Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
My buddy Dave has been on an amazing fitness journey, and has lost a bunch of weight while also building muscle. Iāve been on a journey to add healthy weight, lowering my percent body fat, while gaining muscle. At the start of this year we joked that we were going to meet in the middle, with his weight going down and mine going up.
Before heading to work this morning we went to the gym and worked out together. Then we took turns stepping on the scale. I weighed over a pound more than him! We did it, we met in the middle. Well, almost in the middleā¦ Dave covered a bit more of the gap. Still, this wasnāt a real goal, just lofty target we put out into the universe. Now we are there. Next steps are for both of us to make gains together.
Itās hard to stick to healthy routines over the summer. It takes a lot more effort than when you have everything dialled in and a schedule to keep. That said, Iām thrilled about how Iāve taken care of myself over the summer. I havenāt just been in maintenance mode. Iāve actually stayed right on top of things and continued with my goals, albeit in tiny increments.
But tiny increments in the right direction still means Iām going in the right direction. The thing to remember is that while the gains are small and hard to see, they are only hard to see when looking short term. Iāve gained muscle this year, and Iāve simultaneously reduced my body fat percentage.
Sure when I compare myself to the start of summer, or even a couple months before that, the gains are small. But when I compare myself to 2 years ago, or better yet when I started my fitness goals 5-and-a-half years ago, the gains are significant!
Itās easy to get frustrated with how small gains can be in the short term, but fitness and wellbeing are lifelong goals and as such gains should be looked at through a longer lensā¦ and I have to say that things are going, looking, and feeling great!
Iām 57. Iām never going to compete athletically at the level I did half a lifetime ago. I know this. I understand this. Iām good in terms of how I think about this.
And so what I look for now are moments where I connect with that former athlete, the drive, the push, that I once had in sports. The ability to have my body quit before my mind does. Thatās the push.
We are capable of so much more than our minds usually allow. We exert ourselves with mental limits conservatively below what our bodies can achieve. So when we have those moments where we surrender those limits and work our bodies to limits that are our real limitsā¦ we remember the push of who we once wereā¦ and we become that again.
Unlike many memes regarding physical fitness and bodybuilding, I donāt usually skip leg day. In fact, most days I start my workout walking on my treadmill at a fast pace, on an incline, in a 40lb weighted vest, for 20 or more minutes. So, I do work my legsā¦ but they are still chicken legs that make me look like I skip leg day.
I have seen some gains in the past year, but these gains have come at a cost. The cost is that when I work my legs with weights, they always hurt 2 and 3 days later. I worked my legs pretty hard yesterday and my quads and glutes are aching today. I know Iām going to wake up feeling them again tomorrow.
Itās weird, since I started taking creatine a few years ago, that two-day later ache has been drastically reduced. My buddy and I did back and chest workout today that would normally have me aching for days with after workout soreness, yet I can tell it wonāt be that bad. Thank you creatine. However, creatine or not, when I work my legs they ache for longer than I find comfortable.
And the reality is that while I work my legs, I donāt work them as hard as I did yesterday all that often. Why? Because itās not fun feeling like I need to hold the railing going up and down the stairs because my legs feel like jelly. So while I donāt skip leg day, I do skip hard leg days, and really donāt push them as hard as other parts of my body.
Until I join a gym and start using equipment designed specifically for legs, I donāt think Iām going to see too much in the way of gainsā¦ Iām just not willing to do the real work it would take. That said, Iām still never going to skip leg day.
Yes, another fitness post. Yes, another post about building good habits.
Is it just my algorithm or is everyone getting a lot of posts, reels, TikTokās, and/or YouTube shorts about fitness, wellbeing, and longevity?
Everyone is an influencer now, telling you how to drop weight, tone abs, and build muscle.
Here is what Iāve learnedā¦ none of this is mine, itās all learned from others. These are 11 things that can help you transform your body for the better. (Disclaimer: Iām not a doctor, donāt play one on the internetā¦ these are things that have worked for me. Consult real experts, especially if you have health challenges.)
Weight Loss: The only thing that matters, more than fitness, more than what you actually eat, is being in a calorie deficit. Thatās it. If you are in a deficit you will lose weight. Period. Full stop. End of story. So choose an app that tracks what you eat and use it religiously. Want to eat more? Exercise, burn calories, and you can have more calories that day, and still be in a deficit.
Track your workouts. Choose a minimum amount that counts as a workout and track them. Here is one rule that is simple if you build a routine, and hard if you arenāt actually tracking: Never miss 2 days in a row. You can make up other rules or requirements as you see fit, so long as you NEVER break your own rules. One break gives permission for other breaks, then habits are lost and you are stuck trying to be disciplined. Habits are easy, discipline is hard. Track your progress and you will āseeā your habits, which will help you perpetuate them.
