Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.
You'll receive:
- 1 reflection from me
- 3 ideas you can use
- 1 question for you
Let's dive in.
What's new this week:
Thank you again to everyone who applied for our 'free upon completion' 8-week program.
Every spot is filled up, and I'm excited to work with each person over the next couple of months.
We've been hard at work here inside of Zhanay Health, preparing for the next 6 months of 2026.
Next month, I’ll share a fun way to kickstart your health. This is ideal for high-performing parents who are busy and time-restricted this summer.
In the meantime, check out our new body recomposition calculator. You can find it in the link above under 'new this week.' Enjoy!
It took us nearly 5 months to build this out the way we wanted, but it's now live.
It's also 100% free and comes with a detailed step-by-step guide to using it.
Fire over any questions on the calculator if you need help with anything - happy to help! :)
ONE REFLECTION FROM ME
I saw my friend's leg snap last week.
It was terrible.
At the end of the second half, he ran fast to our goalie. He wanted to stop him from passing to our defender.
As Mike (name changed here) sprinted towards our goalie, he ran full tilt.
They both collided.
Mike went flying.
As he fell, he screamed the words that left my bones shaking: 'My leg snapped!'
He was right.
His leg snapped at the upper right femur.
It's a reminder of our mortality and why risks are part of life.
It was a freak accident.
The chances of it happening again are slim.
But there's always a chance.
You could get hurt lifting weights.
But you're at higher risk of osteoporosis if you don't lift weights and don't take care of your body.
You could get hurt playing soccer.
But you have a better chance of harming your cardiovascular health over the long term.
Mike will be okay. He texted us in our private soccer group chat later that day, before going into surgery.
He'll be able to walk pretty quickly after surgery, but he has a long road to recovery.
Mike was one of the few guys on the field who matched my speed (sometimes even faster).
We were unofficial rivals. We always picked different sides since we played similar striker positions. This helped balance each team out.
I'll be running and sprinting for him and me over the next few months.
Accidents are part of life.
But they don't define our life.
Train for strength.
Eat for health.
Balance both for the best of both worlds.
Lesson: Training can protect your body even when unexpected.
3 IDEAS FOR YOU
I.
Iron is an essential trace mineral. It forms hemoglobin, an iron protein.
Hemoglobin helps transfer oxygen in red blood cells to other parts of the body.
It also forms myoglobin, which helps muscle metabolism. Myoglobin transfers oxygen to muscle cells, enabling them to produce energy.
It also supports immune function, DNA synthesis, and brain development.
Our bodies can recycle iron, but we lose it mainly through the skin and intestines every day.
Women who menstruate lose an additional 30-45 mg of iron each month.
So, their iron needs are higher than men's.
The two main sources of iron are:
Heme is mainly in animal products. Non-heme comes from both plants and animals.
Non-heme iron is absorbed less easily. So, plant-based eaters may need 1.8 times more iron than those who eat animal products.
But this is easily solved (again) with a whole food plant-based diet.
Adding vitamin C to your iron-rich foods, like beans and lentils, helps.
It boosts iron absorption, making it an easy solution.
Simple and easy.
II.
GAS means general adaptation syndrome.
It's how we adapt to stress and respond to a specific stressor.
Lifting weights is a form of stress. Eating fewer calories (being in a deficit) is a stressor.
Many of the things we do in the name of 'fitness' are physiological stressors on the body. Add too many stressors, and the results usually aren't good.
It's the metaphorical last straw that broke the camel's back. That's why it's important to manage your training wisely.
The amount of work (volume) and how hard you train (intensity) both create stress on your body.
Intensity is the amount of weight you’re lifting relative to your 1-repetition max.
In other words, it’s how much you lift compared to what you can lift for one repetition for a particular exercise.
You don’t have to train to failure for every exercise. However, you should maintain a certain intensity.
The fitness-fatigue model shows that as we improve our fitness, we also build fatigue over time.
This can lead to "overtraining," but that's rare. Most people stop before reaching that point. However, it may cause overexhaustion, a higher injury rate, or burnout.
As you get fitter and stronger, you also build muscle. This can lead to more fatigue.
So getting more fit and managing tiredness go hand in hand.
III.
How fast can you build muscle?
It depends on your experience with weights.
The more you train, the longer and tougher the process becomes. This is the cost of training.
Our bodies adapt to the stimulus, making change harder but not impossible.
We all have a huge genetic potential. Yet, 99% of us will never reach it.
Why?
It takes an immense amount of work. We're talking hundreds, even thousands, of hours to approach that ceiling.
But it's a fun topic to think about.
According to Lyle, here's a reasonable rate of muscle-building progress you can expect, depending on your level of training experience.
As you can see, the less trained you are at the beginning of your muscle-building journey, the faster and easier it is to see progress.
The opposite is also true.
The more you are trained, the slower and harder it will be.
As with all things in life, the more skilled you become, the harder and slower it gets to become even more skilled.
ONE QUESTION FOR YOU
What does fitness mean to you? Like, what does it really mean?
Client Spotlight
Vanessa is a busy entrepreneur. She's a real estate investor and health consultant.
She’s also a mother and a wife.
After years of battling her weight due to family influences, she decided it was time for a change.
She wanted to feel confident in her body while showing her son a healthy plant-based lifestyle.
Vanessa and the ZH team got to work.
We started by creating a solid foundation in exercise and nutrition while retraining how she viewed her health.
One of the core areas we focused on was helping her understand that her health was hers.
She was responsible for creating the results she wanted... which she eventually did.
Our strategy: Create a standard for strength workouts (3x per week, then later 4x), track her nutrition 5 days a week, and eat to 80% fullness.
Despite facing challenges, like getting sick and hosting family several times, she remained committed to her goals and standards.
Her wins: She lost 14 pounds, trimmed 5 inches from her waist, and doubled her strength in several exercises.
Vanessa even ran a 5k earlier last year, which capped off her newfound health and fitness.
If Vanessa can do it with a busy, jam-packed schedule, so can you.
Less is more when you're doing the right things.
1 QUOTE FROM OTHERS
I.
“Few of us are aware that the act of eating can be a powerful statement of commitment to our own well-being, and at the same time, the creation of a healthier habitat. Your health, happiness, and the future of life on earth are rarely so much in your own hands as when you sit down to eat.”
― John Robbins
Happy 4th of July if you're in the States.
Enjoying a quiet weekend with family.
Mid-90s here, so can't promise I'll be outside.
Except for soccer tomorrow morning.
Can't miss that.
As promised, your 1-3-1 Friday in less than 5 minutes.
Until next week,
P.S. I kinda laughed at some of these.
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