Stronger or Richer?

Both.

Reflecting

“Work” is an all purpose reason a lot of people tell themselves for not prioritizing fitness.  It is an excuse.  It isn’t a good one.  Good training, nutrition, and sleep increase productivity.  Good health is a good deal.  You get a better deal on insurance.  You can save a ton of money but avoiding restaurants generally and alcohol bills in particular.  Fitness Bank even ramps up the interest rate it pays with the number of steps you take.  As their app says, you can earn financial strength from physical fitness.  Gimmicky but fun.   

Better solution?  Just save as much as you can by cutting down or cutting out spending on prepared food and alcohol.  And save gas while racking up your monthly steps by walking everywhere you go within three-four miles.  Then drop the savings in my favorite account – tax-efficient, principal protected, with a yield far surpassing anything else I’ve seen.  Some people might want to deposit up to the $250k insurance cap but everyone should deposit $1k to suck out their generous sign up bonus.  TL; DR: deposit $1k and you’ll have somewhere between $1-1.5k in a year. 

Training

This morning’s white board:

• 10 Cleans 135 lbs.

• 50 Step Ups 24’

• 10 Cleans 185 lbs.

• 50 Dips

• 10 Cleans 225 lbs.

Then boxing with Jamal Beau.  We’re working 1-on-1 over the next ten weeks to incorporate boxing into my overall fitness and MMA toolkit.  I had a ball, can’t wait to get back to Beau's Boxing & Fitness, and love having it in easy walking distance. 

Next 5 AM run:

Fueling

I’m trying to snack less and less but when I need something enjoy biltong; here’s one of the best.  Worth avoiding: fake sugar.  I’m a skeptic of much of World Health Organization guidelines but agree 100% with them on this: non-sugar sweeteners are not good for weight control generally and aspartame in particular could be carcinogenic.   

Supplementing

Supplements can be expensive, some running into hundreds of dollars per month, but Vitamin D, which virtually everyone should take especially people with dark skin or who live in northern climates, is cheap.  This potent one costs four cents per tablet; if you’re not willing to spend $0.04 to meaningfully help your health, then you’re not even trying!

Measuring

I was #11 in the Fitness Bank average daily steps leaderboard.

Recovering

If I don’t have time for a cold plunge, cold showers are a half decent substitute after workouts.  I also love exfoliating soap with walnut powder to scrub off the trail grime.

Closing

Welcome to new Vale Tudo readers. If you haven’t read past posts, the three most popular have been:

• T

• Not Weak or Weary

• The Blueprint

Retracting

Rich Howe has done many things but DIII college soccer?  Lie!  That means that he’s run a half marathon and shed 45 lbs. of fat; good for him.