There are powerful benefits to taking it easy.

I remember the workout so clearly. It was 6 am on a Monday morning. I was just a couple of months into my first year of college, and I had finally gotten accustomed to my new school, new team, and a much more rigorous cross-country training schedule.

The week prior, I had finally made it through a workout without getting dropped by the team, which gave me a lot of confidence for the steady tempo run I was about to endure. …

In this case, timing is everything

When you finally get home after a long and tiring work day, what’s the first thing that you do? Plop down on the couch? Take a shower? Cook dinner?

I think all of us have done the first one many times. After a stressful and busy work day, nothing feels better than sitting down and relaxing for a little while. The only problem is, I spend the majority of the day on my computer, and I sometimes fall into the trap of remaining mostly sedentary for the entire work day.

By the time I finally clock out, I’m too exhausted to do anything too vigorous, but I still want to get my blood flowing and move my body. This is where my powerful secret weapon comes in — the evening walk. …

Shake things up with these tasty dishes.

Many people put a lot of emphasis on how daily exercise factors into overall health and fitness. But, it actually has less of an impact than you might think.

While working out regularly certainly offers many benefits for both the body and mind, it doesn’t have near the impact on your health and physique that the food you put into your body does.

In fact,

At 35 chances per week to improve body composition through nutrition (and eight through exercise), the percentage does come in around 80%. This leaves 20% of physique enhancement resulting from exercise.

Thus, it is absolutely crucial that you nourish your body with plenty of healthy, minimally processed foods in order to look and feel your best day in and day out. Now, that doesn’t mean you should starve yourself, or that you need to drink green juice for breakfast and eat a boring salad for lunch every day. …

Simple methods that actually work.

How many times have you told yourself that you were going to eat healthier, exercise more, get to sleep earlier, stress less, or spend more time with family?

Odds are, you’ve said them too many times to count. If you are anything like me, then you might have followed through for a few days, or even a week, and then gave up and reverted back to your old ways.

Just last year, when I was finishing up my final semester of college, I promised myself that I would prioritize sleep. For about four or five days, I did exactly what I set out to do — I got to bed early and consistently slept for eight hours. Then, I got complacent and started cutting corners. …

And they’re actually worth the sacrifice

Over the years, it has become easier and easier to spend money on things you don’t need just because it’s convenient to do so, or because you want to fit in with the crowd.

When I was in high school, many of my classmates wore fancy designer clothes. As a result, I felt pressure to dress the same way. While I never did purchase those $80 boots that I thought I needed at the time, I did spend my money frivolously.

I saved up my basketball refereeing paychecks for unnecessary fashion pieces that I never even used, like a navy blue designer wallet. Even now that I’ve gained confidence in owning my casual, inexpensive style, I still get sucked into the world of convenience. Sometimes, I shop online. …

Research says to eat these when you hit a slump.

You get up at 6 am sharp feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day ahead. But by the time 12 pm hits, after putting in hours upon hours of hard work, the mental fatigue begins to set in.

I think this is a feeling we all know too well, and one we wish we could avoid all together. If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried everything in the book — the afternoon cup of coffee, the frequent breaks, and of course, the carefully curated schedule.

I’ll be the first to say that the strategies mentioned above do work for me. But there is one key method that I left out, and it’s a phenomenal one that’s often overlooked. …

Here are 4 ways to get through it.

I wake up most mornings feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day ahead. After I grab my cup of coffee, I sit down at my computer and get to work. For the most part, the first few hours of the day tend to be my most productive ones.

I cross one thing after another off my to-do list. I get into a nice work flow, and then 12 pm hits. For some reason, it’s always around that time when I experience the dreaded slump. I’m sure many of you can relate.

My motivation begins to fade, I start to feel tired, and my desire to continue getting work done disappears. Yet, I still have tasks that I need to accomplish. If I don’t push through the slump, I know I’ll regret it later. …

It’s the core exercise everyone should be doing.

When I was a young, naive, high school cross-country runner, I thought that doing loads of crunches would give me abs of steel and propel my race performances to new heights. I was severely mistaken.

And while my thinking may have been flawed, I did get one thing right. To become a fitter, faster, more powerful athlete, you need to have a strong core.

Once I got to college and started training at the division one level, I received a much more structured weight lifting routine, which included a series of abdominal exercises. Only, these exercises focused on efficiently strengthening the entire core. Guess what? …