Normal Reset

I have been sitting on this one for quite some time now, and I think it has the potential to revolutionize the health and fitness industry. I’m calling it the “Normal Reset.” 

It’s like a juice cleanse, except it’s less marketable and way more effective…

In the normal reset, you wake up between 6am and 8am, depending on what time your commitments for the day begin. You don’t need to write in a journal, drink salt water with lemon, jump in a cold plunge or stare at the sun for 15-minutes. Instead, just have yourself a cup of coffee or tea and get started on some breakfast. 

For breakfast, make it normal. Have some toast, bacon (yes, bacon) and eggs. Toss in some fruit if it’s in season or you’re a millionaire. 

Depending on what time you woke up, you may choose to do some training before or after your breakfast. That’s cool, and we’ll chat more about that later. But breakfast is non-negotiable. We’re not intermittent fasting during the Normal Reset. We’re just doing normal stuff. 

Now it’s time to get ready for work. You may have a job that requires you to be at work for a certain time. I recommend you show up 5-minutes early. For the rest of us, let’s give the old nine-to-five a good college try.

From 9am-12pm ish, I propose you simply work. Make progress on the projects you’re responsible for, send emails, engage with your colleagues, meet with your clients, etc. But work. Don’t scroll Instagram or shop online. Just do some work. Most of us complain about how busy we are and how much work we have to do; this could be a good time to make some headway on all that work! 

Around noon, you’ll likely have worked up an appetite. On the Normal Reset, I suggest you eat lunch. Have a sandwich or maybe some meat and vegetables. Eat some real food. Ideally, it’s something you brought from home, but if not, there are plenty of ways to get food near your place of work, I’m sure. Remember, this is the Normal Reset, so don’t do something weird for lunch on random Tuesday - like eat an entire large pizza or get a bunch of candy you can snack on at your desk. Save those behaviors for Friday night like normal people.

After lunch, it probably makes sense to do some more work. Again, if you’re on the clock, return to your shift and get the job done. If you’re at a desk, get back to those projects and emails that have a tendency to get shoved off until later in the week. Maybe have a snack and another cup of coffee to help sustain you for the afternoon. But make it a normal snack, like a granola bar or a piece of fruit. You don’t need the donuts that someone left on the office kitchen counter. What were we celebrating, anyway?

At 5pm (or whenever your shift ends), clock out and head home to get started with your evening. Maybe this is a good time for a wrkout or some other form of recreation. Maybe you have kids that need to be picked up and dropped off. Maybe they have sports or recitals that require your presence. Whatever it is, go do normal after work stuff. 

Somewhere between 6-8pm - depending on when you go to sleep - it’s probably time to eat again. I suggest another normal meal here. One where you can sit down at a table with your family or friends and eat with a fork and knife. Or maybe you like to watch some Netflix while you eat dinner. That’s cool, too. 

Now after dinner is where things tend to get tricky for most people who have deviated so far off the normal beaten path… Considering you just had a pretty normal dinner - like meat and potatoes, or some sort of salad, or maybe you got fancy and whipped up a casserole - you’re probably all set for calories on the day. No need to crack a beer and unwind or find the bottom of a bag of chips. Save the alcohol for special occasions or get-togethers with friends on the weekend. As for the chips and treats, every once in a while doesn’t hurt! But it’s a Tuesday night, and it’s probably time to go to bed soon. 

Between 9-11pm, the Normal Reset prescription is to go to sleep. I recommend a normal bedtime routine - just brushing your teeth and turning out the lights. Maybe read a bit of fiction if your mind tends to race when you pull back the sheets. But other than that, you can save the supplements, edibles, and gratitude journaling for those other reset programs. After-all - you got up early, got in a workout, put in a full day at the office, and had some fun with your family and friends - you’re probably pretty tired by now! And if all goes well, tomorrow could be another normal day, too. 

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If you made it this far, I’m sure you realize that the Normal Reset program is meant to be tongue and cheek. However, I think it’s worth exploring the reality that many people have veered so far off track with what’s “normal,” today, that this could in fact pass as a novel approach. 

Please don’t confuse my proposal to be more normal as an invitation to dismiss individual differences or to criticize people who’ve chosen to take a path less-traveled. That’s not what I’m referring to. 

In this context, I’m referring more to the people who’ve struggled to stay consistent with a training and nutrition strategy for any length of time. It’s mega-influencing, marketing, and popular culture that has distracted many people (myself included, at times) from staying on the tedious and often boring path that leads to incremental progress over a long period of time. I’ve seen and also been victim to believing that some little fad or trend or testimonial-backed, evidence-based hack could be the key to my overnight success. If I could just find the perfect morning routine, then I would finally be on the right track to accomplishing all of my goals faster. Before you know it, you’re intermittent fasting, intermittent sleeping, doing random workouts from the internet, and then wondering why you haven’t made any meaningful progress. 

I just feel like so many people could truly benefit from a more normal routine, and that’s what I hoped to communicate through a little bit of sarcasm with the Normal Reset.

Next week I’ll lay out a painfully simple, yet highly effective training program. Like the Normal Reset program, I think it’s going to take the fitness industry by storm!