I'm excited to announce a project I've been working on that's officially published!

The Self-Improvement Companion Journal was made to assist you with setting goals, tracking habits, reflecting, and planning as you progress through a year's time. The core of the journal is it's weekly goal and habit-tracker worksheet and writing prompt (seen below) but  there are also 4 quarterly assessments to assist with setting long-term goals and lined sheets in the back of the journal for open-journaling.

After much working, testing, and refining, it is now available on Amazon in paperback and hardcover! Click the link below to view it on Amazon and order your copy today!

In this post, you'll learn about the 7 traits Danny Meyer looks for when he is hiring. I share this not to improve your interview or hiring skills but because of how these traits which make people "exceptional" are mostly related to a focus on self-improvement. I'm also sharing for the simple fact that I found this topic interesting so I thought others might as well.

I'll be honest - when I saw the title of Danny Meyer's podcast episode on The Tim Ferriss Show and for the first few minutes of listening, I wasn't sure if it would be worth the time. The title is #665 - Danny Meyer, Founder of Shake Shack - How to Win, The Art of The Graceful "No," Overcoming Setbacks, The 6 Traits of Exceptional People, The 4 Quadrants of Performance, Lessons from Hospitality Excellence, and More. It's almost a "too good to be true" title and starting off without knowing Danny Meyer, I was a bit skeptical to start, thinking he was just a CEO who thinks he knows all and sells his advice to self-help junkies. To my surprise and gladly so, I was mistaken.

Danny is certainly experienced - he is the founder of Shake Shack as well as the founder and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, a restaurant group currently operating a dozen different restaurants in New York City. From listening to this episode, you learn that Danny really cares about slow growth while putting his employees first and having a strong focus on hospitality. He states that the hospitality business is "a virtuous cycle where one input leads to something even better. So if you want to have really happy customers, they shouldn't be the input. You should have really happy employees, which I think leads to a greater chance you're going to have really happy customers" and then states how this in the end leads to happy investors.

His perspective makes the whole episode worth listening to but in this short post, I want to share the part the stuck out most to me and that is Danny's 7 traits that he looks for in his employees that makes them extraordinary. And they are:

Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear if you have any comments; drop them below. If you're not already subscribed but would like to be, head over to the Contact Page, provide your email, and you'll receive updates from me when new posts are up and news on other projects I'm working on!

I realize it has been a bit since I've posted last -- I've been working on a much bigger writing project and making pretty good progress (hint, hint).

​I decided to take more time than the usual Book Review post for Atomic Habits specifically because of how powerful this book is and also just the amount of useful content within it. To give you an idea of the impact of this book, it was published almost two years ago and it is currently #50 on the list of all books sold on Amazon.

If you are already involved in the self-development space, there is very little chance you have not heard the name ‘James Clear’ before. James Clear has dedicated his life to researching the best ways people can reach their full potential and shares his findings on his website, JamesClear.com. You won’t only find articles on habits but also motivation, productivity, creativity, focus, health and fitness, and more.
 
Many business leaders and experts in all of these fields look to James Clear for quality information on these topics. I found and looked into him after hearing positive things from both Mike Matthews and Greg Nuckols and I’m glad I did. As you’ll see in this book review, James has quality advice for anyone, no matter what your aspirations are.
 
Atomic Habits focuses on ways you can start building good habits and getting rid of bad ones. In the introduction he explains, “the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits"1 and calls habits “the compound interest of self-improvement."2 In other words, if you have good habits and you are constantly improving by 1%, those improvements compound and you end up in a much better place than if you have bad habits and are doing nothing to change them.
 
In this review, I will break down three key concepts and three of the tips I find most helpful from this book…

In various areas throughout the book, Clear describes how crucial our environment is and ways our environment can either be our benefit or our detriment to our daily habits. Here is a prime example (pun intended):
 
“Whenever you organize a space for its intended purpose, you are priming it to make the next action easy… There are many ways to prime your environment so it’s ready for immediate use. If you want to cook a healthy breakfast, place the skillet on the stove, set the cooking spray on the counter, and lay out any plates and utensils you’ll need the night before. When you wake up, making breakfast will be easy...

