There has been an article about me in an Estonian magazine.

The original version can be downloaded here.

Here is the English version

1. Please tell a little bit about yourself. How did you discover Estonia?

The first time I came to Estonia was around 2000 to accompany my father who had a logistics company here, and I liked it a lot. In 2006, I spent my Erasmus semester in Tartu during which I met my life-partner Anna-Liisa, who is the reason for all the major changes in my life. I also did my masters in business administration in Tartu. I live in Tallinn since 2008. I really like the country and if it wasn’t for these damn cold and dark winters I would say it’s one of the best.

We run our own business. Besides working as fitness, health and nutrition coach and speaker I also work as online marketer doing product launches and websites among others. We are also involved in several other projects.

2. About 5 years ago you decided to start pursuing a more healthy style of living. What was it triggered by?

I wanted to get more out of my life and was looking for ways to increase my vitality and level of energy since I was always feeling very tired and doing the same things each and every day. So we begun looking for ways how to live our lives with full potential. We now know that It’s not only about food, it’s also about moving, breathing, exercising, thinking, knowing how to manage your emotions etc.

We did a 3-month detox during which I learned so much about my body. Once you feel this kind of energy and vitality, you don’t want to go back. It is not easy to reach, but feels like a major accomplishment. You will have cravings but if you prevail, the rewards are health and energy.

A fruit and veggie dominated diet can be more delicious than any burger or steak. And once you leave out these foods, your taste buds will change too.

3. What/who were the biggest inspirations?

Most inspiring were the changes happening in my life, in my relationships, in health, and also the changes happening in the people that I have been working with. The biggest motivation was to see that these things don’t only work on myself but also on other people.

4. What were the biggest obstacles and struggles? How about the biggest “wins”?

The biggest obstacles are food cravings. It wasn’t so much the coffee even though I drank a ton, it wasn’t so much the alcohol even though I really love a good beer (natural if you are from Belgium), and it wasn’t really the meat. Actually I still had some alcohol and only stopped around half a year ago. I now decided to leave alcohol for events and Belgium :)

A word about struggles, they go away. It’s your body screaming for this food because it doesn’t know better. But once they are out of the system it’s becoming easier and easier.

There are numerous wins here, for example an increase in energy, cleaner skin, strong immune system and overall health, more mental sharpness and focus, faster recovery and muscle gain, no bad breath, nicer hair, and many more. Seriously, you feel like a newly born!

I haven’t been sick in almost 3 years, and I haven’t taken any painkillers or meds ever since. As a result of that I haven’t seen any doctors. As a matter of fact my body recuperates from injuries and bruises much faster than ever. I mean these things can happen all the time, like while playing basketball. But I almost heal over night and I am back at full speed the next day. Now how much money would be saved if that were the case for everyone?

5. Do you find it easy to be healthy and health conscious in Estonia? What are people’s reactions to your lifestyle and how is their mindset? Do you think it is much different from Western Europe?

Estonians are generally more health concerned than Westerners and it’s easy to live a healthy life in Estonia, especially in summer, when all these delicious foods are growing right here. You have a chance to buy foods from farmers on the market. You can even order freshly grown food online straight from the farmers and they bring them to Tallinn, or for a couple Euros more right to your doorstep.

It’s much easier in Belgium to be unhealthy. To be honest with you I lived like “shit” back at home and was completely out of shape. I think my little home town of 10.000 inhabitants has more fast food restaurants than all of Tallinn but no biomarkets. The country is so crowded, people don’t have their own gardens anymore.

People believe that eating healthily is sooooo expensive. And yes it does cost more, but what people don’t know is that ecologically grown foods have a much higher nutritional levels. So if you use better foods, keep a balanced diet (have carbs, proteins and essential fatty acids) and eat more often small portions, you will actually eat less and therefore pay less.

Try it at least for a month or a couple weeks and feel the difference. You will start thinking twice before you eat another Snickers. You will think things like, “hmmm, how does this type of food help me on fulfilling my true potential?” or “does this food really improve my life?”

6. What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?

I see myself being a well-known coach on all the topics I am really passionate about. The psychology and inner world of us humans is fascinating me and I am learning a lot from Anna-Liisa who is also a therapist. We share similar interests and our skills match perfectly. I would like to inspire all kinds of people but especially the youth in order to make changes in the way they eat and live, and sportsmen on various aspects, such as mental toughness, health, nutrition and fitness. I am becoming more and more interested in the field of sports psychology.

7. Estonian kids are spending more and more inactive time indoors. How would you change that? How would you raise your kids to avoid this?

I believe that parenting equals guiding and teaching and letting your children find their solutions for themselves. I would teach and guide them, but at the end of the day I would only be helping them on their path to self-discovery.

When I was growing up, I spent like 75% of my time outside. This reversed more and more in my teens due to internet and video games. My younger brother for example spends around 99% inside watching TV and playing video games. He just can’t come up with interesting things to do outside. It’s an addiction!

I would teach my kids from a young age on, that being outside is awesome and there are so many possibilities to grow their creativity. You have to really be the role model yourself. That puts more responsibility on the parents since you can’t sit your children in front of a TV every time you feel busy, but I’m ready to take on that challenge. We don’t even have a TV at home already now and rather spend time in nature and being active. Just be creative by finding activities that suit your lifestyle and make it especially fun and interactive for your kids.

8. There is much health advice out there and it is often controversy. How would you tell what to believe and follow and what not? What do you find the biggest “not true” movement?

There are two things I can advise here. First of all don’t believe everybody on the Web. Do some proper research on the people that you get information from. All of us usually have quite good bullshit sensors if we tune into our bodies and we can feel what or who is really resonating with us. Look for experts who teach because they love what they do, people that are passionate and don’t only talk but take time for you. You can sense if the heart is there.

And secondly you definitely have to feel and test all the methods, techniques and foods out and see how they work for you. While there are some common things that will help everyone, you will have to try and find what’s the best solution for you. Every person is different and there is no one “magic bullet” for everyone.

9. Many traditional potato-sauce-pork eating people consider your lifestyle health-freaky. What’s your reaction to this and how do you deal with that?

Actually I love to see people’s reactions when they hear about my lifestyle and beliefs. Some get inspired, some just don’t care, others start defending their own ways. I never try to change anyone. People are on so different life-paths and it’s hard for many to go against the mainstream. The trait that I believe is most important in life is being respectful towards other people. There is always a lesson to be learned in everything.

