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Smashed those weights and hit the showers,
Didn’t even get no hatin’ from the cowards,
‘Cuz yesterday those fools tried to clown me,
I deadlifted 400, though, and they gasped when they saw me…
– Ice Cube (probably)
Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.
Each Friday’s N.W.A. Newsletter will have 3 parts:
- A Nutritional Tip to help make your diet healthier and easier to stick to.
- A Workout Tip to help make your training sessions more effective and fun.
- An Attitude/Mindset tip to help you strengthen your greatest asset – your mental toughness.
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I will also give you my single favorite piece of social media content from AF over the past week and link to it on either Instagram or Twitter.
Without any further ado… let’s get started, shall we?
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N.W.A. Nutrition Tip Of The Week
Everyone wants to talk about “balance” when it comes to fitness.
Which I get… nobody wants to live a life where fitness IS their life.
I firmly believe fitness shouldn’t even be something you think about.
It should be something you “set and forget” and it should blend in seamlessly with your daily actions.
But I’ve noticed a trend with almost everyone who has maintained a high level of fitness over the years.
Almost everyone I’ve come into contact with who’s gotten fit – and stayed fit – went through a period of “unhealthy obsession” in their lives.
It usually happens when fitness finally “clicks” for them.
Myself included.
In 2011, when I really got serious with my diet and training, I became obsessed with doing everything perfectly.
Every day, I would track my macronutrients meticulously, and hit them on the dot.
Every training session, I would push myself to the absolute limit – and I never missed workouts.
It was a bit like a drug to me… in the best, possible way.
For the first time in my life, I was seeing killer results, and it was intoxicating to finally be doing fitness “right”.
But I’m pretty sure I drove the people around me crazy!
On Saturday mornings, I would wake up and immediately ask my wife, “Hey, where are we eating dinner tonight? I need to pick a meal, look up the nutrition, and plan my macros around it.”
I would be met with a strange stare that said, “What on earth is wrong with you?” (LOL!)
These days, I no longer track my intake, nor am I obsessive about getting the perfect macronutrient blend into my system.
I’ve been doing this for so long, it comes naturally to me.
With my current eating system, if I don’t snack, I lose weight.
If I eat bigger meals and don’t snack, I maintain my weight.
If I eat bigger meals AND snack, I gain weight.
I use this to my advantage; it’s pretty easy to stay at a healthy bodyweight when you have your calories and protein pretty much locked in.
But there’s no way I could maintain my weight easily without going through that “obsessive” time period in my life.
I’m grateful for the lessons learned, even if one of those lessons was “chill out, dude, or your wife is going to be super annoyed”…
Don’t fear “obsession”.
Some of the greatest accomplishments in history have happened because somehow, somewhere, someone became “obsessed” and they used that fuel to drive them to do great things.
N.W.A. Fitness Tip Of The Week
One of my favorite things about machines is all the “tricks” you can do with them.
Since balancing the weight isn’t an issue, you can push well past failure, and give yourself a killer growth stimulus.
The same can’t be said for dumbbells and barbells, especially when they get heavy.
If you push past failure too far, you could end up injuring yourself.
One of my all-time favorite rep schemes to use with machines are called “Myoreps”.
We use Myoreps in a number of our group coaching workouts.
They’re an excellent way to really tax your muscles in a short time period – and they give you a killer pump, too!
Here’s how they work:
Choose a weight you are pretty sure you can do 20, slow, controlled reps with.
After you do those 20 reps, rack the weight and wait a STRICT 5 seconds.
Then, do 5 more reps.
Then, another strict 5 seconds.
Then, 5 more reps…
Continue in this fashion for 7 sets total – the 20 rep first set, and then 6 sets of 5 reps.
You will be doing 50 reps in total.
If you accomplish all 50 reps, that’s your cue to move up in weight for your next session.
Some of my best growth has come from doing Myoreps.
In my current training program (Machine Muscle Madness from Full Access: Anyman Fitness), I’m doing Myoreps for leg presses and shoulder presses, both on machines.
You should see me wobble after the leg presses… woah, boy, those give a wicked quad pump!
Mix in some Myoreps to any area you’d like to see some growth in – biceps, triceps, quads, glutes, shoulders, chest… it’s totally your call.
If you give it 6-8 weeks of consistency, you’ll be surprised by how much you grow from Myoreps – they’re brutal, in the best possible way.
N.W.A. Mindset Tip Of The Week
Your current physical state might not be entirely your fault, but it’s 100% your responsibility.
This is a fact; there’s no way around it.
Perhaps your family didn’t emphasize proper nutrition and exercise when you were younger.
Maybe you existed on fast food and frozen pizzas.
Maybe nobody was very active, and there were processed foods everywhere.
Maybe you didn’t have any positive role models to look up to when it came to your health…
That really sucks if it’s true.
One of the most important duties of a parent is to teach their kids about proper nutrition and activity.
And not in an overbearing way, either.
We never discuss physiques, calories, or macros in our house.
But we do our best to regularly discuss good habits.
We try to avoid snacking, or eat healthy snacks.
We discuss what an “everyday food” is, what an “every once in awhile” food is, and what a “for rare treats only” food is.
We’re not perfect (nobody is), but we do our best to ensure our kids are healthy and active.
But what if that’s not how you grew up?
Well… frankly, I didn’t grow up that way, either…
Delivered pizzas were the norm.
Bags of burgers were picked up from Wendy’s every Friday night.
Nutrition was never mentioned – it just wasn’t something that was on my parents’ radar.
That doesn’t mean they were bad parents or anything.
It just wasn’t something they emphasized or we discussed as a family.
I had to learn about nutrition and exercise myself; nobody helped me do it.
And back in 2011 when I was getting into fitness, I didn’t have a fancy subscription to a free, helpful newsletter like this one, either… 😉
But one thing is for certain… nobody is coming to save you.
It’s something you have to do for yourself.
You have to decide that you’re ready to become the best version of yourself possible, and you need to start taking action.
There’s no way around it.
Fitness is the ONLY domain on earth where anyone can be successful.
Seriously – anyone.
It doesn’t take a ton of intelligence, a college degree, a bunch of money, or a privileged upbringing.
It only takes effort and consistency, nothing more.
Take comfort in the fact that you WILL be a fit, healthy person… as soon as YOU decide you want to make it a priority in your life.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
A “keto cookie” is just a cookie.
An “organic peanut butter cup” is just candy.
“Natural quinoa chips” are just chips.
Don’t be confused by marketing.
Processed crap is processed crap.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Anyman Fitness N.W.A. Newsletter.
I’ll be back next week.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Best,
Coach J
Anyman Fitness
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