Article Review - 3 Strength Exercises Everyone Should Do

You can't really go wrong with the recommendations in this article:

The Three Strength Exercises Everyone Should Do

1) Loaded Carries - simple, and there are so many ways to do them.

2) Trap Bar Deadlift - technically easier than the deadlift, and most trap bars come with higher handles to deal with deadlifting with restricted mobility. I use this as my main heavy bilateral lift with my clients. I only teach straight bar deadlifts to people who need to straight bar deadlift for other reasons. If all you need to do is get stronger, we keep with the trap bar.

3) Squats - some variation of the squat is critical. I generally teach a lunge, though, rather than a traditional squat. If you can trap bar deadlift, and you can lunge, you can pretty much execute most daily life movements while utilizing what you've built in the gym. Still, a lunge is ultimately a single-leg variation of a squat.

Good stuff from Greg Nuckols.

Don't Choke

The Guardian put up an very interesting article about choking in sports:

Under Pressure: Why Athletes Choke

If you're training, the takeaways are:

- Have a routine to calm yourself under stress

- Don't rush when you're under stress

- Train under conditions that more closely match competition.

When I did my first grappling tournament, despite my prior experience fighting MMA, I was very nervous. I went out, and my coach said, "Just like class." And it was, really. I just had to realize that yeah, it was just like class. Nothing new. No surprises. I'd been doing untimed rounds against grapplers better than me and larger than my weight class for months. My opponent had nothing that I hadn't encountered before - that's what I had to tell myself. And it worked, because, hey, it really was "just like class."

I found it a good read, and valuable even if you aren't going to compete.

Online Nutrition Coaching

I have just launched my online nutrition coaching practice.

Peter's Pro Coach

I'm taking on a very limited number of clients to start with, so contact me right away if you're ready to get control of your nutrition habits!

What Everyone Thinks My Job Is

 I'm pretty sure that this is what everything thinks when I tell them I'm a personal trainer:

Not exactly accurate, but I can't argue with Ranier Wolfcastle or Homer Simpson.

Choosing a Protein Powder

Protein is a critical part of a healthy diet - one that will help you lose fat, put on muscle, and keep the body composition that you want to have. 

Sometimes it takes a lot of protein to do that.

It can often mean eating more protein than you can easily get from whole foods such as tuna, chicken breast, beef, and so on.

It can be especially tough for someone transitioning to a different eating style. If you're going from a meat-heavy diet to a plant-heavy diet, say, or changing from pescatarian to vegan, or cutting down on your total food but trying to keep your protein up, it's even harder.

Luckily, the folks over at Precision Nutrition can help you out.

They put out good stuff - they're where I got my nutrition certification from - it's what the PN1 under my name means.

“What’s the best protein powder?” Your complete guide to choosing the right supplement for you

It's a fairly dense article, with a lot to unpack.

TL,DR? Too long, didn't read?

In that case, the folks over at Kelly Starrett's The Ready State broke it down into three essentials.

3 Considerations When Selecting a Protein Supplement

It's worth reading both articles if this is really your thing.

Need more help with nutrition? Reach out to me and we can talk about a path forward to better eating that suits you. A month from now, a year from now, five years from now, you'll wish you'd started today.

New gear!

How much do I eat for my goals? - PN's simple calculator

Almost all of my clients have some weight goals.

They're looking for:

- weight loss

- muscle gain

and the every popular

- lose fat while building muscle.

But knowing where to start is tough.

Lots of websites will give you tools to figure out where to start but it's not always clear what step two is.

Also, you can generally skew your own results - tell the website you'd like to lose 10 pounds a week, say, or put on 25 pounds of muscle in two months . . . and get some numbers that won't really get you that.

Start Here

If my clients are going to do it themselves, this is where I like them to start:

The Ultimate Calorie, Portion, and Macro Calculator

Why do I like it?

First off, it lets you choose a broad goal - and if you choose an unrealistic one, it'll pop up a warning. Want to lose 28 pounds in two weeks? I'll tell you this is not a good option.

Second, it gives a lot of diet plan options - including vegan and vegetarian, two groups that often suffer from automated meal planning.

Third, it gives you actual portion-sized amounts and macros for each part of your eating plan.

Overall

This is a good tool. It's my go-to for clients and it's where I prefer most people start. Plus it's fun to toy around with your own eating plan and your own goals. And you can download the results easily!