Beyond Fitness: The Missing Link Between Health and Performance
Being healthy doesn’t always mean you’re fit. And being fit doesn’t always mean you’re healthy.
Your lifestyle — what you do when you’re not formally exercising — is the bridge between your health and your fitness.
It’s what makes healthy people fit, and fit people healthy.
It’s the x-factor for living your best life — in how you look, feel, and perform.
What good is looking great if your body is breaking down as you age?
How will being healthy on your doctor’s check ups help you if you’re too weak to pick up your grandkids or unable to enjoy a hike with family?
Lifestyle, when combined with other pillars of strength training and nutrition, is what allows you to be your best.
Don’t overlook the simplicity of what’s outlined below.
Why Your Body Clock Might Be Sabotaging Your Progress
Your body follows a natural rhythm, called your circadian rhythm, which has a major influence on your hormones, energy, hunger, and much more. The main things that determine your circadian rhythm include:
- When you go to sleep, and when you wake up
- When (and how much caffeine) you consume
- When (and what) you eat or drink
- When (and how much) you consume light (from natural sunlight and artificial light like screens)
Why this matters for you…
When you understand that the majority of your biological processes are driven by your circadian rhythm, you begin to look at your overall lifestyle and decisions differently.
When you work with your circadian rhythm, and not against it, here is what happens:
- Your energy is more consistent and stable (easier time waking up, less crashes throughout the day)
- Your hunger is more predictable (easier time losing weight and avoiding reaching for sweets or caffeine due to drops in blood sugar)
- Your hormones are functioning better (improved testosterone and reduced cortisol — making you perform better in all areas of life)
When I started paying more attention to these things, and intentionally working on improving them, I noticed across the board improvements.
The lifestyle levers that you can pull work for multiple reasons — but regulating your circadian rhythm is a major driver to what makes these so effective.
To better regulate your circadian rhythm, be aware of these 3 timing mistakes:
- Meal timing: wait 1-2 hours upon waking to consume any calories, and finish your last meal 2-3 hours before bed
- Caffeine timing: wait 1-2 hours upon waking to consume caffeine (if that sounds like torture, I promise your body will adapt and the caffeine you consume will be even more effective). Limit caffeine 8+ hours before bedtime
- Screen timing: avoid viewing any blue light (TVs, phones, computers, tablets, etc) 30-60 minutes (or more) before bed
The 4 Lifestyle Levers: Steps, Sunlight, Sleep, Stress
1. Steps: The Underrated Superpower
Most people have heard the importance of getting 10,000 steps per day. Is there truth to it?
Here is what the data says happens when you walk:
- 50% lower dementia risk
- 50–70% lower risk of premature death
- 44% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
- 31% lower risk of obesity
- Reductions in depression, gastric disorders, sleep apnea
So yes, the data is clear, if you want to live longer (and live better) — walking regularly should be a part of your daily routine.
It’s always nice when the data supports walking, but I can tell you firsthand the difference regular walking has made in my life. I initially aimed for 12,000 steps per day, but feel even better when I hit 15,000 steps per day.
Does this take some time and effort? Absolutely.
But here’s what I noticed (and what many of my clients have noticed too):
- Better energy
- Less stiffness, aches, and joint pain
- Better fat burning. My body fat percentage dropped once I added more steps in (without changing anything else)
- Less stress and improved mood
Sit less, walk more.
Goal: 8,000 steps per day at a minimum, building up to 12,000 steps or more.
2. Sunlight: The Free Medicine You’re Not Using Enough
Our society and daily lives don’t promote getting regular sunlight throughout the day. Vitamin D deficiency, which is highly prevalent, would largely be resolved by getting more sunlight (and not relying on supplementation).
Seeing natural light — close to sunrise, sunset, and throughout the day — is one of the easiest ways to regulate your circadian rhythm.
By doing this, you’ll have improved energy, sleep patterns, and a better mood.
Think of it like a risk free trial: try it out for 30 days, and if you don’t notice a difference, get your money back.
