Optimizing performance and longevity is a journey of continuous experimentation and commitment. Through countless trials and adjustments over the years, I’ve crafted a system uniquely tailored to enhance physical performance, sharpen mental clarity, and foster a sustainable, balanced lifestyle. In this post, I’ll share the core pillars of my approach: nutrition, training, and daily routines.

Nutrition

Meat-Centric Paleo Diet 🥩

After testing numerous diets, the one that has consistently provided the most dramatic results for me is a meat-centric paleo diet. This diet, heavily inspired by my trials with the carnivore diet, consists of meat making up 90% of my intake. It emphasizes whole, unprocessed foods and eliminates all grains, refined sugars, and seed oils.

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Benefits I’ve Experienced:

  • Leaner physique: Visible reduction in bloating and inflammation.
  • Improved sleep: Waking up energized every day without an alarm.
  • Better skin health: Clearer, more vibrant complexion.
  • Joint pain relief: No more nagging discomfort, even after intense training.
  • Increased strength: Enhanced performance while maintaining a lower overall weight.
  • Increased energy: No more afternoon crashes, even after long days.

Practical Advantages:

  • Ease of preparation: Buying meat in bulk from local butchers simplifies meal prep.
  • Simplicity: Fewer ingredients, less cooking complexity.

Apart from the incredible taste and benefits of a meat-centric Paleo diet, it’s also the easiest to follow. As I always say, If it didn’t exist 100 years ago, don’t eat it. This simple rule eliminates all boxed, processed, and lab-made foods, making healthy choices straightforward and natural.

Alt text Bulk extra lean orders

Intermittent Fasting (IF) 🕒

I follow a daily eating window from 12 PM to 6 PM, during which I consume two primary meals. This approach has been transformative for me, and here’s why:

Consistency:
I eat the same meals every day. It’s simple, effective, and aligns with my preference for routine. Buying and cooking in bulk saves time and money, making it an efficient and affordable lifestyle.

Research Benefits of IF:

  • Longevity: Studies, including research on animals such as fasted dogs, suggest caloric restriction and intermittent fasting may extend lifespan by 30%, promoting cellular repair and reducing oxidative stress. Imagine extending human lifespan by 30%! Assuming the average age is 80, we’re talking 24 additional years! Imagine another 24 years of compound interest working its magic.
  • Mental Clarity: Fasting stabilizes blood sugar levels, reducing energy crashes and carb-induced slumps, leaving me sharp and focused throughout the day.
  • Natural Rhythms: My body has adapted to this schedule. I wake up naturally between 4–5 AM without an alarm, feeling refreshed and ready to start the day.
  • Efficiency: Fewer meals mean less time spent preparing food and making dietary decisions, freeing up mental and physical energy for other priorities.

Periodically I’ll complete 24 hour fasts to benefit from the autophagy process for the following benefits:

  • Removes damaged cellular components: Helps in preventing the accumulation of cellular waste.
  • Promotes cell survival: Provides essential nutrients by recycling cellular components.
  • Supports metabolic efficiency: Optimizes energy usage during periods of low nutrient availability.

Daily Meals: 🍽️

  • Meal One (12 PM):
    Extra lean ground beef mixed with vegetables and eggs.
  • Meal Two (5 PM):
    Steak (ribeye, NY strip, salmon, or smoked brisket) paired with vegetables.

🧂 No sauces, no condiments, just pink himalayan salt, peper and the odd spice.

Alt text Typical meal

Snacks:

Hydration

  • Water intake varies depending on the amount of extrensious physical activity. For my sceraio, I target 1 ouce per lb of body wieght given my activity level and portein intake as water is crusial for many reasons, one being helping flush the kidneys and digestive system when consuming dense calories from protein. This results in 6-6.5 liters per day.

Caloric Intake

The maximum calorie intake to maintain my current lifestyle is 3,000 calories per day. This regime fuels my body efficiently, aligns with my goals for health and longevity, and keeps my lifestyle streamlined and productive.

If I find I’m not getting enough energy from my diet due to intense training or other factors, I’ll supplement with high fat snacks such as nuts, nut butters, cheese, advacadoes and unflavored greek yogurts.

It’s often underappreciated how many calories your body naturally burns just to maintain a neutral state. Even without intense physical activity, your body is constantly expending energy to support essential functions like breathing, circulation, and maintaining body temperature. This process, known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR), acts as a baseline for calorie consumption throughout the day.

