat for about 12 minutes, stirring frequently. Onions should be brown in color.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Add butter.

4) Using a wooden spoon or whisk, incorporate flour and cook out raw flour for two minutes while stirring.

5) Add sherry and bay leaves, continuing to whisk and cook for 3 minutes. Use caution as sherry is flammable! If sherry does ignite, simply step back from pan and turn the heat to low. Once the alcohol has cooked off, the flame will go out.

6) Add beef stock and bring soup to a boil for 1 minute. Then drop soup to a simmer for 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

7) Lightly toast rye bread in the oven for about 1 minute on each side.

8) Top toasted bread with Gruyere cheese and melt.

9) Serve soup in a bowl. Place toast with melted cheese on top.

I recently came across a Stephen Covey quote that I’ve been thinking about every day. Here it is: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” I don’t know how that quote hits you, but it packed a wallop for me. After all, I’ve made no secret of how packed my schedule always is, and has been, going on 20-something years now. I’m always traveling, oftentimes over 300 days out of the year, and it’s not unusual for me to wake up from a mid-flight nap and need a minute or two to remember which city I’m headed to next.

Your schedule may not look exactly like that, but if you’re like most working adults, especially the ones with kids, then I know that every moment of your life is probably accounted for by some obligation or another. When we don’t have a minute to breathe, we can become slaves to our schedules, obeying its dictates and ignoring the things we wish we could do, if only we had a break in that damned schedule. Well, as Mr. Covey so eloquently put it, you’d better find a way to schedule your priorities, or before you know it, years will have passed before you realize you’re not really living; you’re just a passenger on a runaway train, serving everyone else’s needs but your own.

After missing a couple of workouts for a few days or not having any quality time with my wife, I know I’d start to become irritable. If I made it a habit, I’d get out of shape and soon feel depressed. I wouldn’t be the best version of myself, and all the other obligations I have, and people around me who count on me, would suffer as a result. Does any of this sound familiar? And if you have been failing to prioritize your own needs and mental health, did you do it because going to the gym or getting a massage or practicing your art, or going on a date felt selfish in light of all the other things you needed to do and people you needed to take care of? It’s a common problem. Luckily, the solution is rather simple. Don’t wait until you have enough time to take care of yourself. Make the time. Today. And if it seems too hard, remember the words I live by:

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.