Pre and Intra workout formulas may be looked at as a novelty training supplement. However if your goals are: More reps - more training volume Less required rest Better brain focus Less muscle fatigue Increased recovery Better muscular pump Faster strength and endurance development The only downside is making sure you’re taking a quality brand, there are a lot of brands that cut corners. If you are someone who takes training and recovery seriously, these can be a game changer to your workouts. This are my personal go to brand, because I know the quality and thoughtfulness went into the design. Prestige Energy Prestige Recovery https://refer.prestigelabs.com/?af=bd0p8kqj Action Items 1. Do you take any supplements currently for performance and recovery? 2. Have you organically progressed in weight selection and strength? 3. Have you seen noticeable changes in body composition and muscle size and/or definition in the last 6 months? *if you’ve never taken a pre-workout supplement, start with a half dose **beta-alanine will give you a tingly/itchy sensation in the beginning. Your body adapts to this very quickly.

Hey all! If I may, I’ll go on a slight tangent and share a recent diet/health related experience. I did a 68 hour fast earlier this week, Sunday evening to Wednesday evening. It just so happened to be during this program. Overall I did it for health benefits, a test of mind and spirit and lastly, to shed some body fat. Day 1 - easy peazy. I added some electrolyte powder to my water. I actually taught some drum lessons for 5 hours and felt fine. Day 2 - a little more difficult. I had 2 cups of bone broth, 1 lunch and 1 dinner. This helped because it had 10g of protein and was 45 cals. Ultimately not terrible. Little activity other than some cleaning around the apt. Day 3 - woke up feeling great! I could have gone longer but I knew I had to break it to get back to life. I’m pretty sure my body was in ketosis, burning fat for energy as opposed to glucose (carbs). I made sure to give myself a 5-6 hour window of refeeding so that’s why I didn’t do the whole 72 hours. The hardest part was properly refeeding. I started with some avocado and olives - felt great. A bit later had some grilled chicken - felt great. Next, honey dew melon - still good. Then I got cocky and made a shredded chicken wrap. The wrap had 15 grams of carbs and too many ingredients and I started feeling…inflamed. It was like a mild inflammation headache - not the end of the world but not pleasant. Next day I finally worked out again, had limited energy but felt good, started eating proper again. I did wind up down around 6.5 lbs from Sunday evening. Mainly showed around my obliques and upper abs. If I were to do it again for that long I would have a much more solid refeeding plan. Reintroducing carbs requires a bit of patience. The body isn’t used to using them as a fuel source so it’s a bit of an insulin and enzyme shock to the system if brought in too soon and worse if processed. At least that’s according to a YouTube deep dive on breaking a fast said. By all means do your own due diligence.

Week 1 Wrap-Up. Discussing the importance of prioritizing protein and calories. How to hit a protein goal. Prioritizing strength vs endurance. Pros and Cons of 2/day training. Importance of staying consistent. Tips on how to get fastest results. We are a week into the challenge. Action Items: What are some wins you've had so far? What are a few challenges you've had? What areas would you like more support? Leave a comment or send me a message.

Log your daily results: Level Up Accountability Sheet - Google Sheets One of the most common questions is how much activity should I be adding? and do I adjust my calories to my daily burn (if you have a fitness tracker) It's definitely rough to get your steps outside right now. My recommendation on this would be to work towards 8,000-12,000 steps/day, in addition to your workout. 3-5x/week of workouts is sufficient to get you on the path. If you wear a fitness tracker and have wondered if you are to adjust based on the number burned.. If your goal is to lose bodyweight/bodyfat the answer is NO. We are trying to create a calorie deficit of 500/day or greater to help the weight come off. If you are burning more than you consume, that is a good thing for now. That means you are burning fuel from your body now, not just your food. How many steps do you get in on a daily basis? How many times/week do like to workout without feeling burned out? If you wear a fitness tracker where does your daily calorie burn match your daily calories consumed?

Log your daily results: Level Up Accountability Sheet - Google Sheets Regardless of how well you let stress get to you or not get to you, having simple techniques to better manage your stress is also one of the biggest keys to improving your body composition. Stress doesn't just show up in the form of anxiety, depression, anger, rage. Stress also comes from exercise, low quality sleep, worrying for others. If you wake up the wrong way, you are setting your body into a stress cycle. Now you're late, the elevator took too long, your boss a _____, your co-workers suck, you didn't have time to make food, you're in a rush to get home to relax now because you had a shit day. Now we crave our "fill in the blank unhealthy cope." If this is the case, you have to realize that we are setting ourselves up to cope because it's the only thing that actually makes us happy. I survived a shit day, now I get to enjoy my cope. If we just take some time to rewrite our script, everything goes a little smoother, and why would I want to cope with something unhealthy? I just had a day full of wins! Here are 5 simple ways to manage stress better: 1. Wake up and get out of bed when your alarm goes off. 2. Spend 5-10 minutes in the morning in gratitude and reaffirm how much you love your life. 3. Have your meals prepared or meal delivery service ready to go so you don't have think about it. 4. Journal your thoughts as negativity appears, so you can shortcut why it's happening and what boundaries you want to work on. 5. Have an evening wind down routine that doesn't involve looking at your phone or watching tv. If you struggle with feeling stressed all the time, and it negatively affects your sleep patterns. Here are a few of my staple supplements I take at night to wind down so I feel energized when I get out of bed in the morning. Prestige Sleep https://refer.prestigelabs.com/?af=bd0p8kqj