Year End Wrap Up

My favorite write-ups and what to expect for 2024

Dec 23, 2023

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Hello all and happy Thursday. I want to highlight some of my favorite articles that I’ve written, the most popular, and what to expect for 2023.

2023 was a weird year for AG. I slowed down coaching, went through a bout of infrequent/lack of posting on IG, exited a long term relationship, PCS’d twice (CO → CCC → DC), moved cross country, had a significant amount of travel CONUS and OCONUS, started a new job in a major city (which is WILD if you’ve never lived in a larger American city), fostered new and old friendships, and started a new relationship. What’s interesting is although this seems busy, many things remained constant. Motivation and discipline are always interesting topics and can be massively impacted by change like I had this year. The few constants are what keep me grounded throughout change.

At the end of the day change is almost always good. But maintaining my diet, physique, training rhythm (and focus on specific training goals), relationship with God, and relationships with family and friends keep a level state of mind. But I may be weird, although I have a feeling many of you are similar - especially those of you that are heavily driven. I feel the most comfortable when I maintain a certain amount of stress in work/life. I like to balance A LOT of things at once. Obviously I only have a few major focuses, but there is always a lot going on. And I prefer it this way. When I go on vacation, I rarely make it a day or two without opening up my laptop. I think this is the natural state of man. Happiness is directly linked to stress, commitments, those that rely on you, all of which drive your self-evaluated level of purpose in life. The happiness curve is not a linear increasing line however. In reality, it looks like this for me:

But this shouldn’t be unfamiliar to us - it’s just like the performance/stress chart:

When we’re performing optimally it’s more likely we’re operating more aligned with our true purpose. As a result, we’re more happy. Remember that’s just a working theory, but I feel it’s extremely accurate to me and potentially many of you.

Why does that matter? Because I found out this year, as I’ve experienced it past years, what it feels like to be left on the curve, at the top of the curve, and too far to the right of the curve. Every year I get better and better at staying right in the middle, where we feel “creative, productive, focused, engaged, motivated, and in the zone” - or as I put it simply - happy. Just like the cat.

So let’s get back to the constants I mentioned earlier. Diet, physique, exercise. I certainly wasn’t perfect, but when the average is at such a high level it doesn’t matter. I maintained sub 10% body fat year round. Hit peaks in terms of strength, endurance, and speed at different points in the year. Discipline and motivation don’t even come into mind for me. These are just things I have to do in order to achieve the goals I had set for myself. Whether I do it at 5am or 9pm, the work is going to get done. I’m tired of motivation discourse. I don’t care how I feel (unless I’m legitimately sick or injured). I am going to train, I am going to work, I am going to eat right. All of this allowed me to continue to drive AG forward, which is what matters to me most.

Over this past year plus, I’ve written quite a few articles that received a ton of great feedback. Some of them apply to what I just talked about above, others wildly different. I’d like to share some of my favorite write-ups, and most popular among you:

1. The Ultimate Beginner's Running Guide

2. My Supplement Tier List

3. Defining the Perfect Week of Training, Metabolic Syndrome, and Improving Mitochondrial Function

4. Humanizing Alcohol

5. For the Sport

6. Pursue Greatness, Live Passionately, and Do So Unapologetically

7. Re-Engineering Thought and the Practice of Greatness

8. What is Acid Gambit

9. Energy Pathways

10. Mortality Rates, Obesity, and the Magic of Walking

These are just some of my (and your) favorites. I have a lot I’d like to accomplish this coming year:

1 post per week on substack
Grow IG Subscriptions (available now!)
Hit 15k+ followers on IG
Hit 2.5k+ subs on substack
Re-Release the AG Training App
Increase number of 1:1 Coaching slots
Publish new training books (upcoming: SFAS and Murph)
Publish more video content
Daily posts on IG, video breakdowns, and Q+As
Continue the podcast - this one is interesting. This year I did one interview with an incredible gent: Coach Ben Yeezus. It was a fun experiment, and also had great feedback. One potential hole I see in the podcast space is in the military fitness / readiness / POTFF space, especially with regard to conversations on hitting specific holistic performance metrics to optimize their readiness. This could come from a blend of interviews with leaders in SOF/regular mil, S+C coaches, politicians, staffers, and advisors. It’s a really interesting field that seems to lack public discourse on. This idea was not developed alone, rather one of you brought it to me as a question at first by one of you. If you have any ideas/thoughts/want to get involved, let me know!

Bringing on Lee is a MASSIVE addition and help to accomplishing these goals. There’s a lot of work to do and looking back we’ve accomplished a lot since AG started, especially while leading a full time career in the Army. It’s a ton of fun and brings a massive sense of fulfillment. Hopefully the sense of community is growing. If you want to join and get involved - there’s a lot more than just IG:

Discord
Whoop Team - Code: COMM-FA1355
Strava Run Club
AG Training App (incoming)
Last, I would love to do some IRL event. It’s difficult being dispersed all over the world - and I’m open to feedback here. I currently live in the DMV area, as do at least a few of you.

That’s all for now. Go enjoy Christmas with your families. As always, if you have feedback feel free to drop a DM on IG, drop a comment here or email me.

Cheers.

DISCLAIMER

This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Please consult a medical professional before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol.