Brian Keane - The Fitness Mindset: Eat for energy, Train for tension, Manage your mindset, Reap the results

Copyright Brian Keane

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The right of Brian Keane to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The information contained in The Fitness Mindset is strictly for educational purposes. If you wish to apply ideas contained in The Fitness Mindset, you are taking full responsibility for your actions.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

When I was about seven years old, I remember watching a talk show with my grandmother and seeing this man with big muscles, who in my eyes looked like a superhero. I recall being engrossed in every word that came out of his mouth and listening to how he used to do hundreds of push-ups in his small bedroom in Austria when he was nine or ten. I remember running to my room to do as many push-ups as I could which turned out to be maybe one, possibly two! But I went to bed that night dreaming that someday, I would be big, strong and muscular like the man on TV. That man went on to become one of the top grossing movie stars of all time and the Governor of California. His name Arnold Schwarzenegger. That night, the seed of my love for fitness was sown.

I was born into a massive sporting family and grew up on a small farm in Connemara in the West of Ireland.

I wasnt very scholarly at school: from the age of six to 17 or 18, my entire life circulated around playing sports, especially Gaelic Football, Irelands national sport, which was my personal favourite.

My closest friends like to joke with me that Im the living embodiment of, If it isnt a priority, it doesnt get done and theres a lot of truth to this. From an academic stand point I just about got through school, but from a sports standpoint, I made it into every team I tried out for, spending hours every evening practising skills and drills to improve my performance. To master my football techniques, I would learn to kick equally well with both feet, would hang car tyres in front of my home-made goals and try to kick the ball through them. I wouldnt enter the house until I passed the ball through the tyre 10 times in a row. I did everything to improve my game. My schoolbag was a glorified doorstopper for most of my teens.

School was never really a focus for me, so I never excelled until my early twenties. I regularly had teachers tell me I was going to be on welfare for life unless I turned professional in one of the sports I played.

I remember one time when I was picked up by the ear and kicked out of the class for mapping out my workout routine during the time allotted to some other task. I recall walking down the long narrow corridor to the principals office with my heart in my mouth. It was the third or fourth time I had been sent that week. Ill never forget the conversation we had that day.

My principal, also named Brian, sat me down and told me that although I obviously should be doing the allocated tasks and not calculating my 10 rep max during class, I was going to be fine in life. He had seen my work ethic and dedication to football and talked about my ability to lead others on the pitch. He said that I had the personality to do big things with my life and never to let other teachers opinions of me change who I am at the core. I dont remember much of the conversation, but I can never forget the feeling I had when I left that office. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel (Maya Angelou), and I think even at a subconscious level, thats where my just do you life philosophy comes from. That was the first time I had an authority figure, besides my mum, tell me that I was going to do something with my life, and Ill be forever grateful for the belief that conversation instilled in me. It is rightly said that great teachers can inspire you to do great things.

Ive since gone to university, received an honours degree in Business, completed post-graduation in teaching, won an All-Ireland medal with my club, travelled the world as a professional fitness model and run my own business that works with and serves thousands of people every year.

This book is a culmination of everything I have learnt over the last 17 years of training and nearly 30 years of life. The book is split into two sections.

The first half contains everything about fitness and health: nutrition, training, supplements, sleep, alcohol and hydration. These are the essentials you need to get into incredible shape, increase your energy and reap the results of understanding how your body works. I nearly quit fitness several times during my early twenties from sheer information overload. There was so much conflicting material out there that I didnt know what to believe, what to try or what worked. Ive used my personal 17 years of training and nutrition knowledge to try and find a shortcut for your journey. I effectively wrote all this for the 22-year-old me who nearly quit a hundred times.

The second half is focused on cultivating the mind-set to get great results, using step-by-step strategies to help you implement them. It discusses everything from creating habits, setting goals and reducing stress to maximise your energy levels, to my own personal stories of dealing with stress, anxiety and worry in my own life.

The last section is entitled Practical life tips and is written for my daughter. None of us truly knows how much time we have on this planet and the life tips are a culmination of personal philosophies that I want to pass on to my daughter in case anything ever happens to me.

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

Personally, I love being able to flip through books and pick out the most relevant sections for me so Ive written this book with that in mind. I have also woven in personal stories to give context to theoretical ideas. If fitness is your primary goal and you are just looking for a blueprint to get into incredible shape, I would definitely recommend starting with Section One. If you are looking for some practical life tips and how to deal with anxiety, stress, worry or any of lifes regular problems, I would advise jumping straight to the second section, Mind-set.

However, if you are looking to get in great shape, have more energy, feel better and happier in all aspects of your life and nurture the mind-set to maintain it, then I would read the book in its entirety. Thank you for reading, and I hope this book serves you incredibly well on your journey.

SECTION 1

FITNESS

CHAPTER 1

NUTRITION

This chapter is designed to give you an improved understanding of how nutrition plays a vital role in giving your body energy, helping it use fat as a fuel source and aiding in building lean muscle. This section discusses everything from calories and macronutrients to the specific role of each in changing your body composition and improving energy levels. We will start with the foundation principles such as what is a calorie; and what are macro nutrients and other ideas that are imperative to understand in order to change your body composition and improve your energy levels.