If you are reading this, your health is probably fucked (or at least you assume it is). And this isn't a surprise.

I mean, it's almost as if the world we live in is designed in a way to make you unhealthy.

I won't go into conspiracy theory, this is not the goal of this letter. But I think we can all agree that today's modern way of living isn't the best.

Think about it. We are almost forced, due to the vast majority of modern office jobs, to live sedentary lives. Which, I'm sure you are well aware, isn't the best when it comes to our health.

We are also glued to our computer screens for hours each day. Not to mention the smartphone/scrolling pandemic, which not only forces us to stare even more at screens (just what we need, right?) but also has an array of negative effects on us.

On top of all this, we are conditioned as a society (especially Western world), to drive a car wherever we go.

The result? The average person barely moves throughout the day.

This is really bad for our health. We as humans are meant to be moving. Yet, only a handful of us do it regularly.

That's why it is safe to say that the average person today is really fucked in the health department.

Why is this so important (aside from the obvious reasons why being healthy is good for us)?

Simple.

If we wanna make the most of our lives. If we wanna have a fulfilling and meaningful life. If we wanna get as close as possible to achieving self-mastery, then it's necessary to have both our mental and physical health in check. One can’t go without the other.

I’ll go over physical health today.

There are 2 types of people.

#1

The 1st type of people are those who are unaware of the fact that their physical health isn't the best.

They think that only because they feel somewhat good, nothing hurts them, and overall don't have any "symptoms" (for now) that would indicate something is wrong, that they are perfectly healthy.

Wrong.

A lot of the people who fall under this category, probably have unhealthy lifestyles, so they never actually experienced how it feels to be at "100%".

So their illusion that they are fine, is just that, an illusion.

The fact is if you are not physically active, don’t have high-quality sleep, and don’t eat relatively healthy... — hate to break it to you, but you are not as healthy as you may think.

Sure, you feel perfectly fine right now, and there is nothing wrong with you. But if you continue to live like this, it's only a matter of time before something starts going wrong.

#2

The 2nd type of people are the ones who are aware that their physical health is not the best, and that they should probably do something about it.

The problem is, that they have too much going on, and simply can't find time for themselves and their well-being.

On top of that, they are led to believe by the fitness and health industry that to be healthy, they need to devote a lot of time and effort.

This is simply not true.

There are also 1000s of workout programs available online; A lot of fitness and health gurus with their compulsive overoptimization of every single aspect of one's health. And not to mention biohackers with their biohacking potions and absurd routines.

The fact is nothing about being healthy needs to be so complicated.

But due to the amount of false information available online, it's easy to imagine how overwhelmed an average person can get when they see all of this.

With that being said, no matter which category you fall under, I hope you are at least aware of the importance of being physically healthy.

If not, let me refresh your mind once more on some of the benefits:

• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Improved mood and focus
• Better sex life
• Overall higher levels of attractiveness
• More creativity and clarity
• Higher willpower
• Higher confidence
• Stronger immune system (you are never (or rarely) sick), etc.

Most of these (and many more) are something I personally experienced once I got my physical health sorted out. So yeah...

"It is a shame for a man to grow old, without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable" — Socrates

Ok, so what are the steps you can take to make sure your physical health is optimal?

As always, I got you covered.

4 pillars of Physical Health

As I said before if you start going down the online fitness rabbit hole, you'll easily get overwhelmed by the infinite amount of workout routines, nutrition hacks, and everything in between.

Some guys swear that going to the gym and lifting heavy is the answer, others claim yoga is all they need. Some claim that you should fast and only eat once a day, while others are religious about eating 4 to 5 times a day, claiming there is no other way.

Don't even let me get started on biohackers.

"Oh, you must expose yourself to the sun, at least 67 minutes a day, if you don't, you'll die before you are 40; Oh, you need to take a cold shower every day; Oh, you should fast till 11 AM, then take XYZ supplement, and only then you can eat; Oh, if you REALLY wanna be healthy, you need to cleanse your body with this special Tibetan herb tea, with a little bit of lime..."

Give me a break.

The worst part of all of this? They ALL have "scientific research" that "proves" their claims.

So here you are sitting at home, trying to fit a rigorous workout routine, and yoga sessions into your already tight schedule, knowing damn well you won't stick to it.

It's no surprise why the average person gets discouraged by all this before they even try to do something.

But do you really think that being healthy is this complicated? Do you really think that you need to do all kinds of shenanigans just to be healthy?

