Krista Stryker on Gratitude, Commitment and Taking Action
“Over the years, I learned to fall in love with the long process of mastery.”
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Krista Stryker is the founder of 12 Minute Athlete, a leading expert on high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight fitness. She is also the author of the new book, The 12-Minute Athlete.
Growing up a super-athletic family, Krista played team sports but felt like the athletic gene had skipped her. She never attempted a push up until she was in college when her brother—who called her ‘spaghetti arms’—challenged her to do one. As she struggled through that first push up, she realized that she had the potential to become an ‘athletic person’!
With a few years, she became certified as a personal trainer and started working long hours in a popular New York City gym. She diligently tried all kinds of fitness programs—running, cardio, weight training, sports-specific training, and Crossfit—ending up overtrained, injured, and exhausted, without ever seeing the results she wanted. Then she discovered high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight workouts, and everything changed.
Krista developed a system of workouts that could be done in little space, with few pieces of equipment, and in the shortest time possible. Best of all, they actually worked, for her and her clients. Before long, Krista was doing feats of exercise she never thought possible, like pull-ups, handstands, and 100 burpees in six minutes flat. Since launching 12 Minute Athlete in 2013, Krista has helped tens of thousands of people work toward their full athletic potential.
In today's conversation, we don't spend too much time around the working out aspect of Krista's life. Instead of we talk about how we deal with the uncertainty in your life. It's front and center. And we talk about how we deal with uncertainty. How can we learn to focus on things that we can control?
One thing that I enjoyed about Krista Is that she is a lifelong learner. She is committed to understanding herself and understanding that it's going to take process and commitment. To become that whatever that maybe, trying to do a handstand or learning to do a pull up takes time.
Krista is also a writer. That same long-term aspect of her life comes through when she's thinking and immersing yourself in what she's writing. Krista is a treasure trove of information where she can take nuggets of science. And make it so that people can take a little chunk of that and say, here's how you use that in your life. Please enjoy my conversation with Krista Stryker.
Connect with Krista:
The 12-Minute Athlete: Get Fitter, Faster, and Stronger Using HIIT and Your Bodyweight
Show Notes:
[00:03:13] Adjusting to the new normal
[00:04:52] Escaping the negative headspaces
[00:06:53] The power of the breath
The Profound Power of Breathing. Deep, controlled breathing — an easy… | by Robert Roy Britt
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
[00:09:50] Gratitude
Gratitude | Psychology Today
14 Health Benefits of Practicing Gratitude According to Science
[00:13:25] Chunking the day
Why You Need To Unplug Every 90 Minutes
[00:14:50] Getting into the present
Podcasts | Daily Stoic
[00:17:42] Why did writing capture her attention?
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
[00:20:12] What does the writing process look like?
[00:21:57] Long Term commitment and mastery
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Habits vs. Goals: A Look at the Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Life
[00:26:05] The point of training
James Marcia's Adolescent Identity Development
[00:28:32] Examples to mark your own progress
[00:31:14] The power of books
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
How changing your story can change your life | Lori Gottlieb
[00:34:34] What do you miss the most now?
[00:38:20] Language Learning
[00:41:53] Dealing with uncertainty
The Way of the Champion by Jerry Lynch
[00:44:51] Taking Action
[00:47:30] Recommended books and podcasts
Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain by David Eagleman
The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford
Podcasts
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Finding Mastery: Psychology of High Performance with Dr. Gervais
Making Sense Podcast with Sam Harris
[00:50:24] Starting a new habit and making it actionable?
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Today on the podcast, we are joined by Joe Jackowski. Joe is a Marine Corps veteran and current graduate student at Vanderbilt University in the Cognitive Psychology in Context program. His primary interest is meaning in life, which broadly extends to problems in ethics, A.I., and culture.
In this episode, we sit down to discuss his first long-form article on his new sub stack, Apotheosis: A Philosophy for Influencers