Rewind to a typical day about 3 years ago. They all started something like this:
It's 6:30 a.m.
Spread across the kitchen counter are a half dozen assorted tupperware loaded up with boiled chicken breast and brown rice; a process assembly line Henry Ford himself would be envious of.
6:45 I'm cooking up the standard "clean eaters" breakfast fare: 6 egg whites, cup of oatmeal, serving of fruit, and maybe a protein shake for good measure.
7:00 I'm out the door with enough lunch boxes and bags that the neighbors must have thought I was going on a week long wilderness excursion every morning.
Ah, the typical "Bro" life. (gag)
I'll tell you right now, if I knew HALF of what I know today, my life would have been so much better back then. Honestly, I wish I could have those days back.
It's 6:30 a.m.
Spread across the kitchen counter are a half dozen assorted tupperware loaded up with boiled chicken breast and brown rice; a process assembly line Henry Ford himself would be envious of.
6:45 I'm cooking up the standard "clean eaters" breakfast fare: 6 egg whites, cup of oatmeal, serving of fruit, and maybe a protein shake for good measure.
7:00 I'm out the door with enough lunch boxes and bags that the neighbors must have thought I was going on a week long wilderness excursion every morning.
Ah, the typical "Bro" life. (gag)
I'll tell you right now, if I knew HALF of what I know today, my life would have been so much better back then. Honestly, I wish I could have those days back.
Fast Forward to Today.
6:30 a.m. Kitchen still dim as the day break makes its way through the blinds.
Not a tupperware in sight.
6:45 You won't find skillets on stove, and you probably won't until MAYBE 9 or 10 o clock this evening.
Not a tupperware in sight.
6:45 You won't find skillets on stove, and you probably won't until MAYBE 9 or 10 o clock this evening.
7:00 Most mornings I'm still out the door, but the difference now is It's on MY terms, and I'm living my life and going about my business with no worries about "meal timing" "what I'm going to eat" and even if I'll be able to train today.
This my friends is stress free living!
Okay, our lives will never be stress free, but trust me, not having to worry about all those meals and training is one less MAJOR stress to deal with.
Despite putting out a lot of the best information I've come across and applied over the years, quite a bit of people still ask, "Yeah, but what do YOU do exactly?"
Well, I'll lay it out for you in a typical day-to-day fashion of how most of my days go.
This my friends is stress free living!
Okay, our lives will never be stress free, but trust me, not having to worry about all those meals and training is one less MAJOR stress to deal with.
Despite putting out a lot of the best information I've come across and applied over the years, quite a bit of people still ask, "Yeah, but what do YOU do exactly?"
Well, I'll lay it out for you in a typical day-to-day fashion of how most of my days go.
A Typical Day
Most days I'm up and out of bed by 6. I find the early morning is the best time for me to get a lot of personal work done, writing for WhatAreYouCraven,checking emails and responding to inquiries and such. Time tends to get away from me when I'm doing this, so before I know it it's 8 o clock and I have to wrap it up so I can make it to my class by 8:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Every other morning I still try to do the same, knocking out my personal work by 8, then start working on my engineering projects and studies around 8 til about 1 or 2 pm.
A little after this, I'll proceed to have my breakfast.
Breakfast at 2 o clock??
Yup, that's breakfast for me. 3 years ago this would have been unheard of me to go almost half a day without any food, and i would have been an anxious wreck and probably a complete dick to anyone who tried to talk to me. Thank god that's not the case anymore. (I still might be a dick, but for different reasons lol)
Depending of my schedule, If i have a chance to make it home for lunch then I'll head home for a bit to cook up a FAT meal. Otherwise, I may have something that i prepared before hand in the fridge, or If I'm feeling lazy, i'll just grab something on campus or wherever I happen to be at the moment.
Mid-day skateboard break! I love to skateboard, and while I can't usually make a day of it anymore, It's still fun to get some flat-land boogie sessions in here and there.
Then i continue about my work the rest of the afternoon and evening.
I like to have most of my work out of the way by 7 pm, freeing up my evening to get my training in.
Training's done, it's usually about 9 30, then I shuttle myself home to knock out a bit more work.
Dinner falls somewhere between 11 and midnight, and I proceed to cook up another FAT meal.