You can also invert this principle and prime the environment to make bad habits difficult. If you find yourself watching too much television, for example, then unplug it after each use. Only plug it back in if you can say out loud the name of the show you want to watch. This setup creates just enough friction to prevent mindless viewing.”3
 
One of the things Clear does well throughout this book is provide numerous examples based on how he and his clients apply this information so that you can find which tips you should apply in your own life.
 
Here are some other examples Clear gives on how you can prime your environment:
​

1. Rather than keeping your fruit hidden in the fridge, leave it out on the counter in a display bowl. Just like leaving cookies on the counter makes it much more likely that you have a cookie, leaving fruit on the counter makes it much more likely that you pick up an apple or banana.4 
2. If you want to start a new habit, try going to a new place. This will help you build a routine when you enter this space.5 
3. “Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.” For instance if you aspire to be a speaker, join a club like Toastmasters. Clear also states that staying with the group after your goal is reached is crucial to making that habit into your identity which helps that behavior last.6

​“The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.”7
 
This is an interesting concept and easy to understand. When you start a new habit, you are not going to execute it perfectly. The challenge at first is actually making it into a habit – something you eventually don’t have to think twice about, you just do it. Therefore, Clear states you should make new habits as easy as possible so that you stick with them. Then once they've stuck, challenge yourself by making minor changes. Eventually, you will turn from an amateur to a professional. He states that by the time you turn professional, you will undoubtedly get bored by how easy the process becomes…
 
“But stepping up when it’s annoying or painful or draining to do so, that’s what makes the difference between a professional and an amateur. Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life.”8
 
When choosing habits, Clear helps you find what habits suit your personality best as well as what you are best at naturally. He states that at the beginning of a new habit, you should explore as many possibilities as you can. Even when you are a professional, he suggests that you should still be exploring 10-20% of the time when you are not doing what you are currently best at during the other 80-90%.9

​“A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.”10
 
Clear shares how he uses an Annual Review at the end of each year, tallying up how many articles he’s published, workouts he’s put in, places he’s visited, etc. and evaluating his efforts using the following questions:
​

1. What went well this year?
2. What didn’t go well this year?
3. What did I learn?

You can view an example of one of his Annual Reviews here.
 
This report makes sure that he isn’t just planning but doing.

“When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t merely want to be planning. You want to be practicing.”11
 
He also does what he calls and “Integrity Report” at the start of summer. This report is to ensure that he is working towards who he wants to become by answering the following:
​

1. What are the core values that drive my life and work?
2. How am I living and working with integrity right now?
3. How can I set a higher standard in the future?

You can view an example of one of his Integrity Reports here.
 
Clear states that it is crucial to build identity-based habits because, “True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity.”12
 
He goes further by explaining how this mindset can make a world of difference. If you are a smoker who is trying to quit, rather than saying “No thanks. I’m trying to quit,” when offered, he suggests saying, “No thanks. I’m not a smoker,” instead. This is a minor tweak that forces you to think twice about how habits cast votes for the type of person you are or want to become.13

​Clear states that, “The mere act of tracking a behavior can spark the urge to change it.”15 By simply keeping track of when you complete the habits you want to build and improve on, this gives you enough satisfaction to keep going.
 
“I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice… Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you… This is why ‘bad’ workouts are often the most important ones. Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days. Simply doing something – ten squats, five sprints, a push-up, anything really – is huge. Don’t put up a zero. Don’t let losses eat into your compounding.”16
 
Another important thing is to make sure you are measuring the right thing:
​
“Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you… If you’re not feeling motivated by the number on the scale, perhaps it’s time to focus on a different measurement – one that gives you more signals of progress.”17

​Pointing-and-Calling, as you may get from the name, is pointing at something and calling it out before proceeding. These are basic things that are likely not to be forgotten but we get complacent about.
 
