“You practically live in the gym, Cody. And even when you’re not literally there, you’re writing, talking or at the very least thinking about it… Of course you can stay fit!”
I heard this the other day in a conversation I was having with an old friend. He came to me saying he wanted to get in shape really bad, but couldn’t figure out how to fit it into his schedule.
Of course, I said it was always possible regardless of how busy you are – and that I was extremely busy myself – but he continued to use the line above and to a certain extent, he’s completely right.
I tried my best with the conversation and that was that; I didn’t think much of it afterwards because I’ve had the conversation a million and it usually takes them taking action on a plan to really see something happen… I mean at the end of the day I can’t do anything about it… Right??
Well, this morning I got an email from Nate Green (His newsletter, dope stuff. Check it out here) and it went over this same topic, with someone he actually had the same conversation with.
Well, it got me thinking… Maybe I can do something about it. I have a big reach with my social media’s now and my blog, so the least I can do is write something for people in those shoes to use in order to figure this problem out for them.
So for the people who don’t have the time, don’t work or live in a gym, don’t necessarily “Love” working out (75% of people in the world, it’s ok! – you’re the normal ones), who would rather grab a beer with their buddies at the bar rather than a barbell with their bro’s at the gym, who has a busy work schedule, who has a family, and everyone else in the world who may struggle to hit the gym often enough to get results….
This is for you. I call it,
“How Be Really Fit, Without Being Really Addicted To Fitness”
Or something like that… I got to work on titles a bit, but I think you get the point. We all want to be fit, but most of us do not want to spend 2 hours a day or more in the damn gym.
See this is something I made the mistake with way back, I thought part of being jacked meant I needed to lift 2 hours a day, do morning cardio daily, eat out of plastic containers 6 times a day and then post a picture of it on instagram, and during the whole entire process, act like I enjoyed it and was having fun.
( FYI – It sucked, was not fun, and I skipped out on a bunch of really cool shit. )
I made the goal of doing a physique competition, which gave me a deadline, some motivation, and an end goal to achieve for my body. All great, but it put me into a state of living the “Fit Life” that was WAY over the top and unnecessary to get results.
Now, don’t get me wrong – it definitely worked, I got shredded.
And I got to that point in about 3 months <- See that right there, that is the problem. Because I could’ve gotten there in 6 months instead of 3 and then sustained it for a long period of time. After the competition and the photo-shoot, I gained a ton of weight back and did not look so shredded.
[I avoided the camera in the weeks following the show; so unfortunately don’t have a shot of an example.]
Since then I’ve learned a lot and changed my approach not only to my own training and nutrition, but to all the clients I have the pleasure of helping, too. I now realize that it should be a much slower process, you should strive to maintain muscle and a much higher calorie intake, and you truly should enjoy the process – or at least not hate it.
So what have I done personally and started implementing to my client programming? Well, a lot… But here are 3 simple things that work great, don’t sacrifice your lifestyle OR the great results you can achieve, and that everyone can manage to do.
#1 – Set a workout timer.
Many of us once believed that if you can do your training in 30-45 minutes, than you’re not accomplishing what needs to be done or that it wasn’t “Hardcore” enough. That’s dumb as hell.
For me, I enjoy working training. Not only because I love actually lifting heavy shit, but it’s also the one time each day I can take my mind off of it all and just hang with my best friends. ( Major Tip! Get a workout partner you like. )
So for me, I set the workout timer for an hour. This allows me to push myself, gives me a chance to bullshit with my boys a bit, and also doesn’t leave me in the gym longer than my schedule allows.
[ Side note, from a hormonal perspective it can be more beneficial to keep the workout within an hour to hour and a half maximum. ]
Now, maybe you don’t have an hour like me. Not a problem! I have multiple online clients who only have 20-30 minutes, but they have 4-6 days a week to train. So instead of my typical strength training program split of 3-4 days lifting and 2-3 days conditioning, we made this simple adjustment: Each training day of the week, they start with a complex lift or two and set a timer for an EDT style training set (Escalated Density Training).
What this means is day 1 is a heavy low rep squat, day 2 is heavy low rep deadlift, day 4 is heavy low rep overhead press, day 4 is a lower weight higher rep squat… You get the point; we alternate load and movement depending on the day. The timer could be 6, 8, 10, 12 or even 15 minutes and we can progress by adding weight each week, adding a minute each week, or simply pushing to finish more rounds in the time given. For some clients, I’ll even make it a superset (Example would be a deadlift and floor press in that EDT style fashion). After they finish their strength based EDT we move into higher rep work, conditioning, circuit training, metcons, etc.…
The model above works GREAT and will five them the complex lifting needed for strength, muscle, and fat loss along with the conditioning and assistant work needed to supplement those lifts – ALL within the time frame their lifestyle allows and reducing the stressful thoughts of being in the gym for wayyyyy to long.
