Training your body may seem like a daunting task. I personally have experienced many injuries and setbacks from attempting to do too much too fast train at too high of an intensity too high of a volume for too long of a duration or with two limited sleep. All of these factors can impact your risk for injury and it’s important to note that you can still make inroads in developing your health without placing yourself at unreasonable chance for injury. I’ll start with some of the tried and true methods and then get into newer ideas.  

1. Train with body weight

It is still entirely possible to develop strength without weights body weight calisthenics are a great option. Make sure to incorporate at least some sets where you go to failure as growth hormone is released in muscle tissue after muscles are fatigued to failure. 

2. Cross train

Many injuries are the results of overuse and repetitive motion. These actions put repetitive strain on muscles ligaments and tendons and leave all their parts of the body unused. In order to prevent this from occurring make sure to mix up your activities. Studies show that professional sports players who cross train are less likely to get injured in season. 

3. Train with low impact although impact training is useful for things like bone development.

You can still train without running jumping etc. Try cycling, using the elliptical, swimming, and even yoga. One of my recent favorites for an extremely high intensity but low impact workout is going to the closest pool or body of water of tepid or warm temperature and wading in waist deep. Next run forward as hard as you can for 30 seconds. You may do this multiple times for added effect. I found this style of exercise to be incredibly demanding and to mimic sprinting; however, I did not have the risk of rolling an ankle and aggravating old injuries such as my toe which I recently had surgery on.  

4. Recognize when you are likely overtraining.

This is particularly common with endurance athletes. I myself have gotten in the cycle of running for 2+ hours a day. While the habit was sustainable for a number of weeks. After a while I had trouble sleeping and would start everyday groggy. Unfortunately the only thing that would make me feel better and clear mentally was going for a run. You can see how my cycle of overtraining progressed. If you are exercising for more than an hour every day and having trouble sleeping, anxiety, rapid breath, increased heart rate, and lack of focus, you may be overtraining which typically activates the sympathetic nervous system. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated you are in the flight or fight mode. This is an adaptive strategy useful for times when your life is in danger. However chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system is associated with a slew of health maladies, including an increased risk for injury. 

5. Sleep is essential to your recovery.

I have personally experimented with training hard and intentionally skipping sleep to hit the morning workout. Unfortunately I experienced muscle fatigue and poor coordination. Studies indicate that is vital for recovery of the immune system, muscles, the central nervous system, and the cardiovascular system. With reduced sleep comes poor reaction time. Side note – for those of you who love to hit the gym in the morning or for those of you who can’t possibly pull themselves out from bed in the morning you may love me or hate me – the best time to exercise is between mid-afternoon and early evening. For the typical persons sleep wake cycle, this time range offers the best opportunity for exercise as cardiovascular potential peaks and coordination is at its highest. Consider saving your hard work out of the day for these times. Caution – working out too late in the day can disrupt sleep cycles. For more on the importance of sleep check out Matt Walker.

7. Consider the fact that high volume may not actually bring the results you were looking for.

Case one cardiovascular fitness and longevity. Studies show that life expectancy can be maximized at about 450 minutes of moderate physical activity every week. Less than this results in a shortened average lifespan while more than this does not increase lifespan. That’s right! An ultra marathon runner is no more likely to live longer than your average moderately active individual.  

Case 2 big muscles. Most claim that it is necessary to work out for 2 to 3 hours in the gym lifting heavy weights in order to gain muscular size and strength. However recent developments with resistance bands training show that athletes were able to make gains three times faster than athletes with weights in the same period of time. The reason behind this phenomenon is the theory of variable resistance training. Variable resistance training offers a changing resistance throughout the range of motion of the exercise. For example if you take a large elastic band and looping one end through your foot and the other through your hand you press up towards the sky the band would apply more force back into your hand at the upper end of the exercise compared to when your hand is closer to your head or in the contracted portion of the exercise. Typically your muscles are strongest when your joints are nearly locked out or at full extension. This means that when you lift a weight you are limited by your joints weakest range of motion. As a result training with weights or another form of conventional training does not only fatigue all ranges of motion of the exercise. In order to fully capitalize and train all ranges of motion of your joint, resistance bands can apply a variable force throughout the range of motion of the exercise to meet the capacity of your joints increasing strength as you are closest to the strongest part of your range of motion. You can do this with free weights but it takes time and changing your body position throughout multiple exercises. A more streamlined approach is to train with a system like the X3 bar which the expensive offers an extremely efficient workout which hits all the range of motion of the major push and pull exercises in about 10 minutes per day. The X3 system allows you to train every range of motion to failure without the risk of joint injury from putting too many plates on your Olympic bar when bench pressing or squatting. In addition this exercise activates stabilizing or reflexive muscles to fire which AIDS in fat loss.

