TRAINING

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A common refrain in fitness is "listen to your body."

And while this can be great advice when it comes to many aspects of your health and decision making (the term "trust your gut" persists for a reason) it's actually pretty poor advice when it comes to training.

Auto-regulation (or training by subjective feel) has become very popular in recent years with the implementation of things like RPE (rate of perceived exertion) and RIR (number of perceived "reps in reserve").

But, it turns out, we are terrible at auto-regulation as many studies have revealed that people tend to overestimate exertion and under predict reps in reserve.

A new study looked at many auto-regulation strategies and found that relying on feel and intuition are poor tactics when it comes to improving performance.

What this means for you: When it comes to training, you want to rely more on facts than on feelings. Following the principles of progressive overload or working off of percentages will lead to way better outcomes than relying on subjective measures.

If you'd like to read this review you can find it HERE.

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NUTRITION

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When I first got into fitness it was common knowledge that you didn't eat carbs after 6PM.

Then I met one of my mentors, Charles Poliquin, who recommended eating carbs in the evening rather than the morning as it would help with sleep.

To paraphrase Charles, "there's a reason you get sleepy after eating a large carbohydrate meal."

A recent study has confirmed what Charles taught me all those years ago. The study showed that participants who ingest more carbs throughout the day, and particularly in the evening, showed an improvement in sleep quality and higher melatonin and tryptophan levels (which both aid in falling and staying asleep).

What this means for you: If you are someone who has macronutrient targets, you may benefit from saving a decent amount of your carbs for your evening meal. Particularly if you are struggling with falling asleep or sleeping well. Personally, I've found that about 100 grams of fruit in the evening helps me with sleep (but this tactic was not used in the study).

Finally, it might be important to note that researchers did not find differences in body composition between the higher protein and the higher carbohydrate groups (and both groups ate the same number of calories).

You can find the study HERE.

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MINDSET

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Reading is the perfect way to get inspiration and knowledge.

But it's writing that leads to action. Action leads to building. Build enough things and ultimately you will succeed.

But it all starts with writing down your thoughts.

Until you write it, it isn't real.
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