3 Small Changes You Can Make Now to Be the Best YOU by Summer

What are 3 things I can start doing now to have the best body by summer? When I first heard my friend ask for this advice I immediately thought, “reframe best body by summer to, be the best you you can possibly be by summer.” The difference between the two is that one rewards behavior, whereas one rewards outcome. Having the “best body” is an outcome which may not happen in the given time span, however, putting forth actionable steps to put you on the right path by summer is possible. Hence, the best you you can possibly be. This isn’t a promise to give you six pack abs by the summer or the arms you always wanted. Most likely that will take longer than 4 months. However these small changes can help lead to those future goals if you are consistent with them. Most of the people in your lives who are in really good health do not constantly diet or hop from one methodology to the next randomly. They are consistent in their practices. 

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labour of a spasmodic Hercules”

— Anthony Trollope

One small change you can make now in order to be the best you by summer would be to leave food on your plate. I know in many communities it is considered disrespectful to leave food on your plate. Many of us were even told we couldn’t leave the table until everything was off our plates. This habit might not have affected us as kids but now as adults, when controlling the portion sizes, it has become an issue for many of us. I see a lot of us even taking pride in not leaving a drop on the plate (I am guilty as fuh for this but my goal has always been to put on weight). This is an issue because overeating will lead to weight gain and other health issues (gut health, skin health, etc.). If you want to lose some excess body fat, than this habit of leaving your plate spit shine clean needs to go. Even if you are eating “clean” you still want to take up to 20 minutes, especially for a bigger meal such as dinner, which tends to be most people’s largest meal of the day. Giving your body a chance to tell you it’s full is crucial. If we speed through and gobble everything down in under 10 minutes, we don’t stand a chance. It usually takes the body around 15 minutes to communicate to the brain “ayo chill, I’m kinda full.” At Precision Nutrition, they recommend you to stop eating when 80% full. Most of us are not into numbers like that, so this can seem weird. Starting off with leaving food on the plate can help solve this issue.

Another small change you can make to be the best you come summer would be to eat more vegetables. I am NOT saying to go vegan. I’m not. However, there are proven benefits of eating an array of different vegetables at each meal. From gut health, skin health, mental health etc., vegetables are proven to help with many facets of our health. Many of us have interesting nutritional habits. Some of us eat far too many processed foods, some eat too much meat compared to how much fruits and vegetables we consume, and many of us eat far too many “carbs” such as pasta and rice. Adding in vegetables can help to mitigate any negative side effects that can come from too much meat, processed food, or “carbs” especially when paired with leaving food on your plate. If you currently do not know how many vegetables you eat daily, start paying attention that way you know what more actually is. If you aren’t eating any, start with some. If you are eating some, add more. It does not need to be rocket science. Preferably add more colorful vegetables into your diet and very quickly you will notice yourself feeling better.

The third small change you can make to be the best you come summer would be to resistance train more frequently, preferably with free weights. If you currently aren’t training with some sort of resistance, start. If you are doing one day per week, do two, and so on. If you are already training 5 times per week you are good, no need to add more. Specifically focus on getting stronger in the deadlift, squat and if you can go overhead, then focusing on the single arm overhead press. All of these movements are full body, and when using a free weight as opposed to a machine, your body has to stabilize itself which helps create more of a “metabolic” effect, in other words, burns more calories. All three of these exercises demand most of your body to contract. This will help to give you that feeling of being more toned. Again, the more muscles you recruit at a time, the more demand it puts on your body, and the more calories you burn. The stronger you get, the more energy is needed to move the weight which again equals more calories burned. Resistance training is important for building and maintaining muscle mass, which as we know, the more muscle we have, the more calories we burn when inactive. In other words, your body starts working for you. The ROI (return on investment) is huge. As we get older, our metabolism tends to slow. This is due to a few reasons but losing muscle mass is one of the bigger culprits. So creating behaviors that help to mitigate this loss of muscle is key. This to me is why resistance training is king over body composition when compared to any form of cardio such as running or biking.