Of course not. It's pretty simple actually.

Here's how:

1) Physical Activity

No, I am not referring to doing exercise here (although we'll get to that). By "Physical Activity" I am referring to your overall activity — how active your lifestyle is.

You see, as soon as you land on a fitness part of the internet, you are immediately bombarded by a thousand different influencers that scream at you how going to the gym is a must, and how you should start going tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong, regular exercise is in fact really important (honestly, the best habit you can form). But if you are somebody who isn't physically active, how realistic it is for you to start exercising regularly right away? Not so much.

Plus, if you are really out of shape, going to the gym can actually have a detrimental effect.

I'm a firm believer that every change you make, your best bet is to do it gradually. One step at a time.

So here's how to change your sedentary lifestyle, to a more healthy, active lifestyle:

Go for a walk

As I already mentioned, we got used to driving cars wherever we go (especially in Western society).

That's stupid, and you should go on a walk instead (given that you have time of course).

For anything that would take you less than 10 - 15 minutes of walking, I say forget about the car and go on foot.

If you have time constraints and can't go for a walk all the time, then at least try to incorporate 20 - 30 minutes walks a couple of times a week instead.

This is really easy and anybody can do it. It maybe doesn't sound as much, but trust me, after some time, you'll see the benefits.

This is non-negotiable. Legs are meant for walking — start using them.

Participate in various physical activities

Apart from walking more, the other way to make our lives more active, is to participate in activities that require us to be active (shocking, right?).

For example, instead of going to bars all the time with your friends to drink, try to do something that requires some form of activity for a change.

There are a lot of fun things you can do, like:

• Running
• Riding a bike
• Hiking
• Playing some sport
• Carting
• Paintball

You name it...

If you can't make your friends go with you, great news — you can do most of these by yourself.

Not only being active is infinitely times more healthy, but it is also a lot more fun (if you are smart about it).

So yeah, that's it. Doesn't matter what level of physical fitness you are currently in, focusing on making your life as physically active as possible, will give you a great deal of (health) benefits.

2) Food

If you wanna be healthy, you need to eat healthy. Everybody knows that.

Again, if you were to try and find nutrition advice online, you would get blasted by all the different "science" backed diets and ways of eating.

We are talking about vegan, carnivore, vegetarian, OMAD, keto, low carb, low fat, high protein, plant-based, fruit diet, etc.

After 10+ years of experience, I can say one thing is for certain. Every single one of these is trash.

Why? The best diet is the one that's best suited for you.

I'll repeat. The best diet is the one that's best suited for you.

The type of food you eat, how much of that food you eat, at what times of day you eat, etc. all of that varies from person to person.

All of us have different lives, different goals, different bodies... So naturally there can't be a single diet that's best for all of us.

So instead of following one strict diet some guy posted online, you should focus on having a healthy and balanced approach to eating.

It's not rocket science, we are talking about eating... it's really simple.

Here's how.

Focus on eating as much of healthy foods as possible (obviously).

Everyone knows what is healthy and what isn't, but for some reason, people still need a reminder all the time...

• Meat
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Dairy
• Grains
• Fish
• Nuts

All of these ARE healthy (if you are allergic to some of these, or don't like them — don't eat them. Simple).

• Sweets
• Processed food
• Pizza
• Ice cream, etc.

Basically, anything else not listed above is NOT healthy (try to eat these as little as possible).

In short, everything in its natural form (the way it can be found in nature) = healthy.

Everything that comes in a bag or a box in its unnatural form (it's processed) = not healthy.

Really simple. Focus on filling up your fridge with as much food from the "healthy" department, and you are halfway there.

On the topic of counting calories — don't do it.

If you wanna gain weight — eat more. If you wanna lose weight — eat less. As I said, it's not rocket science (if you find it easier to count the calories, by all means, do it, otherwise there's no need).

So yeah, there's not so much more to tell here. Try to have 2-3 meals a day and that's it.

People act as if dieting is some science project. It's not. It's eating, how hard it can get?

You also don't need to be strict, you can have something that's "unhealthy" from time to time, just make sure that the majority of what you eat is healthy, and that's it.

In short 80% of the things you eat should be real food (things like red meat, eggs, fish, veggies, fruits, dairy...). The 20% that’s left you can fill out with whatever you want (pizzas, ice cream, burgers, cookies, pancakes... whatever you like).

This is all you'll ever need to know about nutrition to stay healthy.

3) Sleep

I won't drag this one for too long.

Everybody knows that having high-quality sleep is essential.

