There is one that is a mega peeve of mine, and it sabotages results-getting BIG time.

Let’s talk about it…

The Not-So-Magic Pill

The most basic issue I see in results-getting is a mindset trap called the “magic pill” syndrome.  The magic pill syndrome varies from individual to individual but can be summarized as:

wanting something in exchange for a lessor exchange of something else (a shortcut).

In fitness and health this looks like this:

• Wanting to buy results in the form of supplements, pills, etc
• Wanting to out-exercise a shitty diet (impossible)
• Wanting to get six-pack abs but still get plastered each weekend (nope)
• Wanting long-term health yet unwilling to change lifestyle habits (usually nutrition and sleep)

For any result there must be an equal dose of input.  I have noticed that often this requires MORE than what most are willing to give (or realize what is necessary to give).

The difference between those that reach their goals (life, fitness, whatever) and those that do not is the willingness to invest enough input to reach those goals.

Usually the input is equal to time and another variable.  This equation probably looks like this (I’m not good at math btw):

Time + Habit = Result

If you invest enough time of a specific habit you will see a result.  Examples of habits include sleeping, eating, abstaining from alcohol or drugs, etc.

A further breakdown:

One plus one equals 2. This would be the adequate dose of time and habit to reach your result. This is what we are shooting for: the adequate dose of each. Most fall short before reaching this adequate dose.

On the flip side, if you have 1 plus -1 you have 0, a digression.

-1 is any unhealthy habit in which you progress backwards.  1 = time and for every 1 unit of time you have -1 unit in health and thus will see a decrease in your results.

In between you have something like: 1 + .5 = 1.5  ←

In this example you reach only half way to your goal.  This is where the majority of results-seeking people are, somewhere on the path to their results but not sure where.  The problem here is that we are a terrible judge of our results and sometimes it’s not our fault.

If we get half-way to our results often times we will think we have made NO results or very little when in fact we may be well on our way.

And to further compound the issue, we have hidden results indicators such as eating healthy which is only measured by blood lipid and hormone levels in the short term. Unless you are getting frequent blood tests and carrying around a insulin tracking meter you will not see these results and may assume it isn’t ‘working’.

And another problem to add here is the fact that most of the time we use the mirror to gauge our results.  This is the most inaccurate measure of results, at least in the short term.  Sometimes the mirror takes MONTHS to show the hard work paying off.

The same goes for the scale.  The internals of our body take time and are hidden from our view.

Some measures we can use include:

• Blood lipid test
• How you feel throughout the day
• Improved performance in the gym
• Better sex
• Better sleep – longer, fuller, deeper
• More happiness (tough to measure but possible)
• Less stress (same as happiness)

People give up way too soon on the habits that are going to get them results.

These healthy habits include:

• lifting heavy weights
• frequent metabolic training
• walking
• eating slow
• eating clean
• going 100% gluten free
• drinking way less or not at all
• Sleeping 8 hours a night
• meditation
• and so on

What are some ways to combat this?

Well this is the easy and hard part.  You have to endure and stay on the same path day in and day out.  You have to keep going until you get there and keep your habits as close to 100% adherence as possible.

In my experience, if you aim for at least 60% adherence and you will still see results (of collective habits that is).  Of course, I recommend aiming higher than 60%, but as a starting point, anything above 50% is on the right path and is usually enough to start showing positive changes.

I recommend aiming for 80% as your ultimate goal. You will never reach 100% and that is ok.  80% will allow you to reach results and live a long and prosperous life.  If you want to go above that (and get super elite) than more power to you.

A useful tip for developing a habit is to choose one habit at a time and implement it for a month until it sticks.  There are many apps that help with this (Lift for example).

For each new habit that you successfully add  to your regimen the closer you will get to your goals and your ultimate lifestyle.  Keep in mind that these habits must be forever habits though. They are the maintenance to the machine that is your body. If you neglect one or more your results will systematically breakdown as a result.  Once you reach your respective goals you must maintain these results by staying the course.  You must keep it up for eternity.

Start working on those habits now seeing as they will be with you forever.

This further emphasizes my point regarding the ‘magic pill’ syndrome and the importance of trading time and habit for result.  Even when you reach your result and have traded adequate input, to keep that result, you will need to continually ‘maintain’ it with the same efforts.  The human body is a use it or lose it proposition (unfortunately).

But all is not lost; once you reach this point maintenance becomes MUCH easier. I’m talking 100x easier than where you started. You can get away with ‘cheat’ meals more often; you won’t gain fat or lose muscle as much because of your improved insulin sensitivity. You will stress less, be happier in general and deal with life better.

This might sound like a lot of work to you, but it is my opinion that if we don’t live a healthy lifestyle that promotes the greatest expression of our genes (thanks to Mark Sission for this phrase) than we are broken.  Strive for being as un-broken as possible.

No Free Lunch

And it all comes back to the original point:

Nothing comes without the proper input. 

There is no easy way. No free lunch. No magic pill. No secret program.

It all comes down to hard work and the right habits invested over a period of time and then maintained forever.  Once you get there it is much easier to maintain than what it took to get there.

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Because of the amazing feedback and success of 50 Ways To Get Better at CrossFit I have decided to do an entire series of ‘50 ways’ list posts.

If you find this content useful please share with others that you think will benefit from it!  Let’s keep fighting the good fight!  Here is a snazzy click-to-tweet link.

The subject of this post is about losing weight and burning fat but it also doubles as a guide on how to live a healthy lifestyle.

Overall, you will lead a better life if you make your lifestyle look something like 1 through 20.  

Following 21-50 respectively will help you lose weight AND improve at whatever you are training/living for.

1. Eat a grain-free Paleo/Primal diet

Not your thing? Sure but the reality is that healthy weight loss is going to be difficult if you aren’t eating something resembling the Paleo diet (meat, leaves, berries). At the very least you should be eating unprocessed whole foods from nature. And always consume the highest quality ingredients you can find.

You wouldn’t put regular gas in a Ferrari would you? Treat your body the same and only ingest the highest quality fuel possible.  Weight loss becomes effortless when you are eating whole natural foods.

2. Get lots of sleep 

I have clients look at me sideways when I tell them they need to sleep 8+ hours a night.  If you are one of these sleep-deprived zombies I challenge you to try it for a week.  You will be amazed by how you feel and where your body composition goes with this little experiment.

You might think you feel fine now but then realize that you really have been in a chronic state of sleep deprivation from years of missing your ZzZz’s.

3. Practice interminent fasting (IF) – Eat less often

I follow the leangains approach – a daily 8 hour feeding window followed by a 16 hour fast. Check it out here: Leangains.com.  Whether you follow a strict fasting protocol or not, you can definitely benefit from skipping meals on a regular basis.  Contrary to popular belief, skipping meals can help you you build muscle (and it does a million other awesome things for your body).

Further Read: MarksDailyApple, EatSTOPEat

4. Eat slow and chew your food thoroughly

This has done WONDERS for me.  I used to inhale food like a whale gobbles up plankton.  I would just swim right through the food until it was gone in a matter of minutes.  When you eat slow you accomplish a few important triggers for weight loss:

1. You reduce the insulin spike by slowing the release of glucose into your blood stream. This prevents insulin, a storage hormone, from storing calories in your fat cells.  The more insulin = the more fat storage.

2.  You eat less! You feel ‘full’ faster and avoid taking in too many calories. You know that feeling of a bloating, full stomach?  You can thank that to consuming your calories too fast before the full trigger can tell your brain to PUT DOWN THE DAMN FORK.

5. Cook your food at home

Restaurant food is just bad.  Restaurants use cheap salt, sugar, sauces, thickeners, stabilizers and all kinds of other unnatural crap to reduce costs, stay profitable, and keep the food addictive.

The average restaurant margin is only 10%.  This means that restaurants profit about 10% of total revenue on average.  You better freaking believe that they are constantly trying to cut corners and save on food costs.  While the customer is the one that gets stuck with the health bill…that’s Bollox (apparently my writing persona is British).

6. Don’t drink calories

When clients cut out soda/juices/beer they typically see immediate 5-10 pound weight loss results.  Drinking calories elicits the same negative response on insulin levels that eating fast does, you consume more calories and they hit your blood stream fast because they are in liquid form. We are made to chew our food.

7. Go completely gluten-free

This can be life changing.  Clean out your pantry and start substituting ingredients at restaurants This could be the missing link to that lean body you’ve been trying to achieve.

8. Snacking is the bane of weight loss

One of the main reasons IF is so beneficial is because it regulates of your hormone levels and the balances your body between the fasted and fed states.  Your body is made to burn fat when in the ‘fasted’ state and made to store calories when in the ‘fed’ state. Every time you put calories in your mouth you are entering the ‘fed’ state and thus shutting off your bodies ability to burn fat by introducing glucose and insulin into your blood stream.

So, next time you grab that bag of almonds thinking it’s a healthy snack, you are doing your body a disservice.  Keep eating to meal times.

9. Take high quality fish oil with every meal

Fish oil contains omega-3′s which help to balance out the omega-6′s that are prevalent throughout our modern diets (especially processed foods).  Maintaining this provides a ton of benefit to the body, especially weight loss.  My favorite brand is Carlson.

Further Reading: Read Robb Wolf’s post if you are interested in the science.

10. Take vitamin D and/or get daily sunlight

If you aren’t currently doing this it could be the missing link in your weight loss efforts.

