Subscribe to the NWA Newsletter Here
Here’s a little lifter short in size,
T-shirts and gym shorts are his only disguise,
Built like a tree, and hard to miss,
Coach J and Anyman Fitness cold runnin’ sh*t!
– Ice Cube (probably)
If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.
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.
.
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?
|
|
N.W.A. Nutrition Tip Of The Week
Never put the cart in front of the horse.
Never “major in the minors”.
These 2 sayings basically mean the same thing – never worry about “the small stuff” until you have NAILED the “big” stuff.
It’s easy to get caught up in the small details of dieting.
But those small details don’t mean jack sh*t if the main components of dieting aren’t taken care of FIRST.
There is a distinct hierarchy of what matters when it comes to dieting – here is the order of importance of what you should focus on:
- Your overall calorie intake.
- Your macronutrient composition (mainly, are you getting enough protein?)
- The quality of the food you eat (vitamins, minerals, elements, hydration, fiber, etc)
- Your meal timing (are you fasting? Eating 3 meals/day? 5 small meals?”)
- Your supplementation regimen
.
Those are in the proper order of importance as well.
I’ve been involved in the fitness space for 12 years, and I’ve been coaching others for 10 of those years… so listen very closely…
The Top 3 items on this list are the ONLY items that really matter.
And I’ll fill you in on a little secret… you could make the argument that #3, the quality of the food you eat… only matters a little bit.
Especially when it comes to fat loss…
If you simply stay in a calorie deficit and eat plenty of protein, you’re going to be good to go from a fat loss and health perspective.
That’s really all it takes.
If you want to be sure your diet is well rounded and healthy, here’s all the advice you need from that category:
- Eat foods in their natural, unprocessed states
- Meat, dairy, fruit, veggies, rice, and potatoes should make up 90% of your diet.
- Avoid processed junk food like the plague
.
There.
I just simplified everything you need to know about proper nutrition.
The rest is just details.
If you’re currently 20+ pounds overweight, and you’re worrying about:
- White rice vs brown rice
- White potatoes vs sweet potatoes
- Organic pasta vs regular pasta
- Bananas vs blueberries
.
Etc, etc, etc – you are “majoring in the minors”.
You’re putting a huge emphasis on things that don’t really matter, when you should be laser focused on getting into a consistent, daily deficit, eating enough protein, and getting the excess body fat off of you.
If you accomplish that goal, and you still want to work on improving things, sure, go ahead and worry about the little details.
But until then, forget them, and get to work.
IF you need a kickstart, Full Access: Anyman Fitness will shred fat faster than you’d ever believe. The average client loses 15 pounds and 3″ off their waist in the first 6 weeks of working with us.
You can join our squad for just $20 for your first month here.
N.W.A. Workout Tip Of The Week
If you have lower back pain, today’s workout tip is for you.
I’d like to introduce you to one of the most helpful pieces of machinery you’ll find at the gym – the back hyperextension machine:
|
|
My lower back gets tender pretty regularly.
I guess I’m not a spring chicken any more… any time I compress my spine, eventually, I end up paying the price.
For movements like back squats and hack squats, I need to be careful not to go too heavy, or else I frequently have pain in that area.
When I feel a tinge in that area, I immediately start incorporating slow, controlled, back extensions into my sessions.
I simply do 2 sets of 15 back extensions before I begin my session, and 2 sets of 15 back extensions at the end of my session.
Within a week or two, nearly all of my pain is gone.
Why are back extensions so effective at eliminating back pain?
For a simple reason..
Healing an area is all about promoting proper blood flow to that area.
The more movement, and the more you take your body through the entire, full range of motion, the more blood flow you get to that region.
The more blood flow you get to that region, the quicker your body will naturally heal itself.
The lower back isn’t an area that gets a lot of blood flow naturally.
We seldom move and stretch our lower backs unless we do so intentionally.
Which is exactly why doing back extensions helps eliminate your pain so effectively.
Forget ice, and forget “rest” – the old recommendations for “RICE” (rest, ice, compression, elevation) are outdated.
Those recommendations promote blood restriction, the opposite of what we want.
If you have frequent lower back issues, I would suggest the following:
- 2-4 sets of 15, slow, controlled reps of back extensions per day.
