BY MICHAEL DAVID

Do you consider yourself an athlete, even though you aren’t competing for prizes? Author and two-time Olympian Peter Shmock believes we are all what he calls “Life Athletes,” and the prize we seek is to have a body that we can depend on to be there for us for the rest of our lives.

The former Seattle Mariners’ strength and conditioning coach who competed in the shot put as a member of the U.S.A. Olympic Track and Field Team, Shmock will speak at 6:30 p.m. March 7 at the Limelight Hotel.

His topic: Becoming a Life Athlete and unlocking your fitness potential, whether you are an accomplished competitive athlete or just looking to improve your physical fitness.

Shmock is partnering with Zenergy Health Club and Spa and the Limelight Hotel to host a “Way of the Life Athlete” speaking engagement that will benefit Higher Ground Sun Valley, the acclaimed veteran’s rehabilitation and adaptive sports organization. He says he will provide a new mindset about an individual’s health at any age or physical capacity to serve as a foundation for anyone aspiring to sustainable peak fitness.

His mission is to raise the bar for personal athletic achievement while preserving the body’s ability to perform at a high level throughout a long lifespan.

Shmock is a successful Seattle Gym entrepreneur, starting ZUM (pronounced zoom) in 2002. He counts famed coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman as a mentor.

Bowerman told him that, if you have a body, you are an athlete. And he impressed upon Shmock the fitness philosophy that training is more than running and lifting weights—it is a complete system or method to achieve peak fitness.

Shmock believes in starting slowly, having patience and understanding yourself. He states that “as we age, things change, and we must change our perspective and practice compassion toward ourselves.”

He has worked with elite professional athletes who achieve success by possessing the will-power to keep coming back and understanding that they may need to shift the program if something isn’t working.

“Visualize, train. Visualize, train. Repeat!”

Shmock has integrated the practice of visualization in his athletic career. He came to understand the concept that “the brain detects no difference between the visualization and the actual accomplishment of the feat itself and that, if you can see it in your mind’s eye, your brain is essentially convinced that you’re actually doing it.”

While acknowledging the importance of the physical component of fitness, Shmock believes that the mental and spiritual components of fitness are equally important in unlocking our potential as a Life Athlete.

He stresses paying attention to our bodies and practicing self-awareness to create belief in ourselves. According to Peter, the talk on March 7 will be a “fun, energized time to introduce people to the powerful concepts of the Life Athlete. There will be some movement to bring home the points, as well as an opportunity to share stories and paint a picture of what it is like to be on a Life Athlete path.”

“At its core, my talk points to how you can access your own transformative internal belief system,” he said. “It’s about discovering what it feels like to be wholly alive, and full of vitality at every level of your being. I examine how our desire to know ourselves better is tied to our belief that our lives could work better, and discuss how asking pinpointed questions open the door to knowing ourselves more deeply.”

He added: “You will learn why having a clear alignment with your internal sense of knowing is the primary indicator of your ability to dynamically and powerfully manifest your vision in your life.”

Tickets for the event are $15 and are available for purchase through EventBrite.com search for "Life Athlete". All proceeds will benefit Higher Ground.

Shmock will be returning to the Wood River Valley to lead an exclusive small-group personal development seminar, “Becoming a Life Athlete” June 12-17.

It will be hosted in conjunction with Zenergy and The Limelight Hotel. The small group of seminar attendees will experience “five days of working and bonding together while creating a powerful personal mindset and a new orientation toward themselves as Life Athletes.”

Email  marketing@zenergysv.com to learn more or to register for the event.