Have you ever felt a sense of urgency? A sense of desperation? Pressure? Like you need to lose the weight, build the muscle, or do whatever the thing may be, RIGHT FN NOW? It’s so easy to feel this way, especially when it comes to getting … [Read more...]

Have you ever stopped to think about what it is exactly that you want? Sure, you might have an idea of what it is that you’re working towards. Maybe you want to get stronger. Maybe you want to get leaner. Maybe you want to get … [Read more...]

More often than not, we’re the ones responsible for our lack of consistency. This is the case even if life’s circumstances play a role. We had an awesome meal planned. We set out our gym clothes for a training sesh. We cleared our evening … [Read more...]

We go to the gym. We train. We adapt. What we couldn’t do yesterday, we can do today. What we can’t do today, we’ll attempt again tomorrow. Some days we nail our lifts. Some days we don’t. If we keep showing up. If we keep … [Read more...]

We use fats not only for energy, but also hormone production, cell membrane synthesis, brain and nervous system health, absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K and phytonutrients, and as a source of essential omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty … [Read more...]

Resistance. That force keeping you from doing what you need – and often want – to do. When you know exactly what steps to take next to progress. But you just can’t bring yourself to take them. Or you feel as though all you can do is go … [Read more...]

Fitness is a practice. At the gym, you learn and practice movement patterns in a controlled environment. Squatting with a load. Bending over to pick something up. Reaching. Pulling. These movement patterns are often promoted as what … [Read more...]

So often we get in our own way of success. We self-sabotage. We eat to distract ourselves from emotions. We procrastinate to avoid discomfort. We react to life's circumstances. We second-guess ourselves. We tell ourselves that we’re … [Read more...]

Let’s talk about quitting. There is such a stigma about quitting. Being called a “quitter” can cut deep. Nobody wants to be known as someone who doesn’t finish what they start. Or who gives up when things get tough. The problem is that … [Read more...]

You’ve probably wondered at some point how much carbohydrate you should eat to look, feel, and perform your best. Your efforts might be better spent, however, looking at the quality of your carbs before worrying about the quantity. Here's … [Read more...]

Have you ever wondered why some folks get so fanatical about fitness? Why they make it such a priority? A non-negotiable? It isn’t just about losing fat. Getting stronger. Feeling more energetic. Sure, the whole “look and feel … [Read more...]

There’s not much more exciting than watching top athletic performers. Ridiculous jukes, catches, and hits. Skillful grappling and striking. Draining the clock and sinking a game winning shot. Smashing a world record lift. Seeing … [Read more...]

The process of getting lean, strong, and healthy will repeatedly, without failure, present you with difficult decisions. Choosing between the easy path and the hard path. Between what you want in the moment and what you want for the … [Read more...]

Making progress is awesome. Setting PRs. Losing fat. Building muscle. Improving lab values. Seeing success from our efforts is great. What about those other times? Those times of struggle. When you’re not seeing the progress … [Read more...]

If you're looking to get lean, strong, and healthy, you'll probably want to make eating a ton of vegetables every day a staple habit in your routine. Vegetables are nutritional powerhouses, offering vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals … [Read more...]

Plans are great. Plans can keep us accountable. Plans can help us know what to expect of ourselves. Plans can help us know what to expect of our results (if the plan is sound). As useful as plans are, planning can be a problem at … [Read more...]

The desire to quit is overwhelming at times. It often doesn’t even matter what kind of progress you’re making. Sometimes you’re getting leaning, stronger, and healthier. Sometimes you’re not. The call to throw in the towel doesn’t … [Read more...]

Obvious statement alert. If you want to change how you look, feel, and perform, you’re going to have to change your habits and behaviors. One of the most powerful tools for creating this kind of change is making adjustments to how you eat. That … [Read more...]

“Listen to your body” is an alluring principle for steering our health and fitness efforts. But how does it pan out in practice? How many times has your body encouraged you to eat or drink in a way that was out of alignment with your … [Read more...]

One step you can take to enhance practically every aspect of how you look, feel, and perform is prioritizing protein with every meal. Proteins are chains of amino acids that our bodies use for everything from building muscle and organs to … [Read more...]

