Do You Want To Be Like Mike?

I grew up during a pretty exciting time for professional basketball (and college, really). Both the 80s and 90s were when the NBA grew significantly in popularity. There was the Lakers' showtime dynasty vs the legendary Celtic teams, the rise of Air Jordan and his later championship run, the Bad Boy Detroit Piston teams, legendary big men like Kareem, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaq, and I could go on and on. But don't worry, this will not be a trip down my own basketball memory lane. We are going to talk about one of those players though - Michael Jordan.

Even for those of you who don't follow or care about basketball in any way, you are probably familiar with the name, Michael Jordan. He was one of the greatest, most exciting players who eventually won 3 championships in a row before retiring to play baseball, then came back and won 3 more championships in a row before retiring again. You may not be familiar with him simply because he was good though. He transcended the sport and became a pop cultural icon mainly because of how he changed sports marketing forever. He had his own shoe that is still as iconic as it was back in mid-80s.

Anyway, in pro basketball, they play a pretty long schedule. 82 regular-season games before the playoffs start. Depending on how a team does, they could end up playing an additional 26 games in the post-season. Not every regular season game is that meaningful and given the way the game of basketball works, no one, not even Michael Jordan, is going to have a great game every game. Some nights, you are just off. To shoot a ball into a small circle, everything has to be pretty much perfect. If your shot is a millimeter off, it doesn't go in and you get 0 points. The difference between success or failure is miniscule and often imperceptible. 

I remember nights where Michael Jordan just wasn't making his shots for whatever reason. When that would happen though, he didn't just have an off-game and that was that. Instead, he would GRIND. He would drive the ball to the hoop, jump up in the air, potentially get fouled by the other team, and go to the free throw line. That is where he would get most of his points. He wouldn't give up shooting at all and sometimes he get his rhythm back. But the point is, even when he was off his game, he would step up his effort and find a way to squeeze out points and help his team win.

This is an analogy that I think everyone can use in life- and certainly during your workouts. You won't always feel it. You won't have the same energy and coordination or drive that you might normally have or want. There will be off days. But your off-days don't have to be days off! (see what I did there! huh? huh??)  

This is where you Be Like Mike. You grind. Maybe your movements seem awkward and your arms feel heavy and slow but you just press even harder. Not just to survive your workout on an off day but to actually win it! You might not win it the way you normally win it where you feel good but you win it through sheer grit and determination. 

As is usually the case, this is all mental. You would be amazed at what a little bit of visualization can do. It is like magic sometimes. Next time you might be having one of those off-days, picture Michael Jordan (or someone else you find inspirational) having an off-day too. Imagine how they were able to grind through and overcome whatever they were feeling physically to accomplish something great. Then imagine that YOU are Michael Jordan taking on that grind. It may sound silly, like something you would maybe do as a kid but never as an adult. I want you to try it as an adult. And don't just say it to yourself, actually believe it! Might seem impossible but I am telling you that it has worked for me and others. 

When I say "worked,” I just mean that it gave me strength and changed the context of my workout. Instead of feeling down and like I just can't bring the heat, I feel powerful in the knowledge that I am a champion and can grind through simply with that championship mentality and will to win.

Again, I want you to try this for real. While you are boxing, at work, or even just doing life stuff.  Don't just read this and go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, inspirational, Michael Jordan, yeah, I get it." Take it a step further, a step deeper. This has literally changed my life but you don't just have to believe in me. Believe in the power of your own mind. It's even stronger than we know, which I suppose is ironic on some level, but if you think about all of the unconscious and subconscious things our brains do, I have no doubt there are more things it can do that we may not even be aware of. I do know your mindset can drive your abilities. Tell yourself you’re a champion and you can become one. 

So You Want To Lose Weight?

Happy 2024! With the holiday season now over, this is that time of year that many of us, myself very much included, want to shed a little bit of that weight we might have gained since Thanksgiving (or in my case, since late August when pumpkin spice things started appearing in the stores). Some of us have an actual number of pounds we would like to lose, others it's just more of a look and feel thing.

Whatever the case, the levers we have to work with are obvious things like diet, exercise and yes, even sleep. Eating better, working out more and more intensely, and sleeping more/better will certain help get us onto the path of weight loss. How much, depends on you individually and your goals. Here are 8 tips I can give you from personal experience, anecdotal experience, and plenty of research on the subject:

1) It doesn't hurt to let your doctor know about your goal

This is especially true if you plan to lose a significant amount of weight, like more than 20-30 pounds. Your doctor knows your medical history and getting their buy-in is always a good idea. There may be reasons why losing weight could be prohibitive in your particular situation, or they may be certain restrictions you need to follow. They may also have some good advice for you, based on their knowledge of your history as well as just a better understanding of health and wellness than, say, the internet. Plus, telling someone kind of makes you accountable, which is usually good.

2) Differentiate between weight loss and things like body fat percentage and lean muscle mass

I know I have been using "weight loss" but I think your exact weight on a scale is less important to your own health and wellness. If there is muscle growth and fat loss, you may end up weighing exactly the same as you did before but your clothes fit totally different. And you feel better!

That being said, it feels good to see that number on the scale drop if you are looking to slim down a fair amount. I lost about 60 pounds years ago and it's much easier to say "I lost 60 pounds!", then "I dropped my body fat percentage by 10 points!" or "I feel lighter and slimmer than I used to!" Just make sure that you don't let the scale affect you too much.

3) Beware big dietary changes for long-term success!