“This process, known as Pointing-and-Calling, is a safety system designed to reduce mistakes. It seems silly, but it works incredibly well. Pointing-and-Calling reduces errors by up to 85 percent and cuts accidents by 30 percent… Pointing-and-Calling is so effective because it raises the level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level… when we’ve done something a thousand times before, we begin to overlook things.”18

​There were several other concepts and tips in Atomic Habits that I wanted to share but the post would never get read because it would be too long. Plus, I strongly recommend getting the book for yourself if you want to reap all the benefits from James’s knowledge bombs that he drops in this book.  

Here is a link to purchase the book on Amazon. 

“Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.”19

If you start wondering, "wait this is health/fitness blog, why are we learning about motivation," know that you're wrong. This is a blog to assist you on your self-improvement journey. A large focus on what I currently research is health and fitness related but this presentation made such a large impact on me that I felt it was important to share with you.​

If you need a kickstart to get inspired or if you just want to get some golden nuggets on how to be successful, you need to check out this presentation given by Sabrina Lloyd, CEO of Lloyd Agencies and hosted by Eric Thomas. Eric Thomas is a motivational speaker who has an incredible amount of inspirational content and I think this presentation left the biggest mark on me out of all of it.
​
Sabrina brings the same energy as ET and provides extremely powerful tips on what to do to be successful. I first heard this when I was pretty close to graduating college and the audience she is presenting to is college students at Michigan State University. That being said, this information is helpful for anyone who feels they are willing to put in the work to be successful but have yet to make the right moves.
​
Ever since I listened to this 2-3 years ago, I remember quotes from this presentation and, at times, they push me to continue working hard. In case you don’t want to listen to the hour-long presentation, here is a breakdown of the material…

Before Sabrina comes out, ET is preparing them for her. Something powerful that he says is, “degrees don’t necessarily make you successful. Its knowledge and skills and the application of those skills.” This is a great point – in order to do well outside of college and to stay employed, you need to prove that you’re worth the company’s investment of time and money. A common quote from ET is reiterated in this portion of the track as well - stating, “speed kills,” and suggesting that being 15 minutes early really means you are on time.
 
To begin, Sabrina states, “anything that you want it is absolutely possible if you follow the blue print to get there,” and that she is about to share that blueprint with you. By successful, she means that:

1. You control money. You don’t let money control you/your decisions.
​
2. You are able to buy nice things, morally and ethically. When you see a red Ferrari pull up next to you, you shouldn’t assume that person was handed it or that they are greedy or that they are a drug dealer. That individual likely worked hard for what they have and you should want to learn from those people.  
​
Then, she goes on to share a ton of solid tips, including:

1. Quit getting offended when someone says something to you. “When you get offended… you will get smacked around the rest of your life.” Instead, get inspired.
 
2. We are not all equal. The only time we are all equal is in the beginning. “We unequalize ourselves every day by the decisions that we make. If I make harder decisions than you, if I make tougher decisions than you, how can you say that I am equal to you... We are not the same anymore!” Start looking at how you can step up your game. 

• “You will be paid for the size of the problems that you can fix.” A good CEO is a professional firefighter, just solving problems (or putting out fires) one after the other. 
• “Train and condition your ability to manage problems.”

3. Pay back your school/country by wearing it on your back. People are what brings value to a country. Make yourself a resource.

4. “Everyone wants to be successful until they see what it actually takes.” You may have to put your relationships on hold, even family members, if you want to be successful.

5. Not until everything is stripped away do you know what you really want. For example:

• Before you can be free, you have to be enslaved. Having structure in your daily life is absolutely critical. What you do on a daily basis is what makes you into a success or a failure.
• Before you receive, you have to give. When you have $1 million, you need to be willing to give $100,000 away.
• In order to have life, you need to die. You need to kill your bad habits.

