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When the pre-workout’s in the system,
Ain’t no tellin’ when I lift, I don’t miss em…
That’s what I be yelling,
I’m a lifter by blood, not relation, y’all be chasin’, my creation…
– Jay-Z (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:
When it’s time to diet, we all have an idea of what that means.
Salads, more protein, less carbs/fats, and a reduction of snacking (hopefully).
In general, most of us have a pretty good idea of what we need to do in order to get into better shape.
Sadly, not much attention is paid to “the diet after the diet”, and that’s the part where so many people run into issues…
In 2022, there’s so many options and choices for your diet.
It seems like many of them have a gimmick.
Everything is either “low” this or “high” that.
Many diets, such as fasting protocols, shorten your eating window, only allowing you food during certain times of the day.
While each diet can work for some people, no diet will work for everyone.
This is why it’s up to you to be sure that the way you “diet” is the way you can eat “forever”.
You need to be certain the “diet after the diet” is something you can sustain.
While it may seem trendy to hop on a super low carb diet like Keto or perhaps even Carnivore, think of the sustainability with those diets.
Any diet that eliminates or greatly restricts your choices isn’t going to work long term for you.
And with Keto and Carnivore, entire food groups are eliminated.
Heck, with Carnivore specifically, even VEGETABLES are eliminated… if that ain’t batshit crazy, I don’t know what is…
When clients reach their body fat goals, we discuss how to transition into maintenance and/or muscle building, depending on what their long term goals are.
We use flexible dieting as our nutritional plan for clients.
We give each client recommendations to aim for – we tell them approximately how many grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fats they should be getting into their system each day.
This makes transitioning to a maintenance phase relatively effortless.
And it also ensures that “the diet after the diet” remains in tact.
When you’re on a super restrictive diet, what’s the first thing you think of about being “off your diet” after you reach your goals?
You think about all those goodies you couldn’t eat while you were dieting, correct?
That negates the entire purpose of finding out a sustainable and healthy way of eating for life; and finding a healthy way to eat – for LIFE – should be your “North Star” – your ‘ultimate goal’ for your nutrition, if you will.
The best diet for you is the diet you can keep doing, even after you’ve leaned out as much as you wish.
When you switch to maintenance or a bulking scenario, you don’t alter your diet drastically.
You simply eat more of the same, healthy foods you ate while you were on the diet.
Sure, you’ll have a bit more wiggle room if you’d like to enjoy a treat from time to time, but the basics remain.
Your “diet after your diet” should be pretty darn similar to your “dieting diet”, you just get to eat a bit more.
If you’re trying to slam a square peg into a round hole and eat foods you hate… or you’re trying to deprive you of all the foods you love… it’s time to come to your senses and search for a different approach.
While some people may not want to put forth the time and effort to track their intake, one thing cannot be denied:
Doing so ensures you eat *only* foods that YOU personally love and enjoy.
And you’ll get results at the same time.
Which is exactly what you should be trying to accomplish anyways.
N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week:
I’ve heard it’s “expensive” to work out.
Gym memberships aren’t cheap, and building a home gym can cost thousands of dollars.
Pelotons practically require a bank loan.
And Tonal machines aren’t exactly cheap, either…
I agree, if you think you need top of the line equipment or gym memberships, sure, perhaps the cost barrier to getting in shape can be high.
That being said, there’s a LOT you can do with your fitness that costs nothing…
Here’s a short list of things you can do – today – that will cost you $0.00 and help you get into better shape:
- Walking
- Jogging
- Going on a bike ride
- Push-Ups
- Pull-Ups
- Hill Walks/Sprints
- Bodyweight Squats
- Walking Lunges
- Bodyweight Thrusters
- Core Work (leg raises, crunches, planks/side planks, etc)
One of my buddies recently texted me annoyed he hasn’t been able to get into the gym lately.
He said he just hasn’t had the time considering he has 3 young children.
While I empathized with him, I pushed back a little bit and told him:
“Want a killer workout that doesn’t require the gym?
Do 5 sets of push-ups to absolute failure with 1 minute between sets.
Then, do 100-200 Bodyweight Squats as quickly as you can, resting as needed.
The entire workout will take you 20-25 minutes, it requires no equipment, and you’ll feel amazing afterwards.”
For centuries, we built strength and muscle using only our bodies, out in the sun.
It’s only the last 50 or so years that gyms and heavy weights have become the norm for society.
You can get a great workout in using just your body.
And during the summer months when the sun is shining, get outside and get those workouts in in the fresh air.
A little extra vitamin D never hurt anyone!
N.W.A. Attitude/Mindset Tip Of The Week:
Lately, I’ve been noticing how unsatisfied most people are.
Life satisfaction is an important metric.
Sure, we always want to be looking to improve ourselves, but we should take pride and satisfaction in what we’ve accomplished in life so far.
As you get older, the things you’re satisfied by will change.
When you’re younger, perhaps graduating high school or college was satisfying.
Or finally turning in that dissertation so you can get your Master’s Degree.
Or maybe training hard for a sporting event or competition could give you satisfaction after pushing your body to perform better.
Somewhere along the lines, many of us have lost that sense of pride and satisfaction in our daily lives.
While the exact cause is multi-faceted and depends on the individual, in my eyes, there’s a glaring omission many of us have.
The best way to feel satisfied is to work hard towards building something you want.
That something could be physical, like a business, your body, a home project, or fixing up a car in your spare time.
That something could be abstract, like a degree that will further your career, a promotion, or a better relationship with your children.
But no matter what you’re building – or building towards – it’s important that you’re building *something* in your life.
There’s nothing more satisfying than starting a long term, difficult project, and seeing it all the way through to the end.
But many of us graduate college, get into the “real world”, and it seems from there on out, they’re just “existing”.
We punch the timeclock from 8-5, grab our fast food on the way home, watch our Netflix, and collect our paychecks every 2 weeks.
There’s not much going on after that, other than looking at the calendar, wondering how many more years we have until we can retire.
Something is missing – and that something is exactly what you should be searching for.
Pick a goal this weekend – a BIG goal.
A goal you’ve always wanted to accomplish.
And ask yourself, “What is the first step to accomplishing this goal?”
Every goal starts with the same thing: A first step.
Baby steps, moving slowly, just a little bit at a time provides us with a positive feedback loop.
We have a good day and we feel accomplished.
That feeling is addicting, and it makes us want to keep moving in a positive direction.
We only have one life.
Be sure you’re making it count.
If you’re struggling with life satisfaction yourself, what are you currently building or working towards?
And if you don’t have an answer, it’s time to find one… 🙂
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
If you want to lose as much weight as you can *right now*, do cardio.
If you want to learn how to be lean for life, and stay that way forever, lift weights regularly.
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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Just a classic track; I can spit every rhyme of that first verse… (NSFW – language)