In every gym when someone decides to place an unreasonable amount of weight on the bar you'll get an increased viewership 👀. People quietly doubt that you can move that weight and will simply hover around, pretend to be practising active recovery while sneaking in a few gawks until you make them believers. I love that feeling, but to get it you have to actually BE strong enough to pull it off. This is how I go about it:
Go hard, then go soft Weekly cycling of heavy lifting with lighter, more 'pump' based lifting optimizes your strength potential. The reasoning is simple, the different stimulus forces adaptations while allowing you to recover sufficiently before going BIG again. I used to lift heavy every chance I got until I plateaued. I was both mentally and physically cooked. I switched it up, enjoyed my sessions, recovered better and started increasing how much weight I could move. This is the general outline of my programming for compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press). Eat big, to lift big I'm a committed intermittent faster and during my eating window I eat BIG, with particular emphasis on carbohydrates (bananas, berries, rice, oats and sweet potatoes) to top off glycogen stores and protein (animal meats, eggs, cow milk) to facilitate muscle recovery. Any downward adjustment in food intake i.e. low carb diet will make heavy lifts difficult. You have to put in what you want to get out. Creatine and caffeine Probably the only two things a natural, recreational strength athlete needs to get a small boost in lifting capacity. I take them as a basic strength supplement stack and it works well for me. Mental recalibration Ever gotten under a bar and worried about not getting back up if you go down? It's common with high risk lifts like bench press and squat. If you're smart about your lifting and you opt to progressively overload then that gradual progression can help you eliminate any fear of a mishap. You have built yourself up to handle that load so fear not. Get ugly, get aggressive Max lift, pretty face? Unlikely. Heavy weight, composed approach? Not a chance. When you're churning out maximum output you have to, quite literally, get ugly and aggressive. Embrace your inner savage to get the most out of your lifts.
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The Blue Zones - Ever heard of them? Perhaps you've vaguely heard of the book 📕that popularised the concept of it all? Blue Zones are areas in the world where people live the longest and I've long been fascinated with the idea of extending my checkout time. A podcast 🎧 I listened to recently helped me better understand the life extension hacks, which I refined and adapted to fitness. This is what I summarized:
Your environment determines your behavior Behavior follows your environment, and not the other way around. This was the key takeaway for me. It's not about discipline or mental resilience, it's all about your environment. Beware of the see-food diet 👀 🍰 You see, you eat. That's the see-food diet. Adapt your environment to simply have the things you should be putting in your mouth and none of the things you shouldn't. Don't buy chocolate 🍫, place it in the fridge and test your ability to resist it. This applies to drinks as well. You like a tot or two 🥃, keep your house clear of alcohol. If your weakness is bread and juice simply don't buy it for your pantry. Make your environment inconvenient and unsupportive of your 'bad habits'. Kitchen free from technology 📺 📻 TV, radio, and other gadgets 🤳🏿 all have the potential to display content that's upsetting. This raises stress levels and the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn adversely affects digestion. You don't want that, so take a caveman approach to meal settings. The only visuals and audio should be your natural environment and conversation. Keep your movement natural and frequent 🚶🏾♂️ You don't have to have a whole fitness regiment, you just have to move and move often. Many of us drive to places we could walk to. Many of us take the elevator 🛗 under the guise of being in a hurry. Many of us stayed glued to our computer screens 💻 because we've decided to be very busy and what we do is very important. Purpose 🎯 Longevity and purpose are intertwined. One seldom exists without the other. What's your why? Fitness largely has two motives; cosmetics and performance. Some want to perform like a ferrari (athletes) while others simply want to look like one (models). Some people want both. Clarity on what it is that you want and why will keep the engine running. Oftentimes what you want is moving target, because first you'll just want to lose weight, then you'll want a 6 pack then you'll want other things. The hunger for more sustains purpose. Eat with family 🧑🧑🧒 If you’re blessed with family one of the best things you can do for your health is prioritize family meals. More often than not you’ll be eating a home cooked meal with proper vegetables on the side. Families that eat together stay lean together. Chinjeni abanandi (Change your friends) Socialize with people that already have the health habits that you would like. Good habits are contagious, go catch them. I’ve spent some time thinking about the quickest way to look, feel and think better and concluded that the best way to do that is putting sugar to the side. This is how:
Sauce and other condiments 🥫 The ketchup, mustard, chutney sauce, mayonnaise, salad dressing and other food enhancers add up and provide a huge dose of sugar that you'd never suspect them of because they aren't necessarily 'sweet'. If you're constantly topping up with items other than salt then be wary because If you're not losing weight despite dieting and exercising these top ups could be the reason. Juice 🥤 Goes without saying, the less of it that you consume the better off you'll be. If juice is a staple for you then develop a taste for cranberry juice (without added sugar) and diet sodas. They're better alternatives than your standard off the shelf juice and soda options. Energy Drinks I'll admit I'm a fan of these and the rapid response they give to immediate energy needs, but unless you're active beyond an hour you'll be better served avoiding them entirely. Along with the caffeine, they provide a massive dump of sugar. I was horrified the other day when I belatedly decided to check the sugar content on an energy drink 🐝 I quite like...it had a whooping 50 grams of sugar per can 🤯 . I've now switched to sugar free energade. Doesn't jack me up the same but it helps me hydrate and push through my more gruelling sessions. Plenty of it available in pick n pay stores. Liquor 🍻 There's a certain flavored beer I absolutely love, and yesterday I decided to check how much damage I'd done to myself. Fat secret revealed that every bottle consumed dumped 17 grams of sugar 😖. When one thinks about their levels of thirst, then the total amount of sugar consumed by the end of the evening is scary. 👉🏾 Lite beers are the better alternatives for both lower calories and sugar. Dried fruit Dried fruit is concentrated fruit. The good (nutrients, fiber) and not-so-good (sugar) aspects are both more concentrated than their fresh counterparts. If your fruit intake is entirely the dried variant you might be subscribing for problems. Mix it up and remember that moderation is key. Smoothies 🧋 Commercially made smoothie will make you believe that you're consuming something healthy, but if it's prepared with ice-cream then that is unlikely the case. Smoothies are great if you stick to fruit and natural or greek yoghurt combinations. Mint Sweets 🍬 Abundantly available at every boardroom table but consumer beware ⚠️. That desire to not shock your neighbour with monkey breath is doing damage internally. Invest in your own sugar free breath fresheners before you opt to indulge in meeting sweets. Conclusion The best way to be aware of and manage your sugar intake is to track it. Use an app on your phone (myfitnesspal, nutrionix, fat secret) to log everything you put in your mouth for a week to get a baseline. Once you do, make adjustments and aim for sugar intake of about 35 grams or less per day as per American Heart Association guidelines. Your brain 🧠, skin, and waist will thank you. A friend of mine pinged me on Whatsapp with the following message 🗣️“Special article request, one on maintaining concentration please. Happy youth day ba youth 🥳.” The prospect excited me because I'm someone that’s constantly looking for an edge and chasing peak performance in everything. I was immediately ready to address this but I composed myself and took time to neatly package how I go about staying locked in and focused. Below is how I get into position to aim and fire:
Embrace Hunger Being hungry, in a literal sense, can enhance focus. I'm already a committed intermittent faster and currently reaping its many benefits but a podcast I recently listened to put the enhanced focus element into perspective for me with a fascinating spin on it. "Our genetic wiring demands a certain level of hunger to keep us motivated and ready to hunt." Anecdotally speaking, I completely agree with this position. For those that don't, tell me how much drive you have left to get stuff done after a matebeto style lunch or vitumbuwa party at the office in the morning. Oxygen to the brain 🧠 It’s simple; breathe, breathe hard and breathe early. I'm a huge advocate of high interval intensity training for those with limited time in morning. Go for a run and push it or hit the gym and flex hard. For those with time, steady state running or cycling for longer durations can flood your system with endorphins and make you feel really good and ready to dominate the day. Whatever suits you, do it, but you need to start the day with it. Exercise will charge your batteries and get you ready for the day. Meditation 🧘🏾♂️ A loss of concentration can often be attributed to scattered thinking. Ma ganizo daily. Depending on who you talk to, meditation takes on different definitions but for me it’s simply 'getting the front of your mind to focus on some mundane task so that the rest of the mind can find peace'. This action repeated over time will give you the superpower to focus on whatever you choose to AT WILL. Nap 😴 Take a nap at midday. 20-30 min nap will recharge you regardless of whether you think you need it or not. For the working class folk your lunch break presents the perfect opportunity to do this. When required I usually take my white 'lamborghini' under some shade somewhere and snooze off the rustiness. I feel completely refreshed right after. Hydrate 💧 Skip out on water and focus will skip out on you. If you only drink water when you feel thirsty then you’re already dehydrated. This is a fact. If this sounds like your standard way of operating you need to changes things. Be intentional about water intake and track it. I wholeheartedly subscribe to Peter Drucker's school of thought - "“What gets measured gets improved.” Use an app or grab yourself pre-measured bottle and track how much of it you consume daily. Check the color of your pee while you're at it. Dark and Concentrated + Smelly = No Wino Wino. Drink more. Mint Tea 🫖 A morning cup of peppermint tea is a quick wake up shot, at least for me. If you can grab yourself a mint green tea you'll likely feel a small surge in mental energy. 🛸 Bonus for the supplement lovers ❗️ Caffeine + L-tyrosine ☕️ 🍵 💊 What I call the limitless stack that has inexpensive ingredients that work together synergistically. And no, energy drinks do not qualify. This little stack enhances my alertness, drive and motivation. I have very aggressive levels of determination to get done whatever needs to get done. Those sensitive to caffeine might want to consider topping up with another supplement called L-theanine, which can moderate the voltage ⚡️ felt from caffeine. 6 months off my 2024 summer 6 pack challenge and I’m already upping the ante 🌡️. I’m in my bag and pulling out all sorts of tricks. Here’s what I’m doing and why:
Hydration 💧 5 litres of plain water daily. Primarily to keep my joints lubricated and improve digestion. Sleep 😴 7 hours of daily sleep, preferably on the floor with a sleep tracker (via Garmin 55) activated to monitor sleep quality. I have an alarm for both bed time and waking up time, and the more consistent I am with following this structure the easier managing my sleep tends to be. I wake up most mornings without any weird aches and strains and reasonably recovered. When I can I sleep more, usually over the weekend. Gym 🏋🏿♂️ 🚶🏾♂️ 🚴🏿 2 hours of daily activity split between 1 hour of heavy lifting and 1 hour of cardio (30 mins indoor cycling + 30 mins uphill treadmill walking). EVERY DAY. This keeps me built like a brick house but with a resting heart rate of 58 BPM. ⚠️ This is not for the faint-hearted. Fasting 🍲 🕰️ 16 hours of intermittent fasting. I don’t eat anything until 1 PM. Everyday. And then I stop eating at 9 PM. I drink nothing but water and green tea during my fast. My wife indicates that this approach may not be ideal for women, based on her and her friends' experiences, but for me it’s working wonders and would likely do the same for others (read males). Food 🍝 When it’s time to eat I keep it simple by avoiding sugary drinks and fast food. For most people simply choosing water, and only water as their primary beverage will yield tremendous results. I eat everything else that I feel like during my eating window that moves directly from a non-commercial pot to a plate. The only thing that I’m very intentional about eating is a serving of muesli and yoghurt mainly to develop and maintain a strong relationship with the bathroom 💩. Supplements 💊 I use them and I like them. Currently stacking them for maximum benefit:
My final trump card will be elimination of alcohol at 3 months out. Ozempic - Ever heard of it? A groundbreaking weight loss drug 💉 that's taken the world by storm. It made me wonder why... Do we not know what's required to manage our weight? That's not it 🤔 we know because it's simple, but it's not easy. I'm writing to aid the implementation process:
Shopping Malls 🛒 My suggestion? Don't go there unless you absolutely have to. Don't escort a friend or colleague to the shops, let them go by themselves. Don't take a 'health walk' there neither. This is my version of staying away from temptation because when you go to the mall you'll smell all sorts of things that will stimulate hunger 🍟, you'll hear all sorts of things that will bring back BBQ memories 🍖, you'll see all sorts of colorful sugar bombs that excite your reminiscing taste buds 🍫 🍬🍭. Don't test your capacity to endure temptation; avoid it entirely. Eat From Your Pot 🥘 You'll be amazed at what happens to your waistline once you commit to eating only that which is made in your kitchen. But if you've differed with the madam and she's left you to fend for yourself the next point below is for you. Turn to the Streets 🥜 🍌 🍊 🍉 Feeling hungry? Take it to the streets. Buy the snacks on offer in the form of fruits, roasted maize, nuts, avocados etc until you find your way home to have a proper meal. I haven't found any man attributing their big belly to street food. Water 💧 💩 Drink lots of it and do it early. Staying properly hydrated provides a myriad of benefits and key among is easing any potential constipation by keep things moving along. Think of water as a poop softener. The more you poop the better and lighter you'll feel, at least that's the case with me. Get Active 🚴🏿♀️ 🏋🏿♂️ 🏊🏿♂️ 🤸🏿 My advice? Win the morning because you have less control over the rest of your day. If this is impractical, whatever alternative time of day is convenient you better get the job done with no excuses. For those that don't have the self-drive to get active I recommend that you consider hiring a trainer. You eliminate the thinking and simply focus on execution. Most trainers offer a trial workout and it's enough for you to decide if you enjoyed the session enough to show up again the next day. Whatever you decide, expose yourself to as many different things (boxing, aerobics, running, weights etc) to discover the kind of exercise you enjoy. You'll likely be consistent with an activity that's fun for you. Coffee ☕️ A strong cuppa Joe early in the day tends to help a great deal with appetite suppression. Try it. Another side effect, at least for me, is it stimulates bowel movement. Mind Your Liquor 🥃 You'll probably cut a ton of weight by simply turning a drink offer down, but for those that can't opting for lite beers and plain water mixers will make a huge difference in the long run. ❗️Hangover tip: a glass of water, a banana 🍌 and multivitamin💊 right before bed can help suppress hangover symptoms you might experience the next day. I recently signed up for the project fit marathon after gentle encouragement to do so from family. I was initially resistant because I didn’t feel particularly ‘fit’ but I jumped in it anyway and realigned my focus to measuring progress in my real life fitness project and answering the question "how do I objectively measure fitness?".
