Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder .
Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder
JOE
HOLDER
Teaches Fitness
and Wellness Fundamentals
THE
THEPICTURE
PICTURE
OF
HEALTH
OF HEALTH
Joe Holder is shaking up the fitness industry with his
practical and holistic wellness philosophies
It’s hardly news that the health
and wellness industry is booming.
Worldwide, it’s now worth more
than $4.4 trillion, according to the
Global Wellness Institute. Even that
astronomical figure probably doesn’t
surprise you. After all, there are so
many different ways to be well: boutique fitness classes, diet trends,
mindfulness apps.
But if those are working, why do
we keep spending so much money?
And, more to the point, why are so
many of our indicators of general
wellness—diabetes, hypertension,
depression, anxiety—still trending
the wrong way? It stands to reason
that the ballooning wellness market
isn’t a reflection of how healthy we
feel. Rather, it’s a testament to how
desperate we are to feel better.
Enter Joe Holder: a three-time
marathoner, private fitness coach,
Nike Master Trainer, and GQ columnist. His approach to health and
wellness is both more basic and
more holistic than wild-hare cleanses and far-flung retreats. It is, pure
and simple, a physical education—
you know, what high school gym
class was supposed to give you. By
learning more about health—specifically fitness, nutrition, and mental
strategies in this class—Joe empowers you to better understand your
body so you can feel and live better
1
in all aspects of your life.
“Once you understand yourself,
you come to understand the wellness
practices necessary for a well-rounded
self outside of fitness,” Joe says. “And
once you’re more aware of your body,
it makes you more aware of everything else you’re doing.”
Through his Instagram account,
his work with Nike, and his sessions
as a private trainer, Joe’s program,
which he calls The Ocho System, has
reached hundreds of thousands (if
not millions) of users. All of them—
including Joe’s venerable roster of
private clients, which includes Bella
Hadid, Virgil Abloh, and Naomi
Campbell—have other wellness options. But they keep coming back to
Joe. Why? Because as they’ve
learned, and as you’ll learn, Joe’s
program doesn’t just focus on feeling
and looking better. It also aims to
help you be better.
The value of this is self-evident,
and it goes beyond dollars and cents.
Joe knows from experience. He was
introduced to health and wellness at
a young age. His father, a licensed
M.D., practiced a forward-looking,
integrative approach to health at a
clinic attached to the family’s home.
His mother preached the power of
nutrient-dense food, experimenting
with growing her own wheatgrass,
composting, and making her own
juices. “Growing up, I was always
fascinated that you could change the
human body if you just did certain
things,” Joe remembers. “And I was
always confused as to why people
weren’t doing it.”
He found out the hard way while
playing football at the University of
Pennsylvania. During his sophomore
year, Joe suffered an ankle injury and
was sidelined; the damage was physical, but he was also emotionally depleted. Joe says he was eating poorly,
depressed. These things, in turn, hindered his physical recovery. It gave
him new insight into the way mind,
body, and spirit hang together. And
he realized that in order to heal
physically and emotionally—and
stay that way—he needed to change
his lifestyle.
Wellness, for Joe, became a matter
of autonomy: keeping himself well
through a 360-degree health protocol—everything from his diet to his
mental resilience—allowed him the
freedom to flourish in the world. He
saw the power of focused and deliberate practice. “That’s when it
clicked,” he says. “I looked around
and realized people work on everything but themselves.”
So, after graduating, he zeroed in on
this concept of healthy living and how
it might benefit others. He used experience as the basis for his personal
Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder
This program is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, consult your
physician or other healthcare provider before starting any nutritional or exercise program.
wellness philosophy, The Ocho System: One Can Help Others (Others
Can Help One). In Joe’s eyes, the ideology is simple: We’re all connected.
What each of us does affects another. But in order to give to one another, we need to have dominion over
our physical bodies.
Because your physical fitness—
how you feel—bleeds into every other part of your life. This doesn’t
mean you need to run a marathon,
flip a monster-truck tire, or have a
six-pack. It’s about finding joy in
movement, feeling good when you
wake up in the morning, eating and
exercising in a way that allows you to
live functionally in the world. So you
can run to catch the bus or take the
stairs to your fifth-floor walk-up. So
when the world goes sideways,
you’re equipped to handle the stress.
So you have the energy to invest in
your career, your relationships, your
community. In the simplest terms,
Joe wants you to feel good in order to
do good. (Trust: The looking-good
part will follow, too.)
“I don’t want people to have wellness strategies just to simply do
more wellness,” he says. “I want people to have freedom.”
That all sounds great, but what if
physical fitness feels intimidating to
you? What if working out isn’t necessarily “your thing”? Fear not. Joe’s approach is designed to help anybody
who’s “looking to start their health
journey, wherever they are.” It’s not
about having the “right” body, diet, or
workout regimen; it’s about finding
the routine that gives you a fuller life.
Unlike other trainers, Joe believes
that fitness shouldn’t be the most important thing in your life. “Living—
and enjoying it—is the most important thing in your life,” he says.
In the age of infinite wellness options, The Ocho System is an unqualified success. But there’s still
work to be done. Joe believes that
wellness can’t be a luxury—we can’t
be well until everyone is well. That
starts here, in this class, by taking
control of your well-being so that
you can fight for the well-being of
your friends, family, and community.
Joe’s the master, but he hopes you’ll
be the trainer, for yourself and for
others. Let’s get started.
2
3
THE
SURPRISING
THE SURPRISING
HISTORY
HISTORY
OF
OFSELF-CARE
SELF-CARE
The roots of the movement go way beyond bubble baths
You can’t get very far into the world
of wellness without coming across
the term “self-care,” the catch-all
phrase for any practice or activity
that helps someone feel better. Taking a hot bath, curling up with a
book, or doing restorative yoga poses
on a cold, gray day? That’s self-care.
De-puffing your face with a pricey
jade roller? Self-care. Bingeing shows
on Netflix while eating pints of ice
cream after a breakup? Sure, why
not, #selfcare. The term applies to
everything and nothing.
It’s a far cry from Socrates’s fascination with a well-lived life. (We must
know and take care of ourselves, the
ancient philosopher thought, in order
to aspire to a more virtuous life.) And
it’s even further from the term’s modern emergence in the 20th century. In
her essay “A History of Self-Care,”
culture writer Aisha Harris explains
how the expression was, essentially,
medical jargon—used by doctors to
describe productive habits or practices for patients suffering from mental
health issues. Later on, according to
Harris, “self-care” was prescribed as
a way to combat the effects of traumatic stress experienced by social
workers, first responders, and caregivers—people whose jobs were
emotionally taxing and who would
benefit, the thinking went, from a
recharge. In its most nascent form,
it was intended as a form of physical
and mental rejuvenation.
During the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s,
this idea morphed into a much more
ardently political (and radical) idea.
Building on the existing notion of
necessary restoration, self-care became a cornerstone of activism and
the fight for equality. As the Civil
Rights and Women’s Liberation
movements gained momentum, they
laid bare the oppressions that relegated people of color and women to
the margins of society: lack of access
to education, health care, jobs, and
adequate housing, among other systemic exclusions.
