12: How I Maintain a Strong and Lean Physique

Michael Kummer:
Welcome back to another episode of the Primer Shift podcast. In today's episode, we're gonna talk about what my workout regimen looks like. And I decided to record this episode because I get two questions asked a lot. Number one is, what do you do to maintain your physique? How do you get there? And number two is, it's more like a statement question combination when people say, you know, Michael, I work out so much more than you do, but I don't look like you. How is that possible? So in this episode, I'll answer those two questions. And I think my answers might surprise you, especially the answer to my second question, because it's not only related to how I work out and how often I work out. But before we gonna get into my current workout routine, let me share with you how my workout routine has changed over the years, ever since my early days as a professional track and field athlete. So in my late teens and early twenties, I started track and field, or I started in my late teens, and then... turned it into a profession in my early 20s. And at that time, I worked out 10 to 12 times per week. So Monday through Friday, typically two workouts a day, one in the morning, one in the evening. And of course, my entire workout routine was focused on optimizing physical performance. So I could compete, I could win races, you know? Unfortunately, nothing else as part of my lifestyle was geared towards optimal performance. I slept like... I didn't care about sleep really, I ate whatever I wanted. The fact that nutrition plays a role in physical performance didn't even occur to me. And so in retrospect I guess I could have maybe done better if I had dialed in all the other aspects of my life, but that wasn't the case. In 2007 then I came well at some point I decided track and field professionally is not for me because you can't earn any money in Austria doing that. Unless you play soccer, you're a skier, you know, there is no money in sports. So I stopped doing that. I followed my career in technology, started my own business, failed miserably. And then at some point I came to the US via Switzerland in 2007. And during that time, for the next five years, actually, I didn't work out much at all. I mean, I went to the gym with a buddy from time to time, you know, like doing biceps, curls and all of the things that you do to kind of, you know. look better in the mirror maybe or in your bathing suit. But it was mostly talking and not so much working out. I mean, we made some progress, but it was a joke at the end of the day, what we put in terms of physical activity and exercise. Couple of years later though, in 2014, I met a friend who not only introduced me to the Paleo diet, which changed my and my family's life forever because that put us on a path towards thinking about what we put in our bodies. But we also started doing CrossFit-like workouts in his basement, you know, and we picked up running, you know, he liked to run. So we ran, you know, especially with the babies, you know, in a running stroller, we did that a lot. We did the high intensity stuff, and I really slimmed down and lost all of my belly fat and body fat, you know, period that I had accumulated during the five years of not working out and following a standard American diet. So I had really beneficial, a beneficial impact to my overall health and fitness. And then in 2017, I discovered CrossFit. Well, my wife really did and I joined her. And from that point on, I started working out much more frequently and, you know, with more intensity type of workouts. I did CrossFit five to six times a week, you know, really hit it hard every single day. I couldn't, until I couldn't walk anymore. Paid no. attention to recovery, at least not much. And then I added in some reheats, some reduced exertion, high intensity interval training, especially using a bike. I have this, this reheat bike called Carol. It's an AI powered bike that basically allows you to do very high intensity, but at a reduced exertion, interval trainings that provide you the same benefits in a very compressed timeframe as much longer cardio workout. So that was kind of my cardio. and I layered it onto my five to six times a week CrossFit. So there were weeks, I guess, where I worked out, maybe six, seven, eight times a week. So fairly, not quite as much as during my professional years, but still, and I, paired with the ketogenic diet in particular, I mean, I got ripped and I got pretty fit and I built muscle tissue and I looked fairly good, but I got injured from time to time because I didn't pay attention to recovery. And the older I got, I'm now 41, you know. And so these days, my workout regimen looks significantly different to everything that I have ever done in the past. So what that means is I work out twice a week usually, sometimes in a good week, it's three times a week, and it's usually CrossFit. I played, or I tried kickboxing in between, but you know, between kickboxing and CrossFit, I realized I like CrossFit more, so I, and I didn't. workout more than those two, three times maybe. So you know kickboxing got a little bit pushed to the side unfortunately even though it's fun. And so that's what I do. You know I high intensity twice a week usually on a Monday and Friday are typically my workout days. And I do high intensity stuff, heavy lifting, sprinting, jumping, sometimes running you know even though I'm not a fan of running but it's part of some CrossFit workouts. And I occasionally still do my re-hit, you know, the bike, because it's very low impact, but provides a good kind of, you know, cardio aspect, improving my cardio respiratory fitness along the way. And so that's what I do. So fairly low volume overall. I do a lot of walking, though. I walk on most days twice a day for 45 minutes, just walking the dog. And so I get movement in. I'm sitting less than I used to. And that is important because there are even studies out there that show that even with the same workout volume if you sit long periods during the day, then the workout is not gonna make up for that in terms of reducing your cardiovascular risk factors. So these days I stand a lot, I walk a lot and I sit, I don't sit a lot at least not over, you know extended periods. So the walking really helps in the morning after my You know, I get up in the morning, I do the chores on the homestead, feed the animals and everything. Then I do my work for maybe an hour or two. Then I either go workout on if it's a workout day or I go