A Simple Guide to a Healthier You

First Things First

NOTHING WILL DERAIL YOUR PROGRESS LIKE AN INJURY! I'll say that again.... Nothing will derail your progress like an injury! See how it’s typed? This is a big deal. Seriously, nothing is stupider than jeopardizing your journey just to be 'tough' in the short term. It is extremely difficult to make progress if you can’t train because you’re hurt. It’s low probability, but it’s high stakes. Pay attention to your body and know your limits. Safe tomorrow is greater than risking it today.

A Quick Rant...

...on ‘quick fixes’, cutting corners, and shortcuts. Nowadays, you may hear a lot about quick fixes. Programs like “21 pounds in 21 Days” or “10 workouts to improve your [arms / abs / butt / whatever]”, etc. These are not what you need. Cookie cutter programs don’t work and you won't get significant benefits from easy workouts or easy diets alone.

Always remember, knowledge is power, sustainability is crucial, and challenge makes change.

How to Accomplish More

It’s never an easy task to trim fat and build muscle—and it gets harder as we age. Fortunately, this transformation is possible at any age.  It requires an extended period of effort, determination, and attention to detail. The more you want to achieve, the more it will take. I will help you maximize the results you get from the effort you put in but you still have to put in the effort. Intelligent workout structure, exercise selection, and healthy nutrition team up to deliver better results in less time than you might expect, but nothing comes without effort. I’ll help you do the right things and get the most of what you do. You owe it to yourself to optimize the effort you put in.

First, we will focus on remove negatives from your life. Then we address diet before starting on physical routines. We focus on building lean tissue and improving joint mobility. My approach will be different than what you may have learned before, and it is difficult at times, but it will transform your body and improve your health. If you don't like it, consider which you dislike more; the temporary discomfort or your current health & fitness level. It’s not easy, but the most rewarding things in this life are difficult to earn. Challenging as the process may be, this advice will help you immensely. And remember, you will be improving your health, fighting aging, trimming fat, and building a leaner better-looking body; all at the same time! The fact that we get all those benefits from one thing means fitness training should be an activity we all WANT to do!

Nutrition

Quality nutrition is non-negotiable. If you’re pressed for time, meal prep comes before workouts. If you’re pressed for money, quality food comes before other expenses. Do your meal preparation as the first ‘workout’ of the week and keep a Food Journal. If you do only those two things, you will get results.

Nutrition matters more than exercise. Think of this...a person typically eats 21 meals in a week (seven days multiplied by three meals per day)...and most of the time we only make it to the gym three to five times in a week. The 21 meals will influence your fitness more than your 3-5 workouts, period. Which do you think will make a bigger difference, 21 or five? 

Of course, workouts are crucial, but they aren't enough on their own. Backing them up with a healthy diet will help you get even more from your training. Just like you can’t make a great garment if you have a rough thread and dull needles; you won’t get great results if you don’t provide your body with good materials. Eating smart supports your training and nutrition and workouts build off each other to continue improvement. Don’t work this hard while undermining yourself in other ways. These workouts ask a lot from your body; if you don’t eat well then you're not going to be able to do well in the workouts. Eating quality food will build up your body, keep you healthy and help you stay trim and muscular.

Hydration 

You need to be hydrated before your workout. You need to be hydrated on days you don’t workout. You need to drink more water. Yes, even if you drink a lot already. I've heard that before and very few people have actually been well hydrated. Just water--no added powder, flavors, carbonation, or fizz. I don’t care if it’s tasteless or boring.  How much water do you need? Divide your bodyweight in half and drink that many ounces of water each day.

You won’t achieve the maximum benefit from your workout if you’re under-hydrated. There is also an increased chance you could become injured because dehydrated tissues are stiff and brittle—think about jerky and how tough and how easy to tear it is--your body is very similar. You also need to drink a lot of water after your workout, too, because that will improve your recovery (less soreness) and get you back into your next workout sooner. Failure to do that can hamper your body’s attempt to recover and, therefore, limit the effectiveness of the workout. The bottom line to make this happen is to have the water handy and drink lots of it. Start with a whole glass first thing in the morning for the next five days and tell me what a difference it makes.

Yes, you will urinate more frequently but you will feel so much better you won’t care.

