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#120 - 28 Quick Tips for Better Progress: Small Changes in Diet, Fitness, & Lifestyle
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Tiny changes. Major progress. Discover how simple tweaks can transform your diet, training, mindset—and results. It's the 1% better mindset but backed with practical things for you to add in today.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to…
- Nutrition hacks that stick: flavored or sparkling water, frozen strawberries, crockpot meals, smart fast‑food swaps.
- Efficient training boosts: superset and rest‑pause strategies, lifting straps, sneaky steps (walking pad), and going close to failure.
- Consistency made easy: set specific training goals, use accountability, and lean on the 5‑minute motivation rule.
- Lifestyle wins: calorie‑cycle around your social life, pick low‑calorie drinks, ban your phone from the bedroom, and sneak in short walks.
- Mindset & mobility on the go: take the stairs, sit on the floor, choose fun cardio or podcasts, and build healthy habits into daily life.
Tune in for quick, actionable tips that stack into big wins.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fit-ish Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host, Latham Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got another weekly episode coming at you. Before I get into this, if you can't leave a review, continue to share this with other people who you think could get some value out of this, continue to grow this thing and get this information out to the people who need it the most. I do appreciate that.
Quick Fitness and Health Tips Overview
00:00:25
Speaker
But with this week's topic, I wanted to do kind of a quick hitter, like value packed type of episode. so Over the process of getting into fitness and health and learning all the things that I've learned and working with lots of different people and just trying lots of different things, I've come across some things that are just super helpful.
00:00:44
Speaker
And a lot of these things are just small little tweaks that I've tried over time and they just happen to stick really well and make a big difference.
Importance of Small Lifestyle Changes
00:00:52
Speaker
It's the whole reason that I talk about that 1% better mindset because I feel like if you can find these small little things that fit really well within your lifestyle that make being fit and healthy easier and more convenient and more likely for you to just be consistent, the better progress that you're going to see, the better results you're going to see, and ultimately the better health that you're going to have, the better you're going to feel, all that good stuff. and so I'm a big fan anytime I can find little tweaks that I can add into my routine or mention to clients for them to try and add
Personal Fitness Journey and Strategies
00:01:22
Speaker
into their routine. Because again, if you can start to add up all these little things, it can start to make a really big difference.
00:01:27
Speaker
And so over this process of getting into health and fitness, the last 10 plus years, I feel like I've tried a lot of different things and come across a lot of things that work really well for me. And that worked really well for other
Key Fitness Categories: Diet, Training, Lifestyle
00:01:40
Speaker
clients that I work with. And so I put together just a list. I just started listing out a bunch of different things, put them into three different categories. And so we have diet and nutrition, we have training, and then we have lifestyle things. And so, like I said, these would just be kind of little quick hitter things. And the goal isn't to try to implement all of these because I had came up with 28 of these just off the top of my head. And I could probably come up with 128 of these. But I thought that I would start with some of these that were just most prevalent and most useful to me.
00:02:07
Speaker
And so the whole goal is to just listen to these. If there's a couple things that you think you can implement that could help you to just make better progress and start to see better results or just make your life a little bit easier, then Pick a couple of these out, try to implement them or maybe use them and see how it goes.
Convenient Meal Prep Tips
00:02:24
Speaker
But getting into this one, I'm goingnna start with diet.
00:02:26
Speaker
And so these are, again, just things that I found to be really useful. Some of them are like kitchen appliances. Some of these are little tips and tricks. Some of these are just random things that I do that I've found to be really helpful. and So the very first thing that I was going to mention is a crock pot.
00:02:41
Speaker
I do not like cooking. I don't like spending tons of time in the kitchen. If something has multiple ingredients or it's going to take me longer than 15 minutes, maybe 20 tops, I'm not going to cook it. And so finding the crock pot and being able to use that for lots of different meals is something that has helped me out a lot to just be super consistent. So one to two times a week, I'll just throw some sort of protein where there's chicken or pork or some sort of beef or anything like that into a crock pot. And that way I just have a ton of protein to make with different meals throughout the week. And that way you just have protein on deck and then you can also just kind of have some variety in there. So you make a huge batch of chicken and one day you have chicken with salad. One day you have barbecue chicken.
00:03:24
Speaker
Another day you have some chicken fajitas. And so it just makes it really easy and convenient to have high protein meals, which as you know, at this point is important. And so crock pots are a game changer. If you don't like cooking like I do, you throw it in there, you turn it on, you come back four, six, eight hours later, and you have a bunch of protein ready to go. And it literally just took you under two minutes to get that all good to go. And so crockpots are huge if you don't want to spend tons of time in the kitchen, and I could not recommend them more.
Managing Meal Choices for Busy Days
00:03:54
Speaker
Another thing that I have found to be super helpful is to have three to five what I call convenience meals. And so a lot of times life will get busy, things will get crazy, schedule gets a little hectic, maybe you're stressed and you either don't have any food to eat, you don't have anything prepared, or you don't even know what you're going to eat.