Protein and Creatine. There is a 99.9% chance that you are not eating as much protein as you should. Quite literally if 1,000 people read this, there would only be one of you actually eating as much as 1 gram of protein per pound on the scale. Thatās my goal and I still donāt regularly hit it. Protein is good for the body AND the brain. Same with creatine. Creatine reduces muscle soreness after workouts, and is one of the most studied supplements. Less than 1% of the population can have digestion issues with it. Probably not you and there is literally no other down side and huge upsides to taking it.
Train most of your cardio in āZone 2ā. What is Zone 2? If you tried to talk normally while in that zone, it would be challenging to catch your breath, but if you were told at the end of your workout that you had to keep going at the same pace for 5 more minutes you could maintain that pace. So many people think they have to kill themselves with high heart rate cardio blasts. Still do this once per week to improve your Max Vo2, but 80+% of your cardio should be in Zone 2. My tracking requirements are a minimum of 20 minutes. I walk on a treadmill, on an incline, with a weighted vest most days. This is much lower impact than running, and I can still get in the zone. You want better weight loss gains? Cardio tip: Donāt eat before cardio. You want to drain your glycogen reserves and get to fat burn. Food reserves will be used as energy before fat. No food reserves means your body gets to fat burn faster. Mind you, this is moot if you arenāt in a calorie deficit.
Weight train. Lift and carry heavy things. Muscles are quite literally things that you use or you lose. Research shows a direct correlation between larger muscles and longevity. Grandma or grandpa who can do a pull-up and deadlift their own weight are not the ones who are going to stumble and break their hips. They are also more likely to be cognitivelyā āthereā compared to their sedentary peers.
Weight lift your muscles completely to fatigue. This is called hypertrophytraining, you are wanting to build muscle. First, because larger muscles means a longer (healthier) lifespan. Secondly, you are literally telling your body to stay young. Building muscles demands your body to be in āgrowth modeā rather than in sunset mode on your way to the grave. Pick at least one muscle group and work it to failure. Personal secret: 90% of my workouts are done in 40-45 minutes with 20 minutes cardio and 5-10 minutes stretching. How do I get it āallā done so quickly? Besides cardio and stretching, I just work one muscle group but I work it really hard. Yesterday was shoulders. I did 4 sets of free weight shoulder press (1st one at 1/2 weight for warm up, then 3 progressively heavy sets to 10-12, but the last set I could only get to 9). Then lateral raises, again ending with a set to failure. Today was biceps. Seated curls, then standing hammer curls, then 1 set of elastic ban Bayesian curls to fatigue. In both dayās examples the sets took 20-25 minutes. Tomorrow Iāll do abs and legs to give my upper body a rest, then chest the following day. I love when I go to the gym with a budy and workout more body parts in a workout, but I share my example to emphasize that you can make progress doing an entire workout in less time that it takes to watch a show on Netflix. That said, this is minimal volume and I know Iād make more gains if I did more.
Stretch. I donāt believe you should ever stretch cold. Thatās why I do cardio first. Research says that to slightly improve muscle gains, do weights before cardio. But on my daily (early morning) routine, I want to stretch before weights, and I want to be warm when I stretch. Iāll pass on tiny gains to get a routine that works for me. Stretching makes you feel better and more mobile, and helps to reduce injuries. Itās also a way to feel a connection to your body.
Meditate. I cheat and meditate on the treadmill. I clip the emergency stop clip on me, hold the rails, close my eyes, and do a guided meditation. I find the physical activity a distraction that helps me reduce my mind wandering, and this also gives me more time in my tight morning routine because Iām double dipping. Meditation is not a state of quiet mind, it is a continual state of quieting the mind. Itās not about no distraction, but a state of coming back from distraction. Beyond that Iām years into my practice and still a rookie. Get meditation advice elsewhere, but take my advice and start a regular meditation habit. (I track this like I track my fitness, with stickers on a year-long calendar.)
Have a workout buddy. I only get to workout with someone about once every couple weeks. I wish I could do more because being with him pushes me to be better. But even when I donāt work out with him, he and I keep each other accountable. We can share our highs and lows. I tell him I had a shitty workout, he congratulates me on showing up. I hit a personal best, I can share it with him and heāll celebrate it with me, without it feeling like bragging. Itās our victory. Find someone to share you journey with.
Routine, routine, routine. Build your habit so that you donāt require discipline. My favourite example of reducing workout friction and thus making my routine easier is my workout shoes. In my small basement gym I have workout shoes and a shoehorn. My shoes are pre-tied tight enough to walk (or run) on the treadmill, and I can still slip them on with the shoehorn. Why? Because I hate tying shoes and I hate getting on the treadmill with one shoe feeling tighter than the other. This was a pain point. What are your pain points? Remove them. You workout after work? Routinize having your workout bag by the front door the night before. Then put it on the passenger seat as a visual reminder when you get in the car after work. Reduce the friction and the habit will form, and then youāll get used to showing up.
