What a week, y’all.

In the last week I’ve continued working with existing clients/members, finished a final session with another and picked up four new ones. And those four new ones all seemed to come about at very strange times and in very strange circumstances. I could be writing in this blog forever or posting videos on my Instagram every day for the rest of my life but my acquisitions have consistently materialized while I’m actually putting in work. I’ve strapped the focus mitts on then ran through combos with one client and picked up clients. I’ve been lifting weights — shoeless, I might add — in the middle of my own routine and picked up clients. Hell, I’ve just taught class on the regular and picked up clients.

When I’m sweaty, gross and barely wearing a shirt, it seems that’s when I get paying clients. I think I’ve found my key to success, y’all. Sweat, nudity and hard work.

Whatever works, I guess.

This also goes to show that you never know who’s watching. Just like Roman said in a post I highlighted last week, how you do one thing is how you do everything. If you’ve got your sights set to kill at all times, people are going to notice.

Speaking of, I’d appreciate it if you all would notice the following finds from this week:

• Clean Eating Grocery List for Beginners and How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Fitness Goals by Mark Barroso and David Sutter, respectively, via Cellucor
  Cellucor went into the vault (albeit a shallow dive into said vault) to highlight some helpful articles for those who are new to the fitness and nutrition world. Anytime someone asks me about nutrition hoping to get a secret or easy-to-follow advice usually get disappointed when I tell them to just focus on eating real food. But that seems pretty simple to me. It may not be a fad diet or a quick fix or have a specific meal plan laid out before you, but how easy is it to consider is this real food? No? Then Maybe I shouldn’t eat it? Taking the guess work out of your nutrition will set you up for more than a diet, but a healthy lifestyle change. The goals article is great if you like the corporate definition of S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Based) but if you want to think outside the acronym, I’d suggest reading this post from last week (Slay Your Own Dragons by Pete Hitzeman via BreakingMuscle).
   
• Give Fewer Shits by and via Nia Shanks
  I love Nia’s blog and this post in particular. You’ve probably read something similar but it should be repeated over and over again because, let’s be honest, we all give way too many shits. We’re all afraid to do something or attempt something because we give a shit about what others think of us or how we’ll be perceived if we fail. Nia gives a high-level summary of what it means to stop giving a shit about these things, what happens when we do, what happens when we don’t and gives us a preview of what life might have been like had more people given more shits (spoiler: it would suck). It doesn’t have to be something huge — you don’t have to set out to write the next best novel and you don’t have to set out to run a marathon today — but if you’re afraid you can’t or shouldn’t do it because your reading or running style may get made fun of or fail, then you have shits that should be sacrificed. And no one likes having the shits. If you want to read more content like this, I’d like to recommend The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson.
   
• Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Bowls by Ali via Gimme Some Oven
  If you’ve been meal prepping for years or if you started on January 1 — hell, if you plan on starting Monday, even — this recipe is where it’s at. I’m going to probably add it to my regular rotation. There’s a lot of goodness here and while I’m good with eating it as-is, you should probably consider a few things before adding it to your meal plan. Yes, there is rice in these containers and no, it’s not bad for you. However, I’d suggest consulting your macros for carb intake before diving in too far, though I’d venture to say most of y’all will be okay. It’s probably also worth checking the sodium content on the bbq sauce you’re using just to cut out anything unnecessary (or shit, maybe even make your OWN *gasp!!*).
   
• 1000 Rep Endurance Challenge: Easy – Medium – Hard by Shane Fazen via FightTips
  I love a good old-fashioned fight-inspired workout. Shane has a killer — and I do mean a KILLER — workout that can be modified based on your fitness level and ability. Check it out NOW:

   

• 5 Hacks for Effortless Habit Building in 2018 by Steve via Nerd Fitness
  A bit of a longer read here but Steve does a great job — like he always does — of taking something scary in the fitness and nutrition world like…fitness and nutrition…and breaking it down into simple, relatable terms that make those worlds not so scary anymore. Here, he talks about what makes a habit as well as good ways to kill off a bad habit and ways to start more good habits. A very important takeaway from this is his note about not going all-in or biting off more than you can chew. Sure, lots of people would love to go out and run a 5K but most people aren’t able to. If they start right now, they’ll fail, they’ll get discouraged and they’ll quit. Instead, using apps like Couch to 5K, you can still have a big-picture goal of running a 5K but your focus is on your goal TODAY — your focus is on going for that run TODAY. Keeping pace for the allotted time/distance TODAY. THAT’S the goal. And once you get through enough TODAY goals, your overall goal will be yours for the taking. Baby steps, y’all. Achievable goals, not goals that are out of reach.
   
• More Essential Guides from MyFitnessPal
  Last week I highlighted MyFitnessPal’s posts on the essentials of Macros, Protein, Carbs and Fat. This week they take nutrition just a little bit further with The Essential Guide to Healthy Eating, The Essential Guide to Portion Sizes, The Essential Guide to Meal Planning and The Essential Guide to Low-Sodium Eating. Funny enough, all things I’ve touched on just today. Nutrition is the key factor to losing weight and getting healthy, guys. Nutrition. Not fad diets. I’ll say this every day for the rest of my life.
   
• Cook Once, Eat All Week — Week 4 from Cassy Joy Garcia via Fed+Fit
  I’ve talked about this series before and I still love the concept of it. The above link takes you to a polished ebook version of this week’s recipes but if you want the breakdown, you can find the base recipes for the required chicken breast, spaghetti squash and spinach here but check out the ebook for recipes for Chicken Carbonara, Spaghetti Squash Egg Cups and Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Boats as well as a handy dandy shopping list that’s already made for you. Y’all, this couldn’t be much easier!

  I would also like to point out this rad recipe for BBQ Pork Plantain Pizza that has to go on my weekend cooking agenda.
   

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Music to Lift Heavy To*

Unlike last week it has NOT been a good week for new metal releases but I figured I’d share the one promising new thing I heard today. Before I do, though, I want to also mention that I’m making a playlist (inspired by my BFF Alli) called Blame Alli where I’m adding a new song every day for the rest of the year. — find it here — The idea is on December 31 you can have your own 2018 playlist in addition to the one Spotify makes you that you’re too embarrassed to share with anyone.

Anyway, after seeing Exhumed in Johnson City back around Thanksgiving, I’ve gotten a newfound appreciation for death metal and today sees the newest release from Hell’s Headbangers artist Druid Lord. The album is called Grotesque Offerings and can be yours digitally for the demonically low price of $6.66. If you want to get a taste of the death, doom and absolute filth that is Druid Lord, you can see it below. Now pick up something heavy.

*I can’t wait to turn this into “music to run fast-ish to”. For real. I’m dying to go run again.