Not comparing yourself to others isn’t just some empty advice meant to make you feel better about yourself. Sure, it can have that effect. There’s one reason, though, that it makes sense from a more practical perspective. We’re all … [Read more...]

It’s an unfortunate truth that life doesn’t care if you want to train. Despite your best efforts. No matter how motivated, inspired, or consistent you’ve been. Things come up. Work deadlines. Family commitments. Social … [Read more...]

How many times have you quit taking care of yourself when you weren’t seeing any progress? You tried the diet. You went to the fitness class. You followed the training program. Any when you didn’t see the results you wanted, you … [Read more...]

Some days it’s hard to gauge whether to go to the gym or not. You want to, but you’re feeling a little run down. A little sore. A little fried. A little tired. A little “blah”. You enjoy going to the gym and training hard, but … [Read more...]

One of the most effective tools in your toolbox for getting lean, strong, and healthy is making changes to what you eat. This isn't the only tool in your toolbox, however. There are four steps that have nothing to do with what you’re eating … [Read more...]

Have you ever heard that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others? What if this isn’t *quite* the right advice? It’s true that comparison can lead to feelings of inadequacy. We see others’ results, yet when we emulate their path and do not … [Read more...]

Have you ever felt like you’re not doing well? Like you’re not making progress? Like you’re not moving towards your goals? This happens, and it sucks. The good news is there are steps you can take to get out of this kind of funk. First … [Read more...]

It is so tempting to skip the gym some days. The reasons *not* to train are myriad. There are work commitments. There are happy hours. There’s Netflix. Sometimes, there’s no real tangible reason at … [Read more...]

Have you ever frozen due to uncertainty? You’re thinking about making a change to how you eat. You’re thinking about making a change to how you move. You’re thinking about making some change that might help you look and feel as awesome as … [Read more...]

Have you ever set a health or fitness goal? To reach a specific weight. To hit specific performance target. To bring lab values to within a certain range. Then you make a plan. To train. To eat. To recover. This is generally … [Read more...]

There are days when you just don’t want to do the thing. You don’t want to cook the meal. You don’t want to shop for groceries. You don’t want to go to the gym. You don’t want to meditate. You don’t want to go to bed. Even though … [Read more...]

Have you ever considered if you’re spending too much time and energy working towards looking and feeling awesome? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that taking care of your body isn’t important. It’s *super* important. Your body is … [Read more...]

One of the coolest aspects of health and fitness is that you have the power to create change in your body and your life. You can change how you eat. You can change how you move. You can change how you live. And you’ll see changes in how … [Read more...]

We love "fast". Fast fat loss. Fast strength gains. Fast health improvements. Fast, however, is often at odds with sustainable. Our sense of urgency to look and feel awesome often leads to habits and strategies we won't maintain for … [Read more...]

Do you ever feel like you’re struggling to make consistent progress towards looking and feeling awesome? Doing really freaking well some of the time. Getting stronger. Leaning out. Feeling more energized. Other times, not so … [Read more...]

Let's be real for a minute. Dieting sucks. Exercise sucks. The whole idea of “diet and exercise” just absolutely sucks. Eating things we don’t want to eat. Doing things we don’t want to do. Feeling like we have to choose between … [Read more...]

There are countless ways to assess progress when working towards looking and feeling your best. There is, of course, the scale. There are waist, hip, chest, and other girth measurements. There’s subjective self-assessment in the … [Read more...]

Hey there, I am going to be taking a hiatus from publishing here, at least for the foreseeable future. I will remain active on social media and continue to share a weekly newsletter plus short messages throughout the week to help you live your … [Read more...]

In last week’s post we covered some main points about the nervous system and explored an example of how your nervous system interacts with the rest of your body. In a nutshell, the nervous system controls how you perceive and interact with the … [Read more...]

We love talking about muscles and fat when discussing our fitness goals. We tend to focus on well-known organs like the heart and lungs when working to improve our health. One system that doesn’t get nearly the love it deserves is the nervous … [Read more...]

Many of us find at least some success with our efforts to get lean, strong, and healthy. Some of us, however, seem to find better success than others. Some of us get to a point where we look and feel awesome and stay that way … [Read more...]