00:04:10
Speaker
And in those times, I have like three to five meals that I always have in my kitchen, like have these ingredients around that I can turn to if I don't have a plan for that day. And so, for example, one of those like for breakfast is always I always have oats on me. I always have protein powder. I always have some fruit. And so protein oats is always something that I can go to.
00:04:28
Speaker
takes literally two minutes to make. And I know I have a high protein meal. Anything with eggs is also another really good one. You can whip those up in less than 10 minutes. You throw in some veggies, maybe some ham or some other breakfast meat or something along those lines and you have like an egg bowl or you have an omelet or you have something that's super easy, high in protein, healthy, and it's good to go in under 10 minutes. Or another one of my favorites, which I know not everybody will like, is just tuna with vegetables and then throw some sauce on there. So like I'll take a bag of frozen broccoli, I'll take a couple cans of tuna, throw some teriyaki sauce on there, some sweet chili sauce, and I have a super high protein meal, very low in calories in under five minutes.
00:05:08
Speaker
And so having some of those go-to meals when things get crazy or hectic I found to be really helpful. That way you don't go to the Uber Eats right away or you go to the fast food line, which like you can find quality, healthy meals from those things. But if you can start to just have some of those staple items in your kitchen, it makes just sticking to your routine and being consistent with those health goals that much easier.
Tips for Better Hydration and Cravings Control
00:05:31
Speaker
Another one on the list is flavored water or sparkling water. So if you're in a cut or you're just trying to keep your calories low, this can be a really easy way to manage some cravings. or just drink more water in general. When you add a little bit of flavor, it becomes a little bit more enticing to drink. And so this is something that i do pretty regularly. I'll drink flavored water just because it's got that carbonation in there. And if maybe I'm just kind of like craving something sweet, but I don't necessarily need any food, like this is always a good go-to. Or if I just notice I'm not drinking enough water, then I'll get those little flavor squirt bottle things that you can just throw into your water bottle and then add a little bit of flavor. And it just makes drinking more water that much easier. And so that's a super easy, quick little thing that you can do if you're wanting to drink a little bit more water or just handle some cravings that you're struggling with.
00:06:19
Speaker
Another one is adding veggies for easier fat loss. And I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out. And vegetables are such an easy thing to add to meals to bulk them up. And so there's a lot of times where like, especially if I'm like in a fat loss phase, or I'm trying to lose a little bit of extra weight, eat a little bit less calories, I'll just start adding in tons of vegetables.
00:06:40
Speaker
And it's going to help for multiple reasons. Like you're adding in fiber, But it also, you're just adding a ton of volume to your meals. And so sometimes if I just want to eat a ton, but I don't want to just have a bunch of calories, I'll just take an entire bag of frozen vegetables or an entire can of vegetables, sometimes two cans, and I'll pair that up with some sort of lean protein like chicken or beef or pork. And then that'll be my meal. It's a massive plate of food. It fills you up, you're satiated, and you get that big quantity of food.
00:07:10
Speaker
And like for someone like me who was over 300 pounds and like I like to eat and I can eat a very large amount of food, this helps me a ton. So like I'm still getting to eat big meals and like feel full and satiated, but I'm not eating thousands of extra calories, which obviously is going to make sticking to my goals and maintaining weight and things like that much more difficult.
Smart Grocery Shopping Techniques
00:07:30
Speaker
Another other thing that I use very regularly is grocery pickup. And I've said this multiple times on other podcasts, but if you want to make fat loss easier or even just sustaining your weight or just eating more high quality, healthier foods, then make sure that you keep those things in your house. And one of the easiest things you can do so you're not buying a bunch of random stuff at the grocery store when you going there, maybe you're a little hungry, you're buying like all types of ice cream and like sweets and a bunch of just like junk food that's very easy to overeat, just get a grocery pickup.
00:08:00
Speaker
And like you can get a couple of those items if you want them, but keeping that stuff out of your house, the majority of the time is going to make sticking to high quality, healthier type foods that much more easier. And so grocery pickup is just taking out that middle step where like you don't even have to go in a grocery store and be tempted to buy that stuff. You just order it, pick it up, saves you time, saves you money.
00:08:20
Speaker
makes it easier to stick to your goals. And so that's something that I've started doing regularly and I rarely ever go into the grocery store anymore. Frozen strawberries. So this is something that I've started doing a little bit more recently, but there's just times where you go throughout the day where you don't need like a ton of food, but you just want something to kind of like hit that little craving that you have, and maybe like chewing on something or something a little sweet.
00:08:42
Speaker
And so my go-to has been just go grab a couple of frozen strawberries. from the freezer and just chew on those and then I feel good. Like I don't need a huge meal. I don't need a big snack. I just need something just like real quick that I want to have.
