What I Am Up To Now, January 2026

This post and the entire series highlight what I am doing/using/thinking as of right now in the areas of fitness & technology. If you care to compare or read the other posts in this series, refer to the category What I’m Up To Now.

If you want to skip to something in particular, I will go over nutrition and supplements, then a full day’s diet, sleep, activity, my exercise routine/training plan, health and fitness tech, then my morning routine.

Nutrition & Supplements

I will be honest. Not a lot has changed this year, which I am pretty happy about. So here’s the latest.

As noted the last few years, I stopped following a time-restricted (16:8)/intermittent fasting diet as I had used for about five years from 2018-2023 and moved to eating more often, particularly a large protein meal immediately upon waking. This is to maximize protein synthesis and eat for performance. I kept that up for every day of 2025 and have no plans to change. It has been very effective for improving health, appearance, and performance.

A daily eating regimen is what I would classify as high protein, moderate fat, moderate carbs. I get at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (at least 170 grams) and eat around 2500 total calories. In order to maximize my intake, I generally eat the same thing every day with the exception of dinner, which is usually just meat plus fruit and vegetables, sometimes starches like potatoes or rice – whatever my family is having for dinner. A major theme is also to consume a lot of probiotics and fiber which I get from greek yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and/or popcorn. After hundreds of hours of podcasts, books, and articles on the benefits of protein, probiotics, and fiber, it’s clear to me this should be the baseline of all diets.

I drink half my bodyweight in ounces of water each day (more in the summer if I sweat a lot). I deliberately start off the day with 30 ounces with my first meal (large class of water and a cup of coffee) immediately upon waking. I drink filtered water from home at work (I bring it in a large Yeti water bottle).

For supplements, what I am taking now I would call the minimums for active people trying to optimize, health, appearance and performance. Here is a quick rundown of what I take and why:

  • Protein powder – to achieve protein and amino acid goals, easier than eating real food sometimes
  • Greens mix – micronutrient delivery (like eating a bunch of vegetables and fruit)
  • Multi-vitamin/mineral – micronutrient delivery
  • Collagen peptides – skin and hair appearance and joint health
  • Creatine – Used to be for performance only, there are so many benefits to creatine now that it’s unquestionably the best supplement to take. Cheap, safe, very very effective at a ton of things for performance and health.
  • Omega 3/Fish Oil – Cardiovascular health, cognitive function, training recovery. I don’t eat enough fish to get nearly enough of omega 3 fatty acids.
  • Magnesium – Cognitive recovery, sleep, brain health, training recovery. Threonate is more for cognitive function vs the other variants.
  • Vitamin D – So many benefits to vitamin D there isn’t room to list them all. Easy web search shows a ton of results. I don’t get enough sun all year so I take a supplement. It’s basically free anyway.
  • Tongkat Ali & related – Testosterone support.
  • Pre-workout: Improve performance (increased energy, reduce fatigue). Good pre-workouts don’t just get you jacked up with caffeine and, in fact, they rely on other things to reduce fatigue, increase blood flow, and improve performance in a specific session.

These run me $150-$200 per month. Money on your health is money well spent. If you were on a reduced budget, I would recommend you try a multi-vitamin/mineral, creatine, and vitamin D at a minimum. Then I’d add magnesium, then greens mix. Note there are links below to specific products for all of these. The tongkat ali is not required at all and maybe doing nothing for me, but it’s not expensive and from what I can tell has made a difference enough to keep paying for it. Finally, no one needs a pre-workout and you don’t want to get hooked on it per se where you feel like you can’t function in the gym without it. If you can afford it, it’s not a bad addition. I offer a cheaper pre-workout formula below.

A specific weekday of eating and supplementation is as follows:

0430:

0900: 1.25 cups of pistachios in the shell, 420 grams of fat free greek yogurt (usually Fage brand) & an apple (cosmic crisp or pink lady are my current favorites)

1800: 8-13 ounces of chicken/beef/pork/fish and misc vegetables/sides and fruit.

1900:

A typical day would be around 2500 calories, 20-30% fat (30-50 grams), 30-40% carbohydrates (170-200 grams), 30-40% protein (170-200 grams), and 50 grams of fiber.

