Hello Everyone
I am currently following the S+S program and am looking for community recommendations to improve my understanding on other aspects of a healthy life. My main goal is to find additional content on nutrition, sleep, injury prevention/maintenance that align line with the principles taught by Strongfirst.
Thank you.
Starting to lift weights is often a keystone habit that starts to build other healthy habits. It is good to ask such a question.
However, I would caution against overthinking/researching it, which I have and most have done as they get more interested in fitness and health as they see results. If you want elite performance it can get complicated, but you probably already know what you need to do for general health goals.
I agree that a good source of "common sense" general health advice can be found by Dan John. He is like hearing from a favorite wise uncle.
Best quote, "Eat like an adult."
The Genesis of this insight about the “Three E’s” came to me at a workshop. As many of you know, who read “Intervention” any way (why don’t you have it if you don’t?), I believe that a Reasonable Way of Eating and a Reasonable Training model (see “Even Easier Strength”) trumps insanity all the...
danjohn.net
He talks about the importance of flossing on more than just dental health.
Turning off digital devices well before you sleep also seems to be important. Reading books especially fiction before bed helps transition to sleep. An evening stretching/mobility routine as well. Geoff Neupert's P3 program is an option.
One good tip that may not be obvious that I have picked up lately is get sunshine in the morning and treat sunshine more like a vital supplement. Huberman podcast
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast
The other one to try is cold showers.
There are many others but a good general book and mobility routine is ST approved Flexible Steel by Jon Engum.
Amazon product ASIN B00IH661J8
If we want to think in terms of StrongFirst terms, a really helpful idea is to pay more attention to "rest period talk test" or in this case post-workout recovery.
What you can do in a particular training session may not really be that important. When I read about people worried about missing one workout or bringing their equipment on vacation, it is kind of funny now. It is just one workout in a lifetime of workouts to come. What you can recover from and do consistently is the key. Pavel has said take care of your responsibilities and family and then train. Geoff Neupert (Kettlebell Strong and many other threads on this site) is really good on this point too, especially for the over 40 crowd.
One thing I have learned (age 53) and many others is consistency and recovery will likely beat all other variables every time. This applies to both exercise and good general health habits such as dealing with stress/diet etc. Sure you can do a particularly tough program or cutting edge diet once, but how important is that over a lifetime of health really?
I am of course speaking of gpp and general health for a general population and not elite or competitive performance, where details of exercise programming etc. are important.