00:08:56
Speaker
And frozen strawberries are awesome because it takes a little bit to actually eat them. But an entire pound of frozen strawberries is only 150 calories. so i go grab like two or three strawberries and eat those. i don't know, it's like 30 calories maybe.
00:09:09
Speaker
And so again, you're just kind of scratching that itch. And so I've found those to be super helpful, especially like if you're in a fat loss phase or maybe you're eating a little bit lower calories, those can be a nice little go-to.
Hydration and Low-Calorie Snacking Tips
00:09:21
Speaker
Another one that a lot of you probably already do is just to carry a water bottle around. in lots of people are chronically dehydrated, which leads to a lot of different issues. We're mostly made up of water. And so it makes sense that we need to stay hydrated it's going to help you just with energy, with mood, with like being more awake, with less hunger, like all those different things, digestion. And so if you're not drinking enough water, it just makes everything else a little bit more difficult. And the simplest thing you can do is just carry a water bottle around. You carry a water bottle around, you're going to drink more water. just as simple as that.
00:09:53
Speaker
So probably nothing groundbreaking there, but just a reminder, sometimes we need to be reminded more than we need to be taught. And so that's something that can help a decent amount
Choosing Lower-Calorie Food Alternatives
00:10:01
Speaker
as well. You got a couple more for the dieting list. So Calorie swapping.
00:10:06
Speaker
This is something that I didn't really understand when I first got into weight loss, but it's made a huge difference in being able to not only just lose a bunch of weight, but especially in keeping the weight off because there's so many different swaps now, especially there's entire like Instagram pages dedicated to making really tasty recipes, like similar to like certain fast foods or just things that would typically be a lot more high calorie and maybe not quite as helpful with your goals.
00:10:34
Speaker
people make those recipes that are now lower calorie, higher protein, a little bit healthier, and they also taste great. And so there's entire meals that you can start to do this with. For example, I do this with pizza a lot. Like I have a really nice pizza recipe that I use multiple times per week because I love pizza and that's not something that I ever want to give up.
00:10:52
Speaker
And so having this lower calorie recipe, I can still have pizza, but I'm still eating a lot less calories, which again, is always going to help me just maintain those goals that I have and I'm not having to eat a 3000 calorie pizza to get that fix of like having pizza. And now I'm like struggling to stay on with my goals. I don't feel great because that pizza is just kind of heavy and it's just like sitting in my stomach. And so like, there's lots of different foods and there's lots of different meals that you can start to swap out when you start to really pay attention. And so these are things that I do with like drinks. I'll find lower calorie drinks. I'll find lower calorie sauces. I'll find lower calorie cooking oils.
00:11:29
Speaker
There's even lower calorie foods for a lot of different items. Obviously, for a majority of your foods, you want to be sticking to whole, minimally processed things. But when you are getting more processed things or having meals that are a little bit more typically higher calorie, you can usually find calorie swaps to make those a little bit more macro friendly to help you hit all your goals. But also still check that box of feeling like you're not necessarily like restricting yourself from certain things because For a lot of people, when you try to restrict certain meals or certain foods for the long term, it's just not going to work out that great.
00:12:00
Speaker
But I found if you can have these alternatives, these lower calorie, typically a little bit more health conscious alternatives, they make sticking to a certain diet or staying in line with your goals so much more easy.
00:12:13
Speaker
And then the last one that I had for dieting, just a quick little hack for you. If you're on the road and like you do need to get some sort of fast food, Sometimes it can be a hassle to figure out like, okay, this has this many calories and this has this or like knowing what to order. And so anytime you go into a fast food place, grilled chicken is typically going to be one of the lowest calorie things that you can order. And almost every restaurant will have some sort of grilled chicken item, whether it's a salad or a sandwich or or like grilled nuggets or something like that. And so any kind of grilled chicken, add some veggies to it and then stick to like zero calorie drinks and then get some sauce on the side.
00:12:49
Speaker
is going to be money for an order if you're trying to pay attention to how many calories you're eating and find something that's a little bit higher protein. And so like when in doubt, if you can find something grilled chicken on that list, you're going to be in good shape.
Maximizing Workout Efficiency
00:13:02
Speaker
For the next section, I did some on training. So some of these are like motivation things. Some of these to help you save time. Some of these to help you build more muscle and make better progress. And so there's kind of just a mixture of these. So one of the first things that I thought of was for a time saver, because a lot of people really struggle with having enough time or like that's the biggest reason that a lot of people don't train as consistently as they want is because they are busy or they say they don't have time. And so Finding ways to save some time in the gym is huge. And two of my favorite ways to do that, like if I'm in a pinch and I don't have enough time to like get in my normal training session is I'll use supersets. So find two exercises that you can do back to back, which is going to cut down on your rest time and you can get bigger amount of work done.