#2 – Skip the most important meal of the day…
Yeah, I said it… Skip breakfast for better results! Now let me make this clear, I am NOT advocating that breakfast sucks or isn’t beneficial. I eat breakfast daily, but my schedule allows it and I also do not have an issue with over consuming calories, any more.
But this is a simple strategy that has been growing in popularity over the past few years and it’s rightfully doing so.
This used to be something people would call you crazy for, because shit… If you don’t eat every 2 hours you’ll lose muscle and slow your metabolism down, right?! – I want you to really think about that for a sec… How did people do that? How did I do that?? Every 2 hours has you eating everywhere you fucking go! That’s insane, but that’s what the media made us believe so we ate it up just like we did the overly frequent meals.
They’ve done countless studies that prove your metabolic rate, the speed of your metabolism, is actually determined by your total daily caloric intake. So whether that means you eat 2, 4, 6, or 8 meals, if you eat the same total amount of food your metabolism will not change at all.
They’ve also done countless studies on intermittent fasting, which is what I’m telling you to do here, and shown that it doesn’t negatively impact your metabolism, sleep, muscle loss, performance, etc. Which is funny, because another old myth was that eating after 6 or 7PM is bad for you and will cause fat gain… But you HAD to eat breakfast…? But from a time perspective, that is the same as skipping breakfast because you’re extending the fast of your sleep…
Anyway, here’s my tip for you busy people out there. Skip breakfast. Plain and simple, just wake up and don’t eat. Slam some black coffee with some zero calorie sweeteners if you’d like, drink down some water, and be on your way. Eat your first meal at about lunchtime, somewhere between 11AM-2PM.
What this does is creates a bigger calorie deficit to help you lose weight, saves you time in the morning, can actually improve cognitive function and mental clarity, gives you more room to enjoy food in the afternoon (the most common time period for social events, alcohol, and dinner parties), and can actually improve your hunger cravings throughout the day and night.
Not only have I experienced this all personally, witness clients be very successful with it and tell me they love it, but also *studies prove this! So if you’re busy, don’t absolute need breakfast to function (even if you think you do, give it a week), or just want to try something new to lose some extra weight, this can help a ton.
Only people I do not recommend this for: People looking to build a lot of muscle, high-level athletes, people with binge or eating disorders, and sometimes diabetics (some diabetics I’ve worked with like this and actually benefit from it because of the blood sugar/insulin benefits of fasting, but everyone is different!).
#3 – Take the damn stairs!
This is simple, walk more in your daily life activities. N.E.A.T. (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is something that is being studied more and more lately and is being proven as a great solution to more fat loss, without too much more work.
All’s this is, is your daily movement for basic life needs. Walking in your kitchen, talking, fidgeting, etc.… So how can you boost this up to lose more weight?
To put a number on it, try to step 10,000+ steps a day. But other than that, just take the stairs over the elevator, stand before you decide to sit, walk at your lunch break, park at the back of the parking lot, take up a new hobby like tennis, go hiking sometimes, walk your dog, or I cannot believe I’m saying this… But download Pokémon Go and go catch some Charmanders or something (Seriously though, that one is working….).
(This is every park in America right now… Well done Nintendo, well done.)
I’ve witnessed myself burn more fat and my clients as well from simply adding some extra standing or walking in your day, but you need to be conscious of doing so and remember to do so on a consistent basis.
The biggest takeaway point is that you CAN always do this and reach your fitness goals. Gary Vaynerchuk is the busiest mofo I’ve ever seen in my life and I watch a ton of his vlogs for motivation (if you don’t know him check his YouTube channel out Here) yet he made time EVERY SINGLE DAY to get in shape, be more healthy, and lose weight and because of that, he reached his goal and is more successful because of it.
So whether it means you lift each morning for 15 minutes and do a 15-minute walk at lunch, skip breakfast to help your nutrition habits, or stepping up your “N.E.A.T. Game” – something should, can and needs to happen. You and I both know you want it to.
The best possible solution for you is to hire a coach who can prescribe exactly what you need to do and fit it into your lifestyle and schedule. On top of that, and probably most importantly, someone that can keep you accountable of making it happen consistently.
Fill out the form below if you’re a busy person, struggle to consistently workout or eat well, need some simple steps to improve your health and fitness, need the daily/weekly accountability, or would like me to customize a specific program for you and your goals.