Disenfranchisement caused physical, emotional, and mental harm. In
this context, taking care of oneself became an act of revolution. The Black
Panther Party, for example, was heavily involved in wellness, folding health
activism into its agenda; the group famously established free health clinics
and community breakfast programs
to feed children. Self-care was a way
for marginalized communities to address health in a society that actively
oppressed Black people’s basic needs.
It was a vehicle for reclaiming agency
that was stolen (or never offered in
the first place). For some, it became
a means of survival. As the feminist
poet Audre Lorde wrote in 1988: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence,
it is self-preservation, and that is an
act of political warfare.”
Which is to say, the fraughtness of
our current self-care landscape is a
recent phenomena. In many ways,
the practice now serves to highlight
the same inequities it was meant to
subvert; indulgence is a relative concept, and the opportunity to conflate
“want” with “need” isn’t given to everybody. All of this has been warped
by the normalization of pseudoscience, personal and corporate branding, and the performative nature of
social media.
It’s difficult to rectify the problem
because, paradoxically, there’s no
right way to do self-care, and establishing definitions might alienate
those who are hurting the most. (After all, definitions are created by
those with the power to do so.) But
knowing the history of self-care can
ensure that your version remains
grounded in its communal roots.
Which is where self-care converges with The Ocho System. Both are
meant to provide autonomy to people so that they can, in turn, find
ways to share that autonomy with
others who don’t have it. “The ultimate wellness is making your community better,” says Joe. Taking care
of ourselves can enable us to take
care of others, too. And what could
be better self-care than that?
4
BOOKS
OOKS BO
BOOKS
OOKS BO
BOOKS
WHAT’S ON JOE’S
BOOKSHELF?
Resources for fueling your body and your mind
Going to Pieces Without
Falling Apart
BY MARK EPSTEIN
One of New York’s leading privatepractice psychiatrists challenges our
common beliefs about ego satisfaction
and material consumption. Through his
own experiences, and those of his patients, he offers “a Buddhist perspective
on wholeness within the framework
of a Western understanding of self.”
The War of Art
mind . mind . mind . mind
BY STEVEN PRESSFIELD
Pressfield attempted (and failed) on
three occasions to write a novel before
penning his hit sports fiction book The
Legend of Bagger Vance. He breaks
down the self-sabotages—fear, doubt,
procrastination, and perfectionism, collectively called the Resistance—that
prevent us from doing our work and,
moreover, succeeding.
mind . mind .
5
. mind . mind . mind . mind
mind . mind
S BOOKS
OOKS
S BOOKS
OOKS
S BOOKS
mind . mind .
body . body .
Basing his studies on thousands of people, Csikszentmihalyi argues that we’re happiest when we challenge ourselves with tasks that demand skill and commitment—and
are pursued for our own pleasure. (Think: playing piano.)
These activities beget complete engagement and, in turn,
effortless concentration and enjoyment—a psychological
state that the author calls flow.
mind . mind . mind . mind
Finding Flow
BY MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
body . body . body . body
Starting Strength
BY MARK RIPPETOE
The go-to modern text for basic
strength training, written by the longtime
competitive powerlifter and athletic
coach. Focusing on barbells, the book
takes a simple and practical approach
that focuses on accessibility. Young and
old, male and female, newbies and veterans—the info here is for everybody.
PreHab Exercise Book for
Runners
BY MICHAEL ROSENGART
body . body . body . body .
Prehabilitation is exactly as it sounds: the
deliberate practice of training exercises
that counter repetitive stressors to improve mobility, restoring “biomechanical
integrity.” Rosengart’s expertise is
self-evident: He used this PreHab program to bounce back after breaking his
leg and rupturing his Achilles (twice).
6
body . body
HONING YOUR
YOUR
HONING
BIOMOTOR SKILLS
SKILLS
BIOMOTOR
Joe talks about why you should group your workouts by theme
(instead of trying to do the “right” moves)
Here’s a question I get often: What exercises should I be doing? Or: What are
the “right” moves for a workout? I understand the question, and I could
certainly give you some basic moves
that are widely useful no matter your
fitness goals (like, say, the push-up).
Ultimately, though, prescribing you a
set of moves is limiting.
I want to help you create a framework for implementation rather than
just telling you what moves to implement. Why? Because then you can experiment, figure out what works for
you and your goals, and maybe even
discover some moves you otherwise
might not have tried. So, instead of
thinking in terms of what moves to
do, I like to think in terms of workout
“themes.” Even though moves aren’t
universally applicable—what you use
will depend on your goals, skills, and
limitations—everyone needs to focus
on the same relative themes for
health. Those are the five biomotor
attributes: strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, and coordination.
These biomotor abilities are the
basis of any athlete’s skills, and you
can combine them to create “hybrid”
attributes. For instance, strength
plus flexibility plus coordination creates mobility. Speed plus coordination results in agility. Depending on
their sport, athletes will implement a
training program that allows them to
focus on the biomotor attributes
they most need to improve.
7
You might be thinking: “How does
this apply to me? I don’t play a
sport.” Well, you’re still an athlete.
It’s just that your sport is life. How
you want to live will determine what
themes you’ll focus on and, in turn,
what moves you do. It always comes
back to autonomy: Knowing these
themes allows you to design a program that helps you flourish instead
of doing a workout because you’ve
been told it’s “the best” one to do.
Even if you’re an active person but
you didn’t know about these themes,
chances are you’ve been working on
them anyway. If you’re a runner,
you’ve been hitting endurance and coordination. If you do yoga, that’s flexibility, coordination, and a touch of
strength. Lifting weights, depending
on how you do it, is a combination of
strength, endurance, and coordination.
Regardless of the workout, it involves
biomotor skills. What changes is
which skills are emphasized and in
what amounts. When you throw out
the name of the exercises you’re doing,
you realize that all moves are composed of these different themes. And
now that you know these themes, you
can figure out which workouts are best
for your goals.
Want to get stronger? Lift weights,
or do super-controlled body-weight
training (where you’re maximizing
your muscles’ time under tension).
Want to focus on speed? Go outside
and sprint, or do intervals. Is endur-
ance more your thing? You can run,
row, or even hit a stationary bike.
Trying to be more flexible? Create a
personal stretching protocol, or start
a yoga practice. From there, you can
focus on finding the best moves
within each category while also finding disciplines you enjoy. There
might be moves you didn’t even
know about that help you get better
at the activities you prefer—like yoga
or running—while also helping you
feel better in everyday life.
The point here is for you to understand the themes you want to work
instead of the “right” move or exercise. Long, steady pace runs are not
the “right” option if you’re someone
who primarily wants to work on
strength. Maxing out your bench
press is not the “right” move if you’re
someone who wants to work on endurance. If you don’t zoom out to
know what you want to improve
from a physiological perspective,
specific moves will do no good.
