The 10 Laws of Fitness for Attorneys

According to Merriam-Webster, the word fit has several meanings: proper or acceptable; suitable for a specified purpose; physically healthy and strong. When it comes to attorneys, we usually think of the first two definitions in the traditional moral sense.

I say attorneys also need to be fit in 4 areas: physically, emotionally/spiritually, mentally and financially fit along with the traditional meaning in order to practice law to the best of our ability.

I have thought a lot about this because over the last five years I have gotten rid of 50 pounds thereby becoming physically fit and along the way improved the other areas also. They go hand in hand.

I started the journey because I didn’t feel well and I was tired all the time. Not just because I was a single dad of two children and running my law practice, although those were factors, rather because I was overall unhealthy.

What we focus on we accomplish. I wasn’t focused on being fit in the four areas. Here’s what I did to improve in each of these areas.

I got rid of the 50 pounds by studying the following books or diets:

• The Zone Diet by Dr. Barry Sears

• The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin

• The Beauty Detox Foods by Kimberly Snyder

• Being vegan for almost 9 months

• Eating a paleo diet

• Eat Right For Your Type by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo

• How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise blog post by Tim Ferriss

• Dickerson Ross’ Meal Plan (Reduced to about 2500 calories not 3000) http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fitness-360-ross-dickerson-nutrition-program.html

• And other experiments.

You are welcome to grab these resources and study away. Do your own trial and error or you can just follow the Laws of Fitness I succinctly explain here. Following these laws will save hours that you do not have to spare.

As a direct result of losing weight and getting fit, I feel better and I am mentally more focused.

I zealously represent my clients far better than I ever have and I have built a network, The Nash Network, to help me.

I now have more confidence, awareness, and I can focus on developing relationships with my clients, this leads to better representation of them and better results.

Attorney/client relationships are the relationships focused on here. Relationships though are by far the key to the Laws of Fitness in all areas of your life. If you follow the Laws of Fitness you will see success in all of your relationships, not just with your clients.

Success to me is having great relationships. Whether it’s smiling at a stranger or developing deep relationships with those close to you, relationships are what matter. With this as the focus, you see why being physically, emotionally/spiritually, mentally and financially stable are the four pillars to these relationships and why they are the pillars of the Laws of Fitness. 

Busy attorneys can accomplish their fitness goals by following these Laws of Fitness. These aren’t laws promoting a one size fits all solution. It involves obeying the laws and listening to your body and adjusting as needed.

Laws of Fitness 1: Get a Mirror

I have a theory that many people go to the gym partly because they have full body mirrors. We humans love to look at ourselves. I love the Nashville Predators hockey team and when people notice they’re on the gravitron their reactions are priceless.

Get a mirror and place it where you can see yourself workout. Now think about if you could have your body exactly how you wanted, what it would look like?

Write this down. See yourself as this, now.

Many, many studies have shown that writing down your goals will almost guarantee you will accomplish it. I decided to be more physical and wrote down what that looked like. Here is a sample so you can fill in the blanks:

I _________________________ am a fit person.

I weigh ________________ pounds (ideal weight)

(How many pounds you currently weigh __________)

I look and feel great.

I am confident.

I am _________________ now and i want see _________________ within one year.

I will workout daily, eat healthy and listen to my body.

It is similar to taking a trip. In order to arrive at your destination, you have to know where you are (like looking in the mirror) and where you want to go (who do you want to be).We have GPS to make this simple and now you have the Laws of Fitness to make being fit simple. Simple does not equate to being easy. You have to form habits and overcome the resistance we all experience.

You may not reach your written goal within the time frame you want. That’s okay. It is better to dream big and accomplish great things but fall short of your goal then to dream small and accomplish it. Dreaming big will almost always get you farther than dreaming small.

Law of Fitness 2: Do the 20%

I lost over 50 pounds not by going to the gym, or running long distances, but by doing the 20% of all the possible things I could be doing.

This actually makes accomplishing large tasks easier. It is called Pareto’s Principle. 80% of results come from 20% of the effort.

