Spartan Up! - A Spartan Race For The Mind!

The link between intermittent fasting and good health has been noticed for a while. Intermittent fasting means going about 8 to 12 hours without food but in some cases a bit longer. And recent studies have begun to make clear the connection between fasting and longevity, a finding that is creating a lot of buzz. What we talk about: There are some obvious reasons that connect fasting to good health. The most obvious is weight loss. But there are many others: Increasing your metabolism. While it’s true that long-term fasting can decrease your metabolism, short-term fasting has the opposite effect – perhaps up to 14 percent. It promotes brain health by supporting an increase in the growth of neurons and enhancing memory performance. Know when you’re really hungry. Going without food often provokes a desire to eat that that is more psychological than physical. Fasting 8-12 hours helps people distinguish between real hunger pangs and food cravings. Now, here are some less obvious and but equally important reasons

Kevin Gillotti talks with 40+ masters athlete, SGX coach, commentator & hella legit OCR racer Kevin Donahue about staying injury free over a long & demanding Spartan Race season and career.   TAKE AWAY POINTS: Genetics plays a role, tap into that knowledge of self Using your lower body to your advantage, even on overhead head obstacles Take some risks & try new techniques Don't eat candy, it’s bad for you   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND KEVIN G Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Kevin Gillotti on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kevingillotti/ Kevin Gillotti on The Web www.kevingillotti.com   CREDITS: Host: Kevin Gillotti Show Notes & Artwork: Kevin Gillotti Producer: Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Videography: Madison McGahan, Mike Isabell, Alberto Campos Editing: Heather Knox

Zach Even-Esh, Joe DeSena and Brian Chontosh talk about building teams. The best teams, companies & work environments come from a place where the leaders invest in their team. Taking great care of your team inspires them to want to be a bigger & better part of the team!   LESSONS: Don’t hold others back on your team. Help them win. When your team wins, you win, even if they leave for another team! Ethics & caring for others is “winning”. In the long run, you will always feel better when you build others up! LINKS: More about Zach https://zacheven-esh.com Read “The Spartan Way” https://www.spartan.com/en/race/learn-more/race-types-overview?article=the-spartan-way-book SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP & Zach: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Follow Zach on Instagram https://instagram.com/z

Sometimes when we encounter struggle or a challenge we transform what might be best identified as a small problem into a catastrophe. You know the phrase, “turning a molehill into a mountain.” So that’s an actual psychological phenomenon called, Catastrophizing. This way of thinking can get you into trouble, however, because not all problems are catastrophes. In order to remain balanced and grounded human beings it’s important that are responses to problems are congruent with the degree of challenge in front of us. LESSONS: Catastrophizing: When you transform a small problem into a catastrophe and act accordingly. Take each problem as it comes and use a grading system to help you if you need. Ask yourself, Is this an emergency, a large problem, medium problem, small problem, or insignificant. Remember, the more sound your responses are to certain problems, the more capable you will feel in your ability to handle them. SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT G

Rebekah and her son were spectating at the finish line of the Boston in Marathon in 2013 when those two fateful bombs exploded. She may have lost part of her leg- but 68 operations later, she has gained a whole new insight on “counting her blessings, not her problems.” Instead of being defined by this one event she has used it as a catalyst to make PTSD training available for children all over the country through her foundation Rebekah’s Angels. She says very few have to deal with a bomb exploding near them, but many people deal with things in their life blowing up everyday- her resilience is marked by her joyful determination to inspire others and help them get the treatments they need. LESSONS Count your blessings not your problems Be thankful for the life you have and have goals for the life you want Don’t let your life be defined by one event Your circumstances don’t define you Make everyday a great day- don’t let anything steal your joy LINKS www.rebekahsangels.org www.rebekahmgregory.com https://inspire

This week we welcome Brian "Tosh" Chontosh to the Spartan Up family! He'll be here every Monday with Spartan Stand. What are you capable of right here, right now; not a question, a statement. What you could have done if, what you might be able to do if, if you had time to prepare, or under whatever cute circumstance you require to succeed is of zero interest.   A readiness mindset consists of two parts. 1) anticipating reasonable and likely events or circumstance in order to prepare. This is the ground floor of professionalism. It is a branch conversation of Ownership. 2) building up capacity to simply respond given a task, event, or emergency. It is letting performance have the ultimate voice for competence.   Would you face a known enemy or threat with a “wait a minute, let me heal my mojo for a few weeks and then we can fight?” or would you want to advertise to your opponent all the many ways you are strategizing to challenge him as you attempt to win?   Common sense would suggest then that we develop a mi

We all know that it’s important to pay attention to our daily food intake. But many people don’t know this important fact: the number of calories your body retains is not only affected by how much you eat but also by when you eat. What we Talk About: In this podcast, we’re going to look at the impact of the body’s daily cycles – it’s circadian rhythms (or “CR”) – on supporting the maintenance of healthier food intake and more efficient weight control. The process by which the body breaks down food and turns it into energy is known as our metabolism. The metabolism isn’t just what happens in your stomach; it refers also to a wide range of biochemical processes within an organism. So, something that impacts your metabolism has a huge influence on your overall health and well-being. And an important driver of metabolism is the hormone cortisol. CR’s connection to metabolism is that it helps trigger a cortisol rise in the morning. Cortisol is your “get up and go” hormone; it drives your metabolism, supports thyr

