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Y’all know me,
Still the same OG,
But I’ve been low key,
Hated on by most of these coaches with no clients,
No skills, and no cheese,
Benching one wheel, it’s like, bro, please,
Mad at me ‘cuz my squad’s winning championships and stackin’ trophies.
– Dre (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:
Today’s nutrition tip is quite simple, but it’s often overlooked.
If you want to make losing weight, stay uber-hydrated.
You should be aiming for at least 0.5 – 1 ounces of water for every pound of bodyweight.
If you’re 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100-200 ounces of water per day.
Most of us know and understand this.
Dehydration often gets mistaken for hunger; a tall glass of cold ice water will calm down your hunger pangs, and you’ll often find your hunger subside afterwards.
Water is excellent for your hydration, your circulatory system, your respiratory system, your digestive system, and your hair/nails/skin as well.
But I’d like to take this one step further and discuss the importance of drinking water BEFORE you eat your meals.
Specifically when dieting (but it’s always a great idea, whether you’re dieting or not.
A study by the University Of Birmingham tracked the weights of 84 people trying to lose weight.
One group was told to drink 1-2 pints of cold water before their meals.
The other group didn’t receive this instruction.
Both groups were given low calorie diets and exercise protocols to complete.
They even ‘spot checked’ the water group to make sure they were urinating enough throughout the course of the day.
Both groups ended up losing weight.
BUT the water drinking group lost 2.7 pounds MORE, on average, after 12 weeks.
It’s also worth noting the water drinking group was exercising LESS than the group that didn’t.
Just by being sure they were properly hydrated before they ate, they were more satisfied and ended up eating less calories overall.
It’s also worth noting that ice water works best in these scenarios.
Cold water increases your metabolism slightly.
The body does everything it can to maintain a temperature of 98.6 degrees Farenheit.
When you drink ice cold water, your body works hard to keep your temperature steady, and in turn, this burns more calories.
It’s not a huge amount or anything, but let’s be real – when you’re dieting, every bit helps.
If you’re trying to lean out and having issues, this is a simple way to make your life a little bit easier.
And any time you can make dieting easier, it’s a great idea.
N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week:
Speaking of cold water, have you noticed how everyone is talking about ice baths these days?
Whether you’re playing football, training for a marathon, or just trying to improve your health, everyone seems to be recommending ice baths.
There are certainly some benefits.
Mainly to your cardiovascular system.
Ice baths can help you maintain a lower heart rate by introducing the body to stress.
Similar in nature to a sauna or steam room, when you ‘shock’ your body with temperature (be it high or low), that can help improve your heart rate and/or blood pressure.
Ice baths can also reduce general inflammation, similar to how icing your sprained ankle will help the swelling.
This can be beneficial for you as well, if your body is sore, tired, or inflamed.
But what about for athletic performance?
Or training recovery?
Or muscle growth?
Are ice baths beneficial?
Every time I watch a TV show about football practice, half of the team is having an ice bath post practice.
Is that actually a good idea?
Or is it something you should skip?
This study by the University of Queensland closely studied the performance, strength, and muscle gains of those who regularly took ice baths versus those who didn’t.
I’m not going to lie – these results are shocking to me.
The Queensland study found that “cold water immersion substantially reduced long term gains in muscle mass/strength, and delayed and/or suppressed the activity of satellite cells and kinases in the mTOR pathway during recovery from strength exercise.”
In layman’s terms… if you’re taking ice baths while you’re lifting weights, your results will be substantially reduced.
Pretty shocking stuff!
It seems to me the biggest benefit I hear about ice baths is that they’re hard to do.
They train your mental toughness above all else.
They force you to relax your body – that’s the only way you’ll get through a 10-20 minute bath in water that’s barely above freezing.
But I work hard in the gym, and you should, too.
Strength training is about building strength and muscle.
And I’m not willing to sacrifice my hard work just to do something difficult.
I do plenty of difficult things without needing to take it to that level.
If you’re putting in work in the gym, I’d suggest you do the same.
If you really want to take an ice bath to prove your toughness, knock yourself out.
Just understand if you’re doing it on a regular basis, you’re shooting yourself in your foot in regards to your results.
N.W.A. Attitude/Mindset Tip Of The Week:
What does it TRULY take to be in the 1% of fitness?
Here are a few statistics for you:
- Around 30% of humans strength train regularly (defined as at least 2 sessions of weights or bodyweight routtines/week)
- Around 50% of humans walk at least 10 minutes per day
- Around 67% of humans are obese or overweight
Considering I’m an ex-math teacher, let’s crunch some numbers, shall we?
When you have percentages like this, you can multiply the numbers together and the answer will give you the percentage of people who do all of the items listed.
30% translates to 0.3.
50% translates to 0.5.
33% (the % of people who AREN’T obese/overweight) translates to 0.33.
0.3 x 0.5 x 0.33 = 0.04, or 4%.
This mean that roughly 4% of humans lift weights, get their steps in, and maintain a healthy bodyweight.
Of course, this takes into account the entire population.
Overly active states like Colorado, New York, California, etc will skew that average big time.
In those states, a much higher percentage of people exercise regularly.
I live in Michigan, which is one of the unhealthiest states in the country.
Obesity runs rampant here; we have long, cold, dark, and dreary winters which feel like they go on forever.
Very few people walk around fit – it’s a rarity to see someone out in public who’s in solid shape.
Around here, if you lift, get your steps in, and you’re not obese, you’re definitely in the 1% of fitness.
This should be a goal to strive for!
It really doesn’t take *that* much…
Lift weights 2-3 times per week for 45 minutes.
Get your 10k steps in.
Eat whole foods, watch your diet, and lose the gut.
Sure, it takes some commitment, but trust me – it’s worth it.
Being “elite” in your fitness is honestly a simple goal to achieve.
Anyone can do it – you just have to commit to make it happen.
If you’d like to chat with one of our coaches about a 1:1 program and what that would entail, just tap “reply” and let me know.
Our 1:1 clients average 20+ pounds of fat loss and substantial muscle gain in their first 3 months of working with us.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
1985: Eat low fat
2000: Eat low fat
2010: Eat Paleo
2015: Eat ZERO carb/Keto
2017: Eat Keto + use intermittent fasting
2020: Eat Carnivore
2022: Avoid seed oils
All this time, people who track their nutrition have been rolling their eyes, understanding what works best.
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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If you’d like to learn how to play the piano part of “Still D.R.E.”, here’s a tutorial… isn’t YouTube great?