PODCAST - My Asthma-Friendly Morning Routine for Peak Energy and Performance (No Caffeine Needed)
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~Video's rolling. This is Athlete with Asthma Podcast on April 23rd, 2025. All right, my asthma friendly morning routine for peak energy and performance. Let's go.~
~I think~
~I.~
~Most people,~
~most people float around the world reacting to their environment, and this starts with the moment they wake up in the morning instead of putting together, instead of owning the morning. Instead of owning the morning and creating a step. Okay.~
~Instead of owning the morning.~
~Instead of owning. Instead of owning our days. Instead of owning our days. Okay.~
~Instead of owning our days, instead of owning our days, instead of owning our days and doing what we want to do, we are either following what our phone is telling us, what our email is telling us, or what. Social media and the news are telling us. Well, today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly.~
~Well, today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly. Well, today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly morning routine for peak energy and performance. Well, today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly morning routine for peak. Energy and performance.~
~Well, today I'm well. Today I'm gonna share with you my, well today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly morning routine for peak energy and performance.~
~Well, ~[00:00:00] today I'm gonna share ~with you ~my asthma friendly morning routine for peak energy and performance, so you can start owning your mornings and owning your life so that you can achieve the goals you have created for yourself.
~Well, today I'm gonna share with you my asthma friendly morning routine. Well, today I'm gonna share with you the exact morning routine that I use. Okay. Well, today I'm gonna share with you the exact morning routine that I use for peak energy and performance. And guess what? It is completely asthma friendly for all of my asthmatic friends out there.~
~Okay, then blah, blah, blah.~
~So why do we need, so why do you need a morning routine? Well, instead of being in React. So why do you need a morning routine? Well, instead of being in reactive mode all day, I want you to own your morning, own your life, and ultimately own. So ~why do you need a morning routine? Well, I want ~for ~you to own your morning so you can own your goals and ultimately own your life.
And I want you to do that by setting yourself up for success. By creating a morning routine ~that's easy for you to do,~
~that's easy for you to do every single. That's easy for you to do every single day. My current morning routine take ~that's easy for you to do every single day.[00:01:00]
~Now, ~my current morning routine is made up of seven different steps. The first is I kick things off with updating and reviewing my top 10 goals.
~So ~what I recommend you do, you can do this right now. You can pause the podcast, pause this video on YouTube. What I want you to do is write down ~on one small or is write down ~on one sheet of paper. ~And ~yes, I highly recommend that you use paper for this. ~You're not always looking at your phone, and ~so the first thing you grab in the morning isn't [00:02:00] your phone.
~What I want you to do is ~write down ~your top. 10 goals. Okay. Shit.~
Your top 10 goals now. I was ~in now. Now I was at an e-learning conference. Now I was ~speaking at an e-learning conference back in April, 2024, ~and. Another one. Now. I was speaking at an e-learning conference back in, now I was speaking now, ~along with being an athlete with asthma, I am also the owner of e-Learning Partners, an e-learning company ~that partners with organizations ~that partners with individuals and organizations to empower them.
To build transformational learning experiences for their customers and ~for their ~employees. ~Okay. Back in, no, ~back in April, 2024, I was asked to speak at a world renowned e-learning conference in Orlando, Florida. ~Well. Another one of the speakers, the key, well, ~the keynote speaker for that event was Shark Tank's, Damon, John, I highly recommend you check him out either by Googling or inputting his name into your favorite AI platform.
Basically, he had [00:03:00] a keynote presentation all about how he has become the successful business owner and investor that he is today. Well, the biggest takeaway I got from that presentation is every single morning, the first thing he does when he gets up in the morning. Is he reviews his top 10 goals list and the last thing he does before bed is he reviews the same top 10 goal list. Ever since I saw this talk, I have integrated this into my life. ~I've been doing this for more than a year, ~and what I do is I don't just review it. I update and review it. ~Because ~it takes the pressure off. ~Now, ~when you ~go and ~put together your top 10 goals, ~which I highly recommend you do, following this podcast episode, ~just write down the top 10 goals that come to your mind right away.
