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#90 - Best Fitness "Hacks" & Lessons of 2024
29 Plays2 months ago
Another year has come and gone. I will share my best fitness "hacks" from this last year. Along with some valuable lessons that could help you as you head into the new year.
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Transcript
Introduction and Year Reflection
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish project with your host Latham Bass. As always, if you are listening to this at the same time as I'm recording this, well, happy holidays. it is Christmas time and so hopefully you're enjoying the holidays with your loved ones. But we have another episode and this will be the last episode of 2024, which is kind of wild to think about. This year has flown by as most of the years seem to do. It seems like every single year we get older, the time just goes faster and faster.
Life Hacks Inspired by Modern Wisdom
00:00:32
Speaker
And ah so for this week's topic, I listened to quite a few podcasts myself. And one of my favorite podcasts that I listened to is called Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson.
00:00:43
Speaker
And one of the things that he'll do from time to time with a couple of his buddies will get on a podcast and they will talk about life hacks or life lessons. And so I was listening to his most recent one of that and I thought it was a really cool idea. So I thought I would do kind of a version of that and mix in a little fitness within that
Fitness and Health Tips
00:01:00
Speaker
as well. So with this episode, I'm gonna talk about some life hacks, things that I used in the last year or so that have just made my life easier just in regards to fitness and health. and All those different kind of things and then also just a couple of life lessons. So I think I have like seven or eight different kind of life hacks and then I have three main lessons that I thought of that really kind of hit home with me this year. So I figured I would share those with you. Hopefully give you a nugget or two that you can use out of this episode. so getting into it, I'm gonna start with the life hacks. So one of the biggest improvements that I've had this year with my health has just been with the ease of adding in some extra walking. And I've done that through adding in a walking pad. It's been a game changer just as far as like getting in more steps, being more active and just creating a more healthy habit within my life to be able to just walk more. And if you've listened to some of my other podcasts, you know,
00:01:55
Speaker
how much I love walking and how important I think walking is because of how easy it is just to add into your life. I know sometimes people will struggle with just creating time to exercise and sometimes you have things come up, you get busy, you get stressed and it's a little bit harder to get in.
00:02:10
Speaker
exercise sessions, you know, driving to the gym and just there's just a lot of extra obstacles. But when it comes to walking, it's something that's so easy and seamless that you can fit within into your lifestyle. And when you get a walking pad, it's even easier because especially if you're somebody who maybe you work from home, you work remote, you spend a lot of time at home, or maybe you live in a place where the weather is kind of crappy.
00:02:31
Speaker
Having a walking pad just right there in your house that you can just go step on for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever, is just so convenient. And if you are somebody who works from home, it's awesome because you can do this while you're working. You just throw that walking pad under your desk, get a standing desk and put that walking pad on a really low level and you're just constantly getting some movement and getting some steps in throughout your day.
00:02:55
Speaker
And we know that just getting more steps and getting more active is so beneficial just for your overall health. Not just from a physical standpoint, but also from a mental standpoint as well. I think we get really stagnant and a lot of times we just have these issues with our health that we don't need because we're so sedentary in today's lifestyle compared to the way that things kind of used to be. and so Getting a walking pad is a really, really good investment if you want to start to increase your activity without having to do a bunch of extra stuff or make a bunch of new exercise plans or just add in a bunch of new things. It's just something that's really easy. You just buy one, set it up in your place and I promise you, you are going to get more steps within your day and it's going to make a pretty big impact on just how active you're being overall.
00:03:41
Speaker
I think the one that I got was like, it was on sale, I got it on Amazon, probably like $160, $170, so you gotta put a little bit of money into it, but like it's awesome. like Everybody that's gotten one has just had nothing but good things to say about it, so highly recommend that. They have tons and tons of different versions on Amazon, and if you're interested in getting one, just shoot me a message and I can send you the link of the one that I got, but highly recommend a walking pad if you're somebody who's just trying to get more active, trying to get more steps within your day.
00:04:11
Speaker
Lifehack number two, a ninja creamy. I've talked about this a ton. And if you follow me on my social medias, you probably see me post about the ninja creamy. I'm a big ice cream lover. And so last year, it was like right at the beginning of the year, actually, I think it might've been even like a few days after Christmas last year is when I got the ninja creamy. And I'd heard about it quite a bit. And so I decided to invest in one. I think when I got mine at the time, it was like 200 bucks. so And you got to put a little money into it. But like, I love sweets, I love desserts, I really enjoy ice cream. And this allowed me to add in ice cream on a daily basis for not many extra calories. So like you get to make your own ice cream, you can make it as healthy as you want. Or you can make it as sugary and sweet and high calories as you want, but I tend to stick with the ah
00:04:57
Speaker
lower calorie higher protein kind of options but it's so nice because it's an entire pint of ice cream for like 250 maybe 300 calories. I can eat the whole thing I'm satisfied I get it kind of like check that box of getting something sweet like I don't feel like I have to say no and restrict myself when it comes to desserts and things like that because I have one almost every single night. And there's so many different combinations that you can make and different things like that. So like, if you're somebody who maybe is a little bit more health conscious, or maybe you're trying to lose weight, or you just don't want all those extra calories, you don't want all those extra sugars and things like that, you can just start making your own ice cream through a Ninja Creamy. Because a pint of Ninja Creamy ice cream, like I said, just depending on how you make it could it be anywhere from like 250, 300 calories on average.