Further Reading: MarksDailyApple post

11. Reduce stress at all costs

Do everything you absolutely can to reduce stress and anger.  I explain to my client’s that every time you get angry, stressed, or freak-out about something that it is like taking a bite out of a candy bar.  Stress releases cortisol and insulin into your blood stream just like if you were chomping down on your favorite gluten-filled processed snickers bar.  As we discussed earlier this halts fat-loss and promotes fat-gain.

That’s a bad combination don’t you think?  Take a chill pill and BREATHE.

12. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is the act of focusing on a single object or task and turning off the rest of the noise (thoughts, worry, doubt) going through your head.  This helps with number 11 to prevent the chronically raised cortisol and insulin levels we get from our mind tormenting us with worry, stress, anger, resentment, jealously, and all kinds of other shit we shouldn’t worry about.

Some good techniques for being mindful are: Counting your breath, listening to nature or water flow and focusing on the sound and nothing else for a few minutes every day.  I’m not a pro here, just a student, so I suggest you do some more research on your own.  A little goes a long way.

Recommended books: The Power of Now, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

13. Eliminate sugar

It is the absolute worst. Remember that fat doesn’t make you fat.  Sugar, seed oils, and processed grains are what make you fat (and stress).

14. Eat lots of high-quality fat

Fatty fish, grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, coconut oil, olive oil (I prefer it unheated), Kerrygold butter, avocado oil, macadamia oil, ghee, lard (make your own), tallow (make your own).

15. Eat lots of high-quality animal products

Keywords include: grass-fed, free range, pastured, organic, all-natural, hormone-free, humanely raised, family farms, local

Your diet will look something like this:  

Protein ~35% of calories

Fat ~35% of calories

Carbs in the form of starches/veggies = ~25%

These are average ranges as everyone is different and some prefer lower carbs while others do well on higher carbs. Tweak and experiment to find what works for you.

16. Perform resistance training ~3 times a week

If you are reading this you probably already know why this is beneficial. Just do it.

17. Perform high intensity conditioning ~3 times a week

Think intervals, short, fast, and hard.  Avoid long distance and moderate paced training as the bulk of your training (it is useful only sometimes).

18. Walk Everywhere

Take the stairs, park at the end of the parking lot, walk the long way.  We are made to move at a slow pace often.  Get up and get moving.

19. Play sports

Great for overall health, mental relief, muscle building, mobility, social development, etc. We have been playing games since the dawn of man.

20. Get outdoors as much as possible

It just works

The first 20 in this list are my main recommendations to living an overall healthy life.  As you adopt more and more of this list you will notice that you become a fat-burning machine, and you’ll realize how easy it is to tweak your weight based on what you do (or don’t do). 

I recommend you incorporate these habits a little at a time until they become routine. Don’t try to adopt them all at once.  

Quick fire tips for weight loss:

21. Drink a full glass of water before each meal

You will feel full faster and eat less.

22. Eat your protein before your carbs and fat

Protein is very satiating and will fill you up fast.

23. Eat a bit of  healthy fat 15 minutes before each meal

Fat curbs appetite and triggers the release of hormones that let you know when you are full.  You can kickstart these hormones by nibbling on some nuts or dark chocolate before the your meals.

24. Eat hot and hearty soups and stews

Soups and stews are filling.  Hot food will force you to eat slow and thus eat less, curb insulin spikes, and get full faster.  Notice a trend?

25. Sprint

Fast, intense, full-body exercise like all-out sprinting has insane thermogenic and EPOC effects on the body.  Basically, it turns your body into a calorie-burning furnace.  Sprinting also builds massive muscle (compare a pic of a sprinter to a marathon runner…scary).

26. Make things difficult for yourself (on purpose)

Why would you ever do this? So you can MOVE more..DUH!

The more movement you perform the more calories you burn.  Instead of searching for the easiest route try this: grit your damn pussy willow lip and get moving.

27. Buy some Chuck Taylors or Oly shoes

You will lift more.  The more weight you move, the more calories you burn.

28. Drink green tea

Full of antioxidants and a bit of caffeine, both good for fat burning.

29. Chew a few extra chews each mouthful

Chewing has been linked to improvement in digestion and breakdown of food (duh) through extra release of the salvia enzymes amylase (starch breakdown) and lipase (fat breakdown).  All from the physical act of chewing (weird huh).

30. Drink black coffee (in moderation)

Coffee offers many benefits to the body, one of which is fat burning, but there are some caveats. You should drink black (yummy) and organic if possible.  Coffee beans are one of the most heavily sprayed (pesticides) crops in the world. No bueno.

31. Take a digestive enzyme, probiotic, and/or eat fermented food regularly

These products improve gut health and digestion. The better you digest your food the better it is utilized in the body and the less likely it is to be converted into adipose tissue.  Adipose tissue is FAT ladies and gentlemen…the jiggley, cellulitely, unpleasant kind of fat.

32. Perform heavy, complex, functional movements

Anything that trains the whole body is going to eat up calories for fuel.  If you are in ‘isolation-land’ I implore you to start picking up, carrying, and moving heavy shit on a regular basis.

33. Avoid liquid food

Yes boys and girls, that means protein shakes. If you want to lose weight you should avoid liquid calories in any form.  We already discussed how drinking calories produces a larger insulin spike because of the liquid, fast digesting form of the calories.

There is a BUT here though: If you drink a shake in lieu of eating a meal then I say it’s not that bad as long as you keep it simple and low-calorie.  Avoid the 500-calorie oat, peanut butter, or fruit smoothie concoctions (those are for weight gain).  If it keeps you from eating shit then stick with water and whey (gross I know) and avoid chugging them.

34. Skip the condiments

How did I lose 5 pounds and finally carve out my abs after 2 years of frustration?  Dropping ketchup (I also nixed milk so that helped a bit). I used to drown my chicken breasts in ketchup so eliminating it was huge for my results.

Store bought condiments are filled with sugar and other processed crap.  Stick with organic mustard or homemade ketchup.

35. Drink lots of water

I don’t think we need to drink as much water as the pundits would have us believe, but for reducing cravings and making us feel full more often, water can be useful.

36. Think hard – Use your brain

Your brain’s primary fuel source is glucose so it is beneficial to use as much of it as possible so there isn’t any extra that can be stored as fat.

37. Perform Tabata intervals

A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest.  Pick a movement, Air squat for example, and start a timer.  Perform as many air squats in 20 seconds as possible then rest.  After 10 seconds of rest go again. Repeat until 4 minutes is up or 8 rounds have been completed.  Brutal, simple fat-burning exercise.

38. Replace soda, juice, sweet tea with a soda water and lime (sparkling and seltzer also work)

This is how my sister and I weaned off soda (long time ago mind you) and we are still able to satisfy that craving for carbonation when eating out.  You can even fake it at the club with a soda water and lime (totally looks like you are a hip alcohol-drinking-baller-shot-caller).

39. Do NOTHING

Relieve stress by turning off your brain and letting your body lay around like a fat-lazy Jabba the Hutt.  This is something some of us do perfectly (too much) and others do terribly (never relax).

Examples of doing nothing include: watching mindless TV, movies, people watching, laying on the beach, napping.

40. Take naps

Sleep is one of the top 5 techniques to living a healthy life.  Naps consist of sleep. Thus naps do a body good (milk does not).

41. Get social

We are social creatures and have thrived as a species by staying together.  The benefits of enjoying time with friends and family are enormous.  Anything that improves your happiness can help you lose weight by reducing stress.

42. Fast before you train and/or after you train

The longer you go without food in your body the more your metabolism will burn stored fat.  Training increases your body’s need for fuel and as a result will burn more fat.

There are a ton of benefits to not eating food even after your training window.  I’ll Mark Sisson explain 

43. Watch your carb intake

This includes sugar, rice, potatoes, fruit, grains (hopefully not).  Even ‘good’ carbs can become ‘bad’ by eating too much.

44. Take ZMA before bed (Zinc, Magnesium & Vitamin B-6)

This is hands down my favorite supplement.  Not only does magnesium aid in weight loss and a list of other body functions, but it improves your sleep at night as well. You will sleep deeper, fuller, and longer.  It also improves recovery a TON.

This should be a standard supplement in everyone’s program.

45. Do CrossFit

Seriously…everyone can and should do some form of CrossFit.

You can do more WODs, Less WODs, strength-bias, endurance-bias, gymnastics-bias, powerlifting-bias, outlaw, etc.

46. Utilize active-rest days

Days where you can barely walk and your back feels like a giant bruise (I love that feeling) are days that you should avoid training hard or heavy.  This is the perfect time for an active rest day.

An active rest day looks like this:

work mobility, do some light rowing and jogging, work on Oly technique with an empty barbell, foam roll, stretch, etc.

Do it all at a slow and easy, yet deliberate, pace.

This will improve recovery, reduce stress on your body, help recover your CNS, and get your body moving.  This will improve fat burning/weight loss AND muscle building simultaneously.

47. Go for gluten-free hard cider over gluten-filled beer and opt for liquor+soda water over sugar-filled mix drinks

Gluten, beer, and mixed drinks are the Antichrist for your abs.  A long island ice tea has 780 calories and about 40 grams of sugar.  I used to drink those [Smacks forehead]

Try this drink recipe by Robb Wolf.

