A Day in the Life of Get-Fit Guy
Get-Fit Guy walks you through a typical day in his life, showing you how he incorporates fitness and health lessons from his show into a busy day of work and family. (Surprise: He doesn’t spend hours at the gym!)
Ben Greenfield
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A Day in the Life of Get-Fit Guy
For nearly 4 years, I’ve been churning out Quick and Dirty Tips to help you burn fat, build muscle, and enhance your athletic performance. You can find the full archive of my episodes at quickanddirtytips.com/get-fit-guy. I’ve also written more than 200 jam-packed newsletters full of cutting-edge fitness advice based on the latest scientific research..
But sometimes it can be hard to distill all this fitness information into a practical day of living that still allows you to work, have a social life, take care of a family, and enjoy other hobbies – all while burning fat and building muscle!
So in this special episode, I’m going to walk you through a day of my life so that you can see how I practically incorporate the fitness tips I’ve shared with you over the years into my busy everyday life:
Wake Up
In the episode How Sleep Makes You Fit, you learned the importance of sleep when it comes to appetite and weight control. I generally sleep an average of about 8 hours each night, and I make sure to prioritize my sleep by sleeping in a completely dark room – even going so far as to use earplugs and a sleep mask! Sometime between 6am and 7am, I wake and embark upon my daily routine.
Morning Routine
Multiple studies have shown the importance of a daily morning routine in simplifying your life, reducing stress, and making you more productive the rest of the day. So I personally begin each day by measuring my heart rate and quietly journaling with something called a 5-Minute Journal. Then I get out of bed and do about 10 minutes of yoga, followed by a nice, fat-burning cold shower!
I don’t do any hard workouts like weight training or cardio intervals in the morning. Instead, I save them for later in the day, when I know that the human body’s temperature, reaction time, and capability for cardiovascular and muscle intensity is optimal.
Breakfast
After yoga and my cold shower, I have nearly the same thing for breakfast every morning – a spinach or kale smoothie with half an avocado, about 4 ounces of coconut milk, cinnamon, sea salt, a handful of almonds, a few brazil nuts, a chunk of dark chocolate, and a few tablespoons of whey protein powder.
Studies have shown that it’s important to eat the same general stable of foods while you’re trying to burn fat, so I’m fine with eating the same thing for breakfast every day! Finally, based on the concept of intermittent fasting being useful for longevity and fat loss, I usually wait to eat breakfast until about 9am or 10am.
As far as supplements are concerned, I typically take fish oil, creatinine, and colostrum with breakfast.
Work
After breakfast and some family time with my wife and twin boys, I work for several hours until lunchtime, usually while sipping on tea, kombucha, or soda water.
While working at my computer, I use a standing workstation, wear compression socks, and take frequent breaks to “grease the groove,” primarily with pull-ups and jumping jacks.
For every 25 minutes I spend writing articles, working on books, recording podcasts, or talking to my clients on the phone or via email, I stop for 5 minutes to exercise, move, or simply go outside and get some fresh air. This is called the Pomodoro Technique and is extremely useful for increasing productivity and keeping your body physically active all day long.
Lunch
At about 1pm or 2pm I eat lunch – which is typically also the same thing every day – a huge salad!
Isimply take a pile of dark leafy greens and add lots of healthy fats, like olive oil, fish, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and avocado – then season to taste with healthy, anti-inflammatory herbs like turmeric, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and sea salt. Then it’s back to more work, with the exception that if I have had less than 8 hours of sleep the night before, I take a quick nap.
Exercise
Sometime between 4pm and 6pm, I finish work, spend time with my family, and of course, also do my exercise routine.
If I’m hungry, I have a pre-workout snack – which lately has been a little bit of coconut milk mixed with some protein powder and a touch of chocolate.
A typical workout for me consists of a warm-up on my bicycle with a few dynamic stretches thrown in, then a full body weight training routine mixed with cardiovascular intervals, which is the best way to simultaneously build muscle and burn fat.
For example, if I’m at my home gym, I’ll put on a 40-50 pounds weighted vest (a good fat burning, muscle building tool), then do 10 push-ups, 10 dumbbell squats, 10 dumbbell overhead presses, 10 pull-ups, and finally finish with a cardiovascular burst of 25 medicine ball slams. Then I’ll rest one minute, and repeat for 4-5 rounds.
And I always finish with some deep diaphragmatic breathing to unwind and destress.
Dinner
In the evening, after my workout and another cold shower to cool down my core temperature, my body is very insulin sensitive and much more likely to take high amounts of calories, nutrients, and carbohydrates to restore energy levels and to repair muscles. So I sit down with my family and generally have a large dinner, packed with protein like organic beef or wild-caught fish, roasted vegetables or another salad, and the majority of my carbohydrates for the day from a natural, non-processed carbohydrate like white rice, quinoa, sweet potato, yam, beets, carrots, cauliflowers, etc.
And yes, I have a moderately-sized glass of red wine most nights with dinner!
Evening
Finally, after a bit more family time and some guitar practice or an occasional game of tennis, I put the kids to bed, then hit the sack around 9:30pm or 10:30pm.
I make sure to avoid common sleep disruptors like heavy nighttime snacking, television, smartphones, and ereaders. Usually, I finish the day with a big focus on relaxation, lying in bed quietly with more journaling, a little bit of reading, and some snuggling with my wife. Remember that when it comes to your health and fitness, relaxation and destressing are just as important as exercise!
And that’s it!
You now know many of the ways that I practically incorporate the tips that you often read about on the website and hear in this podcast into my everyday life.
Of course, I expect you’ll have questions and comments, so consider this your open invitation: If there’s anything you’d like me to address about a day in the life of Get-Fit Guy, then leave your thoughts in the Comments section below or join the discussion over at Facebook.com/GetFitGuy.
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.