This is embarrassing to admit đŁ
Harry Purvis ⢠15 July 2021
Fun fact.
Back in the day âŚ
The early lifting days.
I used to stress out over spiking my bodies insulin levels.
Properly worrying about it.
Because I read that youâre in âfat storingâ mode when your insulin is high.
(Which is true, btw. Just not in the broader context)
And youâre in âfat burningâ mode if itâs low.
(Also true)
So ⌠naturally, looking at those facts, I wanted to keep it low.
As low as possible.
All the time.
⌠So I didnât put on any fat, whilst trying to build muscle.
Makes TOTAL sense, right?
Well, I thought it did.
Because then, I would get the best of BOTH worlds.
Gain muscle & losing fat.
And I can tell you a WHOLE lot of other people did as well.
Iâll give you a couple of examples of how that played out.
>
If there WASNâT a sweet potato at the dinner table.
And only regular, white, high GI potato.
Iâd stress out & not eat any.
Total refusal.
>
Hadnât hit my protein target before I went to bed, and needed to bump it up.
Knew that it was important to hit my daily protein goal
But it couldnât be a whey protein shake, as that digests too quickly and spikes insulin.
It HAD to be casein.
The slow-release, overnight protein.
And if I had run out, I didnât have any.
>
Looking back on it all, I was stressing & worrying about the 0.01%.
As if it was 80%.
-> Yes, whey does digest faster than casein.
But itâs not going to make ANY difference.
-> White potato IS higher on the glycemic index than a sweet potato.
But itâs not going to make ANY difference.
-> Nutrient timing is important for body composition.
But itâs nowhere near as important as a host of other things.
>
I would have been better off focusing on consistently executing the basics over a LONG time.
Rather than looking for the clever, quick route to success.
âŚ
Storytime over.
Have a great Thursday đĽ
H

uffff rustled a few feathers on the weekend with my email. And subsequent IG video đ (the whole âdonât get fat in the first placeâ thing) People didnât like it .. Because bad habits are difficult to undo. Right? By their very nature/definition.. âhabitâ Itâs part of your lifestyle. Youâre better off not adopting them in the first place. Best tip to stop smoking? Donât start in the first place. Want to NOT be hooked on drugs? Donât take them initially. Best way to be in shape? Donât get fat in the first place. See what I mean? >> But our relationship with food is a complicated one .. Itâs far from straightforward. We eat when weâre happy (celebrating) We eat when weâre sad (comfort food) When weâre stressed (stress eating) When weâre bored (mindlessly going through a big pack of milk chocolate digestives) đ Itâs complicated. >> but the solution is straightforward << And thatâs where a lot of us go wrong. Nutrition is so simple & straightforward. Sometimes .. I honestly donât even know how nutritionists are even a thing. As Piers Morgan famously said: (the best way to lose weight is ..) âEat less food & do more exerciseâ Happy Tuesday đâď¸ Harry

You know what THE best tip for being in shape is? The number one thing. That will guarantee you stay in tip-top physical condition. Mostly forever Which actually .. Maybe gives you one of the biggest bang for your buck returns on life quality. When you actually think about it. Maybe more than more money. After youâve had your basic needs met. Going to be pretty honest here .. The tip .. is not getting out of shape in the first place Yup. Brutal isnât it đ If youâre reading this & youâre out of shape. Then you canât do Plan A. Itâll have to be Plan B. Exactly the conversation I had with someone this week. If you never allow yourself to get out of shape .. Youâll never have to experience the difficult journey to get back to fitness. Which is tough. And itâs such a difficult pill to swallow. We canât turn back time đŠ >> How often do you see young fat kids out & about? Quite a few times no? Especially now. 20 or so years ago. Probably not as much. But if my local KFC is anything to go by .. uffffff. And damn .. Those kids will have it tough. If they ever want to be in great physical shape. Theyâll have to work pretty damn hard later on in life to get back to it. (not very PG of me of course..) But itâs the parentsâ fault, not the kids. >> And look. Itâs not easy staying in shape either. It requires effort, willpower, determination .. You name it. But itâs a HELL of a lot easier staying in shape. Then trying to get back into shape. Happy Sunday âď¸ Harry