Pretty boring right? Being an engineer is nothing glamorous, but I happily go about my business day in and day out.
Back when i was eating 7 meals a day, I could NEVER accomplish as much work as I do now, and thoughts of "losing my gainz" would occupy my mind and be a major distraction. Feeling that way straight up sucked.
Most days I'm up and out of bed by 6. I find the early morning is the best time for me to get a lot of personal work done, writing for WhatAreYouCraven,checking emails and responding to inquiries and such. Time tends to get away from me when I'm doing this, so before I know it it's 8 o clock and I have to wrap it up so I can make it to my class by 8:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Every other morning I still try to do the same, knocking out my personal work by 8, then start working on my engineering projects and studies around 8 til about 1 or 2 pm.
A little after this, I'll proceed to have my breakfast.
Breakfast at 2 o clock??
Yup, that's breakfast for me. 3 years ago this would have been unheard of me to go almost half a day without any food, and i would have been an anxious wreck and probably a complete dick to anyone who tried to talk to me. Thank god that's not the case anymore. (I still might be a dick, but for different reasons lol)
Depending of my schedule, If i have a chance to make it home for lunch then I'll head home for a bit to cook up a FAT meal. Otherwise, I may have something that i prepared before hand in the fridge, or If I'm feeling lazy, i'll just grab something on campus or wherever I happen to be at the moment.
Mid-day skateboard break! I love to skateboard, and while I can't usually make a day of it anymore, It's still fun to get some flat-land boogie sessions in here and there.
Then i continue about my work the rest of the afternoon and evening.
I like to have most of my work out of the way by 7 pm, freeing up my evening to get my training in.
Training's done, it's usually about 9 30, then I shuttle myself home to knock out a bit more work.
Dinner falls somewhere between 11 and midnight, and I proceed to cook up another FAT meal.
Pretty boring right? Being an engineer is nothing glamorous, but I happily go about my business day in and day out.
Back when i was eating 7 meals a day, I could NEVER accomplish as much work as I do now, and thoughts of "losing my gainz" would occupy my mind and be a major distraction. Feeling that way straight up sucked.
My usual breakfast How/What I'm Eating
You may have gotten through that last section and thought, "good lord, this guy doesn't even eat!"
That's sort of half right.
I have a very low meal frequency, usually 2 (3 if I have time) whole meals daily.
BUT...they're pretty huge meals.
I manage to consume around 1200 calories per meal, depending on my current goals and macros.
As of today, I don't have any direct "bulking" or "cutting" goals i'm trying to reach. I'm essentially eating for maintenance at 164 lbs and roughly 8-9% calculated body fat.
My macro nutrient breakdown are along the lines of 185 grams protein, 150 grams fat, and carbs can range from 150-350 grams per day, depending on the day and how I feel and all that good stuff.
My first meal is where I aim to get atleast half of my daily protein and a little more than half of my dietary fat. Carbs are typically limited to under 50 grams at this time, but sometimes I'll be driving by Krispy Kreme Donuts and the "HOT NOW" light will be flashing.
You NEVER say NO to a half dozen fresh Krispy kreme Donuts!
My second meal comes a little before bed, and I'll make up the remainder of my protein and carbohydrates in this meal. The fat load isn't a particually large one, as I'm looking to replenish my glycogen stores in my body with carboyhdrates after training.
And protein is protein, gotta fit that shizz in every meal.
Just a heads up, thats my personal macro-nutriend profile, and I've worked a long time to find a comfortable fat/carb ragne that allows me to stay in a nutritional ketogenic state throughout the morning and utilize lipids (fat/body fat) for energy and empty/replenish glycogen after weight training. I like this model A LOT as it allows me and people who utilize it, to stay lean WHILE having energy and strength and enough of the proper material to build lean muscle while limiting body fat accumulation.
I think it's called SCIENCE or something like that.
Or maybe its Magic??
yeah, that's it. It's definitely magic.
I hope you all are picking up the theme I'm laying down. My life has become so much easier and productive by reducing the amount of effort I've had to put into my diet ALONE.
Let's continue.
You may have gotten through that last section and thought, "good lord, this guy doesn't even eat!"
That's sort of half right.