Sugar

This is a big deal! Reduce your sugar intake as much as possible throughout the day but be especially strict during the post-workout window. 

Sugar works backward against the workout you just did. If you don't have sugars coming in through your mouth, then your body will turn to stored body fat for the energy it needs. This does not mean that you should avoid eating! That would send a signal to your body that food is scarce (aka you're starving) and that means you'll hold onto body fat even tighter. Some complex carbohydrate intake is fine during this window, but make sure it is not refined sugar.

Remember these nutritional strategies for the best results:

• Eat enough to be fueled so you can work hard

• Don’t exercise on a full stomach

• Drink lots of water

• Consume 20-25 grams of protein after workout

• Limit sugar, especially for two hours after workout

Common Intake Scenarios: Calories and Protein

Here are explanations in simple terms, for what happens to your body in four common nutrition scenarios that I see.

Four common scenarios

1. A Person in calorie deficit and protein deficit

2. A Person in calorie deficit but adequate protein level
   
   

3. A Person in calorie surplus but protein deficit

4. A Person in calorie surplus and adequate protein level

Results

1. Your body gets smaller AKA lose fat along with muscle mass [but this is not great for health because we want to keep muscle].

2. You lose no- or less- muscle mass than #1 and lose body fat [this is the ideal].

3. You won't gain much muscle, and probably will gain a little more body fat [not good].

4. You gain muscle and maybe a little body fat [good for ‘bulking up’].

Protein is what the body needs to repair tissue. It's going to repair tissue whether you ingest enough protein or not. If you don't eat enough protein, your body says, ‘hey, no problem, there's plenty of protein in your muscles’ and then your body ‘eats’ that protein content by taking apart of the muscle.

Your body breaks perfectly good muscle down into its constituent parts and then uses those parts instead of the chicken breast you should have eaten. If you don't feed your cells enough protein, they  break down your muscle. If you’re already low on muscle mass, your body will cannibalize your hair, skin, nails, etc and other protein-containing tissues in your body.

Your cells need amino acids for protein synthesis, and not only do we not store amino acids, but we also can't make them all. When your body runs out of the essential amino acids (from dietary protein) that you recently ate, it gets new ones only by breaking down(catabolizing) perfectly good body proteins (muscle).

Pre Workout

Do not workout hungry! Eat enough to feel fueled, but not so much you feel heavy or full. For at least 1 hour you should avoid large meals or large amounts of liquid (smoothie, lots of coffee, etc.). Have a small snack of protein and carbs about 45 minutes before the workout. For example, 1-2 oz. of deli meat and half a banana. That will put your body in the best state to work really hard during the workout. If that’s not realistic because of work / family / life, then get a protein bar or plan your day to time your normal meals around your workouts. If your bar of choice is named after a dessert, then it's not supporting weight loss. Say ‘no’ to bars flavored to be 'chocolate chip cookie' or 'coconut cream pie', etc.

Do not take a 'pre-workout supplement'. Typically these are loaded with stimulants. Those stimulants may cause you to feel like you got a 'great workout' but ultimately they send detrimental signals to your body.

Post Workout

The post-workout time frame is important for harnessing as many results as you can. This is the window when the body most rapidly absorbs nutrients to rebuild itself from the workout. Try to get 20 to 25 grams of high-quality protein within two hours—the sooner the better. 

25 grams of protein is equivalent to:

• 4 ounces of fish or chicken

• 3 eggs

• 1 scoop of protein supplement

You can still get results without getting the full amount of protein or by eating it later, but having it in that first two hours will make the most of your efforts. Ideally, you get this protein from a real food source but a protein shake is better than missing out. I know life is fast now but real food has micronutrients that may be lost in the process of making it into a powder for your shake.

All Exercise is not Equal

All exercise is beneficial for the body but we want to maximize your results from your effort. The type of training required for maximized results has more to it that you’d think. There are many variables and every person is different. There is an entirely different set of recommendations for each different class or category. There is a lot of true information out there that is incorrectly applied. This is why it is so crucial to work with a professional. I can filter the science and teach you the parts that relate to you.

