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🏋️ Why You HAVE To Lift Weights
PLUS: Building a Weight-Lifting Habit, Strength vs Endurance Training, Supplements, and more.
Hugo Deane
January 28, 2024
Welcome back to Hugo’s Habits 🧠
To celebrate the launch of the newsletter, click below for FREE ACCESS to our E-Book! 👇️
In today’s issue:
Why you should engage in resistance training
The neurological effects and benefits of resistance training
How to build an exercise habit.
and more…
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Best Links This Week ⚡️
Here are the best articles and information I found this week while researching. Some cool shit down there 👇️
🔍️ How the Brain Works
The basics of neurobiology (link)
The science of Habits (link)
How the brain changes with learning (link)
📋️ Practical Tips and Strategies
11 ways to motivate yourself to go to the gym (link)
The 7 best exercises to build brute strength (link)
🔬 Updates from Research
AI helps to explain human memory and imagination (link)
Exercise boosts motor learning and memory (link)
🏋️ How to Get the Most Out of the Gym
New to the gym?
Maybe you're just starting your New Year’s resolutions a bit late…
Below is the program I used to lose nearly 20 kg in 6 months, as well as increase my strength massively.
Frank knows his stuff, and there is a massive sale on now! 🤑
Go go go! 👇️
The Best Habit Anyone Can Build: Why you HAVE to lift weights.
Whenever anyone talks about exercise, and specifically weight training, the instant thought is bodybuilders, looking good, and so-called “gym rats”.
Resistance training has unbelievable benefits for the body AND the brain.
Hundreds have studies have been carried out showing the direct correlation between regular exercise and improved mood, brain function, cognition, memory, metabolism, and even mortality.
The list goes on and on.
A graph showing how daily exercise is related to reduction of all-cause mortality.
If you’re not a data person, just ask someone who exercises regularly why they do it.
I guarantee not one person will answer because they want to look good.
Yes, perhaps you’ll know someone going hard in the gym because they have a wedding, a photoshoot, a stag do, etc.
But what happens to these people after the wedding?
They keep going!
Why?
Because of how unbelievable it makes you feel.
Because they have formed a habit.
Strength vs Endurance Training
One of the best quotes I ever heard about running and endurance training is as follows:
“Running is like the opposite of drugs. When you take drugs, you feel amazing, but awful afterwards. When running, you feel awful, but amazing afterwards.”
We will dive into running and endurance in a future issue, I just wanted to get that quote in.
Today, we are going to focus on resistance training.
One key discovery in this field is the link between exercise and neurogenesis—the creation of new brain cells.
The hippocampus, a region crucial for learning and memory, experiences a significant generation of new brain cells.
In the past, scientists have primarily found these facts to be true for aerobic exercises such as jogging or swimming.
High-Intensity Resistance Training and Brain Health:
High-intensity strength training could be the missing link that elevates cognitive performance to a new level.
Recent research conducted by Ariel University has uncovered a fascinating connection between strength training and brain function.
As you engage in challenging resistance exercises, your body responds by releasing powerful chemicals that have a profound impact on your brain.
These substances, such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and irisin, are like brain fuel.
They promote the growth of new brain cells, support the survival of existing neurons, and enhance the brain's ability to adapt and learn.
The increased production of IGF-1 helps your brain create fresh neural connections, while BDNF ensures the longevity of your existing neurons.
The result?
Improved memory, heightened focus, and enhanced mental resilience.
How to Build an Exercise Habit
Exercise, specifically resistance training, is the best thing anyone can do for their mind and their body.
But if you don’t have a regime already, it can be a hard habit to master.
I am going to lay out several steps you can implement to make exercise an escape rather than a chore.
⌛️ Set your Schedule: This is essential. You need to lay out what days you are going to go to the gym, and what you are going to train each day. This can be “I am going to go on a Monday and do legs and a Thursday and do upper body”, or plan the exact exercises to do each session throughout your week. Organisation and routine are 🔑
➿ Identify the Habit Loop: If you have already read our habit mastery e-book, you will have a general understanding of the habit loop. If not go check it out. In regards to weight training, I have broken it down below 👇️
Cue: Identify a consistent trigger that will remind you to start your weightlifting session. It could be a time of day, a pre-workout snack, or putting on your workout clothes.
Routine: This is your weightlifting session. Plan it out – decide the days, times, and the workout routine itself
Reward: Choose a reward that motivates you to complete your weightlifting session. It could be a healthy treat, relaxation time, or the satisfaction of checking off a workout on your calendar.
This will over time become automatic, and you will eventually feel incomplete if you haven’t gone to the gym.
It may sound crazy to some of you, but trust me, it happens.
🤏 Start Small: You don’t need to go Arnold mode straight away. Set a short routine, 2-3 exercises long and just go and do it. You will reap the same neurological rewards!
Focus more on the habit itself rather than the intensity of the workout!
Supplements for Strength and Resistance Training
Several supplements have enough complementary evidence in studies to show that they should be implemented into your resistance training routine.
L-Tyrosine: 500mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts
An amino acid that can increase the production of dopamine and related neurotransmitters that positively impact energy, motivation, and mood.
Creatine: 5g daily
Creatine is a molecule that stores high-energy phosphate groups that ultimately lead to the regeneration of ATP, the primary energy carrier in the body.
In thousands of studies, creatine has been shown to effectively increase exercise performance.
Effects of creatine on muscle mass and strength
Alpha-GPC: 300mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts.
Promotes the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory, attention, and skeletal muscle contraction.
Shown to increase power output in athletes.
Whey Protein: 40g, 30-60 minutes after workout.
Whey protein is a well-absorbed source of protein that is useful for post-workout fueling.
Research shows that consuming whey protein benefits muscle gain and fat loss, particularly post-workout.
The below study shows the effects of whey protein supplementation during a resistance training program.
P.S. A “randomised double-blind-placebo-controlled study” is the gold standard of scientific study.
The creme de la creme. 🍨 Full study is below 👇️
This supplement list was taken from Andrew Huberman’s Podcast.
Listen here.
That’s all for this week!
Any questions?
I answer all DMs on my socials, or just reply to this email! 📨
So, for next week, PICK YOUR TOPIC!! ⚡️
See you then,
Hugo.
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