This week I talk with the tiny, but fiercely mighty, Faye Stenning about staying fit & race prepping in a dense city habitat like the overwhelming & chaotic life of a NYC city dweller. TAKE AWAY POINTS: Be creative in your training options and use the environment you have Commuting to trails, finding groups, pick your times, just do what you have to do Surround yourself with like minded people It CAN be done SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND KEVIN G Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Kevin Gillotti on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kevingillotti/ Kevin Gillotti on The Web www.kevingillotti.com CREDITS: Host: Kevin Gillotti Show Notes & Artwork: Kevin Gillotti Producer: Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Videography: Madison McGahan, Mike Isabell, Alberto Campos Editing: Heather Knox   © 2019 S

Zach brings on special guest & fellow Spartan Podcaster, Tosh, to discuss why you should NOT feel bad while standing up for Excellence! Sometimes we start to feel bad when our friends and family tell us, Hey, you’ve changed! That’s right, you are changing for the better and there is Nothing wrong with that!   LESSONS: • Do not conform to the norms of “good enough”, even when people close to you try to tell you that you’re trying too hard.
 • Do not ease up on your mission. If you’ve done the work, you deserve to EARN more success. 
 • You should celebrate the fact that you want to win. When you win, you help other people win. 
 LINKS: More about Zach https://zacheven-esh.com Read “The Spartan Way” https://www.spartan.com/en/race/learn-more/race-types-overview?article=the-spartan-way-book SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP & Zach: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sparta

Emotional reasoning is a negative thinking pattern that can best be described as the process of turning feeling into fact. We cannot control how we feel but we can control what we do with these feelings and when we turn our feelings into fact we can find ourselves in a made up reality. Being aware of when you engage in emotional reasoning can help you shift out of this way of thinking and bring you back into a position of knowing that a feeling is sometimes just a feeling. LESSONS: Emotional Reasoning: When we turn our feelings into fact. Try to catch yourself when “I feel XXX”, becomes “I am XXX” : such as, “I feel incompetent” becomes “I am incompetent.” Remember to tell yourself that a feeling is just a feeling, or use the phrase, “I’m having the feeling that I am incompetent” so that you get separation from the emotion.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND DR. L: Spartan Up on Instagram

In that moment when you think your life will end, will you have regrets? During his second Afghanistan deployment Green beret Kevin Flike was shot in the abdomen, what did he think in those touch and go moments? Kevin says “an experience is worth nothing unless you share it,” now he shares the story of his own recovery and his experiences going from highly competent soldier to a man who needed help putting on his socks. He talks about fear, courage (which he defines as “going forward when the outcome is uncertain,”) and the power of setting exceptional goals. With his wife’s encouragement, he got off pain medication, got himself into both MIT and Harvard, and started the Green Beret Foundation. He’s created a documentary to raise awareness and funds for the Green Beret Foundation called “Wounded by War.” LESSONS Have long term goals Setup small milestones along the way Find something that motivates you to not quit Understand the sacrifice it takes to get where you want Failure is the best teacher: fail early

There are a million ways you can be tempted to squeeze a few more minutes or hours out of your day, but if you want to stay healthy, you should remember one thing: you can’t cheat sleep. If you do, you may throw off what’s called - your circadian rhythm. Circadian Rhythm is also called your sleep/wake cycle and it’s the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24- hour or daily cycle in your body. One of the chemical or hormone mechanisms that is central to your circadian rhythm (aka, sleep-wake cycle) is melatonin, which is a hormone that induces sleep. When the optic nerves (in the eye) receive less light, that triggers a signal to the brain to make more melatonin. That happens, for example, when the lights go out and you go to bed. That natural hormone release can be affected which, in turn, can negatively affect your circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms or sleep-wake cycles influence hormone release, eating habits and even body temperature to name a few. Having an irregular rhythm has been li

This week I talk strategies for overcoming pre-race jitters and nervousness with Kenneth Yee. When you travel all of the way from Malaysia for a first time visit to a country, a lot is at stake because a lot has been expended. So the last thing you need is to be dealing with energy robbing nervousness on top of all of the other moving pieces associated with racing.   TAKE AWAY POINTS: Ask for advice from more well traveled athletes on their tactics Concerns about temperature changes between countries Catching up on sleep ASAP so leave enough time in your travel schedule   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND KEVIN G Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Kevin Gillotti on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kevingillotti/ Kevin Gillotti on The Web www.kevingillotti.com   CREDITS: Host: Kevin Gillotti Show Not