6. Wealth is a state of mind. Get in different environments to get out of the “lack”/poverty mindset and into the wealth mindset. You attract money by being mentally wealthy.

7. “Always do more than you are currently paid to do. That’s how to make an investment in your future.” Work to make impact and raise the standard.
 
8. Be a warrior. Warriors have options, they create favorable conditions, and they exist to service others. Work hard and never surrender.

I understand that ​this is a ton of information thrown in a short post so I encourage you to listen to the track so that a stronger impression is made on you. At the end of the day, ambition comes from you but I can tell you that Sabrina’s words have really pushed me to do the best job I can to make an impact in and out of the workplace.
 
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post, please share it. Also, if you would like to subscribe to this blog in order to be notified of new posts and big news, head over to my Contact Page.

I, personally, have no interest in using steroids to build muscle/strength but I do find the conversation interesting. Media has set such a negative eye on steroid use that any association with professional athletes and steroids completely ruins their public image. People immediately forget the amount of work that it took to get to where they are and that genetics play a significant role. Obviously, some people do abuse steroids, like with any drug, but media has made us forget what steroids really do, why people take them, and that athletes can use them responsibly.

I highly suggest watching the video above with Joe Rogan & Ronnie Coleman (professional bodybuilder, 8-time Mr. Olympia Champion) to learn a bit about what steroids do and why the decision to take steroids can be a respectable one.

Greg is a record-breaking raw (meaning no "special equipment," which includes being drug-free) powerlifter who is pretty darn close to a 2000lb combined total in the big three (squat, deadlift, and bench press). That being said, he shows a lot of respect to those who take steroids, shares a lot of information on steroids in his books and on his website, StrongerByScience.com, and even talks (half-jokingly) about possibly taking steroids in the future just for the sake of getting even bigger and stronger.

To share some of Greg's insight on steroids, here is a summary of what I learned from reading one of his articles, How Much More Muscle Can You Build With Steroids. This article looks at multiple scientific articles comparing non-users and users, which include competitive athletes with at least 6-7 years of lifting experience. What is obvious is that the users did indeed have an advantage, averaging  about 35lb more of lean muscle mass and a significantly larger fat-free mass index (which factors in lean muscle mass and height) on average as well. "Over the course of a training career, it seems like steroids allow you to build about twice as much muscle as you'd be able to drug-free."

Another thing he makes clear is that steroid effects taper off. Just as gains are highest at the start of your lifting career and they decrease over time as a natural weightlifter, they also do when taking steroids if your dose remains the same. As you increase the dose, gains increase as well.

One interesting point that Greg makes is how steroids were likely being used by lifters in the 1950's and 60's but drug testing did not occur until 1968, so if drugs were a key component to muscle/strength gains, we would not expect to see records continuously being broken so quickly after.

As beneficial as steroids are in building muscle, we shouldn't forget what role genetics have to play and that they can be taken responsibly. Also, most bodybuilders/powerlifters simply love the competition and are not receiving much money for winning competitions. It is important to know there is a line to draw when it comes to steroids: who is abusing them or encouraging others to abuse them and who is simply taking them for the reason we are interested in sports, the competition. Let's respect regulations but also respect these athletes' decisions knowing the fact that they can be smart about it with continuous supervision by their doctors.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share and subscribe to the blog to get notified of new posts by going to the Contact page.

This book review is actually on two separate books but they are bought together and they are meant to be read together as well. They are also meant to be read in that order - The Art of Lifting goes through what Greg Nuckols and Omar Isuf believe what should be general knowledge for  coaches and everyone who lifts weights while The Science of Lifting goes into the research that less people are likely to be aware of if they have not gone through any courses or read any textbooks on Exercise Science. Both Omar and Greg are popular strength coaches that have helped hundreds of thousands of people through Omar's YouTube Channel and Greg's website, StrongerByScience.com (where these books are sold).

