Greg Amundson - Firebreather Fitness: Work Your Body, Mind, and Spirit into the Best Shape of Your Life

Copyright 2017 by Greg Amundson

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All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by VeloPress, a division of Competitor Group, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Amundson, Greg.
Firebreather fitness: work your body, mind, and spirit into the best shape of your life / Greg Amundson.
Boulder, Colorado: VeloPress, 2016.
ISBN 978-1-937715-66-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) | eISBN 978-1-937716-86-8
Physical fitness. | Exercise. | Health. | Mind and body.
RA781.A585 2016
613.7dc23

2016045196

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Cover design: Peter Garceau

Photos: Jeff Clark,

Art direction: Vicki Hopewell

v. 3.1

A note to readers: Double-tap on photographs and tables to enlarge them. After art is selected, you may expand or pinch your fingers to zoom in and out.

This book is dedicated in loving memory to my mom and dad, who inspired me from a young age to pursue a heart like Christ and to develop my mind, body, and spirit in such a way that I could better serve others.

CONTENTS

I first met Greg Amundson in 2007, at a CrossFit Level 1 certification with founder Greg Glassman. He was an impressive individual, to say the least. Gregs Firebreather performance, his example, and his commitment to teaching helped to inspire the first generations of CrossFitters (including myself) who were opening the first wave of CrossFit affiliates around the world.

What many dont know about Greg is what drives him to train and teach with such mad-dog intensity: a commitment to serve others. During his years with Coach Glassman in Santa Cruz, California, and at his own gym, CrossFit Amundson, Greg was also a full-time law-enforcement officer on a journey that led to him becoming a SWAT officer and later a DEA special agent and Army captain.

Greg wasand isboth an athlete and a warrior. He doesnt train to look better in a pair of jeans, but rather to be better prepared for his job and to put his life on the line to protect others. So it did not surprise me to find out that Greg was intrigued with my SEALFIT warrior development training. I have long believed that to reach your true potential, you must embark upon integrated training of the body, mind, emotions, intuition, and spirit. This process, which is delivered in our SEALFIT Kokoro and Unbeatable Mind trainings, helps to develop a serious passion for life. It also simplifies things, helping you to focus with a laser-like intensity on your main purpose and mission in life. When you tap into this potential, you access individual capacities of self-discipline, mental toughness, stamina, and endurance that otherwise remain untapped.

I enjoyed watching Greg lead his class through the 53-hour Kokoro Camp number 12 at SEALFIT. While Kokoro is certainly an incredible physical struggle, the challenge goes way beyond the physical, testing character and spirit. One of the ultimate lessons you learn there is that resiliency and leadership are not about you, but the team. You have your breakthrough moment at Kokoro when you stop thinking about your own pity party and start focusing on serving your teammates.

As I watched Greg lead, I saw immediately that he already embodied this truth. His attitude of service and humility never let up as he navigated the event and gave his all to help those who were struggling. As a former SEAL commander who has deployed to combat and led the nations most elite warriors, I knew then that Greg Amundson was someone who had my back, and that of anyone else he was in service to.

I am excited to see Greg revealing his servant philosophy and full-dimension training ideas to the world. The book you hold in your hands reveals powerful truths about achieving optimal performance. While getting in a hard workout will help you burn body fat and build muscle, theres simply no realizing the complete set of gifts and capacities you were born with unless you give similar attention to your mental and spiritual depths.

Theres a reason why Greg has had the tenacity to train as hard as he does, year in, year out. It is grounded in his commitment to serve others, which he has built into a set of rituals and exercises that feeds his soul and allows him to wake up every day excited to give everything he has. Gregs passion for integrating mind, body, and spirit through his holistic training program is inspiring, and can be a catalyst for you to do the same.

I encourage you to read Gregs book carefully and implement his strategies. The world needs you to be your best self, and Greg is ready to help you. The time to start is now!

MARK DIVINE

US Navy SEALs Commander (Ret.),

SEALFIT founder, and New York Times best-selling author of The Way of the SEAL and Unbeatable Mind

Seventeen years ago, I launched myself into a career of protection and service in the law-enforcement profession. It would prove to be a journey of great discovery that would diverge into different challenges. I would ultimately serve as each of the following during different stages of my life: deputy sheriff, SWAT operator, sniper, US Army captain, DEA special agent, and DEA liaison to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) team.

Throughout this period, I was relentlessly developing, experimenting with, and sharpening my training. My work as a first responder and military leader became my live-action testing grounds. Each day that I put on a uniform and prepared for a duty shift, my day was like a blank piece of paper. I had no clue of when, where, and what situations and problems I might be called to. However, I did expect to face situations that tested my capacity to make sound decisions in a split second. To cope with that stress and meet those challenges effectively, I needed to be able to draw on my most important assets: my mind, my body, and my spirit.

My body was primed. As an early participant in CrossFit, today a global movement in physical conditioning, I had seen remarkable physical gains, using old-school movements such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and kettlebell swings, mixing them up constantly into circuit workouts that encouraged high-intensity efforts. I felt on top of my physical game.

But it wasnt enough. I knew that I needed to do more than just develop my physical body if I wanted to thrive in a warrior profession and continue improving. I felt strongly that in order to achieve my full potential, I needed to integrate my training, developing not only my body but also my mind and spirit. Over the next several years, exploring various techniques and disciplines, working with world-class coaches and mentors, and experimenting on my own, I honed a set of mental, physical, and spiritual tools, which I infused into a fully integrated training program.

Firebreather Fitness was born.

This holistic, integrated approach has enabled my continued performance improvements for 16 years and counting. In fact, today Im training harder than I ever have in my life. I continue to accrue gains in my physical, mental, and spiritual capacities. And rather than burning out or getting stale, I am as fired up about it as I have ever been! My enthusiasm to train hard is greater than ever, and I cant wait to wake up tomorrow and do it all again. This is the reason for this book. I want to share that zeal with others who are interested in giving everything theyve got to achieve everything they can.