People LOVE being around passionate people. It makes them feel good
And inspires them to get better at Life! LESSONS: • If you’re struggling to get better in a certain area of your life,
Seek out passionate coaches / environments to become part of.
 • Passionate people can completely alter the trajectory of a company, school, sports team, etc. 
 • Passion is inside ALL of us, you need to share it with the world.
 LINKS: More about Zach https://zacheven-esh.com Read “The Spartan Way” https://www.spartan.com/en/race/learn-more/race-types-overview?article=the-spartan-way-book SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP & Zach: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Follow Zach on Instagram https://instagram.com/zevenesh Follow Zach on Twitter https://twitter.com/zevenesh Zach’s STRONG Life Podcast https://apple.co/2vF

Great competitors believe that they have the capacity to win and compete in the way that moves them closer to their goals. They build themselves up with confidence and visualize accomplishments instead of defeats. Believing in yourself is a key part of pumping positive medicine into your brain and your body, as the power of positive thinking has been demonstrated across disciplines.   LESSONS: A strong belief in your capacity to achieve and get things done is a critical part of being a great competitor. Building up self-confidence and relying on positive self-esteem will help you along your journey and give you an edge against those who don’t believe that they can.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND DR. L: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Dr. L on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drlarapence/   C

Picture this, you’ve just reached the Summit of Everest- a pinnacle achievement when you’re literally on top of the World… and all of sudden everything goes white... your completely blind. Join us this week as Brian walks us down his “Blind Descent,” and tells us what skills learned from his time as a former US Navy Air Rescue Swimmer / Combat Search and Rescue and perhaps a little luck, got him home safe.   LESSONS: Don’t panic Focus on what needs to be done Do more Be who you are Seek obstacles, don’t avoid them LINKShttp://www.briandickinson.net TIME STAMPS: 0:00 Dr. L, Col Nye and Johnny Waite introduce Brian 1:20 Interview begins- “always climbing” 2:50 Joe on Aconcagua 4:00 Mental toughness of downtime 5:00 Growing up on a mountain 7:00 Climbing Everest solo with sherpa support 8:45 Acclimatization 10:00 Hiking in the “death zone” 11:15 Completely soloing 13:00 Time standing still on the Summitt 14:30 Descending snow blind 19:05 31 Habits: #8 Intermittent Fasting 21:20 Interview continues: 24 hrs

Our bodies need energy and we get that from the food we eat. No surprise, right? But, what is the gatekeeper between food consumption and the energy needed for athletic performance? It’s your gut – especially the gut flora. EPISODE SCRIPT There are millions and millions of bacteria in your gut – in fact, there are ten times more bacteria than cells in your gut. Ten times! What are these flora doing in addition to processing food? They can identify pathogens (dangerous compounds) Bolster and improve the health of the intestines Promote the growth of new cells What happens to athletes when the gut isn’t working well? It gets in the way of performance, recovery and long-term health and sustainability of athletic performance at a high level like competition. To be more specific, there’s a cascading effect that starts very small but ends up degrading your abilities to do what you want to do in the gym, at a race or in any competitive setting. It starts with: Too few interferons in your gut. Interferons (a type on

On this episode, I talk with Colleen about adjusting & adapting (time changes, food, sleep, training, weather) to the local race destination and preparing for a race after the rigors of long-distance international travel. Colleen should know, she traveled 28 hours from Malaysia to race in the USA. TAKE AWAY POINTS: Using meals to beat jet lag effects Paying attention to time zones (get on the local time ASAP) Using sleep times of race time zone, even when traveling despite what others are doing SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND KEVIN G Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Kevin Gillotti on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kevingillotti/ Kevin Gillotti on The Web www.kevingillotti.com CREDITS: Host: Kevin Gillotti Show Notes & Artwork: Kevin Gillotti Producer: Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Videogr

Rest & recovery are NOT a negative thing for Spartans. In fact, when you work hard, the rest and recovery gives you the much need mental & physical break allowing you to come back stronger, more energized and more inspired. LESSONS: Rest & recovery are good for the mind AND body. Taking a break from the normal stimulus will boost your creativity. More is not better, Better is Better! LINKS: More about Zach https://zacheven-esh.com Read “The Spartan Way” https://www.spartan.com/en/race/learn-more/race-types-overview?article=the-spartan-way-book SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP & Zach: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod Follow Zach on Instagram https://instagram.com/zevenesh Follow Zach on Twitter https://twitter.com/zevenesh Zach’s STRONG Life Podcast https://apple.co/2vFaCv1   CREDITS: Pr

Great competitors believe that they have control over the things that happen in their lives and they take ownership of those choices. They do not offload poor performance to circumstances outside of them. They take ownership for the choices - both those that make them stronger (both mentally and physically) and those that put them in circumstances of struggle. Ownership is about believing that you have a strong internal locus of control - that you can control the direction of your life.   LESSONS: Try to remember that you always have a choice; that you have more control over your life when you believe that you have more control. Take ownership of the decisions that you make, whether they are your accomplishments or your poor choices.     SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay   FOLLOW SPARTAN UP AND DR. L: Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppodcast/ Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/Sp