The Highly Effective Man
Welcome to "The Highly Effective Man", where we focus on helping busy men unlock their full potential through mindset, fitness, and nutrition. Hosted by a 13-year Navy SEAL veteran, former college football player, firefighter, life and fitness coach, and competitive jiu-jitsu athlete, this podcast delivers no-nonsense strategies for men looking to excel in all areas of life.
Whether you’re balancing work, family, or just looking to break through your fitness plateaus, each episode provides practical, actionable advice to build self-discipline, master your health, and achieve success. From personalized workout plans to overcoming mental barriers, we dive deep into what it takes to become the best version of yourself—mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Get ready to tap into the mindset of high performers and take your health journey to the next level. Stay strong, stay focused, and become the highly effective man you were meant to be.
The Highly Effective Man
The #1 Reason You’re Not Getting Stronger (Fix This Now)
Are you training hard but still feeling weak, sluggish, or constantly sore?
Every time I’ve been injured—whether it was in the SEAL Teams, weightlifting, or jiu-jitsu—it wasn’t because I was training too hard. It was because I wasn’t fueling, hydrating, or sleeping right.
Here’s the truth:
💀 You don’t get stronger in the gym. You get stronger when you recover.
💀 If you’re always exhausted, sore, or plateauing—it’s NOT your training. It’s your recovery.
In this episode, I’m breaking down:
✅ Why recovery is the missing key to peak performance.
✅ How to fuel your body so you actually build muscle (instead of wrecking it).
✅ The 3 biggest mistakes that are killing your gains.
✅ And the 3 things you MUST do today to fix it.
If you’re serious about leveling up your strength, energy, and performance—hit play NOW.
🔥 Listen, execute, and dominate.
Join the Brotherhood today! https://www.skool.com/thehighlyeffectiveman/about
Welcome to the Highly Effective man podcast hosted by former Navy SEAL turned life and fitness coach. I'm your host, jp Bolwan. This podcast is your resource for unlocking the healthiest, most productive and highly effective man within you. Let's go.
Speaker 2:What's up guys? Welcome back to the Highly Effective man podcast, the place where we cut through the noise and give you real, actionable strategies to dominate your fitness, sharpen your mindset and lead with purpose. All right, gents, listenents, listen up. Okay, because if you're training like a beast and you still feel weak and sluggish and constantly banged up, I'm gonna tell you why. It's not your training, it's your recovery. Okay, every single time I've been injured, whether it was in the seal teams and weight lifting, juitsu, it wasn't because I was pushing too hard, it was because I wasn't fueling, I wasn't hydrating, I wasn't sleeping at night, you know, and I just ignored it until my body was like bro, you gotta stop. Okay? Now let me be real with you. You're not getting stronger in the gym. You get stronger when you recover and if you don't master this, you're just setting yourself up for failure and you're going to always feel like you're sore, you're tired. You're always wondering, like, why the hell am I not making progress? Well, today I'm going to break it down. We're going to talk about why recovery is a secret weapon to getting stronger, leaner and more explosive, how to fuel your body so you're actually building muscle instead of wrecking it the three biggest recovery mistakes that are killing your progress and three things that you can do today to fix it. So, if you're serious about leveling up, strap in, because we're going to get after it Now. You can train as hard as you want, but if your recovery sucks, your progress is going to suck too.
Speaker 2:Every time I've ever had an injury in weightlifting jujitsu, the SEAL teams, you know I used to think it was maybe it's just bad luck. It wasn't bad luck, it was bad recovery. I was either under eating, I was either dehydrated or I wasn't sleeping, okay. And then bam, I get an injury. Now, not stretching and skipping mobility work another injury, okay. So here's the thing. I've only figured that out the hard way, right after I got hurt. Now, if you're constantly sore, tired and plateauing, wake up, because you're going to be just like me. You're breaking down your body faster than you can repair it. Now here's the hard truth. Okay, when we're training, we're stressing our body, and recovery is when our body's growing, okay. So if you're not recovering hard, you're not training hard, you're just beating yourself up, okay. So you got to take your recovery just as serious as you take your training. So let's fix this.