8. Dynamic stretching is broadly accepted as a method of preparing for a workout.

You can find tips on useful dynamic stretch routines here. Static stretching is great post workout and is associated with injury prevention but if performed pre-workout is associated with decreased muscular strength and hence an increase of injury as a result.

9. Taking it easy.

Rest and recovery are critical components to you injury prevention. Most professional athletes have to sleep between 10:00 and 12:00 hours every night just to stay in the game. There are ways to satisfy your urge to do something healthy without slaughtering yourself at the gym. Saunas are great and promote igf-1 and growth factors as well as heat shock proteins. Cold thermogenesis is also a great activity, as is light walking, light yoga, or any other form of movement that is non-strenuous. You can also do alternative forms of exercise you may not be used to doing such as martial arts, dance, or gardening. In addition, breathing exercises can be quite strenuous and give you the same satisfaction as other forms of exercise. Meditation is a great way to calm the mind and body without strain and is what I use on days to relax when I am super wound up but overtrained.  

10. Other types of training.

Blood flow restricted training otherwise known as occlusion training involves the partial loss of circulation after straps or bands are wrapped around the upper and lower extremities. These bands restrict blood flow back to the heart. As a result you’re able to achieve similar gains in muscular strength and size as training with higher resistance such as bigger weights or just weights in general without the risk of injury to your joints ligaments and tendons. I like to use BFR with body weight exercises because I get a similar strain as hitting the gym without needing to drive or use equipment. They’re great thing to keep in your car or backpack so you can always have no excuses for busting out a quick workout. Training masks are also useful. They restrict their flow in or out of the mask creating either a hypoxic or superpoxic environment.

11. Stay hydrated 

Isometric exercises don’t involve contraction or extension are a usually against an immovable object. The great thing about isometric exercises is that you are almost always training your muscles to failure doing these exercise; however, the lack of motion makes them safer to perform than heavy lifting. 

Tips for runners. Try sprinting up a hill and walking down. This is easier on your joints and will likely change up your usual 80% of peak VO2 max routine. 

Sleep is one of the most important facets of health. Your recovery is predicated upon it, as are your energy levels, general physical ability, coordination and perceived exertion levels/focus. Despite the well known important impacts that health has sleep has on our health it is often the first thing to get cut from our lives. A study showed that 11% of Americans are sleep deprived on nightly basis. The NIH recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for the average adult (Unless you are one of less than 1% of the population that has a genetic mutation which allows them to sleep for 4 and 1/2 hours or less). Anyone who tells you that they feel like a rockstar sleeping less than 6 hours a night is flat out lying to you or themselves. Also rock stars usually don’t sleep that well. They stay up late on sex drugs and rockn’roll.

If you have been sleeping less than 6 hours for a long time you may want to run some tests on yourself to see whether adding more sleep to your life would be beneficial. First, do you wake up before your alarm or is it hard to get up in the morning? If you don’t naturally wake up around the time your alarm clock is set it means that you probably need more sleep. Alternatively you may be getting enough sleep but your genetically encoded circadian rhythms controlled by your suprachiasmatic nucleus are different from the average bulk of society. About 50% of individuals have a circadian rhythm cycle that is synchronized with the nine to five work week. The other 50% are either early risers or night owls. These are typically referred to as chronotypes or and some may claim that there are many as 4 different chronotypes of people. Other signs of chronic sleep deprivation include slurred speech, low energy, confusion, and general malaise

You may think that a lack of sleep results in more time to be productive and work however this theory is only true in the short term. For example studies have shown that students do perform better on tests or workers perform better on projects when they cram and don’t sleep for about a week. However, chronic sleep deprivation does not result in more efficient work. The end results is more time spent working inefficiently. Not only that but generally people are happier and healthier and live longer more productive lives when they are well rested. 

Okay so you’re sold on needing more sleep. How do you actually do it? 

Go to sleep when you’re tired. It’s the easiest rule in the book but in our technology consuming lives it is often easy to get wrapped up in firing off a few last minute emails, catching up on a Netflix special, or simply scrolling through social media. Although this time may feel productive or relaxing if you are truly tired it is likely better spent getting proper rest. If you feel like you use technology in evenings as a form of decompression you may need to address other aspects of your lifestyle as well. For example having goals for your more off hours may allow you to ignore the temptations of instant media gratification later in the evenings. In addition exercise and some form of mindfulness training may help you reduce stress levels in a more productive manner which will allow you to sleep better and possibly get to bed earlier.