Goal: 5-10 minutes of sunlight in the morning, afternoon, and evening (pro tip: this is a great habit to combine with your steps goal
3. Sleep: A Performance Enhancer (If You Let It Be)
Shortly after college, as I dove into personal development and starting our business, I fell into the ‘hustle’ trap.
For those that aren’t familiar, this involves staying up late, getting up early, working long days…grinding.
It’s easy to fall in love with the idea of the self-made man, who worked long hours and brought himself from nothing to great riches.
If your interests (or your algorithm) are caught in this culture — it’s easy to think that you’re weak because you need more than 5 hours of sleep.
I fell for this for a lot of years, until I realized it was a dead end road that was making me less healthy, less productive, and less enjoyable to be around.
There have been seasons of life where I had no choice to wake up at 4am to get the things done that I needed to.
There have been other seasons of life where I chose to get up at 4am…because I thought I had to in order to be successful.
I was trained to dislike sleep in order to squeeze more out of my day.
If that doesn’t scream scarcity mindset, then I don’t know what does.
When I finally realized that this wasn’t necessary, and was actually counterproductive, I had a major wake up call (no pun intended, I had to throw that one in there):
I realized I actually like sleep.
And I realized I’m a much better man with the right amount of sleep.
My energy is better, my recovery is better, my mood is better, fat loss is easier, and hunger cravings are more manageable.
Every season of life will require different amounts of sleep. There might be times, with a newborn and a busy work season, where there is no way you can fit everything in with 7 hours of sleep.
Regardless of what’s going on in your life, I highly encourage you to maximize your sleep quality while getting the quantity of sleep that you feel best with.
Quick note: don’t be fooled by the amount of sleep you’ve convinced yourself you need. The only way you’ll know is by actually testing it. I used to think I only needed 6 hours of sleep — because that’s what I told myself. When I got 8 hours, I thought I felt off — but that’s only because that rarely happened (and messed up my circadian rhythm when it did).
Once I consistently got 7, and eventually 8, hours of high quality sleep — I realized that was much closer to what my body functioned best with.
Goal: 7+ hours per night, aiming to improve quality (cool, dark room, limiting screen time before bed, not eating within 2 hours of bed time, no caffeine in the afternoon, consistent sleep/wake times, etc.)
4. Stress: The Silent Killer To Better Performance
For some reason, acknowledging how detrimental stress is to my life, is something I just hate to admit.
I can get on board with increasing my steps, seeing some sunlight throughout the day, and getting more sleep.
Being less stressed?
That’s another story.
Maybe because it seems the most out of my control, and it can be so hard to manage in the chaos of our daily lives.
As I’ve reduced stressors (which I only have some control over), and reduced how I respond to stressors (which I have a lot more control over), I’ve noticed drastic changes in my health.
When you live in a constant state of low level response — your body (and mind) get slowly worn down.
Even with low level stressors (bills, family, relationships, work, etc.), the hormone cortisol is secreted.
This has several negative consequences:
- Reduces testosterone
- Reduced recovery
- Increased fat storage
- Increased resting heart rate and reduced heart rate variability (HRV)
- Reduced physical performance
Once I learned how to better manage my stress, I realized how much better I felt. My physical performance improved, my productivity and mental focus expanded, and my energy was so much better.
Surprisingly, I had less gut and digestive issues that plagued me for many years (and that I always contributed to food choices).
A less stressed person is a healthier person.
A less stressed person is also just a more fun and enjoyable person to be around.
You can’t remove the stressors, but you can control how you respond to them.
Goal: Pick one proactive stress relieving habit per day (reading, journaling, meditation, quality time with family/friends). Pick one reactive stress relieving habit that you can use in the middle of stressful situations (ex: deep breathing)
I shrugged off these lifestyle changes for many years, thinking it was only about exercising and eating healthy.
My life improved drastically in how I was showing up and performing — across the board — once I implemented these simple and powerful changes.
Don’t let perfection keep you from starting.
Pick one habit to implement, and one goal that you can consistently reach.
Then go get started.
You’ll be amazed at how you look, feel, and perform once you start stacking these lifestyle habits together.
You don’t need to overhaul your life overnight. Just start with one habit—and let that one habit change everything.
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