Some people love hitting the gym. They spend hours every week working out and enjoy doing it. Other people, don’t. For many, especially those that lack self-confidence the idea of going to the gym and working out around others, who are much better at it, is nothing short of terrifying. Then, some people have no issue going to the gym. They are quite happy exercising in front of others, but, they find it unbearably dull. Running for 30 minutes on a treadmill or lifting the same weights all of the time bores them to tears. They struggle to stick to a routine that doesn’t excite them and so give up.

If you fall into either of these groups, you may want to forgo the gym and instead find something that you enjoy. Finding an exercise that you enjoy and look forward to doing will make you much more likely to stick to it and to give it your all. Here are some fun ways to keep fit.

Surfing

Surfing can be excellent exercise. You’re burning calories and working your muscles by carrying your board. You get a little cardio workout running into the waves or paddling out in the sea, and you use your core muscles by balancing on the board. You don’t need to be super fit or in shape to get started as it’s not an intense workout. But, over time you will build core strength which will help you’re your posture, make you less likely to have back trouble as you get older and help boost your overall fitness.

It’s also incredibly good fun. If you’ve never surfed before, there are some fantastic beginner’s spots around the country, all offering lessons and equipment hire. Kit yourself out at Billabong clothing online and make sure you get a wetsuit, especially if you don’t fancy waiting for summer to hit the sea.

Dancing

Dancing is one of those great exercises you don’t realize you are doing. Whether you are dancing in a club on a Friday night or spinning your kids around the kitchen, if you are moving, you are exercising. The most vigorously you dance, the more calories you burn. Energetic dance could burn off around 300 calories in 30 minutes, which is about the same as a fast run and more than 30 minutes of swimming.

Shopping

Gone are the days where only women loved to shop. Today, fashion-conscious men enjoy wandering around the shops, trying on new outfits and searching for bargains. A day of flat-out shopping will burn around 1500 calories, give your legs and arms a great workout and leave you with satisfyingly tired feet.

So, if you’ll have some extra Christmas weight to burn, get offline and do your sales shopping in brick and mortar stores.

Running

Running can be boring. Many of us struggle to motivate ourselves to keep going when we’re running on a treadmill with nothing but ourselves in a mirror to look at. But, running outdoors can be much more interesting. Run in a park or along a new route, download a podcast or audiobook that you’ve wanted to listen to and enjoy yourself. Set yourself goals, enjoy the scenery and make the most of getting some time to yourself.

Because running is such a repetitive exercise, your muscles can quickly get used to it. To keep it interesting and continue to get the best results, you need to keep pushing yourself. Introduce hills, interval sprints or keep changing your route to keep things fresh.

Team Sports

Team sports, unless we are good at them, tend to be something we leave behind when we finish school. But, they can be excellent exercise, good fun and a fantastic way to get out there and meet new people.

Think about the sports that you liked when you were younger and look to see if there are any adult teams you could join at nearby sports centers or gyms. If you don’t feel confident enough to join an organized team, get some friends and family members together in your local park and start your own. As long as it’s regular, it will help to keep you fit.

There are many ways that you can have fun exercising. You just need to think about what you enjoy and keep moving.

The post Fun Ways to Keep Fit appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I did not do well at all on two events; the log clean and press for reps and the sandbag carry, load, and drag. The log was sadly two heavy for me at the time of competition but I have been focusing my training on this event in order to build the strength to do better next time.

The first event that I did well on was the 595 pound yolk carry for time where competitors had to carry the yoke 30 feet, drop it completely, then carry it back. This also happened to be my wife’s first strongman competition so the event organizers thought it was hilarious to run us against each other. I was very happy with my quick time and completion of the event, and in the background you can see my wife smoking me with her 225 pound carry. I have never carried anything close to the 595 lbs weight so doing well with it in competition was the highlight of my day.

The next event was the Farmer’s Carry where competitors had to pick and carry 220 pounds in each hand for 60 feet.

I have quickly found that weighted carry and mobile events are by far my greatest strength; I attribute it to me carrying around my massive frame all my life. Another reason I think I do so well on mobile events where grip strength is key is partially due to me never using straps on my deadlifts in training, it forces your grip strength to stay on par with your overall strength (even though it hurts like hell).

The final event was Atlas Stones over bar for time, I was able to blow my old record out of the water in this event with getting a 220 pound stone over the chest hight bar 5 times in 60 seconds. I would still love to greatly improve in this event since it seems to be a mainstay in pretty much every sanctioned strongman competition I have seen. I can tell I need to focus on my squats so I can have better strength in getting the Atlas Stone off the ground.

