Where in the World? India

Sean Glass checking in again. Working out on the road takes discipline. The excuses are easy... Too tired, not enough space in the hotel, the gym is old, I'm jet lagged. But once you do, you feel great, and get more out of your trip. The nice thing about doing a quick workout with the Perfect Pushup is exactly that - it's quick...and you get a solid workout, and sometimes, you even get to do it while looking out at the Taj Mahal -- there it is in the background :-). The pictures with me actually doing pushups came out too dark (hard to take a picture out a window without a good flash setup which I don't have with me).

Almost any place we go that is "exotic" or "famous" has very strict security (we live in the age of terrorism), so I've been wary of carrying the perfect pushups with me lest I cause an international incident! Understandably, they're really security conscious in India. We even had to get frisked to go into a mall in Hyderabad today.

We started our around the world trip July 9th and we're planning to be back in the United States December 18th, 2009. You can follow Kellee and my progress at www.seanandkellee.com or by following me on twitter @seanglass. I may go several days without internet access, so thanks for being patient. I'm trying to keep up with email as best I can while savoring the trip!

Sean Glass

TGIF: Around the world in Perfect Form

Guest blogger: Sean Glass, Dateline: Somewhere in the Aegean

In the last six months, my life got turned a bit upside down as my wife Kellee and I decided to move back to the United States and then spend six months traveling around the world. One of the things that has sustained me was an increased focus on physical fitness. Some of my early childhood memories are of playing soccer and basketball on teams coached by my father (being from South Africa, he knew a lot about soccer, but very little about basketball).

I played soccer from when I was very little -- with my dad as the coach we didn't lose for something like 4 straight years -- and continued through high-school and into college. Before I played at Yale, I spent a month training with Nottingham Forest, a professional football club in England. At the time, they were in the English Premier League and I trained with numerous players who had played in the 1998 world cup. It was an unbelievable experience. Not only did I get to train with such gifted players but I travelled to England by myself and looked after myself in a foreign country. I even learned to hold down a pint (or two)!

Think I'm beginning to see a pattern here! How to thrive and enjoy myself -- at home and abroad.

Sean Glass

Picture of the Perfect Pushup mobile on a Danish modern hotel room floor.

CHARLIE MIKE Summer Reading List Part IV

The Fall of The Human Intellect by A. Parthasarathy – An Indian philosophical approach to how the mind and intellect work; ways to use this knowledge to improve learning and focus; and how to use your intellect to control stress and improve productivity. Reviewer: Mark Friedman

Two choices from Coach Marty Heilman: The Four Agreements by Juan Miguel Ruiz, 1997. I live by this book -- it's like my Bible. The Four Agreements are ...
(1) Be Impeccable With Your Word.
(2) Don't Take Anything Personally.
(3) Don't Make Assumptions.
(4) Always Do Your Best.

Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body and Your Life by Mark Verstegan, 2004, great functional fitness book.


Sean Glass, Around the World in Perfect Form

Non-fiction: Authentic Happiness by Martin E.P. Seligman - Written by the founder of Positive Psychology, it helps gives you a baseline understanding of what has been discovered about happiness since this field was launched by Dr. Seligman and his colleagues.

Fiction: First Family by David Baldacci - just finished reading this and it was a fun, fast paced read. It was the first title I read on my Amazon Kindle too :-)

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!