The High Performance Journal​ - January 2nd, 2024

There's nothing better in the world than getting people in shape.

Imagine this: You, in front of a mirror at your peak, a vision of health and vigor.

This is what happened to Steve recently. He owns a wildly successful media company whose videos you've probably watched on YouTube.

Once a collegiate swimmer, Steve traded his goggles for a new business but as his empire grew his health took a nosedive.

After multiple attempts to get in shape, Steve called me and decided it was time to change.

Together, we embarked on an epic transformative journey and the result? A staggering drop from 243 to 190 pounds in only four months while shaving 7 inches (!) from his waistline.

But the scale was just the beginning...

During the transformation, Steve's energy got an upgrade and his confidence went through the roof, which enabled him to smash business records left and right.

In today's article, I'm going to reveal the system we used to optimize Steve's body.

Are you ready? Let's get it.

How Steve Lost 53 lbs In 4 Months:

Step 1 - Assess The Situation

A funny thing I observe when working with entrepreneurs is that they'll know their business numbers by heart but most times they can't even tell me what they weighed last week.

While Steve was meticulously tracking his business metrics he was failing to track the metrics of his own body.

So we started by getting the basic measurements done:

• Weigh-ins every day
• Measuring inches every week (Chest, waist, and hips)
• Taking pictures every 4 weeks

Our next move was to arrange to get a DEXA scan and bloodwork done.

A DEXA is the gold standard for measuring body fat while giving us a breakdown of how much lean tissue (aka. muscle) you have on your body.

To get deeper insights on Steve's body we took it a step further by getting comprehensive bloodwork done, which is something every person over the age of 40 should be getting regularly.

You can't know where you're going unless you know where you're starting from.

The underlying principle here is this:

If you aim to enhance your physical condition, you must first assess your current state.

Think of it this way: If your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight it acts as a destination. To know the way towards the destination you need a starting point hence why we emphasize tracking results.

Step 2 - Automate The Diet

Steve is one of the busiest guys on the planet. He works 10 or more hours and then goes home to help with his kids.
So our gameplan was based on 2 things:

1. Consistency
2. Simplicity

We put him on a regular schedule of eating according to ​his circadian rhythms​.

He didn't like having breakfast in the morning so we had him drink a protein shake instead. We find that doing this helps our clients increase protein intake while regulating their hunger during the day and night.

When you eat on a schedule you end up putting your hunger on autopilot. Your body knows when it's time to eat (and not eat) and this makes dieting way easier.

Next on the menu (no pun intended) was fixing his meal choices. Due to his busy schedule, he was ordering Uber Eats to eat daily.

So we set up a regular meal service to deliver 2 meals a day according to his preferences. This ended up being cheaper than ordering in and provided him with healthy high-protein meals.

People make on average about 200 decisions related to food every day, and most of these decisions are made unconsciously.

Setting up a consistent meal schedule and automated healthy meals took his mind off of what he was eating and he used that brain power towards his business.

Step 3 - Build Muscle Using Strength Circuits

Steve had no issues working out. He liked it but found that it took too much time out of his schedule so he missed a ton of workouts.

So we reduced the friction by doing Strength Circuits.

Strength Circuits pair 2 non-competing exercises together. You do one exercise and then the other without resting.

Example: Doing 10 squats then doing 10 incline bench presses right after.

The reason this works is that the squats do not interfere with the bench presses, which allows you to cut the time usually used to rest.

This can turn an hour-long exercise session into 30 minutes. He committed to 3 of these every week and used ​progressive overload​ to build muscle.

The best part is that he didn't have to spend any time doing any cardio.

Cardio for fat loss is highly overrated.

What most people don't tell you about cardio is that even if you lose weight doing cardio you'd have to maintain that level of activity to keep it off.

So we kept things simple by walking 8 to 10k steps a day. Walking is low-intensity, burns calories, and helps your body recover faster. It also decreases stress, increases creativity, and improves your mood.

We combine weights with walking because we want to maintain and/or build muscle while losing weight.

This maintains your metabolism so you burn more fat in the end.

Btw strength circuits are the best way to workout if you have limited time. They are what we use in our Lean Body 90 course and they've helped thousands of people get in shape in half the time most people spend at the gym. If you're interested to learn more go here.

Final Step - Make it Sustainable

There's no point in dropping the weight if you don't keep it off.

But the way to keep it off is not what most people think it is.

It's about changing our psychology and identity so we become the person we need to be.

While I won't give away all of our secrets I will say we used a framework that might help you called The Curious Coaching Framework:

1. When someone doesn't follow through or makes a misstep we ask what happened.
2. We then get curious about it and ask why our client thinks that happened. We ask various forms of this question to get to the root of why.
3. We bring awareness to the problem and reflect on it.
4. Then we set an action plan for what happens the next time it comes around.

Aside from having a plan and taking action, you must change the mind to change the body. Awareness and reflection are some of your tools to make this happen.

He loved the changes so much that he left me this email:

What Happens Now?

Now that he's gotten his body in shape what's the next step?

I'm not a fan of the idea of maintenance. I believe for the vast majority of people this is a death knell that usually sets them back.

Since he was a former swimmer he decided to get back into the game and start competing at masters competitions.

I love this decision because he went from a goal of looking and feeling good to training for performance.

Starting is always the hardest part so make sure to give this process a go for the next 4 months. Play around with it and adjust accordingly.

It may not be easy but it is pretty simple. Stick to the plan and results are sure to follow.

I hope this helps you in your journey.

Onwards and upwards 🚀

- Dan

Ps. Are you looking to lose weight, get lean, and experience all day energy? If that's you then click the link below to apply for coaching:

Click here to apply for coaching!