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I drink a… protein shake for breakfast, and smash a ribeye for dessert,
I eat my protein pancakes with extra no-sugar syzurp,
Getting your protein in can drive a sane man beserk,
Not to worry, I’ll keep doin’ it, ‘cuz I know it’s gonna wizerk…
– Kanye (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:
It’s a struggle for me to get all of my protein in.
I’m a big guy, 6’8″, 240 pounds, and I try to eat 225 grams of protein each day.
That means if I want to get all of my protein in via animal flesh, I need to eat around 2 pounds of meat each and every day.
Unfortunately, whey shakes do a number on my stomach.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become sensitive to dairy and I can’t eat too much of it.
Even one whey shake per day gives me issues, and the bloating and discomfort just isn’t worth it.
For years, I used pea protein shakes as an alternative.
They tasted pretty decent, and they were a solid workaround.
However, it always bugged me a bit because I knew pea protein shakes weren’t as bioavailable as whey or animal products.
They also have a lower leucine content, and leucine is an essential amino acid for building muscle and recovery.
I recently made a discovery I want to share with you – egg white protein powder.
Eggs are the most bioavailable protein source there is.
That means nearly all of the eggs you eat get used in the recovery and anabolic processes.
About a month ago, I switched to egg white protein in my shakes, and the results have been clear and obvious.
My workouts are better, and I’m recovering from my workouts easily.
I feel fuller and thicker, and I can sense a denseness in my muscles I was previously lacking – my pumps in the gym are on another level right now.
If you have stomach issues with whey, I highly suggest trying egg white protein out.
There are a few caveats, though.
The consistency is… different. It’s a bit oily, and the shakes can be a tad “foamy”, if you will.
The taste isn’t bad, but it’s not whey.
But then again, nothing tastes like whey shakes – they’re basically like drinking a milkshake.
It’s also a little bit pricier than whey or pea protein is as well.
And finally… well… it takes a few weeks for your digestive system to get used to.
At the start, I had some really sulfurous gas, but my body quickly adjusted to it (TMI?).
I’m glad I did adjust to it, too, because I was sure my wife was going to put the axe on it if it kept up (lol, sorry for the details there).
This is the brand I use – I buy it off of Amazon.
This isn’t an affiliate link, only a recommendation to a product I know and enjoy.
I combine 2 scoops of protein, a banana, creatine, glutamine, and 2 scoops of cocoa powder, put it in a blender, and mix it up each evening so it’s ready to go in the morning.
If you’ve been struggling to get your protein in, and whey isn’t doing it for you, consider giving egg white protein a try and letting me know how you like it.
N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week:
Lately, I’ve been getting better results in the gym from doing a bit less than I normally do.
Most of the time, if I have a strength based movement or exercise, I program 3 sets for myself.
I’ve found my training intensity has gotten a lot higher by scaling back to 2 sets per exercise.
This has also allowed me to recover more quickly, and gain strength more rapidly.
If you’re pushing yourself to the upper limits of your intensity, you don’t need a ton of volume or work.
Especially so if you’ve been training for years and you can move some decent poundage.
I’ve spent 10 years “under the bar”, so to speak, and after you have some gym miles on your body, you need to train smarter, and not harder.
I kept finding it too difficult to maintain a sky high intensity level for all 3 sets.
If I went as hard as I could for the first 2 sets, I was gassed by set 3.
I had to hold back a bit on the 2nd set or the 3rd set would suffer as a result.
Simply eliminating that 3rd set has made a big difference in my workouts, and my mental approach as well.
It’s easier to handle an exercise if you know you have just *two* extremely intense working sets.
It also forces you to really give it all you’ve got – you only have 2 sets to get your work in, so you’d best push as hard as you can.
If you’re struggling to make consistent strength jumps from workout to workout, consider scaling back on your intensity and pushing yourself a bit harder for each set.
Training your muscles to total failure is a requirement when trying to gain muscle.
Work smarter, not harder, “more” isn’t always “better” when it comes to fitness.
N.W.A. Attitude/Mindset Tip Of The Week:
Never compare yourself to someone else.
There will ALWAYS be someone bigger, stronger, leaner, or more jacked than you.
I’m sure you’ve heard that before.
It’s a common trope for us fitness dudes.
But this concept took on a whole, new life for me at the gym last week…
Check out this picture:
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Now, I also want you to keep in mind this… I am 6’8″, 240 pounds…
This is Omos, a WWE superstar.
He walked into our gym last week, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and did a double take.
It’s not often I feel small, but the sheer size of this man threw me for a loop.
I don’t watch professional wrestling, so I didn’t know who he was.
I had to meet him, though, so I walked up and introduced myself.
He was super cool; his real name is Jordan, but he goes by Omos when he’s wrestling.
He was cool about having his picture taken – I just had to ask – it’s not often I feel like a little shrimp, but Jordan made me feel that way, 100%.
After we took the picture, I looked up just how big this dude was.
Apparently, Jordan is 7’3″ tall, and he weighs 400 pounds.
And he was NOT fat at all – he was a rock solid 400 pounds.
Shaking his hand was like having a bear claw swallow my hand whole.
It was honestly a pretty cool experience; one I don’t get that often given my own size.
When I tell other people to stop comparing themselves to others, sometimes they’ll say, “That’s easy for you, Jason, you’re enormous!”
Well, this is a great example that sometimes, I’m the Beta and not the Alpha…
Because anywhere Jordan is, he’s the Alpha, period.
After I met him, I just continued my workout and stayed out of his way.
I didn’t want him to pluck my head off my neck like a grape from a vine or anything… 🙂
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
Want to start to enjoy things you hate?
Do them, and lean into them.
The more you work at improving something, the more pride you have in your work.
Becoming adept at things you hate to do can help you love the things you used to hate.
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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Man, when this track came out, I was so psyched. Tupac was joining Dre and Snoop, and Death Row Records was on top of the rap world.
I wish those guys were still around now. They’d be the OG’s of gangsta rap, living the high life, and having a blast.
Taken too soon… (NSFW – language)