Within the Health & Fitness industry, there are many options of improvement.
You have exercise, diet, lifestyle changes, mindset, and numerous other avenues.
And you have many vehicles to get you to those desired improvements.
But, if you’re not devoting your time to becoming a scholar of the industry, and developing into a moderator for objective information, there’s an unfortunately high chance you can get caught up in the minutiae.
The fitness industry is booming, and I mean booming.
Everywhere you look there’s an ad or potential gimmick for a “get fit quick” scheme, or an unreasonable promise for radical fat loss in a minimal amount of time.
That’s marketing, and it’s the day and age we live in. It’s beautiful, but it’s also a trap for many.
These are meant to appeal to our triggers.
Of course we want to get our desired results as fast as possible, isn’t it ignorant to assume we’d want to wait for what we want?
I see so many people get so disappointed in themselves, when they’ve invested the time, effort, and money, only to progress to a thinner bank account.
I am here to be your conduit of objective information.
I have an obligation to explain to you what you need, what you might want, and what to rid from your thoughts based on your goals, preferences, and lifestyle.
I will explain (as simply as possible) what to do (and not).
Let’s begin, class:
- Stop thinking about doing something, do it.
If you’re pondering how to begin a diet, or exercise program, or whatever it may be, you’re delaying the process which needs to take place. You’re pushing back the day that you will actualize what you’ve been desiring.
Start. It doesn’t matter if you’re not on the best plan, or if the nutrition program isn’t perfect for you; you won’t know that until you experience it. Begin first, and then course correct as needed. But the first step is a first step.
2. Get a plan.
Get yourself some guidelines to follow; get an exercise program, calculate some calories and macros, or choose a diet to stick to (we’ll touch on this much more in depth, just know it’s necessary). There are thousands of free exercise programs to follow online, thousands. You can hire a coach to write you one, you can just google it and you’ll be rewarded with an abundance (I also have a free bodyweight program, you know, it’s pretty sweet, if you know…you’re like..into that sorta thing). You have a goal in mind, so align your exercise and nutrition with that goal.
3. Stick to it.
Adhere to what you’ve chosen, be consistent. Almost anything will work if you do it with the diligence and drive you would as if there were dire consequences. Treat the time and money wasted, and the mental and psychological strain as dire consequences; avoid it. The best program in the entire universe is the one you will stick to – exercise or nutrition (& many other categories). Don’t just give up, or waiver from the plan because you had a hiccup, were forced to miss a day, attended a party and over consumed, etc. That’s a minor setback in the grand scheme, don’t allow it to consume more of your potential.
4. Metrics, metrics, metrics.
Take notes, track metrics. This might be the biggest cause of upset, and failure for many. If you don’t write your accomplishments for your workout, and your daily intake, what do you know? You have a guesstimate. Guesstimates make things more difficult in reality, but in mentality they’re just easier for you. Easy doesn’t get you results, simple does, but not easy. For the program you have, and the diet you’re following, have note sections, a journal, a planner, use your phone, just talk it into the notes section of your phone if you want to. You’ll be much more confident, and prepared if you go into this weeks workouts with the understanding of how last week went, what you struggled with, and the total account of what you actually did. If you’re professor is asking you to take notes, would you? I’m your professor. All too often I see people doing arbitrary workouts from week to week, and when progress stalls, they’re a bit lost, maybe even upset. If you have nothing to look at to show your progression, maybe you went in and didn’t feel as energized, and did less. You felt better once you left, because you did the workout, but in reality to get to that point you cut a few corners – which is ok sometimes! You just need to know when you do that, because next week knowing those numbers will make for simple improvements.
5. Become a minimalist.
You don’t need new shoes to get going. You don’t need 27 new supplements. You don’t have to have gloves, chalk, lifting shoes, new headphones, the fanciest and newest exercise equipment, a new closet full of shit you think will make you look better. You just need you. Now, if any of those get you into the headspace that “you’re doing this” and then you adhere exponentially better, then by all means, do you booboo. But it’s important to understand that. A lot of people go into it thinking that “stuff” is a necessity, and it’s not. I choose to reward myself, and I give my clients the go-ahead to do as they wish – but, I always explain the tie-up with accessorizing, and supplementing, and distracting yourself from the task at hand. You’ll be surprised what you can do with some old t-shirts, consistency, bodyweight, and whole food nutrition.
6. Avoid gimmicks.
If you’re looking to improve a bit more, maybe you’ve already gotten to a point where you’re comfortable, but want to see more progression and you start looking into supplements and whatnot. Nutrition will always play the biggest role, but with supplements (supplement- something that completes or enhances something else when added to it) there are a few that can certainly help. Beware of schemes, teas, waist trainers, and other clickbait aimed at our “ooo shiny” attention spans.
