Here’s the deal on alcohol: The ideal or healthy amount of alcohol in your diet is ZERO. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Not one glass of wine a day for the resveratrol or a drink after work to take the edge off. The much celebrated health benefits were all a ruse. A case of "when marketing meets wishful thinking." The results from multiple randomized trials keep rolling in and they’re unequivocal: any amount...

I hear it from clients from time to time. I'm sorry I let you down. It happens after a rough stretch where they fail to hit the process targets required to reach their goals, and the calendar is now their enemy. I tell them that life happens and they haven’t let me or even themselves down. Because whatever week we're at in our plan, it's still just the third quarter. I remember a Pittsburgh...

I get a variation of this question from clients about once a week: Hey Coach, I'm starting to dread the weekends, mainly because of cheat meals. Sometimes I go overboard when I start eating and they become full blown cheat days. It's like a slippery slope once I eat something like pizza or ice cream. It can get so bad that I can't be remotely sure how much I eat that day to even begin to log it,...

The day was cold and rainy and too much like autumn for June. It was the anniversary of Anthony Bourdain’s death. I miss Bourdain. I feel like I knew him—or at least I identified with what he was about. He was a late bloomer with a sharp wit and curious mind who didn’t hit his stride until his forties, when he accepted his demons and went all-in on his talent. That spoke to me. How he never...

I spent years as a coach for an online macro coaching company. Here’s a dirty little secret. They stay in business by sheer numbers. They have to recruit new people to sign up continually, so the coaches find ten shining examples of clients who have great-looking transformation profiles. - from "If You Want A Body Like Mind, Don't Do What I Do" I missed this article when it came out, even though...

Awhile back, I happened upon a post from a colleague: “If your coach gives you something to do but won’t tell you why when you ask, get a new coach.” I understand the point: your coach should show they’ve got some reasoning behind their decisions. Most of the time, this is good advice. Our industry is built on a foundation of bro-science, assumption, tradition, and — of course — bullshit. I’m...

This week, I want to field a question I've received a few times recently: Why does it seem like all the fitness influencers are recommending using lighter weights? Maybe a better question is this: why would heavier weights be more popular? Heavier loads (1-6 reps) are ideal for developing strength. They can also build size (hypertrophy) if you accumulate enough "productive reps" aka reps at or...