JUST SHOW UP! The most important days in the gym are the days you donāt want to show up and you do anyway. These are the days that make the habit an actual habit. These are the days that make a routine an actual routine. The days you had to drag your ass into the gym and do the bare minimum are more important than the days you hit a personal best. And as a bonus, some of the days that you drag yourself in might also be a personal best day when you finally got there. Showing up then becomes a habit, and it no longer feels as hard to do on the hard days. Because if you ājust show upā enough on the hard days then showing up no longer feels like work. Itās a self-perpetuating cycleā¦ But the early hard days are the toughest. Go back to tip 2 and Never miss 2 days in a row.
One final thought. While Iāve seen significant progress in the past 2 years, Iāve been on this path for 6-and-a-half years. I initially saw a good weight loss and small muscle gains, but it took the addition of creatine and a higher protein diet before I saw the most recent gains. Day-to-day I really havenāt seen a lot a gains anywhere. I share this because many people get discouraged when they donāt see the gains or fat loss immediately. Here are two things to think about related to looking for gains: First, if you are gaining muscle while losing fat, muscle is heavier than fat. Donāt focus on the scale, focus on the habits. And second, if you arenāt getting stronger, you are not really training your muscles to fatigue. These gains are slow too, but if you can only do 10 pushups and 2 months later thatās still your max, you probably could be training harder. If you walk on the treadmill at the same speed and incline every week, with no incremental increase and it still feels just as challenging, you probably arenāt working hard enough. Donāt look for gains weekly, but set goals for progress and even if you donāt hit them, make sure you are trending up. Trending up is often slower than you hoped, but as long as the trend is upā¦ you are doing great!
And finallyā¦ if you see something that Iāve gotten wrong, please tell me and help me in my learning journey.
Itās the holidays and Iāve got some commitments keeping me home right now. Iāve been taking a few more social media breaks than I have when working, and right now my algorithm is feeding me some fantastic video clips about athletes really pushing themselves to great feats.
As well, Iāve seen interviews of people in their late 60ās and early 70ās who are in fantastic shape. Itās wonderful to see men and women who are older than me and crushing it when it comes to fitness. Then Iāve also got a buddy my age who recently crushed the Grouse Grind, a gruelling uphill climb, who took about 8-9 minutes off of his time last year. Totally awesome.
Iām willing to bet that each of these stories started in their teens. The majority of 50+ people who are pushing their physical fitness are people who played some sort of competitive sport in their early years. They may not have been the best, they might not have competed in the top tier, but they learned how to push their body at a young age. They learned what it means to grind.
The fierceness might not be there anymore. The competitiveness might have waned. But they get what it means to push past the pain, to not quit because things got hard. To endure now for benefits later.
Iām sure there are some people that can get to this place later in their years, but for most people the learned work ethic and drive begins as a kid. And if that kid learns how to go all out and still give more when they feel like they have nothing leftā¦ They will take that with them for the rest of their lives.
A few days ago I did something Iāve never been able to do. I stood up, bent over at the waist, and was able to not just touch my toes, but touch the floor. I just stopped writing this to try again just now and I wasnāt even close. The difference is that I did a good 10 minute stretch before the time I actually achieved this.
Iāll try again today after Iām warmed up. I have been stretching my hamstrings more than usual for quite a few months to get to this point. But I am probably years away from being able to touch my toes ācoldā, without any warm up. Yet I am still appreciative of the gains I have made.
In every aspect of life, itās good to stretch yourself!
Iāve been fortunate to have the opportunity to work out with my buddy at his gym, at least once a week for the past few months. My home routine is usually just cardio, stretching, then working one muscle group to fatigueā¦ sometimes with just 3 sets of one exercise, and sometimes 3 each of two exercises, but again using the same muscle group.
With my buddy, at his gym, we do a bit more than that. The last couple workouts have focused on shoulders with some biceps and triceps thrown in. Both of these last two workouts Iāve pushed hard enough that my shoulder muscles were jacked up. I could feel the pump long after the workout was done.
While Iām not used to this feeling, and itās a bit uncomfortable, I have to say that I really enjoy it! Itās a feeling that says, āIāve pushed myselfā, and while it isnāt necessarily a pleasant feeling, it comes with a good sense of accomplishment. The pump is not something you feel unless youāve really made your muscles work.
Now I need to figure out how to add more to my home program so that I get this feeling a bit more often. Itās hard when Iām on a time crunch, but I know I can do this more often, and I want to get to that āpumped upā feeling on a regular basis.