So you’ve determined you want to lean out a little bit. The problem is that you know that this will probably mean dealing with hunger. Fortunately, leaning out doesn’t have to mean starving yourself or being miserably hungry all the … [Read more...]

You might have seen the following headlines in the news last week: “Changing your meat-eating habits could mean a longer life, study suggests” (CNN) “Red and processed meat can shorten life, say scientists” (The Guardian) “Eating red meat … [Read more...]

How often have you turned to food in times of uncomfortable, unpleasant, emotion? Stress. Sadness. Loneliness. Anger. Frustration. Overwhelm. You’re not alone. Many of us find ourselves in a pattern of turning to food when we … [Read more...]

You might have seen the following headline on “Psychology Today” this week: “Do Fatty Foods Deplete Serotonin Levels?” (1) You might have also seen this article shared on Reddit, with a headline reading: “Fatty foods may deplete serotonin … [Read more...]

Sometimes we eat for reasons other than nutrition or physiological need. We’re not necessarily hungry. We won’t necessarily benefit nutritionally from what we’re eating. We’re not necessarily eating for any reason related to our health or … [Read more...]

We love demonizing and idolizing specific nutrients, particularly when it comes to their effects on our waistlines and longevity. While carbohydrates have been catching their fair share of heat lately, fat has historically received the brunt of … [Read more...]

Cravings are responsible for more derailed efforts to get lean, strong, and healthy than perhaps any other obstacle. Even when we know we aren’t truly hungry, these strong drives to eat – often for specific foods – can leave us feeling powerless … [Read more...]

You may have seen one or more of the following headlines over the past week: Stop drinking protein shakes! Bulk-up beverages may lead to weight gain, depression and shorter life spans, study suggests (Daily Mail) Drinking too many protein … [Read more...]

The culture of sweat angels and “no pain, no gain” is pervasive in the fitness world. We’re told that getting lean, strong, and healthy has to be brutal. We’re told we have to suffer. We’re told we have to punish ourselves. We’re told we … [Read more...]

There are two problems that most of us struggle with when working to look and feel awesome. We either don’t know what to do or we know what to do but we just don’t do it consistently. The first problem *can be* relatively easy to solve. For … [Read more...]

There’s something about health and fitness that makes it a prime target for perfectionism. This drive for perfection, though, ultimately only leads to feelings of failure and inadequacy. This is because perfection with health and fitness does … [Read more...]

It’s not uncommon for us to be so far from our health and fitness goals that we feel like we’ll never get there. We might even feel at times like we’re headed in the wrong the direction. For some of us, the solution to problems such as these … [Read more...]

Establishing clear, defined goals can be of great worth when it comes to sticking to our eating, training, and recovery habits for the long haul. Goals give us something to work towards. Goals help us define what actions and behaviors we need … [Read more...]

How often are we told to “enjoy the process”? We’re often given this advice when we’re feeling frustrated or impatient with our progress to improve how we look and feel. Most often, we hear this when we aren’t reaching our goals at the pace … [Read more...]

One practice many of us implement to stay on track with our eating habits is tracking our food. Some folks think this practice is a “must”. Some folks think it should be avoided at all cost. The ideal approach isn’t going to be the same for … [Read more...]

One of the most effective ways to make sure that we’re moving towards our health and fitness goals is to track our progress. For many of us, “progress” includes losing some weight. What’s the best way to track weight loss, though? What all … [Read more...]

Particularly when just getting started improving our eating habits, there’s a lot of benefit to not being around foods that we find tempting. When we identify certain foods of which we can’t eat “just one”, or that consistently encourage us to … [Read more...]

When it comes to making changes to our diets in the pursuit of health or fitness goals, we’re often cautioned against taking things to extremes. At face value, this advice is pretty sound. Most of us don’t want to feel like our efforts aren’t … [Read more...]

It’s easy to tell ourselves that we need things that we don’t. We do this all the time, especially when it comes to food. “I need something sweet.” “I need something crunchy.” “I need a drink.” How often do we take a step back, though, … [Read more...]

There’s much benefit to setting specific goals. Goals give us something to work towards. Goals give us metrics against which to gauge our progress. Goals give us a sense of satisfaction when we’ve reached them. When it comes to improving … [Read more...]