Overall I love competing in novice strongman competitions, and now that my wife has caught the bug and has been competing alongside me it has gotten even better. The deep bruising, soreness, and heavy training has been very worth it; I have discovered what I am capable of and I now have constant goals to constantly strive to. Until the next competition!

The post Continuing on the Road to Strongman appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I joined Team Tom Gym in Greeley Colorado last summer and my wife and I instantly fell in love with the gym and it’s incredible atmosphere. People at Team Tom are at every ability level but everyone is united in becoming better, faster, and stronger than they were the week before. There were extreme novices like my wife and I, intermediate to experienced lifters, and even amazing athletes benching 400 lbs and deadlifting over 600 lbs. No matter who you were or how advanced of a lifter there was always someone willing to help you break through to the next level.

This past December after being at the gym for about 6 months the owner Tom approached me and mentioned that he noticed the progress I was making and told me about their first strongman/powerlifting event of the year being held in February and that I could be a good fit for their novice strongman division if I trained hard. I was very skeptical at first but once the events and weights were posted I decided to go for it and try to compete in my first strongman meet that was being held a mere two months later.

Fast forward to February of this year on the morning of my meet. I have never been more nervous in my life as I prepped to do my first ever strongman event: the 150 lbs yolk press. I did not do well at all on the press which disappointing to say the least, but luckily I did much better on the next event. For the 250 lbs timed sled pull I exceeded my expectations by getting a decent time and competing well with the other novice strongmen, giving me much needed confidence for the rest of the meet. The third event was the 300 lbs axle deadlift where I lifted better than I ever had in my life, getting 11 reps in one minute. At this point I was addicted to the competition as my wife, mom, and friends cheered me on during one of the best experiences of my life.

The last two events were ones I have never done, practiced, or trained on. The front weight hold was disappointing but I knew I would do better if I ever had to do it again. The final event was my Everest: 200 lbs Atlas Stone over bar for reps, something I have never done or trained on since I have never had access to stones before. I was extremely excited and nervous leading up to the lifts but the amazing community of strongmen around me gave me great coaching right up until the actual lifts themselves, telling me exactly how to approach the stone and even got me set up with sticky tacky that allowed me to grip the stone better. When I was given the start command I was able to get the stone over the bar multiple times for reps; I have never felt such elation. I had done it, I had completed something I never thought I would have ever been able to do just a year earlier. I did not do exceedingly well at the meet as compared to the other competitors but I feel I accomplished something huge for myself, and now I have a baseline to improve upon meet after meet.

Training and competing in strongman has been unlike any endeavor I have undertaken before. I am surrounded by an amazingly supportive community that never looks down at each other, everyone is just there to improve and become stronger than they were before. After 3 months of training I may not be any skinnier but I am stronger and more athletic than I ever have been in my life. As I continue to train I look toward my next goal: a fully sanctioned event in May where the lifts will be different, harder, and heavier. I look forward to training for this next competition and will write a few more articles like this along the way as I learn new lifts and make more progress. If you ever find yourself in Northern Colorado on a Saturday be sure to stop by Team Tom and say hi to all the Strongmen training during the weekly Strongman Saturday Event, I know I’ll be there.

The post Starting on the Road to Strongman appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

HabitHub.

Android & iOS

I like to use HabitHub to track all of my goals in one place. Although I have separate apps to help me eat better, learn more, and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, HabitHub is great to keep all of my aspirations organized in one place. Create separate goals and reminders, grow your chain day by day, and make your goals into habits without breaking a sweat.

MyFitnessPal.

Android & iOS

Probably the best overall fitness app on the market today. Set your weight loss (or gain) goals, where you are now, and how much activity you do each day. Track your calorie intake using a handy barcode scanner or by using the search bar in the diary section of the app. Over time, the app will show you analytics of your progress and make suggestions for improvement.

Fooducate.

Android & iOS

I think most people are becoming more health conscious in terms of what they put into their bodies. Every day we hear how “Organic” or “Farm-to-Table” may contain the exact ingredients we were looking to avoid. With Fooducate, you can learn about what exactly makes your food healthy or unhealthy as well as get an overall “healthiness” grade for individual foods and brands. Track your progress and get a personalized grade based on your eating habits.

Acorns.

Android & iOS

Saving money is one thing, growing your overall wealth with that saved money is an entirely different story. With Acorns, you can stash away a small amount of money and have it automatically invested in ETFs or Exchange Traded Funds. Invest the spare change from every purchase or create a recurring investment each day, week, or month. Every dollar becomes immediately invested in your diversified portfolio through Fractional Shared Ownership of the ETFs. Now saving takes on a whole new meaning.

