Issue #22

How to finally have a great posture, do what makes you proud, do it until it’s easy, and the fitness ultimatum.

Read time: 3.7 minutes

Hey Warriors,

This week I did something I only allow myself to do once in a while.

As I was feeling less energized, hitting some plateaus, and my motivation was low, I took an active rest week and went soft.

I went back to the basics, did a lot of mobility work, lifted light once, and tried other sports casually.

This type of rest week always feels good and always works.

It’s Sunday, I’m feeling fully rested, and I know I’m probably going to break through some of those plateaus.

That’s usually what happens when I take one or two weeks off (or almost off), and that makes me excited to go back to the training room.

It’s something I recommend to everyone who has reached an intermediate or advanced level, as long as it’s only once every few months.

Doing this too often would slow you down of course.

Alright, enough talking about rest, now let’s talk about action!

If you need any help with your training, please let me know by replying to this email and I’ll share my answer with everyone.

Now let’s start! 💪

1. Strong back and great posture.

There’s probably not a single exercise that can fix your posture issues like suspension training rows.

2 Reasons for that:

1) If you learn to perform this exercise with perfect form, your coordination, body awareness, and posture will naturally improve.

2) This will build your back musculature and straighten you up by fixing rounded shoulders, which is one of the most common posture imbalance.

It is also a great exercise because everyone can do it.
To adjust the intensity, all you need to do is change your angle to be more or less vertical.

And make sure you stay straight and use the correct shoulder position, as shown on the video!

Click this link for the full YouTube video and instructions.

2. Find motivation in what makes you proud.

Find something that makes you proud after you did it and do more of that.

Starting (again) a fitness journey is not an easy thing. We want to do our best to reach our goal, but the things we have to do to get there are sometimes hard to enjoy.

One of the keys to consistency is to find ways to make it easier to take action.

So look for things that make you proud.
It can be cooking a healthy meal like a pro or rowing longer than you did last time.

Pride in one’s accomplishments is a very driving feeling.
Unlike a dopamine or endorphin rush, it’s something that lasts and that you can still feel long after you’re done, and even before you’re about to do that thing again.

It gives you purpose and keeps you coming back.
And before you know it, you’ve built a healthy habit.
Everything gets easier from there.

3. Do it until it becomes easy.

Training is hard, eating well is hard, and breaking all the bad habits we’ve had for years is the hardest.

Yet, it seems so easy when we look at very fit people online or around us.
It looks like they take pleasure in working out or eating broccoli, like it’s in their nature.

And it’s easy to look at them and think they’re just built different, and we could never have that kind of discipline.

And it’s true, it is easier for them; now.
But it was just as hard as it is for us when they started.

In fact, maybe it was harder, because they didn’t know a secret I’m about to tell you:
One day it becomes easy.
One day you just become a different person.
And this is the light at the end of the tunnel you should be focusing on.

There is no harder phase in fitness that the one you’re going through right now.
I hope knowing this gives you the hope and strength to continue so that one day, you too can reach the other side, where eating well and working out is “easy”, or at least enjoyable even when it’s hard.

4. The ultimatum test.

If you had to get fit in 6 months or die, how would you go about it?

Just imagine an evil spirit has cast a spell on you: if you don’t get significantly fitter, you die.

What would you do?
Got a plan already?

I know you do. You just came up with a couple of ideas which have worked since the beginning of time, and you know they’d work for you too.

And just like that, I proved my next point:
You don’t need more knowledge, you just need more action.
Stop lying to yourself.

Are you addicted to getting ready to start?
If you find yourself always reading about hacks and other posts about technicalities without ever getting started, you probably are.

You know what to do, and the last thing you need is to learn a more complicated way to do it.
It’s time to stop reading and start acting.
Pretend the evil spirit and the spell are real, and save yourself.

I hope you found some useful tips and motivation in today's edition.

Please share your feedback and help me improve my content for everyone!

A great way to do this is by replying to this email with a personal question you have about fitness.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

- Nico

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