👋 Hey.
Welcome to issue #19 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter. Thanks for being here!
Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (2.5 min read):
🏋 How lifting heavy things helps our brain
I can’t think of many good reasons against getting stronger.
Yes, we can move heavy things. But that's the tip of the iceberg.
Physical strength is the foundation of other physical qualities – power, speed, endurance, agility, balance…
When we’re older, strength can give us quality of life – protect us from falls, do day-to-day stuff (perform well when we’re 90, 100)…
Strength can be the gateway to building other types of strength – mental, emotional…
And, less known, it’s incredible for our brain.
See, when we do strength training, our muscles contract.
That contraction floods our body with these hormones called Myokines (there’s 100+ different types of them).
Specific Myokines benefit our immunity, metabolism, muscle growth and more.
But what’s cool is that Myokines also cross the blood-brain barrier. They surge into different parts of the brain, improving our:
- 🧩 Problem-solving
- 🤔 Decision making
- 🦠 Oxidative stress levels (oxidative stress is caused by inflammation, Myokine anti-inflammatory effects reduce it)
- 🧠 Memory consolidation (research even suggests it can help prevent neurological diseases like Alzheimer's!)
Myokines (by definition) only release when a muscle contracts.
So the only way to get the benefits is through movement. Particularly, resistance training.
Neurophysiologist Louisa Nicola says we have to lift weights at or above 70% of our 1 rep max (aka pretty heavy) to really get the benefits.
Wanna get super strong in 2023? But need some guidance? I may have something for you. Reply to this email and let me know.
✌️
📱 Instagram post: Power of cold exposure
"Cold is a stressor, so if you are able to get into the cold and control your body's response to it, you will be able to control stress." – Wim Hoff
One of the many benefits of getting in the cold.
For a deeper dive into all the benefits (+ an easy way to get them), check out my previous post: cold exposure for performance.
🩸 The self-service
I heard something a while back that stuck with me:
If you get your car serviced more than you get your bloodwork checked, you’ve got your priorities wrong.
So last month, I decided to take that advice. Then sent the results to Inside Tracker – a service that:
- 🔍 Analyses your bloodwork
- 📝 Collects a heap of info from you about your lifestyle and health
And then gives a personalised, science-backed action plan to help get you operating better.
Based on my results it recommended specific supplements and foods to help improve my performance.
One test may not give us a whole heap of accurate info. It's just a snapshot at a specific point in time.
But making it a habit every so often will start to give us a good picture.
And what gets measured gets managed. So tracking this stuff gets us competitive to improve next time.
For me, a no-brainer investment for a few hundred dollars a year.
That's it!
- If you've got a mate who'd enjoy this, please pass it on
- Is there a specific topic you want to see in future issues?
- Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I'd love to hear about it.
Have a great weekend 
Matt
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