As some of you know I live in Vancouver for half of the year and I chase the sun around for the other half of the year.
I’ve been in Mexico and Colombia for the last 5 weeks, so I thought I’d give you a little update as far as what I’ve been doing nutrition, training and sleep wise to feel my best while on the road living out of a carry-on sized backpack!
Height – 5’10ish
Weight – 160 lbs / 73 kg
Training:
Weightlifting – 3.5x per week
I know that 3.5x per week is an odd number, but I take half the week off of training every 4th week to let my joints and connective tissues recover. So, my gym time looks like this over the course of a 4 week period…
Week 1 – 4x
Week 2 – 4x
Week 3 – 4x
Week 4 – 2x
Repeat…
Reducing my workouts for that 5th week is technically called a ‘de-load’ which is just a fancy word for taking a bit of a break. In my opinion the only folks that need to implement de-loads are people that are VERY consistent, otherwise de-loads spontaneously happen via missed workouts, travel, events etc.
Cardio – None
I do 8,000 – 10,000 steps per day in order to hit my general movement quota.
The thought of hopping on a treadmill or an elliptical in a dark gym has absolutely zero appeal when I can go for a walk outside in the fresh air while listening to a podcast.
Training sessions look as follows…
Monday: Chest & Back
Horizontal Push i.e. Bench Press – 4 sets of 10 reps
Horizontal Pull i.e. T-Bar Row – 4 sets of 10 reps
Vertical Push i.e. Overhead Dumbbell Press – 3 sets of 10 reps
Vertical Pull i.e. Pull-Up – 3 sets of 10 reps
Tuesday: Legs & Arms
Knee Flexion i.e. Squat - 4 sets of 10 reps
Triceps i.e. Flat Bar Pressdown – 3 sets of 10 reps
Biceps i.e. Barbell Curl – 3 sets of 10 reps
Shoulders i.e. Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 3 sets of 15
Hamstrings/Glutes i.e. Lunges – 3 sets of 15-20 reps
Triceps i.e. Overhead Dumbbell Extension – 3 sets of 10 reps
Biceps i.e. Dumbbell Hammer Curl – 3 sets of 10 reps
Shoulders i.e. Rear Cable Fly – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Calves i.e. Standing Calf Raise - 4 sets of 12-15 reps
Thursday: Chest & Back (Repeat with different exercises - slightly heavier weights and lower reps)
Friday: Legs & Arms (Repeat with different exercises – slightly heavier weights and lower reps)
Nutrition:
I’m cooking 90% or so of my meals at home with single/minimal ingredient whole foods and my macros look like this more or less on any given day…
Protein – 150g
Carbs – 350g
Fat – 80g
Total Calories – 2750
I eat 2x per day because I prefer larger meals and it works great with my schedule and lifestyle preferences. I love having a couple cups of coffee (black) first thing in the morning and getting straight to work as it’s my most productive time of the day, and I find preparing and eating breakfast just interferes with that. Also I’ve trained myself not to feel hungry in the morning…
Alcohol:
This can vary depending on how I’m feeling, but I’d say I’m averaging about 1.5 drinks per day, so 10 or so per week. I prefer to have a drink or two on the daily as opposed to having a bunch on either Friday or Saturday, this setup leaves me feeling a lot better overall because hangovers straight up suck.
You might be surprised to see that I have 10ish drinks per week…sometimes it’s less and sometimes it’s more, but I keep my nutrition, training and sleep so buttoned up that I create more ‘wiggle room’ for myself around alcohol because beer is delish.
For example, I’d much rather have a beer or two than have dessert.
FYI, 2 beers clocks in at right around 300 calories and a couple scoops of ice cream contains closer to 500 or 600…
Sleep:
Fortunately I’m a great sleeper, however there are things that I do in order to set myself up for success sleep wise.
I use earplugs and an eye mask every night without exception (you get used to it and it’s life changing).
I do my best to eat my last meal at least 3 hours before I hit the hay because eating too close to bed fragments my sleep.
If I’m going to drink I drink as early as possible because a couple beers at happy hour doesn’t impact my sleep negatively, but drinking later into the night does.
I dim my lighting environment when the sun goes down and I use f.lux on my computer and phone in order to ‘pull’ the blue light out of my devices.
I read before bed every night and I get the head bobbles after a page or two…it takes me like a year to read a book.
Stress Management:
My 8-10k steps daily serves as a massive stress reduction tool, I just don’t feel the same if I haven’t moved enough, and my body lets me know via restlessness and an anxious undercurrent running in the background.
If you listened to Episode #69 of the podcast you know that I meditate for 10 minutes 5x per week, this helps ‘ground’ me and it kicks off the day in the right way for myself personally. I choose to do this first thing in the morning because if I don’t, it won’t get done!
I also see a therapist, life coach or insert whatever word you feel most comfortable with here bi-weekly and have been for going on 7 years now. I can’t even begin to explain how valuable this has been because I’m of the opinion that it’s important to strengthen your physical body, but also your mental and emotional ones as well.
My nutrition, workout and sleep habits support my stress levels massively because simply taking good care of myself makes me more resilient to whatever life throws in my direction.
That’s it…no fancy supplements, I eat animal products as well as bread, and I’ve never done a juice cleanse in my life ;)
I love questions, so if you have any post em’ below!