Easy physical activity like walking or workouts like jogging will burn some calories but that's it. Lifting moderate weights on a few machines is better but not enough because the calorie burn ends when you stop exercising. Intense training triggers a response in the body that encourages more muscle mass, less body fat, better energy, and a higher caloric burn rate for 1-2 days after exercise. High-intensity workouts are not easy, but they are very efficient. Your workouts will be hard and you'll be uncomfortable. And then you'll be sore afterward.

The right kind of exercise isn’t slow or easy. One of the main reasons that people don’t build muscle or reduce fat is because they take a slow approach. Most people don’t plan to take a long, drawn-out route; they just end up doing that because they follow the advice they hear. When weight-loss is long and slow, it’s much easier to become discouraged, lose momentum, and quit early. Quit early and you will likely lose any results you gained.

Compress as much discomfort (not pain) as possible into each workout and you can increase the comfort and ease you have during all the other hours of the day. Think of climbing stairs; if you really want to get to the top of the stairs, you should take the steps two at a time. Sure you have to work a little harder when you do two steps instead of one, but you get to the top of stairs sooner. Don’t walk up slowly while complaining about how long you’ve been on the stairs! 

Overview of a Session

One of the goals of this training is to cement the habit of exercise so we will follow a routine to help you develop proficiency in movement and exercise. With any tough workout, you should ramp up your efforts. Don’t go too hard too soon or you may stop suddenly with an injury. Here you will find an overview of how a workout session should be structured. There are five portions to a good workout; (1) warm up (2) preparation (3) strength (4) conditioning (5) cool down.

Warm Up

You will have a better workout if you warm up thoroughly. Invest in the early minutes of the workout to reap more rewards in all of the minutes left in the hour. In addition to bringing your head into the workout, this warm up time will make you warm (surprise!) with good circulation all over your body, an elevated heart rate, and make you a bit sweaty. The greatest warm up should also factor in the stages of human development in order to include the most important movement patterns.

In the first few minutes, you need to get your blood flowing and get your brain ready. For a few minutes, ditch your phone, forget about the day (however bad or good it was), and just be here. This habit alone will have huge impact on your results. 

Get really into the workout and focus on putting your best into it and you will be so much more successful. Results come faster when you spend the whole workout focusing on the workout, rather than trying to pretend you’re somewhere more pleasant like a beach somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, do what you need to do to get through the tough parts; but don't try to ignore, avoid, or distract yourself from what you're doing. If you listen to music using your phone, silence calls and all alerts. You are not available during your workout for phone calls or texts or instagram posts. What you’re doing is too important to be distracted like that.

Preparation

After completing the warm up, prepare your body using my Preparation Routines -- called ”Prep Routines” for short. I have developed several routines to teach the movements you should always be included in your sessions. These are the most important movements you should do, so we do them every day.

There are two kinds of Prep Routines:

1. Pre Activity (meant for before) -- designed to help you do better in the upcoming workout, or to make you stronger in your everyday life.

2. Post Activity (meant for after) -- designed to help you be able to work out like this for a long time. 

Prelude: The Workout Briefing

In the workout briefing, I always describe what we are going to do that day. We talk about expectations and make things clear for you. You should picture each movement or exercise and imagine yourself doing it--if you don’t know an exercise, then ask right away. Remember, the main goal is to make exercise your habit so learn as much as you can because one day you'll create the workouts yourself. It’s as simple as needing to learn the lyrics to the song before you can sing along.

Main Event: Strength Work

After a warm-up and prep, strength work is the most valuable time in your workout. Seriously. The top two priorities of a lifetime fitness program are 1) strength and, 2) joint mobility. Those two give you the ability to work towards the other goals you have. Muscle helps you do things all day, lets you engage in more fun activities, makes it easier to get lean and stay lean, and reduces your likelihood of injury. Joint mobility helps you to stay pain-free while you train and live.

Strength work makes muscle and muscle is what enables us to do all the things you want to do; little stuff to big stuff. Increase your muscle mass to make your life more fun and easier. Want to load the dishwasher without risking dropping the big dishes? You need muscle. Want to ski all day without needing a break? You need muscle. Rock climbing? Need muscle. Want to look better naked? You need muscle. 

Muscle has some cyclical biological processes that use calories all the time. This means you’ll be burning more calories throughout the day, even at rest. That means faster weight loss and easier maintenance. Muscle also makes it easier to stay lean in yet another way. It helps regulate hormones in the blood so your body does a better job not storing extra calories as fat in the future.