The truth is, sometimes I do eat meat and I love a good piece of meat. The key here is “good” as most meat bought in regular grocery stores cannot be considered good. I choose what type of meat I eat and I know where it comes from, how it has lived, what it has eaten and how it has been killed. Liisa’s father is a hunter and fisher so that’s the best and most direct source of my animal protein. Then again, I eat meat perhaps two-three times a year.

Sure, many veggies are grown with pesticides and can’t be healthy. You can only be 100% sure if you grow and prepare things yourself. Liisa’s parents teach me how to grow veggies at the country-house and I enjoy doing it.

The reason why I prefer eating veggies over meat is that veggies give me energy and meat drains energy out of my body. Digesting meat will take a lot of energy, which is why we often feel tired after a feast.
You don’t have to stop eating meat, just reduce it as much as possible. Did you know that if humans would cut meat consumption by 20%, that there would be no hunger in this world? Do you have any idea how much grain is used to feed animals that are being slaughtered? They eat so much, if we were to use the grains for bread, everybody could eat.

10. What do you eat on Estonian Christmas and Jaanipaev which are considered rather health damaging for its traditional meals?

Actually Christmas is one of the occasions when I have a little bit of meat. But mostly we prepare some good fish, and have a lot of veggies and some brown rice with it. If I go crazy I might even have a blood sausage with cranberry jam.

With Jaanipäev and all other meat’n’beer events it’s all about being creative. You can always grill some veggies like zuccini, corn, broccoli, onions etc – delicious! Or if I go wild I might have some mushrooms filled with blue cheese. My life-partner is the most creative cook and a real magician with spices. We spend a lot of time cooking, experimenting and mixing different cuisines.

I can’t really compare myself anymore to an average human. Since I am treating my body in a much better way, I can allow myself some escapades while recovering fast. My metabolism runs like a well-oiled machine.  I don’t even worry if I go a little crazy on certain events, since I know that my body will take care of it with the greatest of ease.

11. What is in your opinion the most health-friendly place to live in the world?

Places that have a perfect climate to grow veggies and fruits at the same time: In Europe Tuscany in Italy, or the Provence area of France. We are just in a search for this kind of health friendly place and we use the winters to explore different countries. Last winter we lived couple of months in Costa Rica and the nature there was amazing. In Nicaragua the avocados were the size of melons. I also believe that some areas of Asia have a very good balance.

12. Is there something you would still like to change about your life at the moment?

There are always new levels to be reached. We are meant to constantly grow – that’s what makes our eyes shine. Status quo feels like death to the soul. Everything in nature is changing and so should we – change is just a natural part of life, we shouldn’t be afraid of it!

My goal is to become a complete athlete – being in perfect physical shape, but also to reach new mental and spiritual levels. I want to have all the tools to achieve everything I want. I also want to study more about sports psychology and martial arts.

I want to be a source of inspiration and motivation. Here’s what the tagline on our blog says: “inspire and be inspired, teach and be taught, tell and be told, love and be loved, grow and help to grow”. I want to serve others and help them to become athletes as well. I want people to follow me on my journey and learn a thing or two at the same time. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing someone overcoming his or her biggest challenges and making a difference.

But then again, opinions are not always based on facts but with the idea of making a sale. Most protein powder manufacturers offer so-called affiliate programs to sell more products. Affiliates are online marketers, bloggers or other online users that sell other people’s stuff.

Why even the best online research may fail you

Say you were producing software and you wanted to increase your sales, you could create a campaign with one of the many affiliate networks around the net. Affiliates could then pick up your campaign and post their affiliate links in their sales materials or even add your banners on their websites. If they make a sale, they will be paid a commission. There are different payout techniques but I am not going to discuss that in this article. I just wanted to explain the system so you can understand what I am talking about.

Anyways, you will see tons of protein powders for sale that will not deliver simply because they are of lower quality. Keeping in mind what I discussed before it becomes quite clear that there can only be one reason why they are ranked so high. They are pushed by a very agressive marketing strategy.

There are of course honest sources and blogs and many of them are also filled with honest customer reviews. But unless you really tried any of those brands you can never know for sure.

The most important types of protein powder

Here is a list of the protein powders that I am going to discuss now:

1. Whey protein powder
2. Casein protein powder
3. Egg protein powder
4. Soy protein powder
5. Natural protein powders: Hemp and rice

Whey protein powder

This is by far the most commonly used protein powder in the world. The major advantage of Whey is that it absorbes faster than any other protein powder, which makes it a perfect post-workout protein. If you don’t know why you need a fast absorbing protein directly after the workout, please read this article right here. This is very important for muscle growth so you should seriously read it.

Whey protein is a by-product of cheese manufactured from cow’s milk. Therefor you should not use it if you are suffering from lactose intolerance.

There are 4 major forms of Whey protein powder:

• Concentrates: lower levels of fat and cholesterol but higher levels of bioactive compounds and carbs. The protein content varies between 29% and 89%.
• Isolates: fat and lactose are removed which results in lower bioactive components. The protein content is 90% or more.
• Blends: mix of concentrates and isolates
• Hydrolysate: predigested and partially hydrolyzed which makes them easier to absorb. They cost more than any other form of Whey protein

Casein protein powder

Casein is another by-product of cheese manufacturing. Actually the protein in cow’s milk is 20% Whey protein and 80% casein protein.

Casein is a slow absorbing protein which makes it the ideal night protein. It can also be used throughout the day or on workout free days. Casein prevents muscle catabolism for up to 8 hours (Whey is generally absorbed within 45 minutes). The majority of muscle recovery takes place over night which is why a slow but steady release of amino acids is important.

Egg protein powder

Just as the name suggests, egg protein is made of egg whites, which is free of fat and very high in protein. Once egg protein is consumed it’s completely absorbed by your body. Egg protein is the most effective and has the best quality of all proteins.

The Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) determines the quality of the protein. Egg protein has a PER of 3,8 which is among the highest. The higher the PER the better it can be used by your body. Egg protein has an absorption rate of 1,5 to 3 hours.

The Biological Value (BV) indicates how well a protein can be absorbed. Egg protein sets the standard with a BV of 100, which means that no other protein powder has a better absorption rate than egg protein. It also improves muscle recovery.

