“Nick, why do you have boobs just like my mom?”
– Matthew, 10-yrs old, San Francisco 2009.
It was a rainy fall day in San Francisco about 10 years ago when a 10-yr old kid brought me to my knees with 10 simple words.
Approaching my 30th birthday, after 5 years of gaining weight and constantly feeling tired, it was the final straw that forced me into action. It propelled my fitness journey from the reality of being overweight and tired to where I am now at 40 years old, in the best shape of my life.
Nothing Was Working
The crazy part was that I thought I was doing a lot of the “right” things… I was going to the gym 5 days per week! I was restricting certain junk foods because I thought they were responsible for all my weight gain. But the scale was up 20 lbs. I had low energy and relied on copious amounts of coffee to stay alert. I felt like an old man getting out of bed every morning.
Maybe this whole aging thing really does suck like all my older coworkers would remind of on a daily basis? Maybe all these physiological changes in the body as you get older make it impossible to shed fat and build muscle?
All you have to do is look at the mainstream media to see how this conditioning gets reinforced – buy these “fat burning” supplements, go on hormone replacement therapy to build muscle, go on “this” diet, etc. It feels downright depressing.
But, hold on a second. I’m here with some good news. This aging thing doesn’t have to suck.
In fact, getting older can be wonderful if you do the right things and avoid some common mistakes. You can defy the normal symptoms of aging and become stronger, leaner, and more flexible as you get older. You can 100% shed body fat well into your 40’s and beyond.
Personally at 40, I’m the leanest, strongest, and most fit that I’ve ever been.
More importantly, I’ve been helping other men in their 40’s achieve the same goals. I’ve been doing this for the past decade and getting older for these guys doesn’t suck at all because they feel and look 10 years younger.
The best part is that this reality of bucking the aging process is available to anyone, regardless of your genetics or how little time you have. The huge discovery I made was that diet and exercise are NOT ENOUGH to shed fat and build muscle as you get older. It might get the job done when you’re 20 and single. But at 40 and beyond you need to do things a little differently. You need to be smarter.
My Simple Framework
That’s why I’ve created a simple framework that’s designed to help men in their 40’s shed fat and build muscle so that they have more confidence, feel younger in their bodies, and impact the world on a deeper level. It’s a simple 3 pillar approach that I call the Trifecta of Transformation.
This is way more than losing a few pounds or getting a little stronger.
When you use the Trifecta of Transformation, here’s what happens:
- You’re jumping out of bed full of energy, pain free.
- You’re ripping your shirt off with confidence on your next vacation because you feel better in your body.
- You’re playing with your kids for hours without getting winded. Effortlessly.
Now in order to create these realities, we need to do things differently. We need to go BEYOND diet and exercise.
Calories certainly matter, but we need to think bigger. Workouts are important of course, but the type of workout and the duration of that workout matters more. More exercise isn’t necessarily better.
You’ve probably tried some combination of diet and exercise and might not be working or it’s just not sustainable. Maybe you’ve tried cutting carbs or experimenting with keto diet and it worked in the short run, but you had a hard time keeping it up? Or maybe you’ve had success doing crossFit or some other high intensity workouts for a little while, but you got hurt or just can’t find the time to show up consistently given your busy life.
It’s tough. I get it because I was stuck there for years myself.
But once I addressed the mental piece and tied that into the exercise and nutrition, that’s when everything changed. This “mental piece” can be as simple as daily activities like breathing, yoga, meditation, or even just a short mindful walk outside.
The great part is that this daily “practice” is available to everyone no matter how little time you have. It can be done in as little as 2 minutes every morning. That’s it. You start small and build from there. If you neglect the mental part, you’ll need to rely on willpower and discipline which we know will fail in the long run.
Even worse, a constantly “busy” mind combined with chronic stress will create havoc on the body. It will negatively impact everything from energy levels to your ability to lose fat and gain muscle.
Here are a few signs you need to focus on mental training:
- You have a hard time sticking with a program for longer than a couple weeks
- You restrict certain food groups because you think they are “bad”
- You consume more than 15 alcoholic drinks per week
- You reward yourself with food after a good workout
- You look to food for comfort when stressed
- You eat quickly and mindlessly
- You struggle with focus or get easily distracted
- You feel overwhelmed
- You don’t have any clear goals
- You’re constantly comparing yourself to others
What To Do Next
The 1st step in changing any behavior is stepping back and assessing your situation. Take 1 minute right now and ask yourself the above questions.
Are you failing into the trap and thinking you just need more willpower? Are you trying to workout harder or longer to offset poor food choices? If so, you need to do something about the mental piece.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to tackle in the next piece. → Trifecta of Transformation Part 1: MINDSET – Creating a healthy mindset, managing stress, and prioritizing sleep.
So if you want to say a big FU to the Dad bod right NOW and get results FASTER, you’ll have a road map of what to do.
If you want to look, move, and feel better than you did in your 20’s, you’ll know exactly what to do and what crucial mistakes to avoid.
I lay out the framework over the next 4 posts. I’ll give you a behind the scenes look at the secret sauce that I’ve used to transform the lives of hundreds of other busy guys just like you.
Here’s the overview:
- (YOU ARE HERE) Introduction to the Trifecta of Transformation. Why all this matters. Diet and exercise are not enough.
- Trifecta of Transformation Part 1: Mindset
- Trifecta of Transformation Part 2: Nutrition
- Trifecta of Transformation Part 3: Movement
- Putting it all together – How to set up the Trifecta of Transformation system for YOUR LIFESTYLE so that you know exactly what you have to do every day.
If you enjoyed this, I’d love to hear from you.
What hit home for you? What are you going to do about it? I want to know.
Nick
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