Have some compassion for yourself. You are still a good person. If you do not hit your outcome goal by summer, do not take it as a failure. It will come. Giving up or feeling that you do not have control is the easiest way to lose power and to fall further from where you want to be. Remember, most of the people in your lives who are in really good health do not constantly diet or hop from one methodology to the next randomly. They are consistent in their practices. This can be you too if you create these 3 habits and stick with them over time.

Bonus Tip: Find a StrongFirst Instructor (click here) and either hire them as your coach for the long haul or for one session in order to learn how to properly perform the 3 movements I mentioned. 

Undulate

Life is undulating and I don’t know that I would want it any other way. It allows us to appreciate the highs, allows us to learn, allows us to grow. Undulating means to have a wavelike form. Just a “smart” way of saying life has highs and lows. You’re going to have to release the demon after eating that delicious burrito. Take the good with the bad. Learn to appreciate both.

It is important to remember that life is undulating so that when you are having a “bad” day and everything just seems to be going wrong, or possibly even a bad week or month, things will get better. When things do get better, you will appreciate how good it feels. All we can continue to do during those moments is work on ourselves because that is the only variable we can control.

“Make the most of yourself....for that is all there is of you.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since everything in life undulates, from energy, to the weather, to your mood, appetite, strength, and will power, it is only right to treat your training accordingly. Many people complain of hitting a plateau with their training. Usually when I ask them what they’ve been doing it is something along the lines of doing the same weights, same reps, same sets, same numbers of days per week for the past however long.You know, same shit, different day.  This can be alright if you are undulating time under tension and mixing up a few other variables that aren’t mentioned but most likely that is not the case. If you have been doing the same thing for a while, there is nothing for your body to adapt to. Your muscles don’t need to be confused but they need to be challenged and forced to adapt to stressors. Our bodies are very efficient machines, so if you habitually hit it with the same stimulus, it will adapt over time and figure out the easiest way to deal with the stressor. This is why undulating the load, reps, and sets can be important for achieving gains over time.

If you currently have been doing the same thing for a while (few months, years even) time to create some new hotness (Men in Black reference). You can either add a few more reps to each set or add another set all together. If you are doing three sets of a given exercise, do four instead. If you are doing 8 reps per set, boost that up to 10. This is an easy progression you can make. If, let’s say, you have been doing high reps, 8-15 reps per set you could instead work in the lower rep ranges for a while such as 2-6 reps per set. If you are worried about the decrease in volume by lowering your reps, then you can do more sets to help equal the same amount of work being done in a session. If you choose to work in the lower rep ranges, ease into it as you will be using heavier weights which will put a different kind of demand on your body which you will need to give your body a chance to adapt to. Remember what I said about undulating. In both the higher and low rep ranges there needs to be some sort of variation and it usually can’t always track upwards. Having easy days every once in a while is important to achieving close to continuous gains.

As I read in Peak Performance, “hard work done all day every day can’t be hard work.” Bouts of hard work must be met with bouts of rest. If this does not happen then some form of burnout will take place. Whether this is having time off from work, having at least a day off per week of lifting or running or whatever your jam is, we have to allow the body and mind time to recover. During the day even building in time of rest if you are sitting at a desk plugging away on mentally intensive work then standing up once per hour and walking around will do wonders towards keeping your energy high, keeping your skill high and avoiding “plateauing” or stagnating. Undulating just about everything we do in life will help to ensure we discover the Power of Strength and that we hold onto its power until the day we fizzle out.

INTENT

The new CEO of StrongFirst, Fabio Zonin, always says the setup is the first rep. I first heard this saying from Phil Scarito and it immediately stuck in my head. I was quickly able to flash to many points in life where I had skipped the “first rep.” You see, this saying to me goes far beyond fitness. This is a life lesson. With anything in life that you want to be successful at, you need to have intent, pay attention to the steps and execute them. One step at a time. One task at a time.