Lastly, it doesn’t always have to be
about performance or goals. Focus on
finding things you like or want to explore. Sustainable success is not always connected to goals—instead it’s
connected to how you feel while
you’re working out. I want you to find
the joy in movement. When you understand that there is more than one
way to reach your goals, a whole
world of exercise opens up. Have fun,
and have health.
8
HIIT
Mobility Training
Strength Training
9
WORKING
WORKING
OUT
OUT
WITH JOE
WITH
JOE
A four-week plan to get your
wellness journey rolling
Get
Moving
EXTRA EXERCISES
TO ADD TO YOUR
ARSENAL
MOBILITY
Remember, Joe wants you to
get used to moving your joints,
keeping your muscles limber,
and moving through ranges of
motion with proper control. The
activities below can help you
achieve that, whether you do
them on your own or with the
guidance of an app.
Yoga
Pilates
Stretching class
week 1
DAY 1
week 2
week 3
week 4
CONDITIONING
MOBILITY
STRENGTH
AGILITY
HIIT
(MasterClass)
MOBILITY
(MasterClass)
STRENGTH
(MasterClass)
HIIT
(MasterClass)
DAY 2
MOBILITY
(MasterClass)
STRENGTH
(MasterClass)
Exercise
Snack
Exercise
Snack
DAY 3
Exercise
Snack
Exercise
Snack
MOBILITY
(MasterClass)
HIIT
(MasterClass)
obility-focused strength
M
class
AGILITY
The activities you engage in here
should include lateral or multidimensional movements with a reactive component of sorts—a
sport might be your best bet, but
there’s plenty to choose from.
laying a sport (tennis,
P
soccer, basketball, etc.)
HIIT
Plyometrics
DAY 4
OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ENDURANCE
DAY 5
STRENGTH
(MasterClass)
MOBILITY
(MasterClass)
STRENGTH
(MasterClass)
MOBILITY
(MasterClass)
DAY 6
Endurance
workout
(see box, right)
Exercise
Snack
Any workout
of your choice
(see box, right
Agility
workout
(see box, right)
These exercises focus on your
cardiovascular system. Luckily,
most workouts focus on this, so
try some of the ideas below or
feel free to experiment and find
ones you enjoy.
unning, jogging,
R
walking
Jumping rope
DAY 7
OFF
Mobility
workout
(see box, right)
Circuit training
OFF
OFF
Spin class, elliptical, rower
10
SHORTAND
AND SWEET
SWEET
SHORT
Diving deeper into the idea of exercise snacks
11 can actually be just as effective (or
even more effective) at lowering blood
sugar—one of the biological markers
of your body’s health—than workouts
of longer duration. Translation: The
“snack” works.
It also solves a couple of problems. First, for the example that Joe
provides in the box on the right, you
don’t need a gym or any equipment;
you only need your body and a little
floor space. Second, these snacks are
conveniently sized to counteract any
sort of inconvenience. Overslept by
30 minutes and missed your hourlong yoga class? Well, you’ve still got
30 minutes. Got 15 minutes after
your 2 p.m. meeting? There’s a snack
for that. Joe has been known to get
in an exercise snack at night (to help
him get ready for bed), in a hotel after speaking at a conference all day,
and even in the airport.
The exercise snack is also a great
example of how Joe’s holistic philosophy goes beyond the physical and
how your wellness doesn’t stop when
the workout does. Let’s say you work
out hard for an hour or an hour and a
half in the morning. By the time you
get to work, you’re exhausted; you
might not be able to focus in meetings
or refuse the endless supply of M&Ms
in the kitchen. Conversely, the exercise snack can stress your physical
body without taxing you so much that
it cuts into other parts of your day.
Lastly, the snack can help you understand that we don’t have to take
working out so seriously. It doesn’t
have to be rigorously scheduled or
dressed in expensive athletic shoes.
Walking up the stairs in your building can be a little snack. So can chasing your kids around the playground.
The point is finding joy in your body,
which is made to move. As Joe says:
Make movement a movement.
strength snack .
Example
Strength
Snack
S
upported push-up
(10 reps)
P
lank to shoulder tap
(20 reps)
R
everse lunge to
knee drive (10 reps
both sides, 20 reps
total)
L
unge isometric
holds (20 seconds
both sides, 40 seconds total)
L
awn mower row
(15 reps both sides,
30 reps total)
R
epeat three times
through.
Download a few
of Joe’s favorite
exercise snack
videos on page 10.
strength snack . strength snack . strength snack
The scenario: You’ve got a brief window of time—say, 10 or 20 minutes—between meetings, appointments, picking up the kids. Should
you nap? Blast through emails?
Scroll mindlessly on your phone? All
fine options. But you could spend
that time moving your body instead.
Yes, less than 30 minutes, you actually can get a good exercise sesh in,
which research has shown can be
beneficial to your health: 15 minutes
of exercise done five days a week
meets the American Heart Association's recommendation of 75 minutes
per week of vigorous aerobic activity.
In our culture, we’ve come to believe that workouts only count if they
are lengthy or difficult. And sometimes they have to be; if you’re training for a marathon or a boxing
match, you’re going to need that
performance-level endurance. But
for those of us who are simply looking to bolster our overall health, we
don’t need to kill ourselves to see
benefits. Strengthening your cardiovascular system, building base-level
strength, reducing stress, and improving sleep are more achievable
than you think.
Thus, Joe is a big proponent of the
exercise “snack”—smaller workouts
that you can do in 10 to 20 minutes to
achieve true health benefits. A long,
intense workout isn’t always the best
option when you’re working on mobility or flexibility, or when your goal
is longevity rather than outright performance. Shorter bursts of exercise
12
Burn
Notice
A quick primer on HighIntensity Interval
Training, otherwise
known as HIIT
term, this can help lower your resting
pulse and blood pressure. It can also
improve lung capacity and insulin resistance and bolster overall cardiovascular health.
IT’S EFFICIENT. Many high-
intensity workouts naturally incorporate a warm-up and cool-down,
and they provide the recovery periods required to successfully build
muscle and lung capacity.
THE WORKOUTS ARE RELATIVELY
SHORT. A high-intensity training
HIIT stands for high-intensity
interval training. This type of training emphasizes short bursts of
high-intensity exercise interspersed
with short recovery periods. HIIT
training sessions are shorter and
more intense than moderate or
low-intensity exercises (jogging,
cycling, etc.), wherein you’re working out for an extended amount of
time with little to no variation in
intensity. HIIT sessions offer several
notable benefits:
program packs a full-body workout
into a short amount of time so that
physical activity doesn’t have to take
a back seat in your busy day.
IT RAPIDLY ELEVATES THE HEART
RATE. Intense exercises provide a
There are many ways to customize a
HIIT workout to fit your fitness level
and athletic goals. One of the most
great cardio workout. Over the long
13 IT REQUIRES MINIMAL EQUIPMENT.
Most HIIT exercisers use little to no
equipment in their high-intensity
workouts. They use bodyweight exercises for strength training and use
various running and jumping activities for aerobic activity.