walk the dog for 45 minutes. I continue working, you know, get up in between, check on the animals, etc. Walk again and kind of, you know, just keep moving. And of course, there's a lot of work that's going on our homestead. You know, I'm carrying, you know, 50 pound feedbacks every couple of days. I. I construct buildings for the animals. I do a lot of manual labor, significantly more than I've ever done. So overall, I want to say, if you just want to look at it from a caloric expenditure perspective, I'm probably burning more calories just being active throughout the day than I did in the past doing CrossFit every single day. Because CrossFit workouts, I burn maybe somewhere between, I don't know, 400 to 700 calories. and then I would sit the rest of the day. Now I'm burning the same or more, not with one single workout, but by just being active. And so that's what I do to stay active. And funny enough, we just purchased some land. If you follow me on the newsletter, you know that we just purchased some acreage so we can expand our homestead, raise cattle and dairy cows, and all of the things that we want to feed ourselves. And during the closing... At the attorney's office, you know the sellers, you know cattlemen, you know, they are real farmers You know that the older one it was like a father-son Combination and the older gentleman looked at me and said what do you do? You know and I'm like me in terms of what do you do to look like you and I'm like well, you know You know, I do work out of course, but I quickly explained that it's not only about working out that helps you get the most out of those workouts, to get the most out of those two workouts, that high intensity workouts that I do every day. And so let's talk about, you know, what I do to maintain my physique because arguably if you look at some of the pictures from, and I'm gonna try to include them, you know, at least in the in the video episodes, so for those of you who are watching you can see them. If you compare how I looked like when I was in my 20s as a professional athlete, how I looked then when I didn't work out at all and how I look now, I would argue that my physique is better than it's ever been and I don't work out more for that, you know, but I do other things that go hand in hand with the physical activity and the recovery aspect. So let's talk about some of those factors that I think are crucial if you wanna improve your performance from a longevity perspective. Keep in mind that my workout regimen is not geared towards going to the Olympics or performing at the CrossFit Games. No, obviously I like performing well, I like to win competitions when I do them or even in our regular workouts. But that's not the goal. My goal is to challenge my body so that my muscle tissue, my bones, my joints, my ligaments remain as strong as possible for what I need to live. a good life, meaning to be able to lift heavy stuff, to play with the kids, to pick up, carry furniture and all of those things, to be able to do that pain free. That's my goal and that's what my workout regimen is geared towards. Coincidentally, very often it also leads to very good performance in the gym. If we do like a workout, I usually perform fairly well in comparison to people who work out significantly more. And so... You get those benefits, but it's not the main driver of what I do and that's important because if you wanna, you know, If you're young and you want to go to the CrossFit Games or to the Olympics or whatever, you know, Working out twice a week is probably not gonna get you there, you know, to be perfectly honest. Now, what are some of those factors that I think are important to kind of help that help me maintain my current physique and even, You know, get stronger and leaner and more muscular over time because that's what has happened over the last few years. I've gotten leaner. I covered some of that in one of the last episodes. My body fat percentage has actually dropped from 13 to nine in the last few years, even with less workout. Um, and I've gotten arguably strong. I can lift heavier, you know, I'm, I perform better, you know? So number one, no surprise diet, you know, and in particular, my protein, fat ratio post workout is something I play, I pay very close attention to, or as you know, I'm not counting my macros by any in a means. I'm not counting my protein. I'm accounting my fat, but I look just you know Roughly that I maintain a fairly Equal ratio between protein and fat after a workout because studies have shown by doing that by having a protein to fat ratio of One to one roughly it supports optimal muscle protein synthesis So that's important to grow and maintain lean muscle tissue So that's what I do. In other words, I don't eat carbs right after workout. I don't eat carbs before a workout either. You know, I usually work out faster than the morning and I had this conversation today with a buddy in the gym where I told him, you know, if the workout is short enough where I can tap into my glycogen stores, you know, of the liver and the muscle tissue, I perform incredibly well during those shorter sprint type of workouts. If the workout is longer and I run out of glycogen, because I haven't had any carbs since the night before, I run into issues, my performance degrades. But that's perfectly fine. I'm fine with, you know, having a performance hit for the benefits of having a better insulin or optimizing my insulin sensitivity. That's a key factor in longevity and keeping the risk for metabolic diseases low to have high insulin sensitivity. so that your pancreas has only to has to release only a little bit of insulin to get the glucose out of the bloodstream and into that cells where it's needed, right? And so by avoiding carbs before and after a workout you teach your body to be more effective at burning fats for energy but also to support optimal muscle protein synthesis. So that's one way. Number two is very often and in the same realm I leverage ketosis to shed body fat. So if I don't eat anything really from dinner to noon the next day and I work out in the morning, I'm in ketosis. And during that time when my body needs energy, what does it do? Well, it uses fatty acids, it uses ketones that are a byproduct of fatty acid metabolism to fuel my cells, to fuel my brain. And guess where that fat is coming from? From, you know... anywhere on my body where it's not needed necessarily. So my fat reserves basically are getting used up during that time and that's how I maintain a fairly lean physique and you kind