Category: Daily

I had it all planned out yesterday:

Get up for 5 minutes on every hour of sitting for some movement/exercise (6 x 5min)

Do a 30-minute strength workout before picking up the kids from daycare.

In reality, I did two 5-minute bouts of exercise during the day and missed the workout as we left early to get the kids.

Instead of my brilliant 30-minute workout, I did random sets of push and pull-ups throughout the late afternoon. And once the kids went to bed, I did some kettlebell swings while doing the grocery order for the week.

Here’s where it’s at.

Plans are nice. But it’s just as important to know how to adjust your approach to health and fitness when life demands it. Not by stopping altogether. But by finding another way.

While also accepting that, unlike yesterday, finding another way on some days means accepting that there isn’t another way. And being able to let it go to come back tomorrow.

-J

Housekeeping: I am taking on new coaching clients this week. I am looking for 5 outdoor enthusiasts over 40 who want to reclaim their strength and energy, with a dose of swagger.

For years, you’ve prioritised your work and the needs of other people ahead of your own wellbeing. And it’s left you feeling tired.

If that makes you feel all kinds of excited, reply, and we can see if and how this coaching program might be a good fit for you.

Now, here’s today’s blog…

If the thought of repeating the same weekly workouts is as thrilling as watching a bowl of onion soup spin in the microwave, here’s an idea.

Have a list of six different workouts and number them from one to six. Roll a dice and do the workout corresponding to the number you roll.

Even more variety?

Have a list of six different rep ranges and number those too. Once you roll the workout, roll the dice again to get the rep range.

Roll again if you get the same workout/rep range two days in a row.

If you don’t feel like doing the workout/rep range you rolled, roll again.

If you still don’t feel like doing the workout/rep range you rolled, set the dice on fire and chop some firewood.

-J

I went through some of my old notes and found these from 2017/2018 when I took improv classes. Unsurprisingly, some of them ring true for health and fitness (and life) as well:

Slow down. Be present. Don’t think you have to “take” the scene somewhere.

Sometimes you are in a funk that feels like it lasts forever. Days, weeks, months, even. But it will pass. Just be brave and get into scenes to kick out the funk.

If this is true, what else is true?

Keep your character consistent.

When you relax and loosen up, good shit happens.

Here’s why this matters:

Improving your health and fitness is not about bending your life into limbo and trying to fit your life into shiny rules, the latest trends, or crisp hacks and tricks. Yes, eating mostly wholefoods and being active daily are “rules” worth absorbing. But.

A lasting change happens when you create an anthology of health and fitness principles that bend with where you’re at any given time.

How to spot a good principle? It’s often applicable to not only health and fitness but life in general.

-J

I ask my online coaching clients that question every single week.

Every new insight you get about yourself and the process itself is a brick into your personal wall of health and fitness knowledge.

All these brick-sized insights you collect are specific to you. And the thicker your wall of knowledge gets, the more resilient it is to life’s JUDO! NECK! CHOP! moments.

Instead of getting derailed altogether, you build confidence to adjust your approach to health and fitness based on whatever is happening around you.

-J

Challenge according to who? You’re the best judge of your workout intensity. It’s about what you feel. Not about what Miriam does on YouTube.

What felt easy two days ago might feel hard today. Or the other way around. Depending on the calibration of your life’s blistering madness at any given point.

A good intensity for most workouts is somewhere around eight out of ten. Some are going to be less. Very few need to be ten.

“Good” meaning, enough to progress without feeling like a heap of overboiled tagliatelle afterwards.

-J

It’s tough, if not impossible, to live at the peak 365 days a year. Not some universal peak, but the peak you’ve defined for yourself.

After all, it’s a peak for a reason.

But, you can likely set a permanent camp about four weeks out of the peak. And compared to the peak, you can live in that camp with relatively little effort once you get there.

Now, whether you ever need to go to the peak is another story. But just knowing that you could get there with a four-week warning comes with its own kind of swagger.

-J

Shit that we see in movies, magazine covers, Instagram, and centerfolds, it’s not real. Even if we ignore the editing skills and other arrays of, ahem, enhancements.

Comparing ourselves to the highlight reels of the world is like comparing Peter Pan to Peter Griffin. Or Emma Thompson to the Thompson submachine gun. The two don’t exist in the same universe.

That doesn’t mean we have to settle for average, though.

We just have to be careful where we look for validation.

And that’s often closer than we think.

-J

But we’ll have a better life when we do work out. This becomes annoyingly obvious the older we get.

Resistance training makes it easier to maintain our independence. Strength, lean muscle, and bone health are all baked into it. It’s hard to get these benefits from any other form of exercise.

The later you start resistance training, the more of an uphill you have ahead of you trying to claim the past. Especially when it comes to bone density.

The good news is that it’s never too late to begin.

If you haven’t started yet, today’s a good day to do a set of squats.

-J

Sticking with a new fitness routine is hard. But you can increase your chances by taking a 360-degree view of your life.

The more honest you are to yourself about… yourself, the more likely you’re able to figure out a plan that works. Some questions worth asking:

How can I make this easy? (Not the workout part, but to actually get to the workout.)

When am I least likely to skip a workout?

What’s a reasonable weekly commitment with my resources?

Who do I need on my team to make this work? Partner, boss, friend, babysitter, Kirk Windstein?

Yes, the plans often change the moment we get started. But at least we have the framework to build on.

-J

ps. RIP Jeff Beck

I went to make a PB sambo today as a part of my lunch. To my disappointment, I found a bucket brimming with hummus in the fridge. I faced a burning decision.

Am I still true to my 2023 half-assed new year’s resolution? Am I still the kind of person who’s trying to prioritise foods with more protein whenever possible?

It was a long and violently beautiful battle of logic and the heart. In the end, I chose hummus. So I can beam with the qualities of the person I want to be.

But tonight, when everyone has gone to sleep, the house is still, the birds are quiet, and the neighbors are too drunk to remember, I’ll throw the remaining bucket of that goddamn hummus in the bin. Which I then may or may not set on fire.

So I can choose PB sambo tomorrow and feel incredibly good about the decisions I make in my life.

Here’s where it’s at.

You don’t have to postpone becoming a new person once you reach your goal. Each action and habit is a vote for or against the person you want to be.

-J