WHO AM I?
Who cares! I’m 36 and want to get stronger, bigger, leaner, and generally push myself physically. I want to get in the best shape of my life before I hit 40. So, now is a better time to start than tomorrow.
So, here we are.
The Journey section of the blog is to track my progress, learn out loud, and curate useful information for like-minded individuals.
THE GOALS
I want to:
- Simplify my nutrition and training.
- Work hard and smart. Do the fundamentals well, and get the most out of my efforts.
- Get strong.
- Put on muscle.
- Get leaner (not currently very lean – see my stats in Ep.2 here).
- Eat appropriately for aforementioned goals.
- Make it sustainable and develop long-term habits.
- Enjoy doing it.
- Get in the best shape of my life. 40>20 (be in better shape at 40 than I was at 20).
“No citizen has any right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training; it is part of his profession as a citizen to keep himself in good condition… [It is] a disgrace for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and the strength of which his body is capable.”
THE PHILOSOPHY
Play the long game
It takes time. If you’re aiming at a pretty significant body transformation, you need to be in it for the long haul. No ‘12 weeks to a new you’ or any of that bullshit. It’s easy to forget that your favourite fitness YouTuber has probably been training for a decade.
Be consistent
What really counts in the end is consistency. When things aren’t going well we tend to obsess over the finer details. Maybe I need a new training plan? Maybe I should go Keto? Maybe you just need to consistently turn up? Work hard, seek better info, focus on making small improvements, and BE CONSISTENT. Over time you’ll arrive at whatever destination you had in mind.
Habits matter
A word from habit guru James Clear
“Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits”.
To make nutrition and training a part of my lifestyle, I’ll need to start by building good habits. Breaking bad habits and forming good ones is what will determine whether or not the plan sticks.
Dieting sucks
A word from nutrition researcher Alan Aragon
A diet that covers essential nutrition and allows you to preserve muscle, become (or stay) lean, and maintain physical activity is the diet you should be on. All the rest of the details (specific food sources, timing of meals through the day/week, etc), are trivial by comparison.
Find something that isn’t too restrictive FOR YOU. Something that doesn’t feel like it’s ruining your life. Again, adherence matters.
What works for me might not work for you
Part of the fun is trying out different strategies to find what works for you. Look for transferable, fundamental principles of nutrition and training and use these to build a plan that works.
Fundamentals first
Speaking of fundamentals… A word from Ted Ryce
Everyone wants to be in great shape. But few people take the time to master the fundamentals. As a result, they spend most of their time chasing quick fixes that leave them frustrated and never seeing what their body is truly capable of. There’s a better way.
Enough said, thank you Ted.
More than just aesthetics
Everyone wants to look better and there’s nothing wrong with that. Making it the only measure of your success however, is not ideal. I want to look better, but more than that I want to…
- Put on muscle (measurable in the short term),
- Get stronger (also measurable in the short term),
- Feel better mentally and physically (measurable in the short term!).
Completely transforming your body takes time. Having other metrics by which to measure progress will provide much-needed feedback in the short term to keep you motivated.
Do hard things
Training and eating right is hard work and takes discipline. Good. Doing hard things is rewarding. Be smart about how you train and eat, but embrace the struggle.
Science is a hard thing
Quacks sell certainty, science is about probability and acknowledging doubt. And don’t worry, the latter provides an infinite amount of usable information upon which to build effective strategies.
A word from quack killa Kevin Bass
Health science merely reduces uncertainty about actions that will help or harm health; it does not resolve it.
HOMEMADE
I’m focused on the home. Kitchen and gym to be specific. Dipping into the wisdom of the habit gurus again – simply setting a goal doesn’t cut it. You need to build habits (or break them), and creating an environment that is conducive to building those habit is a good start.
The Home Gym. I’m creating a basic, but functional gym tailored to the way I want to train, and I’m putting it less than 20 meters away from my dining table (in the garage).
The Kitchen. When it comes to eating well according to your goals, the same rule applies. Create systems that make desirable habits easy to stick to, and less desirable ones easy to avoid/ break. From tracking what I’m eating, to organising the kitchen cupboard, and everything in between, I’ll be tuning up my kitchen.
That is all! Next up… Ep. 2 Baseline stats or… How I measure up