The Case For Not Trying As Hard

We’ve all been there. You finish a workout, lie on the floor for a minute, and one of two thoughts usually shows up: “I could not have gone any harder.” “I completely blew up.” Most people don’t struggle with fitness in conditioning workouts, they struggle with pacing. The Mistake When the clock starts, adrenaline starts too. Music is loud and everyone moves at once. You sprint the first round, and for a moment, you feel amazing. Then your breathing spikes and suddenly a workout that was supposed to feel steady becomes survival when rest breaks get longer and reps get sloppy. The Goal Pacing is not about going slow. It is choosing a speed you can repeat for the amount of time needed. A well paced workout should feel almost too easy for the first few minutes. You should be able to breathe through your nose or speak in short sentences. Ideally you finish the first round and feel like you could immediately do another at the same speed. Done right, the first 3-5 minutes of a 10:00 workout should look boring from the outside. The Fix Your first round should be your slowest round. Period. If this sounds impossible to do, then it needs to be reeeeheeally slow! Make it feel so lazy that other people think you’re weird. This allows your heart rate to increase very slowly as you get more and more into the workout. It’s better for your health, and your scores! Halfway through you’ll notice you still feel the same. Your breathing is elevated but controlled, and your reps look similar to round one. You aren’t staring at the barbell between sets wondering how you got there. The Why Starting too fast turns workouts into intervals with long rest, instead of a sustained effort. Finding sustained efforts is what improves endurance, recovery between movements, and long-term performance. Many people think they’re bad at conditioning when really they just run out of energy early and spend the rest of the workout trying to survive. Done right, this can improve fitness almost immediately. The Next Time Keep track of your round times. Get a whiteboard and a marker so you can write down each round. Round 1 - 1:45 Round 2 - 1:45 Round 3 - 1:30 Round 4 - 1:15 …etc. It might take a few workouts to find the sweet spot, but down the line you will be happy you took the time. See you out there! Hart

Not the scaling you were expecting…? First off… the scale doesn’t matter. And also, it does. No judgment whether it is for you or not, but it is important to have a better understanding of what we are seeing, and why it is more than just the blinking number on the screen. Let’s face it, stepping on the scale can stir up all kinds of emotions. It’s totally natural that many of us have experienced frustration, self-judgment, or even avoidance. Today, I want to help you understand the scale for what it truly is… a tool that can offer data. When to do it, and How Often We often make the mistake of giving one weigh-in way too much power. If you weigh yourself once a week or once a month, that number might be influenced by factors like hydration, what you ate yesterday, or how much sleep you got the night before. These things play a bigger role in that number than we think, and in turn can cause us to believe we aren’t making progress even when we actually are. When you weigh yourself every day at the same time, however, you start to see a pattern emerge. Day to day fluctuations are normal and weight naturally shifts due to water retention, hormones, or even muscle glycogen. But over time, you’ll notice if the overall trend is upward, downward, or stable. That trend is what gives you actual information. So if you are thinking about giving the scale a go, remember to be consistent, same time, same scale, same clothes. Knowing the trend over time allows us to make informed decisions. Do we like what’s going on? If yes, keep doing what’s working. If not, you have information to guide adjustments like tweaking nutrition, training, or habits. Not for You, No Big Deal Now, let’s be clear. You don’t have to weigh yourself. If stepping on the scale causes anxiety, or if you’d rather focus on other markers like strength, energy levels, or performance, that’s completely fair. There are many ways to track progress, and the scale is just one option. If you have a few goals you are trying to reach, it is worth finding one or two ways to track and measure your progress. It allows us to see tangible results and make informed decisions if we need to. Disclaimer Whether you weigh daily or choose another path, remember: the scale doesn’t define you. It’s simply a tool you can use or not use to help you make informed decisions. Approach it with curiosity instead of judgment, and know that every bit of data is just one small piece. Hart