On the weekends, I eat with a similar mindset but not as structured, i.e. same meal and supplements upon waking, at least two large protein-containing meals (one of which is usually a homemade protein ice cream with fruit), popcorn and supplements, less than 3000 calories. We usually eat dinner out or get take-out a few times each weekend, but I almost always choose a “healthy” option. I just don’t like how I feel after pizza or a large ice cream these days. So I eat interesting things but still care about what goes into my mouth, even on so-called “treat meals”. My weekend workouts are by far the hardest, so I need to care more about pre- and post-workout nutrition also.

I typically only take a pre-workout on the weekends, maybe one time during the week before a morning workout based on what it is. All year I primarily used BPN Flight or Alpha Country Bangalore, which are both good products from veteran-owned companies. It isn’t really that expensive ($1-1.50 per dose) and comes with all the key pre-workout things like caffeine, beta alanine, citrulline, and betaine anhydrous. Definitely no jitters as they have only 200mg of caffeine.

As an alternate, I also recommend a cheaper basic pre-workout of 200 mg of caffeine, 400mg of l-theanine, and 1000 mg of l-tyrosine. This is going to increase alertness and energy. The theanine and tyrosine smooth out the caffeine for less jitters and more potency. If you are a big caffeine consumer and 200mg isn’t enough, I wouldn’t go over 400mg but you could double the dose of caffeine. This is also a really good way of getting a precise amount of caffeine vs having coffee where you can’t know for sure your exact dosage.

Regarding supplements generally, I endorse four brands: Jocko Willink’s Jocko Fuel, Joe DeFranco’s Nutritional Supplements, Momentous, and Ben Greenfield’s Kion. I trust these a great deal and am happy to support them, so start there if you are looking for something I didn’t list above.

NOTE: I listed links to the Amazon store for Jocko Fuel because it’s easier I find for most people, but for military (active and former plus spouses), first responders, government employees, and teachers, we can get a 30% discount through GovX if you buy direct. See here for more info.

Sleep

Regularly getting seven to eight hours per night in a cool dark room. I protect my sleep as much as any other element of fitness. I use a good sleep mask to assist with some residual room light. Well worth the money. I have made this important for many years now.

I have been using a 20lb weighted blanket as well, also highly recommended, when it’s cool enough to do so. I find it harder in the summer even with A/C, but in the fall and winter it’s not always too hot.

Activity

I used to obsess over getting 10,000 steps per day as measured by my watch or tracking device. I don’t wear one anymore, but my routine has me getting 7,000 steps minimum and up to 13,000 on active days. Lot of research I saw had 7,000 steps as a key level, so that makes me happy.

I have used a standing desk since 2014 both at home and at work. At home I have a FlexiSpot standing desk and use the Topo mat with it as well. This is the preferred way to do the standing desk. It can be easily lowered if you want to sit (I don’t even have a chair anymore but one could), and it’s much easier to stand at a stable platform like this as well.

I don’t have to go to a unit physical training session each morning as I often did during my career so I just train on my own, almost always in the morning.

Here is the overview and then a detailed example session breakdown:

Training Program Overview
  • Monday: Upper body strength and hypertrophy
  • Tuesday: Lower body strength & power
  • Wednesday: Upper body strength and hypertrophy
  • Thursday: Cardiovascular endurance
  • Friday: Upper body strength and hypertrophy
  • Saturday: Sled drags and carries (hard to categorize but effectively some strength, stamina, and cardio endurance)
  • Sunday: Cardiovascular endurance
Example Training Sessions
  • Monday: Upper body strength & hypertrophy. Vertical push and pull focus.
    • Dips, 5 x 8-13 (add resistance using bands typically)
    • Pull-ups, 5 x 5-8 (add resistance using bands)
    • One arm KB floor press, 3 x 8-13
    • One arm KB row, 3 x 8-13
  • Tuesday: Lower body strength and power. I have been doing a variety of kettlebell swings in various set and rep schemes plus one squat variation. An example:
    • One arm KB swings. Increasing rep ladder from 1 to 13 reps with 53 lbs, alternating arms. That’s one rep L arm, two reps, R arm, three reps L, etc. until 13 with minimal rest in between sets.
    • KB swing, 3 sets of 8 reps x 70 lbs; 3 x 5 x 88 lbs; 3 x 5 x 106 lbs.
    • Barbell Front Squat, 5 x 5 increasing weight each set
  • Wednesday: Upper body strength & hypertrophy. More of a horizontal push and pull focus.
    • One arm standing chest press with band, 5 x 8-13
    • One arm band standing row with band, 5 x 8-13
    • Parallette push-ups, 2 x 13 wearing 50 lb ruck
    • Miscellaneous arm work, usually one biceps and one triceps exercise for 3 x 8-13
  • Thursday: Cardiovascular endurance. Goal is to get my heart rate into zone 2, which is moderate intensity, 110-120 beat per minute, and then do some higher intensity intervals. I almost always use an incline treadmill wearing a weight vest for the zone 2 and then intervals on the Rogue Echo Bike. Example session:
    • 1.5 miles treadmill walking at 5% grade at 3.4 MPH with a 30 lb weight vest
    • Rogue Echo Bike internals at 55 calories, 34 calories, 21, 13, 8, 5, 3 with rest in between
    • 0.5 miles treadmill walking at 10% grade at 3.4 MPH
  • Friday: Upper body strength & hypertrophy. I have been doing just arms and shoulders hypertrophy work. I was doing a full blown pressing and rowing heavy session but found it interfered with my harder, longer, and more important weekend workouts so it scaled it back to something less demanding.
    • This is fairly unstructured, but the goal is to get a massive arm and shoulder pump.
    • Example workout I did was this while wearing these low-tech blood flow restriction (BFR) bands for added effect:
      • One arm triceps extensions, 34, then 21, 21, 21 reps with orange mini band
      • One arm curl, 34, then 21, 21, 21 with mini band
      • End range lateral raise, 3 x 13
      • Straight bar pressdown, 3 x 13
      • DB curl with long slow negative on last rep, 3 x 8
      • Reverse flyes, 3 x 13
  • Saturday: Sled drags & carries. Unstructured sled drags & carries for 55 minutes. Something like this, but I vary it each week:
    • Reverse sled drag, 50 yards
    • Overhead dumbbell carry, 25 yards each arm
    • One arm DB farmer’s carry, 25 yards each arm
    • 21 push-ups (just to make it more unpleasant and to practice doing push-ups while fatigued)
    • Repeat with heavier weight
    • Variations: Heavier sled drags for shorter distance or lighter drags for longer distance; barbell overhead or front rack carries; kettlebell overhead, front rack, or farmer’s carries; bear crawl dragging sled (super fun); forward sled drags; prowler pushes. A lot of times I tie the sled strap around my waist and then carry some dumbbells, kettlebells or a barbell while dragging the sled too.
  • Sunday: Cardiovascular endurance. The goal is to maintain a high heart rate for a long period of time and also hit 90% of max heart rate often. You can do this a variety of ways. I have been lately doing a short METCON and then pure cardio movements with calorie targets. In better weather, I was just running outside for 3-5 miles with some additional intervals on the rower or Echo Bike in the garage. Here is an example of what I have been doing lately:
    • As many rounds as possible in 21 minutes of 13 burpees, 50 yard sprints, 13 jumping pull-ups, 100 yard sprint.
    • 5 then 8 then 13 then 21 then 34-calorie rounds of ski erg, row, stationary cycle (Rogue Echo bike), run (manual treadmill). That means 5 calories on each of those four machines, then 8 calories on each, then 13, etc.

I have been able to train nearly every day per week due to purposeful programming, good food, and good sleep. If I can’t for some reason, I make an appropriate adjustment to get the primary sessions in. My goal with this routine is to be all-around physically fit in general. I am not a “runner” or “CrossFit guy” whatever that means.

I am in my garage gym every day except for Saturday and/or Sunday when I go to a gym on a military installation because they have the various equipment I need for more advanced cardio sessions and the space to do sled drags and carries.