Two dietary strategies that have gained quite a bit of popularity over the past several years are the paleolithic (paleo) diet and the ketogenic diet. While these two strategies often end up looking pretty similar, there are differences, and each … [Read more...]

You may already know just how important physical activity is to building and maintaining a lean, strong, healthy physique. That said, knowing and doing are two completely different subjects. Even when we know how important physical activity is, … [Read more...]

Some of us feel like we’re addicted to food. We might feel addicted only to certain foods, like sugary treats or salty, fatty, snacks. We might feel addicted to food in general, without necessarily feeling pulled to any specific type or … [Read more...]

Food is not solely a means for us to acquire the nutrients we need to stay alive. It's is not just sustenance. Sure, some of us choose to look at food in this way, but most of us don’t. Many of us have deeper emotional and mental ties to … [Read more...]

I spend more time than I probably should hanging out in various Facebook groups intended to support members in implementing certain dietary approaches. Most of the groups I hang in are focused on some flavor of paleo, primal, and/or ketogenic … [Read more...]

While I don’t remember the last time I made a new year’s resolution, I appreciate what they are and what they represent. We love milestones. We love new beginnings. We love fresh starts. For so many of us, though, these “fresh starts” … [Read more...]

There are a variety of quotes along the lines of “that which isn’t measured can’t be improved”. The general gist of such quotes is that if you are working to improve something, you should be measuring or tracking your efforts. This concept is … [Read more...]

Sometimes we can feel like there’s always something coming up that’s keeping us from moving towards our health and fitness goals. There are office events. There are social gatherings. There are family commitments. There are … [Read more...]

Food does not only serve to fulfill our bodies’ physiological requirements. There’s often quite a bit of emotion involved with eating. When we sit down with our partners, our kids, our parents, or our friends, food can represent something so … [Read more...]

Let’s follow up on my article a couple of weeks ago about how to say “no, thank you” at social and family gatherings, particularly those like Thanksgiving that are centered around food and drink. As mentioned in that article, many of us might not … [Read more...]

  It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and many of us are coming off of several days on which our actions haven't exactly been guided by physical health. There’s the night before Thanksgiving, where we might meet up with friends from … [Read more...]

For those of us in the United States, this upcoming week will include Thanksgiving, a holiday typically celebrated with a meal with friends and/or family. While the holiday season, in general, presents a challenge to those of making a conscious … [Read more...]

As a general statement, when we eat carbohydrate-rich foods (particularly starches), our bodies break those carbohydrates down into the simple sugar glucose and then sends that glucose to the blood stream. Our pancreases then release the hormone … [Read more...]

How many times have you considered a new diet or training routine, but just couldn’t get started? How many times have you started one or more new habits to improve your health, but just couldn’t stick to it? How many times have you been making … [Read more...]

Sometimes it seems the onslaught of alarmist nutrition news headlines knows no end. This week, we’re going to explore a headline that reads, “Potentially cancer-causing chemical may be in your peanut butter”. Specifically, we’re going to be … [Read more...]

You may have recently seen the headline: “New study finds that fat consumption is the only cause of weight gain” This, like many other news headlines that idolize or demonize single foods and nutrients, probably made you second guess your own … [Read more...]

Huffington Post recently published an article titled, "Everything you know about obesity is wrong" by Michael Hobbes. The article outlines the many ways in which we misunderstand obesity and how our approach to addressing obesity is failing. It … [Read more...]

You might have seen the following headlines in the news recently. “Avoid low-carb diets if you want to live longer, study suggests” (Fox23 News) “Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests” (BBC) “Meat-heavy low-carb diets can … [Read more...]

There’s a theory - one with which you are probably familiar - that carbohydrates drive obesity, primarily through elevating the hormone insulin. It's often suggested that it’s not excessive calories that drive fat accumulation, but rather … [Read more...]

Late last year I went in for an annual physical, part of which (as you might imagine) involved a blood draw. When the results of the draw came back, the physician informed me that everything looked good except that I was “anemic”. I didn’t … [Read more...]