How to Do a HIIT Workout
popular high-intensity workouts is
the 7-Minute Workout, an exercise
routine that combines an array of
aerobic and bodyweight exercises to
challenge your entire body in a short
amount of time. Perform each exercise for 30 seconds, followed by a
15-second recovery period. Here are
a few moves to get you started:
Jumping jacks
Static wall sit
P
ush-ups (or, if you want a greater
challenge, burpees)
C
runches or sit-ups
R
unning up steps (or just
stepping up onto a chair)
S
quats
T
riceps dips on a chair
P
lank
H
igh-step running in place
L
unges
P
ush-up and rotation
S
ide planks
M
ountain climbers
Try to maintain a rotation of cardio
and strength training in your HIIT
workouts. If you find the workout to
be too easy, increase the length of
each interval to 45 seconds or even
a full minute.
PEAK
PEAK
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
Familiarize yourself with supercompensation theory
In sports science, supercompensation theory asserts that an athlete
who pairs their training load with
the proper recovery time will not
only return to their performance
base-level but will develop the capacity for a higher level of performance. (This was first described by
Russian scientist Nikolai N. Yakovlev and is a foundational theory
within training.)
Within the standard training cycle, the period of supercompensation is when an athlete becomes capable of performing at a higher level
the next time they train. The biomotor skill you’re training—say,
strength vs. endurance—will affect
when exactly the supercompensation effect occurs, but your body is
improving constantly; the better
you can time periods of activity,
rest, and recovery, the more quickly
you can utilize these supercompensation moments.
Athletic training boils down to
how and when you apply stress to
your body (training stimulus) and
the degree of stress you apply to
your body (training load). Applying
the right amount of training stress
to your body then recovering over
the ideal time period results in supercompensation. To understand
the supercompensation process, it’s
essential to comprehend all four elements of the training cycle.
1. TRAINING LOAD. All athletes begin
a training program at their own
unique fitness level. A good training
program has hard training sessions,
but if your training load is too high,
your body will struggle to return to a
state of homeostasis (your fitness
baseline), and you will actually get
worse. On the other hand, if your
training load is too easy, your body
won’t adapt and grow stronger. This
will likely result in a plateau.
2. RECOVERY PERIOD. In order to
reach the supercompensation period
of the training cycle, it’s crucial to
completely recover from your training stimuli. If you begin your next
workout too quickly after a hard
training session, your body may fail
to supercompensate due to inadequate recovery. This can lead to fatigue and a chronic decline in your
performance level.
3. SUPERCOMPENSATION. A suit-
able training load and recovery period provide the conditions necessary
for your body to enter the supercompensation window. In the supercompensation window, your body responds to prior training stimuli by
growing stronger in order to handle
future stress. When your body is in
the supercompensation phase, you
may start to feel stronger, faster,
more agile, etc. Your baseline perfor-
mance level increases due to technical as well as physical improvements.
Supercompensation lasts for up to a
week before your body moves on to
the next phase of the training cycle.
Common signs of supercompensation include an increase in athletic
performance, a decrease in your resting and training heart rate, and an increase in energy.
4. DETRAINING. The detraining
phase—when you start to exit the
supercompensation phase—is your
body’s natural response to the supercompensation effect. However, you
don’t want this to become a component of “reversibility,” or what happens when you rest for too long and
reduce (or even cancel out) all the
benefits you’ve seen from the effort
you’ve put in. So rest if needed but
not for too long.
In a good training program,
supercompensation serves as a
checkpoint in your training cycle
that you can aim to hit as you progress. It’s also a time when you can
push yourself harder, which in turn
allows you to utilize the benefits
of improved fitness in order to increase your overall health after the
supercompensation effect eventually wanes. Just remember: Your body
won’t supercompensate after every
training session.
14
MYTH M
USTER B
MYTH M
USTER B
MYTH M
MYTH BUSTER
When it comes to health and wellness, everyone’s an armchair expert. We’re inundated by shills
claiming they’ve found the most effective diet, or the best workout, or the one trick to finally getting a
good night’s sleep (if you need help in that last area, consider taking Matthew Walker's MasterClass on
the science of sleep). The truth—the real truth—is that health and wellness are highly personal. Still,
some pervasive myths are flat-out harmful to everyone because they promote an activity,
practice, or mindset that’s antithetical to living healthy and feeling great. Let’s dispel a few
common misnomers, and hopefully they’ll disappear for good.
The Myth: The reason you’re not getting enough
done? You just aren’t trying hard enough.
The Reality: If you study human behavior, as Joe does, you learn that motivation is notoriously fickle.
myth vs. reality .
. myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality
15 myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality
The Myth: “Core” is just a fancy fitness term for “six-pack.”
The Reality: A strong core is key to having a healthy, mobile, functional body. But our cultural
obsession with rock-hard abs has left many of us vigorously doing crunches while neglecting other
parts of the core and its crucial auxiliary functions (for example, it’s critical for spine support and
posture). Think of your core as your entire torso, not just the front of your stomach—you have major
and minor core muscles that start at the base of the head and run all the way down to your pelvis. Minor
core muscles include the traps and lats in your upper back and shoulders and the glutes and hip
adductors in your legs. Dynamic moves, like sprinting or medicine ball work, and full-body exercises
that require you to stabilize your core, like squats, end up hitting your abs harder than you think.
myth vs. reality
If you rely on willpower alone, you’re likely to fail. So design an environment that fosters success.
Don’t want to be on Instagram right when you wake up? Leave your phone in the living room. Want to
do yoga in the morning? Set out your mat and clothes the night before. You can also try habit stacking:
If you want to meditate, stack it onto something else you do every day, like brushing your teeth or
your morning run. Trying hard is always good, but reducing the cognitive load it takes to complete
a task will likely go a long way toward helping you achieve your health goals.
The Myth: The more you sweat, the better the workout.
myth vs. reality
The Reality: Using intensity as the yardstick for a good workout is not a bad thing, but always
maxing out on intensity is not the best strategy. What you need will depend on how you’re feeling
on a given day and what your health and fitness goals are long-term. For adults age 18 to 64,
the CDC recommends 150 minutes a week of activity at a moderate intensity, like brisk walking,
plus two days of “activities that strengthen muscles.” Nowhere in there does it say “go so hard for
the next 120 minutes that you can’t lift your arms tomorrow morning.” Work smarter, not harder.
. myth vs. reality
MYTH
BUSTER
MYTH
BUSTER
MYTH
myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality
. myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality
The Myth: Recovery is good if you have the time.
But if you’re on a tight schedule? Skip it!
The Reality: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. You’ve heard that, right? That’s often the
mindset we take with our workouts: We want to go harder for longer. To do that, we might sacrifice
sleeping or stretching. But when it comes to fitness, you only improve maximum output when
you have periods of rest. You build muscle when you sleep; stretching prevents injury. (For the
record: If you’re injured, you can’t work out.) This is true in other aspects of your life, too—like work.
Instead of working 12 hours nonstop, can you recharge and get that work done more quickly?
The Myth: Stay out of the sun if you want to live a long, healthy life.
