When you look good, you feel good. It seems like a cheap axiom, but when it comes to health the axiom can be reversed and be just as true - when you feel good, you look good. A healthy lifestyle has a near infinite number of pros and very few cons. You trade time (working out) and gluttony (shoving numerous pastries into your facehole) for a healthy, working body, an alert and vigorous mind, the right to look lean, jacked, cut, bootylicious, etc. and unmatched discipline and confidence. Those reasons alone make it a pretty good tradeoff.
One of my general principles in life is that being healthy and looking good instill a confidence not only to perform better in the gym, or to help pick up chicks in the bar, but to perform better at your job and in life. If you are in good shape and you know you look good day-in or day-out, then that is one less thing you have to worry about. If you are healthy and in good shape, it puts less stress on your daily outfit choice - you will look good no matter what you wear. Looking good and being healthy gives you a measure of respect in your business dealings, work relationships and personal relationships. Some people might think you are a meat-head if you go to the gym daily, but more often than not, these same people are lazy cynics jealous of your discipline and ability to sacrifice your time and energy, when they are not willing to do the same. Most people respect discipline (just ask Jocko) and this self-discipline can spread to other aspects of your life.
The self-knowledge of the discipline you must have to regularly instill healthy habits provides a confidence boost in the fact you know if you can go to the gym daily, or resist tasty treats when others can’t, it means you can likely do other things most people can not do. Good habits are a matter of discipline in life and if you can be disciplined enough to forgo delicious dishes or drinks on the regular, you can likely forgo other bad habits like partying all night, sleeping all weekend, watching TV all day, surfing the web when you could be working to get ahead, becoming obsessed with social media, etc. First you must have the self-discipline to know what is best for you, to break bad habits and to commit to a healthy lifestyle. Once you start down this path, the rest of your life will improve drastically. You will begin looking better, your confidence will grow, you will outshine your peers and your discipline and commitment will to your self-improvement will be acknowledged.
So, most people want to know - where do you start? How do you go to the gym on a consistent basis? What diets or foods are healthy and what aren’t?
The first thing everyone needs to realize is that a healthy lifestyle is more than going on a diet, or going to the gym a couple of times a week - if you want to be healthy, it takes a full commitment on multiple levels. You need to go to the gym on a regular basis, eat healthy, sleep 7-9 hours every night, stretch and learn some yoga, research fasting, learn about meditation and living in the moment, get outside and move around, get up from your desk or couch - the list goes on and on, but one change to a sedentary lifestyle will not cut it if you want to be healthy, though it is a start. To start, take the first step - don’t let yourself become overwhelmed. Commit to three gym sessions per week. Commit to eliminating deserts, soda and other high sugar, non whole-foods from your diet. Commit to 7-9 hours of sleep. Start there and we will expand upon it in due time.
How does anyone find time to go to the gym during the week? Aren’t you tired after working all day?
Some people counter this by waking up early and working out to start the day. I’ve personally done used this method before many times (mostly before traveling), but I find my energy levels are higher in the afternoon than first thing in the morning where I can only go about 80-90% my maximum effort. There are studies confirming the best time to work out at your optimal levels are right around 4 PM (or right after work for a lot of people). My weekly work schedule is about 9 AM to 6 PM, therefore I find I get my best workout right after work. The trick I have found is to go to the gym straight from work, don’t stop at home first. If you stop at home, you are more likely to stay at home and skip the gym. If you treat going to the gym directly after work as a part of your daily routine, you are less likely to miss it. Therefore, you might be served picking a gym closer to your office than to your home.
What’s the best work routine?
You can search the internet all day to find different workout routines for different people. One thing most people won’t tell you is that every individual needs a unique workout plan. We all have different body types and genetics that react differently to different types of workouts, so you need to find what works best for you. If you want to try my routine, I go into deep detail here. Something to always keep in mind is that the point of working out is to put stress on your muscles and on your body, you need to change your routine on a regular basis to continue putting stress on your body. Change the workouts you do, the routine from push / pull to isolated muscle workouts and you will see changes more drastically in a plateau phase.