Let's set the scene… It's 75° and sunny outside, clearly a mid-January day in Colorado, and you're about to go for a run. You threw on some shorts, your favorite running T-shirt, and now you grab your running shoes. The shoes you bought specifically for running. Why wouldn't you do the same thing for the gym? Instead of throwing on those exact same running shoes, or another set of random shoes to do back squats, deadlifts, and Olympic lifting, you need the right tools for the job. I'm not going to sit here and write about a specific shoe that you should go out and buy, mainly because my Nike deal has not been made public yet, but there are some important considerations when picking shoes so that you can move safely and effectively in the gym. ------ Why running shoes aren’t the right choice Those neon Nikes might increase your running pace a little bit, but they make it harder to find stability when it comes to lifting. Running shoes provide a lot of cushion and protection that you might need over the course of a 30-minute run. However, while lifting, you need to prioritize your connection with the ground. The soft cushioning of a running shoe reduces our stability under weight. Therefore, when you do something like a back squat, your feet and knees may cave in due to your shoe, instead of your body. This may cause a change in technique, lack of strength, or even increase the risk of injury a little bit. These shoes can also hinder our balance and ability to feel the floor. The thick foam dulls feedback from the floor, causing our weight to shift easily and reduce the amount of force you can put into the ground. What to look for in a shoe for fitness In functional fitness, your feet are the foundation. Every squat, deadlift, clean, lunge, jump, and carry starts with how you interact with the floor. If your shoe collapses or shifts, force leaks out before it ever reaches the barbell or the movement you’re trying to perform. That doesn’t mean minimalist shoes are required or that cushioning is bad. It means your shoe should match the demands of your training and your body. Let’s keep it really simple. When looking for a new shoe for the gym you want to focus on three things: Firm, flat, and fit. You want firm shoes so you can put force directly into the floor while having solid stability throughout. Flat shoes help keep us balanced from heel to toe, preventing us from being driven forward while lifting. And they need to fit well. Wide enough through the toe box to let your toes spread and your feet do their job. If your toes are crammed together, balance and force transfer suffer before the movement even starts. ------ Here is a short list of a few shoe choices to consider: Nike Metcons Nike Metcon Free Reebok Nanos Flux Adapt Trainers NoBull Trainers But, you don’t have to spend hundreds on shoes. Those old, flat Chuck Taylors are a favorite among powerlifters because they tick all the important boxes. Next time you come in for a deadlift day, break out your old Chucks instead of your big squishy Hokas and thank me later! Hart

For a long time, mobility has been treated as something separate from training. Something you do before you workout, after you workout, or on an entirely different day. Stretch more. Roll more. Do more mobility drills. These tools can absolutely be beneficial but they often distract from a bigger truth. Mobility is built through how you train. The point is not that extra mobility work is useless. It’s that if your strength training is done well, much of the mobility you are chasing will show up naturally. First off, mobility and flexibility are not the same thing. Flexibility is passive. It’s how far a joint can move when there’s no real demand placed on it. Mobility is active. It’s your ability to move through a full range of motion with strength and stability. If you can stretch into a position but can’t control it under even a little bit of weight, that range doesn’t belong to you. This is where strength training becomes a powerful mobility tool. When you squat to full depth with control, press overhead through a complete range of motion, or hinge slowly with tension the whole time, you are learning to load positions that we move through in life. That load teaches your body those positions are safe, and over time your nervous system stops guarding them. Control matters more than load here. Slow reps, pauses, and tempo work force you to work on difficult positions instead of rushing out of them. Those end ranges are exactly where mobility is built, and turns flexibility into something useful. This approach also requires leaving the ego at the door. Chasing heavier weights while cutting depth or rushing reps may boost short-term numbers and confidence, but it can stall your mobility in the long run. Focusing on your full range of motion and good positions builds resilient joints and strength that carries over into everything else you do! The best part is that none of this requires extra sessions or complicated routines. Squats, split squats, hinges, presses, and lunges all become mobility work. You don’t need to “cancel stretching forever,” but you may not need nearly as much of it as you think if your training is doing its job. At the end of the day, the goal isn’t to be able to stretch into impressive positions on the floor. The goal is to move well for a long time. When lifting is done with a full range of motion, control, and humility, it becomes your most effective mobility practice. Hart