When you introduce high-intensity exercise, the energy demand skyrockets. Think of your body as an organic battery: it efficiently generates and uses energy through a combination of stored fat, glycogen, and nutrients. During high-intensity workouts, this “battery” rapidly depletes energy reserves, forcing your body to tap into stored fat as fuel. The process of breaking down these fat molecules is like combustion—fat is oxidized, and the byproducts (like carbon dioxide and water) are exhaled or expelled, essentially “breathing out” the fat molecules.

This metabolic efficiency underscores how the body is not just passively burning calories but actively managing energy in a dynamic system. The combination of your baseline calorie burn and the amplified energy expenditure during exercise highlights how your body is both a remarkable energy-preserving machine and a powerful energy combustion system when activated.

Supplements: 💊

Final Thoughts on Diets

My overall opinion on most diets is that they are largely overrated and often overcomplicated. Many diets are built on trendy buzzwords and rigid rules that don’t consider individual needs or long-term sustainability. At the end of the day, what truly matters boils down to three key factors:

  • How You Feel: Your energy levels, mood, digestion, and overall physical performance are the best indicators of whether a particular eating style is working for you. A diet isn’t successful if it leaves you feeling fatigued, irritable, or unwell.

  • Your Blood Work: Objective health markers, like cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and inflammation markers, provide a clear picture of your internal health. Tracking these can show if your nutrition choices are truly supporting your body, regardless of how “popular” the diet might be.

  • Calories In vs. Calories Out: The fundamental principle of weight management remains consistent: your body composition is primarily determined by energy balance. While food quality matters for health, the quantity of food you consume dictates whether you lose, maintain, or gain weight.

The no-nonsense secret to achieving your dream body and health goals. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t involve obsessing over fad diets or miracle solutions. Instead, it’s about intake less, or more calories than you burn.

The Daily Calories Required To:

  • Gain weight: times your weight by 17
  • Lose weight: times your weight by 11
  • Maintain your weight: times your weight by 14

There is no secret diet; it’s simply the measurement of your intake vs expenditure. 90% diet, 10% exercise.

My hack for hitting my daily protein requirements for building strength and mass:

  • Target: 1 gram+ of protein per body weight, per day.
  • The hack: 1 lb of meat is 100 grams of protein; if you weigh 200 lbs, eat 2 lbs of meat per day.

Extra lean ground beef is $5/lb; thus, it is $15/day for me to build and maintain my strength and size.

The truth is, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” diet. The key is to adopt habits that support your goals and lifestyle while keeping things straightforward, enjoyable, and adaptable to real life.

Alt text Home prepared salmon sushimi

Training Routine 🏋️

Within minutes of waking up, usually around 5 a.m., I drink a liter of water and a cup of espresso before heading to the gym or starting a workout at my home gym, depending on the time available that day. Occasionally, if pressing issues arise overnight, I’ll address those first. On days when I need extended, undistracted focus, I plan ahead by going to bed earlier, knowing my body will naturally wake around 3–4 a.m. In those cases, I dedicate the first few hours to deep work, postponing my workout until the project is complete.

Daily Cardio

I begin every training session with 45–60 minutes of cardio, alternating between running and the elliptical to allow recovery from high-impact sessions. My runs usually cover 8–10 km at a steady pace of 7 mph - 8 mph. This cardiovascular work enhances endurance, supports weight management, and promotes mental clarity.

By this point I have a strong sweat going and I’m usually switching to my second gym shirt. A strong warm up is what sets the tone for the rest of the session. Never start a workout cold—if you’re not sweating the entire time you’re at the gym, you’re not pushing hard enough. I firmly believe in keeping your heart rate elevated and maintaining a high internal temperature to truly stress your body and push it to its limits.

Alt text Average run warm up

Resistance Training

Resistance training forms the foundation of my program, emphasizing compound movements that engage multiple muscle groups. I structure my training into two distinct styles: high-intensity and low-intensity days. The choice between these is guided by how my body feels on a given day, factoring in recovery from previous sessions, sleep quality, and overall energy levels.

Training Routine: Target Muscle Groups and Training Principles

Target Muscle Groups

  • Push Day: Chest, shoulders, and triceps.
  • Pull Day: Back and biceps.
  • Leg Day: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, incorporating various plyometrics.
  • Core: Every other day, I complete a 15-20 minutes core circuit after each lifting session.

