How To Go from Zero to One.

One of the most difficult challenges you will face when starting on your health and fitness journey is overcoming the sense of feeling overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed (verb, past participle)

• to become buried or drowned beneath a huge mass (of information)

• to be defeated completely (by information)

• to be given too much (information) by someone

• to be overpowered (by information)

Why?

Because our information diet is out of control. We are overfed with information.

Most attention spans have been shortened.

Most lack the skill of separating signal from noise.

Most are mentally defeated before they even start fighting their inner battle.

Your desire to become a healthier, fitter person is crushed. It's too hard.

• 90% of people are aware of the importance of their health and fitness.

• 70% of people are conscious of the need to do something about it.

• 50% of people seek out information that will help them.

• 30% of people start to put together a plan.

• 10% of people do this successfully.

• 1% of people sustain this forever.

Let's get you into that 1%.

I am going to provide a step-by-step guide on how to:

1) Avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed.

2) Create a baseline of healthy habits.

3) Start training with zero.

Let's get into it.

1) How to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

The nature of reality is incredibly complex. Moreso every day.

It seems that our attention is constantly being solicited by others.

• Listen to this news

• View this commercial

• Look at this ad

• Watch this YouTube video

Enough.

We struggle to maintain focus on executing simple goals, consistently over time, that produce meaningful results.

From the moment you wake up, your focus is stolen from you by:

• Your alarm clock.

• Emails from work.

• Commercials on TV.

• Traffic on your commute.

• Notifications on your phone.

• Suggestions from social media.

At the end of the day, you know there is something you should do to take care of yourself.

But how can you muster the mental energy to:

• Educate yourself on what to do.

• Sort through mountains of irrelevant information.

• Create a system of accountability.

• Execute your plan of action.

• Overcome challenges along the way?

I don't blame you for being overwhelmed.

The best way to overcome this is to block out as many distractions as you can, and enter your own world. Silence your phone, sign out of your computer, sit with yourself, and think about your physical being.

Ask yourself: Do you have issues that need correcting? Do you have ailments that you know will hurt you if they are not addressed? Does your inner voice tell you that you can do better?

Create a signal filter.

1. Decide on one health goal.

2. Filter out 99% of irrelevant information.

3. Execute.

Increase your level of health consciousness.

Your mind is a beacon for information.

Attract what you need.

Discard the rest.

Focus is a superpower. Start acting like it.

2) The Hierarchy of Needs

Most people go through their entire lives trying to fulfill basic survival needs.

• Food, water, shelter, safety, clothing.

Few people take the time to master fulfilling their hierarchy of health needs.

In fact, most people fail in at least one of the lowest-level categories:

• Natural whole foods (organic animals and plants)

• Clean water (purified, not tap)

• Sleep (7-9 hours, quality, tracked)

• Sunlight (10-30k lux hours/day)

• Oxygen (clean, unpolluted air)

So naturally, they will also fail at the next level as well.

• Movement - 10k steps a day.

• Exercise - Strengthening your heart, lungs, and muscles.

• Nature - Time with our natural healer.

Even fewer make it to the levels beyond this. The luxuries of good health afford you the opportunity to.

• Maximize your athletic performance.

• Optimize your life for longevity.

Each level must be fully met and mastered in order to successfully move on to the next.

Want some actionable advice?

Master Level 1 - Daily Habits.

Get great, consistent sleep.

Satisfy base nutritional needs to stop craving junk.

Drink pure, clean water.

Get adequate sunlight.

Breathe clean air.

Basic beginner stuff.

This will establish very healthy baseline habits that support your transition to Level 2.

Build on Level 2 Habits. Feel your powers grow.

Keeping this as simple as possible...

• Get 10k steps every day (minimum).

• Connect with nature for 10 mins a day (minimum).

• Exercise 3x per week (minimum).

What does that look like?

Step 1) 10k steps = 5 miles.

Step 2) 5 miles = 100 minutes of walking.

• 20 mins when you wake up.

• 30 mins during lunch.

• 20 mins after dinner.

Step 3) You'll likely collect the remaining 30 minutes throughout your day by walking around the house, working your job, or running errands. If not, add 5-10 minutes to the end of each walk.

This all goes even quicker if you run.

BOOM. 💥

Connect with nature. (I won't shut up about this).

This one is easy.

Here are 3 quick ways:

• Make one of your walks on a trail or in the woods. You'll kill 2 birds.

• Go outside barefoot at any point. Step into the grass. Just be. 10 minutes.

• Sit outside and meditate for 10 minutes on your patio, porch, yard, or whatever.

Exercise 3x per week. I will show you how to start from zero next.

3) How to start training from zero.

No material possessions or substances will truly make you happy.

No material possessions or substances will truly make you fit.

You don't need:

• A gym membership

• A new pair of sneakers

• A set of dumbbells

• A new tank top

All you need to train is:

• Your body

• Gravity

Truth be told, I can admit that I used to think Calisthenics (bodyweight training) was ineffective, and just for beginners.

In the last year or so, I've done a deep dive into the minimalist training style and spent 6 months focused purely on calisthenics.

Boy, I was wrong about it being for beginners. Calisthenics took my upper body development to a whole new level.

The good news?

I'm about to give you 3 quick Calisthenics routines you can do in less than 30 minutes.

These routines benefit you in 3 ways:

• Build muscle.

• Burn fat.

• Improve cardio.

This will help you fulfill the last requirement in Level 2 of the Hierarchy.

Ready?

Circuit Training Routine

When you master Beginner, move to Intermediate, and so on.

Train to improve the quality of your reps and decrease the time.

I've linked instructions here, in the exercise library (more to come on that later).

• Exercise Library

That's it for this week.

Takeaways

1. Focus is your superpower. Act like it.

2. Master the basics. Then level up.

3. Keep it simple, keep it spartan.

Remember that in order to cross the river, you must use the stepping stones.

The moment you take your eye off the next stone, you'll fall into the water.

P.S. - If you're new here and have no clue who I am, check out my story here.

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