How to Incorporate Athlete Mindset into Your Everyday Routine

League of Wildness,

I live my life as if I’m an elite athlete. 
 

I never miss workouts. On the rare occasions that I do - I still find a way to do something (even if this means a very quick session of 10 Pushups and 10 Squats, it’s still something and infinitely more than nothing). 
 

I follow a disciplined nutrition strategy. For me, this means eating 3 solid meals a day consisting of whole foods. I define a whole food as a single ingredient where the single ingredient is the actual plant or animal. For example: tomato, beef, banana, egg, bison, blueberries, elk, avocado. I experimented with intermittent fasting in the past but ultimately discovered that it was not right for me. I just wasn’t getting enough calories and would overeat at meal time (which did not feel great). The classic breakfast, lunch and dinner cadence (with minimal or no snacking in between) has been a much better protocol for me. I emphasize what has worked well for me as this has been a 20+ year experiment to see what works for my body and lifestyle. I believe that for most people, taking a whole foods omnivorous approach is going to lead to the best health outcomes. But again - YOU have to experiment and be honest with what works for YOU.
 

80% of my workouts I would describe as being easy-to-moderate in intensity. I definitely bring exceptional levels of wildness the other 20%, but the point I’m trying to highlight is that you don’t have to work that hard from an intensity perspective to see results. This doesn’t mean it’s easy either. For me, the greatest results have come from a relatively high volume of relatively easy effort. This leads to ultimate CONSISTENCY and on the occasions when it’s time for greater levels of wildness you can be really wild.

You don’t have to be extreme - just consistent.

I rarely drink alcohol during the week and on the weekends limit my consumption to 1-2 drinks per day - oftentimes less than that or even no alcohol at all. For special occasions will I indulge? Hell yeah! - it’s just a rare occasion. Even moderation in moderation. If you’re getting bored of water try flavored sparkling water or even N.A. beer (non-alcoholic beer). There are some legit brands that taste pretty dang good popping up. Athletic Brewing is one I highly recommend. I’ve also been loving HopLark - probably one of the best tasting as they have done an extremely good job maintaining the flavor profiles of the hops.
 

I do some sort of mobility/flexibility practice every day. This will vary depending on the time of year and if I have a particular training goal. I’ll mix in yoga, classic static stretching, specific mobility exercises, or just make up movements that feel good and elicit the stimulus I’m looking for. As mentioned above, this type of training doesn’t need to be particularly difficult, but it 100% needs to be consistent. 
 

I choose sleep over NetFlix.
 

You don’t have to be an elite athlete to behave like one. I believe that through a process of reframing your self perception it can become relatively effortless to create these simple habits that provide exceptional results. Just make sure you don’t confuse effortless with easy - it requires hard choices, hard work, and discipline to get there. Learn to see yourself as an athlete. Or, if the term athlete doesn't resonate - define yourself as a "wild person" (wild seems more fitting anyhow). When I was introduced to the concept of taking an objective view of yourself as “someone who does ________” (in this case, “someone who lives like an elite athlete”) it made the practice much more obvious. James Clear in his book Atomic Habits articulates this concept extremely well - definitely consider adding it to your list. If you can redefine who you are and create a set of principles and values that are congruent with your self-definition it is amazing at how effortless life becomes. I believe that a part of the effortlessness comes from having a well-defined purpose. There is great power in tapping into your own wisdom - learn to listen to yourself.
 

“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”
 

Thanks for reading and have a wild weekend,

-Wildman Dan