~You don't need to take a bunch of time. Just write down first thing that come to mind, and then what you're gonna do is every morning you're going to review them and adjust them. You can cross one out that you don't actually want anymore and add a new one. That is the first thing that I highly recommend you do every morning.~
~It's the first thing I do. It takes about 15 to 30 seconds. Then I follow this up with reviewing my mantras, or you may wanna call this. Affirmations. What? This is similar concept that I took from Damon John. Along with reviewing goals, I thought to myself, you know what? For years I've tried to say mantras or affirmations to myself in the morning.~
~Well, what if I took the same piece of paper or a separate piece of paper and I wrote down my top mantras? I want,~
~ugh.~
~Okay, start that over.~
~Once you write out your goals,~
~your goals, your goals real,~
~your goals really only need to be on a piece of paper this big. Okay. Your goals, really, ~your goals only really need to be on a piece of paper this big that you can easily pull out. ~I actually keep all my goals, all of my, I,~
I actually keep all of my goals in my little book. [00:04:00] This is about as big as a phone. Which ~is really cool because it ~fits in my pocket. I can bring it wherever I am. So what I've done is I have a bunch of different goals on here. One of my goals is set the course record for the 12 hour chase the moon, ~solo e indoor, or in ~solo endurance run, ~which means ~running a 10 minute mile.
Including aid station stops. So very specific goal. I have another goal on here that says Travel to New Zealand, Europe, Machu Picchu, Africa, and Kauai with Tatiana, my amazing, significant other. And then I have a goal that says, nourish my body and soul with healthy food and energy to support my body healing itself.
~So ~I have 10 of these and I look at these every morning. The next thing I do is inspired by ~my time and ~my practice as a yoga instructor and ~doing. And throwing in ~what Damon John has done with goals, mantras, [00:05:00] and affirmations for years. I've tried to have a consistent mantra and affirmation practice, ~whatever you want to call it, mantra affirmation.~
These are positive statements that you say to empower yourself, to encourage yourself, either throughout the day. I like to start my mornings by doing this, and what I've done is same thing that I've done with goals. I have another sheet here called my Mantra Sheet. And what I've done is written down a bunch of different mantras and I've left space on the back for additional mantras as they come up.
So that's the thing with this. So same thing, you don't need to come up with 10, but come up with three to five ~and then always look at updating and reviewing them.~
And then same thing. Update and review.
~Here are what my mantras are currently. ~I am blessed and deserving. I am loved and cherished. I love [00:06:00] myself. ~This is one of my favorite ones. ~There is nothing I cannot be, do, or have. All my parts are important and loved, ~which means every part of me. ~I am whole, even when I make mistakes, aren't good at something or don't know what to do, I am a good person and shouldn't beat myself up.
I'm alive and that is beautiful. I'm healthy, wealthy, and free. Just some examples for you. If you don't have a mantra or affirmation to start with, I highly recommend that you start with these. I am blessed and deserving. I am loved and there is nothing I cannot be, do or have. There's three mantras slash affirmations for you to kick off your day with next.
I ~just ~started doing this ~one ~in the past 60 days, ~and it's one that I've never heard anyone else talk about, but I've started doing it and ~it's brought so much joy to my [00:07:00] life. Similar to writing list of goals, writing list of mantra slash affirmations. I update and review my list of things that bring me joy.
Start by coming up with three to five things. And then ~you're gonna ~update and review it every morning.
Now, you may not make updates to all these things every morning, but you definitely wanna review it. Here we go. Go to the movie theater and watch movies. ~I know this is 2025. ~I love watching movies and ~I love ~going to the theater. It brings me back to my childhood. ~I've always loved film. ~One of my favorite films ~of all time, ~Lord of the Rings, ~really ~inspired me to get into video, and that's why I create this video podcast.
~Next, ~I ~really ~like to experiment in the kitchen and cook new things ~next. ~I ~really ~like to be in nature, looking at vistas and animals, so I really like nice views, hiking, [00:08:00] walking, running, biking. I ~really ~enjoy archery and want to do it more regularly with Tatiana. I ~really ~like to play board games with family and friends. I really like to play with Snic to, that's my dog, especially soccer. I really like to sort and organize my magic cards. I'm a pretty big nerd. Magic the Gathering card game originating in the nineties. ~Love it Then.~ I have a lot of fond memories learning how to play ~it ~when I was four or five ~years old.~
~It's one of my best friends growing up, and to this day, ~I play at least once a year with my best friends from high school, and it's a tradition that we're able to connect once a year around the holidays, we open up our cards and we play. I've been doing this for 15 plus years. I really like to heavy lift and go to HIIT classes, high intensity interval training classes.
