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When I was just a little baby boy,
My bros used to take me to the gym to lift,
I didn’t know what I was doing, I was clueless,
But man, what a wonderful gift.
And when I got a little bit older and I realized,
Lifting was kinda fun,
There was nothing they could do or say to try to change me,
I lifted just to build my guns.
– Eminem (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 week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.
Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…
Without any further ado, let’s get started..
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N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week
Weightlifting should be the cornerstone of your training program.
Every training program, really.
If you’re not lifting weights consistently, and trying to get stronger each week, you’re missing out on incredible benefits.
But it’s not just the standard benefits you will enjoy.
We (hopefully) all know lifting:
- Raises your metabolism
- Improves your stress levels
- Increases your muscle mass
- Protects you from injury as you age
- Helps you look better naked
- Gives you more confidence
- Increases your longevity
.
I want to talk specifically about one benefit of strength training:
Lifting as a methodology has more carryover to other domains than any other athletic endeavor in existence.
Lifting weights is a “force multiplier”.
It will amplify all other aspects of your fitness (as well as your life).
Let me explain…
Let’s say you enjoy rock climbing.
You love the adrenaline rush and the thrill of bouncing off jagged rocks, hundreds of feet in the air, with nothing holding you up but a rope and a caribeener. (I think you’re crazy, but to each their own.)
You’re an average rock climber, but you want to get better at it.
You’re already practicing your technical skills at an indoor rock climbing facility.
You’re looking for ways to improve yourself physically.
So, what do you do?
What kind of a regimen do you start, if your goal is to improve your rock climbing abilities?
Take up yoga?
Perhaps yoga would help with the flexibility components of the sport.
How about long duration cardio?
I can see how that might be helpful, yes.
Rock climbing requires you to be in top notch cardiovascular shape, so that does make sense.
However, for my money, there is no better way to get better at any sport than strength training and getting stronger.
Heavy squats are going to make your force production much greater as you hoist yourself up in intricate situations on the rock wall.
Heavy, weighted pull ups will allow you to handle your bodyweight with ease, repeatedly during your climbs.
Heavy grip work will allow you to not cramp up your forearms and fingers when you’re in your 3rd hour of a grueling climb.
This plays itself out in every sport there is.
Whether you take boxing classes, BJJ classes, you golf, you play softball, pickleball, basketball, volleyball… anything, really.
If you play a sport or compete – at all – strength training will make you much better at it.
I noticed this myself when I started taking lifting seriously.
I played softball at the time.
In the summer of 2011, I hit 2-3 home runs in the league I played in.
After a full year of squatting, deadlifting, and bench pressing, all of a sudden, I was hitting 2-3 home runs per week.
My friends all thought I was on steroids or something (I wasn’t, just creatine and whey shakes, lol).
It was wild the way the ball just started exploding off my bat.
It was crazy how much faster I was running around the bases.
Strength training made me a much better softball player, and it was really cool to see play out in real life.
There are a million reasons to lift weights and get stronger.
But perhaps the biggest reason is lifting weights will make you better at pretty much anything.
Any sport.
Anything physical, really.
And if I’m being honest, anything mental as well.
It’s a no-brainer.
Be sure you take advantage.
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You’ll have access to The Busy Gladiator Program, The PPL Program, The Chad Dad Program, The Weekday Warrior Program, The Wonder Woman Program, our Workout of The Month, and much, much more…
Use this link to get your first month for just $20.
N.W.A. Nutrition Tip Of The Week
Blood glucose monitors are all the rage right now.
It seems everywhere I look, I see fitness coaches and fitness-minded people constantly monitoring their blood sugar spikes in an attempt to keep their blood sugar level.
On the surface, this may seem like a good idea.
But I can assure you, this is pointless and the data is meaningless for you (unless you are T1 or T2 diabetic).
Insulin gets such a bad rap.
This is due to the association insulin has with diabetes.
When you are at a healthy body fat percentage, you should be “insulin sensitive”.
This is a good thing.
This means when your body eats carbohydrates, it breaks the carbohydrates down into simple sugars for your body to digest.
When this process is occurring, your blood sugar will spike.
Your body will be “sensitive” to this, and your endocrine system will notice the spiked blood sugar, and it will secrete insulin into your bloodstream to clear out the sugar.
It is important to note this is a normal and healthy reaction to ingesting carbohydrates.
This is what is supposed to happen – if this is happening efficiently, you are a metabolically healthy individual.
It’s also worth noting your blood sugar also spikes when you eat protein as well.
We all know protein is very healthy for you, specifically animal protein.
The “carb-phobics” frequently forget this fact…
If you are not at a healthy body fat percentage, you are “insulin resistant”.
This is a bad thing.
This means your body has spiked its insulin so many times, and so chronically, that it no longer has the normal, healthy response to insulin secretion.
Insulin is secreted in the body when you eat carbohydrates, but your endocrine system is no longer efficient at clearing out the blood sugar in your system.
Your body is “resistant” to the insulin.
It’s there, but it takes a much longer time to clear the sugar out of your body.
This can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, and if too severe, coma and even death.
But here’s the thing… blood sugar spikes are only noteworthy if you are insulin resistant and pre-diabetic (or diabetic).
Everyone has blood sugar spikes.
Everyone.
If you’re metabolically healthy, and you don’t have high blood sugar issues, monitoring these spikes means nothing.
There is a misconception called The Insulin Hypothesis that has plagued the nutrition world with misinformation for years.
The Insulin Hypothesis is the belief that insulin is a “storage hormone” and when your insulin is raised, it is impossible to lose body fat (because the calories in everything you eat will be “stored” as body fat).
THIS IS FALSE.
I fell for this myself, once upon a time, long before I ever started coaching other people.
I was convinced I had to keep my blood sugar low at all times, and avoid all carbohydrates for my health.
It did nothing but make me low energy, lethargic, low-libido, listless, and it tanked my immune system.
I felt a million times better once I started eating carbohydrates again, and my fat loss took off like a rocketship as well.
In Summary:
If you have doctor-diagnosed blood sugar issues, it may be helpful to monitor your blood sugar.
If you are T1 or T2 diabetic, having a blood glucose monitor is a good way to ensure you don’t run into trouble with low (or high) blood sugar.
If you are an otherwise healthy individual, blood sugar spikes mean nothing – they are a normal response within your digestive system, and you can ignore them.
Don’t get freaked out over nothing.
The stress of constantly monitoring yourself for no reason is much greater than any benefit a blood glucose monitor might provide you.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
If you train on most days and you’re exhausted, consider taking an extra rest day.
If you never train, and you’re “exhausted”, consider going to 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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We need Eminem to go back to this kind of music. 19 year old me listened to this on repeat every day… (NSFW – lyrics)