Cut yourself some slack and don’t be alarmed if when you try this the first night you fall asleep well before your typical “bedtime”. Interestingly a study done on individuals who spent time in nature showed that they typically slept up to two hours longer when in a natural setting than in their typical home environments. This may be due to temperature or light cues which typically set the circadian rhythms of individuals and fluctuate more drastically when out living in the woods. You can mimic this change by opening your window in the evenings to elicit a lower body temperature. Taking a cold shower before bed, and ensuring that the lights are dimmed turned off or augmented to eliminate blue light in the evenings. For a fun experiment, try not to use any form of artificial light one evening and see how long you make it before your body tells you it’s time to slumber. 

First off we need to define what the “right mindset” really is. To me its pretty simple. I want my mindset to exhibit the following features:

1. Positivity
2. Gratitude
3. Clear Thought
4. Growth
5. Curiosity

Each of these features is important and somewhat interdependent; as such, the order listed is arbitrary.

Positivity

Many may claim that negativity is the best path forward. After all, how can you progress without proper criticism? I contend that a positive attitude and a critical attitude are not mutually exclusive. Positive thinking is associated with a host of benefits including increased lifespan, decreased rates of depression, increased immunity, overall better well being, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and increased stress tolerance.

Ideas to increase positive thinking in your life:

Surround yourself with positive people – we are social animals and for many this may be the most impactful thing you do.

Identify negative thoughts and reverse them – remember negatively and objective truth are separate things. eg. “I don’t have the time money to do x/y/z” the inverse of which is “I am motivated by necessity”.

Exercise – a tried and true manner to think more positively. Exercise may be difficult in the moment but the result is an increase in mood from the release of endorphins and drop in cortisol levels post exercise session.

Gratitude

Who wants to live life feelings resentful, greedy, jealous or like they got the short end of the stick? I certainty do not. Gratitude is a mindset that influences a variety of areas in your life. For example, those who are grateful are more likely to exercise and report overall more positive thinking and well being. Additionally, when managers were promoted to be grateful to their employees, the employees actually worked harder! Subjectively I have found that my day runs more smoothly with less negative emotion and more of a feeling of purpose after I have implemented one of the following practices.

Gratitude writing – shortly after waking record a few things you are grateful for. It works best if you try to be consistent with this practice. Depending on your starting mindset you may find it almost impossible to find anything you are grateful for; however, with time you will find the practice easier/more automatic.

Thank someone in person – Tell someone who has really influenced your life how grateful your are. Thank a stranger for an everyday nicety.

Gratitude meditation – clear your mind or focus on your breath. once settled mentally focus on feelings of gratitude. you may focus on specific people, objects, places or situations. you may flip between subjects or stay on one subject.

Clear Thought

You are only as effective as the state of your tool. Would a knight go into battle without sharpening their sword? Nope. Does a high performance runner compete without a warming up and stretching out? Hell no. So why do we go about our day without conditioning or preparing our minds? Say no to clouded judgement, impulsive decisions and muddled musing. Say yes to preparing yourself to think clearly. The critical change for me was when I transitioned from allowing my thoughts to control me to harnessing the power of my brain to control my thoughts or at the bear minimum, to realize I was in an irrational frame of mind and to do something about. Clear thinking is advantageous in almost any domain of life. It usually leads to higher performance, productivity, better outcomes and more holistic decision making.

This is how you can think more clearly:

Meditation – There is plenty of evidence for the benefits of meditation. The cool thing is that you are not limited to any particular form. You can sit, stand, walk, do yoga, eye open, eyes closed, etc. If your brain is in constant disarray it will definitely be helpful to schedule meditation sessions throughout your day so that you can get the reps in. As with any activity you can improve with time. After you have familiarize yourself with the process of meditation you may find that you don’t need to meditate as often to achieve the level of performance you desire. You may also be able to recognize yourself starting to think irrationally before you have dropped into full blown neuronal chaos. In this way you can adjust your thinking throughout the day without needing to stick to a rigid schedule. I personally find schedules limiting so I choose to fit the meditation in wherever I can or it makes sense. That being said many highly successful people meditated religiously once or more per day. Most people achieve max benefits from 1-2 sessions of 20 mins per day; however, 5 mins per day still results in changes. Interestingly monks who mediate frequently have brain activation while meditating similar to a non-meditator on a dose of LSD.