This applies to everything in life. Here, we will focus on the few 20% of things to get massive results in fitness.

Getting a six pack versus losing your first 20 pounds will require different 20% tasks but it works the same way. Follow the Laws of Fitness and tweak them to figure out what the 20% will look like for you.

Laws of Fitness 3: Go on an Information Diet

It’s not what you add to your already busy life, it is what you take away.

The first thing I did was take Tim Ferriss’ advice and went on an information diet. I freed up wasted energy and time that I was spending on email, news, tv, internet, and social media, that
I could now use to plan how to eat healthier, exercise, and relax.

“Focus, focus, focus” like Ken Davis says. Focus on the 20% of things that will help you accomplish your goals written down in the first Law of Fitness.

If the information you’re consuming isn’t paying the bills, helping you or your family and isn’t moving you toward your fitness goals, it has to go.

For example, email is a time drain. People think they are working when they read email. Go to www.unroll.me and input your email. Look at all the sales and marketing emails you are subscribed to and unsubscribe. Use this saved time to accomplish your written goals.

Now look at email, tv and social media, and other information sources. Cut accordingly. Live like a fit person and you will be a fit person.

Laws of Fitness 4: Eat Your Way to Being Fit

Tim Ferriss and others say the only way to lose fat is through eating properly. Period.

If your goal is to lose fat then eat like a fit person. The fittest people I know eat the correct amount of protein, carbs and fat. Alex Hormozi teaches to eat protein first (for me it’s 200 grams of protein. Then eat the other macros to accomplish your goal of losing fat, gaining muscle or both.

Many try to out work their eating to lose fat. It won’t work. Calories matter. Stick to eating healthy to lose fat and then workout to build muscle.

Laws of Fitness 5: Meals/Grocery List

You have a new food pyramid. Forget the one you learned growing up. Your food pyramid has clean proteins, healthy fats, and carbs (carbs are carbs but some will have negative effects). These items are on the perimeter of the grocery store.

Of course whole foods are the best but you have to plan ahead and be prepared.

Proteins: Chicken, turkey, beef, fish.

Alternative Proteins: Whey or other type of powder proteins. Energy bars if they don’t have tons of carbohydrates.

Fats: Olive oil, coconut oil, avocados and nuts.

Water: Natural Spring water or other water that aids in your body being more alkaline.

Carbohydrates: All varieties of vegetables, oatmeal, apples, berries and other low carb fruit. The key is to eat fruits and vegetables that are low on the glycemic index (they won’t spike your blood sugar).

Laws of Fitness 6: Workout to Build Muscle

Working out builds muscle. Remember you have to eat correctly to lose fat. Don’t get confused with this. You can’t workout enough to compensate for bad eating habits.

Working out while eating properly will accelerate your fat loss. Muscle eats fat. At first your body weight is probably enough to jump start fat loss. As you build strength and as your doctor allows, increase the weight. Law number seven will give you exercises to do.

Using the 80/20 rule you will focus on eating first. The first four to eight weeks you will create the new habit of eating healthy. Experts say it takes a minimum of 21 days, and an average of 66 days, to change a habit.*

So once you create the new habit of eating healthy or you think you can start two new habits at once like I did, start working out.

Laws of Fitness 7: Workout at Home/Office-No Gyms or Running Long Distances

I literally started working out at home in my living room. Now I go to the gym. I still do some at home exercises when time doesn’t allow the gym or I am traveling.

I start with a warm up of three sets of 20 jumping jacks and 10 leg lifts. I then do three sets of 10 push ups, 10 crunches, 10 squats and five backward lunges each leg.

That’s it. You can workout everyday, no gyms, no money, and no running long distances. If you get bored, work out in the park or add different exercises. It’s actually a great idea to add variety to your workout but don’t forget the 80/20 Rule.

Go on walks, jogs or bike rides also. Get out and enjoy the exercise.

Stay focused and do the minimum over a long period of time for the best results and only increase variety and weights after the habits are formed and you can reach the next plateau.

