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The other day I was having a conversation with a friend and we started talking about fitness.

He was exercising regularly and wanted to lose a couple of pounds while upgrading his fitness.

Now, my friend is an entrepreneur & not in the fitness field.

When he asked me about things he could do I started spouting off all these advanced techniques.

As I was in mid-sentence talking about the mitochondrial system I had to stop.

He had this look on his face like he was lost in a maze and didn't know the way out.

At that moment, I realized that there are things I take for granted that are not common sense to someone who's not in fitness.

It's like this in any field of endeavor.

There are things that seem basic to you but when explained to the average person it would make their head spin.

Often times we take this knowledge for granted because we're so "in the trenches" of what we do.

So let me tell you what I ended up telling my friend to do.

Here's a list of 7 powerful fitness hacks to start doing now:

1. The 3-2-1 sleep method.

No eating 3 hours before going to bed.

No drinking liquids 2 hours before going to bed.

No social media, email, or screens one hour before going to bed.

Not eating allows your body to sleep deeper & improve digestion.

Not drinking water is for the people who wake up in the middle of the night & go pee.

No social media, email, or screen time helps your brain turn off before going to bed.

2. Walking.

I mentioned this in a previous journal but it's so underrated I needed to mention it again.

Walking boosts energy, mood, and creativity, increases BDNF & improves white matter in the brain.

The best times to get a walk-in is either first thing in the morning, in the middle of your day, or at the end.

You'll find yourself more calm, less stressed, and more creative as a result of doing it.

3. Pay yourself first.

If you find it hard to get your workouts in do them first thing in the morning before your body knows what it's doing.

This works because it gives you energy & you accomplish your biggest win first thing in the morning.

4. Front load protein. Backload carbs.

Not eating protein to begin the day puts you in a catabolic state (muscle wasting)

If you work a desk job eating carbs during the day can slow you down because they induce sleepiness especially when not paired with physical activity.

So we eat protein early to help start the muscle-building process and we eat carbs at night to help entrain our bodies to sleep faster.

(And eating carbs at night will not make you fatter. Eating too many calories does that.)

5. Full-out cardio at least once a week

At least once per week do something that gets to close to a maximum heart rate. It could be as little as 30 seconds or as much as 12 minutes.

This small but intense amount of exercise helps you improve your:

· Cardiovascular output
· Stroke volume of the heart
· Resting heart rate
· Lung capacity
· Nitric oxide release, capillaries & mitochondrial function

Stress causes adaptation. Going close to failure helps you push adaption in the gym and it will do the same for your cardio.

Think of this as heavy lifting for your cardiovascular system.

6. Farmer carries

This is the exercise no one is doing enough of.

Farmer carries are a strength endurance exercise that hits most of your major muscles, improves your grip & provides a cardio stimulus.

You simply carry a pair of heavy dumbbells & walk 20-50 paces back & forth.

An example of a farmer carry would be the image on this email.

7. Nose Breathing

You have two states of being: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic.

Sympathetic puts you in a stressed-out state. It's great for getting hyped up and energetic.

Parasympathetic is a relaxed state. It's great for de-stressing and concentration.

Breathing through your mouth puts you in a sympathetic state.

Breathing through your nose puts you in a parasympathetic state.

But that's not all.

Humans were meant to breathe through our noses.

Nose breathing helps your diaphragm work properly, slows down breathing, decreases stress, increases oxygen intake, improves lung volume & improves sleep.

When possible breathe primarily through your nose.

I'll do a journal on this at some point but for now, let's get some of that good old oxygen through your nose.

After sharing this list with my friend he "got it". It was easy enough for him to understand and simple enough to follow.

It was tactical with a blend of behavioral changes that could help make positive changes to his lifestyle.

What you have in your hands right now are 7 unique ways to improve your fitness.

Which ones are you doing? Which ones are you not doing?

Choose the one that looks most effective for you and get started.

Onwards and upwards,

- Dan

PLUS: Whenever you're ready... Here is one way I can help you get your body back into shape.

1. Work with us One-on-One

If you're an entrepreneur & would like to work directly with us to lose excess weight in a sustainable way... Click here to get started.