Sam Crawford 18/11/2019 Sam Crawford 18/11/2019

Luxury style on a budget with ASOS

As a self-styled ‘luxury lifestyle’ blog, you may be somewhat surprised to see a title promising luxury style on a budget.

And you’d be right, but I understand that not everyone wants to spend their week’s wages on clothes, so here we are.

Well that, and the fact ASOS sent me a load of gear to feature…

Explain that title please...

Ugh, if I must...

Listen, I love a good expensive garm as much as the next bloke, but sometimes I don't want to spend half a month's wages on my outfit.

I've been thinking about this recently, and as someone who's looking to get on the property ladder in the not-so-distant future, it made sense to cut back on my frivolous attire spending.

But, can you get the quality and the look of expensive clobber without having to pay an arm and a leg? Can luxury style on a budget really be achieved?

Well, read on squire.

Luxury style on a budget. Really?

Yes.

It is entirely possible. The style messiah has spoken.

Trust in my infinite wisdom and you shall be saved in wallet and in fashion - I promise.

Shall we have a little gander at what luxurious, yet reasonably-priced clothes I got then or what?

The perfect pieces

The folks over at ASOS were kind enough to let me pick 5 bits from their ASOS design range to showcase just how luxurious the bois can look on a budget.

So with this in mind, I went for an overcoat, biker jacket, cowboy (I think?) boots, a smart shirt and some rather zany trousers.

Shall we have a look?

Overcoat

Biker Jacket

Cowboy Boots

Smart Shirt

Trousers

Putting them together

The great thing about these pieces is that you can wear it all together if you wanted - with the exception of the two coats obviously.

Now, I didn't want to do that because I want to showcase to you a variety of looks, but just so you know - you can wear 'em all if you fancied it. Anyway, here's some dapper looks I cooked up just for you my friend.

Easy as pie.

Luxury style on a budget isn’t the the oxymoron you may have thought. It is entirely possible to look dashing on a relative shoestring budget.

Shoestring - was that an unintentional style pun?

Maybe.

Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.

Luxury cars | Future classics to look out for

This isn't your usual future classics article. We're going deep into the luxury cars market today.

It's not a stupid slideshow, nor is it a measly 9-car list. This is a comprehensive guide to the cars you should be investing in today.

These motors will start appreciating in no time (if they haven't already).

If you've got a spare 100k lying round - this is the article for you.

To be fair, I've thrown in a good few cheaper options for us mere mortals, but this article is all about unbridled luxury baby.

Let's get into it.

How to spot a future classic

There are a few key points to look out for and a few questions you should be asking yourself when analysing what makes a car a potential future classic.

The rule applies to luxury cars just as much as it does to normie cars too.

Here are some points to mull over before making your decision;

Brand (and its current prestige)
Build quality
Drive quality
Everyday usability

And here are questions to ask yourself;

Is its design timeless or a product of its era?
Is this car a paradigm shifter (revolutionary tech, etc)
How many of these cars were made?

There's loads more factors to consider obviously, subjective judgement being a huge one, but hopefully this list will give you some food for thought.

Luxury cars to consider

I count 33 cars on this list, but I'm thick, so there may be a couple more or a couple less - anyway, that's besides the point. These 33-ish luxury cars have been picked from far and wide.

We've got newer stuff, older stuff, cars that aren't even out yet - it's all here.

Basically, there's a luxury future classic in here for everyone, even if you're not bringing in six figures a month (join the club...).

Alfa Romeo 8c

An absolute beauty. One of the most attractive cars to ever grace the tarmac, the Alfa Romeo 8c is a luxury car through and through. They are very rare and have held their value immensely - get 'em while you can.

You could always opt for the somewhat more attainable Alfa Romeo 4c if you want a taster for a fraction of the price.

Alpine a110s

This little offering from France is a bit marmite looks-wise.The Alpine brand has huge pedigree though and this reimagining of their most recognised chassis is guaranteed to age well.

Bentley Continental 6.0 W12 GT

Every Continental GT has been splendid. They've all aged immaculately like the fine wine that Bentley embodies.

This new one is off the charts gorgeous though - look at that grill! All Bentleys are future classics but this one is the pick of the bunch for me.

BMW i8

The BMW i8 revolutionised how we think about supercars. It was the first to really mix the old-school petrol engine with the new-school electronic motor - to devastating effect.

It's also one of the most highly rated cars amongst reviewers from the last decade and marked a complete paradigm shift in the motoring world - the sort of notability you look for in a future classic car.

Prices depreciated quite quickly with these (you can pick one up for £40-50k at the time of writing) so it's probably about time to invest before we see that bell curve start ascending again.

BMW Z4 M Coupe

Another BMW - and probably not one people would think of.

However, this Z4 M Coupe is the stuff of dreams for so many kids who draw supercars. Look at that shape - isn't it exactly the sort of thing you'd draw when you were trying to design your ultimate car back when you were a wee'n?

It seems people agree with me on this - prices for the M coupe are still high compared to the Z3 and other Z4 models.

Performance, looks, M series - everything about this screams future classic.

One of the more attainable on the list too.

Bristol Fighter T

Completely barmy. Not to mention that it's debatable as to whether any road legal ones exist.

If they do though, this car is one to snap up.

Ferrari Enzo

The last of the great analogue Ferraris before they started going all super high tech and such.

Who remembers the Enzo on every racing game as a young whippersnapper? And what about its Top Trumps card? Oh and when it featured on just about every supercar calendar ever?

The good old days. What a car.

Ferrari 812 Superfast

Ferrari can be a mixed bag with their ageing - think the F430. The new Portofino is nice and all, but I think it'll have the same depreciative fate.

Then think of the F40 and F50, regarded as two of the best cars ever. I think the future proof design of the 812, plus the fact it is literally called 'Super Fast' is going to see this one stand the test of time.

Fiat Barchetta

Cheap, cheerful and absolutely gorgeous.

What's not to love?

Fiat Coupe

Astonishingly fast and pretty. Madness, considering you can pick one of these up for well under a grand.

Go for the higher spec models in good condition for about £2.5k though if you want the best return on your investment. These have a bit of a reputation, if you know what I mean.

Ford Puma

The third cheapo on the trot!

The Puma is the king of future classic cars - there, I said it.

You can literally buy one for about £500 and it'll be some of the best fun you've had in years.

Keep it in good nick because they are just starting to get desirable - like, really desirable.

Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth

I think it speaks volumes that Ken Block has one.

Ginetta Akula

Will it even be brought to market? Only time will tell.

But look at that design.

Jesus.

Honda NSX

The new NSX is based on the legendary status of its predecessor. It might not be quite as ground breaking but this is a car that's going to age well.

It's a supercar that you can drive day to day, it has one of the most intelligent computer systems to date and it does 28 mpg.

These will be like gold dust in 25 years.

Jaguar F-Type (V8 Turbo)

One of the most beautiful Jags of all time. Just be sure to invest in this version over the standard F-type for the most bang for your buck.

Jaguar XJR-15

You literally have to wear an on-board communication headset if you have a passenger - the engine is that ridiculous.

Koenigsegg Regera

The best Koenigsegg to date - hands down. This beast is going head to head with Bugatti for the fastest production car of all time, which says a lot.

These are also super rare, so if you have a few million quid in your back pocket, don't wait around.

Lancia Stratos (NEW)

You'll have to find a Ferrari F430 donor car before they'll make it, but it'll probably be worth it - right?

Lexus LFA

The Lexus LFA has the potential to be in the same bracket as the Diablo. Its engine note is widely regarded as one of the best of all time.

Lexus will never make something like this ever again (admitting they "wouldn't even know how to") and has already increased £150,000 in value.

If ever there was a poster child for luxury cars becoming instant future classics - this would be it.

Lotus Evora GT430 Sport

Manual is rare nowadays - it holds value, believe me.

This version has much higher horsepower than the average Evora (which is still pretty bloody cool) and will likely translate to higher value down the road.

Maserati Granturismo

At the time of writing, these are actually still in production, but its just so bloody gorgeous!

I usually wouldn't include a Maserati in a list of cars that appreciate but I've just got faith in the GT.

Mercedes AMG GT C

You want my opinion? No? Well I'm gonna give it to you anyway...

I think this is the best looking car Mercedes have ever made.

Yes I went there.

Morgan Aeromax

If I had the means, I think this would be the car I'd daily drive.

There aren't many more luxury cars out there that divide opinion quite like the Morgan Aeromax but it has barely depreciated a penny since it was brought to market and its rarity will make this a solid investment for the future.

Nissan Figaro

A bit 'girly' but this is one of the coolest cars about.

They are so so rare but are still quite reasonably priced so if you want something that already looks like a classic then the Figaro is the car for you.

If you want performance on tap, I don't quite think its 3-speed auto transmission will tickle your pickle though.

Noble M600

One of the last true supercars.

It is rare that a modern day luxury car with *this* much power has a manual gearbox but the Noble M600 has gone and done it anyway. It's definitely a driver's car and is bound to be a sought after classic.

Manual, mid-engined and rear-wheel drive powered by a 4.4L twin turbo V8. What's not to love?

Porsche Macan GTS

There could have been all sorts of Porsches in here - the Carrera GT to name just one, but I felt like that was a bit obvious.

So I've gone with the Macan.

Will it have the same ill fate as the first generation Cayenne? Doubtful. I genuinely don't think it will have the same depreciation as its peppery-named counterpart.The GTS model is a thing of beauty. Paired with its performance, I think we'll see this stand the test of time.

Smart Roadster (Brabus edition)

I very almost bought one of these.

It had the Brabus mods but it wasn't actually the official Brabus model - so be wary of that if you're in the market for one. This thing has comically low BHP, but it weighs less than one of my poos, so it goes like stink (pardon the pun).

The Smart Roadster Brabus edition is a road legal go kart and is still pretty cheap. There is a real market for them now though, so don't wait too long if you're on the fence.

Spyker Spyder

The Spyker came out well over a decade ago now and still looks phenomenal. With detail akin to a Pagani Zonda and performance to back it up, this is car has it all.

Along with the Aeromax, I'd buy one of these in a heartbeat if I had the money.

They are still making iterations now, with a new one called the Prelator in production (although Spyker haven't been active on social media for a few years now...) and it is unbelievable.

And do yourself a favour, google its interior. Just look at that shifter. Absolutely iconic.

Trident Magna

Bit of a wildcard, but if these come out they will revolutionise what we think luxury cars - and supercars in particular - can achieve. Apparently this will have a 2,000 mile range using groundbreaking patented tech.

It's a big if, but if they do eventually come into production, this will be a dead cert for future classic status.

TVR Sagaris

Exhausts that pop out sideways...

Vauxhall VX220

Vauxhall and luxury cars do not go hand in hand. Except they sort of do.

They've had some absolute corkers over the years. One of the most iconic cars of all time - the Lotus Carlton - was from the Englishmen, as was the Monaro.

So there - get with the program.

Volkswagen Scirocco

Should this be in here? Unsure. Maybe. Probably not.

Doesn't matter - it is.

Much like the Peugeot 106 GTI's, Audi Quattros, Golf GTI's and Ford Escorts of yesteryear, I genuinely believe the Scirroco has the credentials to become a future classic in the hatchback world. It came out over a decade ago and the styling is still as modern today as it was then.

It could well go down as one of the greatest hot hatches of all time. If you want one, be sure to get the biggest engine you can find. Performance equals value when it comes down to it.

No one remembers the 1.4 litre...

Weismann MF5

Much like the rest of the cars on this list, the Weismann MF5 is well over a decade old now so has done its depreciation.

It is an absolutely gorgeous car - almost like a lesser known, prettier and more powerful Morgan Aeromax. It's like a batmobile on steroids.

Worth a punt.

There we go folks - this future classics list with a little luxury twist has come to an end.

There's a few cheaper options in there, so for those of us who aren't quite millionaires, there's still a chance...

But if money were no object, what would you go for?

A 3-month review of the Wim Hof Method Fundamentals Course

I have to start this off by saying that I am a massive Wim Hof fanboy and have been for years. This being said, I had been putting off the purchase of the full Wim Hof Method video courses.

Well, that all changed about 6 months ago when I took the plunge and dropped £150 on the Wim Hof Classic 10-week course. I threw myself into it head first and loved it.

But I wanted more.

That's why I reached out to Wim and the team to see if they'd be game on sending me the Fundamentals course to see if it would meet my lofty standards.

Laura, Wim's daughter, agreed to it and the next day I got cracking.

Who is Wim Hof?

Wim Hof is the main man.

He is a dutch 'extreme athlete', yogi, multiple world record holder and all round madman (in the best sense of the word).

Think this sort of thing, then imagine that all the time - and more extreme, and basically you've got the life of Wim Hof:

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A post shared by Wim Hof (@iceman_hof)

I won't drag out this bio because I can't do him justice, but check out his Wikpedia page if you want to learn more. You'll be flabbergasted by what this man has done in his life (marathon in the Sahara...with no water, etc, etc, etc.).

What is the Wim Hof Method?

Essentially, the method is stretching, breathing, stretching again and then cold water exposure.

An average bout looks something like this;

Yoga poses
3 rounds of 30 Wim Hof style breaths (Deep inhale, shallow exhale, followed by max effort breath hold on last exhale and 15 second hold on the next inhale)
More yoga poses with deep breathing
Cold exposure in the form of cold showers or ice baths

It really is as simple as that. You can see it explained far better by Wim in the video below.

You can also see exactly how to do the breathing exercises correctly in this one:

Wim Hof Fundamentals vs Classic 10-week course

As stated at the beginning, I actually dropped £150 of my own dough on the Classic 10-week course - and was about to pay the £225 for the fundamentals course too before I shot the team a message.

So, what's the difference? Why is one worth more than the other and do you need both?

The classic course is exactly that - it's the original. It involves doing the breathing, post-breath stretching and then some yoga poses followed by cold exposure.

The fundamentals course goes deeper. There are more homework tasks, more variety of breath work and different little snippets that help to really perfect your practice, such as isolating your hands to cold water exposure to increase blood flow. This is meant to help battle Raynaud's disease - something I, and a lot of people (whether known to them or not) actually suffer from.

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A post shared by Wim Hof (@iceman_hof)

In short, the fundamentals course offers much more 'take-home' value than the classic course. That being said, I have taken lessons from both and applied them to my own variation of the method. This is just my favourite stretches, amount of breath work and length of cold exposure.

Once you have tried the method for a few months, you'll get a feel for what you like best and can adjust your practice accordingly.

How do the paid courses differ from the free one?

In the full method, each week ramps up the intensity. You'll do varied rounds of breath work, different styles of yoga and you'll even get homework activities to take your practice to the next level.

The free method, to my knowledge, is just the breath-work tutorial and cold exposure. The stretching is actually a key component and I certainly felt the difference when I incorporated things like headstands, upward dogs and cat-cows into my practice.