I ~really ~like saunas ~and ~steam rooms. I really like experimenting with cold plunges, cryotherapy, and iced foot [00:09:00] baths. I ~really ~enjoy paddle boarding with Tatiana. I enjoy playing Frisbee ~golf ~and drinking sparkling water~ and non~ and non-alcoholic beer. I enjoy sitting on the patio and drinking sparkling water and non-alcoholic beer.
Just a list of things that bring you joy. And yes, I highly recommend ~that ~you make this a selfish list, things that may feel a little weird, writing down and admitting like, this is something that brings me joy. This ~is something that ~is fun for me. So once you review these three lists, it takes me about a minute, minute and a half every morning to review these three things. Sometimes I'll make some updates, sometimes I'll cross something off. Sometimes I'll add something. If I do that, maybe it takes me two to three minutes.[00:10:00] [00:11:00]
~The ~next thing is something that I highly recommend you integrate in this way, journaling, specifically
writing one sentence, ~write one sentence in your journal. ~Why do I say this? Well, I used to have journaling as part of my morning routine, and I had write a page and it went really well for the first week, and then I was like, I don't have time to write a page, so I stopped journaling altogether. Then I went back to it and I had it written down just a journal, and I didn't have a length.
And same thing I had told myself, I don't have [00:12:00] time to journal since I've written this piece, write one sentence in my journal. I do this 95% of the time. Some days I won't do it in the morning, but I will do it at some point throughout the day. 99% of the time. I journal now because I've taken all the pressure off and I wrote journaling.
Write one sentence, ~one sentence. It give you about anything. ~You can write anything you want in the journal. ~That's the other thing is ~I used to say, write ~uh, ~one sentence ~about this, about that, ~about my affirmations, my mantras, my goals, my gratitudes. I took all that off and ~I ~just put, write one sentence.
Most of the time I fill up one or two pages in this thing. But the key, it's similar to when we're talking about training, when we're talking about running, if you tell yourself, I'm gonna go out there and run 10 miles, [00:13:00] you're less likely to do it ~and run it all ~than if you say, I'm gonna ~go out there and ~run one mile.
And crazy enough, if you say, I'm gonna go out there and run one mile, you're probably gonna end up running three or four. And you're gonna do that way more often than if you're like, I'm gonna run 10 miles. ~You may never do it if you're gonna, you may never do it. If you go, you may never do it. If you go, and ~you may never do it, ~if you say, I'm gonna run 10 miles, ~but if you say, I'm gonna go out there and run one, you're gonna do it.
If you say, I'm gonna go out there and walk, you're gonna do it. So you take the pressure off and that brings me to my next one.
~Write I or say.~
~Okay.~
Gratitude,
and I highly recommend you do this. Take the pressure off, write. Or say one gratitude. ~You know a cool thing here, ~if you write down a gratitude in your journal, that also counts as one sentence. So you can literally knock these two things off together. ~Takes all the pressure off. ~It doesn't have to be one [00:14:00] sentence and one gratitude, ~it's ~just write a sentence.
Maybe it's a gratitude ~today. Now ~you could write a sentence about something else and then say the gratitude to yourself. I'm thankful for having a great night's sleep ~last night. ~I'm thankful for ~having ~a deep conversation with my partner ~last night. ~I'm thankful for the movie I saw this week. I'm thankful for the run I took with my dog ~yesterday.~
I'm grateful ~that ~I get to ~take a ~run with my dog ~today. I'm grateful I get a run ~today. I'm grateful for ~the ~healthy. Food ~I've eaten this week. I'm grateful for the ~friends I've hung out with ~this week. I'm grateful for ~the phone call I had with my mom this week. I'm grateful for the dinner I had with my dad this week.
The cool thing is once you start saying gratitudes ~to yourself ~or writing them down by starting with one same thing. Most of the time I'm gonna write 3, 4, 5. Sometimes I'll fill a whole page here, but I'm. Taking the pressure off. ~And ~that's what we're doing ~here ~with our morning [00:15:00] routine. Taking the pressure off, setting ourselves up for that day.