If you are chronically underslept or just have bad sleep hygiene (read: 95% of the population), of course, you won't be at "100%".

Sleeping is when your body and mind are "repairing". So if you don't sleep enough, you won't get repaired sufficiently.

Aim for at least 7 hours of good, high-quality sleep. Also, this goes without saying, but try to sleep at a reasonable time, don't wait until 4 AM to go to bed.

Some tricks that can help you enhance your sleep:

• Don't eat at least 2 hours before you go to bed
• Don't drink too much water at night (so you don't get up at night)
• Isolate your room the best you can from noise and light
• Try to limit exposure to blue light (digital screens) before going to bed
• Try to go to sleep at the same time every night

That's it.

4) Exercise

I want you to tell me something.

If there was a pill that: Reduces anxiety and depression, helps you sleep better, improves your mood and focus, makes you better in bed, makes you more attractive, etc.

How much would you pay for it? A lot probably… it would be the bestselling drug ever. Well it’s free, it’s called exercise.

Now, if you have the first 3 pillars in check, congratulations you are officially ready to start regular exercising.

Doesn't matter who you are, or what are your goals in life, resistance training is by far the best thing you can do. Period.

As somebody who devoted more than half of their life to this topic (and being healthy in general), I will keep this semi-brief and simple.

(If you wanna go deeper, feel free to dive into an online fitness rabbit hole. You'll stay there for x number of years, and will probably come out with a similar conclusion and knowledge to what I'm about to share (unless something revolutionary happens in the near future)).

For those of you who wanna keep it simple, here we go.

There are two types of resistance training: weight training (gym), and bodyweight training (calisthenics).

Both are great, both can build you a great physique and strength. Pick whichever you like.

Or you can do the same thing as me — cycle between the two. I personally do a bit more of calisthenics, simply because I enjoy spending time outside.

For calisthenics, there are numerous different exercises you can do, but your bread and butter will be the following:

• Pushups (Pushing exercise)
• Dips and straight bar dips (Pushing exercise)
• Pullups (Pulling exercise)
• Australian pullups (Pulling exercise)
• Squats and lounges (Leg exercises)
• Handstand pushups (when you get advanced) (Pushing exercise)

None of these (except handstand pushups) are hard to do. If you lack the strength to do any of these, however, there are a lot of supporting exercises that will help you (e.g. knee pushups; band-assisted pullups/Australian pullups). You can find plenty of supporting exercises online.

Once you master these, pick a balanced number of pulling and pushing exercises (you can also add leg exercises if you want to), and do the number of sets and reps that are challenging for you.

Do these types of workouts 3 to 4 times a week (you can do less if you are a complete beginner).

For the gym, there are 100s of different workout splits. The best ones are:

• Push/Pull/Legs — You do a push day, followed by a pull day, followed by a leg day. Then you either take a rest day or immediately repeat the cycle
• Upper body/lower body — You do the upper body one day, followed by lower body the next day, then rest and repeat
• Full body — You do full body workout every time

Here are the main exercises that any good strength program needs to have.

(Note: these are only main exercises, you can add accessory exercises as you please)

Push exercises:

• Bench press
• Incline bench press
• Overhead press
• Pushups
• Dips

Pull exercises:

• Pullups
• Lat pulldowns
• Rows (bent over rows, seated row, one arm row, etc.)

Leg exercises:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Lounges

(Note that if you are not sure how to perform any of these exercises, make sure to seek help from a professional, especially when it comes to squats and deadlifts).

Pick whichever split you want, and add these exercises in as needed. For example, if you do push/pull/legs split — on the push day do only push exercises, on the pull day do only pull exercises, and on the leg day do only leg exercises.

If you do upper body/lower body split — on an upper day do the balanced amount of push and pull exercises and on the lower day do only leg exercises.

You can also, as I said, add accessory exercises if you want. Things such as dumbbell flies, barbell curls, etc.

Aim for anywhere between 6-10 reps per exercise (go for 10 if you are a beginner). Do 3 to 5 sets per exercise.

Your workout shouldn't be longer than 1 hour. You should do at least 2 to 3 workouts a week.

And that is it.

Nothing matters if you aren't healthy, so we have to do everything that's in our power to be as healthy as possible.

Remember, you play the long game, nothing that is of some worth comes overnight.

Till next time.

Djosa

(Disclaimer, nothing here is medical advice. Everything I talked about here is from my personal experience on how I enhanced my physical health and fitness.)

 

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