of look shredded. And I pay very close attention of course to my micronutrient intake. I've mentioned it a couple of times already. I make sure that I eat food that I don't care about the calories, the energy factor. I always get enough energy I feel like. I pay attention to micronutrient density. How much? micronutrients are in the foods that I'm eating so I can supply them and make sure my body has enough to do you know all the recovery work and the muscle building work and everything that needs to be done to recover and to you know build more tissue lean muscle tissue and so obviously you know Organ meats are a great way to do that free stride or fresh, you know, however you want to do it We just here at the kumar household. We typically, you know take our own supplements because we you know, we have them and they're very convenient sleep and not a super important factor. If you don't sleep well, then your recovery is going to suffer and your body is not going to be able to do what it needs to do to build muscle tissue to repair the damage inflicted by your workout. So on most days, I get seven to eight hours of sleep. It doesn't happen every single day. There are exceptions, of course, but you know, the exceptions never become the rule. There are maybe some days where I get sick, six and a half hours if I travel or whatever the case might be or time change or I don't know. But usually seven to eight hours is what I get and I make sure I get enough restorative sleep. That means deep and REM sleep. Incredibly important for memory consolidation on the one hand, but also for the physical recovery aspect. And that means no caffeine in the afternoon, no alcohol close to bedtime, you know, no big meals close to bedtime, because all of those things impact sleep, you know, proper stress management. Just last night. You know, I was kind of, you know, my head was racing thoughts and so I put on Apollo, you know, one of the tactile stimulation devices I have to kind of, you know, settle me down to suppress a little bit my sympathetic nervous system, to bring back the parasympathetic one and that has helped a lot to, you know, for me to sleep better and to get more of those restorative hours of sleep. Sun exposure, also incredibly important. We talked about it in the sleep episode. If I get sun exposure during the day, especially in the early morning, I sleep better. and that helps me maintain my physique and improve my performance over time. Recovery, obviously very important. The more you stress your body with exercise and other things, you know, positive stressors, like we've talked in the episode about hormesis, the more you need to pay attention to recovery. And most people don't do that and they get into an overtraining and that leads to their performance actually going down instead of improving. And I see that a lot, especially when people tell me, oh, but I work out six times a week and I don't look like Lewis. Well, because you're working out too much, maybe for the recovery that you were doing. If you're a pro athlete, don't work out like a pro athlete and then neglect the recovery because pro athletes take care of both the exercise, the stressor, as well as the recovery. So I do sauna bathing, cold plunging, walking, just getting blood flowing, mobility work, even though that's something I need to focus much more on the older I get. And just listening to your body. If I don't feel like working out in a day because I feel like run down or not really in the mood, I don't want to say in the mood because I'm typically not in the mood to work out. But I might feel like, you know, today my body says no and I don't go. You know, as easy as that. Or I go but really dial it back and leave my ego in the car, you know, and just do light weights. You know, there were some classes just the last few weeks at CrossFit where I did like, you know, the weight that the women... Instead, and you know, because I didn't feel like pushing my body more, but I wanted to get some blood flowing and that's what I did. And so very important recovery. So key takeaways for this episode. You know, more is not always better. I, we discussed that in a previous episode already, you know, listen to your body and make sure you stress your body enough physically, but not too much. So you get out stronger on the other end, you know. Make your workouts count. Don't waste time standing around and talking all day. You can do that somewhere else. If you go to the gym, make sure you focus on your workout, you put in the effort based on your abilities without getting hurt, of course, without getting injured and without getting into overtraining, but push yourself, make it count, and then move on and do something else. Hit workouts, high intensity interval training and lifting heavy are much better than cardio. Even though if you run a lot, yes, you can lose body fat and everything, but the more lean muscle tissue you build, the more energy those muscles will consume. And so the more of the energy that you eat goes into building and maintaining your muscles and are not turned into fat tissue. And so I really like HIIT training. It's short, it's sweet, heavy lifting. way more than going for a run for an hour. It's better for your body, better for your joints, and ultimately better for your body composition as well. Focus on diet, sleep, and recovery. Incredibly important. If you don't do that, it doesn't really matter what you do in the gym, you're never gonna reach the goals that you have, unless your goals are very low. But if you wanna, not that I should be a measuring stick for anything, but I know that if I wouldn't be doing or focusing on my diets, recovery and sleep, my physique would be entirely different. I like my physique and that's why I'm doing those things that I'm doing to maintain it without having to be in the gym every single day. Listen to your body, incredibly important. And with that, we're gonna wrap it up. It was a short episode, but I hope it gave you some sort of idea of what I do and what I don't do most importantly. I'm not in the gym all day, I'm not a gym rat. who spends hours and hours in the gym to maintain a physique, my physique. No, it's not necessary. I think if you do the right things outside of the gym and you make your workouts count, you can do it with relatively little time investment and enjoy doing some of the other things that I'm hoping you enjoy. And with that, we're going to wrap it up. If you like this episode, subscribe, follow, share, and I'll see you in the next one.