Should You Read Tools Of Titans By Tim Ferriss?

Tim Ferriss is most well known for his book "The 4 Hour Workweek".  Believe it or not The 4 Hour Workweek is the first book that really got me into reading books to help me improve and learn consistently.   He has also written "The 4 Hour Chef", "The 4 Hour Body", "Tools of Titans" (the book we are discussing today), and "Tribes of Mentors".

What is Tools of Titans?

As the cover suggests, Tools of Titans is about "the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world class performers."  He interviews people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tony Robbins in the book.

What can you learn from Tools of Titans?

There is one section of the book, where he is talking to Seth Godin, and Seth says something along the lines of starting small to go big.  I think this section of the book is huge in everyones life, and even for the book alone (it is over 600 pages long).  He says the smallest is achievable but can be scary and risky because if we fail then we really messed up along the way.

The reason I believe that this can help anyone reading this right now is because we are all overwhelmed.  We want to do big things but don't have a single clue where to start, so we never end up starting.  If you start small, you end up building momentum, your snowball gets bigger and ends up moving faster over time.

If you want to start drinking water, you have to start small, you taste buds are used to pop, so you start with one glass of water a day, you don't jump right in to only drinking water.

For reading Tools of Titans the second time through I took this same approach, I read only 20 pages per day, which isn't a lot but I know if I started with reading 50 pages (what I used to read everyday) I probably would've given up and picked up a different book.

This is only one example of what you will learn from the book.  There are hundreds if not thousand of ideas laid out in the book to learn from.

What can be confusing?

There is only one part of the book that I think can really affect what you learn from it.  That being, that throughout Tools of Titans, Tim Ferriss is interviewing soooooo many people.  Why can it be confusing?  Well lets say one person tells you the way he does something is the "A Way" and then someone else (just as successful) does something the "B Way".  It can be contradicting and leave you confused about which way you should be doing something.

Now the whole book isn't like this, only a few parts are.  Most of these people have stuff they do in common, but there is the odd situation where one person does something or say something the opposite of someone else in the book.

It really boils down to you figuring out which people you are going to learn from and which people you aren't.

Closing thoughts.

If you want to take your life to the next level and learn from some of the most influential people on the planet today, click the link below to get your very own copy of Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.



Make the best of today,
Brian

A Quick Tip On Getting Over A Cold FAST and EASY.

In today's blog I want to share with you a couple quick tips to get over a cold fast. Over the last few days I have had a cold, which meant I couldn't do all my activities I wanted to. This is because resting is so important when you have a cold. If you are like me you want to go to the gym and workout, and have goals and stuff you want to work on outside of your job.

Sadly you will have to rest if you want to get better as fast as possible. The second thing to get better is the foods you eat. For example, over the last few days I went and looked up what foods would help with a cold, I would recommend you do the same. I bought some blackberries, mangos, frozen fruit, and kombucha at the store. Along with eating these foods I also had LOTS of tea (7-8 glasses per day), a few bowls of oatmeal over the past few days, some homemade soup, spicy thai food for my sinuses, and a couple smoothies.

I also took some medicine before bed a couple of nights which I usually don't like doing, but I needed something to help clear up my nose so I wasn't breathing through my mouth at night. I usually take my cheat day on Saturday, but this weekend I knew I needed to take it easy until I am all better and waiting a few extra days to eat junk food isn't going to hurt. I really wouldn't recommend eating any sort of processed foods or sugary foods if you have a cold. The things that helped the most was the hot tea, soup with chicken and veggies, berries and kombucha. In the past I have also noticed a lentil soup with chicken, celery, carrots, and brown rice to help feel better and it is very inexpensive and an affordable way to have a great tasting soup.

Closing thoughts.

I hope today's blog helped you if you are feeling sick. A cold can be plain annoying and can drain you of your energy, so its important to eat right and get a lot of rest so you are able to recover quickly.

Make the best of today, Brian

Difference's Between Lifting Heavy and Lifting Light.

In today's post I am going to share the how lifting heavy can benefit you, and how lifting light for high reps can benefit you.  I am going to share what I have noticed over the past month while testing each way and what is working best for me at the moment.  I am also going to share proven benefits of each way.  I hope this will help you decide what way of lifting you should do for your body type!

Lifting heavy.

My experience: Over the past month, I have been told by some people at the gym that I should lift heavy.  Even 1 rep for 8 sets.  Although when I usually lift heavy now I like to stick between 3-5 reps, I gave 1 rep for 8 sets a try a few times over the past month for some different workouts.  What I noticed is that after about the third set my muscles started to feel like when I would do 15-20 reps of a light to moderate weight.  This surprised me, after the third set (third rep as well) I was feeling my muscles popping, and noticing it become nearly impossible to do each set after that.  I also noticed while doing this, that I would start lifting heavy for other exercises as well to build strength.

I never really went for PR's until I started lifting heavy, but since then I have been able to squat heavier, bench more,  and increase weight on almost every single workout of mine in general.

I don't do 1 rep maxes more than once per week per body part because my muscles would get used to it and most days I just want to work on mastering my workout routine for building 10 pounds by December 1, 2018.  I do love implementing one rep maxes into my workout about once a week or once every two weeks to build up strength and to make sure I am progressing in my key lifts every week or 2 instead of staying the same or getting weaker.

What others say:  I will share what is the most beneficial to you according to an article on Healthline.com.

One of the main benefits that people have noticed (myself included) when lifting heavy is that they got stronger and were able to lift more.

Something that I didn't know was that you may be able to get an "after burn", where you are burning more calories for a few hours after the workout, which can help you lose fat.