Last week I shared a summary of the lipid panel results from my blood test following 30 days of eating nothing but ground beef, salt, and water. This week I’ll be exploring my fasting blood glucose, liver enzymes, and kidney markers from the same … [Read more...]

You are probably going to learn a whole lot more about blood lipids in this blog post than you are about my experience with eating nothing but meat for 30 days. Oh, and I'm not a doctor, physician, or dietitian. Don't make any medical or … [Read more...]

Nothing gets under my skin quite like headlines, especially those that serve as nothing more than emotion-eliciting click-bait. You’ve probably already seen how this happens in the world of politics. Two news outlets can report on the same … [Read more...]

I used to be a smoothie guy. That’s right. Every morning, I would wake up, grab a variety of fruits, veggies, fats, and protein, throw 'em all in a blender, and then chug ‘em down. I did this for months - perhaps even over a year - … [Read more...]

Have you ever received advice suggesting that you should “find balance”? Many of us hear this and assume that we need to devote equal time and energy to all efforts and commitments. That we shouldn’t devote too much of our time or energy to any … [Read more...]

If you’ve ever set out to improve your health or lose weight through making changes to your eating habits, chances are you’ve heard one of these two phrases: “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle” “Diets don’t work” I understand that these two … [Read more...]

Have you ever felt like a failure? Your weight isn’t budging. Your strength has plateaued. Your health still sucks. You feel like you are doing everything right, but you just aren’t seeing any changes. Hell, maybe you feel like you’re … [Read more...]

Have you ever given up on your eating habits because you felt deprived, or restricted? Have you ever felt like an outcast, or embarrassed at family or social functions, because you have to explain that you “can’t” eat something? You don’t have … [Read more...]

Did you know that we eat for reasons other than physical hunger - that is, reasons other than to provide our bodies the protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals they require? Shocker, I know. I probably didn’t need to tell you that. Seriously, … [Read more...]

Our efforts to be leaner, stronger, and healthier are often driven by rules. We expect that so long as we follow the rules, our bodies will change for the better. We put our height, weight, age, and sex into an online calculator and – so long … [Read more...]

How many times have you been cruising along, nailing your new diet or training strategy - your meals on point, crushing your workouts, making good progress… And then something comes up that throws a little kink in your plans? You’re at a dinner … [Read more...]

When we first learn to ride a bike, we don’t enter the Tour De France and then beat ourselves up for not winning. We start with training wheels, and then slowly transition to free riding as our confidence and balance improve. When we first … [Read more...]

So many times it’s not that we don’t know what to do to lose fat, get stronger, and improve our health. We know that there is no “one size fits all” solution – as much as fitness marketers want us to believe that this is the case, and that their … [Read more...]

The only way to create sustainable change in our bodies is to create sustainable change in our habits, our behaviors, and even our parts of our identities. We know this. We know that our health and fitness are reflections of our lifestyles, and … [Read more...]

When you close your eyes and imagine what life looks like once you’ve reached your goal weight, chances are you don’t think to yourself… “Thank God there’s less gravitational attraction between the Earth and myself.”. When you picture what your … [Read more...]

Last week we discussed how consistency matters more than perfection - so long as over time our actions move us closer to our goals more than they move us away from our goals - and wrapped things up with a few questions for you to consider: “Am I … [Read more...]

If you'll recall from our discussion on homeostasis, our bodies are dynamic systems – constantly responding and adapting to their environments in an effort to maintain the conditions necessary for survival. Let’s take a look at how this “dynamic … [Read more...]

So many of us spend all of our free time reading and watching videos about the latest science in nutrition, training, and lifestyle. We carefully calculate how many grams of carbs, protein, and fat to eat in order to lose fat, excel in our … [Read more...]

If you’ve been reading my writing for any appreciable amount of time, you probably know that I like to look at things through an evolutionary lens. I’ve written before that our accelerating rates of chronic disease and obesity might be the result … [Read more...]

Last week we discussed the six areas in which we’ll need to focus in order to be optimally healthy: Food Movement Sleep Stress Management Community Environment To kick off our exploration of each of these a bit further, let’s … [Read more...]

We typically only think of "diet and exercise" when it comes to the factors involved in building a lean, strong, healthy body. While what we eat and how we move are important, they only make up a part of the equation when it comes to improving how … [Read more...]