Udemy.

Android & iOS

I’ve taken a multitude of college courses, but I think the most consistently useful knowledge I’ve learned thus far has come from Udemy. The courses they offer are relevant, informative, and downright cheap. I’ve taken courses on everything from marketing to coding to adobe illustrator and all of them have been great. Take the video lessons at your own speed and stop or pick up whenever you want. Accelerate your new year’s resolutions with this awesome app.

The post 5 Apps to Help Keep Your New Year’s Resolution appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

But wait I hear you pleading, what happens when one of my earbuds falls out? The best use case for many of these first wireless buds (I just trademarked that name for a buddy action flick starring Keanu and the hologram of Tupac) is in action sports, exercising, or running. Basically, the best times to use these limited battery earbuds is when you are moving around a lot, possibly at high speeds. It’s only natural to think that you’re going to lose one of your earbuds and be stuck with terrible terrible mono sound.

Well that’s exactly the usecase ELWN decided to solve once and for all with their Fit earbuds. Their kickstarter just funded in the first day, and it’s easy to see why. Not only do you get two sexy little buds (I’m not trademarking that movie name, it’s all yours…), plus an additional battery strap called an Infinity Band, but you also get a whole variety of ear tips, hooks, and loops with 180 different combinations to ensure, in their words, “the most customizable truly wireless ear buds.”

If you’re still here and reading, I’m sure your question now is, “but do they work?” Sir, they do indeed. In fact, I’m listening to them now as I write this. Pairing is simple and straightforward (just read the package!), sound quality is good, my custom fit was excellent, and battery life is very respectable 3 hours. When you’ve exhausted that, just plug in the Infinity Band external battery/cord for up to 6.5 hours of running and jumping around.

I doubt I would use these around the office or house, but exercising, rolling around on my bike, or even ignoring other humans on the bus are all great uses for the ELWN earbuds. There have been plenty of wireless earbuds companies to come out this year, but ELWN has really impressed us with their design, fit and finish, and customizability. If you buy wireless earbuds this year, it should be the ELWN Fit. Welcome to the new hotness and real freedom.

The post The Problem with Wireless Earbuds is Finally Solved appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

This week, we will explore the two key aspects of building good nutrition habits:

1.) How you should eat.

2.) What you should eat.

Move away from thinking of yourself as “on a diet.” When you’re “on a diet” you’re not making a lifestyle change — it’s a temporary solution. Once you reach a point, you’re okay with migrating back to your bad eating habits, because “I was only on a diet so I didn’t look like a total fat-ass when I went to Cabo with my bros.”

What we are aiming to build are guidelines that help you develop consistently good eating habits, rather than a temporary “diet” you’re only kind of following. Better understanding what sort of fuel you’re putting into your body is essential to both your fitness goals, and your overall well-being. Now, as mentioned last week, this doesn’t mean you need to religiously count calories, but instead develop an intuition for how you have consumed today, and how much more you can consume, to get closer to your goals. Here are some basic guidelines we’ve come up with after getting feedback from bodybuilder, power-lifters, runners, and normal dudes alike:

Consistency — fuel your body and mind throughout the day.

When thinking about restructuring eating habits, people always think “I need to eat less.” Now, the thinking here is that, “If I’m eating less, then I should lose weight, right?” Although at a basic level this is correct, reducing how many meals you’re eating in an effort to lose weight is like, being too f*cked up, and doing a line of cocaine to clear your head and sober up — its couterproductive. You’re only making a problem worse, because by reducing how frequently and how much you’re eating, you’re forcing your body into a starvation state: your body is in panic mode because you’re not feeding it enough, and it begins to hold onto everything it already has — be that food you’re eating, or fat you already have.

This principle applies to the other direction too: If you ramp up the frequency of your meals daily, your body and metabolism ramp up too. When you look at bodybuilders (or Michael Phelps and his 20 pancakes like we did last week), you see them consuming upwards of 5 or 6 meals in a day, which is not only what their bodies need to maintain that level of activity, but also helps keep their metabolic rate constantly elevated, helping them either pack on more muscle, or burn up more fat. In summary, eat more throughout the day.

High Octane — fuel your body and mind well

“So I should eat more? Okay…so I can eat frozen pizzas six times a day?” False. Think of your body as a race car: Would you put subpar fuel in your car if you’re trying to win?