Resting heart rate The heart is a muscle* and your resting heart rate is usually an indicator of how strong that muscle is. In general, the lower it is the better. You can use technology to get reading via a smart fitness watch or blood pressure machine, or you can manually estimate it placing two fingers between the bone and the tendon on an artery located on the thumb side of your wrist. When you feel your pulse, count the number of beats for one minute. ❗️Readings are best taken first thing in the morning before anyone has had an opportunity to frustrate you. *The heart muscle of athletes is larger in size than that of ordinary, sedentary people due the physiological response it has to exercise. Excellent Fitness Rating
Above Average Fitness Rating
Average Fitness Rating
⚠️ If the reading obtained is less than what's outlined above then your fitness rating is poor. 12 minute Cooper test It’s simple - Run as hard as you can for 12 minutes on a measurable track or treadmill. Once done check the categories below for a fitness rating. Excellent Fitness Rating
Above Average Fitness Rating
Average Fitness Rating
⚠️ If the distance covered is less than what's outlined above then your fitness rating is poor. 2.4 kilometers test In this test, individuals run a distance of 2.4 kilometers as fast as they can. The time taken to complete the run is used as an indicator of cardiovascular endurance. Excellent Fitness Rating
Above Average Fitness Rating
Average Fitness Rating
⚠️ If the time obtained for distance covered is less than what's outlined above then your fitness rating is poor. VO2 max VO2 max is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute of activity your body can use. To measure it, you can either use technology in the form of a smart fitness watch to estimate this value or manually calculate it from running a predetermined distance. For simplicity purposes, If you perform the cooper test or the 2.4 kilometer tests outlined above then the following formulas are applicable: VO2max = (22.351 x kilometers) - 11.288 for the cooper test, and VO2max = (483 / time) + 3.5 for the 2.4 kilometer test. The other albeit unrealistic option for the majority of my readership is a lab test. ❗️Quick tips to improve this metric are weight loss and high intensity interval training. Excellent Fitness Rating
Above Average Fitness Rating
Average Fitness Rating
⚠️ If the rating obtained is less than what's outlined above then your fitness rating is poor. The relevance of fitness testing is measuring your baseline so you can easily observe improvements or deterioration in fitness. Train, recover, eat and sleep well consistently and fitness takes care of itself. I personally use a Garmin 55 to tell me the truth about my cardiovascular fitness reality. A desire to become more than I currently am made me ponder 🤔, and repeatedly ask the question - “How do you eat an elephant 🐘?”. This desire is not unique to me, it’s embedded in many of us. It’s what drives ambition. I decided to ask and answer this question in my quest to evolve.
Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time. It means waking up everyday, getting after it, pole pole, en route to becoming an ‘elder’ in streak society. Consistency is king and progress, no matter how small, compounds and eventually snowballs into BIG wins. The success stories we admire today are a culmination of hours and hours of someone beating on their craft, taking small bites at every meal sitting (read day) before you even had the chance to marvel at them. 🗣️ "Do something every day that brings you closer to your dreams." Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: By finding the courage to hunt the beast. The burden of ambition is the weight of wanting more and simultaneously being intimidated by the beast you have to face to get it. Mental realignment is critical, and it’s all about seeing it, and literally tasting success before it even happens. The law of attraction, when actively applied transcends you long before you achieve your desired outcome. 🗣️ "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: By picking yourself up when you get trampled on before charging again. You’re going to get dragged and stepped on before you even get close enough to take a bite of the elephant. Accepting that you will fail before you succeed dilutes the impact of falling short and provides the impetus to keep swinging. 🗣️"Victory is always possible for the warrior that refuses to stop fighting." Last weekend I found myself dragged into a discussion about the gym and some of the messy situations people find themselves in. I was asked for my take as ‘Ba Yama’ ku gym.