48. Avoid artificial sweeteners

This includes splenda, aspartame, and other ‘naturally flavored’ sweeteners.  Sweeteners spike your insulin levels because your brain can’t tell the difference between them and sugar so the body response ends up being the same. Plus they might cause cancer. It makes sense to avoid them altogether.  *Stevia is ok but I would still go light with it.

49. Don’t overtrain

Avoid overtraining at all costs.  It saps weight loss and promotes fat gain through the huge amounts of cortisol wrecking havoc in your body. Read “8 Signs You Are Overtraining” 

50. Plan ahead/pack a lunch

The best way to avoid falling off the wagon and eating junk is to be prepared.  Always have something healthy with you. One pot, crockpot, and large roasts are great for making a bunch of meals for the week.

In summary: Be patient

Any new habit you implement will take time to show results.  The people who get shit done in life are the one’s that stay the course.  Work, life, business, relationships, diet, fitness, it’s all the same.  Stay the damn course.

Test, Test, Test, Tweak

You must test and tweak on a regular basis and find the right combination that works for you. All of these techniques will work for anyone (to varying degrees) if implemented in their purest form. However, the dose and result can be so different from person to person.

We are always learning, growing, and improving – if we put in the effort.

Make it your goal to find the answer for you.  Think of yourself as a complex unsolved formula.  And you are the scientist charged with solving this formula.  It is up to you and you alone.

Now get your ass in gear and get working!

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How to get better at CrossFit (in no particular order):

1. Gear up.  Get oly shoes, some inov-8s or nano’s, a speed rope, some wrist wraps, and some good workout clothes

2. Lift heavy weights regularly.  Don’t just stay in comfortable 70% zones.  Push your limit…which leads perfectly to 3…

3. Use a spotter and FAIL.  If you aren’t missing reps you aren’t training hard enough. Period.

 4. Work Mobility ALOT.  Before, After, During

5. Take your training seriously.  Always strive to become better.

6. Don’t take your training too seriously.  Give yourself a break.

7. Train with others.  It’s just better.

8. Show up no matter what. If you aren’t in the mood here’s what you do: 1. walk to your car and drive to the Box. 2. Figure the rest out later.

9. Try to fast before you train.  ‘Needing’ to eat before, during, or after training is bulshit hype pushed on us from the bodybuilding/supplement industry. When you switch your metabolism over to training without food you will PR more often and feel awesome in general.  You’ll want to send me a thank you card…you’re welcome.

10. Don’t throw your barbell or any other equipment.  It’s just douchey.

11. Warm-up ALOT.  Make sure you focus your warm-ups and always practice proper dynamic warm-ups before you train. This will improve your results and prevent injury.

12. Motivate other athletes.  To receive you must give.

13. Practice handstands often.  You have to get upside down if you want to improve them.

14. For the ladies: have someone spot your ankles as you perform strict pull-ups (push off the spotters hands to assist reps and go for failure).  This is the best way to develop the dead hang pull-up that I have found.

15. Don’t cherry pick your WOD’s or days.  Show up those days that make you want to hide.  That is a mega sign you should be coming those days (weaknesses HeLLo).

16. Train your weaknesses.  Really try to destroy them..this is the only real way to become a better athlete in my professional opinion.

17. Utilize your coach’s before and after class.  They love to talk training, food, and lifestyle so ask them questions and then shut up and listen.  You will learn a LOT.

18. Ask other CrossFitter’s for tips and tricks. We are all on different paths in this journey and have learned different things along the way. You never know who you can learn from.

19. Buy a jump rope and size it to you. Then never leave it at the gym.

20. Practice double-unders every day

21. Do a few strict pull-ups every day

22. Do a few one-arm push-ups every day

23. Meditate 5 minutes every day.  This can improve your entire life (and CrossFit)

24. Practice your Olympic weightlifting every day with a dowel and empty barbell.  The gains you will make doing this are insane.

25. If there is an exercise you are not good at do the following: perform 3 sets of 10 as part of your warm-up every day.

26. Work on heavy, light, and moderate weighted squats every week.  Doing lots of reps will produce big gains for male and females.  Squats are king.

27.  Practice jumping in all modalities.  Over, under, on top of, sideways, backwards, long, short, high.

28. Make sure you have a very good rack position.  The barbell should be completely supported by your shoulders and not your hands.

29. Train planks often.  And I really mean train them.  The results from these come 30 seconds after your arms start shaking.  You need some mental toughness for these.

30. Learn to bounce out of the bottom of a squat.  For those that have tight hips this can be difficult and that is why you should practice often with a dowel and barbell.

31. Do pistols at least once a week (more the better).

32. Make sure to hit all the major lifts at least once a week. Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench, Snatch, Clean, Jerk

33. Have a recovery plan: hot/cold water, massage, foam rolling, nutrition, ice, Epsom salt

34. Get your family involved.  Who cares if you come off annoying at first.  They are your family and you don’t want to bury them do you?  If you really love your family you should give a shit if they are killing themselves with shitty food and bad lifestyle habits.  Start working on them NOW.

35. Do shoulder dislocates with a dowel every workout.  Don’t force them. Move smoothly.

36. Turn the wrists out at the bottom of the muscle-up.  This will ensure you reach full extension of the elbows, lats, and shoulders.

37. Do lots of strict dips and negative holds on the rings.

38. Incorporate strongman work into your program.  Sled work and the prowler can do amazing things.  Walk with a sled attached to the hips as recommended by Louie Simmons

39. Practice heavy farmer carries.

40. Throw things.  We’ve been throwing spears and javelins for thousands of years.

41. Wake up to 20 push-ups every morning.

42. Do 30 air squats and 20 push-ups after every meal.  No really..this is a awesome recommendation from Tim Ferris in the The 4-Hour Body and I use it all the time.  It’s even better after big meals.

43. Walk after every meal.  This improves digestion, prevents fat gain, and makes you feel less bloated and lethargic.

44. Do travel or home WOD’s if you can’t make it to the gym. This helps and a travel WOD card.

45. Practice L-sits often.  Same with frog stands.  These basic gymnastic skills are easy and low-stress movements that can help you become fitter.

46. Listen to your coaches!  They see what you don’t see and they know CrossFit.

47. Work on your lifestyle and nutrition.  Here are some resources: Cooking Guide, The Paleo Diet, MarksDailyApple

48. Take REST days. I know it’s an insane concept but you CAN’T train every day.  CrossFit is very demanding and if you want to live a long life you better realize that your body needs a balance.

49.  Take a REST week every couple months.  This has done wonders for a lot of my athelte’s.

50.  The best thing you can do when training CrossFit is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.  Learn when you can push past your red-line and when you need to back off. Learn when you need to rest and when you can still train. Learn what your body responds to and what it doesn’t.  Then you can develop a plan that works for you.  Everyone is different and has different capacities, never forget this.

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Anyone ready to start a fitness program should mentally prepare themselves and get in the right mindset to ensure lasting success.

Box’s typically have a high attrition rate and people have a hard time sticking with the program.  This is because anything worth having is very hard and most people don’t want it enough.

If you really want to change your life and develop a life-long training program you should prepare yourself with the proper knowledge that will keep you on track.

I have seen far too many great people fall off the wagon.  It is a bloody shame because they have the potential to reach their goals if they would just stick with it.

Consistency is then name of the game when it comes to diet and fitness.  You have to keep going no matter what.  I hope these tips will help you commit to your program wether it is CrossFit or not. These tips can be applied to general fitness as well as any specific training protocol.

1. You Need To Eat Clean

If you want that ripped CrossFit-look you will need to eat a clean diet.  Proper nutrition will also propel your CrossFit results to incredible levels.  Please do not be a beer-belly CrossFitter; it pains me to see CrossFitters that are not ripped when they can be.

To me, CrossFit equates to being functionally fit and lean and a byproduct of being fit and lean is having a six-pack.

Go Paleo/Primal:  It will change your life and give you a six-pack.  Check out the Nutrition Resources.

There is no way around nutrition. It is the most important aspect of body composition and health. Make it a priority now and it will pay dividends for the rest of your life.

2. You Need To Work On Mobility

CrossFit is very hard on the body.  In fact, for some people it is too hard and not sustainable under certain circumstances.  Athletes that eat crap, forgo supplements, and skip work on their mobility cannot sustain long term CrossFit training in my professional opinion.  Breakdown of your joints is inevitable; overuse injuries will invariably happen.

For these reasons mobility must be a regular part of your routine:

Get a Foam Roller and roll before and after your workout.  Lacrosse Balls are great for targeting trigger points in your back, butt, and hips.

Work on your static stretches post-WOD and work dynamic mobility before WOD’s.

3. You Need To Work On Active Recovery

Active recovery can be defined as engaging in recovery enhancing activities such as ice baths, hot water immersion, Epsom salt baths, self-massage, massage, walking, mobility, supplementation, and proper nutrition.

This includes the first two points so I won’t go there, instead I will focus on the traditional ‘recovery’ methods.

Ice baths in short intervals, under 10 minutes, have shown to improve recovery. I can’t make an exact statement as to their effectiveness as I’ve seen conflicting information from reputable sources (Kelly Startett), but I will suggest you self-experiment and see if it works for you.  The same goes for hot water treatments.

I recommend walking and mobility work on a daily basis with more time spent during rest days.  When recovering from physical activity walking, jogging, and light movement has shown to speed up recovery as well as improve joint health.

