There is a growing and prominent movement towards health and fitness that is making its way
into the mainstream media over the last couple years.
And this is so important.. here’s why:
“74% of Americans are overweight or obese. 50% now of American adults have type 2 diabetes
or pre-diabetes. These were diseases where there was 1% of Americans in 1950 had type 2
diabetes. Now, it’s 50% of Americans have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Alzheimer’s dementia are going through the roof. Young adult dementia have increased three
times since 2012… we’re seeing this, 1 in 2 Americans are expected to have cancer in their
lifetime now, 1 in 2.
And young adult cancers are going up 79% in the last 10 years. We’ve got, of course, the autism
rates are absolutely astronomical. 1 in 36 children has autism now in the United States…”
The above is a quote from Casey Means during a podcast that he and his sister Dr. Calley Means
did with Joe Rogan recently. They have been making waves by appearing on many of the top
podcasts in the country and helping to bring awareness to improve food and healthcare in our
country.
Another example of the growing awareness around health is Dr. Peter Attia’s 2023 Book-
Outlive- The Science & Art of Longevity. It has over 16,000 reviews on Amazon and has been
one of the top rated and most purchased books in the last couple years.
Even health podcasts such as Huberman Lab, hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman- Phd and
Stanford professor and researcher, is now one of the top podcasts in the world and covers a wide
range of health and fitness topics.
People are waking up to the idea that we as a society are moving in the wrong direction when it
comes to our health and fitness.
But as more and more information comes to light about how bad our food is, our physical
activity level, our sleep patterns, our lack of exposure to sunlight, even many of the cleaning
products and things we use around the house can be making us much unhealthier.
— all of this can be pretty overwhelming.
The more you learn, the more it seems impossible to make all of these changes.
So instead of utilizing this knowledge to take steps in the right direction, many people do
nothing.There is too much information and too many things that we are all doing wrong, that many of us
have no idea where to even start, so instead we just stay exactly where we are, and don’t make
any changes.
This is a common case of paralysis by analysis.
I see it all the time when it comes to health and fitness, and even outside of the context that I just
presented.
Many people get stuck, because they want to know every single step along the way and exactly
what to expect and what changes they should see after one week, one month, 3 months, 6
months, etc etc..
The problem is there are way too many variables to have all of these answers. So I want to give
you a very simple framework to get past this type of thinking— it’s called ABZ.
A is where you are now. B is your next step. Z is your end goal.
You do not need to know C-Y to have success in accomplishing your goal.
All you need to know is what is your next step, and what is the end goal you are driving towards.
Then when you have finished B, you move on to C, and you simply take it one step at a time.
So what is “B” for your health and fitness..
Strength training at least 2-3 times per week in a structured plan.
That’s it.
If you have that down, you can move on to making changes in your diet, sleep, stress, etc.. but
just one thing at a time.
If you are not strength training at least 2-3 times per week for at least 45-60 minutes in a
structured plan for the last 3-6 months consistently— you should hire a trainer.
There is probably a hundred or even a thousand things you can change to optimize your health,
but the biggest domino that will have the greatest impact is a consistent strength training routine.
Everything else will follow from there.