00:13:48
Speaker
In that workout with less time and so for example, I might do some pull ups and then maybe I do some lunges and then I'd rest for like 90 seconds. That way I'm not having to rest after every single exercise and then you're just saving some time that way. So supersets is a big one.
00:14:03
Speaker
When you're in a public gym, it can be harder to do this. But if you're doing something that let's say it just takes dumbbells or it's like pull ups with like some sort of dumbbells or things like that. If it doesn't take a lot of equipment, it's a lot easier to do supersets in a public gym.
00:14:17
Speaker
But if you're trying to superset with like multiple machines or use like ton and tons of space, that can get a little bit more difficult. If you're going to public gyms where it's busy or you're going during the busy hours, that can be a little bit more difficult.
00:14:30
Speaker
When that's the case, another thing that I like to use is what's called rest pause sets. And so basically what you're doing here, let's say you have three sets on a certain exercise. So let's say you have dumbbell shoulder press. Rather than doing your dumbbell shoulder press and then resting 90 seconds to two minutes to three minutes in between a set, you're going to do your first set, rest for about 15, maybe 20, 25 seconds.
00:14:56
Speaker
Then you'll do your second set, rest again for 15 to 20 seconds, and then do your third set. So you're just shrinking down your rest times, but you're taking all those sets really close to failure. So you're getting more volume in a smaller amount of time.
00:15:09
Speaker
You don't want to do this all the time because it can get kind of just stressful on your body and it's a lot to do all the time. Like we want to be having some of those rest periods in there when we can. But when you're in a pinch or just adding these in periodically can be really helpful to save you some time to get in the gym, get out, get some good work in, but not spend a ton of time in the gym if your life is a little bit more busy or stressful.
Maintaining Workout Motivation
00:15:31
Speaker
Number two on the list is to include at least a couple of exercises that you really like, but put them midway or towards the end of your workout and that way you have something to look forward to in that workout if you have ah workout and everything on that list that you're supposed to do that day you hate the likelihood that you go and also that you go and actually get good intensity within that workout and get the most out of it is probably not very high especially if you're you know maybe you're down a little bit that day like you're not feeling the greatest like energy is not super high you're just not really that motivated
00:16:04
Speaker
The likelihood that you get a ton out of that workout is just not very high versus if you have a couple of exercises within that workout that you're really looking forward to, you're going to just train a little bit harder and you train harder, you get better progress.
00:16:17
Speaker
So one thing that I'll do for like clients is I'll put like some sort of finisher or maybe it's like some sort of hit thing that they really look forward to towards the end of the workout. Like for a lot of guys, like I'll put some sort of like arm finisher at the end of it.
00:16:30
Speaker
And that way I know they're looking forward to that. And it's something that like, They really enjoy and you just get a little bit more out of that workout when you're looking forward to it And so that's a little little hack for you there when you're creating your workouts or getting in the gym.
00:16:42
Speaker
Another thing on this list is to use lifting straps if you want to build more muscle. When you get to a certain point in the gym, your grip will become a limiting factor on a lot of different exercises. And so on certain leg exercises and certain back exercises where you have to hold the weight, eventually you're going get strong enough to where it's no longer the muscle that's not strong enough, it's your grip. So like if you're doing deadlifts and you can barely hold on that bar, getting some lifting straps so you can continue to increase that weight is going to help you.
00:17:12
Speaker
Or if you're doing like some sort of like dumbbell row or maybe like some lat pulldowns or cable rows where like you're really starting to build up a lot of strength in those muscles. But your grip has become the limiting factor as to why you can no longer go up and wait.
00:17:26
Speaker
Get lifting straps. Otherwise, you're just holding yourself back. And so if you want to make better gains, eventually you're probably going to have to get some lifting straps so that you can continue to push the weight and continue to challenge the muscle. so Because if your grip is giving out before your muscles are giving out, you're not able to get to that muscular failure or close to that muscular failure that we want to actually see the best results.
Increasing Daily Activity
00:17:47
Speaker
Next up on this list. You know, I talk about walking a lot and I've gotten a walking pad and had that for probably over a year and a half now. And for me, since I've had that, it's increased my steps, I think around 1500 or so on average over the last year. And so like, if you just struggle to get enough steps or maybe you work a desk job or you just have certain times where like you would love to just squeeze in some extra steps, but you don't really want to go in like, you know, go outside or go on a walk, or maybe you have some other things going on in the house or whatever, having a walking pad available is super clutch for this. And so you can multitask with doing different things, whether it's work or even just like throwing on a show or like listening to a podcast or something like that.
00:18:31
Speaker
Or maybe you live in in an area where like the weather is bad for half the year and it sucks to get outside. Having a walking pad is a really easy way to start to increase your steps. I'm a huge fan and it's been a really good investment.
00:18:42
Speaker
And I've had multiple clients who have invested in walking pads and it's helped them tremendously with just increasing their activity, which as we know, increasing activity is good for a bunch of different reasons. And so big fan of walking pad. If you want to increase your step count, definitely a good investment.