'cause you're gonna have mornings where you're gonna need to do the quick version of all this. And that's what we build this for. We build this for the busiest morning. That brings me to my next one. Meditate
or maybe. Prayer. I personally meditate. I have ~plenty of ~friends and family who prefer to pray. This is the longest part of my routine. I do a five minute plus meditation. And I do this because breath is so important for us asthmatics. For us athletes with asthma, five minutes of focusing on our breath
is integral to setting us up for a successful day. Now, there are days when I really have to rush. They don't happen that often. I can [00:16:00] usually fit in a five minute meditation. I'll cut ~all this ~other stuff down, or ~I'll ~skip it and do it later ~and I'll,~
and I'll prioritizing the meditation. Or there's days where I'll get all this in and I'll pull up a one minute meditation. So if you really wanna make this easy for you to do, you could start with saying, I'm gonna do a one minute meditation. I'm gonna do a one minute prayer. I'm gonna do one minute of breath work, whatever it is.
You could start with this. For me, five minutes has been fine. I meditate every single day. I don't miss a day. If you need to adjust the foundation by saying one minute so that it doesn't intimidate you. And anyone can do one minute of prayer, one minute of meditation, you can do that. So if you need to start here.
Please do. I would prefer that you do one minute of meditation and breath work every morning than skipping it all together because five minutes seems too much for you. For me, five minutes works. Typically, I'll end up doing [00:17:00] 10, 20 or 30 minutes because ~I say five minutes. ~I get really into it. ~I do 30 minutes of meditation and breath work.~
Last thing, I do a workout. And this is another thing I've struggled with throughout the years, where some people are really good at working out in the morning.
I'm really not. I've been running more in the mornings lately. The thing is, it stresses me out having to plan that, Hey, I'm doing this workout every single morning. I personally don't like getting up with an alarm. ~I have not gotten up with an alarm for. Months, probably years, maybe one or two times in the past year or two, I've needed an alarm to catch, like an early flight or something.~
I naturally wake up ~somewhere ~between six and seven ~every single day, ~and I like to keep it that way, ~which is why planning, like planning, which is why with the importance of all these other things, especially meditation, but really all of these things are important. ~I don't like to force a workout in the morning, which is why I do ~what I call ~the one minute workout,
~and this could look however you want it to. ~For me. ~My baseline, ~my basic version of the workout is I do bridges. I teach all of this on my YouTube channel. I have a [00:18:00] playlist ~that I have a playlist on my YouTube channel ~called Yoga for Athletes with Asthma and Runners, and I teach ~something called ~Yoga Sculpt as part of that ~type of yoga for athletes with asthma and runners.~
~So ~I go through exactly what ~all ~these exercises are in that playlist. I highly recommend you check out those classes linked in the show notes and the description below the video. Bridges, situps,
~reverse burpees. Call 'em ~reverse burpees ~and ~pushups. 1, 2, 3, 4, ~5, ~5 exercises. I do 10 reps of each and that's it. ~Now ~I do this for multiple reasons. ~One, ~bridges are ~really ~good for running. They engage my glutes, ~they get my ~quads ~going, my ~hamstrings going, set me up for the day. Sit-ups. Great. For core reverse burpees and burpees, start bringing our cardiovascular into the mix.
Start bringing our heart rates up. Start making our breath breathy if you have asthma. This gives you an opportunity to own your [00:19:00] breath and own your asthma First thing when you get up in the morning. By controlling your breath, by focusing on those audible exhales. By using your breath to power you by using your breath to own your asthma.
That's why I like doing reverse burpees and burpees. It ~also ~gives me ~a hit of ~endorphins, dopamine. And energy. So all of this stuff that we've been doing, we've been stacking it together there is nothing ~that ~you cannot be do or have because of that. I have a bonus gift for you for spending time with me today. It is my three pillars of Healthy Living Guide. The ~three ~pillars are movement, tracking and accountability. ~And ~in my guide I teach you how to combine these ~three pillars ~to live a healthier [00:20:00] and happier life.
~Maybe you. Maybe if you're like me, ~back in 2022, I had a few extra pounds on me and I wanted to get rid of them forever, so I ended up losing 40 pounds and keeping it off ~by ~using these three pillars of healthy living and now. I am not only thriving as a person, I'm thriving as an elite athlete with asthma
winning races, and achieving my goals just like you. ~I'll see you in the next one. Okay. Just like, just like. You can ~grab your free copy of my Healthy Living Guide, ~either ~linked in the show notes or ~in ~the description below ~in the video on YouTube, ~or go to www.athletewithasthma.com/healthy-living-guide ~to grab your free copy today.~
I'll see ya in the next one. [00:21:00]