Speaker 2:Now, when it comes to the fuel or the food that we're eating, most guys, and people in general, are under fueled, right, or I shouldn't say under fueled, but they're not eating the right types of food, okay, or they're over caffeinated and they're wondering why they feel like garbage. So let's just simplify it. Okay, think of protein as the builder. Right, you need one gram per pound of body weight. You can even get away with 0.8 per pound of body weight, no excuses. Okay, carbs, that's the fuel. Okay, carbs get a bad rap. Right, but it's only when we're eating too many carbs. So stop fearing carbs. Okay, eat clean carbs around your workouts. Stuff, like you know rice, potatoes, fruit, those types of things. And fats those are your hormone regulators. Okay, you need fat to produce testosterone, so make sure you're getting in your avocados, your nuts, your olive oil you know all those good fats. The biggest mistakes people are making is skipping on protein, eating processed garbage and then maybe not having a pre and post workout type of meal or nutrition. The simple fix is just make sure you're getting protein in every meal, right. Carbs before and after training. Healthy fats to make sure that your hormones are dialed in. It's not rocket science. Just eat like an athlete and not a teenage gamer. Right Now, one of the most overlooked performance enhancers is your sleep.
Speaker 2:Okay, because, let's be real, for a lot of people, sleep is just an afterthought. Okay. So if you're sleeping like crap, you're going to perform like crap. Okay, when you have poor sleep, that's going to equal low testosterone, slow recovery and just more fat storage. Okay, I used to think you know I could grind out in like five hours a night, right, but you know what I got? I got more injuries, weak ass workouts and low energy and zero progress. Okay, if you want to be an elite performer, an athlete, a CEO or an operator, you got to guard your sleep like a paycheck. Okay, and things that we can do to improve our sleep are no screens 60 minutes before bed right, because blue light wrecks your melatonin. Try to get into a cool, dark, quiet room. Think of it as a cave and not a sauna, right. One of the things that I really like is a chili pad, and this is by no means a promotion of it, but I just found that it really helped me with my sleep because I could stay under the covers and still stay cool at night. Okay, and then setting the same sleep schedule every night. Okay, your body needs a rhythm, all right. So if you flip, if you fix your sleep, okay, you're going to start feeling a lot better.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's talk about hydration and stretching and recovery. Okay, you want to know how to stay injury-free? Make sure you hydrate, make sure you stretch, make sure you recover. Okay, most guys and people are chronically dehydrated and wonder why their joints feel like crap. Right, they're complaining about their achy elbows or their achy knees. Right, maybe it's because you're dehydrated and you're not drinking enough water.
Speaker 2:So some quick fixes are just to start every morning with 20 ounces of water and a little bit of sea salt. Okay, start aiming for 80 to 100 ounces of water per day. Okay, it can be like you could say 80 to 100 ounces per day, or half your body weight in ounces. Okay, and then mobility if you're not stretching, eventually you're gonna break period. Okay, because stiff muscles, they're gonna equal poor movement, which then equals an injury waiting to happen. So just add five to ten minutes of mobility work daily. Okay, this will add years to your training life and it's going to help you just feel better and move better. So you can either do it now, or you can pay for it later. All right, no excuses.
Speaker 2:Here's what we're going to do today. You're going to fix your protein intake. You're going to get 1 gram 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight. Today, you're going to lock in your sleep and get seven plus hours minimum, and then you're going to hydrate like an athlete okay, 80 to 100 ounces daily, no exceptions. Do these three things and you're going to feel like a machine. If you skip them, you're going to feel like you're spinning your wheels. Okay, so it's your call. So here's the challenge Pick one thing from today's episode and commit to it this week.
Speaker 2:Then get into the Highly Effective man community and tell me what you're locking in no spectators, only action takers. If this episode fired you up, I want you to subscribe, leave a review and share it with another guy that needs to hear this. Let's get after it this week. I'll see you next week. Let's go. Thanks for tuning in to the Highly Effective man podcast. If you found value today, hit that subscribe button and stay connected. I want to invite you to join my incredible community the Highly Effective man.
Speaker 1:The link is in the show notes below.
Speaker 2:It's a powerful space where you'll find support, accountability and camaraderie with men who are committed to growth and living purposely. And your voice matters, so leave a review and share your thoughts and help us reach more men just like you.
Speaker 1:Together, let's elevate our lives and become the best versions of ourselves.
Speaker 2:Stay highly effective. See you next time.