00:18:59
Speaker
Next on the list is if you struggle with motivation, setting some sort of training goal is really, really beneficial. And so it could be some sort of goal within the weight room, like you want to bench 200 pounds, or you want to squat 300 pounds, or you want to get your first pull up, or you want to run a 5k, or you want to do something that's just going to keep you motivated. And a lot of times, like,
00:19:23
Speaker
Once you get into just the flow and the routine of training, it can become a little monotonous. And so one of the best things that you can do is start to focus on your progress. And when you have a goal at the end that you're really trying to strive for, that starts to make you focus on that progress a little bit more. You're a little bit more motivated to get into the gym and to do the things that you don't want to do. And I think for me, like getting into running has been ah really big part of my routine now and has just helped me from a fitness standpoint, from a mental standpoint.
00:19:51
Speaker
But I would have never got into running if I didn't sign up for a marathon. Like I hated running for the first two and a half months that I did it. And I know that if I didn't have that marathon on the list, just like over my head, just reminded me that I needed to run and needed to get into this.
00:20:06
Speaker
I would have never got into running. And so having some sort of goal, some sort of training goal is really motivating. And I'm a big fan of training goals too. Like lot of people will have goals about like their appearance or losing this much weight or things like that. And i don't think that's a bad goal either, but I really do like training goals because it takes a little bit of that pressure off of like those certain things that you can't really control. And so like your weight is going to fluctuate. There's certain things you can do to obviously help you lose weight, but like the timelines on weight loss, sometimes people start to do things that are just really unsustainable to hit those goals. and
00:20:38
Speaker
And it can sometimes just lead to a bad place if you're not smart about it not saying that you can't have certain weight loss goals but i think training goals is a little bit different where like you have that goal but you're not so emotionally attached to that goal to where it's forcing you to do really stupid stuff or hopefully it's not anyways like you have this strength goal or this goal to run your mile in a certain amount of time or get this many pull-ups or push-ups or something like that. And it's fun to chase those kinds of goals, but you're not quite as attached to those things as maybe some of those appearance or some of those aesthetic goals.
Staying Consistent with Fitness Routines
00:21:12
Speaker
Kind of right along with that is to find some sort of outside accountability for consistency. So like if you're the person that's like, I kind of know what to do, but I just really struggle with being consistent, find some sort of outside accountability.
00:21:24
Speaker
A lot of people will get a trainer or they'll get a training partner or they'll work out with a group for that exact reason. But other things you can do, like for me, I post a lot on social media and a lot of that has to do with just like,
00:21:36
Speaker
having a fitness business and things like that. But it's also a really big source of accountability for me because I know that people are expecting you to post about that stuff, see my workouts. And that helps me to also stay consistent on some of those days where I don't maybe feel like working out. I'm like, well, I need to get my workouts in. i need to post. i need to make sure that I'm being consistent because these are all the things that I talk about. And so having some sort of outside accountability from another person or a group or something of that sort is really, really helpful for consistency because It's easy to not show up when you're the only one that knows or that is expecting to do these certain things. But when other people also know that you should be doing these things or you told them you were going to do these things or like you have these certain expectations, it's a little bit harder to not show up and do those things.
00:22:22
Speaker
Another one on this list, pick some sort of cardio that you like. So I used to be kind of a hater on cardio. I was just in the team weights like Didn't care about cardio. Hate cardio. Cardio kills gains. All that kind of stuff that you that used to be said about cardio.
00:22:38
Speaker
The more and more that's come out about cardio and now obviously being a runner and getting into cardio, there's no doubt about it that lifting weights on top of doing cardio is important for overall health. There's tons of benefits that you get from both of them.
00:22:51
Speaker
And I think having both of those in your routine is really important. but having like a strong heart and a good cardiovascular system, it's different benefits that you're getting from strictly cardio and getting more of those benefits, which is important for living a longer life, adding years to your life, those sorts of things, then you get from lifting weights. And so it's not really like cardio or weights, it should be cardio and weights.
00:23:14
Speaker
And a lot of people just don't like doing steady state cardio, which like I get it, I used to be one of those people too. And so find some sort of cardio you like, if you like high intensity cardio, like you do five, 10 minute finishers at the end of your workout, do that.
00:23:27
Speaker
If you like playing sports and it's getting your heart rate up, you're getting out of breath, then do that. If you like other sorts of cardio, then do that. It doesn't really matter. Just find something that gets your heart rate up, get you breathing a little bit heavy and something that you actually enjoy so that you're doing consistently and go with that.
00:23:45
Speaker
because cardio is important. Having a good cardiovascular system, having a good VO2 max, having a strong heart and efficient heart is important for your health.