- Walking an hour each day at a brisk pace.
- Using a heating pad for 20 minutes 1-2 times per day.
.
This simple, 3 pronged approach works amazingly well.
If you’re struggling to reduce lower back pain, give it a shot, and let me know how it works for you.
Looking to shred fat and start transforming your body?
We got you, just take a look at the hundreds of people we’ve helped.
You can get your 1st month of Full Access: Anyman Fitness for just 20 bucks at this link.
N.W.A. Mindset Tip Of The Week
One of the biggest changes I’ve made in my personal life in 2023 is I’ve emphasized full sobriety.
I’ve currently gone:
- 88 days without any marijuana or THC
- 76 days without any alcohol
.
I’ve had sobriety “streaks” before, but this is the longest streak I’ve had in my adult life.
That’s a pretty sad statement if you think about it… I’m 42 years old and 66 days is the longest I’ve been 100% sober since I was 18 years old.
Yikes…
A lot of people out there are what I call “low key alcoholics”.
No, they aren’t coming home from work and getting blasted every night.
They might not even drink at all during the week.
But on most Fridays, Saturdays, and even Sundays, they’re having drinks to the point of being “buzzed up” or drunk.
It’s more of a habitual thing than anything else, and I definitely fell into that category.
I suppose the habit starts in college for most people (it did for me).
The “bar nights” began on Thursday night, and usually we ended up drinking on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
And perhaps the occasional, random weekday night as well.
After college, I started my career as a teacher.
I didn’t want to teach hungover (I’ve done that before and it’s awful), so I cut back to just Friday and Saturday nights.
But that habit had remained in my life for pretty much the last 25 or so years.
Very few weekend nights passed without consuming alcohol, and often, I’d consume enough to feel buzzed up (or more).
In January, my best friend Matt passed away from the effects of alcoholism.
This caused me to take stock of my own life, and what’s really important to me.
Being the analytical person I am, I decided to make a Pros/Cons list when it comes to drinking.
It went like this…
Here are the “Pros” to drinking:
- I enjoy the taste
- I enjoy the feeling of being buzzed
.
That’s it. I couldn’t come up with any other “Pros” to drinking booze.
Then, it was time for the “Cons” to drinking:
- Empty calories
- Messes up your digestion
- Elevated heart rate
- Impaired sleep
- Decreased rates of fat loss
- Negatively impacts training recovery
- Increased anxiety
- Increased blood pressure
- Increased depression
- Affects mental health/depression negatively
- Negative impact on mood
- Increased cancer risk
- Less productive at work
- Decreased motivation
- Increased brain fog
- Expensive habit/less money
- Dehydrates you
- Poor dietary choices after drinking
.
I’m sure there are more, too, but those are the ones I came up with off the top of my head.
After looking at this laundry list of negative effects of booze, I won’t lie – I was pretty disgusted with myself.
It was so clear that going sober would be a huge advantage in my life, and general well being.
So, I stopped drinking (and using any THC/marijuana as well) entirely.
It wasn’t even that difficult… after seeing my best friend pass away from substance abuse, and seeing all the negative effects written out like that, I didn’t even want to have a drink.
Since this section is already getting a bit windy, I’m not going to dive into all the benefits I’ve noticed over the past 2-3 months.
But trust me… there are plenty… and I’ll fill you in on them in the future.
For now, I’m going to take things day by day and continue to reflect on my relationship between alcohol, substances, and the way I’ve used them in the past.
Stay tuned… and wish me luck… 🙂
Looking for motivation and killer results?
You can check out our testimonials page here to see what kind of results you can expect from our program. We’ve worked with everyone from NYT best selling authors, to business owners, to teachers, to stay at home moms and dads (and grandparents!).
And you can get your 1st month of Full Access: Anyman Fitness for just 20 bucks at this link.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
It is objectively less expensive to eat healthy than it is to dine out.
Even fast food is way more expensive than cooking for a family of 4-5 if you’re smart.
People are lazy and can’t be bothered to cook. That’s all there is to it.
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
Read the N.W.A. Newsletter Archives
Client Testimonials and Results
Get it, Kendrick, tell ’em why you don’t drink. (NSFW – language)