Obviously you should not use egg protein if you have any allergies. If you are lactose intolerant, egg protein makes for a wonderful substitute for Whey protein powders and thus post-workout. If you want to loose weight and are on a low-carb diet, you should also consider egg protein.

Soy protein powder

Soy protein has a very high absorption rate and is yet another substitute for Whey or egg protein. It is generally very low in or free of fat, cholesterol and lactose. So if you have lactose or egg allergies, you should choose soy protein.

Soy is the ideal protein for vegetarians and can even be used as meat substitute. It is a complete protein and provides all the essential amino acids. There are two main types of soy protein, concentrate and isolated. Concentrated has a Digestibility Score of 99 and isolated has a Digestibility Score of 92 which shows how well it can be absorbed by the body.

Natural protein powders: Hemp and rice

Hemp and rice protein powders are completely natural. They are also called plant based protein powders. These protein powders can be organic or non-organic. Usually when they are organic, it’s written on the container and they are also more expensive.

Organic products are unprocessed products and therefor of higher quality. Processed powders may be exposed to increased heat or other processing techniques which may kill much of the nutrients. Therefor it is always recommended to shop for organic supplements.

Hemp and rice protein are the best substitute for vegetarians and vegans since they are completely free of dairy. Both sources are complete proteins and contain all essential amino acids. Next to that they are filled with other nutrients such as essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

This however may also be their downside, since bodybuilders are usually looking for fat-free products. Hemp powders and rice powders are also loaded with carbohydrates, making them a bad choice for people trying to shred body fat.

You should also pay attention to tastes and how well they mix. Natural hemp powders taste badly and don’t really mix with a regular shaker. Rice proteins taste better but don’t shake that well either. There are however powders that are designed for bodybuilders. They taste and mix better.

Many rice powders have other superfoods added to them. Maca for example is a perfect companion for rice powder because it supports the metabolism. There are also some really nicely flavored ones.

Conclusion

If you are not suffering from lactose intolerance, than Whey and casein are great for you. They complement each other perfectly and will give you lots of post-workout protein and a balanced source for the day, the night and training free days.

If you are suffering from lactose intolerance, then egg protein or soy protein are great alternatives, even though egg would be the better option. Egg might anyways be the better protein but it’s generally more expensive than Whey.

If you don’t care about carbohydrates and fats then you might also consider hemp powders or rice powders. They are by far the most expensive.

Either way you should always be looking for protein isolates. Concentrates and blends should be avoided and hydrolysate products don’t make much sense. Some people say they feel the effect but most people say that there is no difference and it just doesn’t justify the higher price.

My favorite brand s Optimum Nutrition and I can recommend Optimum Nutrition 100% Gold Whey Standard and Optimum Nutrition Casein. As for flavors I have had Banana Cream, Rocky Road, Chocolate Milk and Double Rich Chocolate. I think Double Rich Chocolate is the best, followed by Chocolate Milk and Rocky Road, which tastes like a combination of chocolate and caramel.

How muscles grow

Many people belief that muscles grow during the workout and the harder you push the more they will grow. But that’s not the case, because muscles grow when you recover from your workout. When you work out, your muscles will get damaged and they will have to be repaired. Now this sounds worse than it actually is. It’s a natural process and there is nothing wrong with “intentionally” damaging your muscles. They will also need the right nutrients to recover. These nutrients are protein, which are made of amino acids. There are essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids. The essential ones are the ones that you should be absolutely looking for.

No Pain No Gain

The old phrase “No Pain No Gain” is still part of the mindset of many bodybuilders even though it’s completely outdated. You don’t actually have to be in pain to grow your muscles. In fact you can grow muscles with no pain at all. You have been growing muscles all your life without pain, so it really works. There is however some truth to that phrase, which is that pain makes you gain. Actually it should be “More Pain More Gain”. In other words you don’t have to do a painful workout but the more painful it is, the faster the results.

HIT Workout

This is something I discovered at the early stage of my workout career. When I started out I was simply looking for some exercises that I felt comfortable with. I just blindly put a routine together and I followed it day after day. I then found out that there are different muscle groups and I created training plans to target them once at a time. I would do each muscle group once a week giving them a lot of rest. If I would do some more intensive leg workouts to increase my vertical leap, I would do 3 days of leg every week for one month followed by a week of complete rest. Later I discovered something called “High Intensity Training”. There is a simple rule behind HIT, you don’t have to do much, but you have to do it with as much intensity as possible. Intensity in this case means not to repeat the exercise till you die, but to use as much weight as possible. However you should never sacrifice perfect form for greater success. In other words you always have to make sure that you do the exercise perfectly without damaging your body. Again, HIT suggests to use more weight and to do less repetitions. But you should never use more weight than you can handle. In fact you may start with exercises that support your bag, such as bench press. You should always start slowly and see how much weight you can lift. And never forget to warm up properly. Ideally you should always do a warmup set before. Here’s how I do it:

1. Warmup set followed by one minute break
2. Set with weight but not too much (followed by one minute break)
3. Set with challenging weight (no break)
4. Immediately use the same weight like you used for the second set

The success of HIT is based on what I discussed before. Remember, when you workout, your muscles will get damaged. Now, the stronger the damage, the more they will be able to grow. In other words the stronger the signal you send to your muscles, the more they will grow.

The importance of muscle recovery and how it works

The first thing you need to understand is that our bodies are designed to endure a lot, but just like a car it also needs the right fuel to endure a lot. The better the fuel, the more it will be able to endure. With fuel I obviously mean our nutrition. By now you should have realized that recovery is one of the most important components of muscle growth. A lot of people underestimate this but it can’t be stressed enough, which is why I will repeat it over and over again on this website. Muscle recovery basically starts after finishing your workout.

The two key principles of muscle recovery

During your workout your body will enter its catabolic mode. There is a whole science behind it and there is no need to go deeper into the matter. Just know that catabolic means that your muscles are getting damaged. You should always keep your catabolic phases short but intensive. Never ever should a workout be longer than 45 to 60 minutes.

This is another reason why it’s good to target once muscle group at the time, because it takes less time. HIT of course enables you to make that workout intensive. The catabolic phase is followed by an anabolic phase, something that all athletes are looking forward to. This is the phase where you muscles repair themselves, provided you supply them with the right nutrients, which are first and foremost proteins. To learn more about proteins, please read this article.