Last week we explored the idea of stress being any threat to or deviation from homeostasis – the conditions our bodies maintain to ensure survival and reproduction – and covered a couple of examples of how our bodies are equipped to respond, and even … [Read more...]

Over the past few weeks we’ve been exploring the idea of using an evolutionary framework to guide our efforts to get lean, strong, and healthy AF. This framework is based on the following concepts: Our bodies comprise trillions of cells, … [Read more...]

In my last post, we discussed a few of the reasons that there is no “one size fits all" solution when it comes to improving one's fitness and health. At this point, there just begs one question – how in the world do we get started if we’re all so … [Read more...]

You’ve probably already recognized that there are countless different ways different people are improving their body composition, performance, and health status, and you might feel like it’s been a crapshoot figuring out what works best for … [Read more...]

Many of us feel like we’re trapped inside of our bodies - like there’s “us” and then there’s “our body”, and the two don’t always agree or get along. All we want to do is to look good, move well, feel healthy, and get on with our lives, yet we … [Read more...]

So many of us kick off our efforts to improve how we look, feel, and perform by looking for answers. We want to know exactly what, when, and how much to eat. We want to know exactly how often to train, and what kind of training is ideal. We … [Read more...]

The subject of calories can be a real tricky one, and I don't intend for this blog post to be an in-depth exploration of the physiology of fat loss with respect to how much food we eat. However, there are a few key points that I'd like discuss, as … [Read more...]

Every year my day job employer gets the entire company together at a hotel for a weekend for an event called the “Annual Business Meeting”. We typically have a small “meet and greet” with drink tickets and food that Friday, spend Saturday morning … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago, I shared with you the story of having my world turned upside down with the revelation that saturated fat and cholesterol really aren’t the boogeymen that we’ve been told for decades that they are. Well, my little tumble down the … [Read more...]

Take a stroll with me down memory lane to the early 2000's and picture in your head a much younger, but still dashingly handsome, Rob Arthur. We're going to talk a bit about the formative years in my life as an athlete, and explore the ways a … [Read more...]

It's been a few weeks since I've published anything completely unrelated to training, nutrition, or fitness in general. Since Friday marked the end of my 32nd trip around the Sun since exiting my mother's womb, I figured I'd share with you 32 … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago I shared with you my experience with a vegan diet and why I gave it up.  Now we'll cover the next major step in my understanding and practice of nutrition - no longer fearing saturated fat or cholesterol. From TN to VA and teaching … [Read more...]

In case you couldn't tell from my previous posts, I'm generally pretty "diet agnostic" and am open to the merits of ways of eating that don't necessarily align with my personal views of what's optimal - which I know I haven't quite written about yet, … [Read more...]

Every year in January, U.S. News & World Report releases their ranked list of "Best Diets". Every year in January, I read over this list, roll my eyes, and try not to let too much of me die inside. While I could harp on my general opinion … [Read more...]

It's January 14th, 2018 - two weeks after the beginning of the New Year (for those of us following a Gregorian calendar). Two weeks. Fourteen Days. How quickly did this time go by? I don't know about you, but I thought it went by pretty … [Read more...]

Before we proceed, let's be crystal clear about something... I'm not here to pick on vegans or the vegan diet. I will be writing plenty of articles about plenty of different ways of eating - especially those I've personally tried (like this … [Read more...]

2017 is gone. It no longer exists except as electrical signals in your brain. 2018 will be here shortly, and that's all that matters now. Even having said that, these years are all just arbitrary thoughts and concepts. Really, all we … [Read more...]

Christmas is a weird time for lots of us - myself included.   Some of us see it as a time to spend with friends and family.   Some of us see it as a time of loneliness.   Some of us see it as a time to exchange material … [Read more...]

Death can be one of the most difficult challenges to deal with during our time here. Last week, I had to deal with this challenge following the loss of a friend. This man was not my best friend; he and I would not have been best men in each … [Read more...]

This weekend I watched "The Force Awakens" in preparation for the upcoming release of "The Last Jedi".  At the time of the writing of this article, the second trailer has 39 million views, and I'm fairly confident I account for at least 5% of those.  … [Read more...]