00:05:41
Speaker
versus like a different pint of ice cream where they use other ingredients, lots of sugar, lots of fat, a combination of those things. It could be anywhere from 700 to 1,000 plus calories. So like two, three, sometimes four times as many calories in sugar and things like that within the ice cream versus just making your own and enjoying that sweet treat.
00:06:00
Speaker
guilt-free and also being able to hit your health goal so you're not gaining a bunch of unwanted pounds because you're eating thousand calories of ice cream every night. So huge fan of the ninja creamy as well if you're somebody who likes sweet stuff I think it's a really good investment.
00:06:14
Speaker
Lifehack number three is using a training app. so I like numbers, I like technology, things like that. so like I use quite a few different apps when it comes to fitness. like I'll use Strava for like distance endurance type of things. I'll use a training app. I actually use a training app for myself and my clients just based on like personalized workouts that I can make through this app. I really like this app because One, it just kind of helps to hold you accountable, but when you're recording things and you're tracking your weights and your reps and just different things like that, it allows you to push yourself a little bit better, but also just to make sure that you know that you're making progress, which does a couple of things. You're going to get better results if you're actually tracking your numbers and making sure that you're focusing on progressive overload.
00:06:58
Speaker
But two, it's also kind of motivating as well because you're seeing like how much progress you're making. You look back a couple of months or maybe even a year or so and you see how much stronger you've gotten in certain lifts. You can track how consistent you've been. You can see where you're getting stronger, maybe where you need to make some improvements. So it's really nice to just have those numbers in front of you. Otherwise, you just don't really pay as much attention to it and you typically don't put as much effort into those things and then you don't see the results that you want to see.
00:07:22
Speaker
I have a whoop strap that I've been wearing for a long time, which is just a fitness tracker. And again, it's just really nice for like accountability purposes. It's helped me with just improving my sleep and making sure that I focus on my sleep. I use it to track my steps. I can notice different health trends. So like, let's say for instance, one day I get really crappy sleep or I eat a certain way or like I wasn't hydrated enough or whatever the case may be. I can kind of look and see like how my recovery is, different things like that. And I can start to notice trends of things that make me feel good and help me be on my game or things that are kind of hurting me like whether it's alcohol or lack of sleep or different things like that. So it's it's nice for just tracking trends and starting to notice and just bring a little bit more awareness about the things that help me reach my goals and the things that don't. I used a mobility app for like the first half of this year just because that was a focus that I really wanted to improve.
00:08:15
Speaker
And so I got this mobility app that I was using through Kelly Starrett, who's a big mobility guy. And I use that, like I said, for probably like six, seven months. And it helped a ton, just having that there, ah the convenience factor of not really having to think about what to do. You just turn the app on, gives you your mobility workout to do. It takes five, 10 minutes. You run through it and you kind of check that box and then you're good to go. And so one thing that I really like with just these apps and you know technology and things like that is just the convenience factor of it. Because I've had conversations with people a lot about just like you know getting in the gym and they're like,
00:08:48
Speaker
get in the gym, but then sometimes I don't know what to do. And then I struggle. I feel like I don't know if I'm wasting time, like if I'm doing the most efficient things. And so like having something already done and set up for you where you you can just open it up and just have that convenience of like it telling you exactly what to do can go a long way and helping you just be more consistent, building better habits, seeing better results. And so don't underestimate the use of like a good app. And a lot of these apps are super low cost.
00:09:15
Speaker
And a lot of them are even free on top of that. So like finding an app that you like that helps you get to whatever goal that you may have, whether it's losing weight or getting stronger, building muscle, improving your mobility, having some sort of app can be a huge game changer and just helping you be more consistent, more motivation, get better results, all those different things. So highly suggest finding an app. And if you have questions about like certain goals about an app that you should use for a certain goal, just shoot me a message because I've used a ton of them.
00:09:42
Speaker
um Number four, I think it is sitting on the floor during screen time. So the average adult spends somewhere around seven hours on a screen throughout the day. And I think that's kind of added up whether it's it's like your phone, a TV screen, computer screen, all that different type of stuff.