What’s the best diet?
Everyone wants to know what’s the best new diet. The thing is just like with working out we all react differently to different diets. Some people have found success with the carnivore diet (all meat), others with a vegan diet, one new fad which most people don’t understand whatsoever is the keto diet. Personally I do a hybrid form of the keto diet mixed with fasting (read more about my diet and the benefits of fasting here), but I eat too much protein for full keto, so a better definition might just be low carb, low sugar, high protein. Find what works for you - you will be able to tell what works best based on energy levels in your body and your mind. There is no real best diet, because it depends on what you are trying to do. Do you want to get lean? Are you trying to bulk up? Are you just trying to be healthy? Are you trying to lower cholesterol, these are all questions you need to ask yourself before you commit. More often than not, the best answer is to not pick an extreme diet, because you will never follow it. Just be smart, eat whole foods (not man made crap) and use moderation and you will find success.
Why should I fast and what’s the best way to do it?
I highly recommend intermittent fasting on a daily basis and while I have no experience with long-term fasting, it has many benefits including repairing damaged auto-immune system cells. Tim Ferris often recommends one 3-day fast on a monthly basis (or at least on a quarterly basis) to help prevent cancer. I’ll be experimenting with this method soon and will report back on how this treated me.
When it comes to intermittent fasting, I was a bit skeptical at first (especially as a lifter in the gym), however once I gave it a shot for a week or so, the benefits to my energy levels and the way the difficult “love handle” fat melted off my body was mind blowing. Don’t believe me? Read this.
So how do you fast intermittently? What does it even mean? Intermittent fasting is sometimes known as time restricted eating - in English, eat all your food and meals (drinks too) within an 8-10 hour window during the day. There is a great app for this by Dr. Satchin Panda called “Zero” that will alert you when your window for eating is open every day. Generally during fasting times you can only consume water, tea with no sugar or calories and black coffee with no sugar or calories.
Personally I do a minimum 14-10 fasting window, meaning I fast 14 hours daily and my eating window is 10 hours daily… I usually try to constrict this to 15-9 or 16-8 when possible, which is better for health, but with work it is sometimes difficult. During fasting I generally only consume water and black coffee mixed with Lion’s Mane mushrooms, which is discussed here. For more information about fasting, check out this page.
What nutritional supplements are worth taking? (what isn’t snake oil?)
Generally I attempt to stay as whole and healthy as possible by taking only natural supplements and avoiding some of the stuff that feels too chemically or lab created for my liking. Basic vitamins are a good start, like good multi-vitamins, vitamin B supplements and more which can be read about here. I take vitamin C supplements daily and I have not been sick for one day (not counting hangovers) the last 10 years of my life (except for one time I got the flu and still went to work every day and went to the gym every day).
In regards to workout supplements try to stay natural with BCAAs, caffeine, whey protein and creatine. The supplements I choose focus on whole, gluten free compounds. I go into great detail on these supplements, why I choose each supplement and what they are right here.
Conclusion:
Being healthy and taking a proactive role in your health has even more benefits than just looking good, having a six-pack or looking ripped. When you are healthy your cognitive brain health and bodily energy are enhanced significantly giving you a competitive edge in the rest of your life (work, investing, thinking, getting ahead of the competition) you could not even imagine. Those who don’t take health seriously and see it as a “meat head” thing to do are only harming themselves and their own energy levels, giving those who see the entire picture of health a competitive advantage. If you want to live the best life you can on this Earth, it is entirely in reason that living a healthy life and maintaining your bodily functions and cognitive functions is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Don’t take health for granted when you are young, get ahead and create good habits.
SOURCES:
https://www.active.com/fitness/articles/when-is-the-best-time-to-exercise
https://chriskresser.com/the-carnivore-diet-is-it-really-healthy/
https://fastlifehacks.com/tim-ferriss-3-day-fast-method/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fasting-benefits#section6