F Cubed: Fitness, Finance, and Faith

Today, I make the case for using the same training split for an indefinite period of time. Whether this be weeks or months, I propose that it is much easier to analyze and identify progressive overload (or lack thereof), when you're using the same split - week in and week out. This is in contrast to going in and "shocking the muscle", with different workouts each time.

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Anyone who's ever undergone a radical physique transformation will probably agree with Laurin Conlin's (IFBB Bikini Pro) quote:

"Dieting will be longer than you like and slower than you think."

Having turned things around from an overweight and out-of-shape youth, I can attest to this, and I completely agree. On a day-by-day basis, this feels like you're just starting at the same black-and-white photo day after day after day.

Until one morning, a splash of color shows up, and it changes everything.

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It may be a Tuesday, but I'm nobody if not somebody who likes to take chances and buck the trend, so I wanted to go ahead and lay out some Monday Motivation for you guys, TODAY! And, our inspiration for this piece comes from one singular source - the gospel.

Recently I've come to the realization that the more I learn about Jesus - his life, his teachings, his sacrifice - the more I'm lead to a destination in my faith that is surprisingly colored with nothing but freedom.

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Cut me a little slack today because it might sound like you've stepped into The Matrix, with 'knowing that you don't know', or 'not knowing that you know'. But, in all of my years in finance and as an educator, I actually view this as a big issue that plagues many passive investors. Specifically, they 'don't know that they don't know', which is not too dissimilar from thinking that 'they know'. As a result, they're simply not equipped to make the best decisions under duress.

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One of the most important, yet commonly overlooked variables within your training program, is how long you rest between sets. I think most people have a very haphazard approach to their rest periods. And, even when rest periods are being monitored, they are too short to maximize performance - our ultimate goal in the gym.

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Big shout-out to my man, Simon Sinek. Today's piece is largely inspired by his book "Start with Why", and he makes the case that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. From that, I wanted to encourage you all to sit down and figure out your own whys inside of the three Fs: fitness, finance, and faith. I think we all spend too much time on the how, and not nearly enough time on the why.

To give you some ideas to consider, I share my own why within each F of the cube.

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RPE, or Rate of Perceived Exertion, has had a monumental impact on the effectiveness and sustainability of my training. It is something that I borrowed from the powerlifting community and only recently discovered in the last 3-5 years. Most of the first decade of my bodybuilding career was spent feeling like I HAD to take every set to failure, or it didn't really count. Knowing what I know now, I am fully convinced that this lead to very sub-optimal results. So, if there's anything that you guys could take away from today's episode, I would consider applying RPEs to your own training ASAP. Your long-term health will thank you for it.

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In this piece, I wanted to take a very macro view at understanding one of the central pieces to the global economy - money. Specifically, money has a cost, and this is always represented by the interest rate that might be associated with those funds. If we start at the very top, with the Federal Reserve, we can begin to see how their targeting only a few different interest rates ends up having a domino effect on the entire economy. This includes not only businesses and corporations, but you and me, as well.

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A great tool for life is to take inventory of your strengths - what you're good at. I think we all spend far too much time focusing on what we're not so good at, or our inabilities, or our weaknesses. Instead, flip that on its head and become keenly aware of what you are good at - where you excel. The benefits of this are no clearer seen than with training and nutrition. Truth be told, inside of a few universal principles, there are many ways to reach your physical fitness goals. To get there, I propose that you structure your training and nutrition to align with those strengths. To help you generate your own ideas, I share my extreme dislike for changing my routine and where I draw the line with my own approach to flexible dieting.

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Have you ever felt like God could never use you? Ever felt like you're just so far from the mark of what God wants you to be that He would never even consider using you in some grand way? I know I have, and that's part of the reason I struggled to finally make the decision to include the faith element in F Cubed late, last year. But, if we actually look at biblical history, we see that God loves to use the weak and the humble for His master design. He fancies Himself on taking these "misfits" and turning them into heroes. This is no better exemplified than in the story of Gideon, from the book of Judges. After taking the time to learn more about this story, I can't help but feel hopeful, optimistic, and encouraged. I pray that you will, too.

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