As an aside, Iām blown away by how much creatine helps with reducing soreness. A workout like todayās would normally lead me to total soreness in a couple days that would make lifting my arms above my head feel like work. But since adding creatine to my daily health regimen, Iāve hardly ever had that level of soreness, even after hitting personal bests or working to a pump like I did today. And that makes the pump so much more enjoyable when Iām not going to feel like Iām physically paying for it two days from now.
It has been 6 years in the making, but Iāve seen some pretty amazing gains in my fitness and strength, especially in the past 2 years. The 4 years before that included gains too, but they were very small. Well, initially I did see a good drop in unnecessary weight, but after the first year my gains were small and hard to recognize. Now Iām seeing the results of my hard work.
The easiest place to notice this is my calves and arms. And why do I notice these two areas more than anywhere else? Because of the way my clothes fit. I have pants that used to fit loosely that now ride up my legs every time I sit down because my calves donāt allow my pants to drop back down. And my favourite T-shirts that used to fit loosely are now tight and make me look like Iām trying to show off.
What changed in the last couple years? Why have I seen these gains, when I hadnāt before despite working out as hard?
Iāve been taking creatine for a few years now and the required recovery time of my muscles after a workout has decreased. (So has the 2-day later soreness that I barely get anymore other than leg days, which have always been hard for me.)
Iāve increased my protein. Iām probably still not at the recommended 1gram of protein per pound that I weigh, but Iām now over 3/4 there rather than averaging less than half of that daily.
Really pushing to max (hypertrophy). I push myself more working out with a friend, or at school. Not only can I lift heavier when Iām using machines I donāt have in my home gym, I can also lift heavier when I have a spotter (and motivator).
Consistency. Iāve said it over and over againā¦ the most important day in the gym is the day you donāt feel like going and you go anyway. These days my workouts are such a big part of my day (even though most are for less than an hour), that I struggle to convince myself to take a day off. Volume matters when looking to increase muscle mass.
I think Iām at my ideal weight now, but I have a goal to gain 5-7 pounds more by the end of this year. The way I see it, I wonāt be at this ideal weight 15 years from now if I just try to maintain this current weight. But if Iām 7 pounds more now, I could again be at this ideal weight in 15 years, despite muscle loss that can come with aging.
So, Iāve got more gains to make, and I think Iām on the right path to gain the weight I want. The only challenge is that I might need to buy some better fitting clothing.
Real change only happens when the pain of doing something new is less than the pain of avoiding the new thing. I was talking to my buddy, Dave, after our 178th Coquitlam Crunch today and we spoke about the discipline and work that weāve put into fitness, good eating habits, and our social-emotional wellbeing. It comes down to the fact that habits are easier to maintain than motivation, and showing up matters more than any other factor.
It sounds so cliche, but the most important workout is the one you donāt want to doā¦ but still do. Itās a scheduled workout day and you have zero motivationā¦ do a workout anyway. Your gas tank is empty and you canāt imagine doing your workout routineā¦ go to the gym anyway and do a 20 minute walk in the treadmill.
Probably more than 50% of the times that you drag your ass to the gym, not wanting to go, youāll end up doing more than you expected you would do. But guess what? The other times when you donāt do more, when you just barely do the minimumā¦ these are the workouts that really matter. You showed up! You kept the habit going. You made the next attempt to go to the gym easier. āIf I can get to the gym feeling the way I did yesterday, I can definitely get to the gym today!ā
āMy advice,ā Dave said, āwould be just show up for the first 100 days. Donāt expect to see changes, donāt even look in the mirror. The first 100 days are about making workouts something you never miss, or monitoring calories and developing good eating habits.ā
Essentially, the first 100 days are really hard, and they matter the most. I said that, āReal change only happens when the pain of doing something new is less than the pain of avoiding the new thing.ā Whatever your new habit is, reduce the pain of doing it by making the desired goal mandatory.
You want to go to the gym 5 days a week? For the first 100 days there are no excuses, nothing is allowed to make you miss. You went away for the weekend and didnāt work out? You go to the gym every day from Monday to Friday. Exhausted and donāt want to go to the gym on Thursday? Too bad, you already missed the weekend, and attendance is non-negotiable.
Will that Thursday workout be a good one? Probably not. But it will likely be more than you thought you had in you, and it was the most important workout of the week. You got there. You kept the streak going. You arenāt someone who skips out, you donāt make excuses, you maintain your habits. You are a regular who would rather feel the pain of a workout than the pain of letting yourself down.
Just show up for the first 100 days. After the habit is established, then you can look at losses and gains. Then you can reduce fat, add muscle, increase flexibility or enduranceā¦ or just feel good about yourself because you have developed a great habit that you find easier and easier to maintain.