The Reality: It’s important to practice safe sun—you don’t want to sit outside all day unprotected, so
use sunblock as needed. But the war on sunburns has stigmatized sunshine, which has important healthy
benefits. For one, Vitamin D, which can be absorbed by your body through sunlight, supports your immune
system, helps your body fight inflammation, and has been shown to regulate mood (sunshine may be
effective in staving off symptoms of depression). Exposure to sunlight also helps tune your circadian
rhythm—the 24-hour wake-sleep cycle that helps regulate your metabolic processes—which can in turn
improve your sleep. One way to offset jet lag after a long overnight flight: Get outside and get some sun.
. myth vs. reality
myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality . myth vs. reality
16
FITNESS
FITNESS
ON
THE
FLY
ON THE FLY
Five non-gyms where you can get in some quality movement
It’s not always possible to make it to
the gym. Sometimes you don’t have
enough time. Sometimes you just
feel like being outside. Sometimes
you don’t want to pay for a membership. Whatever the reason, it’s best to
have backup options, not just because they give you more places for
getting in regular workouts but because new spaces can encourage you
to move your body—and think about
fitness—in a new way. Here are a
handful of unconventional workout
spots to try next time you decide to
skip the gym.
Parks
Parks are spacious, meaning they’re
ideal for stretching or doing some
body-weight work on the grass. But
they’re also primo spaces for finding
stillness. Next time you find yourself in
a park, take five to 15 minutes—without your phone—to simply breathe
and observe. We can work our mental
strength in the same way we work our
physical strength. And just as there are
health benefits to being in motion,
there are benefits to resting: studies
have shown that it helps with creativity and problem-solving.
17 Tracks
Supermarkets
Odds are there’s one in your area, be
it at the local park, high school, or
recreation center. And the track isn’t
just for runners. Getting in a few
sprints is a great way to improve
your body composition and your cardiovascular fitness. If you are a runner, this is obviously the place to log
some miles, but it also suits some
shorter runs at a faster tempo, which
can ultimately improve your
long-distance pace.
The grocery store? Yes, the grocery
store. This may not be your traditional workout, but Joe’s plan is
meant to encourage you to think
beyond traditional workouts. When
we’re so rigid about how and where
we work out, we lose all sense of
play or fun. Next time you’re shopping for provisions, speed-walk
every other aisle (avoiding your
fellow customers, of course). If that
sounds too claustrophobic, then
try it on alternate city blocks. A
workout should be about finding
joy in movement. The good news
is you can do that anywhere.
Stairs
In your apartment or at the office, the
train station, even an outdoor amphitheater—any set of stairs will do. Like
running on a track, stairs are great for
short bursts of high-intensity work:
Run up, making sure your feet touch
every step or every other step. You
can also try double hopping (using
both of your feet on each step).
Catch your breath on the way back
down. Set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes, then see how many times you
can go up and down, working
through all three of the above variations and even adding some of your
own. Make sure to rest as needed.
Hills
As with stairs, no need to be picky
here. A street that slopes upward is a
fine option. So is a sand dune. You
can do short, intense sprints to build
strength: Run uphill at a full speed
for 15 seconds, then walk back down.
Do that four more times, rest three to
five minutes, then do it all again. Or
you can work on endurance: Run uphill at a moderate pace for 60 to 90
seconds, jog back down, and do that
four to nine more times.
Give It a Rest
In praise of recovery
Getting regular exercise of course altivities that might help jumpstart
lows you to work out various muscle
this recovery state (see small box) as
groups, but it also helps to improve
well as why rest days are a critical
your cardiovascular health and your
component of wellness. You can also
mental health. An optimal workout
target different parts of your body
routine or training program also inwith recovery—joints, ligaments,
cludes a recovery process.
muscles, and even the brain and nerIf you look up “recovery” as it
vous system. As an example of how
pertains to athletics, you’ll find a
you can target your recovery process,
neverending list of different definilet’s take a look at how you might
tions. Here we’ll consider it in two
tackle muscle recovery.
ways: first as an action, and second,
During a tough workout, you may
as a state of being.
push a muscle group to the point of
Recovery can—and, for the most
near-failure (when you feel physicalpart, is—always happening. Your
ly unable to do another repetition) or
body gravitates toward balance and
your cardiovascular system to a
seeks to return itself to homeostasis
point of relative fatigue. This process
after periods of stress (like a worktemporarily damages muscle fibers,
out). This is what we call the parabut during your body's muscle recovsympathetic state, or “rest and diery process, the tissue becomes
gest.” As an active participant in
stronger than it was before, allowing
your wellness journey, you can do a
you to build muscle or increase
few things to get your body back to
strength (depending on your goal).
this recovery state while using parIf you want to improve your
ticular protocols or actions. One way
physical health and practice an
to do this is through active recovery
overall healthy lifestyle, it’s import(a light jog or stretch).
ant to build recovery
Another is mostlytime around your
passive recovery,
training sessions.
ACTIVE RECOVERY
where there is an exOvertraining can inWalking
Cycling
ternal stimulus but
hibit the protein synLight jogging
you’re technically at
thesis needed for the
Yoga or stretching
rest (a massage, an
muscle repair proSwimming
ice bath, a sauna).
cess. Thus, when you
Foam rolling
Then there’s recovery
challenge your full
that’s fully passive,
PASSIVE RECOVERY
body with weight
Massage
like going to sleep—
training and resisSauna
which might be the
tance training, you
Hot or ice bath
ultimate recovery
must also build in
Cryotherapy
protocol.
rest days to give your
Float tank
It’s important for
muscles the time
Sleeping
you to know the acthey need to rebuild.
19 5 Tips for Improving
Overall Recovery
1. HYDRATE CONSISTENTLY. In or-
der to build the proteins that make up
muscle tissue and deliver nutrients to
your cells, your body needs plenty of
water. Make sure to drink consistently throughout the day. You can even
get some of your water through water-rich foods (watermelon, broccoli,
and cucumber, to name a few).
2. EAT THE RIGHT KINDS OF FOOD
FOR YOUR BODY. Food sensitivities
are too prevalent to recommend
a catch-all diet for everyone, but
it’s safe to assume that eating a
well-rounded diet tailored to your
body has a major impact on your
recovery. Your brain needs healthy
fats, your muscles need protein,
and carbohydrates, when utilized
properly, can be a crucial source of
fuel. The more you understand how
food works for you and your body,
the better you can feel and perform.
3. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS. Under-
standing the signs your body is giving you will go a long way towards
knowing when you should push
harder or take a step back. Mindfulness and meditation practices go a
long way when it comes to understanding the feedback your body is
giving you while tapping into your
parasympathetic state.
4. UTILIZE FOAM ROLLERS. Try
foam rolling to help improve your
ranges of motion while decreasing
DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle
Soreness.
5. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. A good
night’s sleep is essential to muscular
recovery. Sleeping consistently—try
to shoot for at least seven hours per
night—allows your body to rest and
rejuvenate.
THEGOOD
GOOD
THE
KIND
KINDOF
OF STRESS
STRESS
Not all stress is the kind that’ll have you tearing your hair out
The word stress usually describes a
negative tension that you feel due to
stressful events, but there’s another
type of stress, called eustress, that
can positively influence your life.