So thereâs a guy that comes to the gym atm. And from what I can see .. (I could be wrong here btw) It looks like he literally comes in for 5 minutes. Does 1 or 2 sets of pull-ups 2 sets of pec dec Something like that. Then leaves. No exaggeration. He doesnât put his bag in the changing room. So I literally see him coming in & out of the gym in 5 or so mins. And itâs an interesting one Which I want your opinion on. (reply to this and let me know) Are we team âSomething is better than nothing .. even doing a 2-minute workout is better than nothing at allâ in which case this guyâs âworkoutâ is sensible, justified, on the right lines etc Or Are we team âCâmon .. if you can only spare 5 minutes each day for your training .. you need to reassess your priorities a bitâ because what can you honestly get done in 5 minutes ..? I spend more time picking the playlist I want to listen to đ >> Itâs a tricky one for me. Iâm tempted to go with the latter. Although I do agree with the former too. .. there is a relatively high FIXED cost in coming to the gym anyway .. Right? You get a lot of the faffing involved whether youâre doing a 5-minute workout. Or a 2-hour workout. So you MAY as well make it an efficient use of time. And train for at least .. what .. 30 minutes as a minimum? Hell .. it takes me 5 minutes to just warm up / get my head in the zone for training. I know it does for my clients too. Instead of leaving the gym straight after youâve got ready for training. Hit me up with your thoughts pls đđ Have a great Monday too. Harry

People do crazy things for attention these days. Especially online. Weâre in the middle of the whole âdo anything to get viewsâ era. And it makes it difficult to figure out what is actually real. And what is just staged/set up for the video. Like those âI surprised my husband/wife/friendâ type videos. Weâve all seen. Which, most of the time. Are hilarious. But then you realise. There are multiple cameras in the same room rolling đ With the perfect lighting & setup. And you realise itâs just staged. But itâs been liked by 3m+ people. So theyâre winning. >> You know what else falls into this category? Workouts The ones you see on Instagram / YouTube. The more different Out there Funky The exercises are .. The more attention it gets. You know what doesnât get anywhere near as much attention? The bread & butter basics .. Consistency doing the same exercises week in week out Progressive overload Rotating through the same 2-4 movements for each body part That sh*t doesnât look sexy on Instagram. It doesnât get the cray attention. Unlike some of the other stuff you see on there. >> And you know what the funny thing is .. Fate loves irony. And the mega fit / in-shape people doing these stupid workouts. For views. Actually got their physique in the first place by doing the boring stuff they would never post about because it doesnât get any traction (read that again) đđ Mad when you think about it like that. Anyhow - off to the gym. Cya âď¸ Harry

What seems completely unattainable for some .. Is easily attainable for others. In many facets of life. Not always. But often the time. Let me give you an example. Body composition related of course .. So whenever I post some sort of half-naked âphysique updateâ on my Instagram. I always get the same comments. (from ONLY guys obviously .. those memes are 100% trueđ) Things like: âhow do you stay that lean all the timeâ âwas this an old photo or recently?!â âthatâs too lean, you need to eat somethingâ no capping here btw. I do genuinely get comments like this on almost all of them. And yeah sure .. Some of it comes down to good lighting Me knowing my best angles Some flexing But you know what? Given my lifestyle My job Where I am all-day The habits I have ingrained into my daily routine .. itâs actually not too difficult to maintain a lean-ish physique (with abs) year-round. Right? I mean .. If I didnât maintain a decent level of body fat condition. Then Iâm in the wrong industry. Whereas if I had an office-based job .. Wasnât in the gym all-day Had 2 young kids Wasnât able to go to bed at 9 pm most nights Had to eat & drink out to âentertain clientsâ etc Then Iâd probably find it impossible to maintain this level of condition. Maybe only getting there for a week or so after a prolonged period of dieting. Who knows. Maybe thatâll happen to me in the future đ >> So moral of the story. Donât let others drag you down to their level âď¸âď¸ Harry

