Gentleman Guide: Health and Fitness

New Year’s is the traditional time of rebirth, renewal, and resolutions. Without difficulty, you can probably guess what the most common resolution year after year is. Promoted by “holiday weight” gains, we often aspire to lose weight or get in the best shape of our lives. With that, I wanted to share a piece that I thought was timely for the occasion.

Are you wondering how you are going to burn off the extra calories you consumed during the holidays? Or are you just looking to improve your physical appearance and health and don’t know where to start? This piece is intended for the gentleman that seeks direction and guidance in this area.

Common Questions:

• How do I lose weight?
• I want to get in to better shape. Where do I start?

Creating Your Goals

Before taking immediate action and heading out to the grocery store or gym, you need to figure out what you want to achieve AND document it. First and foremost, determine your area(s) of focus. Do you want target physical activity, nutrition, rest, etc. or a combination of them all? Use each focus area as a category for creating your goals. The combination of the two will be starting points in your quest for great health.

Next, create realistic goals that are attainable, measurable, are only within your control, and write them down. Goals that are not written down are just wishes.

“Goals that are not written down are just wishes.”

Psychologically, we are driven by our wants. But more so when we are reminded by them. Documenting by writing or annotating reinforces our desire for that want. Statistically, people that write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them than those who didn’t.

Examples of well-documented goals are:

• Track and monitor my daily macro-nutrient intake
• Lower my body fat percentage by 1% a month
• Meditate for 15 minutes a day
• Change my daily sleep pattern to 11 pm to 7 am

The reasons that these examples are good goals is because they are realistic, can be measured, and have a time constraint. It’s important to be critical of yourself and ensure that your goals aren’t unrealistic or vague. Otherwise, you’ll face a mental battle that you’ll ultimately lose and will cause you to give up. Improving physical health starts with having solid mental health.

Developing a Strategy

Now that you have your goals, it’s time to create your plan. In other words, what actions are you going to take in order to achieve your goals? As part of this process, ask yourself “when” and “how”. For example, when and how are you going to start your journey? When and how are you going to track your progress? “When” sets your starting point. “How” determines your action. Without a definitive plan, you’ll likely fall victim to an ad-hoc “yo-yo” regimen that will not produce any desirable results.

Developing a Routine
As part of your strategy, develop a rhythm that works best for your lifestyle. This applies to everything including physical activity, nutrition, rest, etc. You should treat your workouts like business meetings or appointments. Ideally, pick a time in which you can be available on a recurring basis. Schedule them in your calendar. Doing so will psychologically remind and reinforce the importance of the activity. You’d never miss a meeting with your boss or a date with your partner. Treat your physical activity with the same level of urgency and respect. The same should hold true for your meals and rest schedule. You should try to consistently eat and rest at the same time every day. This will train your mind and body for optimal weight control. Once you begin to develop a rhythm, these all become second hand and a part of your lifestyle.

Physical Activity Tips

Focus
It’s easier to lose fat first and gain muscle mass later instead of trying to kill both with one stone. Sure, you can do both in parallel; however, it will take longer and not seeing immediate results could lower your morale. Focus on losing fat and then building muscle mass later in order to give yourself the best chance of success.

Pick Your Poison
In my experience, the best way to lose fat is not to limit your physical activity to cardio only. Cardio is great for your heart but isn’t necessary to lose fat. Slow cardio (slower repetitive motion such as walks, running long distance on a treadmill, etc.) burns up fat AND muscle. A cardio only regimine isn’t a bad thing; however, your results may lack muscle definition and give the physical appearance of being “skinny-fat”. Please note that I’m not discouraging doing cardio. Rather, I recommend other alternatives in order to lose fat AND preserve muscle. Whatever results you desire, ensure that your expectations map realistically to your goals.

Personally, I recommend using a combination of a healthy diet and weight training for fat loss. Being conscious of your calorie intake and burn are essentially for controlling your weight. Always control your caloric intake and keep your metabolism active by using resistance weight training. The combination of the two will help accelerate your progress.

If you’ve never weight trained before, please connect with someone who has. A knowledgeable friend or personal trainer can help you build a good workout program. Additionally, advise you on the proper technique and movements to reduce the risk of injury. You can’t just show up to the gym, jump on the machines, and expect to make progress. Doing this will likely lead to very little progress, injury, or just giving up as a whole.

If possible, find a friend with similar goals and train together. Having company can help you both encourage and support each other. If you are able to afford it, hire a personal trainer. They’ll not only advise you on physical activity and nutrition, but they’ll hold you accountable too. Lastly, do your research and build a program yourself. (Your off to a great start by reading this article. 😀) Use books and online resources like bodybuilding.com and YouTube to further educate yourself.

