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Weighted vests, micro-workouts, and the underrated skill of keeping exercise alive Lately, some of my best workouts have happened while I was mowing the lawn. I put on a weighted vest, start pushing the mower, and turn a household chore into loaded conditioning. I use the same vest on my indoor treadmill and on the walking path outside my house. The route doesn’t change. The speed may not change much. I’m simply carrying more mass, so my body has to work harder to move me thr

Introduction Have you ever tried to cut back on sugar and felt surprisingly awful? Maybe your energy crashed. You became irritable. You thought about dessert constantly. By day three, the cookies in the pantry seemed to be communicating with you. People often interpret this experience as a lack of discipline. They assume they simply need more willpower. But researchers have been asking a more interesting question: When some people stop eating sugar, do they experience symptom

It is hot in Iowa right now. Not pleasant summer hot. Not “let’s eat dinner on the patio” hot. It is the kind of heat where stepping outside feels like being wrapped in a warm, wet towel. Temperature alone doesn’t explain it. Humidity interferes with the evaporation of sweat, which is one of the primary ways the body releases heat. That is why 90 degrees in Iowa can feel substantially worse than the same temperature somewhere dry. The National Weather Service combines tempera

Ask someone about their work ethic, and they will happily explain it. They show up early. Stay late. Push through. Never quit. Handle their business. Outwork the competition. Ask the same person about their rest ethic, and they look at you like you insulted their mom. “Are you saying I need rest, bro? I’ll fight you.” Seriously. It gets that intense. We have turned work into evidence of character. The more tired you are, the more committed you must be. The busier your calenda

Almost nobody follows national nutrition guidelines. In the United Kingdom, fewer than 0.1 percent of adults follow the government’s Eatwell Guide. In the United States, fewer than 5 percent of people meet recommendations for foods such as dark-green vegetables, orange vegetables, legumes, or whole grains. Meanwhile, ultra-processed foods make up more than half of the average diet in many developed countries. They are convenient, highly palatable, profitable, and unlikely to

This morning started like thousands of others. For some reason, I woke up with Good Charlotte's Girls Don't Like Boys stuck in my head. I have no idea why. It had probably been fifteen years since I'd heard it, but there it was. I made a cup of coffee, sat down at my kitchen table, and was quickly surrounded by three dogs who had apparently decided I wasn't allowed to drink it alone. As odd as it sounds, I think random moments like that are one of the quiet signs that life is

Introduction Before a hard week, it would be nice if sleep worked like money in a savings account. You know a rough stretch is coming: travel, work deadlines, a newborn, a tournament weekend, night shifts, family stress, or several nights where your sleep is probably going to get wrecked. So you go to bed early for a few nights beforehand, “stock up,” and hope the extra sleep protects you when life gets messy. Most people think of sleep like a daily phone battery. Charge it o

America turns 250 today. That number is almost too big to feel. Two and a half centuries of argument, invention, sacrifice, contradiction, repair, failure, progress, noise, work, and cooperation. A whole country built by people who often disagreed about nearly everything except the next necessary thing that had to get done. That is the image that comes to mind when I think about America. Cooperation. Not the sentimental kind. Not everyone standing around in matching shirts pr

A brief note from Mike: I’ve spent a lot of time creating for social media. Some of it has been useful. Social platforms can help people find ideas, recipes, coaching lessons, research reviews, and the occasional reminder that they are not the only person trying to eat enough protein while living inside a modern circus. But over time, I’ve become less interested in building my work around platforms that are not really designed for thoughtful work. Social media is not neutral

One of the best parts of coaching for a long time is getting to see what fitness turns into after the novelty wears off. At the beginning, people usually come in with a goal. Lose weight. Get stronger. Feel better. Move without pain. Get back in shape. Have more energy. Feel like themselves again. Those goals matter. They get people started. But after months and years of consistent work, the wins start showing up in places that are harder to predict. They show up in backyards

A client said something to me today that I hear in some version almost every week. Work is stressful. Home is stressful. There is no time to breathe. Food happens in the car, between meetings, or not at all. Protein shakes and caffeine are doing most of the heavy lifting. Sleep only comes after the body has been exhausted into submission with a late walk. That is not a rare coaching conversation anymore. That is normal Friday. A lot of people are walking around tired, oversti

Introduction A few years ago, most people had never heard of GLP-1 medications. Now, names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound are part of everyday conversation. That shift happened fast. These medications have changed what many people thought was possible for obesity treatment. For some, they have helped produce levels of weight loss once associated mostly with bariatric surgery. They have also helped more people understand that obesity is not simply a “try harder”

Introduction “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” That is how some people at a higher weight feel when they think about GLP-1 medications for weight loss. They may feel judged for living in a bigger body. Then, if they decide to lose weight, they may feel judged again depending on how they do it. Diet and exercise tend to get cultural approval. Medication-assisted weight loss often does not. This creates a strange and unfair bind. If someone does not lose weight, they may

MyKenzie is leaner than she has ever been. That part is easy to understand. Here is the part that makes people pause: She is also eating more than ever. That sounds fake if you have spent any time marinating in modern diet culture, where the default answer to every body composition problem is some version of “eat less and try harder.” Want to lose fat? Eat less. Want to feel better? Eat less. Want to feel more in control? Eat less. Want to become the highest and most spiritua

Nine out of ten people choose the escalator when the stairs are right beside them. That little moment says a lot about human nature. We are not lazy. We are efficient. The brain is designed to conserve energy whenever it can. From a survival standpoint, this makes perfect sense. For most of human history, wasted effort could mean wasted calories, and wasted calories mattered. But here is the interesting part: while we often avoid effort before we begin, we tend to value it af

There are certain client updates that sound simple until you know the context. “Dan is the leanest he’s been since we started working together.” That is a good sentence by itself. Clear. Satisfying. Easy to understand. But it becomes a much better sentence when you add the rest of the story. Dan is the leanest he’s been since we started working together after having his second kid, navigating changes at work, and continuing to build a life where training, nutrition, sleep, an

Introduction For years, the conversation around social media has mostly focused on kids. That makes sense. Children and teenagers are still forming their identities, learning emotional regulation, building social confidence, and figuring out how to separate “this is popular” from “this is true.” But adults are not magically immune because they turned eighteen. Adults still compare. Adults still absorb fear. Adults still get pulled into status games, body-image pressure, healt

We tend to think of aging as something that happens mostly because of time. Another birthday passes. Another year gets added to the story. The body changes, energy shifts, recovery takes a little more intention, and we call that aging. But time is only part of the picture. The way we live also matters. How we sleep, how we move, how we eat, how we handle stress, and how consistently we care for ourselves all shape the way the body ages. And now, research is asking an interest

Quinoa Salad: A Quick and Healthy Meal Ingredients 1 cup quinoa, rinsed 2 cups water or vegetable broth 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1 cucumber, diced 1 bell pepper, diced 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled (optional) 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice Salt and pepper to taste Instructions In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and water or vegetable broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, an

There are seasons of life when sleep feels effortless. You remember those days. Maybe you were younger, stayed up too late, crashed on a couch, under a pool table, or in some questionable sleeping position, then somehow woke up eight hours later feeling brand new. Then adulthood starts playing by different rules. You can do everything “right” — turn the lights down, put the phone away, crawl into bed exhausted — and your brain still decides it is the perfect time to revisit a