With each paid course, you also get a workbook which allows you to log your breath retentions alongside the weekly videos of Wim guiding the class, a 1-on-1 breathing lesson, stretching how-to's and your homework video. It's rather jam-packed...

There's also an option for a stripped back version if you're ever in a rush. Perfect for you busybodies.

My progress

From week 1, I could feel the changes already taking place.

The one thing I noticed more than anything during my time on the fundamentals course was that my cardiovascular performance was absolutely flying.

I love the gym and lift weights 4 days a week, but I had always neglected my cardio, despite needing strong lungs for when I play football.

Silly boy I know...

But as the weeks passed by, I noticed that my breathing was becoming nice and steady, whereas before it had been quite laboured, even when walking around at a leisurely pace.

I also noticed that my mood improved greatly too. I'm usually a chilled out bloke, but I can get stressed out quite easily. Doing the breathing and the exercises was almost like meditation without having to meditate - if that makes sense?

It also helped curb my road rage which is a nice bonus...

Sleep was another huge improvement. I love sleep, don't we all? But sometimes I find it really hard to nod off at night. My thoughts usually race around for what seems like forever until I finally drift off. After religiously doing the method for a few weeks, probably around week 5, I noticed I was getting off to sleep much quicker and wasn't waking up at all in the night.

And finally, since starting on the Fundamentals course, I haven't been ill once. This has coincided with switching back to a plant-based diet which I fully recommend if you want to really boost the benefits of the program.

Wim himself is a vegetarian, which I believe goes to show that it's probably the way to go. Don't take that as gospel though - if you want to crack on with the animal products, feel free. I'm not going to stop you.

But as someone who used to get sick constantly, this has been a godsend, so I won't be going back.

Is the Wim Hof Fundamentals course worth it?

In my humblest of opinions - yes.

The Wim Hof Fundamentals course takes the regular method and completely pimps it up. This is the method that Wim teaches his in-person students and is what he uses to take them on a walk up mountains in blizzards wearing just their shoes and shorts.

It's crazy. It's mad. It goes against everything science has ever said. But it works.

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A post shared by Wim Hof (@iceman_hof)

The Iceman has endured study after study, with science finally conceding that he has completely shifted the paradigm of what they thought the human body capable of. There's a reason he holds 26 Guinness World Records...

If you want amazing health benefits, try out the free method. If you want to change your life, the fundamentals course is the way to go.

I had been practicing the method for about 18 months prior to this review and I can't tell you how much difference it made to actually sit down every day with a full plan laid out for me.

In short, the Wim Hof Method is an unbelievable tool for wellbeing. The Fundamentals course takes this a step further and takes you to health heights you never thought you could achieve.

I'm not going to say to buy the courses straight away, because I didn't. But definitely try the free method first and you can see the benefits first hand. When the time is right, you might want to then go and take the plunge.

And when you do, you can find Wim's courses here.

Meditative exercises for people that can't meditate

Meditative exercises - that's probably a phrase you've never come across before.

I mean, there's either meditation or there's not - right?

WRONG.

People who can't meditate...

Personally, I absolutely despise meditation. I can do it, but I find it boring and I am a terrible fidgeter, so I never really get the full benefit.

But I love immersing myself in doing stuff. I love putting my full focus into a game of football, getting into a flow state when I'm writing or even just the calm that cooking a meal brings about.

So actually - yes, there are meditative exercises that aren't actually meditation. You just need to look for them.

The biggest hurdle

Your phone is going to be your biggest enemy when starting your meditative journey.

How often do you start doing something, have a quick check on your phone, then catch yourself 30 minutes later scrolling through Instagram?

I've done it countless times and I'm certain you have too.

Taking away your phone's grasp on your attention should be your first step. If you're going out and about then leave it at home. If you're staying in and want to get in the zone, then you may have to take drastic measures. Try locking your phone away for a set amount of time.

At the end of the day, our willpower is much weaker than we think. Taking away the choice is the best option in the long run. It creates much else mental chatter and we will eventually adapt to our circumstance. Try using a kitchen safe to store distracting trinkets in. This is also useful when you're looking to get some flow state built up during work hours too.

I can't seem to find anything cheaper than the 'safe' linked above, but if you do then let me know because these things are weirdly expensive. Probs worth it though...

What is a meditative exercise?

Basically, something that gets you into a flow state.

That's pretty much it.

Meditation quietens the mind and helps you to not get attached to your thoughts, instead, allowing them to drift on by, free of judgement.

This creates a sense of inner calm, which can also be achieved when your mind if focused on just one thing. When you are completely invested in one activity, your mind becomes instantly calm. Just think back to how engrossed in your video games and sketchbooks you were as a kid.

When was the last time you felt that connected to a task? To anything at all?

Meditative exercises tap into this zen state, letting you reap the benefits of meditation without having to be bored and sat completely still whilst doing so.

Meditative exercises to try out

There are bucketloads of meditative exercises to try out that will get your mind zen AF, but these are some of my personal favourites.

Have a read through and try to gauge whether you think you could get involved with some of these.

Walking (on one condition)

You can't take that pesky phone.

When we go out for a walk, we have all the good intentions of getting back to nature, but then we just check the time, then just a few messages, then BAM, you're walking with your head buried in your phone.

No earphones, audiobooks or anything else with you either. Take a little notepad out to jot down any ideas or thoughts you have so you can check them out online later if needs be.

During this time is when I always feel calmest and have some of my best ideas.

Maybe you will too.

Cooking and cleaning

Cooking and cleaning is one of the best ways to get into a flow state.

How good does it feel to whack on some tunes and just start cleaning your room? We all know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you've been rearranging your house for 3 hours. It's addictive.

Hell, Marie Kondo made a career out of it!

But don't forget cooking either. Prepping, cooking and eating are all meditative exercises and if you really take your time, you'll feel a huge sense of joy and calm. Make sure you keep that phone away though and really immerse yourself in it.

Colouring

Adult colouring books are the cats pyjamas.

They are so effective in fact, that they are used in the treatment of PTSD. Remember how good it felt as a kid when you spent hours on that perfect drawing? Or when you had the latest and greatest Star Wars colouring book?

Well thankfully, shops are cottoning on that we adults still love a bit of childlike artistry, so grab yourself a colouring book and get involved.

Sports

This is probably my favourite.

When you're fully engaged in sports, you don't really have time to dwell on anything outside of the game you're in.

There's no time to stress, no time to worry about what you're having for tea tonight - you're just fully immersed in the now. Competing and being in a team are also great for mental wellbeing. Not to mention, winning creates a huge spike in Testosterone - just saying.

The gym is also a form of sport and is widely accepted as a tool for battling depression and anxiety, much like meditation. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be that.

Join a gym.

Having a good old read

Obviously this site is your best starting place for reading the best of the best... but settling down to a great book comes in at a close second.

It is so easy to lose yourself in a great book and it is infinitely more beneficial than sitting and watching Youtube and TV for 5 hours a night.

Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, it really doesn't matter. If you can rediscover your love for the written word, you'll become a far more zen person - that much I can guarantee.

Learn a skill

Instruments in particular are very effective at cultivating a quiet and peaceful state.

When you have to concentrate on learning a new skill, it is all you can think about at the time, because otherwise you're not going to learn anything are you?

Things like learning to draw, paint landscapes, play guitar or even learning something left field like origami would be perfect for entering the meditative state we all crave.

If you want to try out meditation but you've never been able to sit and actually do it, trying out these meditative exercises may well be for you.

The Dr. Sebi Bodybuilding Diet

Dr. Sebi is a man that needs no introduction.

One of the world's most celebrated natural healers, the man has millions of adoring fans across the globe. One thing his diet does get a bit of stick for though, is that it can be restrictive.

Personally, I think this is down to a lack of imagination. I believe that this diet can not only be enjoyable, but it can help you to build muscle too, which is why I have written this article.

I pretty much agree with everything else Dr. Sebi's diet promotes. He advocates whole, plant-based foods, no processed garbage and to live as natural as possible.

But I have only one issue.

My issue with the Dr. Sebi diet

Sebi claimed he cured his impotence (he ended up with 17 kids to be fair), asthma, diabetes and just about every other ailment he had when he came to America - but one thing he didn't like was...

Muscles.

Simply put, he had an aversion to muscle growth and protein, believing muscle was simply inflammation manifesting itself in the body.

He weighed 120lbs.

I’m a massive believer in the plant-based way and being as healthy as possible, but at the same time, I also love the gym, working out and bodybuilding.

With that in mind, I decided to use Sebi's nutritional template and pimp it up a bit with more protein to get what I believe to be the healthiest bodybuilding diet the world has ever seen.

You're really getting the best of all worlds - a plethora of fruits, veg, herbs and minerals but also lots of healthy sources of protein with complete amino profiles.

The Dr. Sebi approved food list

For those of you wondering what the Dr. Sebi approved food list looks like, here it is.

The Supplements

Ignore his supps.

He was a wise man, but he also loved his moolah, which may be part of the reason he ended up in a Honduran prison on money laundering charges (although some believe it was a cover up - I do too).

His supplement range can cost up to £1,500, with the ingredients being a 'proprietary blend', meaning we don't even know what's in them.

Basically, I'd give this section a miss and stick to a quality multivitamin if needed.

The Dr. Sebi Bodybuilding Diet

Personally, I'd like to think of this diet more as the Dr. Sebi X The Man Blueprint Bodybuilding diet, but whatever.

Meal #1

3 dates
1 apple
2 slices of honeydew melon
Seeded Grapes

Meal #2

30g protein powder

Meal #3

100g mixed berries
1 mid size banana
15g shelled hemp seeds
30g protein powder
45g kale
7g maca powder

Meal #4

2 Brazil nuts

Meal #5

45g spelt flakes
30g protein powder
15g chia seeds
15g flaxseed
140g frozen berries

Meal #6

75g red lentil fusili
240g chickpeas
100g aubergine
100g courgettes
100g mushrooms (not shiitake)
100g passata (blended tomatoes)
1tsp onion powder
1tsp habanero powder

Meal #7

1 slice fonio bread
15g hazelnut butter

Totals

Calories: 2,249 kcals
Protein: 140g
Carbs: 296g
Fat: 47g

Non-approved foods I have added in (and why)

Vegan protein powder
Chia seed
Flaxseed

You're going to want a hefty portion of protein with good amino acid profiles (full-spectrum vegan protein powder provides this) along with healthy fats and omega 3's, both of which chia seed and flaxseed provide in abundance.

Simple really.

And there we have it.

The Dr. Sebi bodybuilding diet, courtesy of yours truly. Some people might kick up a stink about a few 'non-approved' items on the list and the fact I've poo-pooed his supplement range but at the end of the day, I don't care lol.

Le Sebster was lightyears ahead of his time, his diet has cured the ailments of thousands of people and he will forever be an icon of the health and wellbeing space.

And now, even those who want to build muscle can get in on the action! It's the best of both worlds.

The official whistle-stop Florence travel guide

Firenze is one of the best cities I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. Before I went, I had only saw what it had to offer via Assassins Creed and to be honest, it was exactly the same - breathtaking. This pocket travel guide to Florence is going to clear up what you simply have to do on your stay - the essentials, if you will.

No wasted time, just the juicy stuff that'll thrill ya! Of course, there are some great guides that are much longer out there and they will give you the full scoop.

But we don't wanna do that do we? We just want that sweet sweet instant goodness.

Let's do it.

Why Florence?

Known as 'The Cradle of the Renaissance', Florence has kept so much of its rich history intact and it offers an unbelievable look into Italy's past. If you're a soppy swine like myself, you'll want to bring your significant other here, as it is one of the most romantic cities in the world.

Aside from that though, there is so much to see, do - and eat! Despite being an immensely popular tourist spot with perfect weather, you'll find it easy to get around and affordable.

What else could you want from a trip?

Getting there

You can get cheap flights to Florence from most places.

We came via a 1-night stay in Pisa though (a popular choice for visitors), so if you want to get a glimpse of the leaning tower, visit Pisa first - flights are cheaper to there. Once you're finished up, you can get a train direct to Flozza.

Where to stay

There's loads and loads of hotels in Florence, but I must say, I think the hotels in Italy are very dated for the most part. For such a stylish nation, the decor in a lot of these gaffs leaves a lot to be desired.

And that's why we went for an AirBnB - there are so many modern apartments to pick from that all come with their own little unique quirks.

Here's a few of the best AirBnB's I could find - number one was our apartment, so if you fancy sleeping WHERE THE MIGHTY MAN BLUEPRINT once slept then go right ahead.

Food & Drink

Tuscan cuisine is next level.

One place in particular is All' Anitco Vinaio. This place offers one of the best (and biggest) sandwiches I've ever had the pleasure of stuffing in my gob.

There's also lots of places to eat and drink in the main square. Even though these places are what you'd call tourist traps they're actually not too expensive and the quality of grub is excellent.

A few other places to keep an eye out for:

Mister Pizza (they gave us free champagne, so had to be #1. Plus, you'll be sat right at the foot of the Duomo)
Literally any Gelato shop
Caffè Donnini 1894
Fattoria Rossi Firenze
La Boheme Restaurant & Cafe

Some culture

Next to food and coffee, Italians love their culture. These sexy swines have got it in spades and Florence is no exception. From beautiful architecture to rich history, there's pretty much something for everyone - unless you're not into nice things that is.

Here's some unmissable (and mostly free) things to do in Florence.

Palazzo Vecchio & Fountain of Neptune (these are right next to each other)
Piazza della Repubblica (all manner of markets, designer stores, restaurants and bars around here - not to mention The Picci Family Carousel.
Loggia dei Lanzi (there's often performances on here for free)
Piazza del Duomo, The Baptistery of St. John & Giotto's Campanile (Florence's biggest attraction)
Uffizi Gallery
Ponte Vecchio (A bridge over a beautiful river paved with watch shops? Sounds good to me)

Staying fit

If you want to stay in relatively decent shape whilst you're gorging yourself on Pizza and Pasta, you can always try my hotel room workout that I actually developed whilst in Florence.

Or you can find yourself a gym and get a day pass - just be sure to use the best workout of all time whilst you're there.

And that's your pocket travel guide to Florence right there folks! Putting together your itinerary needn't be difficult - or very long for that matter.

How To Invest in Yourself in Your 20s as a Man

It’s often said that investing in yourself is the best investment you can possibly make. I’m here today to tell you that this is one of the truest sayings of all time. This blog is going to give you a comprehensive guide into how to invest in yourself in your 20s as a man.

Obviously the best investment to make would have been Apple about 25 years ago but you get what I mean…

Investing in yourself in your 20s

So what do I mean by ‘investing in yourself’? Am I saying put your limbs on the stock market and let people trade you on the FTSE100?