Do You Even Lift Bro?
Before your workout or physical activity, have a pre-workout snack or drink. Coffee and pre-workout formula’s seem to be popular amongst the masses; however, natural food snacks like a banana and Greek yogurt can be just as effective. You’ll benefit as your body will convert those sugars and carbohydrates for energy. Caffeine from coffee, tea’s, and pre-workout drinks can also provide an energy boost as well. I don’t recommend eating a heavy meal before intense physical activity as that can lead to cramping, sluggishness, and even illness.

When in the gym, always focus on technique first and the weight second. Weight training and building muscle requires resistance to break down your muscles. The body doesn’t know or care how much weight you are pushing. Breaking down muscle can occur at any weight. Good technique with the appropriate weight is also more effective than heavier weight with sloppy form. If your ego will only allow you to lift heavy because everyone else is, you’ll likely injure yourself and be out of the game.

If you are new to weight training or have been away from the game, you’ll want to start off with lighter weight / resistance and more repetitions. For example, moderate weight for 10–15 reps over 3–4 sets per exercise. Instead of cardio, I recommend super-setting to increase your heart rate and activity. Super-setting is completing another exercise repetition immediately following your first exercise without rest in between them. Once each super-set is complete, rest two minutes to recover. After I incorporated super-sets to my workout routine, my workout routines were shorter. Meanwhile, I burned more calories. I also experienced an increase in strength, stamina, and noticeable differences in my physique.

Once you’ve accomplished your goal of fat loss, you can change your focus to muscle gain. From here, you can begin to lower your repetitions (from 10–15 to 6–8) and increase your weight resistance. As you continue to make progress and want to continually gain more muscle mass over time, do the following:

• Lift heavier weight (while maintaining technique)
• Reduce rest time between repetitions
• Reduce rest time between exercises
• Change exercises to focus on different muscles and movements
• Alter your workout schedule and rest periods so that you don’t plateau and stop growth

I recommend spreading out your workouts over the week (based upon the muscle group) and having a minimum of one day of full rest. Never do the same workout or a full workout on the same muscle on back to back days. Try to combine one push and one pull muscle group in each workout to maximize time and effectiveness, such as:

• Chest and back
• Shoulders and arms
• Quads and hamstrings

After finishing your workout, make sure you consume protein and fast-digesting carbs shortly thereafter (it is recommended within an hour of completing your workout). It’s common for bodybuilders to have a protein shake and fruit immediately following. After a workout, the body enters into a catabolic state where it starts to break down muscle for fuel, so having a high-carb meal prevents that. Those carbs keep you in an anabolic state (muscle building) as your body starts to repair the (good) damage you made to your muscles (micro-tears) during your workout.

Nutrition and Diet Tips

Six Packs Start in the Kitchen
When you truly think about where most people struggle in weight control, it’s usually not in the gym. For most people, it’s relatively easy to workout a few times a week. It’s the temptation of food that’s the hardest. Often I hear people say, “I workout to be able to eat”. I challenge those to change this mentality and workout to help promote good health and sustain a long life. And then to use food as tool to provide energy to our bodies. I’ll expand more on this below.

To build your foundation, you want to understand the following before beginning your quest:

• Body Mass Index (BMI): Indicator of high body fatness. Click here to calculate yours.
• Body Fat %: Indicator of how much body fat you have relative to your body mass. (Use BMI above as a measure if you are not able to get a body fat % test)
• Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Amount of calories burned per day at neutral rest (In other words, naturally through your daily activity without extra physical activity). Click here to calculate yours.

Once you know your BMI or body fat %, use that as a monthly measure to monitor your progress. Use your BMR to understand your daily calorie target. If your daily caloric intake exceeds your daily BMR (without any additional physical activity or workout), you will gain weight. If you eat less calories that your daily BMR, you will lose weight. It’s easy science.

• Daily Calories Consumed > Daily Calories Burned = Weight Gain
• Daily Calories Consumed < Daily Calories Burned = Weight Loss

It’s that simple.

Attention in the Detail
True to the cliché, “you are what you eat.” Now is the time to be conscious about what you are putting in your body. That means being diligent about food ingredients, nutritional facts, etc. Avoid processed foods and complex ingredient labels with artificial ingredients. You should also understand that our body requires three macronutrients for survival. Fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Yes, I said it, fat.

Although the body can get away with short periods of very low fat, in the long run your body needs fat to maintain health, satiety, and sanity. Additionally, any form of high intensity training will benefit from having a “fat buffer” in your diet — which controls free radical damage and inflammation. As a general guide, I recommend no more than .5 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight.

