Improving your Fitness Is a Full-Time Job

Improving your Fitness Is a Full-Time Job

  Mike! Put. Down. The. Doughnut!!! Is that ‘sugar-coated lie’ helping you toward improving fitness or obliterating it?   We all know the answer, yet in spite of Jocko’s unique moniker for sugary treats (sugar-coated lies), most of us tend to go past ‘everything in moderation’ when it comes to a few vices…   Me?   Lately, it’s been mint chocolate chip ice cream and Aldi’s off-brand Keebler Elf cookies. A couple of scoops won’t suffice quite like the whole pint.   And with each ‘relapse’, the same 3 stages of guilt cycle through my head.   Shame – Regret – Rebirth   The ‘Shame’ and ‘Regret’ pieces speak for themselves, but it’s the ‘Rebirth’ piece I’d like to touch on a bit.   After binging on some edible delicacy, I’ll typically swear off the item for the foreseeable future   For example – last week I ate a sleeve […]

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Stop Out Eating Your Fitness Gains!

Stop Out Eating Your Fitness Gains

  Dude… I was shocked to hear how a self-proclaimed and famous ‘fat guy’ lost 60 pounds, got ripped, and became a healthier version of himself. But the more I read about his ‘how’ the more skeptical I became. I’ve tried my hand at a wide variety of fitness regimens, including the one touted as this guy’s saving grace. So I dove deeper into the facts and found out the truth… and guess what – weight loss continues to be as simple as ever.    But that don’t make it easy.    You know what would help matters most?    If people actually gave you the true skinny to how they did it. So today I’m here to decode the story written about this man’s journey and tell you what the author’s really trying to say.     Joe Thomas, a former offensive lineman with the Cleveland Browns is a […]

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“I Want to Build a Home Gym… In My Garage… Right Now”

"I Want to Build a Home Gym... In My Garage... Right Now"

  In today’s post, I’ll discuss the vitally important organizations that are dueling piano bars, my love for fitness and working out, throw in some quality GIFs, but mainly this post is a well-calculated and analytical ploy to a readership of 1. I’ll be passively-aggressively forwarding this link to my wife as my opening and closing argument for why we should need to build a home gym in our garage.   You with me?   Or, like the masses, do you think I’m a 6 out of 10 on the ‘crazy spectrum’ as well?   Let us know in the comments!     The Desire to Build a Home Gym Doesn’t Crop up out of Nowhere – Here’s my Origin Story…   Have you ever been to a dueling piano bar?   I’ve been to 2 and each time I’ve come away with sore cheeks (smiling) and no voice (singing […]

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Heads-Up! Early Retirement Can Be Bad for Your Health

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Whether you put in your 40 years with the company or are on the 10-year saving spree leading to FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) – you would be wise to glance past the finish line and consider some basic facts. It pains me to write this, but – early retirement can be bad for your health… I mean, really bad…   (Photo courtesy of MKulp Photography)   After years of hard work, early mornings, and late nights of working toward your career goals – that pot at the end of the rainbow can be one of the most dangerous ruses of your lifetime. In fact, retirement ranks in at #10 in terms of the average individuals most stressful life events (Source). Let’s start with the bad news.   Studies from these Harvard, US News and World Report, and Medical Daily articles all discuss some part of the frightening reality that early retirement has […]

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Monica’s Weight Loss Update After 2 Months on ‘The Plan’

Monica's Weight Loss Update After 2 Months on 'The Plan'

  On March 16, 2019, my wife struck fear deep into the depths of my heart when she said, “Honey – I need help losing this baby weight. I’m starting this weight loss journey and I need your help… Please.”   I wrote about how she had asked for fitness help in the past, I got a little too ‘agro’, and she ultimately quit working out with me for… oh… 7 years after that ‘incident’.   So when she reached out 2 months ago for some help losing the baby weight, I told you all how I was both terrified and excited at the same time.   I’ve worked with folks who’ve lost hundreds of pounds and also managed to lose 65 pounds – forever – myself. So, we had a bag of tricks to pull from… Which was nice.   Well – we came up with a plan and […]