Most people don’t think much about breakfast. They skip it, rush it, or grab something that feels “good enough” and move on with their day. Then by mid-morning, energy dips and hunger spikes. That’s not a coincidence. How you start your day nutritionally matters more than most people realize. Yes, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” might be a myth, but breakfast sets the tone not just for hunger, but for energy, training performance, and food choices later on. When breakfast is skipped, very low in protein, or loaded with sugar, you’re quietly making the rest of the day harder. Skipping breakfast often feels productive. Fewer calories and one less decision to make. But physiologically it’s rarely that simple. When you don’t eat in the morning, hunger just gets postponed. By late morning or early afternoon, it comes back stronger, and decision making gets sloppier. That’s when portion sizes creep up and certain foods become harder to resist. It’s easy for us to think we will eat less throughout the day if we skip breakfast, but most of the time that’s not the case. Even when breakfast does happen, protein is usually missing. Toast, cereal, pastries, smoothies, and coffee with a splash of milk aren’t “bad foods”, but they don’t do much on their own to keep you full or energized. Protein slows digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, and tells your brain you’re satisfied. Hitting your protein is one of the simplest things you can do to build or maintain muscle. Protein doesn’t just build muscle. It keeps you full, reduces cravings, and smooths out energy levels throughout the day. Getting a solid dose early in the day gives you a head start before decision fatigue creeps in. It makes it easier to eat well later, not harder. You’re less likely to snack mindlessly, overeat at night, or feel like you’re constantly playing catch up to hit your protein target for the day. For most active adults, a breakfast with only 10–15 grams of protein is just not enough. Closer to 30–40 grams is where hunger stays controlled and energy stays steady. Sugar makes things worse. Even breakfasts that appear reasonable can cause problems when they’re mostly sugar. Cereals, pastries, muffins, flavored yogurts, and sweetened drinks can spike blood sugar quickly. The crash that follows brings fatigue and the urge for more coffee or snacks. That cycle repeats itself all day. The first meal of the day influences far more than just hunger. It affects energy, training output, recovery, and how easy it is to make good decisions later on. A balanced, protein forward breakfast makes the rest of the day easier. A better breakfast doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. It just needs to prioritize protein and mainly come from whole foods. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but with a few minor substitutions, you can start to move things in the right direction. Hart

Let’s get this out of the way first… No one is here to cancel happy hour. But if you’re training consistently, trying to feel better in your body, and wondering why progress sometimes feels slower than it should, alcohol is usually part of that story whether we want it to be or not. Alcohol isn’t evil. It’s just not on your side when it comes to fitness. It’s Not Just About Calories Most people think alcohol only matters because of the calories. That part is true, but it’s actually the smallest piece of the puzzle. When you drink, your body treats alcohol as a toxin. That means everything else like burning fat, repairing muscle, even regulating blood sugar, gets put on hold while your liver works to clear the alcohol from your system. Researchers have shown that your ability to burn fat for fuel drops significantly after drinking. In a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, fat burning was reduced by up to 73% for several hours after alcohol consumption. Your body literally cannot prioritize fat loss while alcohol is present. So even if you ate well that day, trained hard, and hit your protein, your body is now forced into storage mode instead of rebuilding mode. Every workout you do creates small amounts of muscle damage. That’s not a bad thing, that’s the stimulus for growth. Recovery is when your body uses protein to repair that damage and build stronger muscle tissue. Alcohol interferes with that process. Your Sleep Is Worse Than You Think Alcohol can make you fall asleep faster, which is why so many people think it helps their sleep. But the quality of that sleep is worse. Studies from sleep labs have consistently shown that alcohol reduces deep sleep and REM sleep. The two stages that matter most for physical recovery, hormone balance, memory, and mood. It also raises your resting heart rate through the night and increases how often you wake up, even if you don’t remember it. You might be in bed for eight hours, but your body didn’t get eight hours of recovery. This matters because poor sleep increases stress, worsens insulin sensitivity, and drives cravings the next day. All things that work directly against fat loss and performance. So… Do You Have to Quit Drinking? No. But you should know the trade offs. One or two drinks occasionally won’t derail anything. But drinking several times per week adds up fast. Not just in calories, but in missed recovery. If your goal is to get leaner, stronger, have more energy, and feel better in your body, alcohol becomes something you have to manage instead of ignore. The Real Takeaway You don’t need to be perfect to make progress, but your habits should point in the same direction as your goals. If you’re training hard, eating well, and showing up consistently, alcohol often becomes the one thing quietly working against all of it. Cheers! Hart