I have a very low meal frequency, usually 2 (3 if I have time) whole meals daily.
BUT...they're pretty huge meals.
I manage to consume around 1200 calories per meal, depending on my current goals and macros.
As of today, I don't have any direct "bulking" or "cutting" goals i'm trying to reach. I'm essentially eating for maintenance at 164 lbs and roughly 8-9% calculated body fat.
My macro nutrient breakdown are along the lines of 185 grams protein, 150 grams fat, and carbs can range from 150-350 grams per day, depending on the day and how I feel and all that good stuff.
My first meal is where I aim to get atleast half of my daily protein and a little more than half of my dietary fat. Carbs are typically limited to under 50 grams at this time, but sometimes I'll be driving by Krispy Kreme Donuts and the "HOT NOW" light will be flashing.
You NEVER say NO to a half dozen fresh Krispy kreme Donuts!
My second meal comes a little before bed, and I'll make up the remainder of my protein and carbohydrates in this meal. The fat load isn't a particually large one, as I'm looking to replenish my glycogen stores in my body with carboyhdrates after training.
And protein is protein, gotta fit that shizz in every meal.
Just a heads up, thats my personal macro-nutriend profile, and I've worked a long time to find a comfortable fat/carb ragne that allows me to stay in a nutritional ketogenic state throughout the morning and utilize lipids (fat/body fat) for energy and empty/replenish glycogen after weight training. I like this model A LOT as it allows me and people who utilize it, to stay lean WHILE having energy and strength and enough of the proper material to build lean muscle while limiting body fat accumulation.
I think it's called SCIENCE or something like that.
Or maybe its Magic??
yeah, that's it. It's definitely magic.
I hope you all are picking up the theme I'm laying down. My life has become so much easier and productive by reducing the amount of effort I've had to put into my diet ALONE.
Let's continue.
Engineering. Donuts. Deadlifts.
Left: Current Composition Right: Old Composition
How I'm Training
I wish I could tell you my entire day consisted of lifting weights and working out.
Actually, No I don't.
I'm glad my days don't revolve around fitness.
I'd get bored and burnt extremely fast.
And it's happened before.
But right now, I LOVE training, and enjoy every second of it.
My current training block is a DUP (daily undulating periodization) program. This type of program allows me to hit my main lifts (deadlifts, bench presses, squats) multiple times a week with different loads and rep ranges.
Most weeks i'll get 3-4 training sessions in.
At my current body composition of 164 pounds, I have a tested squat max of 465.
My deadlift rep loads reach up to 500 lbs for most deadlift sessions.
These are my 2 main lifts i focus on throughout the week.
My bench press is nothing spectacular, and I'm embarrassed to say its only 305 lb tested max. That pales in compassion to my deadlift and squat, but I'm working on bringing that up. (Thanks dad for these small body genetics!)
Let me draw out a current comparrsion from "OLD BRO CRAVEN" to "CURRENT LEAN CRAVEN"
My weight was typically 205-215 pounds at roughtly 20% + body fat fat. Today it's never more than 170 and above 10% body fat.
My strength is actually relatively and OVERALL higher at my current state. When I have my largest I have a 510 squat, but 465 right now isn't too shabby. My deadlift is almost 100 pounds higher and my bench is only 10 pounds under from my all time max. This is all mainainance work too. Soon enough i'll train to improve my size and strength, but today, I just want to keep it lean.
I've managed to accomplish this with literally less than HALF of the effort in my training and nutrition.
A Few Words on Stress
You've probably heard how detrimental stress can be to your overall health.
I've always heard this too, and never really took it too seriously.
As I've gotten older and my different stresses in life have compounded, I can see how it can really negatively impact your life. Everything from energy levels, hormone levels, and especially recovery from training and physical activity.
Thankfully, I've been blesses to not have an insurmountable amount of stress in my life, like a lot of people might have.
In fact, the number of stressors in my life are relatively low, but the magnitude of my stress loads can be pretty high.
A lot of days I may work 16 hours straight and sleep very little with horrible sleep quality. I try to limit this as much as possible, but hey, it happens.
All of you may have similiar stress, and probably more if you're raising a family, work a job you don't like, commute to work daily, or have to live paycheck to paycheck.
Stress will always be there, the key here is to learn how to cope with it and manage it.
