I'll Tell Ya What.

In light of my 33rd rotation around the sun, I’d like to take today’s article to hit on a few different questions I’ve gotten lately in the realm of strength, conditioning, health, and general protocols. Pulling from my own opinions, experiences, and understandings.
I have and still do coach athletes, military personnel, beginners, intermediates, and in all age groups.
I whole heartily believe that everyone should exercise in some capacity everyday. Dips in health and quality of life will always be a factor, the only changing variable is the when. So might as well start doing something about it now.

I’ve compiled a bunch of questions and things I’ve seen into a few talking points. It’s definitely not everything, but I did try to hit on important and seemingly reoccurring topics.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. It’s okay to train for General Physical Preparedness (GPP) which usually consists of strength training, conditioning, and mobility work. Making you well-rounded, and usually implemented during a off-season or higher calorie/rest period. This way you are able to adapt to multiple modalities without burnout. Typically if you’re an athlete you will also have your sport-specific training in whatever capacity that looks like.

Now, understanding that if you’re someone who has a specific goal in-mind (muscle size, strength, fat loss, cardiovascular, etc), training for an event or sport, you need to alter your training, recovery, and schedule around that outcome.
For example: If you’re training to do a powerlifting meet, it’s safe to say you probably shouldn’t be doing a ton of conditioning work. I would say you still need to sprinkle in some weekly cardio for heart, recovery, and blood flow, but it’s not your main concern. I’m assuming you also won’t be doing much plyometric work. Why? Because your event calls for you to lift as much weight as you can in only a few exercises. Basically… you’re not training to squat as much as humanly possible, while also training to run a marathon.

Training, just like life can have different periods.
Stop trying to train everything all at once.
Focus on the training for your desired outcome.
Periodize your training week to week, month to year.

There is an unfortunate issue with social media doctors, professionals, influencers… You need to remember that nowadays social media is a business model for your attention and money.
Let me clarify that I’m not saying everything they say is wrong or evil, but please take everything as half truths. Nothing that actually works is sexy enough to sell. And if it does, and is, it’s the exception.
Remember: It takes almost no skill or understanding to make short clips or drawn out videos nowadays.

Dr. Rohnda Patrick is a biochemical scientist that is also a content creator. I do respect her work and most of her content. However, the issue that’s becoming more and more prevalent, is that she over analyzes and exaggerates the actual findings in research articles. This causes people to follow what she says, even if it has no real baring or is full of half-truths.
Which in-turn gets under my skin, because it just gives health and fitness even more invisible barriers for those trying to get healthy and fit.
I’ll give you a quick example: Recently there was a small (and I mean small) study that suggests that bananas contain an enzyme that when mixed with other fruits containing high polyphenols, like berries, that it’ll cancel the health benefits out. This is absurd, and do not follow the advice. You can have banana and berry smoothies, snacks, and what have ya. This is a classic case of making content for social media. Pushed out without sufficient evidence, and in my opinion attempting to lead with ego and fear-mongering to make yourself a dominant voice in the industry.

This response is going to touch on a couple questions/answers…
Yes, protein is extremely important for everyone, and especially for those who are physically active. The exciting part about our bodies is that there are many factors and mechanisms that come into play when it comes to adaptation. Protein is one piece to the puzzle.

In terms of hormones, in-particular the ones that we love to talk about in the fitness community; you know, the ones that help us not only build but repair our tissue… well all of those hormones have a precursor: cholesterol. Yup, that thing everyone seems to be afraid of, and it’s derived from lipids (fats). The negative effects typically come from eating excessive carbs/fats and being sedentary. So in other words… protein won’t repair anything without the hormone signal. Which means you probably should be eating a bit more fat (while still exercising regularly) to maintain healthy hormone levels. Arguably making fat the most important macro nutrient, right? No. Because nuances.
This was a simple example that there is way more that comes into play with how our bodies function as a whole.

Again, eating adequate protein is important. Aim for one to one match of pound of body weight to one gram of protein daily and you’ll be in the safe zone. Most likely more than you even need, but it’s a good set number. But it’s okay for this to fluctuate depending on training, schedule, life, etc.
Also, there are usually bigger fish to fry… Like sleep, actual rest/recovery (not on your phone, computer, etc), consistency, and eating fruits and vegetables regularly.
Quit with the laundry list of supplements. Eat some real food. Go learn how to read/write… and do it often. And for the love of all that is good, fix your damn sleep.
I’m telling you, the number one thing you can do for your training and health is getting enough SLEEP. Not more protein. Not a multi-vitamin. Not even red-light therapy. It’s sleep. With all the other boring, non-sexy things falling right under it on the list of most important.

Lastly, this goes for every point I’ve spoken about:
Stop over complicating things. Not everything needs to be, or will be fully “optimal.”

Just do your best. It’s all we got.

Train smart, but never forget to train hard.