9 Universal, Near-Truth’s for Optimizing your Health and Performance

Happy end of year! ‘Tis the season for disrupted routines, extra pressure at work, endless baked goods, late nights, and a few too many cocktails. Our physical resources are pushed to the limit but hey, that's part of the human experience! It's been a minute since I've written an article on Linkedin so I thought a good way to contribute would be to list out some health tips you can focus on to support yourself through the whirlwind we’re all about to embark on but more importantly, that you can adopt to live a more healthful, high-performing life. With all of the misinformation floating about, it’s important we stay focussed on the big rocks! Before I get to the good stuff, a little preamble on my background and why there might be a reason to keep reading.

Among my technology sales colleagues I'm known as the "workout guy." Within my health and wellness community, I'm branded? as the fitness guy who is passionate about sales and business. Though I'm not the only health-obsessed tech salesman out there, my commitment and expertise in both fields makes me somewhat of an outlier. I've been in the technology industry for over 12 years and hold an MBA from the DeGroote School of Business. On the health side, I hold a BSc. Honours in Kinesiology, am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, Precision Nutrition Coach (L1), and own an F45 Training Studio with my wife Amanda. Together with our team, we have helped over 1500 people embark on their fitness journeys over the past four years. In the spirit of Simon Sinek's work on finding your why, my "why" is to help people overcome the barriers standing in the way of their ability to become their happiest and healthiest selves so that they can do the work of their lives in their communities. In fewer words, I'm captivated by the pursuit of potential in business and in physical health.

Over the years, I've come to realize that the technology sales and wellness worlds could learn a great deal from one another. Although it's getting much better, on average, hard-driving sales folks ought to put more focus on living healthier to optimize performance in the workplace and personal happiness. Similarly, many personal trainers and fitness entrepreneurs could benefit from embracing sales education. Personal trainers in particular tend to be allergic to sales. Spoiler alert, the tips below speak more loudly to the business folks than the wellness folks who are likely doing a good job with many of these, or are well on their way.

So with that, below is a list of "universal, near truths" I've learned through keeping a finger on the research, 20+ years of personal experience, and observing the results of over 1,500 fitness clients. Notice the purposeful language here - "universal, near-truths." Universal implies that these habits, rules, tips can apply to everyone regardless of sex, age, paleo, keto, vegan, etc. Near-truths acknowledge that you can never be certain when it comes to science and the impact that behaviour will have on physiological outcomes. That said, we can rely on the convergence of scientific and experiential evidence to guide us toward best practices. In this article I'll list these out with the goal of elaborating on many in separate articles in the coming weeks. Elevating your health game will elevate your work game, plain and simple. So, if you're doing all of these things, awesome, you are set up for success and are giving yourself the self-love necessary to remain resilient through the good times and the tougher ones. If you are doing some of these things, kudos to you. Perhaps try to implement one additional habit per quarter from the list you're not doing. If this list seems foreign to you, it’s ok, you are here reading this and that’s a start. As you read on, remember this - if not now then when? There will always be another big project or month end to take priority. You only get one life, one body, and will be amazed at how good you can actually feel!

Without further ado, the list:

Strength training is the most beneficial form of exercise you can do to improve your health.? This is not to say other forms of exercise are bad or not beneficial, the inverse is true.? But, by and large, if you have only one hour to exercise per week strength training should be the choice ten out of ten times. Start by incorporating an appropriate amount of strength training workouts into your routine and then build around this foundation with other modalities (cardio, yoga, barre, spin, etc.). Strength training seems to be the most potent stimulus of muscle growth and we know that having more muscle mass today and tomorrow improves health. As it relates to the workplace, a higher-amount of muscle mass can benefit us cognitively, help us manage blood sugar levels, and reduce the risk of injuries that can sideline us.?

Maintaining quality, social connections appears to be the number one predictor of longevity and quality of life. Longevity + quality of life = "healthspan." Healthspan is a relatively new term that means living well late into your years vs. being alive and suffering. Research continues to show that people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer. So stop reading and quickly send a friend or colleague you haven't spoken to in a while that text you've been meaning to send. Better still, give them a call while you're on a drive today - hustle while you wait.?

You can't outwork a poor diet. "If I pig out, I can just work it off right?" - WRONG. An increasing body of research demonstrates that in the mid to long-term, our body will adapt to maintain a consistent level of daily energy expenditure which is correlated with lean body mass. Why is this important? Let's say your set level is roughly 3,500 Kcal and you consume 5,000 Kcal, your net intake is +1,500 Kcal. Considering there is 3,500 Kcal stored in a pound of body fat, you can see how a consistent intake that exceeds expenditure can spiral out of control fairly quickly. You might think, no problem, I'll just go workout for 1,500 Kcal workout every day. It's not that simple. Firstly, our fit trackers tend to overestimate our calories burned and 1,500 Kcal is a BIG workout. Secondly, the body will down-regulate other processes that depend on energy like reproduction, immune function, etc to maintain your daily energy expenditure. This is one of the many reasons we see a higher instance of upper respiratory tract infections in elite athletes who train longer and harder than any of us.

