Brent Yates lived the high life as a serial entrepreneur and owner of a multi-million dollar company before life had other plans, sending him into a mental and physical spiral that threatened his very existence.
Brent Yates, 61, is back and feeling stronger than ever thanks to the lessons he learned through trial and error during his recovery. Muscle & Fitness sat down with the philanthropist to find out where it went wrong and, more importantly, how it ended up right. While many of us struggle with our own personal and physical challenges while grappling with life's randomness, Yates shares a few tips to help us pick ourselves up.
"My inspiration and mentor, my father Gene, died in 2005, but things really took a turn in 2007," Yates recalls. “In the heat of the financial crisis, my first wife and I divorced and found our family incredibly broken. At the same time, I had filed a lawsuit one step away from federal courts. All of this started to take a toll on my body. I had convulsions and I had MRSA in my ears and on my forehead and it went undiagnosed for far too long. I lost 50 pounds, walked with a cane and was confident I wouldn't make it another year. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I would even get through the day. My definitive low point came when I was contemplating taking my own life. Standing in that water at my deepest point, I faced the ultimate choice of live or die, and as you can probably see, I chose to live.” In his memoirs; "The Gravity Up - Unlocking Your Potential So One Can Hold You Down," Yates gives a touching and, despite his high roller status, relatable account of falling down and coming back stronger. Here are 5 tips that he discusses in more detail in the book, and they might be just what you need to read right now.
It's not over until Brent Yates says it's over
If you suffer from low self-confidence, feelings of self-sabotage, or a lack of motivation to make physical changes, Yates advises that there is always tomorrow and there is always hope. "We need to realize that every day on this earth we have the opportunity to grow and evolve for the better," he tells M&F. "Until we die, you'll be able to climb the next mountain and reach the next height. You must focus on tomorrow and know that the sky is the limit. how much better can you be How much higher can we go? Yes, it's intimidating to think about the unlimited potential we all have every day, but it should motivate all of us to truly be the change we want to see in the world.
Your mind and body need to work as a tag team
"For me, connecting my mind to my body has made all the difference," says Yates. “Nike says 'Just Do It' and that was my mentality. I would just overcome any obstacle to be the best as soon as possible, despite the damage it was doing to my body. But. Especially as you get older I say you really need to slow down and listen to your body and mind. Does your knee need a break? If so, focus on the upper body and don't just move through the pain. honor that feeling. Do you need to take some time to get your sanity back on track? This will be critical to realizing your full mental and physical potential, so prioritize this mind-body connection for yourself.”
Stop counting yourself
"I think we all have feelings of worthlessness and vulnerability at different times," says Yates. "Self-sabotage still creeps into my life, but probably only about once a week. There's a lot to hang up. am i strong enough am i smart enough Am I good looking? Do I look my age?” To address the insecurities we all face, the author says that being confident requires thinking carefully about the TV shows we watch and other negative forces trying to to undermine us. "If you don't feed your mind and equip yourself with all the necessary tools to be successful, it's going to really drag you down in the end."
Yates has found that positive daily self-affirmations are a great way to feed the mind with constructive voices. He has hired a life coach and while this may not be possible for everyone, he strongly believes that people should make a conscious effort to look at the media they consume and the friends they hang out with and themselves asking if they are in a fulfilling environment.
Brent Yates concentrates on the tasks at hand
"I've always strived to find something I'm really good at and to move forward to be successful and be successful at it," says the successful businessman, originally from Linton, Indiana, but now resides in Tennessee. Arizona and Ohio. "You can't use what you don't have. I gave up football and baseball at a young age because I couldn't realistically see potential for myself as a top athlete, but I stuck with golf and basketball because I felt confident that playing both in college would make me successful. Today I train at the gym because I know I'm up to the opportunity, not just for my age but for any age, knowing that one day I may need to slow down if my body or mind demands it. So over the past few years I've sacrificed some of my golf time to prioritize time to keep the buoyancy. Trying to take on too much at once can end up being counterproductive as we feel far too stretched out. You'll be much more successful if you put your full effort into a handful of commitments or activities that you're really successful at, rather than half-heartedly trying a hundred things at once. That applies to both business and life.”
Brent Yates strives for gratitude
"My daily routine for discipline and mental health begins with the idea of 'The Gravity of Up,'" says Yates. “And that means programming my body with positivity and gratitude through my mind. That's not that often or every other day, that's every single day absolutely! I need to breathe, oxygenate my blood, and calm my body enough so that my brain doesn't spin and I can focus on feeling grateful for the things in my life that I should be grateful for. It takes practice, repetition, and years of training. But this gratitude meditation prepares me for the day, and I always feel like I'm putting on my "shield" to face the day ahead as my best possible self. I am merciful for the beauties of life when they come to me, and also for the excitement of the obstacles God throws in my way.”
Place workouts in your core
"My favorite way to train is called 'fit function,'" says Yates. “I always focus on the core first and foremost. It is the lifeblood of everything we do. Our core is the core of our body. Basically, I want people to get their heart rate pumping from the first five minutes in the gym. Next come the more "functional" steps, but we're still moving and using cable machines, rowing machines, whatever you can do for your core that you might not have access to at home. I usually use a lot of cables, bodyweight, and these types of functional movements. All in all, I've found that my physical training program is an integral part of my journey to the top, but it's also not complete without the mental and spiritual components. You have to be mentally, physically, and emotionally "fit" to truly understand "Gravity of Up."
Follow Brent Yates on Instagram @brent__yates.
