This post is designed to highlight a few things I believe every man should incorporate into their lifestyle in order to obtain awesome levels of strength, a strong mind and truly gangsta energy levels. Its not science, its not going to be full of lab results, its simply some straight talking points on how us men can make some simple changes for an awesome 2012 and beyond.
1) Squat:
Real men do squats. Yeah thats right, you know that exercise you never do because its hard work and because you would rather train your chest….again! Squats are one of my favourite exercises. Believe me its not because they are a pleasure to do, they are very far from it in fact. It’s because they produce amazing results, regardless of your goal. Whether you want to build huge legs, melt body fat or just get crazy strong, every man should perform squats on a regular basis. They boost your metabolism, sky rocket your testosterone and growth hormone levels and lets face it the ladies love a guy with strong legs and buns of steel. As do some guys no doubt 🙂
2) Have a strength goal:
Strength training may not be your thing, well until you try it that is 🙂 I am not saying this because I am a bias strength enthusiast but because I am yet to meet a man who does not love lifting heavy. As an idea the big 3 movements for setting yourself a strength goal on could be either the deadlift, squat, bench press or better still all 3. This will test full body strength. My personal favourites are the squat and deadlift. Have a go at the deadlift and get an idea of what weight you can manage then set yourself a target based on your bodyweight, for me its 2.5 times my bodyweight (250kg). Then structure your training in order to hit your target. With good technique and some structure your poundages will go through the roof and let me tell you that ripping a heavy bar off the floor in one powerful movement and activating so many different muscle fibres is simply euphoric.
3) Get more sleep:
I know you have heard this all before and i’m sure you normally start waffling on about all the reasons why you cant get to sleep earlier etc BUT whats important is that you try. Getting more good quality sleep will improve your life from every angle. Have more energy, higher testosterone levels, better workouts, greater results and just an overall awesome feeling. Aim to get 7 hours sleep each night, and i’m talking good quality sleep. So switch your phone off as soon as you get in from work, have a relaxing epsom salts bath and chill. Before bed apply some magnesium spray to the skin and drift off to an awesome nights sleep.
4) Eat real food:
By this I mean reduce the crappy, processed fake foods in your diet. Thats bread, pasta, sugar, alcohol, cakes, snickers bars, McDonalds etc you get the picture. Im not asking you to cut them out completely but to reduce them. Real men eat real food. Replace this processed nonsense with good quality proteins such as chicken, turkey, duck, steak, lamb and fish. Pile up on organic vegetables and good carb sources such as sweet potato, root veg and rice. Don’t get me wrong I love a drink and have an incredibly intense relationship with ice cream (make of that comment what you will) but I do so in moderation and ensure i’m eating the good stuff 90% of the time. Where possible avoid battery chickens and cheap meat. We have our meat either delivered from www.wellhungmeat.com its all free range, organic and grass fed and is surprisingly well priced considering the quality or we more often than not head to our local butchers who have amazing produce and the quality is unrivalled by supermarkets.
5) Learn to cook:
Chances are its more a case of WONT cook rather than CANT cook. I hear every dam excuse going about why folk cant prepare their own food and to be honest its lame and its boring so get over it. Its time to start rattling those pots and pans and preparing your own breakfast, lunch and dinner. Why? because there are no hidden nasties, you know exactly what is going in to your meals, you have complete control. Im sure the thought of cooking your own meals everyday is somewhat terrifying but have no fear, I have an answer. Cook in bulk………When you cook your dinner on Sunday cook extra veg, whack an extra chicken in the oven so your lunch for the next day is already prepared, hard boil a load of eggs to last a couple of days for snacks. My favourite is cooking a huge chilli con carne that will last a few days and these always taste better a day or two later. Or you can freeze it and save it for the following week. It will probably feel pretty tedious at first but I promise the difference will be amazing. Plus, you will save money as you wont be buying lunch everyday. Once you develop a routine it will be no inconvenience at all. Remember “A six pack is made in the kitchen” Along with an awesome training regime of course 🙂
So what are you waiting for? Man up 😉
BOSH