Cardio is often thought of as the primary tool for fat loss and it’s easy to understand why. Cardio burns calories, raises heart rate, and feels productive. More sweat often makes us think, more progress. The problem is that fat loss doesn’t depend on a single variable. It’s the result of how training, nutrition, recovery, and consistency interact over time. When cardio is treated as the main focus, progress often stalls. Not because cardio is ineffective, but because it’s misunderstood. What Cardio Does Well Cardio training improves the efficiency of the aerobic system. It strengthens the heart and lungs, improves endurance, supports metabolic health, and is strongly associated with long-term health outcomes such as improved cardiovascular function, mood regulation, and sleep quality. From a health perspective, cardio is valuable and should be part of most training routines. From a fat-loss perspective, its role is more supportive than central. Cardio contributes to calorie expenditure, but it does not create the same adaptations as strength training. It does not increase muscle mass, and it does not significantly improve metabolism on its own. Why Resistance Training Matters More for Fat Loss Resistance training plays a critical role in fat loss because it preserves and builds muscle. Muscle influences body composition, strength, insulin sensitivity, and long-term metabolic health. When muscle mass is maintained or increased, the body is better able to use calories efficiently, physical capacity improves, and weight loss is more likely to come from fat rather than lean muscle. When resistance training is not prioritized and cardio volume increases, people are more likely to experience strength loss, reduced training intensity, and difficulty managing hunger. Over time, this can lead to muscle loss and a slower metabolic rate. Fat loss without muscle preservation can result in a smaller body, but not necessarily a healthier or more capable one. The Energy Trade-Off Increasing cardio volume often comes at the expense of recovery, lifting performance, or both. If cardio interferes with strength training quality, the long-term cost can outweigh the short-term calorie burn. This is especially true when calorie intake is reduced at the same time. Fat loss strategies that reduce training quality rarely produce sustainable results. Where Cardio Fits Best Cardio works best when it supports, rather than replaces, resistance training. A balanced approach typically prioritizes adequate protein intake, resistance training, high daily movement through walking or low-intensity activity, and moderate amounts of cardio. Cardio can improve work capacity, aid recovery, and increase total movement, all of which can indirectly support fat loss when applied appropriately. When Cardio Becomes the Focus Endurance-focused goals change the equation. For athletes training for marathons, triathlons, or ultra-endurance events, cardio becomes the primary driver of adaptation. Outside of these contexts, treating cardio as the main fat-loss strategy often leads to diminishing returns. The Takeaway Cardio is important for health, and resistance training is essential for body composition. Fat loss is best supported by preserving muscle, maintaining training quality, and building habits that can be sustained long term. Cardio can enhance that process, but it is not a substitute for strength training. Use cardio intentionally. Lift consistently. Eat enough protein. That combination remains the most reliable approach. Hart

Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m not a doctor. I don’t know your medical history. Before starting any supplement, especially if you have health conditions or take medications, check with your physician. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most supplements are unnecessary. Some are useless. Some are overpriced. Some are just fancy marketing with a cool label and zero payoff. If supplements actually worked the way the internet claims they do, everyone would be jacked out of their minds by now. They don’t. Supplements are exactly what the name implies: they supplement the basics. They don’t replace sleep. They don’t replace training. They don’t replace eating real food. And they definitely don’t fix inconsistencies. That said… There are a few that actually make sense. The One Everyone Should Start With: Creatine Creatine is one of the most researched supplements on the planet, and somehow it still gets treated like a sketchy muscle powder for meatheads only! In reality, creatine is naturally found in foods like red meat and fish. Supplementing with it simply helps your muscles produce energy more efficiently during short, intense efforts like lifting weights, sprinting, jumping, etc. What does that mean in real life? You can do a little more work, recover a little faster, and get a little stronger over time. Creatine has been shown to improve strength and power output, support muscle growth, and potentially support cognitive/brain health as well. How to take it: 3–5 grams per day - Every day at the same time - Take it with water or food, and take it whenever you’ll remember. Consistency matters! Protein Powder: Convenience, Not Magic Protein powder isn’t special. It’s just food in powdered form. If you’re already eating enough protein from whole foods, you don’t need it. If you struggle to hit protein targets consistently, it can be a game changer. That’s it. Protein powder does not build muscle on its own and it does not replace meals. It just helps you hit a daily protein number without cooking another chicken breast at 9pm. Use it when it makes life easier. Ignore it when it doesn’t. Omega-3s (Fish Oil): Worth Considering Most people don’t eat enough fatty fish. Omega-3s can help fill that gap. Potential benefits include joint health support, cardiovascular health, and inflammation management. It is not a performance supplement. It’s more of a long-term health play. Quality matters here. Cheap fish oil can be underdosed or oxidized, which defeats the purpose. Vitamin D: Situational, But Commonly Low If you live somewhere with long winters, work indoors, or avoid sunlight like a vampire, vitamin D levels are often low. Low vitamin D can impact energy, mood, and immune function! This one is best handled with blood work, but many people benefit from supplementation, especially in winter months. What About Pre-Workout? - The short & sweet! Most pre-workouts are just caffeine, sugar, and artificial colors. If you like them and tolerate them well, fine. But don’t confuse feeling cracked out with actually training better. A cup of coffee works just as well for most people. The Big Picture Supplements don’t change people. Habits do. Creatine works because it supports training you’re already doing. Protein powder works because it supports eating you’re already trying to improve. If sleep is terrible, training is inconsistent, and nutrition is chaotic, no supplement will save you. Start with... Consistent movement. Enough protein. Enough sleep Then layer supplements on top! Not the other way around. Hart

Honestly?... I think so! This might be a little more of an opinionated post than in the past but everyone seems to have a different opinion about the resolutions of the New Year, so strap in! Some love them and go all in, some hate them and don’t participate, and others choose lofty goals every year only to fall short after 3 days. No matter which one you are now, there’s a decent chance you’ve bounced around from committed, to who cares, in the past. So…my two cents. I’m not here to tell you that one way is better than another but I think in this world of trying to stay away from crash diets, but also see results, the sweet spot can be tough to find. As the New Year approaches and you start to think about what you want 2026 to look like, try to picture what your perfect day is and what type of person you want to become. Maybe your perfect day starts with getting out of bed when your alarm goes off instead of hitting snooze three times. Maybe it includes 30 minutes of movement not because you “have to work out,” but because that’s what this version of you does. Maybe it’s two short walks, a prepared meal instead of fast food, and putting your phone down a little earlier than usual. None of these things are dramatic. None of them will change your life in a day. But doing them most days, will. Try to be realistic. Without diving into the “smart” goal realm, try to build your perfect day in a way that feels like a little bit of a challenge, but is absolutely doable 80% of the time. With that being said…I think sometimes we fall into the trap of: if things are challenging, then it is probably too much. But why? The goals that we may have for the future are going to require some different work than what we do now. That’s hard and that’s okay. Not that we need to choose to run a marathon if we haven’t done one lap around the block, but don’t shy away from the big goals. Studies say that it takes about 2 months to build a habit. I think that's a crazy assumption to make. It depends on the person, and depends on the habit. A great way to keep this “perfect day” on track, is to actually write it down. Now I know the sticky note on the mirror might seem crazy, but the point is to see it every day. Write it on the fridge or put it on your phone, just try to find a place that you see early and often during the day. This keeps it top of mind and can be a good reminder if you start to slip a little. Get as specific or vague as you want! You can put things at specific times, or just in order from start to finish, but win the day and the goals take care of themselves. Goals are outcomes. Days are behaviors. You don’t control outcomes. You control what you do today. Stack enough good days together, and the result usually looks a lot like the goal you were chasing anyway. You don’t need a new year. You don’t need a resolution. You need a clear picture of the type of day you want to repeat, and the discipline to keep showing up for it. Hart