Proteins are the building blog of your muscles so I will encourage you to read this article. Studies have shown that the anabolic phase can take between 4 and 14 hours. If you use protein shakes, you should take them within 30 minutes after your workout.

How to shorten your catabolic phase
The best way is to get a good night sleep of at least 7 hours, because your anabolic metabolism kicks in when you sleep. This is when your muscles will repair themselves and get ready for the next day.

Another way to reduce the catabolic phase is to eat healthy and balanced meals. To balance your meal you should always have the right amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and essential fatty acids. You should have 3 well-balanced meals per day and 2-3 healthy snacks in between. I personally eat every 2 hours. Add vegetables or fruits wherever you can and keep away from processed foods.

The final advice is to always use a whey protein shake immediately after your workout. Whey is a fast absorbing protein so your body will get an immediate protein boost, which allows it to close the catabolic window faster.

So I was researching a little and then I stumbled upon something called “compression”. I never heard of it before but since I like to try new things it still caught my attention. You see, the idea behind compression gear is to improve muscle performance and recovery.

Learning this made me understanding lots of other things. For the past years I have seen more and more sports men and women using special gear, that never really looked like it would add anything to the performance of the player. But now I know better.

In basketball for example you have players like Dwyane Wade or Rajon Rondo who almost look like mummies. Really, there is hardly any skin looking through anymore except for the head and hands. But now I understand that there is a great reason behind all of that.

You can use compression for your whole body if you like, there are compression tights for your legs and compression shirts for your upper body. On top of that you can get compression calve guards and compression sleeves for your arms.

Here is what compression can do for you:

• faster general muscle recovery (reducing lactic acid)
• better recovery for damaged muscles
• lower risk of inflammations ans swellings
• better muscle and joint performance
• warmer muscles and better motion, thus decreasing the risk of wasting energy)
• less likely to pull muscles, lower risk of muscle fatigue and cramping

It’s kinda weird, because even though I am not living that far away and flight tickets have gotten pretty cheap thanks to Ryanair now being in the mix, I haven’t managed to go home more often than that.

I consider myself a family guy and I have a very deep bond with my 3 brothers. We are really close and I really value our relationships. I wouldn’t want to change that for all the money in the world. I still have different relationships with my brothers. With my oldest brother, it’s more serious and I try to guide him as good as I can. With my youngest brother it’s more of a fun relationship. We joke around a lot, watch the same tv shows, love wrestling and enjoy playing video games together. With the third brother it’s more like a mix. We have tons of fun, and he used to be more like a drinking buddy back in the days.

But what I am really grateful for is that they are all doing so well. They are doing jobs that they enjoy and they are doing the things they love. I am often blaming myself for not being there all the time and guiding them properly, things that the oldest brother should do. But seing that they are happy made me happy as well.

There is always one particular downside with going home, which is food and fitness. Growing up in Belgium means being exposed to tons of delicious but unhealthy food and the best beer in the world. And since I have been growing up with all those foods and drinks, it’s sort of part of my culture.

Long story short I took the max out of being home and had a few things that I wouldn’t have, including chocolate, french fries, sausages, steaks, and even burgers. Overall I gained around 4 kg over that time. Only god knows what amount I would have gained if I would have stayed any longer.

But that’s ok, I am cool with that. I know that I will be loosing those kg in no time. In fact I know that I will probably be down to 78 kg within the next 3-4 days. It’s very simple, I know I burn like hell and I know exactly what I have to do.

I anyways wanted to add some more cardio so this is the right time to get started. I am going to start a new training program, probably starting from next monday. I just finished another program that was really good and I will be writing about it in my next post.

Speaking of workout, while being in Belgium I went out for two short runs, that’s it. But what I realized was that my muscles where growing a little bigger even though I wasn’t lifting weights. So the bottom line is, don’t be afraid that you might loose all your hard earned muscles if you stop training for a couple weeks, that’s ok. But it’s always good to do some cardio to keep fit. And yes, I should have done more than those 2 runs.

If your mind works against you, you are doomed to fail, and that’s a guarantee. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the most important rule is that the mind is a powerful force. In fact your thoughts are powerful forces. They can be constructive and they can be destructive at the same time. They can make your grow limitless, but they can also make your fail miserably.

The inner game trumps the outer game

This is why this should be the first thing that everyone, who has the desire to grow limitless, needs to take care of. Make sure that your mind is working in your favor.

I am sure you have already witnessed that hurtful voice inside your head. You know, that voice that keeps on telling you that you can’t do it. That voice that tells you that you will never loose weight. That voice that tells you that don’t have what it takes to realize your dreams. This voice is part of our lives.

For the past 5 years I have been intensively dealing with my emotions. This inner voice is driven by our emotions. The Law of Attraction states that “thoughts that we emotionalize, become magnetized, and attract similar thoughts”. This is absolutely crucial because realizing this will help us to be more aware of what we think.

How to stop negative thoughts

So by default, our emotions attract similar emotions. I have noticed that over and over again. For example, say somebody pisses you off. In that moment you hardly think about the good times with that person. You usually think about all the other moments, when that person pissed you off. You are basically driving yourself into a vicious circle with no way out.

Even though the solution is quite simple, we are generally too sad or angry to even consider it. Here are 5 ways to change your thoughts or emotions within minutes:

1. Just stop the thought when it comes up
2. Make it look ridiculous, make fun of it
3. Turn it upside down, turn the negative into positive
4. Tell yourself some positive affirmations, for example if you think you are a failure, tell yourself that you are awesome, and do it for 2 minutes
5. Analyze that thought, often you realize that it’s not that bad

Personally I prefer a combination of the first and fourth technique. I know it takes a while to stop thoughts as soon as they appear. I wasn’t always able to do that but I figured out a way that worked well for me:

1. Ask yourself several times throughout the day, how you are feeling. Give it a number and be honest with yourself, 1 being the worst possible and 10 being awesome. When you ask yourself, notice what thoughts are coming up.
2. On top of that try to come up with a system. You have to make sure that you always remember to react once a negative thought comes up. Here’s the deal, whenever a negative thought comes up, we tent to entertain that thought and make it grow bigger. The goal is to dismiss that thought and rather focusing on entertaining positive thoughts. There is no real technique here other than just being more present and focused on all your thoughts.
3. Once you identify the negative thought, you can then hit it with 2 minutes of affirmations. Simply take that negative thought and turn it into something positive. For example “I am a looser” becomes “I am a winner”.
4. Unfortunately you won’t be done just yet. The great trickster, your subconscious mind, that painful voice in your head will come up with around 384 good reasons to entertain that negative thought again. When it comes up again, hit it with another round of affirmations. Repeat this process whenever that thought comes up again.

