There are 1,440 minutes in a day. And about 10 that really matter. Below are a few for your consideration. The first 2 minutes after awaking: your thoughts, positive or negative, set the tone for the day. The 10 seconds before you decide to drink water or alcohol: this one simple decision will impact dramatically a dozen or more areas of your life (see previous newsletter). The approximately 1 ½ minutes it takes to do ‘forced reps’ (extra hard reps) during your weight workout

When we take our shirt off in the gym locker room, at a pool, or a shirts/skins game of pickup basketball, there it is, on display: the cumulative result of daily choices we have made, either healthy or otherwise. There is no hiding that consumed alcohol, those missed workout sessions – or alternatively, your smart choices and healthy rituals which are on display for all to see. However when it comes to our mind, it is easy to hide bad choices and lack of training. Only we tr

Last week my hometown team, the Chicago Cubs, won the World Series. Generations of people had been praying for that moment for decades. But no amount of incantations to the heavens was going to bring about a championship trophy. To be sure, it would take changes, and positive changes require action. Think about your muscles. If you want to change them – make them more flexible, bigger, stronger…that requires action. “But the action you are talking about, resistance (weight) t

We provide actionable, effective tips on the 5 pillars of sustainable total health & fitness: mental, nutrition, weight training, cardio, and spiritual. As I write this newsletter from a café, I reflect back to 365 days ago when I made the decision to stop drinking. 100%. It was the best, most singularly impactful decision of my life. I’m not here to preach, to tell you drinking is a sin or that you should quit. What I can tell you, what I will tell you, is that ceasing the c

A pound of fat burns about 2 calories a day. While there are some wild claims out there about a pound of muscle burning 50 calories or more a day, the most credible studies indicate the number is closer to 5 – 10 calories per day more than fat. Doesn’t sound like much, huh? For the purposes of this analysis, let’s assume muscle burns 6 calories more per day than fat does. A few years back, slowly but surely over about 18 months, I lost around 40 lbs of fat and gained 30 lbs o