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Who the heck is this…
Paging me at 5:26 in the mornin’, crack of dawn and… now I’m yawnin’…
Wipe the cold from my eye… it’s time to get up and make some gains, I won’t lie…
– Biggie (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:
Have you ever said (or heard) “it’s expensive to eat healthy”?
I know I sure have; it’s a common objection to getting into better shape.
Somehow, we’ve been led to believe you need to eat nothing but top end, organic foods from a high end grocery store, or else your efforts will be wasted.
Not only is that not the case, many times, one of the most frugal moves you can make is to start batch cooking healthy foods on the weekend.
Especially during the summer when the grills and smokers are in full effect.
It (finally) warmed up (a little bit) in Michigan, so I broke out my electric smoker for the first time last week.
I found some pork tenderloins from Costco – they cost ~$15 for 5 pounds of meat.
After 90 minutes in the smoker, they came out tender, juicy, and delicious:
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I know you’re jealous of my Anyman Fitness branded cutting board…
After I sliced up the pork tenderloin, I split the meat up into 6 portions and put them in the fridge.
Then, I went to the store and bought some potatoes and made a big batch of mashed ‘taters.
For 6 days, I had a healthy, tasty, ready-to-eat meal for lunch:
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This meal had roughly 75 grams of protein, 50 grams of carbs, and 15 grams of fat in it.
It was a well balanced, high protein meal – perfect for eating after a solid workout.
And the best part?
The total cost was under $20.
If you do the math, that works out to around $3.33 per meal.
Going to McDonald’s these days will cost you at least 2-3 times that much…
Sure, if all you’re going to eat is dry aged, US Prime Ribeyes, then you’re going to have to spend some loot.
But if you’re smart about your choices, you learn how to cook a few, basic meals, and you put forth the time and effort on the weekends to plan your week out, eating healthy isn’t expensive at all.
And a few hours out of your weekend is a fair trade for being locked and loaded with nutritious meals all week long.
N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week:
With most of us sitting at computers for the majority of our day, it’s no wonder our postures are so jacked up.
It’s an unintended consequence of our modern world, but far too many of us have postures that look like this:
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Maintaining posture is a great goal to have as you get older.
You don’t want to be the 70 year old gal or guy who looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
You want to be walking around with your chin up, your eyes forward, your shoulders back, and your posture upright.
There are a few exercises you can do to strengthen your upper back and help your posture out.
The first is the cable face pull.
You perform the cable face pull using an adjustable cable machine at your gym.
You set the rope at eye level, stand up straight, and pull the rope towards your face (hence, “face pull”), attempting to aim for your nose with the middle of the rope.
Here’s a short tutorial video showing you how it’s done.
Another upper back exercise that will improve your posture is the simple dumbbell shrug.
These are best done with a slow tempo.
Take 1-2 seconds to get to the top, hold it for 2-3 seconds, and then take another 1-2 seconds to bring the weight back down to its starting point.
I spend a lot of time on my computer working these days, so I use both cable face pulls and dumbbell shrugs in all my training programs and they work great on keeping me upright and standing up straight.
But to be honest with you, all the exercises in the world aren’t going to help you if you remain hunched over every time you sit down at your computer desk.
The best advice to sitting up straight is simple:
Sit up straight.
Seriously – just do it.
Listen to your grandma, stop slouching, sit up straight, and put your booty in the proper spot on the chair.
If you make sitting up straight a habit, it will take some getting used to, but eventually, you’ll fix your posture without the need for excessive exercise.
Having good posture is a big part of having a presence about you.
People respond to you more positively if your head is up, you’re making eye contact, and you’re acknowledging them.
If you have posture issues due to spending significant time in front of the screen while you’re working, start incorporating face pulls and shrugs into your workouts today and let me know how you like them.
N.W.A. Attitude/Mindset Tip Of The Week:
Nobody cares about you.
Do you know that?
I’m serious, too.
Outside of your immediate family and perhaps a *few* friends, nobody honestly cares about you as a person.
We walk around wondering what others are thinking about us.
We all think the people around us are making snap judgements on us, 24/7.
It’s human nature to think other people are analyzing your clothes, your physique, or your appearance.
And you know… maybe there’s a few people out there who genuinely do this.
But that doesn’t change the fact that those people who look at you for a brief second, then they pass you, then you leave their subconsciousness forever.
After that one, brief mental snapshot they take of you, you’re gone and you don’t take up any space in their minds any longer.
So, why do we care so intensely about what these random people think of us?
I will admit, I fall into the trap of “giving too many f*cks” from time to time.
It’s normal to care about what others think about you.
But be sure you’re only caring about the people who actually care about you, too.
It’s freeing to walk into the gym and realize nobody gives a shit who you are, or what you’re doing.
I hear stories from people saying they’re intimidated by the ‘gym bros’ who throw around the heavy weights.
I’m here to tell you, I’m ‘that gym bro’.
I’m 6’8″, 240 pounds.
I’m not the biggest or strongest guy at my gym, but I can hold it down with the best of ’em.
I’m sure there are people who think I’m a ‘hulking, intimidating gym bro’ and maybe they think I’m judging them myself… it wouldn’t be surprising…
I can assure you, I care about one person when I’m in the gym: Myself.
The gym is my “me time”.
It’s my few hours per day to lift hard, get some cardio in, and get myself mentally ready for the day ahead.
I’m focused 100% on what I’m doing.
I’m focused on my lifts, breathing properly, tracking my data, and of course, catching glances in the mirror to check out my awesomeness (lol).
And when someone comes up to me and asks a question, I’m always approachable and nice about it.
After all, you’re here.
And I’m here.
And we’re both here for the same thing – to get in a solid workout.
Solidarity, brother (or sister), we’re on the same team when we’re both at the gym.
Don’t allow someone else to make you feel inferior.
Everyone is a noob at some point.
Hell, I was a “New Year’s Resolutioner” many moons ago.
Even when my gym is full of new members in January, I try to remember that fact.
Fitness only needs to stick *once* in order for your entire life to be changed.
If you’re constantly worrying about what others are thinking of you, and that’s putting off you starting your own fitness journey, you can trust me.
No one cares about you.
And I hope you find that as liberating as I do.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
A “mental health day” isn’t:
-Sleeping In
-Watching TV
-Eating Out
-Drinking Wine
A “mental health day” is:
-Exercising
-Drinking Water
-Connecting With Nature/Sunlight
-Eating Healthy Food
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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This video will never not give me chills. 17 year old Christopher Wallace, freestyling on the streets of Brooklyn in 1991… (NSFW – language)