How To Make "Hard" Look "Easy"

“An awesome body should complement your life, not run it.”-Me.

If one idea of mine were to eulogize everything I coach and live as it relates to fitness, that’d be it. 

When I see someone spending their second hour on the elliptical, I don’t call it “progress” or even “commitment”. I call it “spinning your wheels”. As in, hey, can’t you see you’re literally and figuratively spinning your wheels on that thing! It’s only going to make you a smaller version of the shape you already are!

It gets more prevalent every year, but in 2019, it’s got to be harder than ever to do one key thing in your personal fitness: keep it simple. 

God bless the internet for a million things. However, too much information before a learner is ready to process it is a recipe for “paralysis by analysis.”

Has this ever happened to you? 

It’s 6 pm on a Sunday. You are changing out of your sweats to get into the shower. Your empty Postmates box is freshly empty, yet still warm. On your way into the tub, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. You look…not fat, but soft. Like there’s a soft focus gently hazing out muscle tone that’d make you do a double take, or thickening the dimensions of a body that’d otherwise be impressive. You feel good in your body, but it’s appearance has gone a littttle too far in one direction for you to be alright with it. It’s not like you have a Stage 4 case of body dysmorphia. No, this is more like if you got a ketchup stain near the waist and under the arm on white polo. Others probably won’t notice it, but it’s unacceptable for your personal standards. 

So, you hit Google. You start searching for any and everything related to getting back in shape. All of a sudden, your wisely targeted ads on FB and IG are practically spamming you with all the fluff du jour: keto reset cleanse, Detox Tea, intermittent fasting, Kinobody, 21-Day Yoga Shred for Men (my favorite ad to laugh at), and if you’re an Equinox member, probably some ads for Peloton at home equipment. Of course, I’ll just put that right here in my studio. It’ll look nice between my stove and my mattress. 

You have desire, you have energy, but you also have options. That is our blessing and curse with entire Libraries of Alexandria right in our pockets and hands. 

You: I want to lose 10 lbs of fat and look great naked, and gain muscle to feel and look strong. 

Internet: Here’s literally 2,000,000 articles on that. Have fun, n00b.

So that this article can become 2,000,001, let me throw my .02 in: the equation for a body that looks great naked and clothed, is as useful as it appears, and is sustainable throughout conventional social norms in 2019 is as follows:

·     High percentage of your body’s weight is skeletal muscle mass

·     Low percentage of your body’s weight is body fat

·     For a short amount of time, track 100% of your food. Bonus points if you are aiming for macro-specific goals.

·     Fall in love with the process. This means considering training something you “get” to do rather than being something you “have” to do. Depending on how severe your case of Stereotypical Millennial-itis is, this may also mean you have to learn to grocery shop and cook for yourself. Learn to love this as well. Begin to take note how much more energy and focus you have outside of the gym when you are pushing your body regularly and eating foods that you didn’t wait in a drive through line for. 

I’m speaking from personal experience. After 2 decades of believing that I was destined to be a fat POS, even after no longer being fat, I started making some changes. Lo and behold, five years later, and even after periods of feeling undisciplined, I can still see my abs and muscle separations when I flex. 

You know how all of the people with big lifts and visible abs say the battle is mostly won with a focus on nutrition? In Instagram shirtless photos, the battle is mostly won with lighting, supported by filters, and made possible by lifting. But mostly lighting. 

(sidebar: Instagram is setting us all up for some really unrealistic expectations. I think just this morning, Kylie Jenner posted an ad for Fit Tea, as if a pseudo-laxative is the secret behind her physique, as opposed to 1 BILLION dollars of resources including but not limited to a private chef, a personal trainer, and a plastic surgeon. Don’t fall for that bs. Also, please remember that another person’s success does not make you a failure by comparison.)

That said, let’s break down what my .02 cents looks like when it is applied to daily life. 

To up your skeletal muscle mass, you’re going to have to incorporate some form of resistance training. In the old days, this may have been working in the coal mine (remember that scene in October Sky when Jake Gylenhaal flexes for his boys at lunch after starting in the mines? Gains), but today, it’s likely lifting weights. 

For success, unlearn everything you’ve been conditioned to believe. Bicep curls are not going to give you great arms, and crunches won’t do anything for your abs. However, you can get both from committing to heavy compound lifts. 

At it’s most basic level, a compound lift is thought of as an expression of a single movement pattern with the heaviest possible weight. 

There are a handful of movement patterns: 

-Hinge

-Squat

-Row

-Press

-Lunge

-Carry

EVERY exercise you could possibly think of falls into one of these categories. A compound movement is one that involves multiple joints and muscle groups to complete, and in gym vernacular, is generally considered to be done with heavier weight. 

For example, a bicep curl would be a type of row that a person might think of to build their arms. However, a bent over barbell row is a type of row that involves more muscle groups and significantly heavier weight to complete. While the bicep is not the sole focus of the movement, as in the former, it is still involved to a significant degree. 

For a variety of reasons, training based around compound movements is more likely to yield the desirable results. Each training session, you should seek to make very small increases in strength. There’s a few ways to do this. If you lifted 225 pounds for ten reps last week, you want to either lift 230 pounds ten times this week, or 225 for eleven. Or 225 for ten in a shorter amount of time. 

Now, to lower your bodyfat, you must really unlearn what your conditioning has taught. First, start with the food pyramid. Replace the grains section with meat and veggies. Grains can go up towards the top. 

Also, unlearn the notion that because you want to lose weight or “get ripped” you’ve got to be chained to a cardio machine. When the goal is to lose bodyfat, you must enter into a caloric deficit. Your body requires x amount of calories per day to maintain it’s current state, to drop bodyfat, you eat slightly below that amount. Cardio is utilized as a way to increase energy expenditure (aka how many calories your body burns per day) without adding volume/stress (which comes from weight training, and there is a point of diminishing returns).

Sure, you could continue to whittle your daily food intake down, but there’s a point of diminishing returns with that, too. So that’s why you do a little or a lot of cardio, but never without focus or without fitting into some larger plan. 

There’s a sweet spot you want to aim for as you incorporate lifting with a caloric deficit. Your strength numbers are still climbing, but your scale numbers are declining. Yes, it is possible to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

This is when tracking 100% of your intake comes in handy. In fact, it’s possibly the most crucial step to getting to the point of freedom where your awesome body does in fact complement your life without running it. 

After a short while of meticulous tracking, “eyeballing” your food portions gets a lot more accurate. When you have client dinners, company parties, or a night out with friends, you won’t need to worry about caloric impact of different dishes. You’ll know almost exactly how much of everything to eat. Your palate will be satisfied, you won’t feel like you missed out on quality time with your friends or colleauges, and you’ll still wake up a little leaner in the morning.

As soon as you start seeing results, it’s pretty hard not to fall in love with the process. If you really can’t get your head around enthusiastically making your body stronger, more useful, and more attractive, as well as exponentially increasing your energy and focus for the rest of your day, all hope isn’t lost for you. May I recommend changing your perspective? 

There are as many different ways to look at this process as there are ways to actually go through it. Video games simulate life. Video games are fun, and easy to understand. You complete tasks, get rewarded, and get ahead. The more capable you make the character you play the game with, the easier and more fun it is to complete the tasks. 

Building an awesome body you are proud to be in is the most fun video game you may have never tried. Now let’s level up. 

In iron and gratitude, 

Michael