Category: Health and Fitness

I had a long talk with a student today about a plateau she was experiencing in her health and fitness journey.

The short of it was that she couldn’t figure out what to do next to continue making progress. Every idea she would mention, she would talk herself out of in the same breath. The things she had done in the past, didn’t feel like they would work again. And the things that she was leaning towards to try, felt clunky and out of place in her lifestyle…

And she was exactly right to feel confused because everything she was trying to do felt—both to her and me—forced.

…Like some alien habit idea that would be transplanted into her lifestyle that she’d awkwardly have to remember and reinforce until it somehow became second nature and unconscious.

…This isn’t how habit change works.

What we discussed was aligning with something that’s already integrated into her lifestyle and building slightly on that. For example, instead of trying to add a random 15-minute weight lifting session somewhere into her day… maybe she starts a new habit of staying after her normal martial arts classes that she already takes 2x per week (and has been for 2+ years), and does a little extra strengthening, stretching, or conditioning work?

Or instead of trying to not eat sweets at all anymore (yeah, right)… figuring out what the healthiest dessert-like thing for her was… and preemptively eating that at the end of a day—knowing the cravings are coming and attacking them head on…

The bottom line is: anything forced will fail.

Align with current habits… align with momentum… align with yourself.

A friend of mine was telling me how fruits and vegetables blended into a smoothie and then consumed is not the same as eating them raw… and how you don’t absorb as many of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

This made me not want to consume my fruits and vegetables in a smoothie anymore.

However, I quickly remembered: I’m not going to eat my fruits and vegetables raw as consistently as I’m going to drink them blended into a smoothie. It just doesn’t align with my current lifestyle and I know it’s not something I can make happen with my current kitchen discipline (or lack thereof).

…And not getting any fruits and vegetables is far worse than getting them in a blended form.

This is the mistake too many people make.

They have something good going… compare it to something they could be doing better… get discouraged with what they’re doing… stop… and fall back to something far worse.

Like… if I’m not consuming them in a blended form, and I default back to getting processed, packaged, or fast food instead… how does the above insight help?

…It doesn’t at all.

Even though it was intended to be helpful.

And this is where self-awareness comes into play. Sometimes, you have to smile, nod, say “thank you” for the insight, and keep doing what’s working for you.

A guy I was playing basketball with today tore his achilles and has an expected recover time of 6+ months.

In the aftermath, it reminded me of how crucially important it is to have a flexible, limber body.

And because of my increasing interest and time investment in playing ball, I kind of fell out of doing deep stretching on one of the days I used to stretch religiously. And I’ve slowly started to feel the effects of that decision.

No injuries (knock on wood), but just a more noticeable tightness.

And this isn’t a good trajectory.

Today’s reminder is simple: invest in flexibility.

Even though it can feel like eating raw broccoli, it’s precisely that raw broccoli that’s going to keep you out of the hospital one day.

Invest a little bit every day, on your time… or be forced to invest a boat-load of time on your body’s time (when it gives out)—which is never convenient.

The choice in how and when you pay your dues—either a little bit daily or all at once—is yours… but remember: there’s no avoiding dues.

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P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.

Not all exercises are created equal.

Doing general cardio vs bodyweight exercises vs light-moderate resistance training vs plyometrics vs heavy lifting all produce different kinds of results.

And if you’ve ever done any research into it—it can all be quite overwhelming and confusing on which is better and which is worse for different types of people in different types of unique circumstances.

…But, never let the type of exercise or the specific exercises you might choose stop you from doing the most important thing: exercising.

Something is always better than nothing. And you don’t need to have an elaborately optimized routine in order to get the majority of the benefits from exercising. You just need to do it.

And consider this: I find that certain exercises lead to increased mental resistance over others, yet work the same body parts. For example, I’ve found that I’m allergic to deadlifts. And so, rather than stop exercising my back altogether, I’ve substituted in lower back bodyweight exercises and moderate resistance training strategies instead.

…Would heavy deadlifts lead to more overall benefits? Possibly.

But, if I can get 80% of the benefits with what feels to me to be 80% less mental resistance—it’s an easy win for me. Both now and long-term (the most important term to consider when it comes to lifestyle habits).

And so I pass the question off to you: what would make exercise simpler for you and less misery inducing and more enjoyable overall?

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P.s. I finished uploading quotes from The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. You can read my 31 favorites here.

The biggest lie in the health/fitness industry is: I can get your body if I do exactly what you do.

Here’s the thing: even if I eat exactly what you eat… not eat exactly when you don’t eat… exercise exactly as you exercise… sleep exactly as you sleep… step exactly as you step…

…I’ll still only ever have different versions of my body.

Which isn’t meant to be disheartening; it’s meant to be liberating.

This whole copy-paste attractive people routines in order to look like them is not only misleading… but wildly unmotivating. Why? Because we never arrive exactly to what we see.

Time and time again, we see posts that promise quick fixes, fast results, and hard work hacks with the unsaid promise being: and you’ll get to where I am.

But the reality is: that person is built differently. And so are you. And to follow these quick fix routines, hustle through fast tracks, and hack away over and over again only to end up right back where you started… said plainly: sucks.

The liberating part of this post is this: so stop feeding those ideas into your mind.

Purge your feeds. Delete the apps. Unfollow the copy-and-paste-to-become-me-fluencers.

And focus on you. Where you are. Where you’re heading. And how you can do a little better today than you did yesterday. Not in inches, pounds, or calories. But, in time invested, effort given, and days in a row.

See, a beautiful thing happens when you stop feeding your mind misleading ideas… you get to begin the truthful journey forward minus the yo-yo-ing. And that’s the journey that’ll carry you forward for life.

My running buddy and I decided to take a break from our early morning run this week.

The extra sleep, we voted, was the more valuable priority.

I got a text not long after that said “Back at it next week, harder than ever.”

This, in my estimation, is a very common response in our hustle, grind, crush it culture.

We take a (much needed) break and then feel guilty because we’re “supposed” to always be on and hustling and grinding, and crushing it… so we double down on the comeback workout and vow to go “harder than ever…”

But, there’s nothing to feel guilty about.

If a genuine break was needed and a higher priority task was put in its place, this is strategy—not something that should make us feel guilty. This is how we play the long-term game, rather than appeal to the short sprints that make us resent the practice altogether.

I replied and said, “No need to make it harder—just back at it. No need to owe yourself anything. No need to beat yourself up. We listen to our bodies and show up with what we have when we’re able.”

And as long as we’re clear on our priorities and honest about what we’re telling ourselves when we miss—this is the path.

Killing ourselves is an awful strategy for long-term success.

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P.s. This is the LAST week to get The Art of Forward (Direction > Speed) at 52% off! After this week, the coupon code (LAUNCH) will expire and the price will return to normal.