​The thing that these books do best is covering so many topics and getting right to the point. I've read multiple health and fitness books that repeat information over and over as if they're trying to brainwash you into accepting their theory as truth. Greg and Omar went completely counter to that - for instance, The Art of Lifting is only 108 pages but each of its 31 chapters has great nuggets of information for lifters. The Science of Lifting has slightly longer chapters but that is because they are explaining the science behind their suggestions.

They also make it clear that the suggestions they give in these books are just that. They are providing what works for most people, most of the time but every individual is a bit different. You and your coach should be working to find what works best for you.

This book is broken up into two sections - "Stuff That Matters" and "Stuff That Doesn't Matter". Essentially, this "Stuff That Matters" are concepts that give you enough to get you 90% of your maximum results from training, covering topics like volume, intensity, sleep, individuality, and goals. For the "Stuff that Doesn't Matter," these are things that are talked about a lot in the fitness space but may only be beneficial if you want to be at the top of your game and you make your money by being a professional athlete, covering topics like clean eating, supplements, and optimizing your training.

Here are some of what I found to be Greg and Omar's key tips found in this book:

• To improve your lifts, focus on cues. For instance, when bench pressing it is helpful to think "rip the bar in half," which will get you to grip the bar as hard as possible. And for squatting, "spread the floor" or "screw your feet into the ground" will improve your strength and form (p. 19).
•  To improve your numbers in bench press, squat, and deadlift, the best way to do it (for most people) is to work with at least 75-80% of your max and to train each lift 2 to 3 times per week (p. 20)
• "Calories in, calories out" is no longer up for debate and your calorie count will be 90-95% accurate when looking at gaining or losing weight (p. 46).
• "Before embarking on a serious diet for either losing a lot of fat or gaining a lot of muscle, you should first have a healthy relationship with food (p.92)". They suggest that restrictive diets create unhealthy relationships with foods and advise to simply focus on eating fiber-rich, nutrient-dense foods (p. 53).
• Fix your diet and training before looking to supplements. Protein powder, creatine, and caffeine are really the only supplements proven to make a little bit of a difference (p. 97).

This book goes deep into several topics including meal frequency, training frequency, what positively affects gains (genetic factors, steroids), what negatively affects gains (outside stress), peaking fitness and performance, nutrition, and more. By using research and graphs to help explain, The Science of Lifting spells out what effects your strength and performance in the gym, and by just how much.

Here are some of the nuggets that Greg and Omar included in this book:

• "...getting 8 hours of sleep instead of 5.5 hours of sleep can have a substantial impact on you ability to lose fat and gain muscle (p. 12)."
• Lifting above 60% of your max has been shown to be necessary for "robust gains in hypertrophy" but by lifting above 85% regularly, "benefits start decreasing (p. 20)."
• Lifting at an RPE of 8 (stopping each set while you still have 2-3 reps in you) maximizes your fitness while minimizing fatigue (p. 46). Lifting at an RPE of 9 (stopping each set with 1 rep left in you) is best for teaching yourself the mechanical skills of completing heavy lifts (p. 51).
• "...fiber type distribution doesn't influence how much you can lift very much at all (p. 66)."
• "The loftier your goals and expectations, the more effort is required - there are no shortcuts." If you just want to lift for general health, you only need the minimum effective dose. If you want to "get huge enough to scare small children," you will need to find your maximum tolerable dose. Most of us want something in the middle (p. 94-97).

These books are filled with valuable information are definitely worth reading, whether you are a beginner or intermediate-level lifter. With short chapters and lots of figures, they are easy to read and the knowledge that Greg and Omar share will help you figure out what is important for hypertrophy and strength gains.

This book pairs well with Mike Matthew's Bigger Leaner Stronger or Thinner Leaner Stronger. If you are thinking about getting into lifting, I strongly suggest reading BLS or TLS to get your way into a good program and then use The Art & Science of Lifting when/if you decide to make tweaks and improve your gains even more.