While there are no specific daily “requirements” for carbs, they are extremely important as they are used for energy. Even more so if you are an athlete, active individual, or trying to gain mass. Carbohydrates will help with workout intensity, health, and satiety (+ sanity). My recommended daily intake for carbs varies depending on your activity level:

• Moderate Activity: 2–3 grams per pound of bodyweight
• High Activity: 3–4 grams per pound of bodyweight
• Intense Activity: 4+ grams per pound of bodyweight

Protein is extremely important because it is the building block for creating muscle. The general rule of thumb is to consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight, per day.

I recommend reading this article to understand macronutrient ratios and how much of each you should intake on a daily basis depending on your goals.

Next, download MyFitnessPal and track EVERYTHING you put into your body. No different from writing down your goals as we discussed before, the psychological impact of tracking plays a large part in this journey. Tracking your intake and goals will allow you to monitor your results. In turn, leading to higher chance of success.

Cravings
To keep sane you should have a few meals where you eat whatever you want. Often called “cheat meals”, you can consume your favorite foods whether fast food, candy, etc. sparingly. However, be conscious of your calorie intake and ensure that you balance out your macros. Lastly, limit your “cheat meals” as much as possible and only use them as rewards for any accomplishments in physical activity.

Rest and Sleeping Tips

Duh!?!?
There’s not much to recommend and say here. It goes without saying that rest is imperative for good health. Lack of rest and sleep can cause major problems that lead to disorders. It’s your responsibility to find out how much rest your body requires on a daily basis in order to function correctly.

Mental Strength

The majority of our population is overweight because of the lack of self-discipline. A lack of mental strength. Most people argue that good health is attributed to 50% diet, 50% fitness. Fitness and nutritional experts suggest that good health is attributed to 80% diet and 20% fitness. I argue that good health is 40% diet, 10% fitness, and 50% discipline.

“Good health is 40% diet, 10% fitness, and 50% discipline”

When it comes to good health, it’s not only about what you eat and what you do, but actually having the mental drive and discipline to do it on a regular basis to become better. It’s about having the drive to create habits that turn into a lifestyle. It’s about not allowing anything to interfere with your plan. Ultimately, so that you can reach your goals.

The most successful people have the discipline and mental strength to get very, very good at doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. That’s the secret to success in anything. Here are some tips that have helped me stay on track over the years.

• Find out what you want to focus on improving. Create your goals. Create your plan. Write it down. Monitor your results. Make changes. Get better. Make more changes. Meet your goals. Repeat.
• Track all of your consumption and macros in MyFitnessPal. Monitor them closely and drive your eating decisions based upon your goals.
• Always try to eat high in protein, first. Protein fills you up and will curb your appetite.
• Avoid all fad diets. Commit to a simple natural diet.
• Have a “cheat meal”. In fact, have two. As long as you’re making progress every day, don’t beat yourself up for veering off of your plan every now and then. The path to success isn’t easy. It happens to everyone.
• Your palate and lifestyle will evolve. Embrace it. Good nutritious food (such as kale, spinach, tuna, quinoa, etc.) may taste poorly now because your body has been used to foods that are highly processed, high in salt, etc. However, as you eat healthy, your palate will adapt and you will crave good nutritious food over all previous junk.
• Take pictures of yourself nude in front of the mirror every week. Visualize and fantasize about the body you want. The before and after shots will allow you to track your progress visually. Seeing results visually will boost your morale and self-confidence.
• Make your workouts convenient. If your workout is difficult or your gym is far away, the less likely you’ll do it. Build a gym at your house or ensure that your gym is within a convenient distance of your home and office.
• Don’t think about the actual workout — just get in your car and start driving to the gym. The hardest part of your workout is not the actual workout. It’s overcoming the mental struggle and process of getting to the gym.
• Change your physical activities. Keep your physical activities diverse. Incorporate sports, team activities, etc. Alter your weight training exercises every two months so that your muscle growth doesn’t plateau and you don’t get board.
• As your body transforms, you’ll be required to buy clothes for a better fit. Reward yourself with new clothes to boost your morale and self-c0nfidence.
• Never feel guilty unless you aren’t taking any action.

So are you ready to get in the best shape of your life? There’s no better time to start than now. In a few weeks, you’ll already begin to see results. After a few months, you’ll discover a new-found energy and wonder why you never started sooner. You’ll begin to notice that you are attracting a new crowd of people around you because of your new aura and physical appearance. Meanwhile, all helping to prevent health complications and extend your life. These results will push you to work even harder, leading to more success.

Transforming your body will transform every other area of your life too. Your mood will improve, you’ll have more energy, and as a result you’ll demand more from life. You’ll stop settling and will have a new self-confidence which will make you a better friend, partner, parent, etc.

I understand that there is a lot of information, recommendations, and actions above. It can be daunting to start and difficult to continue once you do begin. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Achieving great results is never easy. If it was, everyone would be in amazing shape and good health.