00:10:00
Speaker
And so since we spend so much time on our screens, this is actually something that I got from Kelly Starrett, the guy who I used ah the mobility app for. He talks a lot about just like getting people up and moving and just like getting in different positions and putting your body in different positions because the thing about just mobility and flexibility and just the use of your body is like if you don't do these certain things, you start to lose those abilities throughout your life. So if you've ever seen like those older people who like they can't even like put their arms above their head to like reach up and grab something or they're kind of just like permanently stuck in like that curved shape like they can't stand up straight their posture is not great they just don't have those abilities anymore because they stop doing a lot of these things and so it's just important to just put your body in different positions so that you never really lose those positions and that your body just feels a little bit better
00:10:49
Speaker
more loose, more mobile, all those certain things. And so one thing that he recommended is just start sitting on the floor more. And an easy thing that you can do is like, if you're somebody who watches Netflix or movies at the end of the night, or like, even if you're just getting on your phone, like we all spend time on our phone, we all spend times on screens, just plop down on the floor and just sit in different positions, whether it's a cross legged or like in a butterfly position, maybe you're doing like a 90 90. So just putting your hips in like in your legs in different positions and just allowing your hips your low back all that stuff to just get some more movement and get some fluidity just going throughout your body so that again you don't lose all these positions. This is something that I started doing just like in the morning or even at night like if I'm reading or if I'm on my phone or just watching some Netflix I'll just get down on the floor and just sit in some different positions and as somebody who has really really really tight hips and not great mobility I have definitely seen a difference over time from doing this rather than just like laying down on the couch or
00:11:46
Speaker
you know, getting back, getting my recliner and get super comfortable. And it's not that you can never do those things. Like I still enjoy, you know, just hanging out on my couch or just getting in the recliner, reading a book, things like that. But just adding this in, you know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes a day where you're just sitting on the floor in different positions can go a long way and just helping you start to ease some of that back pain, hip pain, get a little bit more flexible. So that is another one that I would recommend that you try.
00:12:12
Speaker
Number five on the life hacks. This is actually
Product Reviews and Recommendations
00:12:15
Speaker
an alarm clock. So I've had this for quite a few years. I think I've had this for close to three years. I got it for Christmas quite a while ago. ah but I thought I'd throw this one in here. It's called the hatch alarm clock and I know they make different brands of these but basically it's an alarm clock that wakes you up with light and like sound but it's not quite as disturbing as your typical alarm so like if you're somebody who uses your phone you know that it's just it's kind of annoying to wake up to that loud blaring noise like even if you do have a sound that's not quite as
00:12:44
Speaker
you know, as as disruptive. It's just, it's not great to just wake up in that way. And it just kind of starts your day off on a weird spot. Like sometimes you're just frustrated or irritated or like just hearing that alarm clock just kind of like sets you in this loop of like being kind of pissed off. And this alarm clock wakes you up more gradually, it's supposed to kind of mimic like what a sunrise would be like to wake up to. So like it starts gradual with the light, and then it slowly gets brighter and brighter and brighter until you wake up.
00:13:12
Speaker
You can also add some sounds in there. So it has like nature sounds and different things like that. And that works on the same concept as well. Like it starts really low and then it slowly gets louder and louder over a period of time. And you can set how long you want it to get gradual for. So you could do it over a five minute span where like it starts not so bright, not so loud, and then it gets loud within five minutes. Or you could set it, I think it goes up all the way until like 30 minutes. So it could slowly just gradually get brighter and brighter, louder and louder.
00:13:39
Speaker
And the idea is again, just to kind of simulate that sunrise waking up with the sun, but just wakes you up a little bit more calmly, I guess. And so for me, I've really liked it. I like it a lot more than using like a loud blaring alarm clock. It just seems to just kind of start the day off on a little bit better foot than waking up to something that's just like seems like super disruptive and kind of just puts you in that fight or flight state right away from the morning. and so I like this Alarm Clock. I've used it for a really long time and I've had a couple of friends who have bought one as well and they've liked it as well. So it's called the Hatch Alarm Clock and I know they make other brands as well. So like you can look into that if that's something that you would be interested in. ah Number six.
00:14:21
Speaker
drinking flavored zero calorie drinks. And the reason that I put this on the life hack list is because I do like, I don't have any issues drinking a lot of water. Like that's not ever really been a problem for me, but I know that like on some days where I'm not as hydrated, like for whatever reason, maybe I'm traveling, I'm just not drinking as much water. Like for whatever reason, I'm just not drinking as much water. I noticed it has an effect just on how I feel from a physical standpoint.
00:14:47
Speaker
how well like my brain is kind of functioning, like if I can't like recall certain things and and different stuff like that. And there's a lot of signs to back this up too, just with hydration because your body is made up of 60 to 70% water and so drinking water is very important. And I know that sometimes some people struggle with water. so Drinking flavored stuff that zero calories can be an easy way to get some extra water in there. I'm a big fan of drinking like flavored water That's one of my go-to's or just throwing some electrolytes within the water just to kind of mix it up So you're not always just drinking water you can have some flavor in there and then to like if you're somebody who maybe You're trying to lose some weight drinking like carbonated drinks can also be really really helpful which hope with helping to manage hunger because you get that carbonation in there and you're filled up a little bit so it makes it easier to not feel like you need to eat a bunch of stuff because you're kind of holding those cravings at bay by just having something that has a little bit of flavor that carbonation kind of fills you up a little bit so that can be a little bit of a hack too like if you're trying to lose weight or even just maintain weight you don't want to be eating a bunch of extra calories having some sort of zero calorie carbonated beverage can be super helpful.
