Michael Hewitt is a fitness coach, opera singer, has done multiple performances, and has been into lifting for a long time.
We’ve been acquainted via the platform Twitter, and that’s how I came into contact with his latest book: CHEAT CODES
I dig the title, and was in for a ride.
Story
Straight outta the Gate the first line of this book Captures me:
Your body is your business card.
I have been in a writing group, for five years. One Major Takeaway from it is that the first line of a book, especially in a novel, is key.
It sets the tone, and tells the reader what to expect.
I had ZERO expectations coming into this book, but I knew it was about fitness, health, fasting, and dieting.
I did not expect good writing. A story.
Be on the lookout, for cool sentences like that. Hewitt has a way with words. He knows his audience, and he knows how to capture them. That is clear, now.
Direct but colorful
Hewitt cuts straight to the bullshit. Something I like. No fluff, and just tells it how it is. He gains readers trust with phrases like:
Beach bodies and movie star physiques are presented as mythological and unattainable paragons of human achievement.
If you know me, and Hewitt, you know, there is more for you out there, more for you to ATTAIN, if you put in the work, and try.
A top physique is not an illusion. It is up for GRASPS.
He explains the dry simple basics of losing, or gaining weight. It is simple about a calorie deficit, or surplus, respectively. This non cookie cutter bullshit is why this novel reads like a steam train.
You absorb info, and don’t question Hewitt.
Any book has to go over the MEAT, the dry facts perhaps. Hewitt packages this well, with his prose. He employs an arsenal of analogies to color up the pages.
Cool phrases come up, like:
Bodyfat is your body’s WAR CHEST of energy.
What really hooked me in the book was the topic. I love learning about the body, and its systems. The chemical processes going on. He talks about the key role of protein. And ingraining habits/systems in your daily life, to make sure you accomplish your goals. Which is something I can relate with, and advice too.
A side note: for experts on the topics of fasting, dieting, lifting, ketogenics, basically broscience, this book is more a refresher than it is an expansion.
Personal
Hewitt shares a bit about his personal story, which leads you in, which makes the whole books more relatable. Like I said, the reader is in good hands. Safe.
An excerpt:
I came to fasting during the Summer of Discipline. I had first read about it in The Four Voices of Man by the legendary singer Jerome Hines. Whenever he felt on the precipice of an illness, he would fast completely, so that his body’s energy would be directed to his immune system.
Cool fun fact, which got triggered by the above excerpt: animals fast, too. When they are sick. They consume ZERO. Nothing goes into their bodies. They know they must go into a healing mode. When you don’t consume anything your body resets and starts regenerating.
This is something animals know, intuitively, and the mentor singer of Hewitt, too, apparently.
Some more insights in the personality of Hewitt:
-My reasons for fasting soon went from aesthetic to ascetic.
-The signs were unignorable, and my 20 journey toward self-advancement had been solidified. The boats had been burned, and there was no turning back.
–When Siddhartha is asked by a beautiful courtesan what worthy skills he possess, after a moment of consideration he replies “I can think. I can wait. I can fast.”
Interesting how he coins the phrase self advancement, instead of improvement. Which is something which will stay in my dictionary, as it should in yours.
I very much can relate with his reasons to fast. I see it as a test. Something of Will. Do you give in, or not. Simple and pure.
From the book:
Fasting is a tangible test of willpower.
Fasting and Keto
He gives some overlooked tips to fasting to make it go smoother and easier:
-caffeinate
-replace electrolytes (google snake juice, aka magnesium, sodium, potassium, read on for a quote from the book)
-seltzer water
These are STELLAR tips, to Improve your Fasting Experiences. Guaranteed.
Ofcourse he has to mention keto:
-As a diet, it’s primary original use was as a treatment for epilepsy.
-Vince Gironda, an early pioneer in bodybuilding, nutrition, and fitness in the USA was known to make effective use of the “Steak and Eggs” diet. He advocated (if you were looking to cut up without expending much mental bandwidth) that you eat 2 meals per day, consisting of a total of a few pounds of steak and a couple dozen eggs (give or take a bit of each, depending on your goals and composition.)
People often complain of feeling terrible as their bodies become “fat-adapted”, the process by which your body transitions from using stored sugar for energy to ketones produced in the liver.
Tips for easing the fasting experience with snake juice:
HOW TO NOT FEEL LIKE SHIT WHILE TRANSITIONING TO A KETO DIET/FASTING FOR AN EXTENDED (>24 HRS) PERIOD In my own experience, feeling this way wasn’t so much because I was cutting out carbs, but rather, because I was DRASTICALLY under-eating, and lacking in essential minerals and micro-nutrients, a common side-effect of low carb diets. To combat this (if you are not dry fasting), add Himalayan sea salt, magnesium, and potassium to a bottle of water.
I have read a lot on fasting, but the following is a cool concept. Havent heard that so much, around in the ether. Like a RESET Button:
“What do you mean, intermittent ketosis?” I mean, simply, exactly what I wrote: when I want to cut body fat, or recharge my discipline, I enter into periods of intermittent ketosis and begin fasting longer and with more regularity
Lifting, Myths and the End
He goes over another *cheat code*, which is lifting:
6 BENEFITS OF WEIGHTLIFTING
1. Improved body composition
2.Improved bone density
3.Improved insulin sensitivity
4. Higher Total Daily Energy Expenditure
5. Less likely to die from external factors
6. Improved utility to yourself and the world around you
I like especially number five and six. Lifting makes you hard to kill, and USEFUL. Which is something this generation needs. Young tough useful MEN.
He goes over some myths that made me fistpump in my head and scream fuck yeah, mentally. Since I have been saying the following for years:
Breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day. Fuck off.
From the book:
Break that word into its two separate parts: “break” and “fast”. “Breakfast” is simply the time when you eat for the first time in the day.
Time and ordained mealtimes are social constructs that have very little to do with your body’s internal rhythm.
He ends the book with a cool guide how-to-reading the label on the food products you buy.
That’s it for now, guys.
If you wanna Increase you Knowledge on How to Cheat yourself to an Incredible Physique.
Click here to get Hewitt’s Great and Insightful Book CHEAT CODES
Check out Micheal Hewitt’s social media too:
-Twitter: @MichaelHewitt23
-IG: @mc.hewitt
This post was part of the big Cover Story of August 2020 On Michael Hewitt.
Check out the other posts here:
