Fitness Wrap: Michael Mealor
Diet
“I don’t eat breakfast and it’s not because I do intermittent fasting. I’ve just never been one to eat breakfast. I wake up and have a [vitamin-rich] green powder drink every morning as I’m making my coffee, and I drink black coffee every day. That keeps me going until noon or 1 p.m., but I don’t follow any specific diet. My only two rules are moderation, so I don’t gorge myself, and I don’t eat anything that I know will make me feel terrible. With those two rules, I eat whatever I’m in the mood for. Today, I had a salad and some chicken because I wanted something light so that I could keep moving throughout the day. But it’s not like I rule everything out [of my diet]; I had a burger two nights ago and I also love pizza and burritos. Our bodies are meant to have a certain amount of fat and carbs every day. In between meals, I’ll have nuts for snacks and I also love those peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets. The ones from Trader Joe’s are fantastic. If I need something sweet, I’ll take just one bite of a chocolate chip cookie or I’ll allow myself one peanut butter cup.”
Fitness
“During Covid, I built a full home gym because I’m one of those weird people who likes the at-home workouts. I hated seeing someone I knew at the gym because it would interrupt my flow of the workout; I’m on a mission and I like to keep my heart rate kind of elevated the whole time. So when Covid came around, I actually really enjoyed the isolation of my workouts. I was spending $150 a month on a gym membership, and I’m now saving that amount. I try to work out five days a week and I also do yoga at a yoga studio two-to-three evenings a week. For my home gym workouts, I usually target two different body parts each day. Before that, and after some stretching, I always do my ab workouts as kind of a warm-up. I found that when I did a hard workout first, I was tired so I would find any excuse not to finish my ab workout. When I’m done with that, I focus on two muscle groups, like back and shoulders, chest and back, and biceps and triceps. I have a cable weight machine and also use dumbbells. Then I always finish my workouts with a minimum of 20 minutes cardio, but my goal is ideally 30-to-45 minutes cardio to get a high heart rate going. I alternate either on a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes of hard spinning or outdoor runs for a slower heart rate and so I’m not sucking wind.”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.