00:15:52
Speaker
Um, sticking with the food, G Hughes sauces. If you follow me on socials, you've seen me post about these before. I'm a big fan of just eating pretty simple meals. And like, I, I eat a lot of the same things, you know, like your chicken beef, uh,
00:16:07
Speaker
turkey, different things like that. I like potatoes, rice, vegetables. And I eat a lot of the simple like just staples and I just kind of mix and mash those. But one thing that I really like about the Jehu sauces is like there's tons of different sauces. So like it never feels like it's the same meal because you can always just be switching up the flavors. And the cool thing about these sauces is they're all low calorie, all sugar free. So you're saving dozens and dozens of calories per day. And on a weekly basis, you could easily be saving hundreds if not thousands of calories per week.
00:16:36
Speaker
And I know like you know in like in a short term, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you're having these sauces every single day, like if you're having your regular ketchup, barbecue sauce, ranch, ah just all different types of sauces, like I said, you could easily be adding hundreds, if not thousands of calories per week. Make this simple swap where like they still taste good, but you're consuming a lot less calories. You could easily be losing you know five, 10, 15 pounds over the course of a year just by making this one simple swap.
00:17:03
Speaker
Kind of reminds me of like when you'll sometimes hear people who'll be like, they'll lose weight and people ask me, you know, what did you do? Like, what did you do to lose the weight? They're like, oh, I just stopped drinking pop. Like I just cut out pop. I started drinking diet soda. And like when you do those sorts of things, like things that you eat on a regular basis and you make these simple little calorie swaps where you're just consuming less calories without really noticing a difference.
00:17:24
Speaker
you consume less calories and when you consume less calories over a long enough period of time, you're most likely going to start to lose weight. And so this is just another really easy way to do that. And like I said, you still get all the flavor, they taste good, but you're just saving yourself tons and tons of extra calories just to help with your body composition, losing body fat, losing weight, feeling better, all those different things. So, G-Hue sauces is another one that I am a big fan of. Got a couple more here.
Tech and Habit Strategies
00:17:51
Speaker
using chat GPT instead of Google. So over the last year, two years, chat GPT and just other other AI type of search engines are becoming more and more popular. And I've started to use chat GPT quite a bit. i I use it, like I said, instead of Google now, because I find it really helpful because like you save time and you don't have to do all the searching that you do in Google. And I know that Google has an AI thing on it as well, but I've found the chat GPT one to be a little bit more detailed and a little bit easier.
00:18:21
Speaker
The thing about the chat GPT and to get the best use out of it is to ask it very specific questions. And you can be like super, super specific. And to give you an example, so like, I'll ask it a question about let's say nutrition. And since I know people in the nutrition space that I know and trust and are backed by science, I could be like, hey, give me an answer based on these three opinion about protein or about losing weight or something like that. And it'll give me their cliff notes of those particular people's opinions based on the question that I asked it, which can be super, super helpful. And so like, I found that if you can be very specific and ask really good questions, you can get really good answers out of chat GPT. And like I said, it's quick, it saves time, and it's something I'm using more and more. So like if you have certain questions, I know like with fitness, especially people are asking me questions all the time, you can go and you can ask chat GPT, and it will give you a lot of really, really good information. And so
00:19:14
Speaker
Something that I've started to use more and more and definitely would recommend if you have, like if you're somebody who goes to Google for a lot of things and you know, you just like learning new things and you want to know more about whether it's health, fitness, other things like that, starting to use chat GPT can be super helpful. Number, I think this is seven, something like that. ah Making good habits visible. And this is also something that I've been doing for a really long time, but I've just started to notice more of the benefits just even just more and more throughout this last year, I've done some things where I want to just create better habits. And so the idea here is just to make those habits that you want to do more visible. And what I mean by more visible is that you just have these little reminders that remind you to do this certain habit. So to give you a couple examples, so
00:19:59
Speaker
Like if you've ever been just sitting on the couch, you were watching something, maybe watching a movie and then the show ends or the movie ends or whatever and like you want to watch something else, but that remote is like way across the other side of the room. Sometimes you'll just say screw it and you'll just lay there on the couch because you don't want to get up and go get it. And so like, I think it's just a reminder of like how much we really value that convenience thing and just like how much of a factor that can really play when it comes to creating better habits and so when it comes to like fitness and health like some of the things that I do and some habits that I like to create is like let's say for example I want to stretch more and so one thing that I wanted to do to just increase my stretching flexibility doing that more often is I keep a roller I keep it a lacrosse ball and I keep a band in my living room that I see multiple times per day and it's just right there ready for me to go when I do want to do that throughout the day or when I need to get that in because like if I have to go and
00:20:54
Speaker
downstairs go grab my roller and then I have to go find my lacrosse ball and then I have to go get my band and like all this extra friction is just making it less likely for me to do this certain habit. And so if you can set your environment up and in a way where it's just easy to do these things more often and just have those reminders throughout the day, you're much more likely to start to create those habits like other things that I do like I keep my supplements on my counter in my kitchen.
00:21:18
Speaker
Just as a reminder, like when I walk past them, I see them, I'm like, oh, did I take my supplements today? Yes, no. like If I didn't, then I obviously go and I take them. And it's just a good reminder versus like if they're in my cupboard and they're packed away or they're somewhere where I don't see them, sometimes I forget. And that's why I started putting them on my counter because like there was days where like I'd be like, crap, I didn't take my creatine yesterday or forgot to take like vitamin D or my fish oil. And so now I just leave them on my counter where I see them every single day and I just have that reminder to take them.
00:21:45
Speaker
Another thing that I do like, I like to read Monday through Friday, at least 15 pages every single day is just something I've been doing for a really long time. And so like, there's certain days where like, even though I've been doing this for years, like if I don't have that little reminder, sometimes I'll forget. And so like now I just leave my book in my living room on the side of my recliner, because I'm going to see that multiple times per day. And I know like,
00:22:06
Speaker
At some point throughout the day, usually at the end of the night, I'll just go kind of hang out in my living room area. I see that book there and I'm like, oh yeah, I need to read my 15 pages. And so like there's these little things that you can do if you want to make these new habits stick a little bit easier. Just make them more visible. Set up your environment in a way where you're reminded to do these things.
00:22:26
Speaker
multiple times per day like you have those little reminders that you see every single day and that way you just start to reinforce that positive habit and also you're just making it easier to do that habit because it is right there it's ready to go it's like you don't have to do all these different things or go through you jump all these different hoops to make this habit happen it's just super easy it's right there it's ready to go so make good habits visible.
Cardio and Mental Clarity
00:22:49
Speaker
Next one is doing zone two cardio. So I was always a cardio hater I was a big weights guy i always like lifting weights never had an issue lifting weights always really enjoyed it Just being active and things like that and I should say I didn't hate cardio itself But like because I like playing sports. I like playing basketball doing things like that so getting cardio in that way was always good but just as far as like biking or rowing or running or swimming or anything that was just like straight, strict, like steady state cardio was something that I always hated. But then a couple of years ago I signed up for a marathon. Obviously you had to train for that, all that different kind of stuff. And I started noticing like three really big benefits. And so now zone two cardio is just something that's part of my routine. And when I say zone two cardio, all I mean is just like cardio that's pretty low intensity. It's more just steady state. So think of like your heart rate is somewhere around like 125. It's like 140 ish.
00:23:43
Speaker
You could have a conversation with somebody while you're doing this stuff. So you're not like out of breath. You're not like just like absolutely killing yourself or anything like that. It's pretty relaxed. It's pretty low intensity. And I've noticed really, really good benefits from doing this over the last couple of years. And like I said, there's been three main ones that I've noticed and why I would consider this a life hack. Literally a life hack because it can extend your life. but It's far from like a physical standpoint, my heart rate has dropped from it used to be like in the mid 50s, sometimes the lower 50s. Now it's in the low 40s, sometimes even into the high 30s. So like my resting heart rate has dropped quite a bit. And that is a sign of just better fitness levels, better health. We know that like if you have a lower resting heart rate, you're typically a healthier person. And so it's just a sign there that you know, you're improving your health and you're in a healthy spot. And
00:24:32
Speaker
The only thing that really changed was just doing more extra zone to cardio from me seeing these benefits. Number two, I've noticed just recovery with like recovery during my workouts. So for example.
00:24:42
Speaker
If I'm doing a workout, let's say I'm lifting weights, like I do a really hard set of weights, and then I'm gonna rest like two to three minutes like I typically would. It doesn't take as long for me to recover as it used to. And like when I do recover, I feel a little bit better and ready to go for that next set. And so what this does throughout a workout is like I feel better for longer, and I'm able to push myself a little bit more. And like in a single workout, it doesn't really make that big of a difference. But like if you're able to push yourself harder and harder,
00:25:10
Speaker
throughout the weeks, throughout the months, you're gonna see better progress overall as you do this. And so upping my cardio and actually improving my just endurance and my energy levels has helped me to be able to push myself in other areas like weights and things like that. So um it's been helpful from that aspect. And then just between like days, so like day to day in between workouts, I feel like I recover a little bit quicker. And so that zone two cardio has just kind of helped with just recovery overall in between days. like before where it might have felt like, you know, I play basketball or I go on a run, like it might seem like pretty sure the next day I don't feel quite as good. You know, maybe it takes me a day in between to like really feel good again. Now I feel like I bounced back sooner. So like I can do things back to back to back to back and not have nearly as much trouble just feeling recovered and feeling good in between those days. So like I can run three, four or five days in a row and it doesn't really affect me. Whereas like before, if I did stuff like that, I didn't really feel quite as good. I didn't really feel quite as recovered.
