The following is a re-air of my weekly newsletter. If you enjoy it, make sure to subscribe below!

I missed a week. 

I knew it would happen. 

The gross part is that I had last week's newsletter written and ready to go. 

Nevertheless, life moves on. In this case, a new week is here and I’ve got a two-fer...a take on the timeless question Personal Trainers get asked; “If you could do one movement for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

Rather than answer that question in black and white format, I always find myself thinking about how I would answer that question 5 years ago versus now. That thought process always takes me down the rabbit hole of what I care about in my training day, versus a previous time. 

So that’s what today’s newsletter is about...5 things I don’t care about (as much) any more and 5 things I care about (a lot more) today than in years past. 

5 Things I care about a lot more in today’s world… 

1. Rest intervals. 5 years ago it was all about how much work I could do, because work capacity. That’s totally cool, but I’ve really come to appreciate strength gains in my training and to improve strength, you need to be recovered for the next effort. 

2. The amount of protein I eat in one day. This is a weird one because I used to eat a ton of protein, like almost 2x as many grams as I weigh. Now, I’m right around that .8-1.2 grams of protein per pound. It’s super important, but eating what I need versus eating what I want has made me physically feel better. 

3. How sore I am the next day. Soreness isn’t a very good indicator of progress in the gym, but back in the day I wanted to be wrecked. Nowadays, I hate being sore because I can’t keep up with a high energy 2.5 year old as well. Not to mention, if I’m sore, I am less inclined to train hard the next day.

4. The environment I train in. I’ve been training consistently for 12 years. Many find it hard to believe, but I’m not jazzed up to train most days. Those who say you should be excited to hit the gym every day are full of shit- and probably don’t work 50 hour weeks and have kids running around at home. For me, if the environment is getting after it, I’m more inclined to want to get some good work done. 

5. The duration of my workout. Stemming from the point above, I want my training sessions to be about 45 minutes. Get in, get it done, get on with life. 10 years ago, 21 year old Casey wanted to spend 2 hours in the gym. 31 year old Casey wants to get out of the gym and do only what I need to do. 

In a similar fashion, here are 5 things that I care a lot less about nowadays…

1. Maximum weight. I’ve never been much of a ‘how much can I do’ guy, and in today’s training I care more about my 10 rep max than 1 rep max. I like the volume, and I like the safety behind it. 

2. My heart rate. I think heart rate is a great variable when training, and it’s something I track. However, I’m not looking to keep my heart rate at a certain level as much as I previously did- see point number 1 on the list above.

3. The time of day I train in. For sure I’d prefer to get it done in the morning before life really has a chance to set in, but I care a lot more about just plain getting it in. Consistency wins.

4. Supplements. Man, oh man. I used to crush supplements back in the day. Now I just focus on eating good meals in the day and the supplements aren’t needed. My wallet appreciates it a lot more.

5. Mainstream diets. I’ve tried everything. Weight watchers, intermittent fasting, low carb, low fat, high fat, etc. I’ve given up on dieting and just focus on good habits surrounding nutrition and playing the long game. This point was almost called ‘giving up on instant satisfaction’, really, the best things in life are worth working at, your nutrition and fitness fall into that category. 

Squad, again, apologies for missing last week. I’m hoping this double duty newsletter covers my ass a little bit, but I’m dialed in and ready to finish out the back half of 2021 with you all. 

Until next time. Crush this week. 

-Casey