Recovery Resources: Recovery Article By Dan John  –   Mobility WOD

4. You Need Stay Consistent

I’ve owned a CrossFit gym for 4 years now.  It’s amazing and depressing to see the amount of clients that sign-up, come for a month, and pay for another 5 months – of their 6 month contract – without ever showing up again.  This is a routine I see on a daily basis and I wish it wasn’t so.

Most people have the “All or Nothing” mentally when it comes to most things in life, especially diet and fitness.  They convince themselves that they must come to the gym X days a week or not at all.  Is one day a week better than ZERO days a week? The beauty of CrossFit is it’s effectiveness.  One day a week is 100% better and more effective than 0 days a week. Same goes for two days a week over one day.  For 99% of the population who train CrossFit to improve their general fitness and body comp two days a week is ample training to make steady gains.

Once again: Twice a week of CrossFit training is enough to make steady gains (but 3 is the sweet spot)

That is two hours of the 168 hours in a week.  I don’t want to hear any BS excuses about why you can’t or don’t have time; I’ve heard it all.  Anything in life worth having takes effort. You must appreciate the journey and the reward.  If a ripped physique was easy to have no one would appreciate it and everyone would have it, it would be common and thus nothing special.  Different, unique and rare are sought after for a reason.   

5. You Absolutely Must Sleep 8+ Hours A Night

Sleep is one of the most important health related things we do as human beings. Do it right, do it consistent, and don’t skimp.

6. You Must Take A Rest Week Every 1-2 Months

I see this ALL THE TIME in my gym.  Clients hit plateaus, they get sick, or their numbers degrade.  I always recommend a rest week when this happens.  Your body will tell you, it will slow, you will feel weak, your PR’s will get worse.  This means it is time to take a rest week.

Conclusion

CrossFit is hard mentally and physically.  It is hard to sustain on a long-term basis and not have a degradation of your health and fitness. You must have top notch nutrition, recovery, and rest habits.  

CrossFit is also very hard to stick to.  The large majority of people who do CrossFit do not stick around for the long-term.  This could be said of most fitness and health habits in general, but I want to point out that it is even more difficult to stick to a program that is very demanding of your body on a regular basis.

They key is to make a lifestyle change in all areas of your health. These changes will have complementary effects on each other and the more ‘good’ habits you solidify into routine the easier it is to stick with it.

Don’t have all or nothing mentality.  If you miss a few days or weeks simply get your ass in the gym (and kitchen).

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I do recommend a basic strength program that includes lifting weights for everyone, but I also want to showcase how easy it is to get a workout in without a gym or equipment.  Also, you can get pretty FIT training bodyweight exercises (check out Beast Skills).

*Experienced CrossFitters should be utilizing bodyweight workouts as an integral part of their balanced program.

Create Infinite WOD’s At Home Or Travel

I will show you how to create a workout from scratch anywhere in the world.  With a little practice you will be able to come up with effective workouts on the fly and will never miss a workout when traveling.  These workouts serve as an excellent starting point for beginners as well.

Check Out These Cards From BoxProducts.com

The 9 basic body-weight movements:

• Push-up
• Squat
• Sit-up
• Burpee
• Lunge
• Spring
• Plank
• Broad Jump, Box Jump
• Handstands, Press, Kick-to, Walks, Holds,

The basic template for creating a workout that is 8-15 minutes average length is as follows:

1. Pick Total Movements (sprints, squat, etc)
2. Pick Reps Per Movement
3. Pick Rounds or Total Reps Goal
4. Format in a repeating fashion: AMRAP (as many rounds as possible), or 1-10 rounds total, or 50-100-250 reps total, or any creative variation on these
5. Set stopwatch and go!

Example: 10 rounds of: 5 Push-up, 5 Air Squat, 5 Sit-ups.

* Complete 5 push-ups, then complete 5 air squats, then complete 5 sit-ups, repeat 10 times with proper form as fast as possible.

If you want a travel WOD with you anywhere you go check out these: Wallet cards

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Potatoes, tubers, nuts, seeds, and other natural food are also OK on the diet but they are not recommend in large quantities because they were not found in abundance in nature and thus humans did not consume large amounts of them as apart of their diet.

Foods excluded from the Paleo Diet include grains, legumes, dairy, refined salt and sugar, processed oils, and all other processed and artificial ingredients.  If you read the label of any typical junk food item you will find many of these ingredients:

Brownie = Grains, Dairy, Refined salt/sugar, processed oil

Candy = Refined salt/sugar, artificial colorings and chemicals

Bread = Grains, Refined salt/sugar, processed oil, artificial colorings and chemicals

Pasta = Grains, Refined salt/sugar, processed oil, artificial colorings and chemicals

Most Restaurant Food = Grains, legumes, Refined salt/sugar, processed oil, artificial colorings and chemicals

So Do I Starve Myself?

Most people I talk to about the Paleo Diet always seem taken aback by the amount of options that aren’t ‘OK’ to eat.  Especially considering most Americans have a food pyramid and eating plan that is completely backwards.  I then show them meals I make at home on a regular basis (and some meals at restaurants) and they realize that you can eat some pretty damn good food.  The key is to be picky. 

As you can see in this picture from recipes I have made at home that you can eat some pretty damn good food.  I tell people all the time that I love food and I rarely miss out on anything.  If I’m traveling I may have some pizza if the occasion calls for it but 90% of the time I eat gluten-free and as strict as I can.

Here is the food pyramid according to Mark Sission. His version of the diet is called “Primal” and has slight differences over “Paleo” but is essentially the same thing.

Ok I See What I Should Eat, But Why?

Because America is fat and getting fatter.  Because it is chronically sick, depressed, stressed, overworked, and missing out on life (and most likely so are you)  There is BIG BUSINESS in making us fat and keeping us fat.  From a conspiracy point of view, think of what happens when you get fat: You eat more calories to stay fat and typically eat even more to get fatter.

What better business model than: sell food to people, get them hooked on it, and sell them more and more and more.  McDonald’s is the largest fast-food chain in the world and they got that way doing this exact formula and using low quality processed crap as the medium to get millions addicted.  The major food corporations Kraft, Monsanto, Tyson, Purdue, and a few others are evil conglomerates that spend billions of dollars lobbing in Washington to ensure lax food regulations and public misinformation through funding (and not funding) of specific studies.  Sorry I could go on and on about this as it pisses me off but let’s save that for another day and keep it simple.  Cheap food is not cheap at all.  You pay more in the grocery store or you pay much more in the hospital.

Cheap food kills the environment and it kills us.   

The Why for Paleo is simple: because it works.  Human beings are made to eat certain foods and not eat certain foods. Just like the animal kingdom, animals have a specific diet and we are no different.  We refer to an animal’s diet as a means of classifying them such as carnivore, herbivore, etc.  Humans are mostly carnivore (meat eater) and slightly herbivore (plant eater).  Some P-proponent researchers argue that plant foods don’t provide enough calories or nutrition to even warrant inclusion in our diets but I won’t go down that rabbit hole.  The point is that we are made to eat and thrive on NATURAL FOODS found in NATURE.

When you process food through heat, chemical, or other means you are removing the nature.  Some foods, such as grains, are not meant to be consumed in their raw state and must undergo major heat processing to be edible to humans.  This is a sign we are NOT MEANT TO EAT THEM!  Perhaps that is why gluten and grains cause SO many gut and health issues.%

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Professional chefs (and savvy home cooks) always finish their dishes with ingredients that add flavor, color, texture, and complexity.

A squeeze of lemon juice, a sprinkle of sea salt, or a dash of oilve oil can add that final ‘finishing touch’ to a dish.

For us Paleo-Eater-Home-Cooks, anything that can help add flavor to our meals should be included in our meal making repertoire.

In this guide I will show you how to finish with the following:

• Sea Salt
• Crushed Nuts
• Oils
• Pepper

The Standard – Sea Salt

Finishing salt comes in many forms.  See picture at right.  We have a white truffle salt, a thick-grain gray sea salt, and (my personal favorite) Maldon sea salt.

There are countless versions of finishing salts and I recommend you buy a few and keep on your table.  Some salts add flavor (white truffle), some add crunch (gray), and some add both (Maldon).  Experiment on your own and find your favorite.

A basic finishing sea salt will get the job done most of the time just make sure it isn’t too ‘fine’ as you want a bit of crunch/texture when finishing.  

Pepper

Pepper is the other main finisher (as well as seasoning) that adds a balance to salt.  Some have a taste for it and others don’t.  I recommend a bit when seasoning during the cooking process almost always and a very small amount to ‘finish’ usually adds just

enough extra punch to balance out the rest of your dish.  As always you will have to experiment and learn on your own.  Taste and test often.

One or two turns of the pepper mill usually does the job.  You should definitely buy a pepper mill and whole peppercorns and freshly grind them.

Crushed Nuts

You will have to experiment here with the varying kinds of nuts/seeds.  I love pistachios so I use them often.  Walnuts and pecans are also good over butternut squash soup.  You can break them up in a mortar into large chunks or grind up in a spice grinder or a Magic Bullet (which I highly recommend).

After you have your desired size you then follow the same salt finishing technique.  Take a small pinch and lightly sprinkle over the surface.