What Is Eustress?
Eustress (a.k.a. positive stress or good
stress) is a response to a stressor that
feels beneficial to the person experiencing it, motivating them to rise to
a particular challenge. Studies surrounding eustress are still in relatively nascent stages, but it can still help
you understand how to create a beneficial response—cognitive component included—when you’re exposed
to certain stressors (like a workout).
Eustress was first described by
endocrinologist Hans Selye, a stress
researcher who used the term to
differentiate between positive and
negative stress responses. Eustress
correlates with positive effects like
life satisfaction and feelings of accomplishment, while distress, its counterpart, is characterized by negativity,
debilitation, or extreme discomfort.
There are no objective measures
for whether a stressor will be a source
of eustress or distress, but we do
know the perception of the challenge
you’re facing affects what type of
stress response you have. That is to
say, your mindset matters, so try to remember that when tackling challenges or hardships.
How Eustress Unfolds
IN THREE STEPS
1. YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH A
CHALLENGE. When this happens,
your body undergoes physiological
changes in the neuroendocrine system to help you deal with the stressor—including releasing hormones
like adrenaline and cortisol.
2. YOU WORK HARD TO RISE TO THE
CHALLENGE. Since the challenge
feels conquerable, the difficulty motivates you to work hard rather than
discouraging you. You may feel invigorated to conquer the task.
3. YOU FEEL A SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT. Ultimately, you complete
the challenge and feel a sense of
accomplishment. Your body returns
to resting levels of adrenaline and
cortisol. You feel proud that you accomplished something appropriately
difficult, and you feel more secure in
your sense of self-efficacy.
What Is the Difference
Between Eustress and
Distress?
EUSTRESS AND DISTRESS ARE
NUANCED RESPONSES TO STRESS
THAT DIFFER IN A FEW KEY AREAS:
TYPE OF MENTAL STRAIN. Eustress
and distress can produce different
mental responses. While eustress
is a gentle strain that motivates you
to work harder, distress is an overwhelming strain that can demotivate and discourage you. Since
there is no objective measure of
eustress or distress, some people
can reframe a stressor that might
typically cause distress into a
stressor that produces eustress
through stress-level exercises and
stress management.
HEALTH EFFECTS. Eustress and dis-
tress have different effects on the human body. Eustress is associated
with positive feelings of hope, vigor,
and self-confidence, while shortterm distress can bring on anxiety,
withdrawal, burnout, and depressive
behavior. Chronic distress (also
known as chronic stress) can introduce more adverse health effects—
including clinical depression, digestive problems, heart disease, and
sleep issues.
IMPORTANCE. Eustress is a vital
part of our emotional well-being—
it challenges us and helps us work
hard to achieve goals. Over time,
it can even improve your baseline
ability to overcome difficult problems. Conversely, distress has serious adverse effects on our emotional well-being, physical health, and
mental health.
20
FOOD
FOR
FOOD FOR
THOUGHT
THOUGHT
Consider keeping these sensible (and nutritious) staples in your pantry
If health is wealth, then food is our
basic currency. It not only fuels your
workouts; it can affect everything
from how you sleep to how well
your body circulates blood. Taking
control of your nutrition starts with
having a better awareness of what
you’re eating and learning how best
to nourish your body. What should
go in your pantry? To get started,
here are a few of Joe’s favorite foods
with surprising benefits.
For a snack on the go…
up, which will keep you from undereating. Brazil nuts are an extremely potent source of selenium,
an essential mineral that our body
doesn’t produce naturally and that’s
been shown to prevent cell damage.
One nut has 175 percent of the recommended daily intake (just stick to
the serving size—about six nuts).
helps dilate your blood vessels, which
improves your blood flow. This means
lower blood pressure but also that nutrients and oxygen are more efficiently distributed to your muscles, allowing you to work harder for longer
during your exercise sessions.
To improve your endurance or cardiovascular
health...
GINGER
BEETS AND DARK LEAFY GREENS
BRAZIL NUTS
Nuts are super high in fat—which
can be a good thing. Healthy fats are
beneficial for your heart and fill you
A Quick
Guide to
Calculating
Your Body
Mass Index
Beets and dark leafy greens are rich in
naturally occuring nitrates, which
can be converted into nitric oxide.
And what does nitric oxide do? It
Body Mass Index (BMI)
is a value that estimates
body fat based on a person’s weight and height. It
does not take into account
a variety of external factors for overall health,
including muscle mass,
gender, age, or family
history. BMI cannot determine how healthy a person is overall.
The truth is there’s no such thing as
an immune boost. But certain foods
can help keep your body’s defenses
alert and ready, and ginger is one of
them. It’s been shown to help soothe
nausea, aid digestion, improve arthritis, and stave off the common cold.
How to Calculate Body Mass Index
There are two formulas you can use: one for English system
measurements (pounds/inches) and one for metric system
measurements (kilograms/meters).
English BMI
Metric BMI
w (lbs)
w (kg)
h (in)2
x 703
W = Weight (in pounds)
H = Height (in inches)
21 If you want to do your
immune system a favor...
h (m)2
W = Weight (in kilograms)
H = Height (in meters)
PRO-TIP
Trying not to
overeat? Mindfully chew your
food. This might
sound obvious,
but it’s easy to
overlook. When
you chew your
food, you produce saliva containing enzymes
that improve digestion, increasing your body’s
chances of absorbing more nutrients from
whatever you’re
eating. It also
means you’ll eat
more slowly,
which will keep
you from overindulging and ending up in those
unproductive
post-lunch food
comas.
WHAT’S IN
JOE’S PANTRY?
Hemp seeds
Frozen wild blueberries
S
MASH (canned sardines,
mackerel, anchovies,
salmon, or herring)
Wild peanuts
Coconut yogurt
The Bottom Line
Joe’s overall message here is to learn
how to prepare food in way that fits into
your schedule and allows you to reduce
the amount of processed foods in your
diet. If possible, your pantry should look
more like a farmers’ market than a standard supermarket. If you’re buying
pre-packaged food (which is fine, sometimes we’re all too busy to meal prep), do
your best to make sure that the ingredients list is short, the first ingredient isn’t
sugar, and you stick to the serving size.
Try This
JOE’S RESILIENCY POTION: Add washed ginger and lemon peel
to water, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer for up
to 1 hour. Drink up to 3 times a day (you can even refrigerate the leftovers for later).
SUPER-DUPER
FOODS
Adaptogens are non-toxic
plants that can help improve
your response to stress.
Take a closer look at the
properties of one in
particular: Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is a member of the pepper family
that has been an important part of traditional
medicine, or Ayurveda, in India for thousands
of years. Ashwagandha is the Sanskrit name for
Withania somnifera, a fruiting plant in the
nightshade family that is also known as winter
cherry. It produces small orange berries in papery husks like those of tomatillos. Although
ashwagandha berries are technically edible,
they're not the most sought-after part of the
plant—that would be the dried root. Ashwagandha root contains natural steroids called
withanolides that have made the plant a staple
of Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.