Maybe…

But no.

We’re talking about making investments that are going to improve your mind, body and soul - basically stuff that is going to make you a better, more complete and well-rounded bloke.

With that being said, we can classify investing in yourself as buying or experiencing things that not only help to improve your physical self, but also things that can improve your quality of life - the stuff that indirectly improves your being.

This all sounds a little bit Tai Lopez - giving you cool sounding words without actually offering any substance.

But ya boi doesn’t do low-level substance, so we’ll go into more depth in just a mo.

How To Invest in Yourself in Your 20s as a Man

Am I really my own best investment?

Of course you are - especially when you’re in your 20s.

At the end of the day, if you buy a nice car or a nice house, eventually you’re gonna want a new one. The same goes for clothes, gadgets - anything.

The one timeless investment that will yield results forever and actually improve your life is yourself.

I’m not bashing buying any of those things by the way - I’m just illustrating my point.

Now this doesn’t mean you can just stuff £20 notes in your pockets and say you’ve invested in yourself.

It is about making good choices with whatever income you have that will benefit you long-term.

So, in answer to the question of this section - you truly are your best investment.

Let’s see how you can get started (and no, the answer isn't to hire a business coach or make free money).

How?

Here we are.

We know investing in ourselves is the best thing since sliced bread but how can you actually do it? It's not all about making sure to set goals and starting a side hustle.

Well, since we’re talking about investing, let’s kick it off with the most boring of all…

Investments

Yep. You're going to have to stop spending money at the club every weekend (try every other weekend 😉).

This is actually a bit out-of-place on this list but investments are going to make your life so much easier in the long run.

Thanks to compound interest, money invested today will be worth a whole lot more in 30 years time. Having your money sit in a managed investment portfolio will yield £100’s per year - maybe £1000’s depending on how much you lump in.

Now compare that to the £5 a month - if that - interest you get when you have your money sat dormant in a bank account.

Be smart with your money now to give future you the best life imaginable. Imagine what it’d be like to have £100,000+ when you’re 45 just because you put a couple of grand away each year starting at age 20-25?

Personally, I use the Hargreaves Lansdown managed portfolio (shout out to Martin Lewis for putting me on to this) so I don’t have to do anything except put money in. At the time of writing, I have £5,500 invested and have earned about £150 in 2 months in just interest which isn’t bad for doing literally no work. As I'm self employed, this will grow to be my retirement account and lay the foundation of my retirement plans.

Languages

The best thing you can possibly do to enhance your experience of this godforsaken thing we call life is to learn another language.

I know, I know - most people can speak English.

But it’s about more than just getting by isn’t it? Being able to immerse yourself in a culture, speak to local people properly instead of just expecting them to understand you like a big ignorant idiot.

I tried learning my hand and French and Italian with the former being slightly more successful but if I was to recommend any language other than English to learn, it would be Spanish.

It is second only to English in countries spoken in and is the easiest to learn apparently so the bang for your buck on this one is going to be solid.

You don’t even have to invest either here - Duo Lingo is free! My app of choice is Babbel, which I’ve spoken about on the blog before but there are loads of options out there so just give it a Google.

Invest in your fitness in your 20s

This is more than just the gym, but the gym is a huge part of course.

My favourite aspects of fitness currently are the weights, sauna, ice baths and good food. These might be different for you - you may enjoy running, sports, whatever it may be - but fitness is an investment that you simply can’t afford to not make.

Fitness boils down to physical activity, mental acuity and everything you put into your body.

Fitness investments that you should make are (just a few ideas);

A gym membership or home gym
Organic food
Personal trainer
Fitness encyclopaedia
Stress-relieving cooking equipment (Slow cooker, chef’s knives, etc)

How To Invest In Yourself As A Man - A trade/skill/course

Taking an online course is probably the best thing you can do to increase your prospects of landing a well paid job or getting freelance contracts. Plus, you don't have to deal with crazy student loans.

I’m currently smashing through courses on productivity, photography and web design on Udemy which have really helped improve the quality and efficiency of my work.

As a blogger, these 3 are integral to my business expanding and being successful, so I dropped £10 on each which has worked out to an absolute steal.

There is absolutely all sorts on there that you can invest in. You get to keep the courses for life and download them for use offline - very useful for one of my points further down.

Obviously Udemy isn’t the only place to invest in courses but it is a good starting place.

If there’s a specific course you want to enrol in, then go for it. I recently enrolled in the Wim Hof 10-week course and I’ve literally never felt better in my life.

After months of reading reviews, watching Youtube videos and trying out the free method, I took the plunge and got it (which was the first course I’d ever bought online). It turned out to be one of my greatest decisions and really hammered home the age old adage - you get what you pay for.

Why books are a great way to invest in yourself in your 20s

Read, read, then read some more. Books ensure you're continually expanding your knowledge.

Reading is the greatest thing you can do to expand your mind and books are the greatest investment you’ll ever make for acquiring knowledge.

Imagine being able to absorb the life’s knowledge of the most famous, successful people who have ever lived?

That is the window of opportunity that books offer.

Amazing people have dedicated their lives to learning and perfecting their crafts, then condensed it down into a handy little book-sized memoir just for you.

We can take in, in a day, what others spent their lives learning - if that doesn’t show you the truly unbelievable power of books then I don’t know what will.

Here are some of the best books that I have read so far;

Some of these are fictional books that offer perspective on life or actionable advice, some are pure self-improvement, some are in-between and The Death of Cool is just unbelievably funny.

Each of these books will teach you something about life though and I can wholeheartedly say that I would recommend them all to anyone.

Set yourself challenges in your 20s

Another way of investing in yourself - without actually technically investing - is to set yourself challenges.

One way that I have recently done this is to have no internet at home. This was a little bit tough at first, but it allowed me to concentrate on my writing, get stuck into my Udemy courses (downloaded offline…) and actually unplugging after my day instead of watching Youtube compilations of Jay Jay Okocha until midnight.

It also made me realise how much time we waste on the internet and it allowed me to enjoy going the library again. Plus, if you were to go permanent with your internet-less-ness then you’d actually be saving money instead of investing it - just saying.

Another challenge I enjoy is the thrill of climbing a mountain. It’s good old fashioned hard work and the pay off is incredible once you get to the top.

Views for days, a sense of accomplishment unlike no other and a workout to burst your lungs and snap your legs.

Every man should climb a mountain at least once in his life - try a hike sooner rather than later.

Accountability

And our final investment - accountability. How you do something is how you do everything - this is a great principle when thinking “how to invest in yourself in your 20s as a man”.

This simply means that you need to start holding yourself accountable for your actions. As a man, you should always own every decision you make and not try to make up excuses as to why something has gone wrong.

A way I like to do this is with my finances by using something quite new to me - Monzo.

Monzo is an online bank that has an app which tells you exactly where your money is going. There are loads of categories such as general, food, shopping, drinks, etc that breaks your money down into a summary which can be downloaded at the end of the month.

You can also set budgets, set a round-up feature (that rounds up transactions to the nearest pound and puts the difference in a savings pot), create tabs with people for trips, ongoing expenses, etc and loads more.

It has been a revelation since I ordered one of their cards and it has allowed me to grow up a bit in terms of finance now I can see exactly where my money is going (shopping).

Obviously every online banking system offers this, but they don’t give such a detailed breakdown and keep it as simple as Monzo. Personal finance is a great way to Invest in Yourself in Your 20s as a Man.

I’m not endorsed by these by the way - I just think they’re the best out there - plus it's all free.

There’s a few companies out there who offer similar stuff but Monzo seems to be the far more favoured by the good old general public.

The Bull Excretion List

Here’s a few things that the business gurus/lifestyle hackers/shmucks will sell you. Effectiveness varies from mild to absolute zero.

Seminars (just a load of pseudo-inspirational talks that offer zero value - watch Ted Talks on Youtube instead for free)
Fast-track courses (insider groups from the usual types; Forex traders, crypto traders, property investors, angel investors - it’s all bollocks. Take a proper course)
Exclusive content (if you can think of it, it’s probably out there for free - don’t buy into people’s exclusive content that you have to pay a subscription for).
Merch (this is self-explanatory, but don’t buy merch from your Gurus - it’s awful and it doesn’t help your cause one bit).

When?

The earlier you start investing in yourself, the better. It’s like with all good investments - the best time to do so was 10 years ago, but the second best time is today. There is no better time to start than now.

Try and get started on the free stuff first; learn a language on Duo Lingo, make better food choices, go running, read books from the library, go on a hike, remove the Wi-Fi router from your house and get a bank account that lets you budget like a real adult.

Once you’re in the swing of things and you have a taste for just how amazing it feels to invest time and energy into making yourself a better human you can take the plunge and put your money where your mouth is.

Try lumping £1,000 a year in an investment portfolio, sign up with a language tutor, start buying local organic food, join a gym, buy some high-end kitchen equipment and enrol in an online (or physical) course.

The possibilities are endless, so the quicker you can apply these ‘investments’ the earlier you’ll be able to reap the rewards.

Why?

This is a bit of a benefits section for investing in yourself.

We’ll just touch on a few things that you can expect to experience when you start actually treating yourself like the #king you are.

Competence = Confidence

When we’re competent at a certain thing, we have confidence in that area. For example, a teacher is extremely confident in a classroom, but probably not as confident behind a bar. That’s because being a barman isn’t their area of competence.

Well, what happens when that area becomes every aspect of your life?

Being competent in all areas gives you so much unwavering confidence in your day-to-day life that you’ll feel like a completely new man.

Imagine if you stick with your self-investment journey properly and you look at yourself 5 years down the line...

...You’re a top-tier gentleman who speaks 3 languages, is fit as a fiddle, doesn’t rely on the internet for his entertainment, climbs mountains for fun, has thousands of pounds accumulating wealth on his behalf in investments, cooks like a chef, has multiple skill sets that bring in thousands each month and has an accountant-like handle on his finances.

Imagine that?!

It’d be hard not to be a confident sod - maybe even arrogant one at that level of competency!

You see, investing in yourself is all about the long game. Like with all investments, it doesn’t happen overnight - you’re going to see results reasonably quickly, but the big wins come much further down the line.

Better opportunities

Opportunities will just start to manifest constantly - But make sure you're not just thinking in the short term.

Once you put out into the world that you are on a self-improvement journey and start taking steps towards your dream smart goals, opportunity will start to present itself at every corner.

If you’ve never read The Secret you need to - it explains this phenomenon it in much more detail.

You should also read The Alchemist which shows you the importance of the insignificant occurrences of daily life and how to follow these little omens to reach your destiny.

It all sounds a bit woo-woo but trust me, when you want something so badly that you’re willing to invest everything you have into it, the universe will conspire to make it happen.

Healthier

This means in both the physical and mental sense.

Investing in going to the gym, eating better quality food and cooking nourishing meals are all going to make you much healthier.

But along with building Mount Bicephious, fitness also boosts mental clarity and happiness whilst lowering two of the biggest enemies of our generation - anxiety and depression.

As the old saying goes - Health is Wealth.

Taking time to invest in this area will pay dividends for years. Not only will being healthy add years to your life, it’ll add life to your years.

The benefits of stress-alleviation on health has also been widely documented, so taking time to read, getting your finances in order and having fun learning can also be excellent ways to stay young and healthy for much longer.

Improved relationships

One thing you will definitely notice is improved relationships with those people in your life. Partners, friends, family and co-workers will all benefit from your improved relationship skills.

The way to think about is this; if an airplane is about to crash and the oxygen mask falls down, you are supposed to put yours on before you help anyone else put theirs on - even if you have a child.

It perfectly demonstrates that we need to put ourselves first all the time. We must improve ourselves so that we can help others do so too. If you ever need any justification to your loved ones for leaving them to go and do something more important, just show them this section and blame me.

Crisis averted.

At the end of the day, how can you be expected to love anyone else if you don’t love yourself? And how can you expect people to enjoy your own company if you can’t be alone with yourself for more than an hour?

Like I said at the beginning, investing in yourself is the absolute best decision you can make for giving yourself the best shot in life and overall, just being a far happier person. If you lay the foundations right in your 20s, you're on the way to building an amazing life.

Make sure you’re investing in the right things, be sensible with how and when you drop your wonga on said things and you’ll be absolutely flying.

The simplest workout for gaining muscle and strength

Everybody wants simplicity deep down, don't they? Whether it be the simplest travel route, the simplest instructions or in this case - the simplest workout.

The simplest workout for gaining muscle and strength is one I've cobbled together from reading Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. It is also a version of the workout recommended in my very own book - The Bulking Blueprint.

This workout is so simple it should be criminal.

All the fat idiots in the gym who think you need to focus on all the little micro elements of lifts in the gym will be having mini strokes in their knee straps and lifting shoes.

Leave them to focus on practicing the upper third portion of their snatch and continue to get nowhere because they aren't juiced up Olympians.

You should focus on the simple stuff.

That's what'll get you big and strong.

Why do I want the simplest workout?

Because it's the only way to go if you're serious about lifting.

We've all heard of paralysis by analysis.

If there is too much choice you end up making a bad one. Even if you make a good choice, you'll always be thinking you could have made a better one.

When it comes to workouts, this is especially true.

Because there are so many new and sparkly workouts with all the most cutting edge, science-backed, wonder techniques, we want to try them all, like a kid in a sweet shop.

We hop from one program to the next in the hopes that it'll get us big overnight. In reality, it never does, so we pick up our new copy of Men's Health and we try this month's workout, then next month's, then we hop on the internet and try a new workout each bloody day!

Simplicity takes away all this noise.

It sticks to the basic principle that governs strength training - progressive overload.

You don't need to shock your body with new exercises all the time, it needs to be shocked by new stimulus. By exposing it to heavier loads instead of new stupid exercises, you break down the muscle and force it to adapt and to grow.

By sticking to the simplest workout you possibly can, you limit yourself to the fundamental exercises. If you progress on these, without distraction, you will get to where you want to be.

Your goal should be the fabled 1 plate press, 2 plate bench press, 3 plate squat and 4 plate deadlift. Once you reach these numbers, you're all but guaranteed to be in fantastic shape, especially if you've been consistent, you've been hitting those assistance lifts and you've been smashing your diet.

What's so simple about it?

It revolves around 4 simple lifts - the bench, the squat, the press and the deadlift. You start every workout with one, then use another as an accessory lift. It is almost too simple.

You'll only be doing 3 exercises per workout (6 on some days if you want to add in the optionals, but whatever) and you'll see tremendous results from doing so.

You will almost feel guilty about how simple this plan is, giving the fact that every man and his dog seems to be doing a million sets of this, that and the other during their insta-workouts that they love to show off, even if they have no results to show for it in real life.

Okay, so what's the plan?

