Most of what we think we know about exercise is wrong. Burning calories isn't the most important thing, soreness doesn't mean you had an effective workout, more is not always better, and pilates and yoga don't replace strength training. Exercise is like baking, not cooking. When you cook, you can go with a pinch of this and a pinch of that to your heart's content, but when you bake, using more or less of one ingredient can cause the entire thing to crumble. Exercise is the sa

There's nothing more overwhelming than going to the grocery store or stopping at a gas station to grab a snack and trying to find something that tastes good and is actually good for you. Your options tend to be an overpriced "healthy" snack that tastes like dirt, a protein bar that tastes like chalk, or the candy that would satisfy your craving but leave you crashing within the hour. After years of trial and error and testing out every healthy, protein-packed snack I can get

Vacations should be fun. Why bother taking them otherwise? But many people spend them either completely going off the rails or obsessing over every small thing. Then they come home feeling worse than before they left, desperate for a "reset" just to get back to baseline. The vacation is supposed to be the reset! I put together a free Vacation Plan guide that you can save to your phone or print out and take with you. It covers everything in this post and more. Grab it below. H

This article is more positive than it seems, trust me. It's hard to go a day without being warned about how you're actually not doing anything right. Microplastics are everywhere - in your clothes, the food you eat, and your water. Our food is sprayed with chemicals or pumped full of antibiotics. We need some medications to keep us healthy, supposedly, but don't forget that one of the side effects is death, according to the lovely commercial on TV. Screens are bad for your ey

Isn't it funny that we have more access to advice, healthcare "advancements", AI technology, and incredible conveniences than ever before, yet we still seem to be stuck, sick, and left with lives more complicated than before? The truth is that none of these things can solve your problems for you. No matter how much society "progresses", we tend to regress in many ways. But it's not all doom and gloom! The good news is that the more we see how all of this stuff isn't improving

Let me make your life a bit easier today. Are you tired of never knowing what to make for dinner? Or of trying to eat "healthy" when that word means something different to everyone and usually involves food that's boring and tasteless? Of going through the effort to cook a meal only to destroy your entire kitchen in the process? Of not knowing how much protein is enough? Of trying to please picky eaters? If you answered yes to any of those, this post is for you. While some pe

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post confessing to being the most boring 20-something you'll ever meet. I shared what boredom means for me and why boredom might be the theme that's missing in your life. So today, I'm expanding on that by sharing what most people get wrong about living a boring life and why it isn't more popular. Maybe you completely resonated with what I had to say, or maybe you know someone who could benefit from a little more grounding. Either way, I hope

Wouldn’t life be so much easier if things were just black and white? Unfortunately, nutrition never works that way. Eggs used to be “bad,” and now we know they’re packed with nutrients. Some cultures have lived on carbohydrates like rice for centuries, and now carbs are supposedly the enemy. One doctor says red meat causes cancer, while another talks endlessly about its micronutrients. What the hell are you supposed to do? Nutrition may be complicated, but even the charlatans

I'm so Type A, they need to put another letter in the front of the alphabet to describe me. Maybe some of you can relate. And yes, I did come up with that joke all by myself. I'm sure stand-up comedy is in my future. But as a very Type A person, I've always taken the concept of balance to heart intellectually… but not emotionally. When I learned that you’re “supposed” to balance different areas of your life (work vs. rest, social time vs. alone time, nutritionally optimal foo

GLP-1s and peptides are all the rage these days. While they've been around for much longer than many people realize, it's only in the past few years that they've become popularized to the point that they're a hot commodity amongst people who don't need them at all. Whether you "need" one or not, there's nothing wrong with wanting the positive effects they bring (so long as your goal is to stay within a healthy weight range). GLP-1 medications are known for weight loss, but wh

A theme I've been bringing into my posts lately is the concept that "life isn't that serious," but I need to clarify. I find life to be inherently meaningful and valuable. What I was trying to get at in those posts was that so many of the trivial things we deal with day to day aren't that serious, yet we let them drag us down and shrink our perspective. We get so caught up in the small stuff that we lose sight of what's truly worth our time and energy, and what isn't. And a L

This morning, I was agitated. I hardly slept the night before, I was feeling anxious and fearful over some personal issues, and irritated over some professional ones. I was stewing during my workout (because exercise has become a habit for me, and I don't let my feelings dictate whether or not I do it). I had decided it was just going to be one of those bad days. I finished my upper body lifting for the day and hopped on the spin bike for a quick Peloton class. While I was pe

The weekend: everyone's two favorite days of the week. Our chance to relax, be free, sleep in, and recuperate. And...eat more than we want to. Perhaps that's not something you struggle with, but if it is, welcome to the club. Even us personal trainers and nutrition coaches are not immune. Weekends are meant to be synonymous with pleasure. And good food is too, so it only makes sense that they go hand in hand. But have you ever thought to ask yourself: Does overeating or eatin

If you've been around for a while, you know I'm big on the power of consistency. Small steps, when repeated every day, compound into big wins. And this is the message most people need to hear. It doesn't matter how intense your effort is if it isn't sustainable. This applies to everything: exercise, eating, your work-life balance, and your relationships. But at the same time, the opposite is also true. Sometimes, you really do need to try harder and push toward a higher inten

One of the biggest reasons we never become the "ideal" versions of ourselves has less to do with our circumstances and more to do with our identity. I mean, who actually takes time to ponder their identity? I certainly don't do it much. I bet you don't either. So we don't even realize how cemented we've become in who we are. And since we're the only ones living in our heads, we don't even realize how deep those grooves in our brains have become. So, what's my point? The ident

"Most of us have two lives: the lives we live and the lives we are capable of living." - Brian P. Morgan This line from Moran's book The 12 Week Year was like a gut punch to me. You've probably heard all the rah-rah motivational advice before: "Follow your dreams! You only live once! Stay present! Just be yourself!" On and on it goes until your eyes roll to the back of your head and you've stopped listening altogether. But this advice isn't like that. I'm not saying, "Hey! F

I'm the most boring 23-year-old you'll ever meet. I'm in bed by 9 pm, 90% of the time. I spend weekends catching up on reading. I keep the same daily routines. I rotate through the same meals. And I used to be embarrassed to admit this. But I've come to realize that there's nothing wrong with being boring. In fact, the most abundant lives are often the most boring from the outside looking in. My life still feels very full, even if it doesn't always look exciting. There is a t

I'm not talking about mold or lead paint or expired medicine. This isn't that kind of list. What makes these things dangerous isn't that they're "toxic"; it's that they're harming the quality of your life without you even realizing it. They drain your energy, your confidence, your money, or your mental space, and you've stopped questioning why they're still there. While everyone's arguing about seed oils and fluoride, the stuff actually weighing you down is way more boring th

Despite most people's best efforts, getting the results they're after, whether it be gaining strength, looking a certain way, or increasing balance and flexibility, remains elusive. No matter how much work you put in or how many different things you try, perhaps you still haven't reached that goal you've been after for so long. What do you do now? Before you blame genetics, your calendar, or your age, consider this: the problem could be simpler than you think. Here are some t

You finally get 10 minutes to yourself, so you reach for your phone. The work day finally ends, so you grab the remote and sit down on the couch. The weekend arrives, and you decide to use your free time catching up on emails or scrolling through your feeds. This is what we've come to call "taking a break." But you're still tired, unsettled, and never really feel refreshed after these instances. So what gives? This isn't an article about how your phone is evil and you should