Note that I use resistance bands like these for almost everything I do in my garage. Huge fan of the Rubberbanditz brand. I beat these things up and they last a long time (years). Bands are safer, offer progressive resistance, and allow you to safely push very hard in a variety of ways.

Health & Fitness Tech

Smart Watch/Tracker = I have not been wearing a smart watch or activity tracking device for a few years. I was rotating the Garmin Fenix 7 Solar and the Venu 3. Eventually I was bothered enough to stop wearing it. These are both really nice watches, but two things drove me to go to a “dumb” watch: 1) I found I wasn’t learning anything new by wearing them and 2) I had to keep taking them on an off every day when I entered secure facilities at work that don’t allow electronics. I had a battle rhythm with activity and sleep that confirmed for hundreds to thousands of days in a row the same data regarding steps, sleep, and workouts. I still have them and there is a time and place for data collection, just not every day. I don’t record everything I eat any more for the same reason although, again, there is a time and place to do so. I have been wearing some old school Casio a lot lately such as the G-Shock Classic and the Vintage A168WA. For a lot of people, wearing one of these is a great way to ensure you are doing the right things and to keep you accountable so I recommend you use on if you need it. Lots of good options from Garmin, Fitbit, Apple, Whoop, etc.

I do wear a chest-based heart rate monitor sometimes if I want to check out my heart rate during a session, but I do this rarely. I have both the Garmin HRM and the Polar H10. I have been using the Polar lately with the phone app since I haven’t been wearing my Garmin watch during training. If I did wear the watch, I’d pair it with the Garmin chest strap for more precide readings than wrist-based would give.

Red Light Therapy = Mito Red Light MitoMax 2.0. This has red light (660nm) and near infrared light (850nm). I have been doing this almost every morning right after breakfast for about 20-30 minutes. I basically sit in front of it while I listen to podcasts or audiobooks or read some news, scan my email, etc. I don’t use goggles because from my read of the data, the red light and NIR is good for your eyes. If you have the money and believe the science, it’s worth a try.

Heat Therapy = HigherDose Infrared Sauna Blanket. I use it to replicate somewhat the conditions of a sauna (lots of health benefits here). I would sit in a sauna every day probably if I had one. This gets hot, but it’s not the same as a sauna although it’s as close as I can get at home. If you have the extra cash this is interesting to try. Definite health benefits of heat exposure. Cheaper ones available at Amazon that I can’t verify honestly. I trust HigherDose.

Cold Therapy = No. I believe the science honestly, but the combination of cost, difficulty, and HOW MUCH I HATE TO BE COLD keeps me away from this. If I lived in my forever home, I probably would have a cold plunge and I probably would not use it anymore. Cold shower maybe? No thanks also.

Muscle Stimulation = Compex® Sport Elite™ 3.0 Muscle Stimulator with TENS Kit. I use this to address injuries or tight areas with electrical stimulation. It is very effective. If you can afford it, very useful for a variety of reasons from routine rest and recovery to more precise treatment of muscle injuries. You can also use it as a surrogate for resistance training. It has cycles to run through that stimulate your muscles like exercise could, which could use useful for maintaining or reducing muscle loss if injured, for example.

Morning Routine

Any good health and fitness “influencer” has to have a morning routine to share. I wake up between 0400 and 0430 most days naturally without an alarm (I set one for 4:34 just in case – IYKYK). First thing I do is put on podcast or audiobook. Then eat, drink water, drink coffee and take my supplements as outlined above. Then I clean my kitchen (I actually enjoy this, find it therapeutic, and conveniently it helps the family). Then I sit or stand in front of my red light panel for 20-30 minutes while either listening to the podcast/audiobooks or doing a mental activity such as the Minute Cryptic, reading, or researching something. I will occasionally do some mobility work, foam rolling, myofascial release, stretching, or use the muscle stimulator. I do this on weekdays or weekend days. Then on weekdays, I go to the garage to train. Get ready for work, walk the dog, and leave. On weekends, I typically do some work at my desk (like blogging, reading, personal finance, etc.), take my dog for a walk, then train around 1000. A good morning routine sets the done for the day.

Hope you got some insight into what I am doing that may be beneficial to you. Post thoughts/questions to the comments below.

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