Oil

My two favorite finishing oils: Extra Virgin Olive Oil and White Truffle Oil.  Light drops or a quick swirl will do the job.  As always you will have to experiment and practice and soup is the best way to practice.

When finishing with olive oil You should plug the bottle opening with your thumb so a small amount comes through and you can swirl it around the surface, or you can get a glass oil/vinegar bottle with a pour top.

What about Herbs, Spices, Cream, Vinegar?

Yes, you can finish your Paleo recipes with herbs, spices, cream, and vinegar.  Use the same techniques as above: test, taste, and experiment.  There are no rules in cooking (aside from a few fundamental basics) and much of a cook’s experience comes from being creative in the kitchen.

After the first bite of every meal ask yourself “What does this need?”  Then add a dash of salt, a swirl of oil, or some freshly diced herbs.  Taste again and ask yourself the same question.  This is the process that all chefs use to get their dishes just right.

Add that extra flair to your Paleo recipes by FINISHING them like a pro.

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Have your crazy CrossFitter friends been begging you to come to a class?

When surfing Instagram are you bombarded with pictures of shirt-less bodies moving big black bumper plates?

Yup, I hear this all the time and it is my personal opinion that everyone should try CrossFit in a Box at least once.

And NO..you DO NOT…NEED TO…GET IN SHAPE FIRST: That is the *%&$^&*#$*&#$ point.  Sorry…Moving on…

CrossFit is The Sport Of Fitness

CrossFit is taking the fitness world by storm with over 5000 gyms in the world and new opening every day.  With so many new businesses, and business owners, it’s more important than ever to evaluate all of your options when choosing a gym.  You are trusting a gym with your financial information and your physical safety; I recommend you choose wisely.

Consider yourself lucky that the cosmos led you here =D.  I’m going to give you some insight into what you should look for in a CrossFit gym.  Before I owned a gym I scouted out many gyms around the country, and when I travel I usually drop in to a local gym to get a WOD in.

I’m not going to give you a lame-ass checklist of absolute do or do not’s regarding what makes a good or bad gym.  That would be a diservice to you.  It will be up to you to do your homework and make an educated decision.  

The preference of taste varies among individuals and CrossFit is no different; there are many flavors of CrossFit affiliates.  Some gyms are hardcore, some are full of average joe’s, while others are right in the middle.  The key is to find the one that works for you.

How to Find a Gym (Affiliate, Box)

1. Check Google Maps and The Gym Website

Gym Website: Does the website look professional?  Is it easy to find directions and contact information?

Google Maps: Search for the location and view the business page listing and any reviews that may be posted.

*Don’t let negative reviews prevent you from trying a product.  Bad reviews are typically left by disgruntled customers and represent a small % of total customers; take these with a grain of salt.

2.  Call And Schedule An Appointment: Was it professional?

Professional staff implies a professional business, a better product, and better customer support.  Lean towards joining a gym that conducts itself as a business and is professional.  It will benefit you, the client, in the long run.

3. Show Up To Gym: Did someone greet you or did you stand there and stare at the wall?

• Upon arrival did you have to ask for help or did someone help you first?  
• Was it apparent that someone was in charge or worked there or did everyone look the same?  

This is a pet peeve of mine.  Recently I went to one of the biggest gyms on the east coast and stood around for 15 minutes without receiving a nod or a wave. Really?

With that being said, it can be hectic in a gym, especially around class times.  I would give the benefit of the doubt and forgive quickly on this one if given the opportunity.

4. Take A Free Class

• Did you get personal attention during and after class?
• Did you receive actual coaching of movement such as a coach correcting your form?  
• Did you receive motivation?  
• Did you enjoy it?
• Did you break a sweat?

These are all questions you should ask yourself and I won’t give you the perfect answer to them because it is based on your personal opinion.  Use these questions to determine your overall ‘feel’ of the class.

5. Safety: Were you safe? Did you feel safe?

While I don’t want to give you any absolutes this is exception: You must train safely. It is the job of the coach and the business to make sure you move safely and the environment is safe.

This includes:

• Scaling reps and weight
• Scaling movements
• Providing proper equipment that is deemed safe for use
• Stopping you if you are in risk of injury or if you are near over-training

If you didn’t feel safe during the class this should raise a red flag.  If you didn’t mention it to the coach and it was an oversight by him or her than that is your fault.  If you spoke up and nothing was done, well I would be weary of joining that affiliate.

6. After Class: Did someone talk to you about membership options?

This process will depend heavily on the affiliate.  Some business will try to sell you, some might offer a free week trial, others might not say anything and expect you to call when you are ready to sign up.

You might have to take the initiative and ask for more information.  Most gyms have a ‘When they are ready’ type of attitude and don’t press the membership option very much.

7. Is The Gym Clean: Check the bathrooms too…

I’m sure you can guess that a cleaner gym is a safer gym. That is all I will say about that.

8. Is There Adequate Equipment For All Athletes? Is it in safe-working condition?

You are going to need proper equipment to get the job done.  Make sure you choose an affiliate that takes care of its equipment and replaces broken equipment.  This may seem obvious, but I’ve seen and heard of many gyms that skimp on things like this because the owner(s) had to take every extra penny out of the business to support themselves.  In instances like this the business will usually suffer.

 My advice: Find a financially stable business with good management.

9. How Are The Other Members? Are they Friendly? Inviting? Helpful?

Or are they egotistical, fire-breathing douchers?  Opt for the former.

A CrossFit gym is a community.  A tribe.  The biggest aspect of your personal success will most likely be attributed to the community and your involvement in it.  This is why people stick with CrossFit. They train side by side with friends and family and keep each other accountable.

*Find a gym with a great community. This is my #1 recommendation. 

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CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program that consists of ⅓ weightlifting, ⅓ gymnastics, and ⅓ metabolic conditioning (cardio). CrossFit uses compound movements and high intensity cardiovascular sessions to elicit a physical response as well as improve in the ten recognized fitness domains. These domains are:

• Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance: The ability of body systems to gather,  process and deliver oxygen

• Stamina: The ability of body systems to gather, process, store, and utilize energy

• Strength: The ability of muscular unit, or combination, to apply force

• Flexibility: The ability to maximize range of motion of a given joint

• Power: The ability of muscular unit, or combination, to apply max force in min time

• Speed: The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement

• Coordination: The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement

• Agility: The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another

• Balance: The ability to control placement of bodies center of gravity in related to its support base

• Accuracy: The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity

CrossFit = Prepare for the ‘Unknown’

CrossFit’s popular tag line is to “specialize in not specializing”.  CrossFit’s theory is that the specialist is punished when unknown physical demands arise because the specialist is only prepared for a specific set of modality(s) whilst a generalist will be better prepared for the unknown because of a more spread out skill set.

The CrossFit goal is to achieve Elite fitness as an overall unit.  This would mean that you strive to be very good in the 10 fitness domains but not world-class in just one, two, or anything.

As a result of this focus (or lack-of), CrossFit asserts that you will achieve world-class fitness overall and will be fitter than other athletes that only specialize.  I have found this assertion to be true when tested on hundreds of clients.  This is partly due to the fact that most athletes have so many weaknesses and imbalances, and also because CrossFit is freaking awesome at improving overall fitness.  

You will not be stronger than a powerlifter, or be able to produce more power than a football player, but you will be more ‘fit’ than both.

Once again, the goal of CrossFit is “Elite Fitness.”

Because of the assertions that CrossFit HQ has made about its methodology compared to other fitness programs, it has received a lot of criticism and even downright hatred from others in the fitness community.  Many call it a quote and make fun of our kipping pull-ups.  This is typical of anything that pokes the status quo and unfortunately those set in their ways are closed minded to other programs that could potentially help them.  It has become part of the CrossFit brand to be renegade like, or different.

You Should Start CrossFit Today and Yes Bring Your Mom

I personally believe that everyone can, and should do CrossFit in some capacity.  CrossFit is universally scalable to any age or fitness level despite popular misconception about it being too hard or too extreme for average folk.  Everyone can and should do CrossFit.

If you are an athlete in a specific sport I recommend you train CrossFit as a base level of fitness using it’s GPP (general physical preparedness) aspects to achieve overall fitness, while also training your sport-focused modalities.  This will make you fitter, faster, stronger, and fundamentally better at your sport.

The combination of the two has created some crazy beast athletes.  MMA fighters, Baseball players, Football players, and thousands of other athletes have benefited from a sport-focused CrossFit program.  Military, Police, Law Enforcement, and first responders become more overall fit and ready for their job by preparing for the “unknown.”

We Call It Metabolic Conditioning, Everyone Else Calls It Cardio

CrossFit’s metabolic conditioning, or cardio, consists of high intensity circuit training performed in a repeatable and measurable format.  These workouts are called WOD’s, which is short for Workout Of The Day as made popular by CrossFit.com’s blog.  Each day there is a new WOD posted to the CrossFit blog for the world to complete free of charge.  The comments section is a place to post results, compare with others around the world, and keep a workout log all the same.

World-Class Fitness in 100 words By Greg Glassman:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds,
some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep
intake to levels that will support exercise but
not body fat.

Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean,
squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly,
master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups,
dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to
handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

Five or six days per week mix these elements
in as many combinations and patterns
as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.

Regularly learn and play new sports.

 

The Three CrossFit Fitness Standards

CrossFit uses 3 standards for evaluating fitness and a program.  These standards dictate CrossFit’s view of fitness and guide it’s goal of improving fitness with its program.