The Art & Science of Lifting currently only comes as an e-book, and comes in a set for roughly $30. It is sold here.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post, subscribe here so you get notified of new posts!

The expert that I am currently studying is Greg Nuckols. Greg is a well-known, record-breaking powerlifter who is not only a trusted strength coach but also a great resource through his website, strongerbyscience.com, where he shares advice on strength training through with his articles, books, podcast, and his monthly subscription, Monthly Applications in Strength Sport (MASS), where him and his colleagues share what they find from deep-diving into the scientific research on specific topics. Greg has done over 100 interviews for other podcasts and also has done several seminars. Impressive is an understatement for not even hitting 30 years old and having this large of a resume while also recently obtaining his Master's in Exercise Science. 

This post is to go over some great tips that he shares in one of his podcast episodes on The Stronger by Science Podcast. This podcast can be found here as well as places like Spotify and the Apple Podcast app.

This tip is interesting coming from a record-breaking powerlifter. He advises that if you are training for physique rather than competition, that there are better tools than the conventional barbell bench press, deadlift, and back squat. Here are his suggestions...

Alternatives to the Back Squat:

• Safety Bar Squat due to lower injury risk.
• Front Squat due to lower injury risk.

Alternative to the Bench Press:

• First, make sure you can do 10-15 solid bodyweight push-ups. Then, move to resisted push-ups with bands. Once you can do several resisted/weighted push-ups, then the bench press is an okay exercise. Push-ups are just less dangerous and more of a natural movement.

Alternatives to the Barbell Deadlift:

• Trap Bar Deadlifts due to less of a worry about spinal flexion, more freedom of movement, and more of a natural movement.
  
• Romanian Deadlifts due to an increase in comfort, range of motion, and hamstring hypertrophy.
  
• Low Block Pulls due to less spinal flexion.
  

Other great exercises/aternatives:

• He suggests substituting the strict press with the push press because of a "more athletic" range of motion.
• He suggests pull-ups (preferably with rings) as a great exercise in general.
• He suggests cheaty barbell rows as a great exercise in general.

If you work an office job or are mostly sedentary, planks are a great way to warm-up before a workout to get the core tight and spine ready. Side planks, especially.

For someone who wants to be a trainer, he gives basic tips on how to be a knowledgeable coach:

1. For certifications, find what gym you want to work at and ask them what certifications they require. Simple as that.
2. The best experience is hands-on experience. Find a coach who you can gain knowledge from and learn what you can from them.
3. He strongly recommends everyone reads at least and Intro to Anatomy and Physiology textbook and an Exercise Physiology textbook. Although this is expensive and time consuming, he states that it is well-worth the investment.

Greg gives multiple tips on how to improve your test-taking abilities and how to retain information that you study.

1. Just because you can recall information once, that does not mean you've learned it. He compares it to practicing music - just because you can play a song through once, does not mean you can perform it right a week later. BUT, going through the song twenty times dramatically improves the likelihood that you will be able to perform it at 100% a week later. Don't think you are perfect just because you could perform/recall information once. Go over it several times to have it down pat and so when it is time, you're ready.
2. Many people think tests are not a true test of knowledge but science begs to differ. Test-taking as part of the learning process has been shown to be one of the best ways to study effectively and efficiently. Find an old test or quiz, use it, and when you are done, use it to find which areas you need to study more.

I wanted to share this episode because of the sheer amount and variety of great information. Greg is full of science research info and knowledge on training. I personally love the Big Three but I am going to take his lifting considerations and work more with resisted push-ups and the front squat. If I plan on giving any coaching advice myself rather than referencing experts, I will be sure to read the textbooks he suggested as well.

If you want to hear more advice from Greg, check out his website, strongerbyscience.com. The Stronger By Science Podcast and his monthly subscription, MASS, are both great resources for people interested in the science behind strength training.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please subscribe on my Contact page.

