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Still here... chugging along... despite a complete Still here... chugging along... despite a complete separation of my supraspinatus. Buck seventy five, and around 15% body fat. At this point, I'm just grateful to be able to train at all. Hell, I'm grateful I still wake up in the mornings!
Consistently good is better than occasionally opti Consistently good is better than occasionally optimal. All things being equal, the BEST training program for building muscle is the one you enjoy, fits your schedule, and you can stick to over the long haul. Two and three-week periods of lifting at an intensity and frequency you can't sustain—mentally and physically—at best leads to burnout, and at worst, injury. Burnout can look like physical exhaustion, mental frustration, lethargy in and out of the gym, and a chronic level of elevated soreness that disrupts your training (and everyday activities). And while you might not pull a muscle or strain a ligament, it doesn't take long for chronic overuse to show up in the elbows, shoulders, or knees— any one of which can ruin your upcoming workouts. What builds muscle is being able to show up for your workouts, week after week (after week), and take every extra rep or additional pound you can. Some weeks, "life" will get in the way, and you may have to "just punch the clock." But if you can keep showing up, every workout presents an opportunity to improve. And it's stacking those small, seemingly insignificant wins that ultimately builds a great physique. – Coach Paul #Prime40Muscle #ConsistencyWins #BuildMuscle #MuscleOver40 #OnlineCoaching #FatLossTips #ProgressNotPerfection
So don't track. Ask anyone being honest, and you' So don't track. Ask anyone being honest, and you'll likely hear the same things: Tracking is inconvenient. Woefully inaccurate. It sucks any remaining joy out of eating at a time when dietary angst is already high. Yet it "works" for many... depending on your definition of works. However, the how and why tracking works is another post entirely. Today is about opening your mind to the possibility of a world in which you "simply eat food." Not ALL the food, of course. And not just ANY food. Because dropping the tracking doesn't change the landscape. Improvements in body composition still require that you control total calories and influence your macros. And that means you'll still need to implement some form of RESTRICTION—which is how ALL calorie-controlled diets work. The concept of restriction is the easy part. Cut carbs. Eliminate sugars. Reduce fat intake. Meal frequency. Portion sizes. Yada, yada. But, the practice of restriction is challenging and requires DISCIPLINE. The discipline to know what your trigger foods are and remove them from the house. To willfully abstain from a food that you enjoy. To embrace hunger. To valiantly reframe cravings. I know it's 2024, and you're not supposed to be told NO. That—God bless you—you should be able to have whatever you want. And you can. Have your cake. Eat processed foods. Drink alcohol. Devour pizza. Enjoy that burger. Just accept that your body composition goals are secondary to your short-term pleasures. "Yes, yes... but NONE of that helps me, Paul (you insensitive asshole)." Fair enough. Try this for TWO weeks: * Consume ONLY single-ingredient foods * Drink AT LEAST 64oz of water a day * Quit ALCOHOL The "single-ingredient" food constraint will eliminate a LOT of "foods" from your diet. Pastries: Gone. Bread: Gone. Pasta: Gone. Came in a packet: Gone. Can you still overeat single-ingredient foods? Hell yes. But it's much harder to make consistently bad choices, and you may be forced to "go hungry" when whole-food choices aren't available. If 5 people comment "WIBBLE," I'll do an expanded post on this approach to eating (hint: It's nuanced in a modern world). – Coach Paul.