Laws of Fitness 8: Get Emotionally/Spiritually Fit to Eat Right

A wise person once said, “The waves will keep coming, learn to surf.”

Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and is a must for success in life. It is also necessary to reach your fitness goals.

Maybe you're not familiar with this term. Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions and use this information to guide one's thinking and actions".**

If you have unresolved emotional issues you might resort to addictions that have helped you cope up until this point. Some are addicted to smoking, alcohol, drug use, tv, games, sex, porn or the most common addiction, food abuse.

Many people eat unhealthy food because they weren’t taught and/or they have emotional issues. The “My Fitness Pal” app is useful to track your food.

Meditating, yoga (Inner Engineering), counseling, working out and pursuing your passions help you sort through these issues. Find things that make you happy.

Sit and meditate. Some teach to “think of your thoughts when you’re meditating as clouds.” Instead of focusing on the clouds, smile, as you watch them pass by.

It takes time to become great at meditating. That is normal. The key is being still enough to recognize emotions and letting them be. Recognizing and accepting the feelings you have, is what makes us human.

Laws of Fitness 9: Financial Diet, You Can Afford to be Fit

One of the biggest excuses I hear is that it costs too much to eat healthy.

It is just that, an excuse. Jack Canfield said in The Success Principle you will notice people do not complain about the things they can’t change. They don’t go around complaining about gravity because no one can change that fact and we probably would not want to.

People look for excuses why something won’t work instead of looking for ways to make something work. If you want to get fit, I have provided you with these Laws of Fitness. They are like the law of gravity, if you do them you will get fit. No amount of complaining will change the fact they work.

In reality you can’t afford not to get fit. You can’t afford not to choose to follow the Laws of Fitness and be healthy. You don’t feed your dogs or cats junk food because it’s not good for them. Aren’t your kids and yourself just as, if not more, precious?

Plus, by eating healthy and working out you are preventing health problems such as illness, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. You can’t afford not to eat healthy and workout.

Laws of Fitness 10: Balance

Tara Brach paints a beautiful picture with these words, “Imagine your heart, now picture it smiling.”

Picturing my heart smiling always brings a smile to my face.

The world is so busy, especially for attorneys. There is a real pressure to get cases, zealously represent our clients, pay the bills, and support our family both with resources and time.

For me, the information diet created a domino effect in my life. I know I am not smart enough or disciplined enough to resist the army of experts and resources that companies such as Google and Facebook use to get my attention. So I avoid these things as much as possible.

I started to see the time I was wasting online and on email. I started to have space to think. It was a healthy change and one that led me to continue to declutter my mind, home, office and life.

Just like I decided to be fit and became it, I have now decided to be wealthy. Not so I can sacrifice my friends and loved ones to amass a ton of money but wealthy to have time. Time to choose to do what I want and work on my legacy. To make my mark on this world.

The most valuable thing we all have, in equal amounts, is time. How I use this time is the predictor of the legacy I will leave in this world.

I love freedom. I am so thankful for our soldiers that allow us to have this freedom and more time to pursue our dreams. I am thankful especially to my older brother who serves our country and who showed me the way to fitness freedom.

One of the downsides to freedom is we think anything is possible. I can eat whatever I want and still be fit. There are certain laws in the world that are unchangeable.

In business we are taught to say no to opportunities. We realize that if we said yes to everything we will get overwhelmed and burnt out.

I agree with this. I say with life though, say yes to everything. This means accepting things how they are. Don’t battle every little thing. Don’t argue with the Laws of Fitness. Think of them, decide if they feel like something that is true, say yes to them and do them daily and you will see the results.

Say yes to the Laws of Fitness and say yes to success. Attorneys, it’s time to become fit, in every sense of the word.

Brian Lee Nash is the founder of 615-NASH-LAW and The Nash Network and has officer in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. His practice focuses on personal injury law, criminal defense and professional license defense. www.615NashLaw.com 

*Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology,

**(1990). Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer https://www.verywell.com/what-is-emotional-intelligence-2795423