Overcoming Motivation Barriers
00:23:56
Speaker
The next one on the list is another one for motivation. And this is what I call the five minute rule. You've probably heard me mention this before if you've been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, but anytime I'm not motivated, i try to break it down into the simplest thing possible. And so I only think about the first five minutes. And so let's say you're not really wanting to go for the run you're not really wanting to work out you don't really want to spend 45 minutes an hour doing some sort of activity just promise yourself that you're going to do the first five minutes after you get through that first five minutes if you want to be done you can and if you actually do want to be done like you do the first five minutes of the run or the workout and you don't want to continue then you can stop but every single time you do that you'll get through the first five minutes and you'll start to feel better you'll realize that it's not as bad as you thought it was
00:24:40
Speaker
And getting that momentum going, you want to finish the workout and get through the workout. And so breaking it down is just one of those little simple mental tricks that you can use on yourself that will help you to get started and to be a little bit more consistent, especially when that motivation might be lacking a little bit.
00:24:57
Speaker
And the last one that I have on this list, it's not really a hack or a tip or anything like that. It's just one of those things that I think about a lot when it comes to training. And so a lot of people get confused about like what exercises to do or how many reps or how much weight or should I do this versus that or what style is better, which is going to make me build more muscle or more strength.
00:25:18
Speaker
All you really need to know, since most people's goal is to build strength and build muscle and look better, when in doubt, just take whatever exercise you're doing close to failure. Because as long as you're doing that one thing and you're doing that consistently and you're doing that with intensity, you are going to build strength. You are going to build muscle.
00:25:37
Speaker
Your muscles are not that smart. They just know that I'm receiving some stimulus and I'm having to work really hard. And if I'm having to get really close to failure, that means that I need to continue to build more muscle, build more strength so that I can continue to handle the stimulus that my body is throwing at me.
00:25:52
Speaker
So you don't need to stress over all the little things about the perfect exercise or the perfect workout program whatever. things like that, you just need to get close to failure. And so when in doubt, that's all that I think about when it comes to working out is like pick an exercise that feels good on my body and take it close to muscular failure. And I know that I'm going to continue to make progress if I do that for a long period of time.
Flexible Eating Strategies
00:26:15
Speaker
The next group and the last group of things are just sort of just lifestyle things that I found to be really helpful when it comes to just fitness goals in general, just being a little bit more healthy and fit.
00:26:26
Speaker
The first thing, and I talked about this on other podcasts as well and expanded on it, but it's just to calorie cycle. If you are somebody who likes doing social events, like if you go out on the weekends, or maybe you go out to eat a couple times a week, in the rest of the week, just eat a little bit less so that you have this budget of calories that you can use for these certain social events.
00:26:47
Speaker
If you are in a fat loss phase, or you're just trying to maintain like you're you're wanting to do these certain social events and go out to eat and maybe have some drinks and things like that. This is one of the easiest things that you can do. And this is how I eat a large majority of the time. During the week, I'll eat a little bit less.
00:27:02
Speaker
That way on the weekends, if I do end up doing something, I want to go out to eat. I want to have some drinks. I want to just go do some social events with my friends or whatever. I have that budget of calories where I'm not just sweating, eating some extra food or having a few extra drinks because I know that I've budgeted and I've saved a few extra calories. So I'm not worried about like putting on a bunch of extra fat over time or like getting way out of alignment with my goals. And so calorie cycling is something that can help a lot. And as I said, I've done other episodes about that. And so if you're just wanting to know how to implement that or just learn a little bit more about that, you can always go check out that episode.
Using Technology for Fitness Tracking
00:27:38
Speaker
The next on this list is to find a few apps that track things. And so if you're wanting to track food, like MyFitnessPal or other food tracking apps are helpful. If you're wanting track your training, there's tons of different apps for that.
00:27:51
Speaker
wanting to track your steps, there's apps for that. I use Apple Health with myself and with a lot of clients. you're wanting to track different fit fitness metrics like your workouts, your heart rate, your runs like different things like that finding some sort of fitness tracker is really helpful and i found for me as a guy who i like the data i like seeing the numbers and things like that it's really motivating to have those numbers but not just from a motivation standpoint it also helps to actually make better decisions when it comes to your health and fitness so like a lot of people will think they're like eating a certain amount of calories or getting a certain amount of exercise in
00:28:25
Speaker
And the studies show us this too, like people will underestimate how much they are eating and they'll overestimate how much they are exercising, which obviously isn't very good for most people's goals of wanting to look better and feel better.
00:28:39
Speaker
But when you have certain things to track, You actually know, okay, I'm eating this many calories. I'm getting this much protein. I'm getting these many steps. I'm getting this much sleep. I'm working out this often.
00:28:49
Speaker
Once you have the numbers, then you can be a little bit more objective about it. And you're not just guessing. You're not just trying to like feel your way through it because a lot of people try to do that. And a lot of people stay stuck and a lot of people spin their wheels. And that's just not a very fun place to be where you feel like you're putting in all this effort, but you have zero results to show for it. And so when you start to track some different things, it helps with that.
