Fitness superstar Shaun T: the key to motivation is fun – and selfishness.

Good for bodies and good for brains, the scientists say.

In the world of video, Shawn T is like jay-z or Mick Jagger. He’s a superstar. Millions of people have completed his exercise program. One is called madness. Another “Focus T25” is designed to allow you to complete the process in just 25 minutes a day without leaving your home.

In our increasingly digital world, there are various applications and other quick ways to adapt to your life. But you still have to do this exercise. In his new book, T is “transformation”, Shaun T tells his life story and the lessons he learned about finding motivation.

Sean T USES his sculpted muscles and abs to create a fitness picture. In his training video, he was fun and happy. But that’s not always the case.

Shaun T said, “the first thing I remember when I was a kid was washing in the sink in our west side apartment. Forty years ago, he was a young child named Sean Thompson. “I was too young, but I soon realized that the place we live in is not necessarily the best place in the world.”

Shaun T grew up poor and had a rough childhood in a violent neighborhood. The family is on a food stamp. And they ate very little. He would sneak the bread into his underwear and eat it in bed at night.

Hunger is with you. When he won a scholarship to a state university, he also had a canteen meal plan card, meaning free food.

“When you give a man who grew up on food stamps a meal card, I can go to eat and eat, and then when I found that you can use this food card on domino, the night of the desire to become a new approach. Like ‘Whhhhaaat? ‘”

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Shaun t. freshman 50 pounds. He doesn’t like that. But he said that even though he had run in high school, he was embarrassed to go to the gym. “I am very dissatisfied with the way I see it and the way I feel it,” he said.

But he finally got on the treadmill. He took part in some dance classes. Once he lost a few pounds, he said he loved it. He switched his major to sports science. Then he went to the manager of the school’s recording center and told her, “I want to teach a class.”

Sean T has no experience. But his classmates like him. Ninety of them signed up for the first session of the recording center. He opened the hip-hop song “Space Jam” from the 1996 film “Michael Jordan” and repeated the story, making everyone do his half-done hip-hop aerobics. Students like it.

“Am I kidding? This is the most surprising things, I can teach, have fun, these people not only do what I do, and most people are afraid of dancing, they are out of their comfort zone, and I was looking at these people, I’m like, ‘this is so, I want to do in the rest of my life’. ”

That’s what Shaun T did. First class, in a small gym. He teaches a course for a worker at a nuclear power plant in New Jersey. He will teach him anywhere. Then he moved to Los Angeles and started doing video. Today, Beachbody LLC, a company that distributes his exercise, says Shaun T has sold more than $1 billion worth of fitness video.

Sean T says, stay motivated, it can help mix. For example, sign up for a dance class or a basketball league. He did his own training, “but I also play tennis, but I also like my friends,” yo, let’s play volleyball today. It’s not always the same thing, just like creating it for yourself, it’s going to be very interesting. ”

Focus on the fun, not the weight, he says. “My goal outside is to do things that make you feel good, because you lose weight, but happiness is the most important thing.”

Of course, this is often more complicated than people, including Sean T. Growing up in this violent neighborhood, he said he had been abused by his stepfather and experienced some things, and later in life, he spent years of his treatment of real work and understanding. He encouraged others to consider doing so, too, if they thought there might be unsolved baggage to block their health and fitness goals, or other goals.

“You can take it apart, not put it in the closet,” he said. But he added: “let people understand that your greatest struggle is your greatest strength.

Older athletes can give us clues.

Shaun T’s struggles made him start something brave at the age of 14, and he was about to start high school. He decided to leave his family and live with his grandparents in New Jersey. His grandfather was a boxer and a minister, and the family was stable and loving. This is a huge change, and it has caused a lot of change. Shaun T said, “I didn’t start living until I was 14. “From then on, my grandparents were my angels, and they were the best ever.”

Patient Gary Wilhelm looks at his medical data on a smartphone that is synchronized to a new Fitbit Surge on his wrist.

Shaun T says in his book, even if it’s less dramatic, changing people around you can make a difference. If most of your friends are couch potatoes, he recommends spending more time and exercise with people who will support you and encourage you to lead a healthier life.

In a more straightforward statement, he said, “selfishness gets a bad rap.” He says some people spend a lot of time doing things for others – their family, friends – they feel guilty about taking care of themselves. ‘obviously, you won’t give up your loved ones, but if you take the time, you’ll be a happier person,’ he says. He says it’s usually ok to spend 25 minutes doing exercise. “Be selfish, because everyone in your life will benefit,” he said.

Of course, what you eat is also important in health and fitness. ‘one of the great frosting cinnamon buns has so many calories,’ says Shaun t. ‘you have to burn it like a crazy job for two hours.’ But he says, enjoy yourself. Eighty-five percent of the time is healthy, and the rest of the time is for pizza or doughnuts. But he said, cut the doughnut in half.