April 2024
The 75 (Sorta) Hard
Hi all,
The 75 Hard has taken the fitness world by storm. Created by entrepreneur Andy Frisella, it requires anyone willing to do it to commit to a set of demanding tasks for 75 consecutive days. While the challenge is enticing, with promises of mental and physical transformation, the most difficult task--completing two 45-minute workouts daily--wouldn't be in the cards for me.
So, my friend Bob had a great idea: the 75 Sorta Hard. For 75 days, ending Memorial Day Weekend, myself and four friends would get a point for each of the below boxes we could check off each each day.
Drink a gallon of water.
No fast food or sweets.
Do a 45 (consecutive) minute workout (walking doesn't count).
Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book.
Take a 3-minute cold shower.
We each threw 100 bucks into a pot. and we’re tracking our progress in a shared Excel sheet. Only halfway through, I'll save the "lessons learned" for another time. Today I'll highlight some of the hacks and strategies I'm using to follow rule #1 (don’t get hurt or sick) and rule #2 (make it count), all of which can be applied to the greater good of health and wellness.
Drink a gallon of water.
Using my sauna blanket more often, herbal tea before bed which is both an antioxidant and slight diuretic, Himalayan sea salt (and sometimes lemon juice) in my waters, and at least a pack of electrolyte mix stirred in to prevent hyponatremia. (Note: Too much water is bad so I'm not recommending drinking this much water. Read this for more.)
No fast food or sweets.
This has been the easiest for me but I use the same tactics I use when I fast: drinking seltzer water, chewing gum, and going for a walk if I ever get a hankering for something sweet.
Do a 45 (consecutive) minute workout (walking doesn't count).
Rotating my workouts between Z2, HIIT, sprint/hill workouts, and lifting; incorporating more accessory work into my workouts to prevent overuse, using scraping (a.k.a. IASTM), occasionally extending the rest time with a morning workout one day followed by an evening one the next day, and incorporating some proven supplements into my routine on a near daily basis have been game changers. My go-to supplements for speeding my body's recovery, limiting catabolism, and reducing my risk of injury are:
Digestive enzymes (empty stomach in the morning)
Magnesium (Mag glycinate before bed or a transdermal magnesium spray on the sorest part of my body)
Essential amino acids (EAA) (usually before a fasted workout)
I mix the first four together in a post-workout protein drink. More sleep would be hands down the smartest strategy but I can’t say I’ve been excelling on that front.
Read 10 pages of a book.
I keep a book nearby before bed and usually hammer out the minimum. Choosing a good book matters.
Take a 3-minute cold shower.
Twelve rounds of box breathing and it's over. Around the 90-second mark it transitions from torture to "I'm glad I'm doing this." Check out the benefits of cryotherapy here.
My friend Bob suggested doing this with a larger group of like-minded people such as you and the rest of the MBD community. If you’d be interested in participating in 2025 then either add a comment below or shoot me an email.
Brian
Stuff of the Month
Mind
Body
The Minimum Effective Dose Of Exercise: Lifting, Walking, HIIT, & Zone 2
Vagal Tone: What It Is, How It Impacts Our Health, & How To Improve It
Tools For Transformation: A Comprehensive List Of Adaptive Equipment In Rehabilitation
How To Improve Your Eye Health Through Nutrition & Supplements
Dad
The Growth Kit (Podcast)
Find the full list of episodes here.
Follow The Growth Kit on Instagram.
Subscribe to your favorite podcast player (Spotify, Apple). And please leave a review!
From One Year Ago
Best Of The Month
Here are some of my favorite things of the month.
Quote
“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication…In the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it.”
—Viktor Frankl
Podcast
Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
A friend at work recommended this to me and within a few days, I devoured the 10-episode series. If you have kids who are learning to, or about to learn to read, or if you were taught how to read by ways other than phones (e.g. whole language, balanced literacy, and “The Science of Reading") then I highly recommend listening to the first episode.
Book
The Non-Toxic Living Guidebook: Hacks, Strategies, & Natural Products for Better Health by Brian Comly
Shameless plug: this month’s book is, well, mine. This eBook (also available on Kindle) dives into the role hidden toxins play on our health, what to look for when buying products, and practical strategies to minimize your exposure.