00:29:09
Speaker
Next on the list, when drinking. So back to kind of the social thing. If you are somebody who likes to have some alcohol, stick to lower calorie drinks. And so light beers or seltzers are always a good choice. They're around 100 calories or so. So like if you go out with some friends or you're at a family gathering and you want to have three or four beers or some drinks or something like that, you have three or four seltzers, that's only 400 calories, which like is not a huge deal.
00:29:35
Speaker
But when you start to veer off and maybe have some of these like super sugary drinks, so you have like these really elaborate cocktails, like maybe a margarita that has tons of sugar in it, you could easily start to be adding in 300, 400, 500 calories in some of these drinks. and Now you have a couple of those.
00:29:51
Speaker
Now you're not just 300 to 400 calories. Now you're 1500 calories
00:29:55
Speaker
Not a big deal if you do it once every once in a while, but like if that's something that you're doing more frequently, that stuff can start to add up. So stick to lower calorie drinks, beer, seltzers, or if you're going have mixed drinks like with liquor, just stick to zero calorie mixers. So like club sodas or zero calorie diet sodas, things like that, where you can just keep the calories lower, but you can also still enjoy some drinks and enjoy some ah social events as and if that's something that you want to include within your social life.
Improving Sleep and Stress Management
00:30:24
Speaker
Next on the list is for sleep. Sleep with your phone outside of your bedroom. This is something that I started to implement this year and I've built a pretty good habit around this and it just helps to get to sleep sooner.
00:30:35
Speaker
You don't spend a bunch of time on your phone right before you go to bed, which is honestly one of the worst things that you can do because you're getting all this blue light. You're exciting your brain because you're probably scrolling through social media and watching things that are supposed to be entertaining or that just kind of get you thinking and and stuff like that. And so like it's just not a great habit to get into.
00:30:52
Speaker
And so by leaving your phone outside of your bedroom, charging it outside of your bedroom, you're just going to notice that your sleep consistency will start to improve. The quality of your sleep will probably be a little bit better. And you'll just start to get to sleep a little bit sooner.
00:31:03
Speaker
Super simple. And it'll kind of suck at first if you're used to like just scrolling before bed. but eventually you get used to it and your sleep improves and we know that sleep improves a ton of different stuff so people who have better sleep build more muscle they lose more fat they have better energy better workouts like eat less you have less cravings there's so many reasons to prioritize sleep and doing this one little simple thing of keeping your phone outside of the bedroom can start to help improve your sleep quite a bit another one under the lifestyle category is use 10 to 20 minute walks for stress management
00:31:37
Speaker
If you're somebody that's just stressed all the time, you're anxious, maybe you just have a lot going on, like your day is really hectic and you just struggle to ever have any downtime, adding in a couple of 10 to 20 minute walks for that stress management purpose is super helpful.
00:31:52
Speaker
If possible, get outside, get in some sunlight. You don't need a phone. You don't need earphones. Just let your brain just kind of wander and just like do its thing because we need downtime to process and we need some some downtime to just kind of relax and just be And going out for a walk is a really easy way to do that. And you'll notice when you start to come back from these and you start to do these more often, you'll just start to feel a little bit more calm. You'll start to feel like you can work through some things. You'll just start to feel better overall.
00:32:20
Speaker
I've been doing this a little bit at night, like towards the evening, like maybe after I have dinner or just a little bit later in the day. And I've noticed that it also helps me with just falling asleep because if you go throughout the entire day and your brain is just running on a thousand miles,
00:32:34
Speaker
an hour, just thoughts all day long, things going on, work, kids, a partner, like everything just going on all at once. And you just never have any sort of downtime. As soon as you go to lay down for a lot of people, the first thing they do is it's like the whole day is just replaying over in your head, all the things that didn't go right, all the things you still need to do. And it just makes it hard to fall asleep if you're just ruminating on all this different stuff. So giving yourself that space, that 10 to 20 minutes before bed to just kind of let some of that stuff play out can help quite a bit.
Learning and Staying Active Simultaneously
00:33:05
Speaker
Podcast. So if you're somebody who wants to actually learn more about fitness, and obviously you're probably doing this right now, you're probably doing some sort of activity, whether it's driving, whether it's walking, whether it's exercising while you're listening to this podcast.
00:33:19
Speaker
And the reason that I'm such a big proponent of podcasts is because a lot of the things that I learned were self-taught. I learned it through books. I learned it through podcasts. I learned it through experience. But podcasts are something that has always been really helpful to me in order to learn like lot of different things about nutrition and diet and fitness and all that different stuff. And so the more that you can start to learn and really start to understand and get a good grasp of just fitness and health and things like that in general and start to heal from other people who know about fitness and health, it makes it easier to just embrace this lifestyle, but also just find things that are going to work for you and understand this as a whole better.
