Universal Improvements

Some behaviours that will improve most goals for most people most of the time

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood

There are few, if any, universal truths.

The only constant is change

Death and taxes come for us all

These two come to mind and I can’t think of any others, but please do share any more you have in the comments section!

It is in a similar spirit, and the spirit of this newsletter, that there are very few universally beneficial behaviours from a health and performance standpoint. Not ice baths, not antioxidants and certainly not ‘rucking’.

Despite that, this is my attempt to provide you some, enjoy.

1. More Protein and Vegetables at Breakfast

The more more I read into the protein research and talk to nutrition professionals, the more I come back to these interventions being hugely impactful for people.
The diet wars are real (especially on twitter/X) and one frame I like to use in situations of great argument and debate (in addition to my other decision making lenses) is “what is agreed upon between these parties”. In the case of diet and nutrition this is increasingly difficult but broadly there is quite good agreement (less so recently, but welcome to 2024) that protein and fibre are healthy (no I’m not convinced by the ‘low protein to help longevity’ thing or the ‘fibre is non-essential’ thing).

IF we need more protein and fibre, the question is where is this easiest to fit? The logical answer being; where it is currently least present - enter breakfast. If you can manage at least 30g of protein and 2 vegetables at breakfast, your chances of hitting requirements for the day skyrocket. You’ll also be less hungry and have more stable energy levels. Also eggs, with mushrooms and tomato, spinach etc etc is delicious, so enjoy!

A quick note for those doing serious training first thing in the morning - you may want to go lighter on a pre workout snack and have a true ‘breakfast’ as described above after your workout if you suffer GI discomfort easily or as a result of this.

2. Creatine

If you missed my article on creatine, make sure you go back and read it. But in short, I am quite bullish from a performance and health perspective in both the physical and cognitive realms. It’s safe, cheap and has a great safety profile. I can’t see much downside.

3. Chew Your Food

The advice you often read about things like writing is “write for yourself, at least you’ll have an audience of 1”, this point is in that spirit. Increased chewing has so many health benefits it sounds a little too good to be true. And whilst, the research may be a little mixed at times (it’s not the easiest thing to study to be fair), using the lenses (see the link above) I tend to use, it is low cost, low downside and easy - so why not? In short, increased chewing has been shown to improve: appetite, bodyweight, post prandial glucose, gut health, food craving, emotional eating and the list goes on. So try to increase your chewing and be mindful of your eating.

4. Time in Nature

Again, if you’re new and/or missed my article on biophilia, go read it here. As a society we are increasingly becoming more ‘nature deficient’ (especially if you live in a big city, which by my audience demographics many of you do). Counteracting this with time in nature isn’t a ‘nice to do’ in my opinion, I really do believe it is one of the simpler, cheaper and easier ways to improve health across a number of realms. Similarly, whilst it may not have a direct performance improvement impact, health does underpin performance and almost everyone prefers to train in nature. So get to some green space!

5. Go Barefoot

Barefoot time, or time in very minimalist shoes has a myriad of benefits. Remembering that the body is fundamentally a ‘use it or lose it’ system, time barefoot is a great way to improve range of motion and foot strength. Barefoot time itself may be outside of the realms of reality for some but minimalist shoes are certainly a good option as an alternative.

Great times to use minimalist or ‘barefoot’ shoes are during gym sessions (also eliminating force loss due to the cushioning effects of running shoes) or when out for short walks. You may even build up to wearing these as a standard for days at a time, but be weary to introduce them slowly - it’s really hard to deload your feet (in comparison to a shoulder for example) so appropriate loading is key to preventing issues of overload.

For more on this subscribe above to make sure you don’t miss an upcoming article I have on this.

6. Squat

Generally the body will ‘self-organise’ to achieve movement challenges. As we age, this organisation may be a little ‘chaotic’ so to speak, in that we lose certain abilities (here’s a great set of movements to help undo some of this). Doing our best to maintain these is key to sustained health and performance through our lifetimes. It is with this in mind that I present you ‘the squat’. No, this is no homage to the barbell (no matter how much I love it), it is about maintaining the ability to squat. Being able to sit comfortably at the bottom of a squat position for a few minutes will do a lot of the heavy lifting for your strength, stability and mobility for being able to sit and rise from the floor (a key predictor of all cause mortality).

A word of warning, “Wolff’s” and “Davis’” laws basically state the the hard and soft tissues will adapt to the stimuli placed on them - this works both ways though. So if you’ve spent minimal time at the bottom position of a squat recently, start slow - get in position, hold it and breath a few time and come back out. Maybe do that for a week, then extend to doing it twice etc etc - you get the picture. If it hurts - take it easier on this.

7. Community and Volunteering

The exact cause of the benefits of things like having community and volunteering are quite difficult to disentangle from each other. It may be the inverse of the impacts of isolation and social exile, it may be something unique about being part of something greater than yourself, who knows. And, maybe, who cares?

The data are fairly consistent and strong enough to convince me that the low cost and low downside actions required to be part of a community and perhaps give some time back to that community (or elsewhere) are worthwhile. This may be in your local community, sporting organisation or somewhere completely different.

Wherever it is and whatever it is, it will likely improve your wellbeing - which again underpins performance. It may also help with some perspective, which may help stress and anxiety around performance. In a more concrete example, there’s clear benefit to training in groups from a performance aspect so perhaps this is enough.

8. Single Leg Toothbrushing

This is seemingly quite bizarre, but bear with me. From a performance standpoint; lower limb but specifically foot and ankle injuries are extremely common, some prevalence reports being 20% or more. Likewise, foot and ankle injuries as we age, those of a more chronic/overuse type, are quite common also. On top of this is the significant prevalence and consequence of falls in an aging population.

In all of these situations, proprioception (part of balance) and strength in the muscles of the foot and shin region are a key part of treatment and prevention. Enter single leg balance whilst brushing your teeth.

From a practical perspective, my advice to people is usually: left in the morning “right at night”. Too easy? Don’t worry, I have progression for you. Once you’ve mastered balancing on one foot, try it with toes up, then only your big toe up. If this is still too easy, close your eyes and start the progression again.

For the record part of why I love this, aside from it not taking more time out of people’s schedules, is that it takes advantage of “habit stacking” to help ensure completion.

Many aspects of performance and health are simple but not necessarily easy, and perhaps that’s true with these too. I personally don’t think so and believe they’re both, though I will concede I don’t understand individual circumstances of all readers. That said, I am sure at least one is infinitely doable for all readers.
I look forward to hearing how these interventions have been going for you all - please do let me know in the comments, via email or on social media.

Reference List

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