- Protein powder can certainly help you get your protein intake to where it needs to be, but in reality it’s not necessary after a workout, the window for elevated protein synthesis is up to a couple of hours, so eat a nice dinner post workout if you prefer (I keep some myself to be sure I can hit my protein numbers). I utilize my protein powder sometimes throughout the day to add to other shakes, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, etc and it’s definitely aided me in keeping me from under eating protein, and overeating the energy macros (carbs and fats). My protein recommendation
- Creatine is proven to actually help increase performance, size and strength, it’s one of the few to actually work, and it’s very affordable. My creatine recommendation
- Fish oils EPA/DHA will help your joints, heart, brain, gut, and provide copious anti-inflammatory benefits. For many they’re an absolute necessity, and I recommend them almost as a rule of thumb. The best you can get
- BCAA’s and amino acids you should leave on the shelf. Its been proven getting your amino acids via whole food sources while maintaining balanced nutrition is superior.
- Multivitamins I don’t typically recommend, mostly because they should be taken in the diet from whole food sources. Also, some people need a specific vitamin or mineral they may be be deficient in, so taking a multivitamin will most likely do nothing because they’ll be ingesting the needed vitamins opposition also. That leads to essentially cancelling out the needed vitamin, and providing minimal to no benefit.
- Probiotics and prebiotics I would recommend, but don’t spend tons of money of the supplements, focus on fermented food sources. Greek yogurt, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, tempeh, probiotic pickles, and traditional buttermilk. Your gut is an entire rabbit hole we’ll delve into some day soon, but just know taking care of the billions of bacteria in your gut have a tremendous impact. Your gut is your “second brain”, and has quite a bit to do with performance and productivity from an overall standpoint – mental, physical, psychological, and emotional. Not to mention it’s where most nutrients are absorbed in your body, so increased absorption and simpler digestion is a remarkable benefit linked directly to gut health. To get the full benefit of the probiotics, you need prebiotics to feed them. We cannot digest prebiotic fiber, they’re left to feed the probiotics. So consuming whole food sources such as bananas, leeks, garlic, onions, Jerusalem artichokes, oats, apples, barley, asparagus, jicama root, and carrots will cover most of your bases. My digestion supplement (ignore the “detox” part -__-)” and Another probiotic option
- Digestive enzymes are becoming quite popular, which isn’t surprising because of the foods we eat, and how we eat can cause some digestive stress. If you feel that you have trouble digesting, often experience bloat, gassiness, or feel you’re dietarily inefficient (I’m going to coin that), digestive enzymes taken with meals may definitely be of service to you. Simple enzyme recommendation
- Bone broths and collagen is great for your joints, guts, hair, skin, nails, tissue repair, and even some cellular functions. I recommend cooking with bone broths or stocks, we cook all of your rice, pasta, and ground meats in them and it’s delicious for one, but also a great protein addition as well as beneficial for the aforementioned reasons. I use collagen protein powder sometimes as well, though it can be expensive. For ladies, it’s certainly great for hair skin and nails also, (wifey loves it). This might be most prehistoric of supplements, as we as cavemen would break the bones of animals for the marrow (see, I’m your professor). Best collagen and bone broth powder which makes gnarly lattes
- Pre-workouts are incredibly popular, and some people feel that if they don’t take pre-workout before they train, they “just can’t” get through a workout. That’s surely a problem, because there should never be such reliance on any “supplement”. Caffeine is a proven performance enhancer, and it’s stimulates your central nervous system (CNS) which we certainly want during exercise. There are many other additives in pre-workouts, many of which are meant to give you the feeling of a mild cocaine rush mixed with an innate need to push more weight than you can, all while glimpsing in the mirror at yourself, and others offering GI distress. It’s selling a feeling, which you think you need to perform. You do not, I promise you. Get wild with some mushroom coffee
- Greens powder can help if you have trouble getting your vegetables in daily, and you feel you may missing certainly nutrients. This can possibly take the place of a multivitamin, and there are many types of greens powder. Some offer enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, and more. I do take greens powder myself, as it can be tough to always get the micronutrients needed, so I feel you. This can make a mean smoothie with some frozen fruit, too
- Detoxes, teas, waist trainers, cult supplements, get fit quick schemes – all bullshit. There isn’t a tea that will make you shredded ( I do enjoy a nice cup of tea in the evenings though). Detoxes are a waste unless prescribed by a doctor for a medical reason, all you’ll do is lose water weight, down-regulate your metabolism from severe calorie reduction which will result in a loss of a few pounds from glycogen storage, and water. I was asked about a waist trainer last week, still! It should be considered criminal for someone to market a look to women and sell them a product that squeezes their ribs and shifts their organs.
There you have it, folks. That should steer you in the right direction, led by yourself (and I), and not tempted, and manipulated by impulses and ploys.
Thank you for reading, please comment, or reach out and connect with me!
If you received value from this post, please, please, please share it! I’m obligated to share this objective information, so the more I can reach the more I can help (:
Thank you,
Coach Cody