The basic premise of this workout is simple enough:

There are 4 workouts per week - preferably done on Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri.
Each starts with one of the big 4 lifts - Bench, Squat, Press & Deadlift.
For each of these exercises, you will do either 3 sets of 5 (week 1), 3 sets of 3 (week 2) or 1 set of 5, then 1 of 3 then 1 of 1 (week 3). You will then take a de-load week.
You will then follow the main exercise up with 5 sets of 10 reps on one of the other big 4 at 50% of your 1 rep max. For instance, with deadlifts, you'd follow them up with squats. With the press, you'd follow that up with 5 sets of 10 on bench.
On your upper body days, you'll then follow that up with 5 sets of 10 on either a horizontal or vertical pull exercise. For instance a pull up or a row.
After that you can add in some optional arm and shoulder work.
On lower body days (squats and deads), you'll follow this up with 5 sets of 20 on an ab exercise like the reverse crunch or cable crunch.
After you've done 4 weeks, you will up the weight of your main exercises by the prescribed amount (5-10lbs) and add 5lbs on to the 5 x 10 exercises too.
Download this spreadsheet if you want to save having to calculate anything. By putting in your stats, this spreadsheet will work everything out for you for the next year. Adjust accordingly if you stall, etc.
Eat a lot of protein (1g per lb of bodyweight), load up on as many veggies as you can and make sure you're in a slight caloric surplus (more calories in than you burn). If you do this, your strength should consistently increase - as should your muscle mass.
Refer to Jim's post for a better understanding.

Here is my current workout;

Monday - Upper Body

Bench press (3 sets of 5, 3 or 5/3/1)

Press (5 sets of 10)

Lat Pulldown (5 sets of 10)

Optional

Skull crushers (3 sets of 10)

Barbell Curl (3 sets of 10)

Face pulls (3 sets of 10)

Tuesday - Lower Body

Squat (3 sets of 5, 3 or 5/3/1)

Deadlift (5 sets of 10)

Reverse crunch (5 sets of 20)

Thursday - Upper Body

Press (3 sets of 5, 3 or 5/3/1)

Bench press (5 sets of 10)

T-bar row (5 sets of 10)

Optional

Incline dumbbell curl (3 sets of 10)

Rope pushdown (3 sets of 10)

Lateral raises (3 sets of 10)

Friday - Lower Body

Deadlift (3 sets of 5, 3 or 5/3/1)

Squat (5 sets of 10)

Cable crunch (5 sets of 20)

Devilishly simple I know.

There are only 14 exercises used during the entire duration of this plan - even less if you leave out the optional exercises.

I would probably opt to include the optional stuff though as it's always good to add a a little additional arm and shoulder work isn't it.

And be sure not to skimp on the ab work as a strong core is key to progressing on these big lifts. A weak core will create instability and stop you from reaching your full working capacity, thus limiting those sweet, sweet gains.

Track every session and make sure you're making progress over time. I have created a printout for you which covers 6 full cycles. Print it out, share it with your mum, whatever it takes.

Benefits

There are so many benefits to keeping your workout simple. Here's a quick list of the sort of things you can come to expect from this program.

No distractions

You aren't distracting yourself from the important exercises with pointless fluff like tricep kickbacks and 5 different bicep supersets.

These distractions can feel good to do in the moment if you're chasing the pump because they're easy and give you a nice sensation in your arms, but they aren't what's going to get you big and strong.

Squat, deadlift, bench press, (overhead) press, rows and pull ups/downs should be the main players in your workout with just a few accessory lifts in there for your arms, abs and delts.

Anything else is just fluff really. The more time you invest in doing these main movements, the quicker you'll get stronger and more proficient at them, thus getting swole as sin in the process.

Everything is done for you (sort of)

You have the print out and the spreadsheet that tells you exactly what exercises to do, what weights to hit and for how many reps every single session.

The whole program is laid out for you - for free!

Now all you have to do is follow it to a T and you will get bigger and stronger. I guarantee it.

Rapid progress

The Wendler 5/3/1 system is without doubt, the greatest way for beginners, intermediates and maybe even advanced lifters to add serious weight to every single one of their lifts.

Your strength is going to skyrocket, especially if you're new to lifting.

This will keep you motivated, keep you on track and best of all, keep you big and strong.

Misc

You will probably experience a whole host of other related benefits when you hop on the world's simplest workout. I'm too lazy to write fat paragraphs for each, so here's a list of what you can expect:

Increased testosterone
Bulletproof confidence
Better form on lifts (thanks to doing them twice a week and in different rep ranges)
Less time needed in gym
More motivation to work out
Increased energy

There are so many more benefits to this workout and keeping things simple in general, but you get the general gist - simplicity is good.

Some tips

Okay, now you know what you've got to do, here are some tips to supercharge your results. Forgive me, as the first 2 are very very boring, but rather important.

Read 5/3/1

Jim Wendler is a very smart man.

He is also a very big and strong man.

Surprise surprise, he also likes to keep things simple...

Read his book on the 5/3/1 method to understand why it's so effective and why adding more doesn't necessarily mean you'll make more progress.

By reading his book, you'll have a much better overview on the inner workings behind the program which may help you stick with it longer and also to understand why you're doing what you're doing.

Form videos

They're boring, but form videos on Youtube are a great way to learn the basic movements correctly from the off. I spent years doing exercises wrong and then forgetting about them because they hurt.

But the reason they hurt was because my form was awful, which got me injured and hindered my gains.

Take it from someone who's been there - learn correct form.

There is no excuse nowadays with so much ridiculously informative content on Youtube and Google for free.

Just do it.

Sauna

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the sauna is man's best friend.

Sauna's are great for increasing cardiovascular capacity, strengthening the heart and boosting the immune system.

It's also great for improving skin and boosting cognitive performance but they're not particularly useful for the gym lol.

Foam rolling and stretching

You simply can't beat a good bit of foam rolling and stretching.

It's a great way to boost muscle recovery and keep you injury free. Read my guide on exercise recovery if you want to learn more about the dos and don'ts of stretchin' and rollin'.

Wim Hof Method

I have recommended the Wim Hof Method to just about anyone that'll listen.

This breathing/meditation/yoga combo will transform your life - guaranteed.

But how can it be applied to making gains in the gym?

Well, the WHM teaches you how to breathe deeply and properly - two things that us modern peeps have completely forgotten how to do.

This is so important when it comes to bracing for big lifts, especially the squat or deadlift. It will help you to stay calm whilst performing with super heavy weights and aid in hitting those PR's with ease.

I honestly can't recommend this step enough.

Ice baths

And finally, you've gotta be taking ice baths - or maybe cold showers.

If you do the Wim Hof Method you'll already be doing these but even if you opt out of the breathing exercises, do some cold water therapy boi.

Not only does the cold water make you feel unbelievable, you'll get some good recovery bonuses too with lowered inflammation.

How simple was that?

Very simple.

The simplest.

Simples.

Etc.

Anyway, the simplest workout is often the best. It stops you becoming obsessed with minutiae and fluff that holds you back from making the big strength gains you need in order to get strong and therefore (if you're eating well), big.

Try doing 6 cycles of this workout using the linked spreadsheet and my printout log and watch how much progress you make.

And don't forget: simplicity is key.

Fitbit Flex 2 Tracker Only review: Worth the money?

Recently, I bought myself a shiny new Fitbit Flex 2. This blog is going to give a comprehensive review of the fitbit flex 2 tracker only.

At first, I really wanted one of fitness tracking rings as I thought a Fitbit might look a bit garish, but then I realised a big chrome ring wouldn't be much better.

I then looked for the cheapest possible Fitbit as I am a fat cheapskate (at times), despite running a luxury lifestyle blog.

It was then I came across the subject of this review - the Flex 2.

Let me just get this one out there, I’m not being paid or gifted to say anything here. Even if I was I’d still give my honest opinion obviously BUT I’m probably going to gush a bit about this so I just had to clear the air first.

Enough talk anyway - let’s…erm, talk some more!

What can it do?

It doesn’t even tell the time for God’s sake!

But dya know what it does do? Everything you need it to.

I was desperate to see how many steps I did in a day - desperate I tell you! This was the primary reason I got the Flex 2. It is an accurate step counter. I didn’t want to have to carry my phone with me at all times to track steps so this was a nice compromise.

It’s also handy for the phone haters as it stores 5 days worth of data for you before you need to sync it with your blower.

There’s actually a bucket load of features that the Flex 2 is packing but the main ones that you’ll probably be interested are as follows;

Step tracking
Sleep tracking
Activity minutes & type
Daily calorie burn
Distance travelled

It also lets you set silent alarms which is great if you want a slightly less calamitous wake up call than your phone or an alarm clock.

I find this a great way to wake up without having to look at my phone when I’m travelling. Usually I’ll use an analogue alarm but it’s much harder when you’re not at home so this has actually been a bit of a hidden gem amongst the feature set.

Positives from this Fitbit Flex 2 Review

Things are about to get a lil’ gushy people. You have been warned.

Gamifies activity tracking

The biggest thing for me was that the Fitbit Flex 2 completely changed the way I viewed physical activity - steps at least.

I love getting active but getting my 10,000 daily step goal in used to be a bit of a chore. Working from home means I have become a bit of a lazy oaf - I often get less than 3,000 steps a day.

Seeing my ‘score’ on the Fitbit app really motivated me to get out and about to try and beat yesterday’s totals. If I was about an hour or so away from going to bed and had 1,000 steps left to go, I’d just start walking round the garden or up and down the stairs.

This all sounds a little bit Patrick Bateman I know but you’ll see for yourself, gamifying your activity really becomes addicting.

It actually looks cool

On the aesthetic side of things, this thing actually looks the business, which is hard for something as frumpy as a fitness tracker to pull off.

The fact that it is so sleek due to having no clock or any frills makes it seamless on your wrist and just looks like a snazzy little bracelet. If you want to go one step further, you can actually get a pendant for your Flex 2 which sits under (or over) your top.

If you’re concerned about looking a bit too try-hard this is the option you might want to take but I think it’s a bit unnecessary personally.

Great battery life

According to Fitbit, the Flex 2 can last up to 5 days on a single charge. I find that this is pretty much the case, just make sure you don’t have ‘all day sync’ activated and you’ll be fine.

I tend to top up the charge every couple of days while I’m sat down working as that way I won’t miss any significant activity plus I can track my sleep every night as opposed to charging it overnight and skewing the data for the week.

Waterproof

This is a huge bonus and means that all you swimming buffs can go ham.

Being waterproof rather than water resistant is such a bonus for the Flex 2. It means it can withstand a lot when it comes to water, sweat and sport. All you have to do is wipe it down every so often and dry it after you’ve been swimming or taken a bath/shower - hardly a mammoth task.

Great app

The Fitbit app itself is really easy to navigate, customise and keep up to date with. The first time you set up the device, you’ll be taken on your own little virtual guide which sets you up perfectly for a lifetime of life tracking.

Email notifications when battery is low

You can choose to have this on or off but I like getting an email notification through when my battery is low as it helps me to remember to charge the bloody thing.

Otherwise, I’d be forgetting all the time and lose days worth of data because I’m a big stinkin’ eejit.

It’s a handy little tool but it isn’t necessary so I’ll leave this one up to you.

Holds data for ages

The Fitbit Flex 2 can hold up to 5 days of data before you need to sync it with your phone. Most of us will be syncing every few hours to keep up to date with every single step of the day but it’s a very handy tool to have just in case.

Friendly competition

If your friends and family have Fitbits, you can set up challenges for the week. This sounds extremely beige but it's actually pretty fun. Having even just a bit of competition can spur you on to do an extra thousand steps, which all count towards becoming a fitter you.

They do kid's ones too, so it can be a fun way to get your sprog into keeping fit.

Negatives

I’m not gonna lie gang, there isn’t many negatives. After a month or so of testing, I can only think of a couple of minus points.

Doesn’t track weights sessions

This was the main gripe I had the Flex 2. It bugged me that my weights sessions weren’t picked up by the activity tracker.

I go to the gym 5 times a week-ish, which is a decent chunk of activity for the day. By not tracking this calorie burn or activity, the Fitbit isn’t really giving you the full picture of your physical performance for the day.

You set daily goals for your fitness when setting up the Fitbit - be that 10,000 steps, 30 minutes of exercise - whatever.

The Flex 2 only records sports, swimming, aerobic and anaerobic activity, which means that those doing weights may think they’ve barely burned any calories or hit their activity quota when in fact, they’ve probably smashed through it.

To combat this, I just mentally made a note of this and adjusted my diet accordingly. Just don’t got overboard with your estimations and start downing coke and Doritos you big heffer.

Maybe something Fitbit can do to combat this would be to add in a section to log workouts performed like MyFitnessPal does. Or, maybe they have got this capability already but I was just too stupid to find it - who knows?

No clock

This didn’t bother me as it helps the design to stay sleek AF but I have seen that a decent chunk of people thought this lack of clock was a negative.

The Fitbit Alta (Affiliate link) is basically the same but with a clock and doesn’t cost much more so just go for that if you’re gonna get your knickers in a twist about keeping track of this manmade concept.

Verdict

I’d give this little fella a solid 9/10. I don’t think anything deserves a 10/10 but the Fitbit Flex 2 comes close.

My experience with the Flex 2 has really changed my perception of fitness trackers from something your dad buys after the divorce to something that can genuinely improve your fitness pursuits.

With that in mind, I’m really looking forward to upgrading in the next year or so to a slightly more advanced one - probably the Fitbit Charge or Fitbit Versa (Affiliate link) - these automatically tracks activity, allow for incoming calls and cover walking running.

If you like the sound of the Fitbit Flex 2 then you can pick one up here (Affiliate link…again).

A day in the life of a full time blogger

A 'Day in the life of a full time yummy mummy blogger' article usually goes one of two ways.

There are those who make it look like the best thing since sliced bread with lots of cool meetings in London or weekly press trips to new exotic lands.

Then...

There are those who love to brag about how much of a fat lazy slob they are and that they're just "not capable of adulting good". Blogger Twitter is infested with these weirdos, but that's another story.

I'd say I fall somewhere between the two camps.

My days as a blogger aren't filled with dazzling press freebies, nor are they filled with 15 hour Netflix binges sat in a bean stained vest...anymore.

I work a bit, do a bit of admin to keep everything spick and span, go the gym, then have some leisure time.

That's literally all I do, so if you want to click away now then I won't hold it against you. If you fancy a somewhat more in depth look at my day then stay tuned and I'll go in to more details about the hows and whys of my routines.

If you want an infographic on the whole shabang, check this little fella out:

05:00 - 07:00 - Wake up/Morning Routine

I absolutely love getting up at 5am - it is fantastic for mental clarity and getting your day off to a flyer. Sometimes though, I just can't be bothered and fancy a little bit of a lie-in, so opt for a more respectable 7am start.