Mindfulness/situational awareness – the western bastardization of meditation. I like to use mindfulness when I am cruising throughout my day without much break between activities. Examples of mindfulness include. Monitoring your pulse, respiration rate, breathing patterns, hydration and energy levels, etc. Mindfulness can also pertain to acting with purpose. With every step you take are you thinking about what you are doing or are you just going through the motions with your body on autopilot? If you often find yourself forgetting to do certain things, repeating certain behaviors reflexively or feeling as though you are on autopilot you may want to try to be more mindful about your actions. I start by constantly questions what I am doing and why I am doing it. Once I have identified these things I question whether I should be doing the actions and either stop, proceed or augment said action to be more inline with my long term goals. Another fun exercise to do to be more aware of your environment is to try to notice subtle changes which others may not have noticed. Did x person get a new hair cut? Ss there a picture missing from the wall? How many telephone poles did you pass while on the way to pick up groceries at the supermarket? What time did you leave the gas station? Was the teller wearing a blue or orange shirt? You get the idea. Details are important.

Here is another great activity. Sit down and focus on each sense individually blocking out all other senses. Try to be aware of as much of the diversity sensed by that one sense as possible. eg. Just focus on your eye sight. How many types of blue do you see. This activity is particularly useful if you are feeling extremely overwhelmed. Mindfullness can also make everyday tasks way more interesting.

Breathing – Activate your PNS (parasympathetic nervous system – rest/digest) by utilizing different forms of breathing. In general it is best to breath out of your nose at a rate of 5-6 seconds inhale followed by 5-6 seconds of exhalation (based on analyses of opera singers and mediating monks); however, when you noticed tachardia (increased heart rate) and bradychardia (increased respiration rate) both signs of SNS (sympathetic nervous system activation – fight/freeze/flight) its best to switch to a different style of breathing. Box breathing is performed by breathing 4 secs in, 4 secs hold, 4 secs out and 4 secs hold. repeat until heart rate and subjective stress levels lower. Some people have the opposite problem and are so relaxed that they need to activate their SNS to kick their brains in gear. In this cased hyperventilation can be helpful. Just be careful to perform in a controlled environment as hyperventilation can lead to feeling light headed and loss of consciousness.

Sleep – Making decisions on a night lacking sleep is like driving your car on empty or attempting to gauge distance with one eye closed. Its a recipe for disaster. Although many people are criticized for being a sleep princess and sleeping longer than average, the running scientific consensus is that 7-9 hours is necessary for the average person. Less sleep than this can impact long term memory formation, reaction time, stress levels, SNS activation, cardiovascular health and overall fitness. You can carve out more time for sleeping by unapologetic ally eliminating all but the necessities from your life. Eg. Stop watching TV, movies or any other content that does not bring value to your life. You can also sleep better without spending any more time sleeping by abstaining from food for about 3 hrs before bedtime, dimming the lights before bed, meditating or stretching before bed, taking a hot then cold shower before bed. If you wake up hot in the night, how back into the shower briefly. The evaporation cooling loss from the water will help cool your body down and lull you back to sleep. Write down cyclic thoughts in a journal rather than ruminating all night. Exercise. However, avoid high intensity exercise 1-2 hours before bed as late exercise can promote wakefulness. Eliminate lights from the room.

Growth

The growth mindset is one that can 100% be cultivated. I know this because I went from a depressed and anxious young man to one motivated and hungry for challenge. This mindset can be cultivated by: Having goals – without goals you are kind of like a horse without reigns, you might be doing a lot but are you really getting anywhere or are you just letting the flow of life drift you around? Evidence suggests that clearly writing down goals leads to better scholastic performance. In addition focusing on improvement no matter how small. 1 % improvement every day compounded annually is something like 37 times better over the course of a year.
Emphasis the process try not to be attached to the outcome.

Curiosity

Curiosity the gift that keeps on giving. Is your life feeling boring? Are you going through the motions? Do you find that things are more stressful than they need to be? Maybe you should approach your boring – lack of stress – or overstimulating – too much stress – life by finding a source of something to be curious about. Curiosity is great because almost instantly balances your stress levels and kicks into gear your problem solving ability. Another great thing about curiosity is it allows you to appreciate the finer beautiful things in life 

Curiosity allows you to ask questions. Questions are 1/2 to thinking. When you think, you ask a question and then seek the answer. This is also what makes a great conversation if you’re not asking questions why bother? Conversations like these tend to be boring – essentially it’s a competition of one-ups-man-ship between people who state facts about their own lives instead of discovering what’s going on outside their own universe.