It’s not easier to get those many benefits at once. You have to earn it, big time. The exercises are challenging and technically complex. They shouldn’t be done half-heartedly. What does this training look like? There’s only two types of training; moving yourself or moving external objects. However, those are all included under the label of ‘resistance training’.

Intermission: When you need a break

Take breaks whenever you need to and rest for as long as you need. No judgment from me if some days have more breaks than others—we are all that way. Put in everything you have. Some days you have more to ‘give’ and some days you have less. Many workouts are just ‘good’, not ‘great’, and that’s OK. We can’t always beat our best-ever performance. Seems like for me, only one out of five workouts is ‘great’ and only one out of every 20 is truly fantastic. Most of the workouts are just about putting the time in and getting it done.

When you need to take a break, stand or walk with good posture while focusing on deep breaths. This is a little tip from many high-level performers. The position your body is in will influence your recovery rate. Assume the posture of someone who is feeling great and you will recover faster and therefore be able to get back into the workout sooner ...which means you’ll get more done in the workout time...which means your workout results will be greater. 

When things are particularly tough, let me know if there’s any modifications that would help you keep going or even work at a higher intensity. For example, if you can push harder on a spin bike than you can on a treadmill, then I want you on the spin bike!

Final Act: Conditioning or Interval Training

This is a short, fast section emphasizing more reps at a lighter weight. Quality is still greater than quantity. Now is the time to make yourself as uncomfortable as you can stand. Keep going even when all you want to do is stop.

Cool Down

Just as your body needs a warm-up period, it also needs a cool-down period. A cool-down period is a much safer way to end than simply stopping. We don’t want to work this hard and then suddenly stop and go back to your regular day. Think of this; when driving, you don’t race home down the streets at full speed and then yank on the emergency brake and skid to a stop in your driveway. That would be so hard on your vehicle. And if you were driving like that, few people would have any sympathy for you if you complained about how your vehicle was running.

Post Routines help you recover from the workout more quickly and help you become better for future workouts. I know busy schedules leave us pressed for time but remember that it will be very unpleasant to spend a long time with an injury. Always try to find a few minutes to complete the Post routines before you leave. Do them a few times a week at home also. If you have time to watch TV, you have time.

Rest and Recovery

You don’t need to train super hard every day. In fact, you could definitely overload your body doing that. Three to four really focused and intense sessions per week is a great balance of sustainability and results. Sure, you could make some additions to get to your goals faster, but it's likely you can’t keep up that pace for the long term--especially if you have a family or other demanding responsibilities. 

If you have to do more, you should add in sessions at a lower intensity. Go swim, walk, play, or do some physical work and get sweaty every day; just don’t have every day be crazy hard.

It is important to remember that a training program is about more than just the time in the gym. Rest and recovery are critical to your success as your workouts—they can make or break it. Rest is not often a priority in our busy culture, but to get optimal results you must dedicate sufficient time to recover. You need to balance many factors like how hard you work out, how much you’re working, how stressed you are at home, how you slept the last few nights, etc. to achieve adequate recuperation or your progress will slow or plateau. Personal trainers do this balance in our heads. If we are stressed about something, the workout is eased back a bit. You need to do this also.

Your recovery will be the best indicator of when you can push harder – bouncing back quickly after an exercise or quickly recovering fully from workouts suggests you are ready to do more. Feeling unusually tired or slow is a signal that you need to recover more. Listen to your body and keep pushing ahead at your own best pace. Going too hard or too fast may leave you spent before you get to the end of your journey.

The Importance of Sleep

Depending on your circumstances, one more hour of sleep could be more valuable than one hour more workout time. Six or fewer hours of sleep per night is considered sleep deprivation for an average person. People who are working out need even more rest than an average person due to the demands that intense training puts on the body. It is smart to sleep more on the nights after a workout. You may not have time to sleep long all of the time, but getting more hours on the night after a workout can enhance the effects of that workout. If you’re pressed for time, see what you can cut out of your life. For example, TV shows or internet videos. Are they helping you towards your goal? What if you skipped just this week’s episode? What would happen? Certainly nothing bad.

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