00:26:08
Speaker
and So it's helped with just recovery overall and just feeling better, and more endurance, more more energy. And then the last thing I would say is just like the benefits from the mental side of it, like the mental clarity, you know, just less overthinking. I feel like I'm a little bit more relaxed, more productive, more focused. I feel like I can kind of sort my thoughts out a little bit more because I do this zone 2 cardio and I've thought about this a little bit more and I think probably the biggest thing that just doing the zone 2 cardio is just it's kind of meditative like now with just screens and just always being busy and you know we have all these different things going on we have all these distractions we have all these things where we're like kind of always stimulated
00:26:44
Speaker
We don't often give ourselves time to just kind of relax and unplug and just let our mind wander and just think and just kind of sort things out. And so for me, this zone two cardio where like you know, I'm just kind of running and I don't really have to think I can just it's meditative, I can just kind of go and do it.
00:27:00
Speaker
It allows me to just kind of process a lot of that stuff, step back a little bit, just kind of let my mind wander. And I think that's really important. And we sometimes forget that just with kind of the hustle and bustle of just our everyday lives of just always doing things and always being busy and always wanting to achieve the next goal or, you know, do the next thing or be productive that we don't ever give ourselves this time to just kind of just relax and just be. And so I think that is what zone two cardio has really done for me. And if I'm being honest, that's probably the biggest reason that I continue to do it because I just feel better mentally after I do those sorts of things. And it's not that you can't get that from other things, you know, there's a lot of different ways where you can get that kind of that time to just relax and unplug. But for me, this has been a nice addition to my routine and it's helped me a lot from that aspect.
00:27:45
Speaker
And then the last one I have on the life hacks list is what I call the daily
Gratitude and Stress Management
00:27:50
Speaker
G. So gratitude is something that I read about a really long time ago and I just kind of dug into it a little bit and started reading a little bit more about the science of just gratitude in general. and just from reading about it, you know people who are more grateful are typically happier, they live longer lives, have better relationships, get sick less often. So like there's a lot of different science around just being more grateful. And so I started into my implementing this little practice that I had heard about basically just every day.
00:28:16
Speaker
you think of three things, you can write them down, think about them, it doesn't really matter. I like to write them down ah Monday through Friday, like when I'm doing a little bit of journaling or something like that in the morning, I'll just write down three things that I'm grateful for. And it's just, it's literally such a simple thing, takes 60 seconds. But like I said, you can write it down, you can think about it just do it in the morning, kind of get you in a good mindset. And it just also just allows you to think about all those things that you can be grateful for in your life. And I think it's very easy to focus on the negative things, the things we need to fix, all the things we have to do that sometimes we don't really ever step back and think about all the good things that we have going for ourselves. And so again, this is just something that you can do 60 seconds and it just helps a little bit over time. You know, they've done different studies on this kind of stuff and just as little as like two weeks of doing this consistently, people will often start to feel happier. They'll start to feel more optimistic and things like that. So this is something I've been doing for quite a while and it's something that you can easily add because I'm all about adding these things in that is
00:29:14
Speaker
basically frictionless like it takes very little time to add in some of these little things and just improve your life on a whole and start to see some extra benefits from adding in these little things. So hopefully there's something in there that you can ah give a try something you can add into your routine and just make life a little bit easier help to get you some of those health and fitness benefits. Moving on to the lessons part so I only have three of these I didn't want to do a ton of these But I just kind of sat down, thought a little bit about what are some things that I've learned over 2024 that I thought maybe could be helpful. And so one of them, the first one that I chose is when you can't quiet the noise, take action. And what I mean by this is like, as I mentioned before, sometimes life gets really busy, gets really stressful. We just have a lot of things going on up in our head and it just seems like, you know, we get anxious. Maybe we're overwhelmed. Maybe we're stressed. Like we just have all these emotions and it's hard to sometimes deal with those emotions. And so.
00:30:07
Speaker
One thing that I found really useful over this past year is just doing something when those things happen. Some people will tell you, you know, just sit with those things, meditate, just kind of sit on it. For me, I feel like I'm better off when I can just do something about it, like when I can kind of take action. And so two things that I found really helpful for this is like, when I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed or something like that is exercise number one, and it doesn't have to be anything crazy. It could just be going for like, hop on my walking pad, go for like 10, 20 minutes could be,
00:30:35
Speaker
little circuit could be a workout like maybe that's you know, I want to go on a run or i'd get a lift in or something like that could be something big, it could be something small. But the big thing is just to get your body moving. Because if you get your body moving, we know that you start to feel some of those feel good hormones, you start to just kind of sort things out and you don't feel as busy as stressful. We all know that feeling of like going into before a workout and you're just like stress, you don't feel good. And then you leave a workout and you just feel so much better. And so taking action through that. Another one that I found really helpful is journaling. So just being able to get all those thoughts out of your head and onto paper can be super, super helpful as well. And so exercise, journaling, just doing something if you're really struggling can help to just kind of quiet that noise and just figure some things out. So that would be less number one.