Then I'll get right up so I'm not tempted to go back asleep, make the bed all nice and pretty then go through a quick morning routine.

I've got a massive morning routine, a minimal morning routine and an even minimal-er morning routine that I am currently using.

For now, my morning routine is as follows;

Wake up
Have a quick stretch
Make the bed
Down a load of water
Brush my teeth
Do some more stretches and dislocations

05:15 - 07:15 - Work

I use my Mac book primarily for writing and nothing else - except maybe the odd email later in the day. After I've finished work I don't go on it 'til the next day, opting instead to use an iPad in the night to do anything social, distracting, etc.

This ensures that my mind is cued to get straight into work mode when the laptop is opened à la Pavlov's dogs.

This little 3-5 hour period is when the bulk of my work gets done. Writing is more about your surroundings than anything else, which is why I love this time of day.

For most of it, people are still asleep, so everywhere is nice and quiet which gives me time to think deeply without people interrupting me.

10:00 - Meal #1

I'll split my two work blocks up with a light meal. If it's too heavy, the body will expend too much energy trying to metabolise and digest it instead of using that energy to power le brain.

If however, it is light and not full of quick release carbs, it will give me a nice energy boost to attack the second part of my working day.

That's why I like to go protein/fat heavy with some veg thrown in.

The easiest meal to go with here is;

3 whole eggs
25ml oat milk
30g spinach
50g salsa (the less ingredients in it the better)

Whizz the eggs and oat milk in the microwave for 2 minutes, scramble it up. Once that's done, throw in the spinach and salsa.

Made in less than 5 minutes and eaten even quicker than that.

It'll give you sustained energy to get back to work and won't spike your blood sugar when you break the fast. Perfect.

10:30 - Work

Then back to work for 90 minutes.This is somewhat more of a laid back working period as my head ins't quite as laser-focused now but I'll still get done what needs to get done.

A lot of this time is actually spent doing admin such as clearing dead links, doing emails, preparing an Instagram post and other medial minutiae. It may be frustrating but this stuff needs to be done and to think that my working day will be over by the noon is a motivating thought.

12:00 - Secondary Routine

This routine is how I keep my morning routine so basic - most of it has been cut and pasted here instead.

The secondary routine acts as somewhat of a transitionary period between the work day and the rest of the day. It's like starting a completely new day and it gets me ready for the gym later on.

The routine goes as follows;

Affirmations
Meditation
Dead hangs (as long as possible - 5 minutes total)
Deep squat hold (as long as possible - 5 minutes total)
Wim Hof Method
Ice bath
Put on gym clothes

The great thing about my secondary routine is that again, it conditions me (Pavlov's dogs...) to get in a different state of mind.

Once I start this sequence, I know that I am no longer a working man and that I can rest my brain and conserve some energy for later.

13:00 - Meal #2

This will be my pre-workout meal, so something like a smoothie is usually ideal. You could opt for an apple with some peanut butter or a protein shake with a banana - basically a nice mix of protein, carbs and some fat.

My go-to smoothie at the moment is as follows;

200g frozen blueberries
50g vegan blend protein powder
25g peanut butter
25g peanut butter powder
7.5g maca powder
7.5g ashwagandha powder

It tastes great, gives a load of nutrients and gives me the energy to smash a workout at the gym - can't ask for more than that can you?

14:00 - Workout, Steam Room, Sauna, Plunge Pool

What sort of wellbeing blogger would I be if I didn't dedicate a couple of hours of my day to it?

My workout usually takes about 45-60 minutes and I'm absolutely knackered by the end of it (shout out to The Bulking Blueprint) then I'll hit the sauna and steam room for about 15-20 minutes each, making sure to jump into the plunge pool and grab a sip or two of water every 5 minutes.

This is an almost euphoric feeling - I can't even describe how good you'll feel after this. After a day of working, the workout and the post-workout relaxation are absolute key components for releasing tension.

They allow me to de-stress and take my mind off anything work-related so that I can come back home, chill out and recharge my batteries for tomorrow.

16:00 - Free time

Once I'm back from the gym I can do anything I want with the next 6-8 hours.

It could literally be anything: I enjoy a spot of online 8-ball pool (my one true vice), going out with the #squad, doing something with the missus, taking an online course, watching a movie, drawing - it doesn't matter. All that matters is I don't have to work and I actually get this entire time to do what I want.

Going back to the two types of 'day in the life of a blogger' article examples above - I'd say I am definitely bang in the middle of the two.

It is extremely hard work, but it's also extremely fun - and I still get to binge watch mind numbing movies in my bean stained vest if I wish.

Win win really.

* As you can see, I don't actually do that much work on the blog during the day in terms of actual time spent on projects. However, when I do go to do work, I go deep. This basically means that I have no distractions whatsoever, so 1 hour of my working time is probably equivalent to about 90 minutes - 2 hours of work done within a busy, distracting office environment. *Being a blogger doesn't have to mean you spend 15 hours a day writing, promoting and smashing social media. If you condense your day down into small blocks then you can achieve big results in about half the time.

Since starting the blog about 2 years ago (at the time of writing), I have;

Been nominated for a 'best male blogger' award.
Published a book.
Made it my full time job.
Travelled to 3 different countries on press trips.
Worked with brands I love such as Canali, Bvlgari and Son of a Tailor.
Been part of an art exhibition.
Met a load of sound folks.

Yes, that's an absolute massive brag on my part, but I am making a valid point. Whilst I do work extremely hard to make this blog a success, I'd wager that I 'work' a lot less hours than most people out there.

If an illiterate buffoon like ya boi can make a decent go of this blogging malarkey then you definitely can too. All you need to do is set some time aside to go deep each day - even if it's just half an hour. Any alone time where you can get distraction-free work done will stand you in good stead for making this your full time gig.

And that's basically what I do in a day as a full time blogger.

I won't pretend it's exciting all the time and that it isn't a fat slog most days but that's as realistic as you're going to get.

The official whistle-stop Metz travel guide

Metz may not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of France - hell, it may not even be the tenth.

But it should definitely be up there.

Metz is one of the best cities I've ever visited and it is one of the few that has actually gone above and beyond my expectations (and then some).

Before we dive in, I just want to say a massive thank you to the Metz Tourist Board (and special thanks to Vivienne, our guide/Metz Oracle for the weekend) for having us - it was a pleasure.

Let's talk about Metz

Metz is about 3,000 years old and absolutely steeped in history and heritage.

There are so many different influences on the city, with input from the various countries that have claimed ownership of it throughout its lifetime.

The two standout influences that are prevalent throughout are Roman and Germanic architecture - two of my personal favourites. Due to its history as a military city, there are huge, grand buildings that were designed to stand the test of time - and that they have. It adds a satisfying contrast to the little alleyways and chic flats that pepper the streets.

It is now the economic hub of the Lorraine region which seems to be heavily driven my tech and science. This mixture of historic and innovative gives Metz a vibe that is difficult to put my finger on - but I like it.

Travelling

Travelling isn't quite as straight forward as some other destinations but it's pretty cheap and it's not hard if you've got more than one brain cell.

Since Metz borders so many different places, you can fly anywhere around it and travel in by train. You could even fly directly in to Metz if you wanted but plane tickets are substantially more expensive.

Here's exactly what we did;

Flights from Manchester to Luxembourg (€50 each way)
Bus from Luxembourg airport to city centre (€2 each way)
Train from Luxembourg central train station to Metz Ville ($16.50 each way)

We're looking at a total travel time of about 4 hours which isn't bad considering what it entails. It's very hard to mess this up so don't get stressed out during your travels, trust me.

At a combined cost of €135, this was definitely one of the cheaper travel routes I've done. Considering I went for such a popular time in the year, I'd say that's pretty good value for money.

Doing it in style @ The 1903 lounge

Airports are rather stressful places to navigate let's be honest with ourselves. That's why whenever I'm flying from Manchester airport, I'll splash the cash on their 1903 lounge.

If you book it in advance, it's only £35. For that, you get unlimited spirits, beers, champagne and coffee whilst fresh food is brought out constantly. You also get to escape the chaos downstairs, get access to free wifi and there are chairs and tables where you can look straight out on to the runway.

Not to mention plug sockets for your equipment if you need a quick charge, loads of magazines and pretty much the best airport experience you'll ever have.

This time around, they were kind enough to give me and my amigo a gifted stay which set the tone for the entire holiday and made us feel a teency weency bit like Z-list celebrities.

But yeah, the 1903 lounge is literally a must-do for anyone who wants a chilled out, child-free non-war zone to relax and indulge in before hitting the skies.

Where to stay?

We stayed in one of the best Hotels Metz has to offer - Hotel La Citadelle. This place is unbelievable - a repurposed military building from the 1500's, it has got loads of character and is somehow in absolutely top notch condition, which is something I noticed with so many of the buildings around the city.

It is opposite a quiet park, adjacent to the Mayor's residence, next to the old military arsenal building and behind the contemporary arts centre.

Quite the location then...

It's also about a 5 minute walk from the river, cathedral and just about everything else in Metz. The beauty of the city is that everything is within walking distance no matter where you are, but the location of La Citadelle was just ideal.

On stepping inside, we were greeted by a friendly receptionist, offered some specially brewed drinks (obviously couldn't turn down a freebie) and shown to our room.

The room had its own hallway. A bloody hallway!

Then we were treated to an amazing bathroom, separate toilet and huge room with a bird's eye view of the park in front along with a welcome pack, robes, etc. They really had gone the full 9 yards.

A place like this really does try its very best to live up to the lofty standards its guests hold it to - hence the fact their very own restaurant has a Michelin star.

Not too shabby!

And even if this hotel was awful, it'd be worth it just to see all of the supercars parked outside...

What to do?

Now this is the real question.

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I arrived apart from the itinerary we were given. Youtube videos and blog articles are pretty hard to come by save for the tourist board's website, so it is difficult to get a full feel for Metz before you visit.

This is what annoyed me.

I can't wrap my head around why there aren't more people doing city guides, reviews, etc - the place is so full of things to do that people should be visiting, then visiting again and again - and again.

With this in mind, I felt it to be almost my duty to go as in depth as possible with this article. But even this guide barely scratches the surface. Believe me when I say, I am desperate to go back and do a part 2 already!

Food

I always thought French food was baguettes, snails and frogs.

Is that bigoted? Probably. Anyway, I have to put it out there - I am now fully in love with French cuisine. Everything from their pastries to their cheese just grabs you and sends you into the gastronomical stratosphere.

At various points I would catch myself just murmuring superlatives because I was in some strange food/orgasm state for the duration of every meal.

Fresson

Pastries is one of France's strong suits and I can see why.

We visited a family run pâtisserie named Fresson, after its owner who runs the store with his wife and a small team, who make every single pastry, cake and sweet by hand.

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The attention to detail on everything was unbelievable - not to mention the taste.

We had a St Louis macron (named after the square the store sits by) and one of their special recipe chocolates for our breakfast - all in the name of being continental of course...

La Fleure de Ly

This was not your bog standard restaurant.

I've rarely had a meal that was an experience but this most definitely was. There was about 6 courses, pallet cleansers, Michelin star-esque presentation and thankfully - phenomenal tasting food.

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The atmosphere here is great - there is a really relaxed, personal feeling about the whole place, from its location and the front courtyard to its moddily lit restrooms and open kitchen.

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La Fleure de Ly was on another level.

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Le Bistronome

Another fantastic place to grab an amazing meal is Le Bistronome. We got to eat outside which was perfect - it felt like I was on the set of a movie.

The food was, again, unbelievable.

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3 courses, 2 glasses of wine and an after dinner espresso - the French just do it so, so right.

Covered market

If you fancy a change of pace, try the covered market which is located literally right in front of the cathedral. There are so many stalls to choose from and even stores that'll sell you quirky goods like artisan coffee roasting equipment and let you pick your own beans like a pick 'n' mix.

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Did I just say artisan?

Ugh.

We tried a restaurant in the market called L'assiette du Marche/Chez Mauricette which was slightly more informal than the other restaurants. But again, we were treated to the full 3 courses along with after dinner sweets and yet more drinks.

They go the full hog in Metz and I am absolutely in love with it.

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Drink

We did quite a lot of this. From champagne breakfasts in the airport to post meal espressos, we sampled every last bit. Here's a few things you can guzzle in Metz.

Coffee in the square

Grab a quick coffee, sit outside and watch the world go by for a bit.

We did this on our first morning to get more of a feel for the place. As we were in the main square it was great to people watch whilst we got caffeinated up to our eye balls.

Worth doing.

Solar powered boat wine aperitif

I'm gonna stick my neck out on the line here and say that this may well have been the highlight of the trip. The Solis Mettensis was 2 hours of eating continental snacks and drinking local champagne whilst sharing some great company on an amazing scenic river cruise.

Due to its size, it was just me, my mate, an old couple that didn't speak a word of English and our captain.

And we had an amazing time.

Robbie, our captain, was an extremely knowledgeable bloke and told us all about the history of Metz and little snippets that only the locals know. He also had immaculate taste in champagne, as he let us drink his two bottles of Metz & Luxembourg-produced dry.

It's hard to describe it but if you do decide to visit Metz, you have to do this one.

Local brasserie

Brasserie La Tuilerie, just off the Moselle river, opened their doors just for us.

Imposter syndrome inbound.

We got to tour around their microbrewery learning about their processes, grand plans and history. We also got to sit down for an hour with the owners for a little drinking session, getting to know more about each other.

This was our first stop of the trip, so it was nice to get chatting to some locals right away.

Apparently, Metz has a lowkey underbelly of brasseries who all love to brew and share their very best creations across the city.

If you fancy tasting amazing beers all day, why not organise a tour of them all?

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That's if you could make it to the last one after all them drinks...

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Culture

I'm a little bit of a culture junky.

Thankfully, Metz gave me my fix - in fact I almost OD'd on culture it was that plentiful.

Good gear.

Locals

This has to be number one.

Maybe I felt so at ease straight away in Metz because it instantly felt like a home from home.

In Liverpool, people are proud of where they come from, we're proud of our history, we welcome strangers with open arms to tell them about how great our city is and of course, we've got a great sense of humour.

The people of Metz seem to be exactly the same.

I had never been to France before this trip, but all I've heard is that French people are rude. Is this because I've only spoken to people who have visited Paris? Maybe. If a French person visited London they'd probably think exactly the same about us.

It could be because we tried our best to learn the language and engage with strangers, but everyone we spoke to was really friendly and helpful.

They seemed to know everything there was to know about their city and were happy to chat in English too once we told them "Je ne parle pas très bien le français" - especially 3 fellas we met (all of whom were called Matthieu) who taught us the very best French swear words and insults.