Withanolides are similar in structure to chemicals found in ginseng, which is why ashwagandha is sometimes called “Indian ginseng.”
As an Ayurvedic herb in Indian medicine,
ashwagandha is considered a rasayana (rejuvenator) that relieves chronic stress, calms the
nervous system, and increases energy levels.
Withanolides have anti-inflammatory properties, and some animal studies show potential
positive effects of ashwagandha, but when it
comes to ashwagandha’s health benefits as an
adaptogen, there are few conclusive human
studies. Always consult a health care professional about potential side effects before taking ashwagandha powder or any other adaptogenic supplements.
Ashwagandha root extract is sold in capsules and tinctures, but its most popular form
is a powder. Powdered ashwagandha root is
traditionally mixed with ghee, honey, or water
and either ingested or applied topically to inflamed joints or as part of an Ayurvedic skincare routine. To balance ashwagandha powder's earthy, bitter flavor, you can mix it into
sweet desserts, hot beverages, and smoothies.
22
GOOD
GOOD
TO TO
THE
LAST
DROP
THE LAST DROP
Squeeze the most out of your wellness journey with
four of Joe’s favorite juice recipes
1.
3.
2.
Joe’s secret to juicing is based on the idea that the juice
from fruits and vegetables is essentially supercharged water. “I like to consider it the original Vitamin Water,” he
says. “When we juice fruits and vegetables, we get access
to certain nutrients that are easily assimilated [in the
body].” He acknowledges that there can be drawbacks to
juicing—possible high sugar content, the breakdown of fibers that bind certain beneficial compounds—which is
why knowing how to juice and which fruits and vegetables
to blend is key for achieving optimal results.
The juices you’ll find here are not the same as storebought elixirs that have been sitting on a shelf for who
knows how long. The health benefits and active compounds of fresh juice are much more pronounced than
those in bottled form. When it comes to Joe’s personal arsenal of recipes, he likes to “break them down into general
health versus performance,” he says. “Performance blends
might have a tad more sugar, but if you’re a high-functioning athlete, that’s typically tolerated.”
23 4.
PRO-TIPS
Wash your
fruits and vegetables thoroughly to make sure
the produce
is clean ahead
of juicing.
Juicers usually
fall into one of
two categories:
masticating and
centrifugal. Joe’s
favorite is the
masticating type,
which uses a
slow-rotating
screw to press
juice out of your
ingredients
through a screen
(versus the use
of spinning
blades in centrifugal juicers). A
masticating juicer will usually
give you more
juice than a centrifugal one.
1 . WATERMELON
JUICE
INGREDIENTS
1 medium watermelon
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Endurance, cardiovascular
health
WHY WATERMELON?
Joe says: “Watermelon has a
high citrulline, lycopene (carotenoid), and cucurbitacin E (triterpenoid) content. Citrulline
may lower blood pressure and
support cardiovascular health.
Lycopene and cucurbitacin E
account for much of watermelon’s anti-inflammatory and
antioxidant benefits. Watermelon is also a great source of
Vitamin C. Finally, watermelon
juice has been linked to exercise benefits: It provides energy during exercise and raises
antioxidant capacity in the
bloodstream post-workout,
potentially reducing muscle
soreness.”
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
O SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
P SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
2. CUCUMBER KALE
PINEAPPLE
3. CELERY APPLE
GINGER LEMON
4. BEET
CARROT APPLE
INGREDIENTS
2 cucumbers
INGREDIENTS
½ to ¾ bunch celery
INGREDIENTS
1 large beetroot
1 handful kale
½ apple
1 to 2 large carrots
¼ pineapple
1 small knob ginger
½ to 1 apple
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Joint health, improving the body’s natural
detoxification properties
¼ to ½ lemon
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Anti-inflammatory benefits, antioxidants,
gut health
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Cardiovascular longevity,
athletic performance
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
SMOOTHIE SMOOTHIE
WHY CUCUMBER
KALE PINEAPPLE?
Joe says: “Cucumber has a rich nutrient
profile, including Vitamin K, magnesium,
potassium. It’s also low in sugar. Additionally, it includes compounds that have potential cardiovascular benefits and anticancer effects.
Kale is one of the best sources of lutein, a
nutrient known for its role in supporting
eye health. One big serving of kale can go
a long way to meeting your daily requirements for Vitamins K, A, and C.
Similarly, big servings of pineapple do
heavy lifting to meet the daily value of Vitamin C. Pineapple contains a complex
mixture of substances called bromelain,
which has been linked to reduced inflammation, reduced blood coagulation, and
reduced growth of certain tumors. Pineapple is also an excellent source of manganese, an essential cofactor to a number
of enzymes important in energy production and antioxidant defenses.”
BE AWARE
“If you’re on blood thinners, don’t change
your Vitamin K intake without consulting
your doctor. The juice from unripe pineapples can induce vomiting.”
WHY CELERY APPLE
GINGER LEMON?
Joe says: “Celery juice can help replace
electrolytes after a workout, and the pectin-based polysaccharides provide digestive-tract support. Celery may also
help lower blood pressure.
The apple adds a bit of sweetness and
has antioxidants, Vitamin C, and healthy
bacterial compounds that are linked to
improved gut health.
Ginger has been shown to relieve gastrointestinal stress. It also contains potent
anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols, which may relieve pain and swelling associated with arthritis and muscular
discomfort. It’s also been shown to have
immune-boosting properties.
Lemon juice can help you hit your daily
value of Vitamin C, a nutrient that’s a key
player in the immune system. Along with
a unique phytonutrient profile, which includes limonoids, the Vitamin C in lemon
may reduce oxidative damage, resulting
in anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects and contributing to a strong immune system.”
WHY BEET CARROT APPLE?
Joe says: “Beets are a unique source of
betalains, which have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and
detoxification support through mechanisms that are different from other antioxidant-rich vegetables, with potential
for anticancer benefits. They’re also a
great source of folate and manganese,
and they’ve been found to have cardiovascular benefits (they’re nitrate-rich,
which has been linked to improved blood
vessel health).
Carrots contain a ton of Vitamin A, and
they’re known for their rich supply of
the antioxidant nutrient beta-carotene.
Research notes the potential of carrots
for cardiovascular support.”
BE AWARE
“In the U.S., 10 to 14 percent of adults may
experience beeturia, or reddening of
urine, from beet consumption. This is not
necessarily harmful but could be indicative of issues with iron metabolism. Beets
also have a high oxalate content, which
could have an adverse effect on those
with certain medical conditions (like oxalate-containing kidney stones).”
BE AWARE
“Lemon peels have a high oxalate content, which could have an adverse effect
on those who have certain medical conditions (like oxalate-containing kidney
stones). Juicing apples will result in the
loss of some nutrient benefits and a
breakdown of the fiber, but apples still offer many benefits if minimally processed.
Juiced apples have a high sugar content.”
24
IN IN
THE
MIND
THE MIND
OF OF
THE
THE MASTER
MASTER
Joe answers some frequently asked questions
What’s the key to staying
fit and eating healthy
when you’re on the road?