1. You are as fit as you are competent in the 10 general Physical skills – A program is as effective as it is at improving these 10 physical skills.

There are ten recognized general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy.

From The CrossFit Journal  “What is Fitness”

“Importantly, improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable organic change in the body. By contrast improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come about through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system. Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.”

2. Fitness is about performing well at any task imaginable

The essence of this model is the view that fitness is about performing well at any and every task imaginable. Your capacity to perform well at a random task compared to other individuals is another guiding principle of the CrossFit method.

From The CrossFit Journal  “What is Fitness”

“The implication here is that fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.”

3. Total Fitness must include training and competency in each metabolic pathway

The three metabolic pathways that provide energy for human action include:

Phosphagen: Highest Powered Activities Less than 10 seconds
Glycolytic: Moderate Powered = Few minutes
Oxidative: low-powered = more than few minutes

From The CrossFit Journal  “What is Fitness”

Total fitness, the fitness that CrossFit promotes and develops, requires
competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines.
Balancing the effects of these three pathways largely determines the
how and why of the metabolic conditioning or “cardio” that we do at
CrossFit.

Favoring one or two to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing
the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably
the two most common faults in fitness training

The Wellness Continuum

CrossFit firmly believes that a fitness regimen should support health and if it does not it is not CrossFit.  This is a peeve subject of mine that has developed from running a gym for over 3 years.  I see clients that beat themselves up on a regular basis.  They avoid proper recovery, nutrition, weakness training, and mobility.  To the determinant of their healthy they seek faster WOD times and unsafe speeds moving heavy loads all in the goal of getting a faster time or beating their peers.

CrossFit is brutally effective but also brutal.  It can be very easy to over-train.  Typical human mentality is typically: more is better.  Unfortunately this couldn’t be further from the truth for a CrossFit program (or nearly any fitness program for that matter).  When training CrossFit on a pure level without drugs I believe that there is a large emphasis on genetics in determining the better performing athletes.  The point here is that many zealous CrossFitters try to be the next Rich Fronning or Annie Thorsdittor and my assertion is that there is a reason they each won the last two CrossFit games back to back.

These athletes have heart and they train full-time as a profession.  Then they are blessed with CrossFit favored genetics.  This is a tough obstacle to overcome for most of us.  And they are so far up the ladder that we should not take their training or results as a platform for measuring our own results.

With that being said, I wish more athletes would listen to their bodies, spend ample time recovering actively and safely, and have a strict diet and supplement routine.  What you will see is the more is better in effect.  Train 7 days a week while eating a shitty diet, drinking gluten-filled beer, not sleeping enough.  Al with the hope of overcoming the bad habits by training more and training harder.  It isn’t going to happen and it is unhealthy all around.

Any training stimuli is a stress on the body.  It can be a good stress when balanced with rest and recovery.  It can be a bad stress when piled on without a chance to repair the body through proper rest and nutrition.

I know I have digressed a bit but please take my advice: Eat better, Sleep more, Recovery Actively, And Listen To Your Body!!!

From The CrossFit Journal  “What is Fitness”

There is another aspect to the CrossFit brand of fitness that is of great interest and immense value to us. We have observed that nearly every measurable value of health can be placed on a continuum that ranges from sickness to wellness to fitness. See table above. Though tougher to measure, we would even add mental health to this observation. Depression is clearly mitigated by proper diet and exercise, i.e., genuine fitness.

For example, a blood pressure of 160/95 is pathological, 120/70 is normal or healthy, and 105/55 is consistent with an athlete’s blood pressure; a body fat of 40% is pathological, 20% is normal or healthy, and 10% is fit. We observe a similar ordering for bone density, triglycerides, muscle mass, flexibility, HDL or “good cholesterol”, resting heart rate, and dozens of other common measures of health. Many authorities (e.g. Mel Siff, the NSCA) make a clear distinction between health and fitness. Frequently they cite studies that suggest that the fit may not be health protected. A close look at the supporting evidence invariably reveals the studied group is endurance athletes and, we suspect, endurance athletes on a dangerous fad diet (high carb, low fat, low protein).

Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease. Where you find otherwise examine the fitness protocol, especially diet. Fitness is and should be “super-wellness.” Sickness, wellness, and fitness are measures of the same entity. A fitness regimen that doesn’t support health is not CrossFit.

Further Reading/Research:
CrossFit.com – What is CrossFit?
Wikipedia – CrossFit

How To Start CrossFit Training

I recommend those that are new to CrossFit find a local CrossFit Affiliate for proper and safe instruction of the CrossFit program.  A CrossFit Affiliate is a licensed and affiliated CrossFit gym that follows the CrossFit methodology to get clients fit.  CrossFit gyms are not regulated by CrossFit HQ other than use of the CrossFit name.  

Because of this ‘affiliate’ status, CrossFit gyms cannot be regulated by a parent company other than the use of the trademarked name.  Think of a CrossFit gym as a mom/pop business that uses the CrossFit name.  The gym is an exact reflection of the habits, knowledge  experience, and choices made by the owner.  This ist why there is a huge difference in quality from affiliate to affiliate.  Because there is no ‘corporate’ control to regulate what CrossFit gyms do or don’t do, CrossFit as a brand receives much criticism.  

CrossFit has experienced massive growth largely due to this affiliate model in which budding entrepreneurs apply for ‘affiliation’ and pay a fee and are able to open a gym and slap the CrossFit name on it’s door.  Applications must pay $1000 for a level one certification before being able to apply for affiliation.  From there they can submit a application, and if approved, are able to use the CrossFit name and must pay a licensing fee of $3000 a year (might have gone up so don’t quote me on that).

I co-own a CrossFit Affiliate (Check us out) and I believe that anyone interested in training CrossFit should join a quality affiliate in their local area.  The key is to test all of your options, ask questions, and make an educated decision on the best gym for you.  Check this guide out for choosing a CrossFit gym.

The CrossFit Affiliate, Box, Or Gym

At an Affiliate you will join a community of motivated people that are all working towards personal goals.  These people are motivated, friendly, and helpful.  A big part of sticking to a fitness program is accountability and as you assimilate yourself into a Box community you will become accountable to your CrossFit peers.  They will call you, text you, and check up on Facebook to make sure your ass is showing up and putting in work.  This is SO powerful to sticking with CrossFit (or any fitness program).

The second reason I recommend everyone join an affiliate is safety and coaching.  You will receive instruction, coaching, and guidance through WOD’s and ultimately towards your goals.  The coaches and staff of a Box are your support team.  

The staff of any good quality CrossFit Box are there to make sure you do the movements properly, safely, effectively, and completely.  They will help you stay on your diet. They will help you with your mobility.  They want to see you succeed and will personally invest into your results.

I have seen lives transformed this way and it is why I love doing what I do:  

I want to help as many people find CrossFit and Paleo as I can.  

I want to help as many Affiliates build profitable businesses that support the owner’s lifestyle and allow them to provide world-class life-changing coaching and support to as many people in the cosmos as possible.  

I live and breathe this lifestyle and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Take it from me, it can change your life.  You only live once, and my personal opinion is that everyone should be the best they can be physically and mentally.  I have found no better formula than CrossFit and Paleo. Enough said.

Experienced Athletes:  

Experienced athletes can jump into following the main page WOD’s if they have previous weightlifting and training experience.  The Workout page provide valuable information on the exercises and explanations of the terminology.  Youtube also has any exercise imaginable for detailed explanations of certain movements.  

*Take your time and learn the movements with proper form. This is very important!

Check out these CrossFit Journal Free PDF downloads:

What is Fitness

Foundations

A Beginner’s Guide to CrossFit

A CrossFit Startup Guide 1

A CrossFit Startup Guide 2

The Garage Gym For Experienced Athletes

What you know as a gym is probably not the same as what I know.  My version of a gym has lots of floor space, the necessary equipment and nothing more. The floors and bathrooms are clean. The staff knows what they’re doing and help you reach your goals.

I can choose my own music.  I don’t have to wait for equipment because I can take my equipment anywhere I want, even outside.  I know everyone else in the gym at any given moment.  I greet other members, we help each other, motivate each other, and there is no judgement or ego.

I can yell, scream, curse, and drop weights.  I can jump on top of things or over things if it so pleases me.

This is a CrossFit gym.  This is my training home.  

Take the opposite of everything I just said and you will have a typical big-box corporate gym.  People stare at each other, you don’t know anyone and no one knows you.  People secretly (sometimes not secretly) judge your form, your looks, and your outfit (ladies).

Everyone seems to have an ego and only the select few gym-rats know each other by name.  The gym rules ban any kind of serious training.  Dropping weights is strictly forbidden, deadlifting is usually forbidden.

This gym lacks real training equipment such as bumper plates, rings, parallel bars, climbing ropes, plyo boxes, and most functional equipment.

This is what we call a Globo-gym and unfortunately you cannot perform a safe and effective CrossFit workout in this type of gym.

What is the solution?  

A Garage Gym: A Box: A warehouse filled with equipment

A CrossFit gym is usually called a “Box” because it is a square or rectangle warehouse with lots of floor space and functional equipment lining it’s corners and walls.  There are no machines other than a few rowers or possibly a glute-ham raise/developer.  There are kettlebells, bumper plates, Olympic bars, rings, climbing devices, and other functional training equipment.

You will find all the necessary equipment to complete a CrossFit program in most local CrossFit gyms (most, not all).  I recommend anyone interested in CrossFit training, aka changing your life,  join a local affiliate for all the reasons mentioned above: coaching, community, camaraderie, accountability, it’s simply awesome, etc.

But for those that don’t have access to a local gym it is possible to build a basic garage gym with a few pieces of equipment…

The Basic Garage Gym Setup For CrossFit

1. A Pull-up Bar $150 

The pull-up bar is a beast of a training tool.  It is beautifully simple, fixed, and effective.  New people will only use it for one reason, the pull-up.  As you get more advanced, the training opportunities open up: skin-the-cat, inverted rows, bar muscle-ups, forward roll to support, and many other gymnastic type movements.  You can also hang a set of rings or a rope from it.

*simply hanging from a pull-up bar by the hands is a useful exercise and stretch.

2.  A Olympic barbell and set of bumper plates ~$500

This is the most expensive purchase for your garage gym and rightly so.  You will likely use this set every single workout. It will be your go-to piece of equipment for getting strong and fit. Rogue is my favorite brand: Rogue Bar

*A possible sub for the barbell set is a dumbbell set of 5′s to 45′s (or heavier for you bigger males).  You can mimic any barbell movement with a set of dumbbells, but for the long run you want a barbell set because of it’s heavy loading abilities and the fact that you can do the Olympic lifts (clean/jerk, snatch).

3. A set of gymnastic Rings  ~$80

If you are a self-learner and not too heavy for your size, I would recommend a hanging set of rings as the most important piece of training equipment there is.  If you could choose only one piece of training equipment, or if you are on a budget, get a set of wooden gymnastic rings.

Two things to note here:

1. You must learn the proper movements and spend time practicing them.  It will take time to develop the strength to do advanced movements such as muscle-ups, and forward rolls to support, etc.

2. You must have a reasonable strength to bodyweight ratio, or be lighter overall, because of the difficult of training on a set of rings.  As you may have noticed, male gymnastics are not tall or big.  It is difficult for bigger people to train on the rings past a ring pull-up or static support hold.

World-Class Fitness For $750 If…

Overall this setup will cost you about $750.  If you are on a budget, buy the barbell set first and then the rings/pull-up station.

WARNING: I must warn you…if you are not a self-motivated person, don’t buy any of this (except maybe some rings). If you can’t make a commitment to yourself to train 3-5 days a week for eternity, or if you think you will struggle with it, than go find a local affiliate!   You will save yourself time, hassle, and money by finding a gym that will keep you accountable.

Athletes Love Their CrossFit Gear

Around the holidays I like to find gifts for people that they will actually use. luckily all of my friends and family are CrossFitter’s so finding something for them should be a cinch.  There is no better gift to give a CrossFitter than a CrossFit related gift; preferably something that they will use over and over again.  CrossFitter’s tend to be habits of nature and any tool that is used in their routine will get a ton of action.  This is the best kind of gift in my opinion. No one likes useless crap that gets tucked in a box or drawer left to die.

CrossFit Apparel 

CrossFit clothing companies have been booming the past few years.  ReeBok has come on board as the official CrossFit sponsor and created an entire product line called CrossFit ReeBok.

Some top clothing brands for CrossFitter’s:

Lululemon Athletica - I have spent way too much money at this place. Stuff does last though. I love their v-necks for men.

CrossFit Store - I have their Oly’s and their version 1 CrossFit Nano’s, excellent shoes all-around.  Every CrossFitter should have a pair of Olympic weightlifting shoes.

LifeAsRx.com - I have bought a few shirts from them.  High quality stuff and good customer service (had an issue with a pair of shorts and they returned quickly and with no issue)

CrossFit Socks

CrossFit fashion rule number 5# states that knee-high socks are required WOD gear, especially for females.  Not only are knee-high socks fashionable when tearing up a WOD, but they are also functional (and we CrossFitter’s like that don’t we) because they protect your pretty little shins from scars, cuts, and bruises from the barbell.

A few CrossFit sock options:

CrossFit Store

LifeAsRx.com

Knee-high socks from Amazon

Jump Ropes

Every CrossFitter should have their own personal jump rope.  Typically these are one size fits all so you shouldn’t have trouble choosing one.  Here are some of the best jump ropes that my clients use:

Ultra Speed Jump Ropes – These are good for the price but will wear out after a bit of use. I recommend using only on matted areas and not concrete or gravel. I suggest buying a couple extra for backups.  

Rx Ropes - I have no experience with these but I have heard good things from a few clients that use them.

Rogue Speed Rope - This is my personal favorite rope although I haven’t tried the new Rogue rope which looks awesome.  Maybe Santa will bring me one to test out

The CrossFit Games

The CrossFit games started in 2007 with the goal of determining the fittest single male and female on the planet.  The games goal is to determine the most overall fit athlete using a comprehensive test of fitness that is unknown and that changes every year.

The CrossFit games are grown by leaps and bounds with 70 athletes in 2007 to 300 in 2008 and 69,000 sign-ups for the CrossFit open (qualifier) in 2012.  2011 announced an endorsement deal from ReeBok and a one million dollar prize pool with $250k going to the first Male and Female winner.

The current reigning champions are Rich Froning for men and Annie Thorisdottir for the women.  Both are back-to-back champions and are set to defend their respective titles in the 2013 games.

CrossFit Games Champions from 2007-2012

2007 James “OPT” Fitzgerald – Jolie Gentry
2008 Jason Khalipa – Caity Matter
2009 Mikko Salo – Tanya Wagner
2010 Graham Holmberg – Kristan Clever
2011 Rich Froning, Jr. – Annie Thorisdottir
2012 Rich Froning, Jr. – Annie Thorisdottir

For more history check out the official CrossFit Games page

Further Study And Links

The beauty of CrossFit is it incorporates the best of so many modalities, programs, techniques, and methodologies.  It applies the Bruce Lee method of: “Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.”

Each aspect of CrossFit and be pursued as a focus and trained accordingly.  For example, I love gymnastics and I spend a lot of time on the rings.  As a result my muscle-ups and ring dips are very strong and anytime I do a WOD with these movements I have an advantage.  Now if I could only get running down…sigh.

It will take some time to develop your own flavor of CrossFit.

Will you lift heavier?  Will you run more or less (less for me)? Will you train gymnastics often?  Will you focus on Olympic Weightlifting?

We all have strengths and weaknesses and we should work more on our weaknesses than we care to admit. This is how we all develop our own ‘flavor’ of CrossFit. It is based on what we are good at and not so good at.

Unfortunately we tend to train the things we are good at more often than the things we aren’t.  Take my advice and train your weaknesses EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU STEP FOOT IN THE GYM.  Even if it’s only a few sets, it will add up.

CrossFit results can be fast and slow at the same time.  Take your training one step at a time and don’t get discouraged by other athletes that may be further along than you.  Always keep in mind that you want to CrossFit forever.  You want to improve your health and be able to train for as long as you live and every injury or irresponsible move you make will keep you from that goal.

Best of luck in your fitness journey! If you have any questions, comments, or feedback please contact me here.

Useful links and resources:

CrossFit.com

CrossFitFootball.com

Gymnastics Wod

Mobility WOD

CrossFit Journal 

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The old adage is true: You are what you eat. Repeat after me: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!  You wanna be strong like a bull? Eat animals. You wanna be a little bird (and weak)? Eat seeds and grains all day.  Eating a clean Paleo Diet, also known as the Caveman Diet or Hunter-gatherer diet (my fav), can make women sexier and men stronger (and sexier).  

Forget anything you have heard about this or that diet.  Do not think in terms of a ‘diet’.  Think about eating fresh, natural foods.  I don’t care what the latest guru or doctor will tell you about eating this or that, especially considering they are just trying to sound important (or sell you something) half the time. 

It comes down to a very simple style of eating: fresh, natural foods from nature and nothing process. Boom..I just changed your life.  Well not exactly because it is still up to you….  

I can’t do your grocery shopping for you, I can’t control you from ordering that fried chicken at KFC, I can’t stop you from eating the bread that they put on the table to fill you up.  No, I can’t do any of that.  But I can arm you with the proper information to help you start the change.  

The change is going to take a while. It is going to hurt and be difficult at times.  That’s completely OK.  Anything worth having NEVER EVER IN ONE MILLION YEARS comes easy.

Skinny-Fat

We all know those lucky souls that are blessed with the ability to stay lean regardless of what they eat. While a part of me is a bit jealous, I tend to feel sorry for them because of the  long-term damage they will invariably do to their health by eating their shitty diet.  

They won’t see a need to change their habits until a serious health problem arises, at which point it may be too late.

These people are members of the “Skinny-Fat” club. The skinny-fat tend to have poor liquid profiles and be generally unhealthy but will, paradoxically, look fit and sometimes extremely fit (pro athletes).

Because looks can  be deceiving, often you see the skinny-fat walking around with a body that looks fit, healthy, or even ripped like many athletes. The ‘skinny-fat’ tend to eat what they want, when they want, and never develop a concern for their health because they have been able to avoid fat gain their entire lives. 