Constellation

Apparently, we visited on the best night of the year - the opening of the Constellation festival and Fête de le Musique which meant there were stages set up throughout the city with people belting out tunes all day.

It was intense - the streets were absolutely rammed and it was like one big carnival.

I loved it.

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The festival is actually a month long, so if you want to see it, be sure to head down between the last week of June to the last week of July.

Architecture

Everywhere you look, amazing architecture is looking right back at you.

Because of Metz's unique heritage as a military city and its spells under German, Roman and French ownership, it has collected inspiration from all over Europe.

This creates an awe-inspiring collection of streets, buildings and landscapes which were a genuine joy to walk through and most importantly - snap pics of.

Rivers

Metz has two rivers which join together - the lake of Metz and the Moselle river.

You should definitely go and walk along these and if you can, get yourself out on the water itself via a cruise of some sort - preferably a boozy one like we did.

Cathedral

This was one of the most aesthetic cathedrals I've ever set foot in.

With huuuuge ceilings, stained glass windows as far as the eye can see and a story in every single brick, The Cathedral of Saint Stephen of Metz has to be on your to-do list.

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The stonework outside is stunning, with every figure telling a different story - most of them parables from the bible which is something I hadn't really seen before.

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At night it was lit up for the Constellation light show which was trippy AF.

Definitely a must visit.

Get lost

I love to get lost and try to do it on most of my holidays.

Metz has a plethora of alleyways, little winding streets and gorgeous parks to go and explore with no particular intentions.

It was nice to just walk around for a bit when we had time between stuff we were doing. If you stay for longer than 48 hours, definitely just stroll along the river and through any side streets you come across to see what you can discover.

Centre Pompidou Metz

We didn't get round to this but apparently it is fantastic.

Being the largest collection of 20th and 21st century artwork in France means they're probably doing something right over there. It is also the largest exhibition centre outside of Paris - not too bad ey?

Much, much more

There is so much more to do but since we went out for (too many) drinks, we needed a nap on our final day so didn't get round to exploring as much as we probably should have.

Shopping

We all love to shop don't we? Let's be honest with ourselves.I didn't get too much done whilst we were there, but enough to give a couple of recommendations.

Printemps personal shopping

France is rather famous for its shopping and for their fashion in general, which is why I was over the moon when their largest department/clothing store asked if I wanted to do a personal experience.

I was treated to a 45 minute session at Printemps Metz with personal stylist Christelle who was extremely knowledgable about the history of French menswear and dressed me head to toe in the latest fashion to give me a taster of how the homme Français do it.

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There were 3 outfits prepared for me including brands like The Kooples, Sandro, Calvin Klein and Armani which felt rather bloody lovely and made me feel like a someone off Made in Chelsea.

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Great mix of high and low end

A big trend that the French have is mixing layers. Not in the usual sense though. They are known to pair expensive, exotic materials with cheaper cuts for an interesting juxtaposition.

This experimental style can be seen throughout Metz, with lots of high and low end stores all selling their wares. It was amazing to take all of it in and dream up a few #chic outfits for myself before realising I could probably only afford the low end stuff...

Metz has genuinely bowled me over. I don't know why it was so far above what I expected but it was and that's all I can say.

Hopefully this 48 hour city guide has give you some inspiration as to what to cram into a fleeting weekend but feel free to do some more research if my itinerary doesn't tickle your pickle.

What happened when I quit Instagram for 30 days

I have a somewhat love hate relationship with social media. It has connected me to so many people who I would call genuine friends and it has given me a platform to blog full time, but sometimes it grinds my gears - which is why I decided to QUIT INSTAGRAM!

...for 30 days.

The problem with Instagram

This isn't just specific to Instagram - all social media is pretty much giving everyone a complex, anxiety, depression and turning us all into addicted zombies who can't handle ourselves in real social interactions.

But less of that!

That's not important right?!

Here are a few doosies that might resonate with you.

Your phone has become an additional limb

If you're anything like me, your phone will feel like an extra limb. You'll touch it all the time, not only just to check it's still safely snug in your pocket, but because it is a habit you've developed over the years.

The temptation to check Instagram will be an ever-present devil on the shoulder that just won't go away and you'll feel naked if you don't have your phone with you.

How ever will you cope?

No wifi/data = Tension/Stress

Knowing that you can't access your social media profiles will become a daily stressor whenever you don't have wifi or data.

Going through a tunnel on a train, driving through somewhere with no signal in the car - these times will often be some of the worst of your life.

You'll be desperate to check that feed to fill any gap in time and the absence of any form of connection will start giving you anxiety.

Confidence plummets

Because you spend so much time on Instagram creating a fake persona and acting like the life of the party, you may find that in turn, your real life confidence takes a big hit.

When you become so accustomed to all of your social interactions being through a platform on your phone, you might end up struggling to cope in face-to-face situations.

Social occasions become a worry and you'll resent the fact that you can't hide behind a profile. There are so many case studies out there to back this one up.

Here's a quick google search to show you.

You'll never be good enough

This is probably the most cited of the Instagram negative effect culprits.

Everyone posts their very best self - and then some, on Instagram.

It's not real, which we try our best to tell ourselves, but we just can't help but buy into it.

We've got people hiring professional photographers, lighting crews and god knows what else, just to get that perfect shot. Then we look at ourselves in the mirror with our dingy bathroom light for lighting and wonder why we don't look the same.

Of course we're not going to be like them. The people that make it big big, or even just big, on Insta are the elite - they're the 1% of the 1%. They put in thousands of hours of dedication to what they do, they make sacrifices that most of us aren't willing to make and sometimes, just sometimes, they're simply born with all the gifts.

To try and compare yourself to someone like that is actually an insult to them. How can we expect to look like a bodybuilder or a swimwear model if we're not willing to do what they're willing to do? Steroids, crazily restrictive diets, daily sacrifice - the list goes on.

Instead, we should use these people as inspiration - a ballpark to shoot for (shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars, etc) like older generations would do with celebrities in magazines. They knew that these people were doing crazy things and that they'd never look like them, but they knew they could get close and they knew they could do it in a much safer way.

Except, with Instagram, these people don't feel like celebrities do they? They feel like you or me, normal almost... This drives the comparisons through the roof and making us feel like we're simply not good enough.

Nothing gets done

Oftentimes, you'll wake up in the morning, switch your alarm off and then open up Instagram to scroll for 2 minutes, okay just another minute - okay let's make it 10...

And before you know it, you've spent 45 minutes mindlessly scrolling through everyone and their dog's feed. Then on your lunch break (and probably even during work hours you sly dog, you) you'll hammer out another hour of scrolling, messaging and liking. And after work? Well that's about 6 hours of prime scrolling time right there isn't it?!

You'll knock out another few hours of the good stuff until bed.

But wait!

We didn't think about bed.

Wouldn't a nice little night cap scroll be nice? You know, just to get you off to sleep? Why not ey? Oh wait, you've just spent another hour scrolling, you've messed up your circadian rhythm with blue light overload, wasted hours and hours of your day that you could have been either fully relaxing to recharge or actually working on something important/bettering yourself.

But no, that cruel mistress has got you in her clutches.

Maybe it's time to take an Instagram break.

Why I personally decided to quit

As a full time blogger, I thought I had to churn out daily Instagram content, no matter what.

Guess what?

I didn't.

I was putting content out every single day and my likes were beginning decrease, even though my followers were going up through my relentless engagement.

So, what was happening?

Well, my account (and blog) has always and will always be about 3 things - Style, Wellbeing & Culture. I had started to upload things on to my Instagram for the sake of it and whilst they may have been of decent quality, the passion and the 'on brand-ness' of them was missing.

And this filtered through to my followers.

I had become obsessed with getting out there for the sake of it. Just to be seen. But I wasn't enjoying myself. People weren't enjoying my profile like they used to and it just turned into a bit of a misery going on there.

I decided enough was enough. I needed to quit Instagram.

Cue dramatic music.

What actually happened when I quit?

Not too much really.

Well, none of the bad stuff anyway.

People think that when they quit Instagram, their life will fall apart and no one will know who they are once they get back. Even if that was the case, so what?

If someone forgets about you after 30 days, you clearly weren't exactly a someone in their eyes to begin with were you?

But yeah, back to me - the main man.

Once I quit, I felt immediately liberated. I didn't have to capture every moment perfectly, I could just enjoy it for what it was. Of course, there were the times where I was desperate to get back on to check up on my pals, do a quick update for my followers and just check that everything was fine and dandy.

I won't BS you, I missed it. And that's because I genuinely enjoy Instagram.

But quitting for 30 days really let me realise what it was that I actually missed. I missed the thrill of creating content that I enjoyed, regardless of an upload schedule. I missed messaging people and having a laugh. I even missed making stories on Unfold - the best app ever.

It also made me realise what I didn't miss - and that I wouldn't stress about these things again.

I didn't miss checking my account once every 5 minutes to keep tabs on how my new picture was doing. I didn't miss stressing that I should be replying to messages and comments right away. And I certainly didn't miss trying to beat the algorithm by any means possible.

I guess taking the decision to go on a mini Instagram detox has elucidated the good and the bad, giving me the knowledge to use the platform to it's full potential, falling prey to its pitfalls less often.

Would I recommend an Instagram hiatus?

Absolutely.

Definitely.

Yes, basically.

Taking these 30 days off has been a big step for me as someone who has been absolutely laser-focused on growing my presence over the last 18 months.

Taking that decision to quit Instagram, albeit for a relatively short period of time, has given me a new impetus to grow, engage and all that good stuff, but it has shown me that it also isn't the be all and end all.

Are there any benefits to quitting?

An absolute heap of benefits my good sir/madam/humanoid.

Savour the moment

I'm cringing as I write this as it is such a cliched point to make, but I'm going to make it anyway goddammit.

When you're not so caught up in trying to capture that perfect shot of the moment, you can fully immerse yourself in whatever it is you're doing without thinking in the back of your mind about which angle it would be best to capture it from.

Comparisons are gone

When you take away the source of comparisons, you stop them dead in their tracks.

Now all you'll be doing is comparing to others in real life which isn't nearly as damaging as doing it online. The majority of people are cripplingly normal, so you shouldn't feel as terrible about your self-image as before.

You'll get more done

You won't get the false sense of accomplishment that comes with sharing your goals and ambition online. Once you quit Instagram, you won't get the false positive feedback from strangers online which makes you feel like you've actually done something when in fact, you haven't done anything.

By taking a step back from the social media circus, you'll be able to get your head down and work on all the projects that you should be doing without people making you feel like you've completed it long before you actually have.

Real life becomes the priority

You might start to feel a little bit lonely once you shut off the unbelievably loud community that is Instagram. You will no longer have the illusion of interconnectedness that you once did with that lovely app powered up.

You'll realise that in real life, you probably see your friends much, much less than you used to.

Then you'll realise that real life is where it's at, making it the priority.

You'll begin to make more plans to do stuff and it'll be the best decision of your life, because you'll reconnect - properly, with your pals again.

Good stuff.

Bonus: You can feel morally superior to everyone

You can write articles like this preaching the benefits of eschewing the gram which inflates your ego to new, never-seen-before levels.

You can also tell everyone you know that you're on an Insta Detox™ and rub your smugness all up in their faces.

I kid, but you will feel slightly better than everyone else.

Just saying.

How to quit Instagram easily

The easiest way to quit Instagram for your experiment is pretty complex, but I'll walk you through it.

Take your phone out of your pocket

Oh, you were already on it? Okay.

Hold your thumb down on the Instagram icon until it starts wobbling about.

Click delete.

*Designated crying and existential crisis time*

Yes, yes. I know that for some it "JUST ISN'T AS EASY AS THAT!". Except it is. The only reason you think it's not that easy is because you've put barriers up to justify not quitting for a bit.

Everything is going to be there after 30 days. All your pals, most of your followers, any messages, anything worthwhile will all still be there.

Don't stress too much. It's the classic bandaid (plaster for my UK brethren) metaphor. Just get it over and done with straight away and it'll lessen the blow than trying to gradually phase it out.

More actionable steps going forward

Not everyone is going to read this and try to quit Instagram, no matter for what period of time.

I get it.

Addict.

But, you can try to cut down your time and still reap some benefits. In fact, this is what I have settled on myself since coming back into the fray.

Put your phone away

Just put your phone somewhere where it's annoying to get to.

If you want to concentrate on your work for a while, go and stick your phone in your car, in your garage, in the attic, even just another room in a drawer inside a load of clothes.

That way, if you're anything like me, you'll be too lazy to navigate these self-imposed barriers and you'll just get on with what you need to do.

Swap Instagram to an iPad

Just download Instagram to your iPad and get rid of the app on your phone. This is another way of putting a barrier between you and Insta.

The act of searching, downloading and signing back into the app is too much of a process for a lot of us, meaning we can catch ourselves during the twitch to go and scroll our feed.

Don't take your phone out with you - buy a burner

If you don't want to even give yourself the chance to go on Instagram, a great way to go about it is to buy yourself a burner phone.

This way, whenever you go out, you can leave your smart phone at home but you'll never have to miss a call or text if it's important.

I talk about this at length in my article on why I traded my iPhone X in for a £7 Alcatel.

Quit Instagram for good

If you absolutely loved your break, why not quit Instagram for good?

For those looking to go completely off grid and live their best life away from the prying eyes of social media, why not?Could be worth a shot.

The only book you'll ever need for building muscle

How many of us have spun our wheels in the pursuit of building muscle, getting next to no results despite turning up every week for the last 5 years?

That was me.

Turning up to the gym really isn’t enough.

You see, building muscle in principle, is easy. It’s just putting it into practice that’s hard. Turning up and doing the latest workout that you’ve hopped over to for that week may feel like you’re putting in maximum effort but in reality, you’re not.

This is why I decided to write my very own book.

Having been in this situation literally thousands of times throughout almost a decade of hitting the weight room, I knew I had to put my knowledge into writing.

The Bulking Blueprint: Building muscle made easy

Now obviously, I give lots of fitness info away for free on the blog, but this book is something else entirely.

So many guides out there talk around the subject and say a whole lot of nothing until they come to the conclusion of “there’s lots of great workouts out there so pick one that is best suited to you”, leaving us confused, disheartened and worst of all - no better off than before we read it.

I have absorbed so so so many books, articles, research papers, courses and videos on every aspect of health and wellbeing - hell, I’m a qualified personal trainer and sports psychologist! But although I have these nice certificates and am well versed in the theoretical side of things, nothing can replace experience.

Unfortunately, experience in what not to do is something I have in spades. Luckily though, I knuckled down and completely overhauled my approach to fitness, giving me a boatload of experience in what to do - correctly…

I have extracted the needles from various haystacks and put them into one big encyclopaedia that will give you the blueprint for building muscle quickly and efficiently.