Optimal is the enemy. The best diet. The perfect Optimal is the enemy. The best diet. The perfect program. The deepest sleep. The steadiest state. The most mindful meditation. The more energy, time, and effort you put into researching, planning, and striving for "optimal," the weaker your results will be. Not because optimal doesn't exist or couldn't be effective. On the contrary, optimal is, by definition, "the best" or "most effective." But it is elusive. Elusive and ever-changing based on a myriad of things outside of your control. Instead, put all your energy into cultivating a mindset that thrives on realizing seemingly insignificant improvements over time. Take resistance training. Packing your gear, scheduling the workout, showing up, and "lifting weights" is already "the 80%." Which exercises, what order, how many sets and reps, intensity, density, and durations are the 20%. Way too many of you are hyper-focused on refining the shit out of the 20% while not actually making it to the gym because of "reasons." It's the same with diet. How many calories, what macro ratios, food groupings, what to eat, and when to eat it is "the 20%." Sure, you can try to whiteboard your way to the perfect plan—it just won't matter if you're eating out of packets, skipping meals, soothing with snacks, and spending four evenings a week with buzz. Your only goal is improvement. To get better. To BE better. Not just year over year, month to month, or even week to week. Every heartbeat is an opportunity for you to reevaluate and take positive action. The next rep can be better than the last. The next thing you put in your mouth can be a nutritious whole food. Tomorrow's workout can be scheduled right now. Now is the opportunity to find a corner and practice 2 minutes of breathwork. I get it's not sexy to think this way. But it sure as hell is effective. To your improvement! – Paul. #SelfImprovement #BetterNotPerfect #NutritionTips #BalancedLifestyle
No one is keeping you "stuck." You do it to yours No one is keeping you "stuck." You do it to yourself—focusing on things you can't control and things you do not have. This mindset weakens your resolve and renders you powerless. * Stop watching the news. * Heavily limit your time on social media. * Curate the literal shit out of your news and social feeds. Instead: Focus on what you can control—YOURSELF. Practice a little gratitude for what you do have. Stop living in the past or future. NOW is where your next opportunity exists. And if you got distracted and missed it? Here comes another one. And another. And another. – Paul #prime40muscle #DigitalDetox #ownyourshit #personalresponsibility #perspectiveshift
In this excerpt, @coachdanjohn talks about 2 x 5 ( In this excerpt, @coachdanjohn talks about 2 x 5 (two sets of five reps) as perhaps the easiest way to build strength over time. And not because 2 x 5 unlocks some unique physiological expression that packs on the muscle, but rather because 2 x 5 leverages three PRACTICAL considerations CRITICAL to making meaningful progress in your training. Why structure your workouts around two sets of five? Because those workouts are: * BELIEVABLE * DOABLE * REPEATABLE In my experience with coaching, the biggest hurdle to progress with almost all workouts is getting the client to show up. Not just once, but again, and again, and again. And in a world where we are all struggling for time—balancing the needs of family, friends, and a busy work schedule—most workouts are just too damn long and not remotely practical for the average person. And that lack of practicality is a swing and a miss on all three of Dan's points. Plus, done right, two sets of five provide an excellent stimulus and allows you to train movements with a much higher frequency—even five or six days a week. For example: * Warm up with a few practice/priming sets. * Hit five hard reps. Rest. * Five more reps... ... ideally flirting with failure or at least getting past second base. If you feel like you need a third set, that's PERFECT... but DON'T do it—move on to the next exercise. You can scratch that itch again tomorrow. – Coach Paul Credits: This video is a derived work (cut, edits, captions) from the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKRsjmNGR0. The owner and creator of this content is @coachdanjohn. I am not affiliated with or endorsed by Dan in any way. I just greatly respect his work and felt his principles of "believable, doable, and repeatable" needed to be shared more widely.
Not every workout will be great. Nor does it have Not every workout will be great. Nor does it have to be. If you did five 30-minute strength workouts a week: * One might be great (strong, felt awesome) * One might be terrible (tired, stressed, weak) * Three would be perfectly ok (getting it done, punching the clock) Over an 8-week training block, that's eight GREAT workouts. And of those eight, two might be EXCEPTIONAL. Exceptional workouts where you felt impossibly strong and set PRs for either reps, load, or both. Complete just FIVE solid training blocks each year, and you're looking at TEN workouts where you quantifiably move the needle and lock in tangible measures of progression. That sounds like a damn good training year to me. Flipping the story for a minute: Of the 200 workouts completed during the year, that's 40 workouts that sucked and another 120 workouts where you just showed up and "punched the clock." That's 80% of your training! Which, of course, sounds bloody awful. And therein lies my point. Making progress with your training is NOT about striving for perfection. What makes a training year like this successful is having: A) the discipline to show up and put in the work 200 times over a training year and B) the humility to realize that not every workout can be GREAT. What you do with your 30 minutes is another story entirely—but that's one for another day. – Coach Paul [The picture is me and my son, James, at a family dinner in the Five Bells in Stanbridge, England, in May of 2023. It has absolutely nothing to do with the caption. And that's ok with me. I LOVE this picture—I tear up just looking at it. He is an extraordinary human being, and the world is a MUCH better place with him in it. You're welcome!]
