Different shades of blue, for another day of video-calls in the office. Could have done everything at home, but more efficient and with the opportunity to enjoy great coffee! Plus at home, if have my own room, at the office I have to share it with 4-6 people, who are also on the phone most of the time.
Cotton suit still from Massimo Dutti, shirt also, shoes from Giorgio1958, really love their stuff. Tie from Bugatti, inherited it from my dad, who passed away roughly a year ago.
Outfit for today. Usually I don‘t wear jeans to the office, but had to bike there in the morning and streets were still a little wet from the rain. To balance the jeans I added the grey tie, that I inherited from my dad. Navy blazer, most versatile piece in any men‘s wardrobe and loafers / driving shoes to go with the outfit..
Blue/White outfit for a rainy Monday at the office, wondering on which crossroad I took a wrong turn, to not end up a firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian or at least part of the avengers..
All things from Massimo Dutti, except the sneakers. Got those pieces in 2021 in summer sale, Blazer was 99€, Chino was 20ish and shirt was also below 20€.
Great quality for those prices, but wouldn’t by it without discount.
Enjoy you day!
Who wants to look great, not only wearing a suit but also when hitting the beach.
It‘s easy to dig yourself into a never ending rabbithole, when researching diet and nutrition. There are more diets and successful reviews of those, than anybody ever could count and even nutrition-styles are never ending, circling around with ever changing popularities and oftentimes contradicting dogmas.
So as with clothes and exercise, simple always trumps complexity and moderation might be the right approach in the long run on any given day. Don‘t go for extremes, don’t take what sounds too good to be true for a real shortcut, just apply common sense and be consistent with it.
After all, human are omnivores, no buzzwords will ever change that.
Start with a balanced diet, eating a bit of everything, just skip heavily processed foods and sweets.
I really like the French approach, of eating till you are around 80% full.
As mentioned above, you should eat a very balanced diet, that fits your local customs and habits, don’t try to copy a Mediterranean diet, if you are Japanese and vice versa. Local food might be the right for you, genetically speaking. But don‘t condemn adding olive oil or coconut milk either. Please, just try not being dogmatic about anything.
So what’s a balanced diet, as you might be aware of, there are mainly 4 different macronutrients, where your calories can come from. Protein, from meat, fish and every other food category derived from livestock, like cheese, milk, cottage cheese, skyr and so on. Then there are carbohydrates, from vegetables, rice potatoes, pasta, fruit and every other sugary treat you can think of. Fats, which are really good for you by the way, again meets and fish, butter, nuts and so on. Lastly there fourth and most important macro nutrient, alcohol, preferably consume through red wine, added to each meal, after working hours, or even before, if tolerated in your workplace of course. This is the only one positively affecting your soul and outlook on your day to day life. Hope you got that I‘m joking, but coming back to that dogmatic comments before, a glass of wine from time to time won’t hurt, and might be beneficial for longevity.
Try to have a even distribution of macronutrients in every meal and throughout the day, maybe slightly in favor of protein, won‘t hurt, if you want to build some muscle, or carbohydrates, since you won’t overeat as easily and portion sizes can be bigger compared with fat (4kcal vs 9kcal per gram). I would suggest, your calories should come from 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat, or the other way round for protein & carbs.
Try to have a protein source with every meal, add some kind of carbohydrates and some vegetables or salat & fat will mostly take care of itself. Eat two to three times a day, with balanced portion sizes, if you are older, you might want to aim for 2 and skip either supper or breakfast, just to have less calorie intake in total and maybe benefit a bit from the addition to your natural fasting window. If you don‘t trust the French 80% rule or really want to build muscle, use some kind of tracking app for a while, just to get a feeling of how many calories you are eating. After several weeks you should be able to eyeball the portion sizes and still make progress.
If you are a parent like me, working a demanding full time job, logging your food can push you right over the cliff of burnout.
To find out how much you should be eating, there are great calculators on the interwebs, go for the easiest ones, the results will be good enough.
I really like this one.
We already discussed, why strength training is paramount, for dressing well. Now let‘s have a look how to do it as cost and time efficient as possible. If you are as busy as most people are in our era, you can save a lot of time and money building your own gym. No monthly fees, no commute to a gym, no waiting in line after work, to use one of the two squat racks that are available to 100 eager trainees.
To start a new habit, in this case lifting consistently, you have to minimize resistance. Make it as easy as possible to get going, by having your personal gym in your own place. You don’t need a lot of space, cellar, balcony, spare room, terrace everything works, if you want to.
Cheapest way to get going and get the most out of your first investment, buy/ make yourself a pull-up and a dip bar. You can go a long way with pull-ups, dips and air squats before you need to add any weight.
Next up would be a sturdy Olympic barbell, even if you don’t want to learn the Olympic lifts, the spin is pretty nice for power cleans, and those will give you a lot in reward, easy to learn, easy to progress, pretty low risk & huge potential for overall body mass & speed. if you have very limited space, you can go with a 1.5m or 1.8m long bar as well, search for one that can be loaded for ~250kg that will be sufficient for a long time.
Get some bumper plates next, 50mm bore with a metal socket to fit the Olympic bar. The rubber coating will keep training more quiet & your neighbors will stay your friends, even after picking of lifting as your new favorite pastime. Get enough weights to do challenging deadlifts and rows, get smaller plates for curls and extensions as well (5kg or sth.) but try to get those in the same diameter as the heavier ones, this makes changing and adding weights easier. Don‘t worry about the money you spend on weights to much, those are better than gold or silver. Price only goes up over time, so when you decide to sell your equipment, you will make some profit and in the meantime they will support you on your way to become your best self.
After having a bar and weights you can already do most of the stuff that will get you jacked, joked or toned or whatever you want. You can substitute benchpresses for floorpresses like the Oldtimers, you can do front or zercher squats instead of back squats.
If you want more variety in your training and make things easier and safer, if you are pushing yourself with maximum weights, I suggest you look into getting a power-rack or squat stands and a bench next. Lock for sturdy stuff, don‘t be so cheap, that you hurt yourself because you saved some 20€!
With that you can workout for years to come and make progress forever.
If you are stalled after reaching an intermediate level, you might want to add fractural plates, to keep progressing in weight. 0.25kg 0.5kg and so one, make small additions in weight possible when the next 5 or 10kg jump just is not manageable.
If having a barbell gets boring start looking into kettlebells and dumbbells or even rubber bands. Depending on space available of course. But a barbell and some plates might be all you need. Simple always trumps complicated and keep in mind consistency is key here, enjoy the way to your dream physique, enjoy clothes starting to fit better, enjoy the additional strength in your day to day life, be it when helping a friend move, or throwing you kids around in the pool. Being physically capable is the one capability improving all the others, and all other aspects of your life, if you are in it till the end.
And with another motivational picture of Arthur Saxon, enjoy your lifting!
Sebastian Strobl 