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Lock myself in the gym doing 20 sets a day for 3 summers,
That’s a different world when you got that hunger,
I deserve to be liftin’ these numbers…
– 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:
One of my favorite dieting hacks when you need to get a TON of food volume for very few calories is “The Big-Ass Salad”.
I try to eat a Big-Ass Salad once per week on the weekends – it helps me get my protein in, and gives me loads of fiber in case I want to eat out socially or have a party to go to.
The concept is simple.
Grab the following items from the grocer (these are my preferences; feel free to pick and choose):
- Spinach
- Onions
- Mushrooms
- Peppers
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
- Lean chicken breast
- Low calorie dressing (I like the yogurt based dressings myself)
And then, load ’em up in a huge bowl, give the bowl *just enough dressing* to lube the meal up and get it down, and have at it!
I like to put a full pound of chicken breast on my Big-Ass Salads in order to give me a solid 100 grams of protein in one shot.
I eat 225 grams of protein per day, so keeping my numbers high is important.
But a Big-Ass salad with lots of protein keeps me full for HOURS, and the fiber helps me stay regular.
If you’re looking for a simple way to eat a load of food, and keep your calories low, don’t sleep on the Big-Ass Salad!
Here’s a picture of me and my enormous mixing bowl full of goodness:
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N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week:
When you’re trying to build the habit of training regularly, it’s important to not make this very common mistake…
Often times, after a bit of time off, we feel we need to “make up for lost time”, and kill ourselves with our workouts.
This can be detrimental, for a few reasons.
When you’re first getting back at it, you don’t yet have discipline and/or habit when it comes to your training.
You’re relying solely on “motivation”.
This is natural – the first few weeks of any training regimen, you feel “motivated” to work out.
And as such, you might think, “I need to lift weights for an hour 5 times per week, do an hour of cardio per day, and do yoga 3 times per week since I’ve taken such a long break!”
Many people begin with a frenzied pace like this, and for a few weeks, it works just fine.
But you need to realize motivation wears off… quickly…
And after 2-3 weeks, it’s totally gone.
Those “hyped up” feelings you had at the start have now disappeared.
And you feel sore, tired, and dejected that you’re no longer “motivated” to train like you used to.
You decide to take a few days off to recover…
And a few days turns into a week…
And pretty soon, that’s it. You’re done, and you’re not working out at all any longer.
Contrast this with someone who says, “I’m going to lift weights for 40 minutes, 3 times per week, and do my best to take a walk each day.”
In this case, even when the motivation wears off, your regimen isn’t exactly “grueling”.
It’s doable and sustainable.
And even if you miss a workout, you can fit it in on one of your off days, no sweat.
Fitness is kind of like studying for a class.
What’s better?
Cramming for 10 hours the night before an exam after not studying for a month?
Or studying for 20 minutes each day and being consistent with it?
I’m sure you know the answer…
If you’re looking to build a habit, be sure you don’t overdo it from the jump.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
Work smarter, not harder, this Fall, and watch your results take off because of it.
N.W.A. Attitude/Mindset Tip Of The Week:
There are 3 unique stages to fitness:
1. The motivation stage.
2. The discipline stage.
3. The habit stage.
And each stage must be mastered in order to graduate to the next stage.
The motivation stage only lasts a few weeks.
As I said in the previous section, you can’t rely on being “motivated” forever.
Motivation is a feeling, like puppy love.
If you’ve been married for awhile like me, you understand this concept.
I’ve been with my wife for 20 years.
We no longer stare at each other and make goo-goo faces and have all the “warm fuzzies”.
That stuff ended years ago… 🙂
As such, motivation will leave you quickly.
BUT when it does, you need to rely heavily on your discipline – because the discipline stage can last a long time… sometimes, it lasts for years…
By the time the motivation is gone, you need to be in a proper routine.
You need to know what days you’ll be training, what your diet will look like each day, and decide on how to track your progress properly (I suggest taking body measurements weekly).
You then need to *force* yourself not to vary from your disciplined routine.
That’s the toughest part of this stage, and the reason why so many people fail long term.
You know the saying “it takes 3 weeks to form a habit”?
Yeah.
That’s bullshit.
It takes MUCH longer than 3 weeks to form a habit. It might take months or longer.
For me, the discipline stage lasted a full, 2 years before I was pretty sure I wouldn’t quit on my routine.
Your mileage may vary, but do know that this stage is FAR and away the most important stage.
But the good news is, once you’re through this stage, you’re golden…
Because the next stage is the habit stage.
And habits are easy – all you need to do is keep doing what you’re doing.
Once you’ve made fitness a habit, it becomes automatic.
It’s a part of what you do.
It’s like brushing your teeth.
Maybe once in awhile, you forget or fall asleep without brushing them, but it’s not like you’re never going to brush them again…
In fact, you’ll probably feel so gross, you brush them first thing in the morning and really give them a proper scrubbing!
The same thing happens when you reach the habit stage.
You start to feel “off” when you haven’t trained, and you’re certain to get back at it soon enough.
Keep these stages in mind at all times – they’re an important concept to understand.
Motivation, then discipline, and only THEN, habit.
Ride the wave and take it seriously – because once you get to the habit stage, you’re good for life. 🙂
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
Working out is for improving your performance and increasing your muscle mass.
Nutrition is for fat loss.
There’s no “fat loss workouts”, exercises, or specific time frame for workouts that leads to fat loss – because it’s done with your DIET – not what you do in the gym.
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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It took me way too long to realize this song was about Chicago, not about some girl (LOL)… (NSFW – lyrics)