Living Authentically
00:31:21
Speaker
Number two, nobody thinks about you as much as you think about you. And this is just seemed to be a theme that I just continue to see more and more throughout the year just
00:31:31
Speaker
with myself, with clients that I was working with, a lot of the issues that we have that we think about in life come down to not living in the way that we want to live. So like, we're living in a way, like we're doing things, maybe we're working a job we don't love, maybe we have habits that we don't love, maybe we are in relationships that aren't great for us, and we're doing all these things that just don't feel great, like we just don't enjoy them. And at the root of a lot of these things, it's because we're living in a certain way that like isn't natural to who we want to be.
00:31:59
Speaker
And a lot of times that just comes down to the opinions that we think other people are gonna have of us. So like we work a certain job because we don't want people to judge us or like we take a certain job because we want the status that comes with it or stay in a relationship because of how it looks or like we do this certain health thing because we that's what we think we should be doing but we're not really doing these things for the right reasons. And I think when you're doing things for the wrong reasons,
00:32:23
Speaker
especially when it's based on the opinions of other people, it's really hard to be happy and it just creates a lot of these issues. And so I think when you realize that, hey, not that many people are really thinking about you that much, it can start to take some of that pressure off of you and allow you to live in the way that you want to live because When you think about, okay, how often are you thinking about yourself? Like how often are you thinking about your issues, your problems, your life? It's like most of the time you're not really thinking about a lot of other people because we all see the world through our own perspective. We're all focused on our own things.
00:32:54
Speaker
And when you make that realization, like, oh yeah, I am thinking about my own stuff. A majority of the time, I'm not really thinking about other people that much. Everybody else is doing the exact same thing. And when you realize that, again, it's like, we think that we're the center of the universe, and like we're the star of the show, and that everybody's thinking about our every move, our every decision. you know They're gonna make fun of us, or laugh at us, or judge us, or whatever the case may be, but they're really not. They're thinking about themselves. It's just like you're thinking about yourself. And so when you realize that, it just takes some of the stress out of just living the way that you wanna live.
00:33:22
Speaker
and do the things you want to do and go for the things that you want to go for. And you can just be a little bit happier and a little bit less stress free and you can start to take more risk and go for the things you want to go for. Step out of your comfort zone, be okay with messing up or trying new things. And a good way to just kind of put this into practice is think about living in a way where your eight year old self and your 80 year old self can both be proud of the way that you're living in. This has really helped me to like think about this tangibly because it's like when you're younger, you have all these dreams, you have all these goals, you have all these aspirations and things that you want to do. And so obviously, you know, you want to start to achieve those things. so
00:34:01
Speaker
Am I living in a way where I am working towards those things where I can make that eight-year-old me proud? And then from the opposite end of the spectrum, like when you talk to older people, like a lot of their regrets they have is like not doing those things that they really wanted to do. And so like living in a way where like, okay, I'm achieving the goals I want to achieve. I'm working on like all my dreams and aspirations and I'm taking chances and I'm not having a bunch of regrets. I think when you can mix those two,
00:34:24
Speaker
and live in a way where like you're both your eight year old self and your 80 year old self could be proud. I think that's a pretty good life and just realizing that like your opinion of yourself is going to be the most important thing. And so stop worrying about what other people think so much because I think that holds people back when it comes to just so many different areas of life. And so focus on the things that you want to do, focus on the way that you want to live and make sure that you're living in a way where like you can be proud of yourself and where you have a good opinion of yourself. And if you can do that, I think that you're living a pretty solid life.
The Power of Consistency
00:34:55
Speaker
The last lesson of this podcast, consistency is a superpower. I had this quote that I came across and it said, people won't believe what you say until they see what you do consistently.
