30 Years 30 Health & Fitness Tips Part II

If you missed Part I, I listed the first 10 of 30 health and fitness tips in this series. Here’s Part II, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or dietician. I do not provide meal plans or claim to be a nutrition expert. I only make recommendations on what foods to eat or avoid based on past experience and my education.

RenegadeDietBook3DA 11. According to the Perfect Health Diet, most can benefit from intermittent fasting (IF). We all do it (no eating over night while sleeping and breaking the fast in the morning with breakfast). IF involves extended periods of fasting longer than the normal overnight fast.

There are various protocols out there – I like the 16/8 method, which is fasting for 16 hours and eating within the next 8. I’ve done the Renegade Diet for 4 weeks now and have lost fat all over, particularly in my torso. I’ve also lost 6 lbs. IF will teach you the difference between emotional and true hunger. You’ll also learn that missing meals isn’t the end of the world. Leangains.com, John Berardi’s free IF ebook, John Romaniello and Dan Go’s ebook Fat Loss for Ever and the Perfect Health Diet are other great resources on IF. A more in-depth blog post will be written soon on my experience with IF.

Read more about the Renegade Diet HERE.

12. The 2 most common lower body movement patterns performed in the gym are the squat and hip hinge. Strive to be able to squat like a baby for the rest of your life and learn the difference between hip flexion and spinal flexion – you’ll save yourself a lot of stress later in life.

13. Finding an excuse to workout is ridiculous. Invest in a coach/trainer and learn how you can use stuff around the house for home workouts. You don’t need much and you’ll be surprised how much you can kick your ass with just body weight exercises and a few pieces for equipment.

14. Look at weight training as loaded stretching. Using perfect effective form in the gym will not only build stronger bigger muscles, but will move your muscles near their full range of motion…that is unless you perform 1/2 reps for everything. As Nick Tumminello said last weekend at the Personal Trainer Development Centre Hybrid Training Conference “It’s not rocket surgery,” referring to keeping mobility while participating in a resistance training program.

15. Get fit to run and don’t run to get fit. Your unfit body can’t handle the pounding and high repetition of jogging. Guaranteed, you’ll eventually develop an overuse injury from inefficient biomechanics over time. Resistance and strength train to build tissue tolerance to the pounding. Lose weight with better nutrition – take the load off your joints and soft tissue. You’ll thank me later.

16. Organic sugar is just as bad for you as non-organic sugar. Don’t be fooled! High fructose corn-syrup is terrible for you and is not like regular sugar as the commercials proclaim.

17. Time your carbohydrate intake around your workouts and limit your carb intake the further you get from your workout. Minimize your carb intake on non-workout days. This is known as carb-cycling. It’s worked wonders for me, as I haven’t seen my abs this well since I used to run track. Note: this picture is before I started IF.

18. Eat more fat. Fatty fish, coconut oil, olive oil and organic dairy butter are great sources. Saturated fat has recently been shown to not be linked with heart disease as was originally thought. Read the meta-analysis HERE. Remove trans-fat from your diet and minimize your PUFA consumption. The Perfect Health Diet recommends a diet with 60-65% fat – astronomically high compared to the recommendations by the Canadian Food Guide.

19. Don’t count calories. Eating real food takes care of this. Remember, anything packaged is not real. Even protein powders aren’t truly “real” and should be eaten in moderation.

20. Today’s wheat is shit, so take it out. Check out Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis for more. Gluten-free options aren’t much better in comparison. Take out all artificial sweeteners, MSG, and margarine. MSG is an excito-toxin that prevents you from getting full. Think about this: there are no naturally occurring fat mice in nature, so researchers have to use MSG to fatten up these poor animals for testing (imagine what it can do to you!). Try to eat organic meats and dairy products. Skip on the farmed fish and drink organic coffee. Eat seaweeds and organ meats – something my wife and I still yet to try. Liver and onions anyone?!

Well, that’s it for part II. Stay tuned for part III.

Thanks for reading.

Please LIKE and share on Facebook and Twitter. Also add me on Facebook if you haven’t already.

-JK

Chris Spurvey

Nutritional Coaching by Julia Howard

I heard somewhere that achieving your health goals is determined largely by what you do in the kitchen. I am grateful to have found Julia who brought direction and accountability to this most important piece for me. Having Julia in my corner has brought me confidence and certainty that I am on my way to achieving my goals. I highly recommend her if you are serious about making a change and feeling better about your health.

Matt Garvin

Personal Strength Training by Jon-Erik Kawamoto

I had spent a fair bit of time in gyms in my teens and twenties but I turned away from the gym to focus on activities that I enjoyed more. What keeps me at JKC is that I do really enjoy it. I always feel that I’ve accomplished something when I leave at the end of my workout. The environment is really positive and focused on challenging yourself whatever your level of comfort and fitness. I’ve also seen results that I’m really happy with; having someone who really knows what they’re talking about to guide your workouts makes them way more effective and focused than just “going to the gym”.

Shortly after I started at JKC, I sustained a fairly major injury that took me off my feet for several months. When I started to get back to activity, it was very difficult. Jon and Thomas worked hard to tailor my workouts to my goals and what I could do. With their help, I’ve been steadily building back strength and function.

Keir McIsaac

Personal Strength Training by Thomas King

I recently turned 40, and I have been training at JKC since the summer of 2020. My partner Michael had already been training at JKC, so it came highly recommended. We had set up a home gym at the start of the pandemic, but needed to mix it up after the first lockdown. JKC differs from other gyms because of the personalized workouts. Jon, Thomas and Craig are great at challenging me to do more than I would on my own.

Jon Howard

I’m 36 Years Old and started with JKC in 2013. In the past I’d often have motivated spurts of a gym routine but they would usually only last a month or so. It’s pretty easy to press the snooze button at 530 am when there’s no one waiting for you. The fact that the guys are always on time/prepared and motivated for your session adds a level of accountability to your shoulders to “get out of bed” and bring your best effort each time. From the pressure free trainers to the camaraderie that you create over time with the individuals you’re working out with, JKC is able to offer an experience many other gyms cannot.

Lloyd Hussey

I started at JKC in January of 2014 and I’m 67 years old. When I had my Initial Assessment, I knew – almost immediately – that Jon knew what he was doing and what he was talking about. I was overweight, out of shape, and in serious need of someone, like Jon, who could get me back on a fitness/conditioning routine that suited me, my age, my less than acceptable physical condition, my sometimes intermittent RA, and my need for a structured, consistent and yet flexible training and conditioning program that would work for me.

Fundamentally, if I made a choice at all with respect to JKC – it was to continue to come back each week. I have not been in a lot of gyms. To be honest, they used to intimidate me. What makes JKC different is their approach to each and every one of their clients. Jon and Thomas – and now Craig – tailor each training regime to the particular needs of each client. That ensures that the training regime will suit each client upon the start of training and changes as the client improves. It adjusts for any physical setbacks such as injuries and it adjusts for success. It is just that simple.

It is also the consistent encouragement that comes from Jon, Thomas and Craig. That voice that comes to you while you are in the middle of a particularly difficult set – rear-foot elevated split squats comes to mind immediately – that says “good job” or “keep it up” or “just a couple more reps.” To know, in that moment, that you are not alone and the trainer is paying attention to what you are doing. That is priceless for me.

See All Reviews Write a Review