Nutrients in food can be broken down into Protein, Fats, and Carbohydrates; the three types of “macro-nutrients.” The word “protein” is derived from “protos”, Greek for “of prime importance.” As the name suggests, proteins are the building blocks of much your body, and a critical component to reaching your health goals — everything from your DNA replication, to catalyzing metabolic action and repairing tissue to build muscle, is influenced by your protein intake. Fats are the most energy dense of the three macro-nutrients, help you feel full, and provide valuable nutrients to your brain and body alike. Carbohydrates, which typically get a bad rap as being responsible for gaining body fat, are easiest for your body to convert to fuel, and therefore are the preferred source of fuel by your body. Carbs are critical to feeling energized, the same way fats are critical to you feeling full, and proteins are critical to repairing damaged tissue post-workout.

A good rule of thumb is to consume 1 – 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight — this means a 200 lbs male should consume about 200 – 300 grams of protein a day, if they’re trying to transform their body from a minivan to a formula 1 car.

“High Octane” protein rich food choices:

• Chicken & Turkey
• Lean Beef
• Low-fat Dairy

A good rule of thumb is to consume between .5 – 1 gram of fat per pound of body weight — this means a 200 lbs male should consume below 200 grams of fat a day, and the amount of fat you eat should never drop below 15% of your daily diet. This will help keep testosterone and stress hormones at a healthy level, keeping you mentally sharp, and keeping you physically healthy.

“High Octane” healthy fat (Omega 3s, Saturated, Polyunsaturated, and Monounsaturated) choices:

• Olive oil
• Flax-seed
• Canola oil

A good rule of thumb when trying to gain mass is to consume ca 2-3 grams of complex carbohydrates per pound of body weight, whereas that should be cut in half when trying to cut weight. This means a 200 lbs male should consume between 300-600 grams, depending on their fitness goals.

“High Octane” complex (slow burning) carb choices:

• Anything whole grain
• Brown rice
• Sweet potatoes
• Bananas

Now that you have more information about what fuels help you transform into a race-car, you can use these pie-charts to determine what your percentage break down, or “macros” of your diet should roughly be, depending on your fitness goals:

The post The 2 Nutrition Golden Rules appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

When you are busy and oversubscribed, efficiency is the name of the game. You can struggle and spend time figuring out something on our own, or you can turn to experts who can solve it in seconds flat over the phone. Businesses have these experts in the form of consultants. People have them in the form of expert friends. So here’s the 8 people every guy should know to make their lives easier:

• Bartender – Being able to walk into a bar and order with just a nod or “the usual” is truly priceless. Having a bartender friend is your key to getting service, trying great cocktails, and impressing dates. Pro tip: don’t ask for free drinks and always tip your friend large.
• Barber – You gotta look right, and there is nothing more aggravating than trying to explain your look or your hair’s quirks to a new stylist. Knowing someone who knows your style and preferences is key to getting in and out easily and looking fresh.
• Butcher – Picking up some chicken breast or ground beef from the store is fine for everyday cooking and nutrients, but to really pick up your game and eat well you’ve got to find and befriend your local butcher. They will not only get you the best cuts and meats, but they can also talk you through how best to prepare your proteins and get the most out of the inherent flavor.
• Lawyer – Shit happens. Don’t wait till you need a lawyer to find one. Ask me how I know. Just don’t annoy your new lawyer friend by calling them every weekend with drunk questions about whether you can get a DUI while driving a parade float or unicycle…
• Doctor – Once again, not someone you want to try and find in an emergency. Knowing a doctor can keep you from making pointless visits to your general practitioner, and can even save your life from what you thought was just a gnarly mole.
• Personal Trainer – Personal fitness is a realm awash in fervent opinions and few concrete facts. Everyone “knows” what’s best, and you need someone you can trust to steer you in the right direction and correct anything that could potentially lead to injury.
• Mechanic – You should be working on your own car, but there’s a big difference between changing your oil and changing your clutch. You don’t want someone to do the work for you (what’s the fun in that?), but you want a friend with the right tools and knowledge to make it a fun experience rather than an ordeal.
• Accountant – There’s nothing like the feeling on tax day watching everyone run around and panic while you sit back and congratulate yourself on filing your return in January. Having a bookkeeping friend can make this painless, and no one will work harder to find you deductions than someone you’ve got embarrassing stories of.

A word of caution: DON’T live your life on transactional basis. Stay away from just knowing people for what they can do for you, and only contacting them when you need something. We all know that guy. And hate him. Instead, build your own personal A-team – a group of friends where everyone knows what each individual is best at and collaborates to do amazing things.

The post 8 Friends Every Guy Should Have appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.