To me, “the set up is the first rep” means to focus on what you are doing, have purpose behind what you are doing and execute as if your life depends on it. Without focusing on the set up you are not putting yourself in the best position to win and succeed.

When it comes to training, the saying “the set up is the first rep” can help increase the likelihood of staying safe, having a successful lift or movement and most importantly, it’ll help to make sure it doesn’t look like shit. Often times when people are injured at the gym it is from a lack of focus, or attention to what they are about to do. They step up to the bar all loosey goosey and just jerk the weight around. I have seen strong powerlifters walk into the physical therapy office because they were lackadaisical with their approach. A lack of focus and intent can injure even those who are very strong. Whether one forgets to get tight during the setup or is talking to someone a second before lifting, both show a lack of focus.

In a world where more is better, it’s hard to focus on one thing at a time, however, it is proven that we cannot put 100% focus into multiple things at once (i.e. multitask.) Some of us may feel that we can do 10 things at once and do all 10 well. Though this may be somewhat true, you are doing yourself a disservice. You end up putting less than 100% into each task, which if you hold yourself to a high standard, will equal subpar work. The act of deep focus work can only be achieved if we are submerging ourselves in that one task.

I challenge you to complete focused work. Don’t check Instagram every few seconds. Stop reading multiple articles at once. You will feel more accomplished and actually get more things done. Some things can wait. Look at texting a driving, for example. You may well get away with it, but how comfortable would you be seeing a taxi driver typing into his/her phone while driving you? If you ask someone to do something for you and you see them working on another task while you’re still waiting for your task to be done, you’re going to be annoyed. However, if you do the same thing then you’re being a hypocrite. Often times we think we are the exception to the rule, but most likely we are not. Humans CANNOT multi-task.

With training and in life, let your first rep start with the set-up and end with the execution of the lift or the task. This allows you to focus on what you are going to do before you find yourself knee deep in some ish wondering how you ended up there. Whether it’s in pain or a crappy end product, both are usually a result of negligence during the setup. Avoid the headache that is sure to come later by being deeply focused on the task at hand.

Goals! How Many of Us Have Them?

What time is it? It’s the most wonderful time of the year that’s what time it is. You know what that means, the new year is approaching. With a new year approaching it usually means everyone is getting set to start a bunch of new goals in the new year. “New year, new me.” “This is my year.” “New phone who dis.” These are all sayings that most of us have said at one point in time in our lives, or possibly we say this every year. We start off the new year highly ambitious, seemingly motivated, ready to tackle a CVS receipt sized list of goals. Then February rolls around and the majority of us have lost track of our goals. In January it's easy to make goals while looking at the big picture, however in February, the choices we've made can be far from those goals, so we throw in the towel. I personally have done away with the new year resolution because I discovered how I was going about it was the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I think if we have goals why wait for the new year to start them. However, I do think it is a good idea to set some goals for what you want to accomplish in the next year as a timeline but to have some parameters in place so that you can be successful.

Often times when we set New Year’s goals we make them huge, and we make them very vague. For example “this year I am going to go to the gym.” If we have never been to the gym before in our lives this is a huge change. Usually it’s going from limited movement to a lot of movement or the potential for a lot of movement. Also, it is ultra vague. Going to the gym once would technically check that box. Not having a set number of days per week or month that you are going to go makes it challenging to adhere to the goal. So the first thing that needs to be done when making a goal is it needs to be measurable. What this would look like is “ this year I am going to go to the gym 156 days of the year.”  This way you have a timetable, this year, and you have a number of times you will go, 156.