🗣️”I don’t care how far someone pushes their chest out or how often someone flicks their hair, the gym is the one place that consolidates people that want to be better. People that want to look and feel better. And because there’s a baseline people are trying to build on, insecurities, if left unchecked can creep in and nothing feels better than words of affirmation in times of self-doubt.” The unscrupulous among us speak this love language fluently in environments where the volume is never loud enough for the recipient not to hear, but for the civilised folk it’s fuel and encouragement. I’m drawn to the positives of any situation so for a better gym experience I encourage the lingo. To be clear, it's the simple English, no code, no hint hint or requirement to read between the lines kind of lingo. See someone looking good? Tell them they look good without any extras (😍 ❌) . You’ll make their day, I promise. See someone showing up everyday? Tell them you admire their consistency. You’ll be the reason that they show up again the next day, and the days after that. See someone in your space? Smile 😊, greet them 👋🏿 and keep it moving. You’ll help them feel warmth and friendliness. We all need more of that in a world where everyone is too gangster or too much of a 'somebody' to greet those around them. Be kind, it's contagious, so spread it every chance you get. See someone changing the temperature in a room? Tell them they're on fire 🔥. You'll help yourself by finding inspiration to light your own match and push through your workout. Why? 🦁 Because when you are affirm others you often identify the traits you would like to have, and if you’re someone with a basic desire to improve, these are the things you’ll gradually develop. If you stick around lions long enough you’ll forget you’re a vegetarian and develop a killer instinct. Note: These aren’t one-off events. Nobody ever got tired of compliments. I've been in my head lately and I've been trying to find my way out. After excessive thought chaos a solution to my mental stress presented itself in the form of meditation. I've had an on and off relationship with meditation and I know I haven't been loyal, but I need it. So do you. I'll tell you why.
The why Focus and mental clarity🧠 Daily meditation, without question, levels 🆙 my mental game. I feel sharp, fluid and calm. The mental energy I derive from morning meditation feels just as good as Starbucks coffee on a cold winter morning🥶. It picks me up and provides me with supreme verve and focus. Anxiety suppression 😌 Meditation has helped me channel my inner Bruce Lee - 'Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.' My interpretation of this quote is go with the flow, be flexible and adaptable to whatever situation you find yourself in. I try not to be anxious about about anything because if it's meant to happen, it will. If it isn't, it won't. In-between all of that I remain formless, shapeless, like water. Impulse control That urge to respond when you feel verbally provoked? Consistent meditation will reign in that impulse. You're less likely to have an emotional outburst when your mind has been decluttered. You'll become fully aware of what it really means to think before you talk. The how It's simple; sit down and keep your mind quiet for 20 minutes per day. That's it. Well, that's the summary of it all but there's various forms of meditation and many make it out to be more complicated than it really is. What works for me and likely anyone else yet to attain monk status is sitting down somewhere dark and quiet, back upright, chin up, eyes closed and you taking deep, long breaths into your belly and slowly releasing your breath out through your nose. Rinse, repeat. Maintain focus on your breathing, and only your breathing for 20 minutes straight. The idea behind meditating like this is to quiet the mind and this approach was concisely explained by J.J. Connolly — 'Meditation is concentrating the front of the mind with a mundane task so the rest of the mind can find peace.' It's simple, but it's not easy and those that find the practice unbearably boring have the untamed minds that actually need it the most. Why 20 minutes? Because that's the sweet spot to derive any real benefits from the practice. 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute 'mini' meditation does the same for your mental wellbeing as jogging from your front door to your backdoor does for your physical wellbeing. Next to nothing. Put in the time if you want results. The where Anywhere dark, quiet with a firm and comfortable surface. I typically meditate on a stool. This works for me and I'm sticking to it. If you're in the zone and you can handle it, then please, by all means, do what you see monks and other meditation enthusiasts do 🧘🏾♂️. 📖Side note: The first book I ever read and appreciated on the topic of meditation was Success Through Stillness by Russell Simmons. If you can get your hands on it then you'll learn a lot more about transformative potential meditation has. |
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