Not every workout is in the gym. This morning, Ou Not every workout is in the gym. This morning, Oura was complaining (as usual) that my resting heart rate was elevated and recovery was needed. Now, as someone who loves the gym, I often ignore the advice to "take it easy." But it seems silly to pay $400 for a device to help assess your recovery, and then blatantly and consistently ignore it. So I went for a walk instead. The image shows the sort of s*** I have to tolerate when I don't go to the gym. Yeah, life is hard. But In all seriousness, recovery is every bit as important as the training itself. You can't just keep crushing workouts everyday and expect good outcomes. So make sure you're taking the time you need to recover—both physically and mentally. I can't tell you how good I felt after this walk, but it was almost as good as this picture. - Coach Paul
Leg day! Buffalo Bar squats, heels elevated, cont Leg day! Buffalo Bar squats, heels elevated, controlled tempo, full range of motion. The load doesn't matter, as it's only relevant to ME. But 145lb for reference and prosperity. Four sets of 6 after a few practice and warm-up sets. RPE? Challenging, but decently far from failure. Why? It's squatting. It was the first movement. I had hacks later. I want to be able to show up again... and again... And again. Thank you @flighthousegym for the fantastic equipment and baller environment for serious training. #legdayworkout #atgsquats #personaltraining #strengthcoaching
I'll never stop training. At this point, it's par I'll never stop training. At this point, it's part of my identity... my very being. Goals may change from time to time, but the innate desire to train and chase improvement will always be there. What has evolved over the last few years is a shift in emphasis to health and longevity. I mean, there's no point trying to get jacked if you're all jacked up. To that end, I'm continuing to deepen my knowledge of all things longevity and health optimization. And believe me when I tell you that the misinformation and hyperbole in that space is rife. For guidance and support with health optimization, I'm working with @marekhealth and just had my patient consult following my latest labs. Both @mawsome_ and @dr.aehotchkiss are amazing, and I'm looking forward to deepening our relationship through 2024. We've also directed multiple coaching clients toward @marekhealth this year, and all have had positive things to say. So if you're looking to take 2024 to task and want high-touch 1:1 coaching to accelerate your progress, hit me up in my DMs or follow the links in my profile. Here's to crushing 2024! Paul.
Monday is undoubtedly the day of "fresh starts." Monday is undoubtedly the day of "fresh starts." It marks the start of a new week—an opportunity to "do things right" and embrace all the healthy habits and daily actions you have lined up. And in a triumphant act of abundance and prosperity, the Gods have blessed the 1st of January 2024 to fall—you guessed it—on a MONDAY. The utopia of new beginnings. The summit of second chances. The ultimate blank canvas on which to paint "the new you." Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble. But if you're waiting until Monday to get your life in order, you've already set yourself up for failure. By setting ANY start date in the future, there's every chance you're not really planning but instead PROCRASTINATING. Ask yourself, have you been here before? Pinning your hopes on some future event? If you have, it's a pattern of behavior. A behavior rooted in deferred commitment and a false optimism that Monday—nay, the 1st day of the year—will magically facilitate change. But it's a TRAP—a temporal rationalization that prioritizes future actions over present opportunities. If you know what needs to be done—WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DEFER TAKING ACTION? The very act of deferment weakens your resolve. Makes light your claims of "renewed purpose" and commitment to change. Go for that walk NOW. Clean up your NEXT meal. Sign up at the gym TODAY. Turn off the TV; sleep better TONIGHT. It's not about making the PERFECT start—it's about STARTING. And the best time to start is always NOW. Because when it comes to health and fitness, immediate action will always be more impactful than planned perfection. Need help taking action NOW? Hit us up in our DMs or follow the coaching links on our Profile. – Paul and Bryan #Prime40Muscle #MuscleSolvesProblems #NewYearResolutions #TakeActionNow #ProgressNotPerfection #HealthyLifestyle #HealthAndFitnessJourney
Having a clear goal is a game-changer. Especially Having a clear goal is a game-changer. Especially if it's big, shiny, and feels like a stretch. One of our more recent clients has a goal just like that—to look like Chris Hemsworth in Thor. He's even gone as far as having some large-print pictures made to stick up all over his apartment. Personally, we LOVE this. While we all know there's a lot more to being fit and healthy than merely looking like the son of Odin—the mental imagery and visualizing an outcome can be a game-changer. After all, Arnold himself was HUGE proponent of visualization and puts much of his success down to honing that skill from a very early age. But there's more to it than just "mentally photoshopping" your face onto Chris Hemsworth's body. Although that's a good start—and a skill in itself. The REAL value comes from visualizing the PROCESS—all the steps required to get there: * the sets and reps * the well-planned meals * sleeping deeply and waking rested * all the little lifestyle changes That's where the magic is. Rehearsing every step of your journey for peak performance come game-day. And you thought it was all just macros and workouts... – Paul and Bryan #Prime40Muscle #MuscleSolvesProblems #FitnessMotivation #MindOverMatter #WellnessJourney #GoalVisualization
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