Had to get this one off my chest this morning. Because I see it so often. Almost every day. Some PTs stiiiiiil putting their clients on the treadmill. For the first 5-10 minutes of a paid session. Client parts ways with hard-earned net cash .. .. Just for the trainer to spend a good chunk of session time % Walking on a treadmill. And get this .. Those same clients. Probably took longer to walk to the gym from the office And probably at a faster pace too. Everyone walks fast in London. Especially when you have places to be. So technically .. The 5-minute moderate walk on the treadmill is most likely. A cool-down rather than a warm-up đ I mean câmon. The fitness industry has moved on from 2011 .. Hasnât it? >> I get all my clients to do a warm-up. Sure. Everyone needs to do one. Myself included. But itâs not on the treadmill. Theyâre exercise-specific isometric contractions Which hugely IMPROVE how your body/muscles work before training. More range of movement More stability Better contractions etc You donât get any of that from walking on a treadmill. Especially if you walked 5 minutes to get to the gym in the first place. Rant over đ¤đ
Harry

So this is just a thought. Something to throw out there. While weâre about to attack Wednesday. I think one of the reasons IF seems to work âwellâ for fat loss. Thinking about it from a logical/practical perspective. Is that going for relatively long periods without eating at all is a good thing. Snacking/grazing is the calorie deficit destroyer For a number of reasons Itâs usually uncontrolled Itâs usually done unintentionally / almost subconsciously The food choices are energy-dense You canât even remember what youâve eaten half the time Even Iâve done it before. Demolished a whole pack of âsomethingâ whilst watching a movie at 10 pm. Without even thinking about it. Just mindlessly grazing. .. So eliminating that to a large extent. Is going to make it a lot EASIER for you to stick to a deficit. Difficult to eat in a big surplus consistently. If youâre only having 2x clean-ish meals a day. With no snacking in between. As opposed to 2x main meals. With about 9 snacks in between them. See what I mean? >> I donât personally do IF. But if you look at the timing of my meals each day. I spend a large portion of the day/night.. not eating 4.30 am breakfast 7.5h gap 12ish lunch 6h gap 6ish dinner 10.5h gap So Iâm doing 3x meals. But theyâre pretty spread out. Itâs sort of like doing a semi-IF. Because I just donât snack that much. Food for thought âď¸ Harry

So have an interesting story for you this morning. Happened last week. Thereâs this ânew guyâ at the gym. Who trains either on his own. Or with one of his mates. Sort of in shape Not super lean You know those tradesmen / manual labourers who clearly have a lot of muscle. And are pretty strong. But donât have the shape of like a Mens Physique Bodybuilder. You know the kinda person Iâm talking about? He trains pretty hard Makes a LOT of noise Attracts attention to himself Sweats a ton etc Does his WHOLE workout on the Smith machine basically. Or in and around it. >< Again .. nothing unusual about any of this tbh. This isnât the main bit of the story .. The funny thing. He had other members coming up to him afterwards đ In the changing room. Asking for his workout routine How long heâs been training for How great it looks How difficult it was etc I was walking past like đ¤đ¤ And for me .. Itâs such an interesting thing to observe. / establish why people were so intrigued. I rarely / ever get people coming up to me and asking for my routine. But I probably train the opposite to this guy. My conclusion is: Us humans are attracted to new, shiny, fancy objects. That potentially offer us something better than what weâre used to. And this guyâs training style .. Represented that. Rightly or wrongly. What are your thoughts? Would you have asked him for his training routine?! đ
Let me know. Harry