You also are able to have better brain function since lifting heavy increases the production of beneficial hormones to the brain.

The last point I am going to mention here is that heavy lifting can help prevent injury.  I think this is beneficial because so many people including myself are in some kind of constant pain in our body.  Many people suffer from back pain and lifting heavy could help you with relieving that back pain you suffer from.

You can go more in depth by clicking here to read the full article.

Lifting light.

My experience:  I have focussed on lifting moderate-light for a while.  While I mostly stick to moderate weight for 8-12 reps, sometimes I will go light and lift 20-30 reps for a pretty light weight.  What I noticed was the my muscles would have a huge pump and would be popping like crazy.

The downside I found is that I didn't have as much energy after my workout as I would have if I did heavy lifting.  Not to say I wouldn't have energy, but I could defiantly tell the difference in energy levels and my mood compared to if I lifted heavy.

I have found that lifting light for a lot of reps is great at the end of a workout for a burnout set, or if I pair a heavy lifting workout with a light lifting workout.  Lets say I am working out my biceps, I would do heavy concentration curls for 3 reps then go straight into alternating hammer and bicep curls until failure with a light weight.

What others say:  By lifting lighter you are more likely to be hitting the muscle group you want to hit.  Sometimes when we lift heavy we will do cheat reps and use other muscles in our body to do the exercise.  So using light weight will help you focus more on the muscle you are working out.

Growth is another one.  Growth is something I have noticed to be a huge part of light weights as well, as you are able to focus on the full range of motion as well as shock the muscle with high reps.

Click here to read the full article on advantages of lifting light.



Closing thoughts.

For my practice right now I am currently mixing heavy with light weights to see if that will provide the most muscle growth.  I would love to hear your thoughts on heavy vs. light weights, feel free to share your thoughts below!


Make the best of today,
Brian

2 Ways to Stick to Your New Years Resolution (Or Any Resolution).

First off I would like to start by saying, everyone has made a resolution that they haven't kept.  Whether it be on New Years or sometime in the middle of the year it can be hard to force change upon ourselves.

A little backstory about me: I am just like you, I have made resolutions in the past that I have failed to really go "all in" on and I ended up actually worse off than I was when I started.  That is because I didn't follow the advice I am going to lay out for you here today.

We really have to think of it as a lifestyle change and not a resolution.  If you really want to grow you have to think long term.  And this is what leads to my first tip to stick to your New Years resolution.



1) Baby step it.

The problem so many people have when starting a resolution, is that they either go all out or only give 10%.  Once they don't see results fast enough they give up and go back into old habits.

But with anything that is great, it will take time to build, whether that be the body you want or the lifestyle in general that you want.

Baby steps will help you ease into your resolution (lifestyle change) and build the momentum to make what you should be doing into a habit that you are doing.

For me in the past I would give it my all or 10% and wonder why I didn't see results on day one.  How ridiculous right?  We live in a world of instant gratification, with fast food everywhere, and texts on our phone that we could check every 20 seconds if we wanted to.  But you can't be thinking things will happen instantly.  You won't lose weight just by eating one salad if you keep your old habits of eating junk the rest of the day and eating in a calorie surplus.

Baby stepping it is crucial for any major change.  At first you may only be giving 10% just tot ease into the new habit.  For me and losing my 25 pounds of fat, it took a year or 2.  I didn't eat completely healthy right away, but I started to implement foods into my diet that were better for me than what I was already eating.  I also slowly started to drink water more and more.

But this change didn't just happen over night.  I am eating healthier foods today than I was a year ago, but there is still so much more that I can still implement slowly into my diet to be even healthier.

So if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, or to buy your dream car or house, what are some ways you can start to build momentum on that?

2)  Don't get discouraged

This really goes hand-in-hand with baby stepping a new habit into your life, but its important.  Think about it, if you are constantly discouraged that things don't happen fast enough you will start to get discouraged and give up.

There should be a  good amount of work and sweat you put in, nothing great comes for free or just happens but also enjoy they process, enjoy that work you put into your life.  It may take some time, even weeks or month for you to feel encouraged to do something.

It was not easy for me to feel encouraged to go to the gym and gain muscle being one of the smallest guys in the gym.  Over the past year it has been a lot of fun, but I really started to get encouraged over the past couple months because I am seeing my muscles explode more and more each day.  It took lots of momentum and baby stepping each and every day to get to this point I am at now but I am happy I wasn't discouraged for those 10-11 months because now I am more muscular than I have ever been in my life.

My biggest tip here is to focus on the end goal, and what you do want.  So for the example I keep talking about, losing 100 pounds.  If you focus on how you are 100 pounds over weight right now, I can assure you that you will be 110 pounds overweight next year because you will get discouraged.  On the flip side if you focus on the "I am 100 pounds overweight right now, but what will I look like when I drop 30 pounds this year" mentality you will focus on the goal instead of the hurdle that is holding you back.

Another way to be encouraged to get your dream body (or whatever your goal is) is to surround yourself with people who are where you want to be.  Whether they are in person, on Youtube, have a course, or wrote a book, by surrounding yourself with these people it will help you raise your standards (a lesson from Tony Robbins, you can watch this video below to go deeper on it).



Right now if you are around people who gave up on their resolutions/goals you are likely to give up on yours as well.  So for encouragement get around these people that are ahead of you, learn from them and set new standard for what you allow from yourself.  An easy mindset is "what would my mentor do in this situation?"

Closing thoughts.

I hope this was a huge help to you starting your resolution. Comment down below what your goals and resolutions are, I would love to hear from your and offer my help the best I can along the way.

Make the best of today,
Brian