This is a big one. Maybe the biggest. For most everybody, to lose weight, their need to be some dietary changes. Eat less, eat different, etc. But, BUT, you have to make sure that what you are doing is sustainable. Sure, you might be able to drop a lot of pounds doing intermittent fasting, cutting out carbs entirely, or skipping meals but are you planning to do this for the rest of your life? Or a modified version of it?

If not, there is a very strong possibility that you will gain the weight back. I have seen this happen to many people from several different diets. The thinking is that if you can just get your weight down to a certain number, you will be okay from there. But it's that maintenance stage that is the hardest. You can't just go back to how things were after dropping X-amount of pounds. Sometimes I find people know that, tell themselves that, maybe initially stick with a modified or generally better version of their old diet, but the weight eventually comes back.

Eating healthier is great. Eating healthier can also suck. I would recommend finding a healthier way to eat that you can actually stick with. Maybe try to eliminate something like added sugars, save for very special occasions. Or snacks. Or beer. Or maybe you experiment with eating a lighter lunch and see how it goes. I suggest smaller, gradual changes finding to find something healthier and sustainable.

4) Track It!

This, to me, is the first step anybody should take when it comes to managing their diet. Track what you eat for every meal and EVERY snack. If you grab a few M&Ms on your way through the kitchen, even if just a few, track it. Write it down or enter it in digitally. There are plenty of good apps out there that will track calories and even set limits for you to get to your goal but even if you just wrote it down and did nothing else, I bet it would be really helpful.

What happens is that we start to realize how much we actually eat. That realization alone can help you with what I mentioned above - figuring out ways to sustainably cut things out or limit things. Plus, knowing that you have to write down the 4 M&Ms you grab on the way through the kitchen might actually lead to you not eating the M&Ms. There is now some level of work associated with eating and it feels dumb to write down "4 M&Ms."

5) But you do have to get outside of your comfort zone

Just because I support finding something sustainable as far as diet and healthier eating habits, that does not mean it should be super easy. You will likely have to make some cuts and your body may not like those cuts. You will feel cravings. You may feel totally incomplete without desert. Like something is truly wrong because your body is not getting it's sugar at 8pm or whenever. Or you may just feel hungry and irritable. Especially at first. Going out to restaurants might be less fun because you don't order what you really want.

I will talk more about this later but it's worth mentioning a million times - there is no magic pill. There is no hack that will make cutting your caloric intake feel just fine. Empty calories are sometimes the ones we miss the most. If you want to really change things up, you have to get out of your comfort zone. The goal is just not to make it so uncomfortable that you cannot sustain it.

6) Super fast is not necessarily super good

I already kind of touched on this but also worth hitting on it again. While I would love to lose 20 pounds tomorrow or next week or next month, it is likely not going to happen. It might. And every body loses weight differently and in different spurts so depending on where you are, it could be a little more realistic but if I have to do anything really, really major to make it happen, we get back into what I mentioned in Point #3. It might not be sustainable and my body is going to be very confused. It dropped a bunch of pounds really quickly so as far as it knows, my food sources have been cut. Therefore, when I eat my next big dinner, it's going to want to hang on to those calories for longer because it doesn't know when the next significant meal will happen. 

1-2 pounds per week is generally recommended for an average person.

7) Beware what you hear from other people

Yes, I realize the irony of me saying this. I am another person. And you probably should scrutinize everything I say too. Everything should be challenged. But, I have read a bunch of info online or even anecdotally that seems ridiculous and makes no logical sense to me. First and foremost, consider the source. If anyone is trying to sell you something OR get you to follow them online, read their article, etc., I would take anything they say with the smallest grain of salt. As I have mentioned before, even if the source seems reputable, it could be total BS. Men's Health magazine is a major publication that has been around for almost 40 years and they still write articles about how doing core exercises can shrink your beer belly, something that I don't think any nutritionist, dietician or person with any physiological knowledge would consider remotely true.

Then there are randos online, influencers and such. Yeah, maybe what they say works for them and there's a lot more to it than they explain or maybe it's just a total lie. Remember that these people make money based on how many followers they have so if they can give you health and fitness tips that seem helpful to you, that might lead you to follow them. Sometimes it's even worse because it's someone telling you about what an influencer says or does, like a game of telephone, and it may not even be an accurate representation or explanation of what was originally said.

To continue the irony, an online source that I myself have used and pointed people too is this - https://www.myplate.gov/

It used to be Choose My Plate and yes, there are those in the dietary community who dispute some of our governmental dietary guidelines (mainly, do we really need that much fruit?) but they aren't selling anything and can even help you build a meal plan that at the very least, may be healthier that what you're doing right now. At least some good guidelines and many of the personal training certificating bodies like ACE and NASM, support using this a resource so you don't have to just take my word on it. 

8) Don't get too high, don't get too low. Or low at all.

If you believe nothing else I say, believe this: every body is different. Every person is different. Between our different bodies and different lives, we will have different experiences with everything, including weight loss. Some people lose weight by doing X. Others lose weight by doing Y. Some don't lose weight right away. Sometimes it takes a while before the numbers on the scale start to change. Some may lose a significant amount of weight relatively quickly but then plateau. It's a long journey and your journey isn't the same as anybody else's. 

Because of this and just general emotional management, I always recommend to others that they not get too high when things are going well and not get too low when they aren't. Life is always about change and fluctuation. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have any emotions all, you're a human being (I think) and it's going to happen. Just try to keep it in perspective and again, remind yourself that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Be proud of your achievements but always remember, things may change. If you get bad news from the scale, don't despair at all. Stay on track, don't get derailed and BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO THIS!!!