My workouts and meals are almost embarrassingly consistent from week to week.
There’s really nothing special about them, but I get asked about them a lot nonetheless. The consistency is where the traction is made. I’m a big believer in sticking to workouts over long periods of time to allow your body to grow and adapt, and I’m a big believer in eating the same meals on a regular basis because your gut knows what to do with them. Let’s start with the workouts.
Workouts
I generally workout 4-5 days per week, and my rest days aren’t structured. I simply take a day off when I can tell my body needs it. My workouts are usually broken into two parts – strength and intervals.
For strength, I focus on a push day (bench press or overhead press), a hinge day (deadlift or kettlebell swings), a squat day (back squat or front squat), and a pull day (pull-ups). I almost always do high weights (80% of my one rep max or higher) and low reps (5 or fewer).
For intervals, I focus on rowing, running, or double-unders (jump rope). The structure doesn’t much matter. My most common interval structures are Tabata (20 second sprint, 10 second rest, repeated for 4 minutes), or a 1 minute sprint followed by 1 minute of rest, repeated until I’m worn out.
A very typical week looks something like the following.
Monday
- Bench press – 3 sets of 3 reps as heavy as possible
- Double-unders – 250 as fast as possible
Tuesday
- Back squat – 3 sets of 3 reps as heavy as possible
- Rowing – Tabata
Wednesday
- Shoulder press – 3 sets of 3 reps as heavy as possible
- Running – (4) 400 meter sprints with 1:00 rest between
Thursday
- Deadlift – 3 sets of 3 reps as heavy as possible
- Burpees – 100 as fast as possible
Friday
- Pull-ups – 10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 as fast as possible wearing a weight vest
- Rowing – 500 meter sprint, 400 meter sprint, 300 meter sprint, 200 meter sprint, 100 meter sprint, with 30 seconds rest between each
Though a few of the details vary a bit from week to week, the gist is always the same – lift heavy and breathe hard. And it’s worked for me for over a decade.
Meals
My meals are kind of like my workouts – super simple and get the job done. Even though nutrition is one of my favorite subjects to study and read about, in my own life I try not to overthink it. I just stay consistent.
To start, I fast every day until 1pm (or later). The only thing I consume in the morning is water and black coffee, and I won’t eat anything until after my workout which I usually start at noon. This generally means I fast for 16-18 hours per day. I’m not as strict on the weekends. I’ll usually end up fasting one of the days, but if pancakes with the fam pops up as an option, I won’t pass it up.
After my fast and my workout, here’s my typical meals during the week.
Lunch
- 4 whole eggs (we buy Vital Farms pastured eggs)
- Green smoothie – sugar free almond milk, vegan protein powder, spinach
Snack
Dinner
- Ground beef bowl – grass fed ground beef, broccoli, sweet potato, white rice
Dessert
- Lily’s Salted Almond and Milk Chocolate Bar (I eat half, and these bars don’t have added sugar)
And that’s it. Every weekday looks like some variant of the above. That’s not to say I never skip a workout (I do) or that we never get a pizza instead (we do). But those are the exception, not the rule. Consistency is key in fitness and diet. Find some workouts and meals that you enjoy (and are good for you), and let habit take care of the rest.