Category: Daily

To get stronger, build a bit of lean muscle and improve bone health, 2 x 30min of challenging resistance training per week is enough for most people.

Is 3 x 30min or 2 x 45min better? Yep, if you can. But whether it’s worth the effort depends on the other being-an-adult stuff you’ve got sitting in your knee-deep soup bowl.

Reps and weight matter very little. As long as you take most sets to 1-3 reps from failure. I like 8-12 reps as a sweet spot for time efficiency.

Four sets per week per muscle group is a good number to aim for.

-J

Carbs vs fat. Cardio vs weights. Sauna vs ice bath. Vegan vs carnivore. Fasting vs …not fasting? HIIT vs Zone 2. Calories vs macros. The Stones vs The Beatles.

Extremes sell. Black-and-white answers make us feel more confident about our decisions. And the deep need for affiliation and belonging is part of being human.

All of these are worth keeping on top of mind when trying to avoid drowning in the neck-deep nonsense we all swim in.

Trends come and go. But principles rarely change. The answers, most of the time, lie somewhere in the middle.

Adopt a trend once it has enough backing behind it to make it worth your precious time.

-J

Set goals that matter to you, even if others don’t value them.

Look at the time and resources you have available and match your actions accordingly. Instead of getting sidetracked by someone else’s schedule.

Emphasise activities that you enjoy. Try new ones that match your personality. Regardless of what others say you “should” be doing.

-J

Strength training might burn fewer calories than cardio, but it’s still a non-negotiable part of any fat loss plan.

Trying to lose weight without strength training is a sure way to lose muscle in the process. Less muscle means lower metabolism. Which then raises the chance of the weight bouncing back up.

You don’t have to commit to some ridiculous my-name-is-Xena-buy-me-a-weapon program. You can start with whatever you have time for.

Even 10 minutes counts.

-J

A quick 10-minute workout might feel like a failure on a day when you could’ve easily done 45 minutes but decided not to.

But 10 minutes on a day when the lord of illness has unleashed a diarrhoea storm upon the rest of the household?

On that day, 10 minutes is a success story worthy of a medal. And a paragraph or two in tomorrow’s newspaper. Probably a gun salute. And it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a cookie named after you.

Just like our approach to fitness has to be reasonable and fluid, so do our expectations for success.

-J

Move more and eat less is terrible advice.

Move more and eat enough is a better one.

The former will give you faster results.

The latter will give you all the calories and nutrients to support your training and recovery. 

Both options get the job done.

But staying clear of starvation makes it more likely that you’re going to keep your results for the long-haul.

That, and you’re less likely to hate life.

-J

It’s not about what’s ideal, optimal or perfect.

But what’s realistic with the resources you’ve got.

They’re almost never the same thing.

-J

You’ve decided to prioritise health and fitness goals. You’ve set an achievable goal. A goal that you can expect to get to even when life deals an occasional two of spades*.

Provided you’re willing to make a few sacrifices and embrace consistency and occasional hard work.

Let’s say your goal is to increase your cardiovascular fitness. You could do a moderate pace >30-minute walk two or three times a week. Or, if you already have a decent base level of fitness, aim for one or two short, higher-intensity interval workouts.

Want to get stronger? Two to three progressive 30-45 minute strength workouts a week it is. Or four 20-minute workouts. Or five 15-minute workouts.

You get the idea. Pick whatever works for your schedule. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Because you’ll likely have to adjust your approach on the fly when life deals cards that suck.

*I thought I’d come up with something original (for once!). But after a quick search, I now know that two of spades has Tarot card meaning. Which, of course, is as deep into the BS zone as one can get. But let’s ignore that for now.

-J

Want to set better health and fitness goals and be confident that you’ll reach them?

If you want guidance, accountability and direction to stop second-guessing what to do, I’ve got a few one-on-one coaching spaces open. It’s not for everyone, but it might just be for you.

Reply with your interest, and we’ll chat to see if my coaching program would be a good fit for you.

Once you’ve decided to prioritise your health and fitness for the next few months, it’s time to narrow your focus. To choose a specific goal worthy of your attention and effort.

Which aspect of your health and fitness deserves the most focus for the next three months?

Big goals have their place. A (half) marathon, a challenging hike, or, I don’t know, winning a dance-off to avenge on behalf of your dad, Randy, who just got SERVED by the OC kids.

But when the initial goals are more lifestyle-related (stronger, fitter, leaner, and more energetic), big goals tend to backfire. When you set the bar too high, there’s little room for error. The error being, life happens.

The worst that could happen is that you lose momentum. Enter discouragement, disappointment, and the feeling of failure. The second worst thing that could happen? You reach your goal.

When you reach your huge short-term goal, the work doesn’t stop. You still need to put in the effort to maintain what you’ve got. Which, depending on the actions that brought you to your goal, might be next to impossible. Enter discouragement, disappointment, and the feeling of failure.

How to set better goals?

Look at the actions and habits you need to implement to achieve your long-term lifestyle goals. If you can’t see yourself adopting those actions and habits for the rest of your life, at least in some capacity, choose another goal.

Most of us over-estimate how much we can achieve in 12 weeks. And under-estimate how much we can achieve in 52 weeks.

-J

If you want guidance, accountability and direction to stop second-guessing and reach your health and fitness goals, I’ve got a few one-on-one coaching spaces open. Reply with your interest, and we’ll chat to see if my coaching program would be a good fit for you.

Most of us can only prioritise two aspects of our life at once without at least some unintended negative consequences.

Let’s assume that family (whether that’s an actual family or friends who are like family) is always a priority. That leaves us with the capacity to prioritise one more part of our life.

Most of us will have to choose between health/fitness and work.

If we choose health and fitness, our work has to go into maintenance mode. If we decide to focus on work, we have to coast health and fitness.

This doesn’t mean we quit work or rinse our training shoes in aviation fuel. Instead, we’re not going to actively pursue progress.

Here’s where it’s at.

What goals are you going to pursue in the next three months?

What are you willing to put on maintenance?

Because it’s unlikely that you can make progress in all of them at the same time.

If you want to pursue health and fitness goals, I’ve got a few one-on-one coaching spaces open. Reply with your interest, and we’ll chat to see if my coaching program would be a good fit for you.