Here are some rules for affirmations

• You should tell yourself that phrase for 2 minutes over and over again.
• Make sure that your affirmation is short, crisp and tell it yourself with some emotion.
• If you can, say it out loud or even scream it out.
• Look into a mirror and show yourself that you really mean it.
• Make a song out of hit, sing it and have fun with it.

Stay on top of your game

No matter what you want to achieve in life, make sure that your mind is working with you and not against you. This is a process and only you can make it happen. This is the most important step on your path to limitless growth and the rewards will be awesome.

Deeper thoughts are called beliefs. If you want to change a negative belief you will have to put some more work into it. Beliefs have been seeded and cultivated over years which is why it takes some effort to weed them out. They are so deep and therefor you will have to imprint something different into your mind. You basically have to replace the negative belief with a positive belief.

How to change your negative beliefs

I wrote earlier that imprinting takes some work. This is only partly true, because even though it does take work, you will only have to work 10 to 15 minutes every day. And I am sure that you can always find an additional 15 minutes every day.

The great trickster however will come up with 382 excellent reasons why you shouldn’t do the exercises. And this is where you will have to keep on going. You can always split these exercises up into several chunks every day. For example you can do 4 minutes of affirmations in the morning, 4 minutes of visualizations before lunch and another round of affirmations in the evening.

I usually do affirmations every time something negative comes up. I also have 2-3 main phrases that I am affirming to myself many times throughout the day. This helps me to really weed out the negatives. I put in some energy and effort and I really feel good after that.

I also add 5 to 10 minutes of visualizations every day. I have a plan written down for myself of how I see myself 3 years from now. I am visualizing all of that while seeing it as if it had already been manifested in the physical world.

You should do this for 60 to 90 days without exception. Think of 2-3 main beliefs that you would like to weed out and work with them for 60 to 90 days. Don’t switch beliefs throughout the process, you will have enough work weeding out all the other beliefs that will come up. Imprinting takes time because it is constant repetition that will change your beliefs.

But for those that make it into the 90-day club, many new doors will open. You will see the world with different eyes. These positive beliefs will be imprinted into your subconscious mind. Again, if you are not where you want to be, chances are that your mind is holding you down. Below the conscious mind is the subconscious mind, which is the truly powerful part. If you manage to weed out the negatives, you will find it easier to connect with you subconscious mind and tap into that vast intelligence.

I really hope that this will help you understanding the power of your thoughts and beliefs. Now it’s up to you to take action and make it happen. If you really want to grow limitless and became that complete athlete and warrior, then you will have to be in control of your thoughts. This is what separates the good from the great, this is what makes Usain Bolt the best sprinter and Michael Jordan the best basketball player. Sure they got plenty of talent, but it’s their mental state that makes them run faster, play through pains and practice hundreds of hours every single year. It’s time to take control of your thoughts.

To your mental success,

Bjorn

While this is flattering, it is also a very difficult question. You see the most important ingredient of the whole “healthy-fitness-cocktail” is arguably your mindset. If your mind is not working with you but against you you will never make it. And that’s not only the case for becoming healthier and stronger, you need a strong mindset for whatever you want to achieve in your life.

I have written a lot about mindset in one of my articles I wrote during the 10-week vertical leap challenge so you might wanna read this one if you haven’t yet.

The mindset is so important, there is no way I can stress it enough. Let me give you an example. The other day I went outside to play basketball with a bunch of friends. We started around 6 and finished like 2 hours later. The morning of that day I of course had an intensive workout. Well at the end of that day I was bruised, down and out. It was a fantastic day but it sucked the crap out of me.

Next morning I had an intensive leg training planned. What I could have done was to skip it. You have certainly been there before. I mean those moments when this inner voice of you is telling you, ne begging you to stop and take some time off. Don’t do this too yourself. It doesn’t matter what it is, this inner voice is always there for you. But it’s not always your friend, it can be your biggest enemy.

Well I did go the gym and it was tough. While being at the gym the inner voice continued to make me stop. After I finished half of the reps it asked me something like “hey, you have been working hard enough, give yourself some time off, you earned it”. It would have been easy to stop, but my determination made me go through the whole workout session. And you know what? I felt darn good after. I was really proud about myself. I made it happen, no excuses, which has become somewhat of a motivational sentence for me.

By the way, just after the workout, the inner voice came immediately back. It asked me “hey again, now did you put so much effort into the training, you certainly earned yourself a reward, so how about some delicious cookies from the eco store?”. Yes, I definitely earned those cookies, but do I really want them? Would these cookies serve me? Would these cookies help me on my way of becoming a complete athlete? Well you could argue that it depends and it’s true. Let me quickly explain as this is not really part of this article. One little cookie before, during or after the workout is ok, because it gives you valuable carbohydrates. If it’s an organic cookie, even better but not important.

So mindset, right. So that’s the most important ingredient, right. Yes it is. And here is what I did to really get my mind set on the right thing. I started by thing about the things that I really enjoy doing. Like what are the things that I am thinking about first thing in the morning? What are the things that I think about when my mind is going to a different place? What makes me really happy and what do I really (I mean REALLY) enjoy doing?

I came up with many things but at the end of the day there was only one single thing that I could place on the top of my list and this was sports. I am a sports fanatic and there are only a few types of sport that I don’t like. I still respect everyone who is doing it, but it’s just not my thing. For example I don’t like volleyball, it’s just not for me.

I generally love to do sports, I love to watch sports, I love to talk about sporte but more importantly I love to analyze sports. And I analyze them in many different ways. I analyze them critically. I hardly have e favourite team or player, that’s not what I am interested it. I am more interested about the science behind sports. You see I really put in some deep thinking and that’s exactly what I would like you to do too.

Alright, once I discovered that sport was really my thing I started to think about what I can do to serve other people. You see another thing I really enjoy is helping other people. It started at a young age when I usually was the guy that my friends or family could count on, whatever they wanted me to do. I was usually their go-to-guy and I mean this is a very humble way.