Is all hope lost? Not at all. The obvious thing to do is to moderate intake to stay within our maintenance energy expenditure. Another volume knob we can turn is to increase our lean body mass by adding muscle which will drive up our energy expenditure. For more on this, check out Dr. Herman Pontzer's recent book "Burn" which explains all of this in lay terms. Does all of this mean there's no point in cardio or HIIT training? Not so fast. These forms of training have a plethora of benefits above and beyond trying to work off a big meal!

Whole foods reign supreme. There is an abundance of misinformation regarding the BEST DIET floating in the ether. It's appealing to believe that the new, shiny diet is the savior; however, the research shows that the best diet is the one that you can adhere to. The evidence converges on the fact that as much as you can, prioritize whole food options. If possible, choose organic, especially for the dirty dozen produce list which include the leafy fleshy skinned options. If you cannot choose organic, learn how to clean your produce to remove as much of the pesticides as possible.

There are physiological and psychological reasons why whole foods should comprise the bulk of your diet. Physiologically, they provide the body with more nutrients, contain healthful fiber, and are more satiating which keeps your Kcal intake lower. On the flip side, processed foods are less satiating, contain fewer micronutrients, and are engineered to promote overconsumption.?

Being proactive about your health is true healthcare. Using medicine to overcome symptoms is "sickcare." Both health and sickcare are important however, our approach to health has been largely sickcare-dominant for years. We tend to treat the smoke and not the fire. When the average North American has a headache, they pop an Advil vs. thinking about what could have led to the headache and addressing the cause like dehydration as an example. Focussing on your health and vitality will strengthen your immune system before you get sick which will serve us all this cold and flu season. To be clear, we would not be where we are today without modern medicine; however, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It’s important we understand how to apply the right tools to the right jobs.?

Manifesting positive outcomes is a real thing. Meditation, prayer, law of attraction are all forms of mindset training. I am not an expert on this however, I can declare that when I've implemented manifestation for important events in my life it has been a very reliable strategy. One tip for purposeful manifestation is to imagine yourself already having achieved the outcome you're manifesting. For example, if that's buying a home close your eyes and imagine walking around the home, playing with your children, and take note of the how that feels. It's the feeling we want to capture and manifest. We know that the most successful entrepreneurs have regular meditation practices and the wave of meditation and mindfulness information is a strong indication that there is something here worth leaning in to.?

Mild pain is not permission to stop moving. Being a little achy is not a prescription for lying on the couch or avoiding exercise. We've all heard the saying "movement is medicine," and it turns out it's very true. Oftentimes we ache because of a lack of movement. We've seen many people come to our F45 Studio with moderate pain and once they begin strength training and moving through functional ranges, the pain goes away. As a species, we evolved to move and when we don't, as is the case with our increasingly sedentary world, the body will give us information via pain. Disclaimer, acute and significant pain should be diagnosed by a professional.

Sleep is the biggest rock and boy is quality sleep sensitive: Studies show that we should all strive for six to eight hours of sleep per night to support optimal health and wellness. It's during sleep that our brains refresh, bodies repair, and memories consolidate. Interrupted, or low quality (light sleep without deep or REM sleep) can take a toll on our acute and long-term health. Besides detrimental health consequences, on a day to day basis, poor sleep impacts our ability to produce high-quality work and can increase our propensity to avoid movement and crave poor food choices. Here are a few tips to improve your sleep right away:

• Establish a cool temperature in your room. Shoot for a little below room temperature.
• Invest in blue blocking glasses. I use the Maxwell Sunset Glasses by Ra Optics. Since using these I've seen a 30-50% increase in nightly deep sleep.
• Don't eat too close to bed. If bed is ten pm, try to stop eating by 8pm.
• Measure your sleep. If you can't measure it you can't manage it. If budget allows, the Oura ring is an excellent tool to measure your sleep and understand how your behaviour influences your sleep volume and quality. Heartbreaking news: Alcohol consumption DESTROYS your sleep. This is not to say don't drink, although if you stop drinking your body will thank you, but rather to plan around big nights. Try to get quality sleep leading up to big nights or plan to have it for days after a big night.

Understand yourself before investing in supplements: There are a lot of supplements on the market and most don’t justify the investment and lack any efficacy whatsoever. Funnily enough I get asked about "pre-workout" most often and it is without a doubt, the most nonsensical supplement you can purchase so save your money. Beyond workout enhancing supplements are those focussed on shoring up micronutrient deficiencies, example B12, Vitamin D, etc. While the aforementioned can have a profound impact, all too often we read an article on a supplement that worked for some celebrity and run to the store to buy it for ourselves without understating whether that makes sense for us as bioindividuals. Assume nothing and get yourself tested. The best way to get a current state of your inside health is to work with a Doctor of Naturopathy who can order blood labs, digestive labs, urine samples etc. to evaluate your individual needs. If you have benefits, much of this expense will be covered and if the labs themselves aren’t, the average cost is $150.00 CAD for a comprehensive panel of bloodwork.

Wow....my fingers are sore, that was a lot. I hope that one or many of these tips help you show up better in business and in life. As with anything, iteration is key. Don't try to tackle all of these at once. If you're not strength training, start there : )

If you liked this article, feel free to follow me on instagram at "the_effecutive" where I try to share a good amount of exercise & nutrition tips. Additionally, check out the podcast "What the F...45" I record with my wife Amanda. Our aim is to provide fitness and health advice in a way that can be understood and actioned by all.?

#health #performance