Around the World in Perfect Form

Guest blogger: Sean Glass

Thirty-three countries in half a year: that's the current rough itinerary for my wife Kellee and me. We leave in less than a month.

Over the last year, I’ve been completing a masters program at the University of Pennsylvania in the field of Positive Psychology. A class this fall focused on physical health and the various connections between physical health and optimal functioning. It turns out that fitness helps you function better mentally and emotionally. Better yet, the return on investment is substantial as being fit helps you live many more healthy years. Exercising 30 minutes a day can add 16 healthy years to your life, I worked this out as an ROI of close to 400%. If you’re interested in learning more about these findings, I’d encourage you to read Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Since that class, I’ve changed my lifestyle. Kellee and I both run at least three times a week, and since I’ve moved to Key West, I lift weights three times per week as well. It keeps me feeling great, and helps me be more productive.

With our upcoming trip around the world, I don’t want to give up my fitness routine. I figure that it will be fairly easy to keep up the running. I’ll just need to be able to map out a route, and set off. It’s easy to do with tools such as wikiwalki.com, a site developed by my friend Steve. But what about the weightlifting? I don’t want to lose strength or muscle tone. Luckily, I think I’ve found a great solution with the products made by Perfect Fitness. I originally got introduced to the company through my friend Mark Hammond. The way Mark tells it, the company was conceived in his living room. Mark recommended the Perfect Pushup. I’ve been using it for the last 9 months, and it’s great. I always used to hate doing pushups because of the strain they’d place on my wrists. With the perfect pushup, that’s not a problem.
So, on my trip I’m going taking along the Perfect Pushup Mobile as well as two Perfect Pullup handles. Between the two, I can do chest and shoulders in a quick workout. I asked the folks at Perfect Fitness if they might be interested in me blogging about my use of their products during the trip - and took some cool pictures along the way. They said they’d love that. So, over the next seven months, I’ll be blogging occasionally about fitness on the go. I’ll also share some insights from positive psychology that might be helpful in starting, sticking to, or taking a fitness routine to the next level. It’s going to be fun - wherever I am - and I’m glad I’ll get back home in shape!