The reality is improving your health and fitness can be achieved by some of the smallest and simplest choices and behaviors every day.
Let’s talk about them.
First, ‘improve health and fitness’ can mean different things to different people.
It could mean losing weight, lowering blood pressure, improving heart health, getting stronger, eating healthier, and so on.
What we’ll mostly be going over in this article is general health and fitness, which can encompass a variety of related areas like the ones mentioned above.
I’ll also cover some simple weight loss and weight gain protocols, as well. Let’s get into it..
SIMPLE EXERCISE PROTOCOLS
General movement / more steps
Step count is gaining more popularity these days, and for good reason.
Our bodies are designed to move. Being too sedentary (not moving a lot, being lazy) actually increases risk of things like cardiovascular disease, weight gain, blood sugar problems and diabetes, and even poor cognitive/mental health.
But that doesn’t mean everyone has to become a runner, or intense athlete..
Research has shown that simply getting in more steps each day can greatly reduce the risk of developing the health issues mentioned above, among other things.
The common recommendation for a healthy step count to aim for is around 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day.
However, if you’ve been so sedentary to where you only manage maybe a couple thousand or less steps per day, increasing your step count in general will be beneficial to you. Start small and work your way up!
- Get up and walk around if you have some down time
- Get steps in while brushing your teeth or talking on the phone
- The classic, park further from the store, but always an easy way to more steps
- Purposely take multiple trips when bringing in the groceries
Stuff like that!
Simple resistance training protocol
Resistance training, or lifting weights, is incredibly beneficial to the body for multiple reasons.
Stronger bones, stronger body, stronger mind, better blood sugar control, better metabolism, the list goes on.
The thing is, in order to get these benefits you don’t have to be killing yourself in the gym 5 to 7 days a week for hours and hours.
A simple resistance training protocol to still reap the benefits? Here’s an example:
Full body workout
2 – 3x per week
1-2 exercises per muscle group
performing 2-3 sets each
You could also follow an Upper body / Lower body workout split, as well.
Sticking to the basic compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, rows, pressing movements, etc, for a few sets at least twice per week keeps it simple and straight forward while still providing all the benefits you need.
‘Grease the Groove’
Grease the groove is a concept that was popularized by fitness coach Pavel Tsatsouline. It refers to the act of performing only 1-5 reps of a certain exercise frequently throughout the day.
The way it works is you choose an exercise, typically one you’re looking to improve on (squats, lunges, pushups, pullups, crunches, whatever), and perform only 1-5 reps of the exercise several times throughout the day, usually with a few hours in between.
This could be any time you walk in or out of a particular room, or after each episode of whatever show you’re binging, something like that.
This actually has great benefits, especially for anyone who isn’t used to working out.
It helps train the neuromuscular system which improves strength and movement for that exercise & muscle group(s) involved, it can help increase muscular endurance, and can lead to a foundation of muscle growth.
It also helps with simply keeping your body moving and active throughout the day.
EASY HEALTH PROTOCOLS
Get at least 20g – 30g of fiber each day
Just like step count, fiber has also become more popular recently, and for very good reason!
Helping to increase satiety, manage hunger and cravings, improve gut health, and lower risk of colon cancer are just some of the amazing benefits of fiber.
The crazy thing is, in the United States, roughly 97% of people aren’t getting even the minimum recommended daily amount of fiber.
The good news is that getting more natural fiber is pretty easy!
Fiber is found, to varying degrees and types, in all plant foods. Simply eating more fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains is a simple way to increase the amount of fiber you eat.
Some of the best sources, though, are:
- Fruit – berries, apples, pears
- Legumes – beans, lentils, chickpeas
- Whole grains – oats, quinoa, brown rice, popcorn, whole wheat bread & pasta
- Vegetables – broccoli, brussel sprouts, beets, artichokes
Research has shown that getting around 20g – 30g per day is a great spot to be in. And as long as your digestion is adapted and can handle it, getting even more can continue to be beneficial!
Have leafy greens / a salad every day
Leafy greens are some of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet, while being incredibly low in calories.
I don’t always have the time to throw together a salad, so I personally treat leafy greens almost like daily medicine where I try to have 2-3 handfuls per day. More if I’m feeling up to it.