So yes I wanted to do something connected to sports and that would serve other people. Of course it should be something that I am deeply passionate about or else I would give up once it would become too difficult.

Next I realized that I am very interested in nutrition, health and overall vitality and energy. It started around 4 years ago when I realized that my life couldn’t go on the way it did. I was literally down and out, drinking way too much alcohol and coffee and eating way too many unhealthy things. I really didn’t care about what I was consuming as long as it tasted good. I also didn’t care about the quantities I was consuming and when during the day. I just lived an average life I would say.

One day I then listened to an audio book from Anthony Robbins which completely changed the way I saw things. I started with a detox (by the way, you can get a free ebook on detox by signing up to my newsletter), registered with a gym, didn’t drink alcohol during the detox, stopped drinking coffee and yes, I started to live a healthy life.

But to be honest these 3 months were like going through hell and back, especially in the beginning. You see, when you do a detox you will have to deal with food cravings, that’s inevitable. Cravings are the result of toxins in your body crying for food. You basically kill them by not feeding them what they want. So in order to get rid of toxins you have to overcome those cravings and it’s no fun. BUT IT’S WELL WORTH THE TROUBLE and trust me, you will be proud about your accomplishments (as you should always be).

But back to the story. So I had three basic things on my list that really put a big smile on my face. Basically if you have something that makes you smile, it’s always a good thing. If it’s something that you can talk about without getting tired, even if people ask you the same questions over and over again, than it’s your thing. My three things were sports, serving other people and the combination of health, fitness, nutrition and overall vitality and energy. And you don’t necessarily need 3 things, take whatever you have, it can be more or less, no problem.

Then I started to think about combining it and next thing you know I cam up with the athlete thing. It has always been my dream to become a complete athlete. By complete I mean mentally tough and physically top notch. And this became my journey and I have enjoyed it ever since I started it. I enjoyed it so much that failure never became an option. Things like “make it happen” and “no excuses” became motivational phrases of mine and whenever I have inner voices hunting me, I use this phrases. I also ask myself if that really serves me on becoming a complete athlete? This really motivates me. And if not, I imagine having my family and friends standing around me and chearing me on. Still to this day, there are moments when it’s getting tough, but it’s those moments that made me realize that it’s NOW time to raise the bar to the next level and make it happen.

You know once you get that kind of juice in your life, you quickly learn how to use it in different aspects of your life. Being that energetic now really helps too of course. If for example you struggle financially, you can use the same mentality there. Once you know how to activate everything that you got, you can do it any time, no matter the situation.

This is my story, the dream of becoming a complete athlete. A source of energy and inspiration for other people. I want to use this journey to make everyone understand, that they can do it. I am no genetic freak nor am I blessed with unusual physical atributes. I am an average human being that once had a dream and figured out ways to realize it. The only thing I have is a strong believe. And I believe that everything is possible if you want. Creation begins with a dream, and it’s up to you to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I hope that serves you and talk to you soon,

Björn

This was the second week training of phase 3, the final phase of the current program. That doesn’t mean that it will be over then. There more than 10 other programs, each having 3 different phases. Each phase takes a month, so I would do 12 phases a year or 4 programs. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering that I have at least 2 leg days a week and mostly even 3, then this really is more than enough in my book.

As I mentioned last week, I only have a couple exercises using weights, all others are done without weights. In other words this would be an ideal set of home or outside exercises. For all weight exercises I increased the number of sets and decreased the number of reps. There are no changes for the non-weight exercises.

Next about compression. This is something I came across several days ago. The idea is to use compression gear to improve muscle performance and recovery. If you were wondering why some basketball players wear this arm sleeves or even tights, that’s the reason. Here is a list of the general benefits of compression:

• faster muscle recovery after workout (reduces the buildup of lactic acid)
• better recovery for fatigued or hurt muscles
• lower risk of inflammations and swellings
• improved muscle efficiency and joint pumps
• keeps muscles warm and decreases the loss of energy from unnecessary motion
• prevents muscle pulls, reduces the risk of muscle fatigue and cramping

Muscle fatigue and recovery is a big advantage of compression. While exercising muscles are exposed to forces that cause vibration which causes fatigue. Compression helps to reduce fatigue and therefor improve endurance, strength and power. Compression also stimulates blood activity of the cardiovascular system which leads to faster muscle repair and recovery from soreness caused by exercise.

Compression reduces the risk of muscle damage and improves agility. If the muscle is damaged it means that it can’t be used to its full potential. So if the risk of damage is reduced, the muscle becomes more productive, especially in the long run. Compression also increases senses and awareness for better stability and agility. It also improves balance control and muscle coordination which results into better technique.

This also means that compression is not only used after exercise but also during exercise. Both situations require different types of garments. During exercise it is important to keep the oxygen flow working, which is why the garments are lighter. After workout, compression is generally stronger at the expense of a weaker oxygen flow.

So I wanted to shop for some compression tights to improve my leg muscles and their recovery. Now if you are looking for compression tights, make sure that you are looking for compression tights, since they are not the same as running tights. Yes, running tights are tight but they don’t have the same compression as compression tights. When looking for compression tights, make sure to get the right size. This is absolutely critical.

But before I go into that let me tell you which compression tight I decided to buy. It was a close call between a brand called Skins and another one called 2XU. They both seem to manufacture great products so I had a look at some customer reviews and it turned out, that products from Skins are of lesser quality. People wrote that they lost their stitches much faster and the compression and the overall cut was worse than 2XU.

Ok, that decision was made. I then contacted the main 2XU supplier in Germany and the response came very fast and with great detail. I basically told a bit about myself and what I am looking for. It turned out that in my case, a size ST would be best, where S stands for small and T for tall. That got me really surprised. A size S, really? I have always been using L or M sizes.

The reason I am telling you this is that I want to emphasize how important the size is when buying compression tights. If the compression is too weak it won’t have the desired outcome and if it’s too strong it will disturb the blood circulation. So I went to a local sports store and tried some Nike Combat compression tights because that’s the only brand they had. I figured it would be good as a point of reference.

I first tried a size M and the compression was there but it didn’t really do anything. I then tried a size S and in fact, there was a better compression, but nothing that would bother or hurt me. I also noticed that a size S was definitely to short for me, which is why I figured that ST would be perfect. Now the only shops offering ST were an online store in the UK and the store in Germany. The difference was that the store in the UK had recovery tights but then I would have the problem with lower blood circulation.