Product
I got my first order of the Maui Nui Venison Sticks and they instantly became my go-to snack. Made with 100% wild Axis deer raised in the valleys of Maui, these tender sticks are packed with more protein per calorie (20%) than any other food (salmon and bison 14%, grass-fed beef 9%).
What’s Unique:
High Protein: Each stick has around 9 grams of protein.
Natural & Wild: Sourced from free-roaming deer, these sticks are free from antibiotics and hormones.
Unique & Delicious: The naturally sweet Hawaiian kiawe wood smoke infuses a unique flavor.
Flavors: Comes in a regular and peppered (my favorite) flavor.
Things I’ve Learned
Mind
Is it Better to Win Bronze Than Silver?
This study harkens back to the classic Seinfeld bit. Researchers examined how winning a medal at the Olympics affects an athlete's lifespan. Surprisingly, gold and bronze medalists lived about the same length of time, but silver medalists lived 2-4 years less. They believe this might be due to how athletes perceive their wins. Silver medalists, who narrowly missed gold, might view their accomplishment as a loss, leading to stress that shortens their lifespan. This study suggests that our outlook on achievements, not just the achievement itself, can have a significant impact on our health.
The takeaway: How you frame success matters. From T-ball to that work presentation, our perceptions and expectations matter.
Pick A Way, Any Way
Sex-Preferential Compliments
A 1988 study, Paying compliments: A sex-preferential politeness strategy, found men and women compliment quite differently, especially to their own sex.
When men compliment men:
35% of compliments are about appearance
32% ability/performance
25% possessions
5% personality/friendship
When women compliment women:
61% of compliments are about appearance
20% are about ability/performance
12% are about possessions
4% are about personality/friendship
Body
How to be Inactive Better
Michael Easter wrote an interesting article on The Inactivity Paradox. When researchers looked at hunter-gatherers, they found that they rest more than we do (9.8 hours/day), however, the way they rest was much different. Researchers looked at EMF activation of various muscles in different resting positions (see below) to find that the chair basically turns off all muscles (hence “dead butt syndrome”) whereas squatting does the opposite. As a result, these ancestors of ours don’t appear to back knee, hip, and back pain and they have lower rates of death from the major conditions that tend to kill us.
Takeaway: Squat more, sit less when resting.
4.5
That’s the number of times more likely you are to experience heart attacks, strokes, or death within a few years of exposure to microplastics compared to those with no detectable microplastics and nanoplastics. Researchers examined plaque buildup in the arteries of over 200 surgery patients. They found microplastics present in nearly 60% of the samples. Disturbingly, those with microplastics were 4.5 times more likely to experience heart attacks, strokes, or death within a few years compared to those with no detectable microplastics.
Although eliminating all microplastic exposure is difficult, being aware of the potential risks allows us to make informed choices that can benefit our health in the long run. Check out my Non-Toxic Living Guidebook for practical ways to minimize these toxins.
How to Wake Up Well Rested
A survey showing the link between the number of hours of sleep and the frequency of feeling well rested. The biggest gains are going from 6 to 7 hours of sleep and then 7 to 8 hours with a drop off after the 9 hour point.
Takeaway: Get 7-9 hours of sleep to feel well rested.
Dad
Mom’s Inflammation Linked to Kid’s Behavioral and Emotional Regulation Issues
When pregnant moms drink or do drugs, the child gets addicted. When they eating the same foods regularly, the kids also prefer those foods. So it’s maybe no surprise that when a pregnant mom has high levels of inflammation, the baby suffers as a result as well.
A new study suggests that there is a link between inflammation during pregnancy and behavioral and emotional problems in children. Researchers examined data from thousands of children and found that those with mothers who had risk factors for inflammation, such as obesity, smoking, or infections, were more likely to experience attention issues, anxiety, depression, or aggression. This highlights the importance of managing inflammation during pregnancy for the long-term health of both mother and child.
Takeaway: Manage inflammation during pregnancy by eating a diet of balanced and colorful whole foods, exercising as appropriate, getting adequate sleep, and managing stress.
High-Quality Relationships Matter (but teens are tough)
Interesting data from a Gallup article. There are a few well crafted charts in here from a slew of data. One of their takeaways from all of this information:
“Children in a high-quality relationship with their parents are much less likely to show signs of depression, anxiety or suicidal ideation, and generally exhibit behaviors associated with positive social development, according to the research literature. Moreover, these benefits predict stronger mental health decades into the future…”
Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
―William Martin (The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents)
