Welcome to North Shore Primal!

So, here we go!

Welcome to the newest concept in health, fitness and leadership. With a basis in Primal Health Coaching combined with modern and ancient wisdom, North Shore Primal is here to help executives get in the greatest shape of their lives while learning how to better lead their teams, by first learning to lead themselves.

I'm Brian Erb, your coach and teammate. I have been involved in athletics and loved the great outdoors my entire life. I grew-up, and still live, in beautiful North Vancouver, BC, Canada where the mountains touch the sea.

Vancouver is the gateway to the Pacific Rim and with it's close proximity by air to Asia and sharing a time zone with California, it has become home for many from around the globe bringing the best in food, culture and lifestyle to this gem on the emerald sea. It is an amazing place where the wilds are mere steps from metropolitan urban life. Within minutes you can leave your downtown meeting and find yourself at a trail-head for your next adventure. There is no better place to start your fitness and wellness journey.

When I grew-up, my father was a merchandise manager for Woodward's, a Western Canadian Department Store known as "Nordstrom of the North". Business, leadership and customer service discussions were part of my everyday dinner table conversations. I graduated from UBC and soon found myself in the world of corporate sales where I've now worked for over a quarter decade (gulp!).

During my life in business, I have had the opportunity to work with the biggest retail companies in the world from Walmart to Home Depot and Costco to Canadian companies like London Drugs, Canadian Tire, Sobey's and MEC. I've worked with global suppliers including Philips, Sony, Vitec, Voxx International, Hamilton Beach, Thermos, Fisher Scientific, Techtonic Industries (TTI), Sandvik and many others. I've sold products from brands including Klipsch, Joby, Manfrotto, LowePro, Nalgene, Hoover and Homedics. I've run service teams and been involved in product development. Basically, when it comes to retail trade, I have been engaged with all parts of the supply chain for products that every single person reading this has in their home today.

I've seen the inside workings of boardrooms and trade-shows from around the world and interacted with executives at all levels. I understand the job stress, the business travel, the late nights and early mornings. I understand the jet-lag, the crappy food and the wearying exhaustion that comes in the life of the corporate executive. I've been there and I still work in this world.

One of the interesting things in business is that with trade-shows, sales meetings and customer visits, you often have large gaps of time between when you see people face-to-face. Due to this gap in in-person meetings, you are actually able to see how people have changed since you last met them. You have the picture in your mind of what they look like and when you see them, it's often shocking. How many times have you said, "Wow has Jim gained weight," or "Dave looks terrible," or "I know Steve must be exhausted, you can see it in his eyes and body language." Think back to your own experiences when you've been stunned by how a colleague has declined in their health. Think of the pallor of their skin, the talk of heart scares, diabetes diagnosis and a general feeling of depression. Then think of the photos from event you were forwarded or the time you've caught yourself in the mirror from a weird angle and thought, "wow, that can't be how I look, the lighting in here must be of."

I think we all know the truth, the very uncomfortable truth that in the same way you are looking at others and seeing their physical decline, they are also looking at you. Those photos and glimpses in the mirror are the truth that is often the most difficult to face. I've been there. I totally understand this and I decided to actually make a change. This blog and North Shore Primal will be a discussion and highlights of my journey into Primal Health and hopefully it can act as a catalyst for you to want to make a change for the better as well.

I'd love to talk to you and discuss how I can help you find your way back to health. I know you've heard it's all about "eating right and exercise," but what that actually looks like can be both confusing and overwhelming. You may have tried and failed before or you may be looking to start this journey for the first time. It doesn't matter where you've been, it matters where you are going.

Why don't we get there walking together?

My transformation story was featured on Mark Sisson's "Mark's Daily Apple"