I then had a better look at the German online store and I found a pair of last year’s 2XU compression tights, which is fine for a compression rookie like me. They were also much cheaper. This year’s tights cost around 110 Euros while I bought mine for 65 Euros incl. shipping within Germany.

So my tights are purchased on should be there soon. My brothers will visit me in the end of July and they will take my tights with them. I am really looking forward to finally try them and feel the benefits. I will keep you posted and discuss the results in a future article.

So in short, the golden rules for compression tights are:

• Get yourself some good 2XU compression tights
• Be sure that you are getting the right size
• Be sure that you are getting the right type (recovery or performance)
• Take good care of your tights and check back with the manufacturer for advice

This was also the second week of basketball and I am starting to get back in shape. I wouldn’t say that I am back where I used to be, even though I have never been great it it, but it’s getting better and better. This week we went to a whole different place and I had never played there before. These were some really good courts and it’s fun playing there.

I am still not able to slam dunk, but I wasn’t expecting much of a difference since the past week. Sounds like the great trickster is again working against me. I need to be more conscious about what my mind is telling me and while I am usually good at weeding out the negatives, the great trickster still has some aces up his sleeves. He will always come back at you and try to get you so you always have to be alerted.

So instead of not expecting improvements I need to have more faith in my body and the changes that it’s going through. I need to have more faith in myself and my mental toughness. I am usually a faithful person, but the great trickster doesn’t always like faithful people. Time to become even stronger and show that mind who’s the boss around here.

The best way I know how to get rid of those negatives is to just fight through it, but instead of going all in I usually do baby steps. I still face my fears head on, but I tackle them one after the other, or my doing small improvements. So what I will do is adding more visualization techniques, which are immensely powerful.

There is a reason why weight lifters all of a sudden lift more than the average and there is a reason why sprinters all of a sudden run faster than everybody else does. For a long period of time, weight lifters couldn’t go past that 500 pounds barrier, till one day, a coach played a trick on one of his weight lifters. He just told him that he had to lift 498 pounds, when in reality the bar weigh 502 pounds. Not a big difference, right? Well mentally it is a huge difference. So what did the weight lifter do? You guessed it, he made it, and a few weeks later, most other weight lifters do it. It was just a matter of someone making the first step so that everybody else could also believe that it was indeed possible.

Now in my case, this is a lot easier because it’s no secret that humans are able to slam dunk. The reason why I am mentioning is simply that I need to remind myself about fundamental teachings. After all I believe that repetition is the mother of skill. So I always have to remember that it is possible and that I can do it too, no, that I will succeed like all those people did before me. This is the basis of mental toughness. And even though I am teaching mental toughness and consider myself advanced, there are always challenges coming up, and every expert denying that is missing the point, because those challenges define us as human beings and make us truly grow limitless.

And with that I shall finish another article. A lot of knowledge has been shared and it is my deepest hope that you will use this to grow limitless. There is no higher point that being limitless. Close your eyes for a few minutes and just imagine yourself being limitless. Imagine yourself having all the tools that you need. Truth is, everything you need is right within you now, it’s only a matter of you finding the key to unleash the true power within you. So have your eyes closed and visualize yourself being limitless. You can do everything, live it, see it, feel it, feel the emotions that you would feel. Feel as if it was a fundamental part of your life. And take these feelings with you everywhere you go. You deserve the best that this life has to offer.

Grow Limitless and Make It Happen my friends,

Björn

I decided to add four more weeks to this challenge because this is the amount of time that a training phase takes. This training phase will be much needed, simply because I will have 2 leg days instead of 3. You can’t imagine how happy this makes me. You see 3 leg days puts a lot of stress on your body, I can tell you that. Only one day less makes me so happy, I even feel like tears of joy are running down my cheeks. This is really tough training.

So the next 4 weeks are going to be intensive plyomtric exercises. What does that mean? It first of all means that I am almost using no weights at all. The goal is to work on explosion so these are really basic exercises. For those exercises that I am using weights, they are supposed to be challenging, so more weight. I am also gradually increasing the number of sets while keeping the number of reps constant or in some cases decreasing.

During the previous weeks I have talked a lot about mental toughness and how important it is. This shows heavily in certain exercises. For example if I do 1-leg depth drops, which is an advanced exercise, then I need to tell my mind that it’s ok to jump from an elevated position and to land on one leg. Rather often my mind told me that it’s not safe, and it would be much smarter to land on both legs. But I am following a strict training program here, and therefor I have to show my mind who is the boss.

How to do that? Well there are probably 387 techniques to do that, but here is what has proven most efficient for me. I start out by making it very simple for me and I gradually increase the degree of difficulty. This is a great way to trick the mind and make it feel more comfortable. So I first land on both legs. Then I do it again but this time I make a small step forward to still land on one leg, but make the distance to the ground a little shorter. With each depth drop I get more and more comfortable and now my mind isn’t intervening anymore.

I have been using this technique in several occasions. Now this of course doesn’t mean that you should jump from a building, but to make it easier for your mind, you may jump from the 5th floor instead of the 10th. There is a reason why we have this “security mechanism” so use it to your advantage.

The mind is a fascinating thing and while I have learned a million things about it so far, I know that there are still a billion more things to learn. It works in both ways, it can help you but it can also make things worse for you. We hardly think about the thoughts that are constantly crossing our mind and even less are we trying to be in control. As a result a lot of bad things are happening to us.

The fact of the matter is, thoughts are real forces, whether we believe it or not. Thoughts are so powerful that they now only control what’s going on inside of us, but also outside of us. If I am happy and I am showing it to others around me, chances are that people around me have a hard time being sad. At the same time if I am sad or angry and I am letting it out on other people, there is an even bigger chance that they are sad and angry as well. It takes one negative thought to wipe out all positivity but it takes many positive thoughts to be positive again. And it takes even more positivity if we let ourselves be dragged deeper and deeper into this dark place called negativity.