This is; The Bulking Blueprint.

What does it offer?

The Bulking Blueprint is so much more than just a fitness book. It is an all encompassing wellbeing course that will improve just about every aspect of your life. From building solid slabs of muscle and crushing strength PR’s to how your grooming products affect testosterone, this book has got you covered.

We’ll walk through a few topics that include a lil extract from the book so you can get a feel for things - I’m nice like that.

The Big 4

The big 4 will form the core of everything we will go through in this book. It is absolutely essential that you perform these 4 exercises if you want to get big and strong.

Here’s an extract that outlines our #1 exercise in a little bit more detail;

“…Squat is king. Squat, then squat some more. The squat will build strength, mass and athleticism in your legs and through your core. It will teach you how to brace your body properly and to keep tight and solid under heavy resistance.
The one caveat to the squat is that it is almost impossible to get right on the first few attempts. It
took me years to master my squat. You will have to find a stance width that suits you, whether you would like to squat with the bar higher or lower on your back and a myriad of other little cues that will help you to build a competition worthy squat.
If you look at toddlers, they can squat down with ease, often staying in this position for prolonged
periods. So, why are we so bloody awful at it once we grow up? Well, because we all have bad
backs and tight hamstrings from being sedentary and craning to look at computers and phones all day…”

Nutrition

Equally, if not more important than your training plan is the nutrition that goes with it. The old sayings are there for all to see;

“You can’t out train a bad diet”

“Abs are made in the kitchen”

These are oldies but goldies and they are covered in depth during the nutrition section of the book, choc-full of tasty, easy recipes, a breakdown of essential macronutrients and how to split them up for optimal muscle growth.

Expect stuff like this;

“…Everyone loves to indulge in marathon 3-hour pump sessions but no one wants to eat to grow. ‘Eat to grow, bro’ is such an overused yet under-practiced phrase.
People think they’re smashing the calories, when in actual fact, they’re eating at or below their maintenance level.
Tracking your calories accurately and honestly is the only way to guarantee muscle gains in the long run. To do this, you must work out what your maintenance (total daily energy expenditure - or TDEE) is and then add 500 calories.
This way you will be gaining 1-2lbs every month. If you are gaining more, then you should probably scale your surplus down to around 250. If you are gaining less, up it to 750…”

Stress

Stress kills testosterone, it kills muscle building, it kills sleep and it will kill you.

We will be going through how to battle stress and how best to get rid of it once and for all.

Here is a little snippet on meditation to whet ye olde appetite;

“…Without a plan in place to deal with life’s hassles, you’re asking for trouble. The best tactic I have used when combatting stress is meditation.
The trick with meditation is to become aware of your body, breathing and thoughts. By recognising your thoughts and taking note of what is actually going through your mind, you become more conscious of your cognitions and therefore can exact more control over your reactions…”

Typical results

I pride myself on writing about practical topics that get my readers genuine results. I tend not to talk about tailoring things because you’re so very special - I give advice that works for everyone - period.

Although I can’t guarantee it, if you stick to this program like I outline in the book, you will more than likely experience all of the below.

Solid muscle

First and foremost, this book is called The Bulking Blueprint. If it didn’t add mass to your frame it wouldn’t be living up to its billing would it?

I’m not promising crazy results, but building muscle to the tune of one pound per month certainly isn’t unheard of. If you’re a beginner, expect closer to two pounds, maybe more.

Long-term strength

This book shows you a couple of training options for building fantastic strength.

The workout plans that I have included are the two very best when it comes to adding weight to the bar. The beauty of them both is that they work long term, with one starting you off and the other taking over once your progress slows down.

That means that they focus on consistent growth over time and don’t try to progress you too quickly, resulting in early plateaus.

Huge increases in testosterone

I consider testosterone to be my strong suit. Having built a bit of a reputation writing about niche and not so niche ways of boosting that fabled T, it would be remiss of me not to include a big fat section on how to supercharge it in this book wouldn’t it?

There are some great writers out there who cover testosterone and they all seem to talk a good game, but one thing they all have in common is that not a single one of them shows their blood work, and most importantly - their testosterone levels.

The NHS states that the normal range for testosterone is 10-29 nmol/dl, which can also be displayed as 288-836 ng/dl.

Here is a picture from a recent-ish study on the median decline testosterone levels in men over the past few decades:

And to compare, here are my results:

As you can see, my testosterone levels are 30.1 nmol/dl or 867 ng/dl- above even the highest part of the ‘normal’ range and over twice the amount of the median for today's males (even though the males observed were a good bit older).

My diet is far from perfect, I still get pretty stressed from time to time and I’d just had a stomach bug before testing, so these results could easily be a lot higher all factors considered.

I’m putting my neck on the line and showing that I walk the walk. No pseudo theoretical BS here.

The Bulking Blueprint lays out exactly how I did it.

You can get these sorts of results too. Expect benefits such as increased energy levels, better mood, improved sex drive, better recovery, deeper sleep and loads more.

You’ll be surprised at the night and day difference having high testosterone makes.

Improved mental wellbeing

A big factor of fitness isn’t just physical - there has been a huge push in recent times for the improvement of the mental side of things too.

Being physically active is one of the most effective ways to battle both depression and anxiety, with a relapse rate far better than that of prescription drugs - trust me, I wrote a paper on it!

Eating well, working out and seeing your progress first hand will give you a much more positive outlook on life. You will wake up feeling excited to better yourself, you’ll have more clarity, your work will improve and you’ll develop healthier relationships with both people and vices.

Less achy joints

If you follow the routines, recipes and correct workout form all outlined in the book, you may notice that your aches and pains that you’ve just become accustomed to over time have disappeared.

Contrary to popular belief, heavy weight training is good for joints. Add to that the inflammation busting foods and muscle & joint recovery plans and you’ll feel like a completely new person.

Building muscle that is strong and functional around your joints is also a great way to keep them healthier for longer, so you're in a win win situation really.

Future proof knowledge

This book doesn’t just tell you what you need to do, it explains in detail, exactly why you’re doing it and the benefits you’ll experience.

That way, you’re not in the dark, blindly following my guidance. You can make decisions based on the information provided and going forward, you can keep your habits up long term, leading to a happier, healthier life.

Where can I get a copy?

The book is available to download via on Kindle and Paperback. You can also directly download a PDF version from the blog here.

Don’t forget to leave a review if it transforms your life. Even if it doesn’t, I’m always open to hurtful comments from disgruntled online strangers so don’t be shy.

Why I swapped my iPhone X for a dumb phone

So, I went and swapped my iPhone X for a ‘dumb phone’ - a £7 Alcatel to be precise.

Am I an attention seeker? Maybe.

Was it wise? Most definitely.

It may seem very much 'out there' to suggest that you should trade in your latest smart phone for a far dumber phone, but if you hear me and my personal story out, your mind may just be swayed a lil’ bit.

My smart phone journey

Way back when, not long after the dizzying heights of the Motorola Razr, I decided it was time to try out these new ‘smart phone’ things.

I opted for the LG cookie - what a phone that was! It even came with a slide-out stylus pen, way ahead of its time…

Anyway, the Cookie had me hooked. Then I got myself a Blackberry Bold, which was a strange mix of touch screen and keyboard. The important thing at that time though was the inclusion of Blackberry Messenger, which I hoped to use to pick up droves of hunnies from school (in reality, all I ever used it for was sending FIFA team ideas to my equally-uncool pals).

After that, I discovered Android and stayed with really cheap, poor quality smart phones from China for a a few years. They were alright to be fair. Because of their slower quality, I didn’t spend that much time on them and they were always more of a help than a hinderance.

Once I come across the iPhone though, things seemed to accelerate a bit.

I’ve always been a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to tech - I had a £50 HP laptop from the early 00’s for years, even when I started this blog.

So my first foray into the iPhone market was the 3Gs. ‘Not bad’, I hear you say. Well, considering the 6 was out at the time, I would probably class that as cheapskating to the max.

Once I got into the apple ecosystem it was hard to get out. I found myself getting sucked into its lovely operating system, it had a nice camera and it was easy to use - much easier than Android.

Luckily at the time (2013), we weren’t quite as interconnected as we are now and social media, phone internet usage, etc, were still in their relative adolescence, so I didn’t become too obsessed just yet.

I felt the pull of the iPhone though, which is why I sold it on and got myself another android - back to a Motorola in fact.

We had a great relationship so we did, but then I felt the pull again and at the end of 2017 I took the went and got a brand spanking new iPhone X.

It helped propel the blog to a completely different level thanks to being ultra-connected to all social media platforms and the unbelievable camera it had.

In fact, everything was pretty rosy until I took a long, hard look at how my habits had changed over the past 18 months...

Where did it all go wrong?

As I said, I had to take a look at myself because I felt like I was slipping away from reality a bit.

Whenever I was on my own in public, my hand would slip into my pocket to grab my phone. When I was walking down the street, I’d be glued to my phone. When I was bored? Phone.

Dinner with friends or family was interrupted by conversations with others who were in my pocket and worst of all, I would cut off and zone out of conversations because I’d be scrolling the latest social media feed, start messaging friends on WhatsApp or simply just have a quick look at my emails.

This wasn’t exclusive to me though. This is basically everyone nowadays, but I knew deep down it wasn’t going to be me for much longer.

We have become zombies. We have semi-conversations that we barely remember with people because we’re doing something else on our phones.

We can’t enjoy anything fully because we’re obsessed with capturing the moment through a screen, putting it on our Instagram and Snapchat stories for a day and then never looking at it again.

Do people ever genuinely look at their videos again from a gig? Or a football match? Or a night out whilst they mime their favourite song?

I doubt it.

As much as I hate these people, I was one of them. I used to preach about how much these people were wasting their lives and how they were all vapid, shallow goons, yet I had wilfully become part of the circus.

Something had to change. If this resonates with you, make sure you’re reading carefully in the next section.

What did I do?

I took the bloody plunge.

Not on a whim though. If you’re going to trade in an iPhone or an equally smart device, you’re going to want a plan in place.

What apps do you need? Both for work and for play.

First, I’d recommend trimming them down - check out my quitting twitter article for more on that.

I decided I needed some apps for work and a few for pleasure, so I set up an iPad with everything I needed on, such as Instagram. The fact that they’re on an iPad makes it much less likely that I’ll binge on social media due to the fact it simply isn’t as easy to.

I also needed WhatsApp because I speak to a lot of my copywriting clients and like to arrange stuff with my friends on there.

For this reason, I bought a second Alcatel.

This time though, it was a smart phone version *shocked screams*. I purposely bought the worst smartphone I could get my hands on (this cost £15) so that it would be clunky and slow to use.

This means I hate spending time on it, so only check it once or twice a day. I also leave it in a drawer somewhere and never take it out with me.

It’s not like you’re going to miss any emergencies if you’ve got the dumb phone on you at all times and the WhatsApp messages will still be there when you get back, so I would definitely recommend the second phone for those who don’t want to give up their group chats.

Benefits of going back to a dumb phone

There are so many amazing benefits to trading in your new fancy tech for a little old dumb phone.

Here are a few of my favourites.

Back to the real world

I liken this to Neo taking the red pill in the matrix.

You may even go for a poo without taking your phone with you. The shock! The horror!

When your head isn’t buried in your phone all day, you’ll start taking in life again instead of numbing it constantly.

You might go for a walk without listening to music and texting the entire way. You might even just sit down and watch the world go by for a bit without reaching down to respond to messages about nothing in particular.

Bloody hell, you might even interact with strangers!

God forbid.

Improved planning skills

You won’t have a map to get you everywhere now.

That means you might have to plan your journey in advance. This may seem a bit daunting but it’s not hard.

Your planning skills will get so much better as a result and you can even go back to the old technique of asking locals where something is.

This might improve your confidence too which is a handy bonus.

Save yourself a lot of money

The majority of people are slaves to a contract, I know I was.

A £60-a-month slave to be precise.

That works out to £720 a year. Just to use free apps, distract myself on the internet, message people and make a few phone calls.

And I got a heavily discounted rate because I have a friend who worked for the provider - it would have been about £85 otherwise.

What a joke that is!

Paying such an extortionate amount of money for a little bit of tech in your pocket.

Listen, I know I sound like your senile grandad who berates all forms of change, but come on, that is a waste of money.

Luckily for me I used mine to my advantage to better the blog and made that money back, but that was lucky. If you’re not using it for business then there is literally no point in wasting almost a grand a year on this subtle little humble brag.

Even if you are using it for business, it’ll still take over your life - and your savings - much like it did mine.

Don’t fall prey and spend that money on something better. You could buy yourself a big stinking trip to Thailand for that money.

Just don’t waste it on a stupid contract.

If you need a cheap provider, I got myself a 1p mobile sim. It’ll cost you about £15 every 4 months. Cheap as bloody chips.

Battery

"Have you got a charger mate?"

"Any plug sockets around here?"

The usual questions you’ll get from a smart phone user. In fact, I’ve probably asked them exact questions about 764 times.

What sort of bum deal is that? You pay all that money, but you have to charge the thing 3 times a day? Then the battery life worsens until it frustrates you enough so that you go and upgrade to the latest model.

With a dumb phone, you’ll never be caught short.

I tested this theory out to see how much battery life I could eek out of one charge.

I got 5 days.

This wasn’t just leaving it untouched either - I used it for all the usual calls and texts I needed to. This isn’t uncommon - some of the more niche dumb phones boast over a week’s life from one charge.

No need to worry about being caught at the end of a night out with no battery to ring a cab now, you dirty stop out.

No fear

This is a bit weird but...you won’t have any fear attached to your phone.

Get mugged? So what? Good luck selling that bad boy on.

Smash it? Drop it in water? Stick it up your bum? So what? It won’t break. Even if it does, just buy a new one.

Lose it? DOESN’T MATTER.

You see, once you have a stupidly cheap handset on your person, you no longer feel on edge about anything happening to it because it simply doesn’t matter.

You can let go a bit more and stop ya worrying. It’s all good.

Escape the upgrade rat race

What happens at the end of our 2 year contract? We are bombarded with ads trying to get us to upgrade to the latest and greatest smart phone.

Even after just 1 year you are offered the chance to trade in your current phone for a new one.

This creates a never ending FOMO cycle that never rights itself and you’ll always be stuck upgrading your phone for fear of feeling outdated when in fact, the phone you’ve got will be good for another 5 years!

Investing (can we even call it investing if it costs about a tenner?) in a dumb phone will get you out of the rat race and allow you to just get on with your life and not have to think about whether your current phone has hyper supersonic retinal display in mega detailed 8k or not - it’s just a phone - and it doesn’t need an upgrade.

You’ll realise no one cares

We think that people will take offence if we don't reply to them straight away - or even in a day's time, but the truth is, they don't.

