Good morning! And happy 4th of July to all my fellow American brethren!

I hope you all have a safe, fun-filled holiday weekend.

I'm spending my weekend in downtown Seattle. It's nicer than I expected. Quite nice, actually. Beautiful.

With that said, July represents the second half of the year, and so I want to pose the question: how are your 2025 health and fitness resolutions going?

If they're going poorly, don't sweat. You've still got half a year left to make up for it and turn things around. I encourage you all to prioritize health and fitness because – well, I'm in the business of doing so.

If you had zero health and fitness related resolutions, here's a few mid-year ones you can pick up:

1. Lift weights for at 30-45 minutes 3 days per week.

2. Eat your goal bodyweight in protein every single day (if you want to weigh 175 pounds, eat 175 grams of protein daily)

3. Go on a 30-60 minute walk daily.

4. Sleep 7 hours every night.

5. Sign up for a fitness event (like a 5k or something simple) and complete it.

6. Fast for 24 hours one day each week (yes, fast from food for the entire day. This is a great way to set yourself up for success if losing weight/body fat is a goal of yours. A day of 0 calories makes it easy to ensure you're maintaining a weekly calorie deficit – which is how we humans lose weight).

7. Complete your first pullup, or your first set of 10 pullups, or even your 15 pullups depending on your level of advancement.

I made the resolution to go dry for all of 2025. Yes, you read that right – I'm doing a Dry 2025. No alcohol. No exceptions.

It's going well. I was never a very frequent drinker, but it is something I would do occasionally (maybe a couple times a month and moreso when reuniting with friends and during holidays). One of my main inspirations for taking on this challenge was to inspire my clients that there are other ways (and other beverages) to enjoy during social and celebratory occasions.

I'm also acting as an accountability buddy for some clients that are trying to quit alcohol for a variety of health-related reasons.

It's nothing heroic, but I haven't had any alcohol since Thanksgiving (late November) 2024.

This has been a fun personal challenge for me and I've gotta tell you, after a night out with my friends, it feels good to come back with a full wallet. That is to say – I'm saving a lot of money throughout the year by not buying alcohol, whether that's just a drink with dinner at a restaurant, bar hopping with the pals, or stocking up with alcohol for a 3 hour river "float" (which, in the case of the Boise River, is a gross understatement for how aggressively mother nature smashes you around for a 7 mile stretch. It's incredibly fun, but not as relaxing as "float" may sound – haha!).

And yes, I am still going out and partying it up, alcohol-free, with my friends on some weekends.

I speak with a lot of young (20 year somethings) people that are trying to maximize their body composition and they realize that alcohol limits their potential muscularity and leanness, but they feel like they'll miss out on a good social (or even dating) life without alcohol.

I'm not one to tell anyone that they can't drink alcohol. I do inform clients that if you drink even once per week, one of the easiest ways to lose stubborn weight/body fat is to eliminate drinking. However, I also inform them that life is about balance and priorities. Drinking may make it more difficult to look and perform at your best, but if you're diligent, you can look and perform pretty close to your best while drinking alcohol somewhat regularly. If that's good enough for you, than by all means, have at it.

But if you're only drinking because you're worried about it impacting your social life – rest easy. It won't impact your social life. Unless you're only friends with people because you can silently drink in a pub beside each other, nobody is going to stop hanging out with you because you don't drink. And you most definitely can go out to bars, clubs, parties, or whatever and still socialize and cut up without indulging in alcoholic beverages.

Anyway, I'll chat more about my personal experience with no alcohol during the year at a later date, but so far – as expected – this resolution has had nothing but positive impacts for me.

My friends still like me.

I still have a fine social life.

I feel better.

My body composition is steadily (albeit, slowly) improving (this is probably due to a combination of being consistent for many years in the gym, muscle maturity in my 34th year of life, good programming, maintaining training intensity, and prioritizing body composition goals this year, but the no-alcohol definitely isn't hurting and is probably helping a tad bit in my case).

My mind is clear.

I wake up every morning feeling great – even after a late night out hopping about bars, sipping water, iced tea, or the occasional diet soda.

I'm more productive on the weekends.

I think my face is leaning out despite me slowly (and I mean very slowly) "bulking." Again, this may not be 100% directly related to not drinking for the past 8 months, but I have always observed people who drink become fattier in the face during their 30s, 40s, and beyond. You can get away without seeing such effects in your 20s, but after that, the toxicity of alcohol (even when consumed occasionally) begins to show negative effects.

I've saved a sneaky amount of money. This one really is shocking. Like I've said, I've never been a frequent (weekly) drinker. I've always been more of a social drinker. But I realistically probably drank 2-4 days per month. However, during these occasions (that in the grand scheme are actually fairly regular) I'd throw back drinks at a competitive rate. I would compensate for my somewhat mellow frequency by drinking a lot. Mostly shots of tequila or glasses (okay, bottles) of wine. Maybe a couple gin & tonics or an old fashioned at the bars.

You can very quickly end up 100-200 dollars poorer after 1 night out at the bars. If you pair that with stocking a couple bottles of wine and 1 bottle or liquor at the house monthly, along with 1-2 drinks at dinner at a restaurant once a week, and compound that over a year, you're quickly looking at a significant amount of thousands of dollars being drained from your bank account on something that really has zero positive benefits.

So far I'd say this is probably the biggest difference I've noticed. I didn't realize how much money I'd occasionally throw away on something that made me feel crummy. I mean, I did notice it, but I never fully conceptualized it until I eliminated alcohol from the equation and had something to compare it too.

The next biggest difference is the relief knowing that after a late night out on the town I'm going to wake up feeling totally normal. No dragging about. No queeziness. No hangovers.

Anyway, have a great holiday weekend! Enjoy it! Get outside, go for a walk, and get a pump (garage gym bro lingo for a lifting session) before heading out and basking in the sun.

Then, after the weekend, sit down and revist your resolutions. What's going well? What could be going better? Adjust your plan so you can finish the second half of the year strong. It's only going to get more challenging once the bigger holidays come around at the end of the year. So lock in! You body, mind, and your future healthy self will be grateful.

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