A Former Navy SEAL on How You Can Spend One Hour in the Gym and the Other 23 Out

What do the Navy SEALs, sky diving and base jumping have in common? Andy Stumpf has made a career out of all of them. A member of the SEAL Teams for 17 years, he now spends half of his year on professional sky diving and base jumping endeavors (he likes to call himself a “professional gravity enthusiast”) and the other half delivering tailored keynote speeches to organizations and individuals.

Over the course of his career, Andy has had to complete some of the toughest workouts in the world and has realized that mental stamina is just as important as physical strength. In this vein, Andy argues that mindfulness plays a huge role in accomplishing your fitness goals. Doing this can allow you to spend less time in the gym, and more time enjoying the real world. He recommends the following tips to promote mindfulness in fitness routine:

• Set a targeted goal, rather than just to “get in shape” – set a specific metric to use as motivation (ex: improve your mile time). Identify the activities you should be doing each day to make this goal happen. Visualize what your end state looks like.
• Focus on the micro, not the macro – many fitness goals go unrealized because we take too big of a bite to start. Andy says to focus on the small steps you can take each day to make this goal a reality, and celebrate each milestone, no matter how small. This will help build momentum behind your goal.
• Seek being uncomfortable – if the workout feels easy for you, that should be a sign of danger, not a sign of success. Go outside of your comfort zone when it comes to the intensity of your workout, and you’ll see better results in less time and improvements in your mental strength.