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How Not to Have a Stress-Induced Heart Attack Before Age 35

How NOT To Have A Stress-Induced Heart Attack #Stress #anxiety #calm #meditate #peace

Sweaty palms, elevated heart rate, and the constant stream of incomplete yet highly punctuated thoughts… All the while, I was lying in bed thinking, “It’s 0200… GO TO SLEEP!” Which provided exactly 0% help for the situation.   Here we were with another one in a string of sleepless nights where it’s not an uncooperative child or a specific argument that’s got me all ‘riled up’ and thus not sleeping. Nope… What’s happening is an accumulation of 1,000 tiny stressors over the course of an extended period of time all compounding to produce what seems like immediate proximity to the breaking point. Whatever that means… I didn’t know how to characterize that point, just that it was near. And what seemed present on the other side didn’t sound so appealing.   (Photo courtesy of MKulp Photography)   I felt unhealthy and I needed to do something about it. But I […]

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6 Reasons Why Supersets Are God’s Gift to your Workout

Can't Exercise When you Have the Kids?? Think Again

  It seems to me that it’s getting more difficult to be a productive, happy, family oriented dude and still prioritize fitness. Maybe I’m getting a bit older (with more responsibilities – thanks adulthood) or maybe fitness isn’t as fun so it’s easier to save that one until tomorrow? In any case, I had to find a way to earn and sustain my level of fitness – to make sure I’m putting in the work but limiting my time in the gym due to all those other fatherly, workably (no – not a word), or other activities. Happening upon supersets helped me become a more efficient exerciser.   A superset is performing more than one set of an exercise in a row without stopping (i.e. doing 8 reps of bench press and then going immediately into some number of squats without pausing to catch your breath in between).     You […]

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“I Need to Lose 25 Pounds of Baby Weight – Help!”

"I Need to Lose 25 Pounds of Baby Weight - Help!" #fitness #calories #weightloss #health

    “I need to lose this baby weight but I have no idea how…” Her words both excited and terrified me at the same time. You see, my wife had asked me for fitness help in the past. And while things were great at the onset, I became more like “hardcore drill sergeant” and less like “caring and supportive husband”. Ultimately she started doing her own thing, we quit working out together, and my workouts haven’t been as spicy or fun since…   That was about 7 years ago and stasis has persisted from that moment forward.   Until today.   Today my wife was able to overcome the memory of me being an overly intense coach and the one who drove her away from P90X3 for good, all because she now faces an obstacle she’s never seen.   The woman was a track star, college volleyballer, and has […]

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Why can’t dudes do Zumba too?

Why Can't Dudes do Zumba too?? #workout #fitness #dance #zumba

Sweat is pouring off my nose while I’m struggling to hold plank position, all while waiting for the next sequence of movements. My eyes are fixed on the wooden floor below my face to avoid any awkward moments. Here comes the next sequence. Quick downward dog, back to plank, then a hip rock to the right, rock left, back to center, and hold. Mary Sue is in front of me and I want to avoid creeper status at all costs, so I stare down at the floor and await audible instruction.   Booty man (I was going to link to this song but frankly, it doesn’t pass the PG test. You get the idea by the title. If you’re crazy curious – look it up) is playing in the background and the women seem to be loving it. Me? I can’t help but feel completely out of place. After all, I’m […]

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YES – You Can Consistently Workout for FREE

Yes you can consistently workout for free

Working with clients who are fighting hard to get out of debt has opened my eyes to something I’m a little ashamed of. For the ones that scrutinize every line item in the budget and negotiate most bills received, the ability to exercise at a well-equipped gym is a luxury and if you even think about mentioning that it’s possible to workout for free, alarm bells start ringing!     I’d ask the question, “Any gym membership to work in here?” and every time there’s a short terse response – “No.” That’s usually followed by a “Are you really serious with that question?” look. Then I’d follow with, “Have you considered trying to workout for free?” …Same look…   I won’t stop with other’s experiences. My wife and I agonized over whether or not we could afford a membership fee to the local YMCA. There was the exercise equipment, sure, […]

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