We all know Morgan Spurlock's infamous documentary, Super Size Me, which was made in 2004 to show what can happen if all you eat is McDonald's for 30 days. He didn't do this because he loved McDonald's, he did this to show America the issue with eating fast food on a regular basis. Morgan explains how fast food has really taken over our diets due to its convenience and goes deep into not only the negative effects on your nutrition but also the corruption and ugly practices taken on by companies like McDonald's. I recently found out that some (I'm not sure how many) public schools still routinely show Super Size Me in Health class. It is insane the impact Morgan has made from this movie.

Well, Super Size me 2: Holy Chicken! is Morgan coming back 15 years later to take it a step further in an attempt to start his own fast food chain. After talking to several Marketing experts and studying other fast food chains, he decides to base it all on chicken. Fried chicken, of course, since how would a chain make it anywhere if they only served grilled chicken? Morgan was soon to find out how difficult it is to simply find large chicken farmers that don't solely have contracts with companies like Purdue and Tyson. He repeatedly got shut down and questioned on what he was doing.

As you can see in the photo above, Morgan got deep in the weeds again and wanted to see every step of the process - on the sides of both starting a restaurant with the best possible team and working in the farms to see where the chickens come from, how they are raised and handled, and learning about the farmers themselves.

Once again, Morgan doesn't fail to reveal some eyeopening facts on where the chicken we consume, whether from the grocery store or from restaurants, comes from. You'll be surprised by how chickens are optimized to be as young and fat as possible for production and the little it takes to be called "free-range" by the USDA. He also reveals the poor treatment from farmers talking about their work with companies like Tyson. These companies force consistent production 365 days a year and have full control over these farmers' lives.

In my opinion, the sequel was better than the original! In the end, he shows how "honest, healthy fast food" is simply a contradiction and impossible here in America. Even though his restaurant looks to be closed as of September of last year, this movie hopefully makes as big of an impact as the first.

A big takeaway from this documentary is how we vote with our dollars. My mindset used to be, "I'm only one person. Me avoiding certain companies won't affect them. I like it, and it tastes good. Oh well." Understand that this is ignorant and the reason these companies are so big is because we have this mindset. If you have the opportunity, turn to your local farms and farmers markets. These are hardworking people who got away from the corruption of Big Food companies. Also, it is not a bad idea to avoid fast food in general - nutrition experts like Dr. Cate Shanahan even suggest skipping a meal if your only option is convenient fast food. From my personal experience, avoiding fast food is much easier than it sounds. It is just a simple decision to extend your healthspan and lifespan and will show less support for Big Food companies.

Thank you for reading! Please either like, share, and/or comment on this post and go watch the film for yourself! Currently, this documentary can be found online through Amazon Prime or you can rent it on YouTube, Google Play, or Vudu. 

This podcast episode is really what first got me interested in Kelly Starrett. He has a very interesting point of view that I agree with - that due to modern technology, we're not moving or sleeping enough.

“We’re contending with a lot of the demands of being modern humans and it sets us up to not really reap the benefit and the bounty that is so extraordinary about being human. Because these bodies, they’re badass, man (Ever Forward Radio Podcast Ep. 242).”

Here are some of the key topics that Kelly hits in this episode that struck me as important:

• You should have a physical practice, which includes everything to pay attention to each day. Before training, you should be making sure your sleep, nutrition, breathing, and activity throughout the day is managed correctly. 
• "Position is the hallmark of efficiency." We should be valuing position/posture as much as strength, speed, and respiratory efficiency. We can lift incorrectly and walk incorrectly until it weakens our tissues too much.
• Injuries created by sport or by happenstance teach us countless lessons on managing pain.

“This is why we do sport in the first place. Not to win Olympic medals, not to be on a team for any other reason than it helps us know ourselves and it helps us know our friends and it helps us see the world very cleanly. And I think this is why I hope that everyone has some kind of competitive or at least a physical practice because it really simplifies in a really easy model what’s working in your life and what’s not working in your life.”