00:35:08
Speaker
And I think this applies to yourself even more importantly than it does to the outside world because you know just talking about what we we're just talking about people like worrying about the opinion of others like doesn't really matter all that much but the opinion that you have yourself is very very crucial because you spend more time with yourself than anybody else ever will in your entire life and so When you're doing all the things that you say you want to be doing like you can genuinely know like I am the person who I say I am I do the things I'm gonna do I trust myself I have self-respect I believe in myself because I do all those things but if you're constantly like Saying that I want to do this or I want to do this but like you're not being consistent with those things Well, then it's hard to like look at yourself and have that self-respect have that self-belief like, you know Have all those things that you want to have and feel good about yourself. So I I've noticed like consistency is such a simple way to build up all those different things within yourself. and like When it comes to any kind of success, consistency is always going to be the foundation of that. like With fitness goals, with job goals, with finances, like everything, consistency is the foundation. and People that are consistent always see the best results. like My clients who get the best results, who lose the most weight,
00:36:17
Speaker
who keep the weight off, who feel good, who see the best strength gains, who have all these different accomplishments and have all these things that they're starting to see and improvements are getting those things because they're the most consistent. And like people will often say they want certain things, but it's like, it's not really about what you want. It's not really about like, I want to achieve this goal. I want to achieve this goal. It's like, what are you willing to do? And not just do one time. What are you willing to do consistently to get those things? Because it's very easy to say,
00:36:44
Speaker
Oh, I want this. I want to lose 50 pounds. I want a six pack. I want to be a millionaire. But like doing the things that you need to do consistently to get you there, that's a much different situation. And I think when you can start to think about things through that lens versus just like throwing out these kind of arbitrary goals. And when you think about, okay, what are the things that I'm actually willing to do to get these things? and Am I going to do those things consistently? If the answer is yes, then you're going to be well on your way to getting those things. If the answer is no, then maybe you need to rethink your goals and rethink your expectations about things. and
00:37:16
Speaker
consistency is such a rare thing these days i came across this podcast and they were talking about podcasts funny enough so they were talking about to be in the top one percent of podcasts in the entire world you literally just have to record thirty episodes and publish them
00:37:35
Speaker
little under two years now and I think this is going to be episode 89. And so for me, like I put out one episode per week. So in 30 weeks of me putting out an episode, I was in the top 1% of podcasts in the world just because I was consistent with it. Of people who start podcasts, 90% of those people quit before they put out their third episode.
00:37:57
Speaker
of the remaining 10% of those people who are still left another 90 will quit after doing 20 episodes. And so it just goes to show you like consistency is such a rare thing these days and you don't need to have like these crazy genetics or have a bunch of money or have a bunch of time like it just takes effort and it just takes patience to get the things that you want to get and when you do those things on a consistent enough basis on a long enough time horizon you're very likely to get the things that you want to get. But most people just aren't consistent enough with them. I mean, health and fitness is a perfect example of this. Like people will do things for a couple weeks, then they'll fall off and then they'll do things for maybe a month and then they'll fall off. And like, how many people do you know that go to the gym consistently three times per week, almost every single week? Probably not very many because I think it's like 20% of the adults in America meet the recommended fitness standards. So that means so
00:38:49
Speaker
about one out of every five people that you see goes to the gym consistently. We know like new year's resolutions are coming up. Well, 80% of those people who set new year's resolutions will be done with those new year's resolutions by February. So four out of five people who set goals for the new year are going to give up on those goals within the first month of the year. Like consistency is just so rare. Like, and when you realize that I think it's eye-opening and I think it's really encouraging because it's like,
00:39:17
Speaker
I don't have to be special. I don't have to have all these crazy skills or like, you know, like I said, crazy genetics or a ton of money to like reach all these different goals. I just need to be consistent. That's the only thing that has helped me achieve some of the things that I've been able to achieve with like losing the weight. and ah starting a podcast and running a marathon. Like I'm not super gifted in any of these areas. Like all these things I had to learn so much and I made so many freaking mistakes like doing all these different things. But when you're just willing to go for it and then you're willing to just be consistent at those things until you get good at them.
00:39:50
Speaker
you're going to eventually get to a place where like you start to achieve these things, you start to create momentum, you start to see progress. And if you can stick with that consistently for long enough, you're going to achieve the goals that you want to achieve. And if you don't, you're for sure 100% going to get better within those areas. And so even then you're still making progress, you're still getting a ton of benefit out of chasing these goals. But again, you just have to be willing to make that sacrifice of like, what are the things that I'm willing to do consistently. And if you can make that choice and actually follow through with those things, you're going to end up in a better place than you start. And so hopefully that's helpful. Hopefully that all makes sense.
Coaching Invitation and Conclusion
00:40:27
Speaker
Appreciate you listening in, tuning in. This is, like I said, coming up on two years of making this podcast and hopefully continue to get this out to more people and help more people. That's always been the goal since starting to this thing.
00:40:39
Speaker
Um, but with that being said, I really appreciate you listening and, uh, you know, if you find this helpful, you can always share it with somebody, leave a review that helps to get this out to more people with the new year coming up. I know a lot of people, as I just mentioned, are going to be setting fitness goals. That's a huge thing. I think it's like 40 to 50% of people will set some sort of weight loss goal coming up into the new year. And sadly, most people will quit those. So like, if you want an actual plan, if you want some accountability,
00:41:07
Speaker
You want to do this thing the right way and not just make it another year where it's like, Oh, I should just lose some weight. And then it doesn't happen. You can always apply for coaching and see if you're a good fit for the program that I have so we can make sure that you actually get the results that you want to get this year. That being said, again, I appreciate you and we will see you next week.