Sean Corcoran

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2025 January

Health & Fitness

Cutting Through the Noise

There’s a lot of noise out there when it comes to health & fitness. This is dumb because all you need to do to be healthy & fit (think dream body & feeling amazing) is like 3 pretty simple behaviors consistently for 6-24 months depending on your starting point. Let’s cut through the noise together & review the 5 things you need to do. Should take < 8 minutes.

First - Why value any of my knowledge on health & fitness? I’ve spent 10+ years obsessively studying & practicing how to be healthy & fit. My health/fitness resumé includes:

  • 10+ marathons with a fastest avg. pace of 6:54
  • Ironman Arizona (140.6 miles)
  • 50 mile ultramarathon
  • Fastest 5k time of 17:35 (5:35 min/mile)
  • Benching over 315 lbs
  • Annual blood work showing good overall health
  • Feeling great in my body (granted I’m 24)

I’ve figured out what is actually important and read countless books/articles to cultivate an understanding of the science underpinning it all. Hopefully this proves I have at least some expertise in this area but as with any generalized advice, don’t just take it at face value - put it to the test in your own life. On the flip side, do realize I have no financial incentive here & am genuinely just trying to help whoever is reading this achieve their dream state of health & fitness. Now let’s dive into the 5 things that actually matter.

#1 - Discipline

Doing a few things consistently for a long time is pretty much all that really matters in this game. It is also where most people get tripped up. Below I talk about some strategies/tactics for consistency but here’s the overarching truth: If you aren’t willing to change who you are fundamentally as a person then nothing in your life will fundamentally change besides maybe your external environment. You have to erase the old you with their bad habits & thought patterns to make way for the new you. No set of tactics or strategies will work without a willingness to do that so if you aren’t willing to do that stop reading now and go back to your life but don’t be confused when you haven’t made any progress in six months.

The best way to do something consistently is to make it a habit. The best way to make something a habit is to do it consistently until it becomes one. There’s a chicken & egg situation here that you overcome by using discipline & willpower until you’ve formed a habit.

Having a clear understanding of what your goal is & why it’s important to you & drilling that in your subconscious provides fuel to your discipline & willpower. It’s not necessary (all that matters is you actually do the thing) but it’s highly helpful. In that process you might realize you don’t actually want to endure the pain required to reach your goal in which case you can change your goal (“get a six pack” v.s. “get & maintain a healthy weight”). Some guiding principles here: Be honest with yourself, have almost too much self belief, set your goals for you not for someone else, and don’t let fear drive your decisions.

At a certain point you just need to decide who you are going to be & accept whatever pain you will endure in becoming that person or accept not being that person. If you fuck up once or twice don’t worry about it just get back on the path.

#2 - Start small & don’t get injured

If you haven’t caught on yet there’s a pretty central theme here - consistency over time. Another way people blow their consistency is they take on too much at once & get overwhelmed or they get physically injured. Don’t do that. Start with one small manageable goal (e.g. 20 minutes in the gym 2 times a week) & build up from there.

Try to avoid situations with a significant risk of injury. Going hard when you feel good can be great but if it puts you at risk of psychological burn out or injury it’s undisciplined. Being consistently good is better than being occasionally great & consistently bad.

#3 - Sleep

Sleep is probably the most important factor for maintaining good health & fitness but also the hardest to get right. The most impactful tactics around sleep in my experience & from the science are:

  • Getting enough sleep (varies by individual but 7-9 hours usually)
  • Having consistent sleep & wake times (+ or - an hour is a good target)
  • Viewing sunlight early in the morning & around sunset (even if it’s cloudy outside)
  • Reducing alcohol intake
  • Not eating too close to bedtime
  • Having a good sleep environment (cool, dark, quiet)

#4 - Exercise

Your exact regimen will depend on your goal but typically I recommend some combination of resistance training, low intensity cardio, and high intensity cardio. My guiding principle for exercise: keep it simple & show up.

Showing up to do the workout is all that matters even if you don’t do it right or stop after 15 minutes or feel like death or whatever. All that matters is you show up & form / deepen the habit.  You’ll also be surprised how much progress you can make just doing a little bit v.s. doing nothing.

As for keeping it simple, just know the goals of the three types of exercise:

Resistance training - Break down your muscles by using them to move heavy stuff. Think lifting or calisthenics.

Low intensity cardio - Maintain a heart rate of <= (180 - your age) for 30+ minutes / session. Think jogging or walking uphill - can talk but slightly winded.

High intensity cardio - Try to get your heart rate as high as possible for 4-12 minutes. Rest & repeat. Think sprints.

#5 - Nutrition

Nutrition is the noisiest area of them all. My take is you can eat whatever you want as long as you’re following these five principles:

  1. Eat the right amount of calories, i.e. don’t be aggressively gaining or losing weight
  2. Eat enough protein, which is around 1 g / lb of bodyweight
  3. Cover your micronutrient needs (vitamins & minerals)
  4. Support your gut microbiome through daily intake of fiber & fermented foods
  5. Moderate toxins (incl. alcohol)

Each one of those principles could be a book & #5 is kinda a catch all because certain foods like sugar and saturated fat can become toxic in large quantities. But, if you are able to follow those principles successfully I don’t care if you're carnivore or vegan you’ll be alright.

So ya that’s it. Don’t overthink it. Just do those things consistently, listen to your body, & drown out the rest of the noise. Discipline is the reason 95% of people fail. Don’t let yourself down - that’s a self-fulfilling cycle. If you’re in that cycle you can break out right now starting today. I believe in you.

Bonus Principle: Mental & Emotional Health

Mental/emotional health & physical health are deeply connected. Really they just fall under the umbrella of health and if you are lacking in either category you will suffer. These are the highest leverage things to fortify your mental & emotional health in my experience & from the science:

Sleep - Nothing will decimate your mental health quicker than acute and/or chronic sleep disruption.

Social Connection - Spending enough time with people you love is powerfully healing. “Enough” is individual.

Understand Yourself - Humans operate on narratives. Understanding the story of your life helps you make sense of yourself including how your mind operates, your habits, your emotions, etc.

There’s obviously much more but if you do those 3 things well you’ll probably be in a pretty good spot. If things are really bad don’t be afraid to seek professional help. I’d generally say to stay away from antidepressants and other drugs if you can. One final note - Don’t take things too seriously. We’re just monkey people on a wet rock flying through space trying to figure it all out.