Readtime: 4 Minutes

There are three core “pillars” that support health, energy and physical + mental performance.

• Nutrition
• Movement
• Recovery

For 99% of the population, the “secret” to successfully reaching their wellness and performance goals lies in at least one of these pillars.

Unfortunately, all of these things take TIME, and that’s the resource that most of us already are short on.

Planning, preparing and eating healthy food takes time.

Moving your body for exercise takes time.

Sleeping enough literally takes time.

There are many days where I just don’t have the time to “do it all.”

On days like these, where the “best” or “ideal” options aren’t possible, I’ll still try to do at least one simple action from each of the three pillars so that I maintain forward progress toward my wellness and performance goals, every single day.

I call these practices “bare minimums.”

A bare minimum is the smallest, easiest, most simple form of an action, habit or practice that still effectively drives results.

Over the years, I’ve built up a collection of bare minimums from each of the pillars of health that I can rely on when I’m strapped for time or energy.

Today, I wanted to share a few of my favorites so that you can begin creating your own “toolkit” of health and fitness bare minimums.

Nutrition Practices

What you eat, how you eat, where you eat and why you eat GREATLY affect all aspects of your life: the physical, mental, emotional, relational, etc. This is why choosing to employ a nutritional “bare minimum” everyday is so powerful.

Here are some of my favorites:

• Drink a big glass of water right after waking. You lose water via breathing while you sleep, so you always wake up slightly dehydrated.
• Eat at least one piece of whole fruit each day. Fruit is loaded with fiber, vitamins, nutrients, minerals and is a filling, slow-digesting carbohydrate.
• A high protein breakfast / first meal. I aim for between 30-50 grams of protein with my first meal of the day.
• At least one serving / closed-fist-sized portion of vegetables. Loaded with vitamins, nutrients, and fiber; vegetables will help you manage hunger because they keep you feeling full for longer periods of time.

Food is power. 

These are all simple nutrition practices to keep your body fueled with what it needs to look, feel and perform its best each and every day.

Movement Practices

Physical movement is one of the most potent “drugs” we have for preventing and treating many chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression and others.

But it’s more than just about disease. Just a small amount of movement can instantly elevate your mood, balance your emotional state, and re-energize your body and mind.

Here are my favorite “bite size” movement practices:

• A 10-20 minute walk, especially outside (this is BY FAR, MY FAVORITE).
• A 5-10-minute circuit training workout (I just pick 2-3 movements and rotate between them for 5-10 minutes).
• 2-3 minutes of mobility, stretching or foam rolling
• A max set of pushups, lunges, squats, etc (go slow and steady with good form until it buuuurns)

The great thing about movement, is you can do it anywhere, anytime, and it’s completely FREE (especially walking).

If you want to instantly feel more energized and mentally sharp (and feel this way for the rest of your life), aim to move your body at least a little bit every day.

Recovery Practices

“Recovery” is an umbrella term for any activity that heals, restores and recharges your body, mind or soul.

While some activities are restorative for everyone (sleep & stress level management) many are unique to each individual. Furthermore, what recharges you physically might be different from what recharges you socially, mentally or spiritually. It takes some experimentation to figure this out.

Here are some practices that may support sleep better sleep and help better optimize stress levels:

• A 5-10 minute “wind down” routine to relax before bed. In order to switch my brain from “work mode” to “sleep mode” I’ll turn off all screens, dim the lights, and do relaxing activities such as foam rolling, stretching, reading, or some good ol’ fashioned just laying on the floor.
• 30-60 seconds of box breathing. You can do this before bed, between tasks at work, or anytime you want to relax. Here’s how: inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and exhale slowly through your mouth for 8 seconds. Repeat for 1-3 rounds.
• Go for a 10-20 minute walk. (This counts as BOTH movement AND recovery. Getting a 2-for-1 for the time spent. Heck yeah!).
• Breathe out tension. Similar to box breathing, but with a mental focus piece: close your eyes, take a deep inhale through your nose and, while exhaling through your mouth, visualize “breathing out” and releasing tension that is stored in an area of your body. Be very intentional about relaxing the stressed area of your body while you exhale. 

Build Your Toolbox

Give some of these a try and find which simple actions, habits and practices work well for you and that you enjoy.

Then add these to your “bare minimums” toolbox.

This way, even on one of “those days” you still can leverage the power of nutrition, exercise and recovery to keep you feeling and performing better.

This “bare minimum” concept has been one of the most useful practices that I’ve adopted over the past few years. It’s helped me stay more healthy and fit during seasons of life that were wildly stressful and that disrupted my normal routines and schedule.

I hope you find this as useful as I have.

Onwards and upwards!

See you next week.