Again, the choice between these is guided by how my body feels on a given day, factoring in recovery from previous sessions, sleep quality, and overall energy levels.

High-Intensity Days (For High Energy)

Focus:
Building strength involves focusing on low reps (5–8 max) with heavy weights. Each workout begins with a few quick isolation exercises to warm up the muscles, followed by two Primary Compound Movements targeting the key muscle groups.

Format:
4–5 sets per exercise, increasing weight by 5 lbs once 8 reps are achieved.

Primary Compound Movements:

  • Squats (front & back)
  • Deadlifts (sumo & trap bar)
  • Bench Press (flat & decline)
  • Overhead Press
  • Pull-Ups (weighted)
  • Dips (weighted)
  • Barbell Rows

Goal:
Build strength and fast-twitch muscle fibers by prioritizing proper form while moving maximum weight loads.

Low-Intensity Days (For Limited Energy)

Focus:
Hypertrophy and muscle endurance.

Format:
Perform 15–25 reps max with lighter weights and higher volume, aiming for complete muscle exhaustion. Gradually increase weight by 5 lbs once 25 reps can be achieved, continuing until failure is unavoidable.

Goal:
Push muscles to total fatigue, breaking them down to stimulate growth and endurance.

Training Philosophy 📚

This training philosophy is inspired by the principles of 5x5 Stronglifts, Joe DeFranco’s methods, Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program, and Barry Ross’s Underground Secrets to Faster Running. These programs emphasize the importance of big compound lifts—squats, deadlifts, and bench presses—and incorporate sprint training techniques to build explosive power and strength. Together, they provide a foundation for a disciplined, progressive, and effective approach to strength and athletic performance.

Dynamic Warm-Ups

Before high-intensity sessions, I dedicate 10–15 minutes to:

Alt text Recovery and mobility

Off Days

On recovery days, I still incorporate movement:

  • Yoga: 60-minute sessions at home to enhance flexibility, reduce tension, and improve recovery.
  • Sprints: In summer, I perform speed drills and ladder exercises for 45 minutes weekly.

What Isn’t Measured Isn’t Managed: The Importance of Tracking Workouts 📝

Logging your workouts is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to stay accountable and ensure consistent progress. Tracking allows you to measure where you’re at, identify trends, and make data-driven adjustments to your training.

I use Google Sheets to keep things simple. By logging key metrics like sets, reps, weights, rest times and overall load volume for the workout, I can easily compare progress month over month. This helps me see tangible improvements, identify plateaus, and adjust my plan accordingly.

Without tracking, it’s easy to forget details or rely on guesswork, which can slow progress. Logging your workouts not only keeps you accountable but also adds a sense of accomplishment when you look back and see how far you’ve come.

Logging your workouts is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to stay accountable and ensure consistent progress.

Why Track?

  • Measure performance trends.
  • Identify plateaus.
  • Make data-driven adjustments to training.

How I Track:
I use Google Sheets to log key metrics such as:

  • Sets
  • Reps
  • Weights
  • Rest times
  • Overall load volume

Tracking adds accountability and provides a sense of accomplishment when reviewing progress over time.

The Role of Compound Movements

Compound lifts are essential for building overall strength and functional capacity. Inspired by the 5/3/1 program, my routine incorporates these key exercises:

  • Squats: Total lower-body development, core engagement, and functional power.
  • Deadlifts: Build posterior chain and overall body strength.
  • Bench Press: Upper body strength and size.
  • Overhead Press: Core and shoulder stability.
  • Pull-Ups and Dips: Essential for building strength relative to body weight.

Performance and Longevity

Main Principles:

  • Optimal Size:
    Maintaining 6’4”, 220 lbs, and 8–10% body fat to balance strength and health.
  • Minimizing Wear and Tear:
    Avoiding extreme calorie surpluses and excessive weight loads that strain the body.
  • Consistency:
    Not missing more than five consecutive days of training since age 15, even during illness.
  • Preparedness:
    Remaining physically powerful for heavy lifting, fast running, or enduring long activity bouts.

A Resilient Lifestyle 🛡️

This routine doesn’t just promote physical health but also enhances mental resilience. Despite years of intense physical demands, I rarely get sick, sleep deeply, and maintain energy levels that allow me to tackle each day with focus and high energy.