Here are also a few helpful, specific tips:

• If you have back pain, begin walking more to restore function. 10,000 steps per day is what he calls the "minimum therapeutic dose" for staying mobile.
• If you have a little kid at home and a free day on the weekend, do everything your kid does. Toddlers walk an average of 2.5 miles per day. You’ll find you won’t have to warm up as much and you’ll be able to maintain a normal range of motion simply by being human and staying in motion.

Of Kelly's dozens and dozens of interviews, this is one of my favorite because he covers many different topics and gives great tips to go along with it.

Whether you are an elite athlete or the average person who exercises for strength of longevity reasons, this is what Kelly sees as most important, in this order:

1. Read a book on sleep - he recommends Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker or Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson.
2. Walk a little more each day.
3. Then, work on things like making sure you are eating right and getting the basics right with training.

This podcast episode can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and several other media apps as well as the YouTube video above.

Thank you for reading! Go to the Contact page to subscribe to this blog!!

Kelly Starrett is a strength and conditioning coach as well as a physical therapist who has clients from and has consulted with organizations from the NFL to the NBA to all of the branches of the military, not to mention some of the top athletes in the CrossFit universe that show up in his gym - San Francisco CrossFit, which Kelly has been co-owner of since they opened the doors in 2005.

Kelly is a strong believer in that everyone, not just athletes, should know how to move properly as well as how to conduct basic maintenance on themselves in order to live up to your full physical potential for as long as possible. This book has over 500,000 copies sold and Becoming a Supple Leopard has made a huge influence in the worlds of physical therapy and professional sports.

Kelly's mobility program is based off of 7 archetypes that are used for all basic positions that are used throughout every day life as well as in the gym. For example: the way you set up for a squat should be the same way you set up when picking up a heavy box and the way you set up for a deadlift should be the same way you set up to pick a baby out of the crib. Kelly goes from teaching you how to:

1. Organize your spine properly.
2. Set up in the basic archetypes.
3. Add load or challenging your strength in these archetypes or transferring from one archetype to another (guides on how to do a proper pull-up, squat, deadlift, bench press, snatch, kipping pull-up, etc.).
4. Use mobilizations in order to soften up your tissues and regain full range of motion. Or ways to heal injuries before seeing physical therapist, chiropractor, doctor, or using any medications if possible.

These mobilizations involve basic stretches as well as variations of rollers, resistance and compression bands, and balls. Kelly believes that if you lay on a lacrosse ball and roll around, whether you are on your back or stomach, any area where you feel pain is a tight spot that you need to work on - so, as you can imagine if you know how stiff a lacrosse ball is, some of these techniques are pretty painful until you get used to it.

I came to appreciate how this book shows you what basic forms everybody should be able to get in (without actually saying that). For instance, if you can squat all the way down with your feet together as a child, there's no reason you shouldn't have that same capability when you are 20 or 30 years old. He also helped me correct my form on things like my bench press and push up so that my elbows are forced not to move away from my body and to appreciate the quality of my form over the amount of volume (weight and repetitions) I can do. At the end of the book, he teaches you how to create your own 14-day mobility plan (which includes 10 to 15 minutes of mobility work) - I will show what mine looks like at the bottom of this post. I like to do these at the end of the day or any time I would normally be sitting on the couch. I based my mobility program on the fact that I need to improve my ankle range of motion, to minimize pain in my feet and lower back (and possibly gain some arch in my foot), and to work on the pistol archetype. I also organized the days to prepare myself for the next day's workout.

Anyone would benefit from reading this book and trying out Kelly's mobilization techniques. Kelly has other books as well, which are somewhat similar to this but more specific toward certain lifestyles. If you have a desk job, I highly recommend his book Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World (which I am currently reading). His other books include: Ready to Run (teaching you how to run properly) and Waterman 2.0 (for paddling and surfing).