Now “this year I am going to go to the gym 156 days of the year” is a better goal from the vague goal we started off with, but it can still be even better. That goal is what I call a long term goal which is fine. However, in order to up your chance for success in the long term goal you will need some short term goals to help send you down the proper path. If your goal is to go to the gym 156 days of the year then your short term goal may be for “the first 4 weeks I am going to go to the gym 12 days.” Breaking large goals down into smaller more manageable goals makes it much easier to see success early on, which will incentivize you to continue. Some studies have shown that instant gratification is effective for long term behavioral change(click here for the study) they phrase it as little victories. These little victories are important for many of us who may not be able to keep our eyes on the prize if the prize seems so far away. Little victories are a way to make your long term goals seem more feasible. Now, in an ideal world I’d rather have people delay gratification because in general things that give us instant gratification often sideline our long term goals. Having cookies everyday, limits us from developing that six pack we really want so make sure in most cases you are still delaying gratification.

SMART goals or goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound is how I suggest setting up any goal. That is all great but it doesn’t help with knowing how many goals to set at once. Often times I find that people try to change too many things at once which causes them to change nothing. It is hard to try to focus on a dozen task at once. Starting with one long term goal and one short term behavioral goal and making those a habit before adding in any other goals is the way to go. You can make a list of 10 goals at the beginning of the year but label them in order of importance to you. Then start with the most important goal, make it a behavior first, then start to work on the next. It’s great to be ambitious but biting off more than you can chew can make it tough to swallow, which is the end goal after all.

Think about it this way, everything big started small. Small steps in the right direction is still progress and that’s what we should strive for. Setting your goals up so you can make small victory after small victory will make that big victory feel that much better at the end. I hope in the new year you are able to find your Power of Strength, one small victory at a time.

Community Value

I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree. This time of year always has me a little nostalgic. This year with my move to the left coast approaching what feels like rather rapidly, I have been especially reflective. During the holidays I am always so thankful of the family I have which includes my actual blood related family, parents, grandfather, sibling, nephew, aunts and uncles as well as those who aren’t flesh and blood but they are family by choice. Close friendships that I have forged over the years. I think back to the past and think about my family members who are no longer with us and it just helps me understand even more how much I need to enjoy every moment that I spend with anyone because you never know when you will see them again, if ever again. Now, some of us may not be that close with our immediate family and that is fine. However, community is a very important part of life, especially if you want to be healthy through the years, find love, and make strong friendships. I have been lucky in my life to have belonged to many awesome communities. Growing up in a small town with a fairly strong community helped me create friendships that will last a lifetime. Attending two universities has allowed my worlds to be so intertwined it is always amazing to think back to how oddly coincidental life is. Finding the StrongFirst community has been such a driving force to my current mindset of always trying to get better and to see people for who they are. Point is communities have changed my life for the better.

Having a community outside of work can really benefit your life as a whole. It is great to build relationships with coworkers, however, you want to hang out with them outside of your work environment or else life can seem monotonous. Going to work everyday, seeing the same people everyday, then going home and having no other social interactions can drive a sane person crazy.

Having a community that you do different activities with outside of work can be a perfect way of meeting new people and building new relationships. I often hear people say how hard it is to make friends or find someone to be in a relationship with. Usually this person works too much and doesn't play at all. When we were kids we played, we were involved in many activities outside of school and we had a lot of friends. As adults, we often forget to “play”. We forget that life is meant to be enjoyed and that we only have one chance at life. We work all day then go home, then go back to work again.

On weekends we go to bars then wonder why we can’t find new friends or someone to build a meaningful relationship with. The bar or club is seldom a place to meet new people that you actually want in your life. This is why I think being involved in different communities can really help change your life for the better.

As my friend Beth Kowaleski once said, “obviously the answer to building friendships is having common interest.” Joining or creating a community based around something you enjoy doing is an easy way to meet people with common interest. Activities such as a book club, volunteering, non-profit work, networking events, group exercise classes like spin, crossfit, metabolic training classes, or intramural sports are all great communities that can be full of people with common interest. These are healthy activities that can really change your everyday life. From the exercise benefits or knowledge you gain to the people you meet.

I love communities of all kinds and I am looking forward to finding and starting new communities as I close my east coast chapter and start my next out west. I find the value of a good community to be endless and I can't harp on it enough for you to get involved in however many communities you can find that interest you.