Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.

You'll receive:

• 1 reflection from me
• 3 ideas you can use
• 1 question for you

Let's dive in.

What's new this week:

• ​Ep 24: The greatest gift you can give to your kids (Podcast)

Had a great response to our early-bird special on our new online personal training plans, released today (waitlist last week).

We have 15 9 spots left open (6 taken over the past week), and doors will close down on May 25th for the extra bonuses.

There's an extra 15% off tuition for the remaining 9 spots.

You're welcome to read full details on the document here if this is something you're interested in.

Since this is a case study special, there are a few requirements:

• You must be serious and coachable; willing to take direction and follow instructions well.
• Open-minded and willing to test 'unconventional' but highly effective fitness methods to torch body fat and sculpt muscle.
• Willing to let us use your results (photos, measurements, progress, etc) if selected in the future as a case study (with your permission).

If you want to drop 10-30 pounds while shedding extra inches and building up optimal strength, health, and muscle in a simple and sustainable way, you might want to check this out.​

Either way, hope you're having a great May too!

ONE REFLECTION FROM ME

Rest isn't a sexy topic.

Get more sleep, and you'll perform better.

I've leaned more toward pushing harder and training more than toward recovery.

Yet, every year I'm proven wrong.

Recovery is the best thing you can do for your gains.

Recovery is key for everyone, whether you want to lose fat, build muscle, enhance sports performance, or improve overall health.

The reason is simple:

We're bombarded by a 'modern' lifestyle that stresses us from all angles.

Add a caloric deficit (which is physiological stress) and weight training (another form of stress), and you create a lot of stress to manage.

Not to mention family stress, career stress, and general shit-hit-the-fan type of stress.

Recovery and rest are the bodyguards for your well-being.

In a world that keeps pushing you more and more each day, slow down.

The Taoists had a good rule to protect their energy.

Go at things with approximately 70% of your max energy.

Don't go to failure on every set.

Don't burn the candle at both ends.

Don't attach your health and fitness to the all-or-nothing mindset.

Do less but do it better.

Better sets. Better meals. Better rest. Better health. A better life.

You don't need to do everything perfectly in your health to win.

But you can't burn yourself out each day.

Less is more.

At least that's what I'm continuing to learn.

Lesson: Do the right things in the right amounts. No more, no less.

3 IDEAS FOR YOU

I.

Consistency is the name of the game.

What you can sustain can become permanent.

The all-or-nothing mindset has no place in your health.

Consistency done long enough will always beat perfectionism done in short spurts.

II.

A guideline I've adopted (credit to Andy Morgan) is to aim for no faster than 0.5-0.75% of your bodyweight per week.

The fatter you are, the closer you can push toward 1% per week.

The leaner you are, the closer you should be to 0.5% per week.

How this looks in application:

• I suggest most clients aim for 1-1.25 pounds of fat loss per week.
• If a client is obese or highly overweight, aiming for 1.25 to 1.5 pounds per week might help. However, in my experience, most clients usually lose around 1 pound each week.
• For clients who are smaller or lighter, it may make more sense to aim for 0.5 pounds per week.

The numbers above may seem fast or slow to you.

Sustainability has to be pre-built into your strategy before you start cutting fat and dropping weight.

Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for long-term failure.

III.

Diet breaks are a fancy way of saying you come back up to maintenance calories.

In other words, you stop eating in a deficit and stop dieting.

Diet breaks help interrupt the ongoing slowdown of key body processes. They also reduce the fatigue that builds up the longer you diet.

When it comes to reducing the risk of weight rebound after a fat-loss phase, diet breaks are second to none.

However, don't put the cart before the horse.

Focus on the basics: consistency, nutrition quality and quantity, and training. Use diet breaks when needed.

All helpful things, especially if you have bigger weight loss goals.

ONE QUESTION FOR YOU

What's one fitness goal you've been delaying on?

1 QUOTE FROM OTHERS

I.

"We never stop to consider that our beliefs are only a relative truth that's always going to be distorted by all the knowledge we have stored in our memory."

-Don Miguel Ruiz

Health is never-ending.

That's what our client Vicki shared with me last week.

Thought I'd pass this along to you, too.

It really is.

As promised, your 1-3-1 Friday in less than 5 minutes.

Until next week,

Whenever you're ready, there's 3 ways I can help you:

1. Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram and let's be friends.
2. ​Join our free Facebook Group. Get free trainings on how to get lean and strong with plants.
3. Want to drop body fat and build lean muscle in a fraction of the time with ease? Apply for Accelerator 1:1 coaching.