Control as much as you can, but also
don’t stress about it. Staying fit on
the road is about making the conscious decisions that are under your
control and making sure you set up
the environment for best results.
When I’m traveling, I research
restaurants and supermarkets that
can be my anchor points if I’m in a
crunch. I keep a small workout kit
that enables me to do workouts
without a gym. But you also have to
understand that “staying fit” is more
than just exercise. What about sleep
fitness and mental fitness? These
other categories might slip on the
road. Placing emphasis on them is
crucial. Overall, my takeaway is this:
Keep it simple. The key is to plan
and prepare.
blast to finish in the morning), and
after that I try to get some sun. I find
that even casually facing the sun
(protect your eyes!) assists my natural sleep/wake cycle. I make a to-do
list, stretch and meditate, then eat
breakfast. That might sound like a
lot, but it’s all doable in 90 minutes.
Of course, everyone’s morning is
different. But I think these are a few
universal tips you can apply: Try to
wake up to direct sunlight, and don’t
check your phone immediately (if
you can avoid it). Hydrate (your
body has been putting in effort
during sleep, too) and try to move
around, even if it’s only a little bit.
Figure out a grounding practice that
works for you—journaling, gratitude, reflection, whatever helps you
to be more conscious and calm—
and embrace it.
What’s your morning
routine?
What is the biggest
lesson that playing
sports has taught you?
I’m a big believer in the idea that
when you control your mornings,
you control your life. My routine is
to start slow. I allow my body and
mind to ease into the day without
getting too much stimuli. So for the
first five or 10 minutes, I just lie in
bed and do a quick body scan to be
more aware of how I am feeling.
Then I do a brief mental runthrough of my day. Then it’s into the
shower (I’m not a fan of cold showers, but sometimes I’ll do a cold
Sports have been so formative for
me. I can’t imagine the person I’d be
without them. They helped me understand that you can’t succeed
alone, but they also taught me that
getting the most from an opportunity still often comes down to personal
effort. I know it sounds cliché, but I
don’t think we pay enough attention
to this interplay. The idea that creating opportunities is only on the individual or only on those around
them—that just never seems to be
25 true. Not in sports, and certainly not
in life. I’ve also learned that you can’t
just focus on one thing and expect
that it’ll make everything else better.
This is so important to my holistic
philosophy to health and wellness.
Having a well-rounded team, support
staff, and skill set are all vital.
What is one aspect of
health and wellness that
you wish people paid more
attention to?
Social impact. Everyone seems to
think health is just about personal
physical fitness. That’s a wildly egocentric approach. So I wish individuals looked at other aspects, especially in terms of community health and
how we can improve the world
around us. Why wouldn’t you want
others to get a taste of the good life—
in terms of health—as much as possible while they’re here?
What's a healthy exercise
habit or practice you
wish you’d done when
you were younger?
First, understanding the importance
of financial wellness. But on a deeper
level, the inner workings of the mind.
It’s something that impacts us so distinctly, shaping how we see the
world. Diving fully into my own idiosyncrasies, with guidance, has allowed me to get better control over—
or, at least, a better understanding
about—how it all functions.
Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder
WHAT’S
IN JOE’S
TRAVEL
BAG?
Jump rope and
exercise bands
Ideal for exercise
snacks anytime,
anywhere.
Massage gun or
a lacrosse ball
For some DIY
massage therapy. Try using the
lacrosse ball to
roll out your hip
joints (place the
ball between
your hip and the
floor while lying
facedown) or
shoulder complex (place the
ball between
your back and a
wall while standing up).
Sleep
supplements
+ eye mask
Crucial for
snoozing on the
go, whether
you’re taking a
plane, train, or
automobile.
Fresh ginger or
ginger tea
An excellent
weapon against
digestive troubles, among
other things
(see page 21).
NutriBullet
For mixing up
one of Joe’s
trusty juices
(see page 23).
26
WHICH
WHICH
WORKOUT
WORKOUT
SHOULD
SHOULD
YOU DO
YOU
DO
TODAY?
TODAY?
Working out ain’t easy to begin with——
heck, even Joe doesn’t particularly enjoy
hitting the gym. But it’s even harder when
you can’t figure out what type of workout to do. Or when you knew exactly what
workout you were going to do…before that
impromptu 6 p.m. meeting threw everything
out of whack. Next time you feel stumped,
reference this flowchart
27 st
Terrible. Over the last three
nights, I’ve gotten nine hours of
sleep—combined.
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
I feel great, thanks for asking!
Very, very stressed.
My boss is a crazy person.
Take today off
Sleep is better than any supplement
you can buy. It builds muscle, prevents
injury, and keeps your immune system
chugging along. If you’ve built up a
sleep deficit, the best thing you can
do is sign yourself up for an eight-hour
sleep session tonight.
ar t h ere
HOW MUCH
TIME YA GOT?
DO YOU THINK A
WORKOUT WILL HELP?
yes
no
no
WOULD YOU LIKE TO
PUNCH SOMETHING?
The rest of my
day is looking
pretty free.
Meditate
The point of a workout is to put your
body under stress so it can build itself
back stronger. But it sounds like
you’re already stressed—and not the
good kind. Meditation won’t just
calm you. It actually activates your
parasympathetic nervous system,
which can help with digestion.
Try an exercise snack
One of Joe’s snacks (see pages 10 and
11) which will fit perfectly in that window, hit your daily movement quota,
and leave you with enough energy to
make smart nutritional choices.
Lift some weights
If you do it right (read: not texting between sets), you’ll still get some cardiovascular benefits. But this is about
building your strength. Bonus: The
more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. Resistance training is the gift that keeps on giving.
Go with High-Intensity
Interval Training (HIIT)
That means short periods of intense
exercise followed by brief rest. Getting
your heart rate high and then bringing
it back down can be as effective as
keeping your heart rate at a moderate
level for longer stretches. Read more
about HIIT on page 13.
Not much, I’ve got a date
in 40 minutes (heyo!)
yes
Take a boxing class.
You’ll be able to (safely) channel your
aggression while improving your
cardiovascular health.
DO YOU DO A LOT
OF CARDIO?
yes
WOULD YOU LIKE TO START?
no
yes
no
ARE YOU SORE?
ARE YOU A RUNNER?
no
yes
Run
If you want to up the intensity a bit,
do a track workout. Here’s an idea:
10 reps of 400 meters starting at a
5K pace, and working down to a
mile pace with a minute of rest in
between each rep.
no
yes
Stretch or do yoga
Or, honestly, just go get a massage.
See? If you expand your idea
of what counts as fitness, workouts
get a little bit more fun.
28
Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder .
Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder . Joe Holder
CREDITS
Joe at Penn Football Media Day
Photograph courtesy Penn Athletics
Photo-illustrations
by Cristiana Couciera
Audre Lorde
Photograph by Elsa Dorfman
Courtesy Creative Commons
Attribution 2.5 Generic License
https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/2.5/deed.en
Included in collage illustration,
desaturated, and silhouetted