By optimizing my nutrition, adopting a rigorous yet sustainable training routine, and fostering discipline, I’ve created a system that’s both effective and rewarding. My commitment to lifelong fitness is driven by a desire to be ready for anything life may throw at me—whether it’s moving a heavy appliance on a weekend, defending myself in a dangerous situation, or even being prepared for a global conflict. Staying mentally sharp and physically capable isn’t just a goal; it’s a lifestyle that ensures I’m equipped to handle any challenge with confidence and resilience

You might be wondering what qualifies me to share my thoughts on fitness, especially since I don’t have formal education in the field. I’d like to humbly share my personal experience and track record that have shaped my perspective.

Football: The Foundation of My Discipline

My journey into fitness and optimization started in compeitive football, where my passion for training was born. Football wasn’t just a sport for me; it was a proving ground that shaped my mindset, built my work ethic, and laid the foundation for the discipline I carry into my life today.

High School Football: Building the Foundation I entered high school at 6’1” and 165 lbs, a lanky kid with big dreams of making the football team. By the time I graduated, I had transformed into a 6’4”, 220-lb defensemen, setting records and earning accolades along the way. This transformation was the result of relentless effort and a commitment to strength training before it became mainstream among high school athletes.

I broke all defensive records and became the first player from Brandon to win Defensive Player of the Year in the Winnipeg Football League (WHSFL). Building on that success, I carried the momentum into the CJFL, where I set records as the league’s best defensive player and top defensive lineman two years in a row.

Alt text CJFL Football League

At 21 years old, I was invited to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Rookie Camp and began ongoing training with their farm team, showcasing my potential at a professional level.

Alt text Bombers camp

A funny story: I once sent my highlight game footage to the head coach of the Winnipeg Rifles CJFL team.
Ten minutes later, I got a reply that simply said, “hahahahaha.”
A bit confused, I asked, “What’s so funny?”
He replied, “You look like a grown man playing against children!”

My Training Philosophy in High School

While many of my peers skipped strength training or didn’t take it seriously, I became obsessed with it. Inspired by programs like 5/3/1, I focused on the big compound lifts—squats, deadlifts, bench press—and sprint training inspired by Barry Ross’s Underground Secrets to Faster Running. Every session was an opportunity to outdo myself, logging every lift and adding weight whenever I could.

Alt text Grade 12, 2011, 515lbs lift

CJFL: Pushing the Limits

As my football career advanced , I pushed my body to its natural peak. In the prime years, I stood at a lean 6’4”, 260 lbs with athleticism:

  • Speed: A 40-yard dash time of 4.7 seconds.
  • Strength:
    • Bench press: 365 lbs
    • Deadlift: 610 lbs
    • Squat: 495 lbs

To sustain this level of performance, my life revolved around training and recovery:

  • Morning Conditioning: Sprint training and conditioning drills at 4–5 AM.
  • Day Job: A physically demanding 7–3 pipefitting job.
  • Evening Grind: Strength training from 5–6:30 PM, followed by football practice from 7–9 PM.

I consumed an enormous 6,000 calories per day to fuel this lifestyle—an effort that was both expensive and exhausting. While this period marked the peak of my physical performance, it wasn’t sustainable in the long run.

Lessons Learned From This Period

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

The larger and stronger you are, the more stress you place on your organs and overall health.

Strength Has Its Limits

Despite prioritizing proper form, managing my nutrition, and focusing on recovery, my joints, ligaments, and tendons couldn’t keep up with the increasing volume and demands. This eventually led to injuries, surgeries, and chronic pain.

Sustainability Matters

After football, I prioritized balancing peak performance with longevity and functionality.

Preparation Is Key

The mental and physical preparation I cultivated during this period remains a cornerstone of my daily life.

Working With a Team

Football taught me the value of collaboration, accountability, and shared goals. Each individual effort contributed to collective success, pushing me to be better not just for myself but for those around me. This lesson translates to life off the field as well, whether in a professional environment, family, or friendships.

The Importance of Losing

Competitive sports taught me resilience, humility, and learning from setbacks. Losing became less about defeat and more about growth, shaping my mindset for challenges on and off the field.

A Sustainable Version of Peak Performance

My time in football motivated me to pursue a more sustainable version of peak performance. Now, I maintain a high level of strength relative to my body weight without the need for the extreme regimens I once followed.

Football instilled in me an obsession with being prepared—whether it’s having the strength to lift heavy, the stamina to endure grueling tasks, or the resilience to face any challenge life throws my way. That passion, born from the sport, continues to drive me forward every day.