On the flip side, many who develop a consciousness for their eating tend to do so for aesthetic reasons and use risky supplements and weight-loss protocols at the expensive of their long-term health. Typically these people gain weight through a less-than-stellar diet and lack of exercise. They become ‘calorie-counters’ or develop other neurotic behaviors regarding food and sometimes actual eating disorders. I think both sides are lost.

Food should be treated as a scarcity and it should be savored and appreciated…

Our ancestors, and many documented scientific studies, point to a calorie-restricted diet as being ideal for long-term health. Calorie restriction is not just for ‘dieters’ or people looking to lose weight, it is for everyone. Of course we are all different and everyone will have varying levels of what can be considered healthy in terms of calorie consumption or restriction. This is why self-experimentation is so important.  We simply can’t know until we try.

Do not mistake my general recommendation for a calorie-restricted diet as saying you should eat a bird-like 600 calories a day and deem this ‘calorie-restricted’.  No, what I’m saying is a protocol that uses intermittent fasting and skipping meals at times as a natural occurrence of not being hungry. Follow this natural routine instead of stuffing calories down your throat because a roided-out magazine article tells you that is the only way to build and keep muscle. 

It’s ok to be hungry at times. Avoid over-eating, and avoid starving yourself. Look for somewhere in-between.

“Gettin jacked bro”

Eating a ton of calories for athletics, bodybuilding, or just plain ‘getting big’ is not a healthy long term option. You may reach your goal and that’s great but remember that you will eventually have to wane off the habit. At some point you will have to cut back or you will have to trade in some of your health to pay the debt.

We are meant to be lean and agile creatures and extra mass, whether its fat or muscle, takes it’s toll on your health. It is a burden to your body, plain and simple.

Think: Investing

Everything you do in life has long-term repercussions, for better or worse. If you waste one hour of your day watching mindless TV you may lose hundreds of hours in the future from the lack of exercise and loss of brain cells. If you spend a dollar on pointless crap instead of investing it, you may lose out on thousands of dollars later on.

In fact, investing is the perfect analogy: You are investing in your health on a daily basis with every single small thing you do or don’t do.

Life is a marathon and you should treat it as such.

You can’t win a marathon by sprinting but you can’t win it by going too slow either. You have to keep going at a moderate pace. If you work consistently towards your goals on a day-to-day basis you will eventually reach them.

Most people don’t have the endurance to keep going and that is why every New Year gyms sell a ton of new memberships to people who convince themselves that this year will be different. Many last a month or two before letting life get in the way and falling back into old habits.

If your health isn’t important enough to you RIGHT NOW it will not likely ever be important enough to make a change. I hate to sound a pessimist, especially because I am an eternal optimist, but I have seen it far too many times to spin it any other way. I truly hope that many of you make a real change if you know you need to.

Personal Development OR making yourself better

One thing I love about personal development as it pertains to health and fitness is the carry over it has to everything else we do in life. If you can eat a clean diet and stay on an exercise protocol, I firmly believe that you can do anything else that you set your mind to. Health and fitness improvements and routines can be some of the hardest habits to keep in our modern society. 

This is the main reason I recommend health and fitness as the first and foremost thing to work on for most people. Making improvements here have huge carry over to other things you are working on like relationships, stress, work, sleep, etc. They also give you a longer life and a better standard of living for the rest of your days.  What is better than that? If you can name something please email it to me

I encourage anyone reading to shoot me an email me anytime, for any reason. Questions, comments, suggestions, whatever. I love helping people out with this stuff..It’s what I do. If you have hate or other negative shit to say I encourage you to NOT E-mail me…Contact Me

So what do I eat? My answer: some damn good food – The Paleo Diet – Or my personal favorite via Mark Sission: The Primal Diet

With that long introduction out of the way, I will now get down to the specifics. Proper nutrition is pretty simple to understand. Don’t let the newest ‘expert’ or ‘guru’ tell you otherwise. Many people get hung up on trying to find perfection and worrying about trivial things like ‘what oil has the perfect omega balance?’ or ‘How many carbs should I eat?’ Instead of doing hours of research to learn it all, you should just focus on the basic nutrition protocol:

• Food quality (best can buy)
• Eat meals (2-3 a day)
• Skip meals if not hungry
• Avoid sugar, grains, lentils, beans, rice, processed food, dairy (most), processed food

If you stay in the realm of this short list you will achieve excellent health and body composition 9 times out of 10. There are always exceptions of course (my disclaimer).

What does that leave us? In a nutshell:

Eat the highest quality meats, seafood, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruit, and starches you can find. Also include grass-fed butter and organic coconut.

Courtesy of MarksDailyApple

This way of eating is called Paleo or Primal. It is based on a hunter-gatherer diet that humans have lived on for thousands and thousands of years. There are cultures that still eat this way today in remote parts of the world and enjoy excellent health with virtually no heart disease, diabetes, or other western diseases. If you want to debate this, research this, or whatever please go to the blogs that are dedicated to all that nutritional warfare: MarksDailyApple, Robbwolf, Archevore, to name a few…

Food: Where To Get It, How To Prepare It, and Restaurants Suck

Home-cooked food is the best because you can control what goes into your meals, and thus, your body. Restaurants use preservatives and cheap processed ingredients to keep food costs low.

When you eat out be as picky as possible and vocal to your server. Ask for a gluten-free menu, request butter or olive oil for cooking your meal if possible. Typically, I tell the waiter that I have a gluten intolerance and that my meal must be gluten-free.

The better restaurants will tell the chef and will usually have a dedicated gluten-free menu. However, many restaurants will not. You will have to ask the waiter questions and sometimes he will have to go to the kitchen and ask the chef or cook what goes into certain dishes. It’s worth the hassle. Try going gluten-free for 30 days then have it accidentally slip in one meal.  You will bloat like the Goodyear blimp, it is not pleasant.

Home Food Prep

If you are pressed for time or your budget is tight I recommend making big pot meals like soups, stews, and braises. A crock-pot or Dutch oven is your best friend.

Here is a quick basic stew/braise technique:

1. Preheat Dutch oven – med heat

2. Add oil

3. Sear protein on each side 2-5 minutes until crust forms

4. Remove protein

5. Add various vegetables and cook until soft and browned (onion, carrots, leeks, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, etc)

6. Add wine or vinegar or both and deglaze pan, scraping up browned bits at bottom of pan. Return meat to pan

7. Add stock/broth/wine until fill to desired level. Optional: add tomato sauce/paste, or canned tomatoes

8. Season and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cover and cook until protein is tender 30 minutes to 2 hours depending.

9. Eat and refrigerate leftovers

Or the crock pot method:

1. Throw in bunch of ingredients:
Protein, veggies, stock, wine, vinegar, seasoning, herbs, spices

2. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

3. Serve

Finishing options: finish with cream, garnish with herbs, or chopped green onions, a splash of olive oil, or thick-grained sea salt.

Recommend tools:

Hand-blender
Cast-iron Dutch oven
Crock-pot
Wooden spoon
Ancient sea salt

*The more you practice each of these methods the better your dishes will become. Make sure to season each ingredient as you add it to the pot to develop deep flavor. Always taste throughout the cooking process and adjust with vinegar, lemon juice, salt pepper, herbs, and spices.

Food quality: The most important thing…PERIOD

Many people stress over how many carbs they should eat or their protein and fat ratios. The bulk of your diet will be high quality proteins and fats and the rest will comprise starchy carbs from sweet potatoes/yams, veggies, and some fruit.

Everyone is different and can sustain different ratios so there is not a one-size-fits-all answer. That is why food quality is so damn important.  

Paleo or not, if you only consume the highest quality ingredients everything else tends to fall into place. It’s hard to eat 80% of your calories from carbohydrates if you are eating only starches from potatoes, veggies, and some fruit.  Whole, natural foods tend to fill you up and are filled with satisfying nutrition that appease your appetite. The same is not true for processed foods.

As long as you are eating a balanced and colorful diet of fresh whole ingredients, and mixing it up often, it is hard to go wrong. The problem is people eat at restaurants, snack on crap, drink soda, and other unhealthy habits that screw it all up. In these instances I recommend protein and fat as the bulk of calories and minimal starches or fruit.

Meat and potatoes

A basic meal looks very much like the typical meat and potatoes meal that was a common American meal 30 years ago. Times have changed with the development of factory farming, fast food, and the low-fat food revolution. Much of this was started by faulty research from Ancel Keys and is continually promoted by the American Heart Association and other government agencies that promote the completely inaccurate food pyramid. I won’t get into the ‘Meat and potatoes’ (you like that?) of it but for further reading check out Gary Taubes book: Good Calories Bad Calories

Eating cholesterol from animals is not proven to raise blood cholesterol levels nor increase the risk of heart disease. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that proves this.  

More information: www.MarksDailyApple.com, www.Robbwolf.com, www.archevore.com

Eliminate grains, beans, lentils, and peanuts from your diet.

These ingredients are anti-nutrients and cause inflammation as well as a host of other issues in the human body. Some tolerate them better than others but we are all intolerant to them as a baseline.

The very simple Paleo formula: Eat meat, leaves, and berries.

Purchase the highest quality food you can find and afford. Avoid restaurants. Don’t eat processed food. Don’t drink calories and artificial crap.

Play sports, walk often, lift weights, stretch and work mobility, laugh, develop personal relationships, believe in something, love…and EAT PALEO (as best you can)

Do this and you will live a longer and more enjoyable life. What is better than that? Nothing.

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