I wish I knew a perfect 'one size fits all' formula for this, but I don't, and I often have a hard time coping myself.
A professor of mine recently recommend a book to me called "WHY ZEBRAS DON'T GET ULCERS" and it's been a fascinating read on lving with daily stress and how to avoid/cope with it in your life. I hightly recommend this book to everyone!
I wish I could tell you my entire day consisted of lifting weights and working out.
Actually, No I don't.
I'm glad my days don't revolve around fitness.
I'd get bored and burnt extremely fast.
And it's happened before.
But right now, I LOVE training, and enjoy every second of it.
My current training block is a DUP (daily undulating periodization) program. This type of program allows me to hit my main lifts (deadlifts, bench presses, squats) multiple times a week with different loads and rep ranges.
Most weeks i'll get 3-4 training sessions in.
At my current body composition of 164 pounds, I have a tested squat max of 465.
My deadlift rep loads reach up to 500 lbs for most deadlift sessions.
These are my 2 main lifts i focus on throughout the week.
My bench press is nothing spectacular, and I'm embarrassed to say its only 305 lb tested max. That pales in compassion to my deadlift and squat, but I'm working on bringing that up. (Thanks dad for these small body genetics!)
Let me draw out a current comparrsion from "OLD BRO CRAVEN" to "CURRENT LEAN CRAVEN"
My weight was typically 205-215 pounds at roughtly 20% + body fat fat. Today it's never more than 170 and above 10% body fat.
My strength is actually relatively and OVERALL higher at my current state. When I have my largest I have a 510 squat, but 465 right now isn't too shabby. My deadlift is almost 100 pounds higher and my bench is only 10 pounds under from my all time max. This is all mainainance work too. Soon enough i'll train to improve my size and strength, but today, I just want to keep it lean.
I've managed to accomplish this with literally less than HALF of the effort in my training and nutrition.
A Few Words on Stress
You've probably heard how detrimental stress can be to your overall health.
I've always heard this too, and never really took it too seriously.
As I've gotten older and my different stresses in life have compounded, I can see how it can really negatively impact your life. Everything from energy levels, hormone levels, and especially recovery from training and physical activity.
Thankfully, I've been blesses to not have an insurmountable amount of stress in my life, like a lot of people might have.
In fact, the number of stressors in my life are relatively low, but the magnitude of my stress loads can be pretty high.
A lot of days I may work 16 hours straight and sleep very little with horrible sleep quality. I try to limit this as much as possible, but hey, it happens.
All of you may have similiar stress, and probably more if you're raising a family, work a job you don't like, commute to work daily, or have to live paycheck to paycheck.
Stress will always be there, the key here is to learn how to cope with it and manage it.
I wish I knew a perfect 'one size fits all' formula for this, but I don't, and I often have a hard time coping myself.
A professor of mine recently recommend a book to me called "WHY ZEBRAS DON'T GET ULCERS" and it's been a fascinating read on lving with daily stress and how to avoid/cope with it in your life. I hightly recommend this book to everyone!
Well that's about it for this one, guys. I hope I didn't manage to bore you all with how I conduct my life and manage my nutrition and training.
I'm not perfect and I don't pretend to think my ways of eating and training are perfect either, but for where I'm at in my life, they suit me just fine and have helped me maintain a physique I'm proud of while minimizing the mount of effort of stress I once placed on myself.
Fitness can be a mind-fuck of a game sometimes. It's easy to go overboard and let obsession make a home in your conscious thought-process. That's the last thing you want.
Just remember to find balance in your life, pursue passions, smile, lift heavy, eat well, read, listen to music, and lift some more, and I can guarantee you'll be a better, more fit person.
I'm not perfect and I don't pretend to think my ways of eating and training are perfect either, but for where I'm at in my life, they suit me just fine and have helped me maintain a physique I'm proud of while minimizing the mount of effort of stress I once placed on myself.
Fitness can be a mind-fuck of a game sometimes. It's easy to go overboard and let obsession make a home in your conscious thought-process. That's the last thing you want.
Just remember to find balance in your life, pursue passions, smile, lift heavy, eat well, read, listen to music, and lift some more, and I can guarantee you'll be a better, more fit person.