It might not be the most delicious thing ever – although my tastebuds have adapted! – but it’s quick, simple, and nutritious as hell.
However, if you prefer, you can always have your leafy greens in a daily salad, or even a smoothie.
Either way, leafy greens are a super simple and quick way to improve your health!
Have at least 2 servings/pieces of fruit per day
Fruit is amazing.
It won’t make you fat.
Anyone who says it will is simply having mental malfunctions from not eating fruit for so long.
That was my poem.
Anyway..
Fruit is delicious, it’s nature’s candy, and it’s packed with fiber, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, and love from mother Earth herself.
Having at least 2 servings or pieces of fruit each day is a deliciously simple healthy habit to adopt.
The top 5 best fruits (according to me):
- Berries – all of them
- Honeycrisp apples
- Mangoes
- Nanners
- Pineapple
Also, kiwi.
Use soups and stews to increase fiber & veggie intake
These dishes make it super easy to get a lot of veggies and fiber in one meal. And they’re great vehicles for certain foods you might not like on their own, such as quinoa or lentils.
But you can take those and create a delicious quinoa, lentil, vegetable soup or stew, for example. Adding things like chopped veggies, leafy greens, and potatoes!
Choose whole carb sources over refined carb sources
Similar to fruit, carbs themselves are not going to ‘make you fat’, or be a detriment to your health. The distinction comes in when we talk about whole carbs vs. refined carbs.
People like to take the effects of refined carbs and extrapolate them to all carbs in general, claiming they’re just sugar, and are going to mess with insulin and cause weight gain and a bunch of other bullshit.
Don’t believe people that say things like this.
These people are idiots.
Carbs are our bodies’ preferred energy source. They get broken down into what’s called glucose in the blood, and then stored in our muscle and liver cells as glycogen. This glycogen then serves as a primary fuel source for our body and muscles. This even includes the brain!
But again, this is coming mainly from whole or complex carb sources that also contain things like fiber, protein, and other nutrients.
Examples of healthy complex carbs include foods like fruit, oats, whole wheat bread or pasta, beans, lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, brown rice.
Refined carbs have the fiber and nutrients stripped away, leaving only the sugars, which are absorbed rapidly and can spike blood sugar more than usual, and lead to poor management of glucose, which can have numerous downstream health effects.
Examples of refined carbs are things like added sugars, white flour, white bread, white pasta, enriched wheat flour, white rice, candy, and desserts.
As well as containing fiber, protein and other healthy nutrients, whole, or complex, carb sources also help to fill you up and keep you satiated more than refined carbs.
Fermented foods
Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut or kimchi, have been shown to be tremendously beneficial for gut health. They help give rise to certain gut bacteria that are associated with positive health benefits such as healthy digestion, reduced inflammation, hormone management, and improved immune system, to name a few!
EASY WEIGHT LOSS PROTOCOLS
If your goal is healthy weight loss, here are some of the simplest things you can do to kick start your transformation..
- Eat more nutrient dense, fibrous foods, and less calorically dense processed foods
- Increase step count – work up to 7,500 to 10,000 per day
- Follow a simple resistance training program
- Keep high fat foods limited – nuts, nut butters, avocado, cooking oils, butter
No crazy workout programs, no running miles and miles every day, no juicing or starving all the time. Just simple, actionable things, and minor changes, done consistently, are all that are really needed for transformation.
EASY WEIGHT GAIN PROTOCOLS
If you’re someone who is looking to gain weight and finds it difficult to eat enough, consider some of these simple ass tips:
- Eat more calorically dense foods such as nuts, nut butters, avocado, cooking oils, etc – a classic PB & J is an easy option!
- Strength train – focus on building strength and muscle, lifting slightly on the heavier side sticking to lower to moderate rep ranges
- Try to avoid getting too many steps – step count is great, but if you’re looking to gain weight and you already burn a lot of calories, be cautious of getting more than 10,000 steps per day
- Weight yourself 1-3x per week – aim for weight gain of 0.5lb – 1lb per week, slightly increase food intake until you see progress
THANKS FOR READING!
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