00:33:57
Speaker
And so podcasts while doing other tasks, whether it's walking, exercising, doing stuff around the house is just a really good way to start to learn and just start to improve your knowledge and start to embrace more fitness focused lifestyle.
00:34:10
Speaker
And so I'm a big proponent of that is just to keep learning through podcast. And so finding ways to double up and maybe stack some of those habits and learn while also doing other things is a really easy way to do that.
00:34:22
Speaker
Three more on this list, take the stairs. I've mentioned this before, and this and isn't so much just for like the exercise benefits of it, but it's more so just reinforcing that identity as somebody who embraces being active and embraces health and embraces fitness. So like,
00:34:40
Speaker
if i'm like If I go to a restaurant or something and there's two different floors, or if I go to the airport and there's some stairs there, or like you're going up to the second level of an apartment or something like that at a friend's place, like just take the stairs. More often than not, like there's always an option to take stairs. And the more often that you can start to do that, you just start to reinforce that identity as somebody who embraces that fitness lifestyle and being active, which I feel like has been a massive part of Making a big transformation, but also just starting to feel and become a different person when it comes to just fitness and health and those sorts of things.
00:35:15
Speaker
And so when you can take the stairs, take the stairs. It's just one of those little mindset things and just continue to reinforce that positive identity that you want to start to shift to to make fitness and health just part of your everyday lifestyle.
Maintaining Mobility and Social Support
00:35:28
Speaker
This one is for mobility. This next one, sit on the floor. One thing that I hear from a lot of people as they get older is just how much different their body feels and usually not in a positive way. They'll be like, just feel way more stiff.
00:35:41
Speaker
I don't feel nearly as mobile. have maybe some lower back pain. My hips are tight. Joints just don't feel that great. One of the simplest things you can do is just start and to sit on the floor more. So now we sit a lot more than we ever used to. People aren't as active and they're more sedentary. And When they're sedentary, they're typically sitting in the same position. So like you're sitting in a car seat, you're sitting at your desk at work, you're sitting on the couch, you're sitting in your recliner.
00:36:05
Speaker
Like there's just so many instances throughout the day where we're in this same exact position where like our hips are in the same position, our back is in the same position. Our body just sits in the same position. And if you don't put your body in different positions, it's going to get stiff over time. and You're going to lose some of that ability that you have to have flexible and mobile hips and backs and knees and things like that. And so sitting on the floor, you're going to have to change different positions. And maybe you sit in like a butterfly position and then you cross your legs for a little bit and then you have one leg out and one leg crossed. And so like you're just forcing your body to be in different positions and starting to build up a little bit more strength in some of these positions.
00:36:42
Speaker
different ranges and so that you don't lose those over time because you see some of those people who like older like really old people and like they can barely get off the couch or they like are kind of like stuck in this curved position and it's because if you don't use certain things you start to lose those ability over time and so sitting on the floor is just a really good way to just start to put your body in those different positions and help to improve that mobility And the last thing that I have on this list is hang out with other people who prioritize fitness.
00:37:13
Speaker
This is a trend that I've noticed, but the people who see the best results and also just the people who stick to their habits and really make fitness a part of who they are and a part of their lifestyle,
00:37:25
Speaker
they hang around other people who also do that same thing. And so I find it really nice like when I'm hanging out with friends or like I'm going on a trip or like doing different things like that. My friends also like to be active, like they want to do active things. They want to work out or they want to go for a walk or they want to go for a run or they want to lift weights. Like they want to play basketball. They want to do other active things that I also want to do. And so it's not weird.
00:37:48
Speaker
Like when we go on a trip and like we all go work out where like, if you're with a group of people who find it weird that you work out regularly or you eat a certain way, it just makes it harder to do those things. Not that it's impossible because it's always your decision at the end of the day.
00:38:00
Speaker
But if you have a group of friends or your family or your spouse, like your wife, your husband also do these things like they prioritize being fit, they prioritize being healthy. It's only going to make it that much easier to stay consistent and to just continue to make that part of your lifestyle. And so it's a really underrated thing, but it makes a massive difference. You become like the people you hang around the most. And so finding other people who also prioritize the things that you prioritize is super helpful.
00:38:28
Speaker
And with that, that is all of them. I think that was 28 total. Like I said, you don't need to obviously try to implement all of these, but hopefully there was a couple of things in there where you found a little little piece of insight or maybe something that you want to try or maybe something that you want to add to the routine that's going to make being fit and healthy easier and just help you feel better, look better, hit those results that you want to get, lose fat, build muscle, all that good stuff.
Conclusion and Coaching Invitation
00:38:52
Speaker
And so I appreciate you listening. One-on-one coaching link is in the show notes. If you're somebody who wants to lose some fat, build some muscle, hit some of those goals that you want to hit, that is what I do with people one-on-one. You can always check out that link.
00:39:05
Speaker
But with that being said, i really appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.