So what can we do to make things better? How can we weed out the negatives and replace them with positives? Well here are a few techniques that I would like to share with you:

1. Just shut the negatives down: When something comes up, stop thinking about it, block it, don’t give it more energy
2. Analyze it: Think about it and see what it’s all about, more often than not you will see that the reason is actually pretty darn stupid
3. Make it look ridiculous: Make fun of it, make it sound stupid, think as if it was the most ridiculous thing ever (you may go a little overboard if you like)
4. Think about the opposite: If something negative comes up, turn it into something positive (ex: I don’t have enough money becomes I have enough money)
5. Affirmations for 2 minutes: For 2 minutes you will have to tell yourself something good, like I have enough money, I have enough money, I have enough money, I have enough money, etc
6. The list of gratefulness: Put together a list 0f 15-20 (or more) things that you are grateful for and repeat them to yourself for 2 minutes

Once you become a master at weeding out the negatives, your life will transform. It takes practice though and your mind, the great trickster, will have a 158 ways to play his dirty tricks on you. The key is to be persistant and to keep on weeding out.

I started playing basketball again and obviously I was curious to see how far I have gotten. The result is that I can’t slam dunk yet. Actually I am ramming the ball into the rim so I still need around 5-10 cm. I have improved a lot though and I believe that I am wasting a lot of force by not having the proper technique yet.

I believe that I am 2 important steps away from doing slam dunks. Number 1 is psychology. As I have mentioned several times now, there is a difference between jumping “for no reason” and jumping on an elevated position, like a box or so. If I am jumping on an elevated position, my mind know that either I make it or I am going to crush and hurt myself. If there is no real obstacle, there is no real reason to put in a 110% into the jump. I have noticed this at the gym when I jumped on piles of step benches. Just doing plain practice jumps without obstacles doesn’t push the same way as doing practice jumps with obstacles.

So I need to work on the mindset. The second problem is explosiveness. This is basically the speed of transforming force into height. In other words the more explosive my moves are, the more energy I will take into the jump and the higher or further it will be. I can improve explosiveness mainly through plyometric exercises and becoming more flexible. I have been doing tons of plyo the past weeks so that’s not really is. Actually I am sure that I need to work harder on my flexibility and the way to do that is by doing proper warm up and intensive stretching sessions.

The first week of basketball was fun, and while I am still quite rusty I am surprised about how good my stamina is, even though I haven’t been doing any cardio for quite a while. Actually this is a positive side effect of all the strength training as well.

And with that I shall close this weeks article. I hope you are still enjoying my writings. I am always open for any suggestions to improve and if you would like me to discuss certain points in more detail, feel free to let me know.

Feel free to signup to my newsletter on the top right sidebar. You can also add me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, the links are also in the right sidebar.

I wish you all a fantastic and productive week and always remember to Grow Limitless.

-Björn

The other day I went over the whole program again and I found out that I did a big mistake. It looks like my passion and motivation has again gotten the best of me as I have been doing too much leg training. In his training program description, my coach suggested to finish one training phase of 4 weeks and then take a week off.

But again since I already feel like a superhuman, I felt like this rule wouldn’t apply to me and thus I decided to just move on and continue with my program. A terrible, terrible mistake. Not that I injured or hurt myself, but a lot of workout consumes a lot of energy, and even the best diet, warm-up, stretching and recovery plan cannot compensate. What I need is perhaps a longer period of rest.

There is a common fear – and I’m including myself here – that stopping to work out over a longer period of time will result in a loss of muscle size. So how would that look like in reality? I’m already imagining my arm getting smaller like air coming out of a balloon. Could that really happen in only one week? No, that’s complete and utter nonsense, and even though I should (and do) know better, my conscious is tricking me over and over again. What a bastard that conscious mind can be, and while I do know all the tools to make it stop talking trash, it always finds new creative ways to trick me. If only my subconscious mind would know all those tricks, things would be much easier.

Here’s the deal, a week off doesn’t make you loose muscle size or strength, it rather increases it. How? Well it’s simple. If you followed me so far, you know that muscles don’t grow while working out but after the work out, so basically while recovering. During the workout you basically send a message to your muscles, which says something like “hey muscle, start growing”. The stronger the signal, the bigger and stronger the muscle will grow. What makes a signal stronger? Simple add more weight at the expense of a lower number of repetitions. That’s the basic law of HIT, which stands for High Intensity Training.

The question is, how much time should be taken off and how frequently? Well it all depends on the intensity. Since I am training my leg muscles more than any other muscle, it should get most time off. Doing 4 weeks of intensive training and taking one week off sounds about right. My upper body training works a little different. First of all I work each muscle group once a week, that means I have a abs day, a chest and triceps day, a biceps day and back day and a shoulders day.

Actually this would be the best case scenario, but since I’m not going 7 days a week to the gym, it doesn’t work out. Starting from next week I will have only 2 leg days instead of 3, which gives me more room. So I have 4 days to do all other muscle groups. I am still working on the new training program and I will let you know as soon as I have developed it.

So this week is an off week for my legs. Of course that doesn’t mean that I am going to get myself a wheel chair. I still walk and play basketball. This week I have basically 6 days to workout my upper body. Wow, that freedom feels good. So I decided to do abs on Monday, shoulders on Tuesday, chest and triceps on Wednesday, another abs day on Thursday, back and biceps on Friday and my usual nonsense day on Saturday. On Saturdays I usually do a sequence of pull-ups and dips with weights, followed by some more abs exercises. I called it nonsense because these are some of the most powerful exercises, but I am not following any muscle group routine. This will be my last nonsense day since I am planning to become even more strategic starting from next week.

Right, it looks like that covers it all for this week. I really hope that I could teach you something new that will serve you. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch, I love to help!

Till next week I would like to make a suggestion, it’s very simple and doesn’t take a lot of time. In fact it won’t take any of your time, you will only have to shift your thinking a little. Remember when I talked about that conscious mind? That part of yourself that is constantly trying to trick you? That part of yourself that is mostly responsible for you not achieving what you want to achieve?

Well it’s very simple, there are 4 great techniques for you to overcome this. Whenever you have a negative thought coming up, try to either:

1. Shut it down or suppress it, or
2. Analyze it and see what it wants, or
3. Make it look ridiculous by making fun of it, or
4. Make it positive by turning it completely upside down

Note that this are individual techniques that may or may not be combined. Just do what feels right to you.

Good, I hope that helps you.

So that was week 10 of the 10-Week Vertical Leap Challenge. I wish you an amazing next week it as always, this is me telling you to Grow Limitless and as always, Make it Happen!!!

Talk soon,

Björn