Health and Fitness Insights for Travel Nurses

1. Table of Contents

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   What is your daily weekday routine?

This is a loaded question. I wake up at 4 am and immediately use the restroom and then weigh in. (I have a meet coming up so I have to make sure my weight is on point). I then eat a homemade smoothie bowl consisting of 4 different berries, carrots, and kale topped off with a dash of granola. I workout from 5 am to about 6:45 am then go home, drink my post-workout shake (protein powder, banana, and kale) and then get ready to head off to work. I work from 730a-5p and I eat three times while at work (9 am, 12 pm & 3 pm). After work I go home and make dinner and hang out with the fam. Then go to bed about 8:30 PM to do it all over again.

2. How do you find time to exercise with a baby girl and a full-time job?

I go to bed at 8:30 pm and wake up at 4 am. I have to make it a priority every day. I not only workout because I love to compete but I want to be around a long time for my daughter Avery and Hannah, my wife.

3. What does your daily nutrition look like?

I personally count my macros and I have a nutrition coach who programs that for me. However, I don’t fill a bunch of crap into my diet just because it “fits” my macros. I try to make sure my micronutrient needs are taken care of as well. I eat a lot of lean proteins, sweet potatoes, eggs/egg whites, jasmine rice, and veggies. I have been doing a lot of research on how foods balance hormone levels, so I have been eating a lot of Kale, broccoli, and bone broth!!

4. How do you define being physically “healthy” for yourself?

Being healthy is a journey for me, and my journey has taken a few different routes. I was heavy into Crossfit and now I strictly workout to compete in Olympic Weightlifting, but when I started my journey I was diagnosed with Tachycardia and was told that if I didn’t make significant changes in my lifestyle I would have a heart attack in the next 5 years. I was put on a medication called Diltiazem that I had to take every day. After two and a half years I can proudly say that I no longer have the need to take medication for my heart.

5. How do you stay “healthy” mentally, spiritually, and emotionally? 

Prayer and meditation, as well as keeping a balanced life. Simple as that!

6. What type of exercise is your favorite and why?

Olympic weightlifting because there is no better feeling than getting repeatedly crushed by big weight.

7. How do you relax after a long work day and exercising?

Hang out with the family. Although some may not think chasing an 18 month old around the house or yard is relaxing it doesn’t matter how long my day was because when I get home and she yells daddy with a big smile and runs up to me to give me a hug I instantly forget about the day.

8. What advice would you have for someone who may look healthy on the outside but makes poor eating choices, poor drinking habits, and does not exercise?

Start slow. If you want to life a healthier lifestyle don’t try to make wholesale changes because that rarely works. Start by cutting out soda or some food you know you should not be eating (like Taco Bell). Stick with that for a month. Then add in some walking for a month. Just slowly progress yourself unless you have a doctor telling you that your life is in jeopardy without wholesale changes. But even then with me, I started my going to the gym for a couple months. Then I changed my eating habits and went Paleo. Then I got a coach (2 actually). So even for me, it was a progression.

9. How do you make exercise fun?

I try not to take myself too seriously. And my daughter accompanies me and Hannah to the gym all the time, so I have her do dead hangs or squats in between my sets

10. What is your favorite part about competitions? 

Its just me and the barbell. Honestly, I love the fact that I either make a lift or I don’t. All of my hard work, the days where my entire body hurts, the countless weighing of my food, it all culminates in 6 lifts.

11. How did you get started in competing?

When I started doing crossfit I instantly fell in love with the snatch and clean and jerk. So I asked my coach if I should compete, she said absolutely. So I signed up for a local competition where the other 10 guys had been doing this for years. I had 3 months under my belt. I was way out of my league and my element, but that didn’t matter because I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone and I grew as a person that day. So every time I step on to the platform I grow as a person, and that’s what matters.

12. What advice do you have for someone who wants to compete in fitness?

Do it!!! Don’t look at how fit other people may be, or how shredded they are. If you want to compete then do it for yourself, to push yourself outside your comfort zone and have fun!!

13. Do you believe that “a family that works out together stays together”?

I think every family is different. My family just happens to love being inside the gym. Hannah used to drag me out of bed to take me to the gym when I first started working out again so I owe a lot of where I am today to her. We just share a common passion in that we love to suffer inside the gym, and we want Avery to grow up knowing what it means to live a healthy lifestyle.

14. What drives you in life?

My family!

15. If you could switch places for a week with anyone in the fitness industry who would it be and why?

That’s a great questions… Hmm, probably Jason Khalipa the owner of NorCal Crossfit. Guy has a passion for helping others, so I would want to experience what his daily life is like since my goal is to one day own my own gym.

16. If you could teach 10-year-old Logan something about health and fitness that you wish you had known earlier–what would that be?

Stop drinking soda and eating fast food, and go lift some weights!!

17. How has becoming a Dad impacted your overall health and wellness?

Everything I do in life now, not just with my health, is based around how it impacts my family so I have an extra layer of motivation to stick to the program!

18. What is your biggest obstacle to overcome when it comes to achieving your fitness goals? 

I am an emotional eater

19. You are a very strong individual, both physically and mentally. What is your biggest fear and how do you overcome it?

I try not to live in fear, instead, I try to live in the solution.

20. If we asked Avery (Logan’s baby girl) one word to describe you, what do you think she would say, and why?

Aaarrrgghhhh!!! She has her own DB she likes to throw around and scream like me in the gym lol