Default Aggressive

Relax. Look around. Make a call. - Jocko Willink

Reflecting

The more data I get from my new continual glucose monitor, the less distinction I see between physical and mental health.  My fasted blood glucose is well beneath 100 mg/dL but spikes with meals and also spikes when the market opens.  It spikes with weightlifting, but doesn’t wait for the weights.  It starts to rise with the ten second countdown to the beginning of a workout.  I have danced around lowish sugar, but want to get completely off of any added refined sugar.  I am going to try this as a substitute.  But the bigger point is that sugar and stress all seem to do the same thing to the trauma it puts on my body; my blood work doesn’t know the difference.  The mind and body are inextricably intertwined when it comes to performance and longevity markers.

As long as it is survivable and reversible, I’m happy to experiment with my fitness and health efforts, even on fads (cryotherapy!  Infrared saunas!) that I try then discard.  But there are a few topics that are settled in my mind.  Today’s post is on only those topics.  Doubt and discount me as much as you’d like, but these are the few observations where I have little doubt.  My proposal: try them.  Even try to overdo them for a week.  Each are worthy of switching your default from skepticism to aggression.

Training

Lift weights.  Train intensely.  Stipulating that you’re using proper form, lift heavy weights.  Westside vs the World offers a little window into what intensity looks like.  It isn’t pretty.  It isn’t just nose bleeds.  It is bleeding from your ears and eyes too.  Whether or not you get there, you can and should get closer to there.  Every inclination will be to pull back.  But push further.

This AM’s white board:

Every minute on the minute for 18 minutes

1. 15 toes to bar

2. 5 205 pound push jerks

3. 20 calories on the rower

Score is an as many rounds as possible in the final round.

Fueling

Eat more protein.  Your body will continue to crave anything and everything until it gets enough protein.  Satiate it early in the day with piles of eggs and meat.  The average American garbage diet is around 15% protein; go for a week over 50%.  See how you feel.  Real food kills cravings. 

Measuring

Know your hormones.  Men should know how much free testosterone we have.  It is our evolutionary relevance and a key health marker.  Measure it.  Manage it.  Whatever your number, you can take further steps to optimize it.  Even without supplements, you can transform your free T with low percent body fat and enough rest.

Supplementing

Creatine is for everyone.  Over the counter, benign side effects, helps building muscle and muscle mass helps everything else.  If you’re not supplementing with creatine, you’re not trying. 

Recovering

Sleep more.  Six hours per night is better than five for everyone.  Seven hours is certainly better than six.  Eight?  Try it for a week.  Experiment and see how you feel.  Set aside the same nine hour sleep opportunity for seven days so that you can get in a full eight of sleep.  Skeptical?  Read Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep.  As a bonus, it is super boring so can serve as excellent bedtime reading.   

Planning

As the temperature drops, I’m going to be drinking a lot more hot bone broth.  American diets used to get quite a bit of collagen but have dropped it almost completely which was a big mistake.  It is a great for hitting protein goals and protecting joints.  Running another Tasso blood test today to see where my free testosterone is on my current routine.  Results TBD.

Parting

Do these things.  Overdo them and see what happens.  Then let us know – please circle back in a week and comment below.  How does training hard(er) feel?  More protein?  More sleep? With so many projects up in the air, those are the experiments with the clearest conclusions.  They are worthy of defaulting towards aggressive goals.