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Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.
You'll receive one personal health insight, three actionable tips, and one concrete action step. Let's dive in.
Here's what's new this week:
Last week to join our spring 30-day challenge. Doors close on the 22nd.
Drop 4-8 pounds or build 2-4 pounds of muscle over the next 30 days.
Start your spring in your best health.
A simple question I ask myself before I invest in something new:
'What's the cost of me not taking action?'
In the finance world, this is called your opportunity cost.
So what's it costing you in your health, relationships, career, etc to not have better health, energy, strength, confidence, and stamina?
If you're fine with those costs, then that's great.
If you're not, we all pay the price either way.
We either pay the price of taking action... or the price of inaction.
Why delay your best health?
What's in store for today:
- The afterburn effect of lifting weights and doing HIIT exercise: is it worth it?
- Cardio vs weights. Should you do both or only one of them?
- Why your favorite TV show knows more about your psychology than you probably do...
I've found health interesting from a young age.
Even as a child, my favorite three subjects were history, English, and biology.
I didn’t become an author, scientist, or historian. However, I did combine my three favorite subjects in a way that lets me keep learning.
I got into the fitness industry almost a decade ago (after 5 years of lifting weights; now 15).
I started learning about science again, after dropping out of 7+ different colleges due to poor major choices.
At one point, I was attending college to become a dental hygienist.
That should give you an idea of how unclear I was about my future and career.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
I keep repeating that to myself these days.
Less is more when you're doing the right things.
I was fascinated when I first learned about exercise and nutrition science.
I still remember the summer of 2017 when I invested in my first personal training certification.
I spent the first few months living off my savings and out of my bedroom.
A one-year self-study course, I finished in a few months.
I devoured everything I could read and learn about exercise science.
I applied for the NASM test a few weeks after finishing reading the textbook from cover to cover.
And I finally passed and completed my first career step.
It was a pretty cool moment for me.
After I failed to play semi-pro football in my early 20s and left a bad relationship, I hit my lowest point. Then, I began to rebuild myself.
Getting that certification wasn't about the new title.
It was about completion.
I finally followed through on what I said I would do.
I finally learned to be in integrity with my thoughts, words, and actions.
It took me a while to learn this lesson.
But nearly a decade later, it still reminds me to follow through.
The only difference these days?
I try to think more carefully about things before I dive headfirst into them.
Otherwise, I'll be halfway to becoming a dental hygienist or massage therapist before I even notice.
(and yes, I did try to become a massage therapist; actually quite a useful skill).
Do less, better.
Lesson: Think before taking action.
Here's Your 1-3-1 Friday:
1.) EPOC effect
Excess post oxygen consumption. It's a term that's thrown around often in the fitness world.
It's often misunderstood.
The EPOC effect became popular back in the early days of HIIT.
Their main marketing angle was that the more HIIT you did, the better the EPOC effect you'll see.
The EPOC effect is important because it means you continue to burn calories even after your workout ends.
In other words, do more burpees and HIIT workouts, and you'll keep burning calories long after exercise is complete.
It was a big selling point back during the height of the 'Beachbody' company era.
Programs like Insanity and P90X dominated during this period.
(See how I'm tying my history, English, and biology interests together? Just wanted to see if you're paying attention).
So, back to EPOC.
What's the actual science say about it?
Research on EPOC shows that the 'afterburn effect' lasts much shorter than claimed.
Most fitness programs talk about a 24-48 hour EPOC afterburn effect, when the reality is it's much closer to 14-20 hours post-exercise.
It’s estimated that only 6-15% of extra calories are burned. This is much lower than the crazy claims made by the Beachbody Insanity program, which said you could burn an extra "1,000 calories" after a workout.
The truth of the matter is that the bulk of the calories you burn come DURING your actual exercise.
While there is a bit of extra residual effect, it shouldn't be your main focus.
Again, you can't outwork a bad diet.
Just like you can't outwork a sedentary lifestyle.
The health intersection is about combining both in a healthy, sustainable way by eating better and moving more.
The EPOC effect is just another shiny object that can easily distract you from your main health pillars:
Take care of the big rocks in your health first. Then, you can flirt with the other sexier fitness topics.
But keep the main thing, the main thing.
2.) Cardio vs weights
Should you lift weights or do cardio?
In the past, I was more biased towards one camp.
With years of mistakes under my belt, I've learned better.
Both are equally important. But both should be used for the correct purpose.
The main purpose of weights is to give your body a stimulus to change.
It’s like telling your body, “Hey, I’m getting hit by heavy weights repeatedly every week. I should probably do something about this.”
The response your body gives to weights is to get stronger and build muscle over time.
Pretty simple.
Cardio, on the other hand, is different. The adaptation or response your body will give you from cardio is improved heart health, running faster, better, and longer.
Notice how neither form of exercise mentions dropping fat.
Fat oxidation or lipolysis (fat loss) is primarily driven by nutritional changes.
Again, you can't outwork a bad diet.
And over the decades, there's a large body of research suggesting that people are very poor at tracking their nutrition.
We just aren't great at it.
So, nutritional awareness is how you'll drop body fat.
Exercise is how you'll create muscle, strength, and heart health.
Combine both to create a double-edged fitness sword that cuts through the fitness b.s.
And that's how you'll stay fit for life.
3.) Open loops in your mind
Did you know that TV shows know you better than yourself?
They've known this for a long time.
The reason is open loops.
Here's how it works.
Ever notice your favorite show or movie tends to end with a curiosity gap or cliffhanger?
They tease something out that's going to happen next or coming soon.
This plants a seed in your mind.
The mind doesn't like open loops.
Another way of saying this is that the mind doesn't like tension.
To resolve this tension, we keep watching the show or movie series.
And we keep watching until we've fully satisfied the internal tension within us.
So why is this important?
Firstly, understanding your own psychology is the first step towards adulthood.
Secondly, you can leverage this to your advantage.
Here's what I mean.
The next time you want to start a new habit, create an open loop.
When it comes to working out, don't start a new workout: start a workout cycle (e.g., 12-16 weeks).
When it comes to meal prepping, don't plan a new recipe: plan a week's worth of food.
But what about the open loop then?
You create the open loop by starting the next thing and creating anticipation.
For example, start researching a recipe or workout you're excited about next week and take 1 minute action towards it. Then, stop.
Internal tension arises. You create an open loop. You want to close the loop.
The chances of you following through rise dramatically.
All because you leveraged your own psychology against yourself.
In the best way possible, of course.
Science is pretty cool.
1 Action Step
What's 1 habit you've been procrastinating on? Can you create an open loop around this?
One Quote To Finish Your Week Strong
"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
- Bruce Lee
Celebrating Anna's birthday tomorrow.
Grateful for her every day.
She's changed my life in countless ways.
Glad we can celebrate her even more.
As promised, get leaner on plants in under 5 minutes.
Till next week,
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