Behaviors

Hard exercise is described as fundamental for affect management and maintaining overall body-brain function; examples and variants mentioned include picking up heavy things, running around, going to the gym, and a four-day cycle of push, pull, legs, zone 2, and yoga done across the week.

Protocol to break technological addiction: keep the first hour after waking, the last hour before sleep, and meal times device-free; at meals, eat with other people without devices to improve relationships and change your relationship to technology.

Approach lifting as an ongoing practice rather than merely working out; remain a student of the process.

Use prayer as a regular spiritual practice; examples given include saying prayers, being deep in prayer, praying the rosary over the course of the day, and praying the divine office with your spouse, including by FaceTime or phone when apart.

Allow some hunger before dinner so the meal is more rewarding.

Check sleep once a week against a subjective quick line in your notebook as a guard against over-quantification.

Train legs regularly, as leg workouts are emphasized for large muscle groups, hormone balance, and muscle protein synthesis. The recommendation notes doing leg day every fourth day, even if it is uncomfortable.

Use a standard front plank for muscular endurance; target is 60 seconds.

Use 220 minus age as a rough predicted maximum heart rate reference during anaerobic-capacity testing.

During a squat, the knee should be able to travel as far over the toes as possible while maintaining good position and keeping the feet flat.

Stand on a force plate and perform as many vertical jumps as fast and as high as possible for 60 seconds to assess anaerobic capacity in the lab.

Use a one-mile submaximal walk test if you cannot or do not want to run hard for 12 minutes; record time and end heart rate to estimate VO2 max, optionally using an online calculator.

Use a body composition test to assess whether you have sufficient muscle mass for health.

Score movement quality as 0 for very high acute risk, 1 for minor flaw requiring caution with load and volume, and 3 for acceptable to proceed.

Ensure joints move through a general full range of motion during assessment.

Organize the full testing battery across three days; two days is technically possible but three is preferred.

Use gas exchange testing to assess metabolic flexibility via respiratory exchange ratio.

Check alanine aminotransferase as a liver marker that can signify inflammation and fatty liver risk.

Use waist circumference measurement and waist-to-height ratio as early screens for ectopic/visceral fat and metabolic dysregulation.

Use fasting insulin as an inexpensive early marker of metabolic dysregulation and future diabetes risk.

Use fasting blood glucose and fasting insulin, multiply them and divide by a constant; if the result is greater than 2, that indicates insulin resistance.

Use microdosing as a personalization strategy, especially after reaching weight-loss goals, to reduce nausea, lower cost, and help maintain weight loss. Rather than stopping abruptly, transition to a lower maintenance dose or another bridging plan because stopping tends to lead to regain and worsening body composition.

Aim for no more than 3 bowel movements per day and no longer than 3 days without a bowel movement. A healthy pattern is one formed bowel movement, or a couple; avoid tiny pebble-like stools.

Take swallowing problems seriously and get evaluated early, especially if food goes up the nose or there is aspiration risk. Work with a speech pathologist to improve swallowing; therapy can include positional strategies such as turning the head a certain way while swallowing and biofeedback-based swallow training.

High-intensity interval training is recommended for mobilizing visceral fat via stress-responsive receptors on visceral fat.

Include both pushing and pulling movement patterns in strength/power programming.

Include rotational movement training; it is described as important for overall health, wellness, and longevity.

On the strength side, stay under control and use enough load to stimulate strength while avoiding acute injury.

A high-bar squat with a more vertical torso and knees further over toes generally emphasizes the knee joint and quads more.

If short on time and training for hypertrophy, lower the load, shorten rest intervals, and push toward the burn so you can still accumulate total volume.