Optimization is making you weak, the key to inner excellence, 30 days to a faster mile, training to be fit forever, 72 hours to win back your mind, & a breakfast bowl
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In The Better Way Weekly
Article Review
Book Summary
Podcast Recommendation
Just Good Content
Weekly Challenge
Workout of the Week
Recipe of the Week
✅ ARTICLE
Brad Stulberg talks about the fragility of optimization. As a gym owner & coach, I see this all the time. We preach functional > optimal. Chasing optimal will leave you burnt out and still without the results you want.
Brad shares that the mindset of needing to be perfectly fine-tuned always is one of the biggest performance killers there is.
Jim Murphy spent five years researching and writing this book, two and a half of those years living in relative isolation in the desert. What he came back with is less a sports psychology manual and more a lifestyle and training system rooted in three centuries-old virtues: love, wisdom, and courage.
Key Learnings
The heart is the key, not the head. Most performance and self-help frameworks try to optimize thinking. Murphy argues that we’re stuck in our heads precisely because we’ve neglected the heart, and that fully engaged performance requires heart, mind, and body together.
Performance and the best possible life are the same path. The disciplines that produce world-class performance (presence, surrender, courage under pressure, freedom from comparison) are the same disciplines that produce a deeply lived life.
Selfless-actualization beats self-actualization. The standard Western self-improvement frame puts the self at the center. Murphy flips it: the people who perform extraordinarily, and live extraordinarily, are oriented toward something larger than themselves. Paradoxically, that’s where the freedom and the freedom-under-pressure both come from.
🎬 JUST GOOD CONTENT
Love these guys. An enjoyable watch for your Sunday!
🎙️ PODCAST OF THE WEEK
Forever Fit, Being Durable and Capable For Your Whole Life — "Smile, Or You're Doing It Wrong: Andy Glaze On Relentless Positivity, PTSD, & The Healing Power Of Movement"
On this month’s CompTrain episode on Chasing Excellence we talk about the Heavy, Fast, Far, and Free training framework. The idea is that most of us train one or two of those buckets pretty well (we lift, or we run) and let the others sit empty. These 4 components make up how we design a week of training.
Two stats from this one: Power declines roughly ten times faster than strength as we age, which is why so many older adults are strong enough to stand but not quick enough to catch themselves when they trip.
And VO2 max has a 400% greater impact on all-cause mortality than smoking does.
We walk through the minimum effective dose for each pillar.
🚀 5 FACTOR CHALLENGE
(Factors of Health | Eat, Sleep, Train, Think, Connect)
Factor: Think
Challenge: The 72-Hour Phone-in-Another-Room Experiment.
Why you benefit. This isn’t a digital detox in the dramatic sense. You’ll still use the phone for what you actually need. What changes is the default. Right now the default for most of us is “phone within arm’s reach unless I make a deliberate effort otherwise.” We’re flipping it here: “phone in another room unless I make a deliberate effort otherwise.” Three days is long enough to feel the withdrawal twitch in your hand, notice how often you reach for nothing, and start to recover the small, unstructured moments (waiting for the kettle, standing on the porch, lying in bed before sleep) that the phone has been consuming for years. Those moments are where most of your actual thinking happens. Give them back to yourself!
💪🏻 WORKOUT OF THE WEEK
“The 20-Minute Ladder”, bodyweight only, no equipment required.
Set a timer for 20 minutes. Move through the ladder below, adding one rep to every exercise each round. Start at 1 rep, then 2, then 3, and so on. See how high you can climb before the clock runs out. Rest only as needed.
Push-ups: full plank position, chest to fist height
Air squats: feet shoulder-width, hips below parallel, drive through the heels
Sit-ups: full range, hands lightly behind the ears (not pulling on the neck)
Reverse lunges: alternating legs, count one rep per leg
Burpees: chest to floor at the bottom, full extension at the top
Modifications & Substitutions
Push-ups - Drop to knees, or hands elevated on a bench or counter.
Squats - Reduce depth, or do box squats touching a chair.
Sit-ups - Sub dead bugs (alternating arm and leg extension from a tabletop position) for the same rep count.
Reverse lunges - Sub split squats (back foot stationary) or step-ups onto a low platform.
Burpees - Sub no push up burpees or mountain climbers
🥑 RECIPE OF THE WEEK
A healthy, nutrient dense, minimally processed meal or snack.
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp sea salt, plus more to taste
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
4 large pasture-raised eggs
1 avocado, sliced
¼ cup pickled red onions (optional but recommended)
Fresh cilantro, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges
Hot sauce or salsa, to serve
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Toss the sweet potato cubes with 1 tbsp olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, and sea salt. Spread on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a single layer.
Roast for 22 to 25 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until the edges are caramelized and the centers are tender.
While the potatoes roast, warm the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Add the black beans and a splash of water. Simmer for 5 minutes, mashing about a third of the beans with the back of a spoon to thicken the mixture. Season with salt to taste.
Fry the eggs to your preferred doneness (we like them sunny-side up with a runny yolk).
Build the bowls: a base of roasted sweet potatoes, a generous scoop of smoky black beans, one fried egg, avocado slices, pickled onions, and a shower of cilantro.
Finish with a squeeze of lime and a few dashes of hot sauce. Eat immediately.
