I’ve fallen into a rabbit hole of analyzing Japanese culture. By no means am I an expert, but even scratching the surface of some of their customs has been incredibly enlightening compared to our western beliefs and upbringings. One concept in particular felt like it coincided beautifully with our Pridefit ethos. The concept is called “yūgen.”

Extrapolating yūgen to apply more directly to humans is simple.

It’s been proven time and time again that dieting just doesn’t work. Sure, we can drop a few pounds in the short term, but long-term weight loss relies on sustainable habit change, not an acute, restrictive diet.

Here are 4 ways that you can work to improve your nutrition habits without restriction. They may seem small on their own, but they pack a mighty punch over time.

I get so pissed when people are on their phones between sets at the gym.

And yes, I do it too. I’m mad at myself, not just everyone else.

Multitasking is baked into my life. I know it’s “bad,” but if I didn’t listen to a podcast while walking my dog Meryl, or watch a show while cooking dinner, I may not get to do those things at all.

The problem with multitasking isn’t just doing two things at once—it’s the constant switching. It wrecks focus and slows us down. Getting into a flow state is much more productive than juggling emails, podcasts, writing, and laundry all at once.

But let’s go back to the gym, because that frustration deserves a deeper look...

“Thai people don’t eat a lot of noodles.”

During my food tours of Chiang Mai and Bangkok, I heard this over and over again. The Pad Thai dish that is so popular in the states and “representative” of Thai culture, isn’t a dish commonly eaten by Thai people. Wild.

Instead, I was told that Thai people eat rice at every meal. A rice shortage and a smart pivot from the Thai government to increase tourism in the 1930’s is what led to the creation of Pad Thai, but I can’t talk any more about that before I get hungry.

Thai people eat rice at almost every meal.

Rice.

A carb (gasp!)....

You know how we take mental health days from school and work?

We need those from fitness too. 

If you were a professional athlete like Simone Biles or Coco Gauff, your body would need a few days a week to physically recover. They are training so incredibly hard to be the best athletes in the world, and with that kind of intensity comes immense need for recovery that can take days. 

For us...

The ice baths have got to go.

I don’t mean this literally—there are plenty of people who will still benefit from cold water submersion despite current research showing that it can have the opposite recovery effect than we originally thought.

Yes, you read that right. We now know that icing after a tough workout or an acute injury actually slows down the recovery process by restricting blood flow from the areas of your body that need to repair and regrow.

That’s not my point.

CEO’s, athletes, and biohackers have started using ice baths for another purpose: resetting dopamine and effectively boosting motivation.

The research is quite compelling, really. When we deliberately put ourselves in an uncomfortable or painful situation, there’s an effect on dopamine production that is pretty astounding. In the modern age where social media and cell phones are desensitizing us to any of these dopamine releases—this really matters.

If you’re feeling unmotivated to get your work done, go to the gym, or even clean up around the house, you may have a dopamine problem. You’re getting so much “easy dopamine” from scrolling on Instagram or looking at your comments on TikTok or binge watching Netflix that there’s virtually nothing in the world that can make you feel quite as good—that will produce that much dopamine.

The ice bath - as the biohackers say - is meant to be the foil to our dopamine addiction.

Here's the thing: I absolutely despise training zone 2. Let’s back up a second for context. 

When exercising, our heart rate is within one of five “zones.” 

Zone 1: 50-60% of max HR (heart rate), should feel comfortable and light. Great for warm-ups and cooldowns.
Zone 2: 60-70% of max HR, light and sustainable. You should be able to maintain conversation throughout.
Zone 3: 70-80% of max HR, noticeably exerting, but still sustainable. It’s challenging to maintain conversation.
Zone 4: 80-90% of max HR, generally used for shorter efforts. Unable to converse more than a few words.
Zone 5: 90-100% of max HR, all-out effort. Training at your absolute limit.

The traditional advice when training for any endurance event (over 30 minutes) would be to have 80% of your training in zone 2, with the research showing that even though your race may be in zones 3, 4, or 5, the zone 2 training is gentle enough on your aerobic system while still increasing your capacity in the upper zones. 

My mistake is...

I’ve gone through so many different iterations of a morning routine trying to make it as efficient and effective as possible. 

What I’ve learned over the years is that my morning routine can’t be about packing as much in as possible or waking up at 5am because after a few days, I just stop doing it completely. The effort level is too high and building consistency is too hard. 

Instead, I’ve found that I need to prioritize morning habits that balance two factors in equal measure:

1️⃣  They have high return on investment (ROI).
2️⃣  They are easy enough to do long term. 

Here are my 5 morning routine habits that actually work AND are easy enough to be sustainable...