Happy 4th and the Secret I Never Knew

Safe assumption that lots of calories will be consumed today.

And that’s totally fine…

For tomorrow.

But it got me thinking about diet from that 30,000 ft view…

And over the last 7 years I fundamentally changed the way I eat.

And I can confidently say that my fitness level is better now then when I played lacrosse at Tufts.

My body fat percentage is definitely lower… and my strength is close to what it was.  I can’t bench 225 lb as many times, but I can definitely do more pull-ups.

My squat is similar.

I weighed 195 lb my senior year at Tufts.

I weigh 181 lb now.

I always worked out a bunch, so nothing changed with my internal motivation.

But 2 things did change...  

First, I started doing more intense runs on the track (you can crush it in less than 25 min on any track.  It’s so money.)

Second, I learned how to eat...

(With the help of my boy, Harrison Bernstein.  He's the strength and speed coach for BTB Lax.)

And today’s lesson is the first of many on diet.

I remember this vividly…

Scott Urick, Harrison, and myself were at a Georgetown men’s hoop game (about 7 years ago…)  

Harrison is ripped.

So I told him, “I want to get more cut”.

His response… “Learn how to eat.  It’s all diet.”

I had no idea...

So that began my journey of learning how to eat.

Walk in any food store and you’re blasted with packaging highlighting “gluten free”, “Baked” and “65% less fat”.

Seems healthy, right?

Nope.

All marketing ploys designed to sell you junk…. Time and time again.

I didn’t know that.

I used to think my diet was good.  I ate lots of sandwiches, yogurt, pretzels, cereal, pasta...  Drank lots of juice and milk. Drank coffee with creamer.

Tons of carbs, dairy, and sugar.

That stuff bloats you.  

Not to mention, say you pop in a Subway to grab a sub, chips, and soda.  Not that bad, right?

Wrong.

Late night pizza.

Not good.  

That stuff happens all the time.

It’s much, much easier to eat badly.  

Even on team road trips, it’s really hard to eat healthy.  Often times, team meals are pizza… bus stops at locations with Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King.

Not easy places to find healthy foods.

Shortly after that Georgetown game, Harrison and I took a road trip to Whole Foods.

He filled my cart up with spinnach, kale, carrots, beats, olive oil, organic eggs, chicken, fish, unsalted peanuts, almonds, hummus, natural peanut butter, whole grain oats…

Dairy was eliminated.

Carbs were mostly eliminated.

Juices were eliminated.

Water became the default drink.

Harrison’s other big takeaway, you’re still allowed to eat junk food.  Just not all the time. But when you do, REALLY enjoy it.

I recommend having a cheat day each week.  Gives you something to look forward to.

Eating healthy requires more planning and more discipline.  Not many are willing to do it.

But if accomplished, your body composition WILL change.  

I hear lots of lacrosse players talk about wanted to put on weight to get stronger.  

I disagree.

Most of the time, those players just gorge themselves with bad foods.

And forget about cardio...

They might increase their bench a bit, but their speed and endurance plummets.  

It is 100% possible to get stronger while cutting your body fat percentage.

Professional athletes eat clean, lift, run, stretch, and get enough sleep.

There’s no reason youth and high school players can’t start adopting some of those habits.

More to come on diet in future lessons.

But I also believe that it’s much, much more effective to attack your lacrosse skills, strength and speed training with a plan.  

It’s no secret that all college sports teams have designated strength coaches.

Why not start applying some of that same organization to your individual training?

That’s where the BTB Players Manual really comes through.

We cover everything from the fundamentals to advanced components of the game.  Plus dedicated strength, endurance and speed videos.

The entire program is laid out for you to follow from 4 of the best lacrosse players of our era.  

And the best part? You can get lifetime access to the entire thing in a matter of minutes…

So what are you waiting for? Click the link below and let’s get started!

Click Here for the BTB Players Manual

Talk soon,

Coach Miller