Especially once they become accustomed to having to wait for your replies. They will learn to respect your time and construct their messages so that it becomes a lot easier for you to keep the conversation short and sweet.

It's a genuinely liberating experience untethering yourself from the constant back and forth of modern comms and you'll feel much less guilty about missing calls and texts - I know I do.

The thing you need to remind yourself of is - important stuff very rarely ever comes up. What people think is important, they can solve themselves 9 times out of 10 but instead, they use you as a first port of call because it is comfortable to do so. Let them deal with the problem themselves.

If something is genuinely important, they will find a way to contact you.

Regain your focus

With distractions almost completely gone (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc) after ridding yourself of a smartphone, you will probably get a bit bored.

But boredom is where productivity comes into its own.

When we have nothing to distract ourselves with, we will inevitably come back to our work to keep us occupied and eventually, the task at hand becomes as enthralling as the empty distractions of a smart phone.

This will drastically improve your work quality and your overall enjoyment/fulfilment.

Promise.

It will also push you to look for other forms of entertainment that have fallen by the wayside over the years. Recently, I have fallen back in love with reading and sketching, the stuff I'd do for hours as a kid.Stuff like this is so much more fulfilling than checking your phone every 30 seconds and you'll get far more from the experience as a whole.

Will I ever go back?

Well technically, I already am back since I do have a banged up smart phone for Whatsapp, but day-to-day? Definitely not.

I feel so much better without looking down at my phone all day, every day.

The moment I swapped my iPhone was the moment I got back to who I used to be.

I’m pretty sure I’ll stay true to the dumb phone life for the foreseeable future.

Should you take the plunge?

Why not try it out for a month?

It’ll cost less than £10 and may well revolutionise the way you live your life.

There are literally no downsides to giving it a try.

Quick recap: Your action plan

Here’s a quick recap of what we’ve discussed and how you can action your swap of a smartphone for a dumb phone:

Buy a cheap dumb phone (Alcatel do the cheapest I think).
Top it up with a £10-£15 credit from 1p mobile or an equally cheap provider.
Work out what you will need to keep in terms of apps, files, etc.
Try to trim those apps that you use.
Download remaining apps to an iPad or Computer if possible.
If WhatsApp is an issue, purchase a terrible, cheap android to keep in a drawer.
Get used to going out with no access to the internet.
Live your life to the fullest.

So, I traded in my iPhone X and re-embraced the dumb phone life.

The question is - will you?

What would you do if money were no object?

”What would you do if money were no object?” Is one of the most crippling questions we can ask ourselves.

It paralyses even the most levelheaded individuals because it forces us to zoom out and look not just at the bigger picture, but the biggest picture possible - our entire life.

Often times, it can be so much easier to bury our heads in exactly what we’re doing right now and focus on a job that we neither love, nor hate - one which we just exist in.

My aim with this article is to get you to ask yourself the toughest question of all - what do you actually want to do with your life?

My personal story - I used this exercise to identify my why

When researching this article, I simply typed in to Google ‘What would you do if money were no object’ and the resources are pretty scarce, save for the following video by Alan Watts - one of my favourite modern day philosophers (he’s also the only modern day philosophers I know so he didn’t exactly have much competition...)

Now, this is arguably one of the most life changing videos you can watch - that much we can definitely agree on.

But, I am more of a practical bloke and I assume a lot of you reading this are too, which is why the lack of any sort of guidance on how to approach your goals baffled me.

It’s what also led me to sit down before writing this and develop my own process for how to extract exactly what I wanted from life.

Long story short, I faced up to some hard truths and realised exactly what I needed to do with my life - hopefully some of you will too.

A bit further on, I’ll show you my exact process and answers so that you can get started on your own journey to freedom.

Read on amigos.

Where to start?

Like with anything in life, just starting is the hardest part.

The following questions will get you started in no time at all. Just write these down and think (not too much) about your answers.

If you think too much, you’ll end up writing down answers that you think you should be putting down like “3 bedroom house”, “55 inch latest plasma TV” and everyone’s favourite “solid pension plan for retirement”.

These are all fine by the way, but are they really things that you want to actually do with your life?

The point of the exercise is to think exactly what you would do if money were no object.

That’s what we’re shooting for here. Hypothetically, you don’t need to bust your balls for anything - so what would you do?Here are the questions to ask yourself and my answers for reference.

Once you’ve answered number 1, write this list down on a piece of paper and refer back to them multiple times a day to remind yourself to pursue these pleasures constantly.

1. What things actually bring you joy (with no regrets)?

Eating great food at a restaurant
A hard workout in the gym
Preparing (and eating) home-cooked food
Spending time with my friends and family
Travelling
Playing football
Writing
Reading
Drawing
Building and improving things (this is why I’m desperate to get on the property ladder asap lol)
Researching obscure, bordering on pointless things.
Being outdoors
Sitting on a beach soaking up that Vit D

2. Is your current job what you want to do forever?

Yes. Although my previous job as a customer service assistant wasn’t.

If your answer is no, try to make the most of the situation while you can by building friendships that will stand the test of time and build up as much wealth as you can to enable you to quit your job and move on to your true vocation as soon as possible.

3. What is your favourite thing to do on your days off?

Go somewhere new.
Have a meal/drink somewhere.
Spend time with people that excite me who I can talk to all day.
Relax at home

4. If you were retired with a pension, what would you spend your days doing?

Thinking about the inevitable clutches of death
Wetting my adult diaper
Gardening
Thinking about all the missed opportunities I didn’t take because I was scared and thought that I might regret them.

See where I’m going with this?

5. What lifestyle do you want for yourself?

One of freedom. I never want to answer to anyone again and want to live life on my own terms.

6. Without listing anything material - what do you desire?

A hearty dose of adventure.
Excitement
Laughter
Fun

This all sounds like one of those Live. Laugh. Love. posters doesn't it bloody hell. It’s pretty much true though.

We all want to be excited, we all love to laugh and adventures get our hearts beating. We’re all kids deep down - it’s just that the world beats it out of us and we become numb to it all.

Just look how happy kids are. They do whatever they want and they all seem to be drunk on good times.

Have you ever felt so great you felt drunk? Imagine what that feels like.

Jammy buggers.

We can all get there though, we’ve just got to try!

7. Is there something you’ve never experienced that you’d love to do?

Skydiving
Cliff diving (can you tell I want to try diving?)
Travelling through Thailand before us Westies ruin it.
Do a full public speaking set
Eat in a Michelin star restaurant

I had an inkling that it would be the case but I didn’t think it would be so clear cut - everything that I desire in life requires very little in the way of riches.

Obviously every form of pastime involves a little bit of monetary investment but if you can turn your passion into a steady stream of income, this shouldn’t be an issue.

The biggest thing for me is simply being free to do what I want, when I want.

Lately, I’ve been stuck in somewhat of a rut surrounding my job as a writer and worrying about making as much money as possible so that I can get involved in property development right now, but it doesn’t need to be right now.

Everything I would do when I have all the money in the world, I can already do right now. I can play whatever sport I want for a nominal fee, I can go and explore new countries on the cheap, I can afford to go out to restaurants and do things with those I love for a fair price.

Not everybody has this luxury, but we can all certainly work towards it. After you complete this exercise, you’ll find that the goals you thought you might have had if money were no object weren’t really your goals at all.

Most people, when it boils down to it, want the same basic things.

We want connection and we want joy. If you’ve got those two boxed off and you can appreciate the small things that you do every day, you’ll be well on your way to a happy life.

We all get too bogged down in the notion that ‘When I have X, I’ll be happy’ and we delay our happiness until a future that never comes. We’ve got to open our eyes and realise that everything we truly desire, we can have right now.

We can be truly happy in this moment.

How to implement these into your life

Once you’ve got a steady income doing whatever you do - be that the job you don’t really want to do or the vocation that you love more than anything in the world - start your implementation process.

Sort your basic needs out: Rent, phone bill, food, car and gym (and whatever other genuine essentials you need to sort, obviously). After this, put away 10-15% in your bank account for savings and if you can, invest another 10-15% into stocks.

If you’re familiar with compound interest, you’ll realise that putting money into stocks right now will pay you a ridiculously good return further down the line that will sort you out for the rest of your life - I personally use Hargreaves Lansdown as they’re the best in the UK.

Then feel free to completely blow the rest on clothes, meals out, drinks, drugs - whatever the bloody hell you want. If it’s one of the things you’d pursue if money were no object, go wild.

I mean, maybe not the drugs and booze so much but you get the idea. You don’t want to be pinching pennies because that’s not the life to live. The whole point of this article is to show you that you can live a fulfilling life on a standard budget - but it can’t help to plan for the future whilst you’re indulging your hedonistic streak.

Easy.

If you’re looking to break free from that 9-5 life, start after work and weekends on your passion, build up your savings, try to transform your passion and skills into an income and soon enough, you’ll have enough (about 6 month’s salary) saved up to pursue your dream.

I use People Per Hour, this blog, Instagram and my book as ways to make my full time living and do things on my own terms.'

Eventually, you’ll want to build up some passive income to keep you going as you pursue your passion projects more and more. My main passive income source is the book as everything else requires a bit of work but you can find lots more passive income sources online.

The ‘If money were no object’ lifestyle

Once you’ve gotten your answers, life might just become that bit simpler.

Small hiccups in the road along the way won’t bother you as much because you know what the bigger picture is, you know your purpose and you’re essentially mentally bulletproof.

Since identifying exactly what I would do with my life if money were no object, I’ve allowed myself to get lost in my writing again, falling in love with reading, sketching and learning for the first time since I was about 7.

That all sounds a bit airy fairy doesn’t it?

To be honest, I don’t care!

Once you know what your purpose is and know what gets you going, you needn’t be embarrassed or feel pressured into doing anything else.

We all seem to forget that life is finite and we judge others for pursuing their dreams even if it means a lower paycheque.

Erm, so what?

Why run yourself into the ground building someone else’s empire just for a higher salary that you’ll waste on pointless nonsense to fill your house, wardrobe and driveway with? I know I’d choose a smaller income if it meant I could do whatever I pleased every day for the rest of my life.

Hence why I blog lol.

As Alan Watts says (and I’m paraphrasing here), no matter what you’re doing, someone else will be interested in it.

Basically, whatever your passion is - do it. Over time, you will master your craft and eventually, it’ll pay the bills because there are people out there who will pay for it.

I was a lousy writer for the best part of a year and in all honesty, I still am. Yet, that hasn’t stopped me quitting my job and making it my career.

If a bum like me can down tools and follow his dreams, I have no doubt that you can too.

Master And Dynamic MW60 Review: The best over ear headphones?

Master & Dynamic are true icons of the sound game. Whilst they’re not the oldest on the market, they’re certainly one of the best. This blog is going to give a comprehensive Master and Dynamic MW60 Review.

I was sent a pair of their MW60 headphones to put through its paces.

Here are my thoughts.

Master & Dynamic Review

Master & Dynamic was set up in 2014 in New York by Jonathan Levine after getting into the headphones scene via his son who was an aspiring DJ

....I wish my dad would design me some headphones!

Their mission is simple - make headphones that perform as well as they look (and vice versa) whilst not skimping on quality - M & D claim these will last over 50 years!

What did I get?

The MW60 was my headphone of choice.

This is the big daddy of the range and you can see why. It just oozes class.

It comes in loads of colours but I opted for a classic all-black look. I don’t think I could pull off anything else.

The Good - Master And Dynamic MW60 Review

Let’s get stuck into what I enjoyed...

Sound

This has to be first.

A set of headphones where the sound isn’t the main player would be a pretty naff pair of headphones...

All sorts of songs sounded crisp through the MW60s. From acoustic sets to hard rock - everything sounded like the artist was singing directly to me.

They say that they’ve made the sound quality as ‘natural’ as possible with only minor tweaks on bass, etc to optimise the sound.

You can really tell as the sound is very different to what I’m used to but I enjoyed it.

Battery life

At around 16 hours, the battery life of the MW60s is just above standard (which I would say is around 12 hours).

Although I’d maybe have liked a little bit longer, 16 hours is still absolutely fantastic.

You’re probably looking at a charge every 3-4 days which you really cant argue with.

Looks

Whilst they didn’t cure my god damn ugly face, they did make it look cooler via the expert design.

Designed and developed in New York, these babies made me feel like a city slicker with their sleek edges and minimal details.

They’re light but sturdy and you feel like you’ve got sex appeal on a headband draped over your ears.

Good stuff imo.

Presentation

Listen, I know it’s not the be all and end all but I am a fat sucker for presentation.

Making a product more of an experience is what people want and I know this because I am people.

The leather cable box, the headphone case - it was all just unequivocal luxury.

I couldn’t stop putting everything back in the box and taking it back out again just to gawp at the design.

Sad, I know - but when you're getting USB C charging cables and audio cables in a great unboxing experience for a comfortable to wear, active noise cancelling with touch controls headphones, who can complain?

The Bad - Is Master And Dynamic Good?

Pricey

Yes, they cost a lot.

£449 to be precise.

But as with a lot of the companies I showcase on the blog, you do get what you pay for, especially with Bluetooth headphones/wireless headphones compared to wired headphones.

If you want the best, you’re going to have to pay a premium.

That being said, if you don’t want to shell out £400+ on some headphones then you’re best looking elsewhere for your audio fix.

Master & Dynamic do actually do less expensive pairs though that start at £199 so you could check them out too.

Not much else

Yep, that’s really pretty much it.

These are absolutely fantastic and apart from being pricey - which I would argue they justify - they are basically faultless.

Overall, I am absolutely certain that these are the best headphones I have ever tried. The quality is on another level. I still love my Dre Beats but bloody hell - the MW60s are something else.

These are genuine game changers in the scene.

And there we have it gang - what a pair of headphones!

If you’d like your own pair, you can pick them up from the Master & Dynamic website.

Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.

Why every man should learn a foreign language

Every man should learn a foreign language.

Yes, that means you.

I’m currently in the process of learning my very first foreign language – French. Or Français…or something like that anyway.

Having dabbled in Spanish and been pretty decent at it in school – I regret dropping it more than any other stupid decision I made back then.

The opportunities that having another language under my belt may have presented at such a young age doesn’t bear thinking about.

That was why I reached out to Babbel, who are language learning experts, to help me on my quest to becoming a polyglot.

And with this in mind, I’ve decided to try and get all of you on board too.

So.

Here is why every man should learn a foreign language gosh darn it!

Why should I learn a foreign language?

There are so many great reasons to learn a foreign language, so I’ve done a quick list of 10 benefits you will see when you start your practice.

1. Improve your memory

2. Boost neural pathways (brain power)

3. Decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s & Dementia

4. Improved perceptive skills

5. Build a love for language (you’ll become better at your own)

6. Communicate with new people like never before

7. Open up doors to millions of potential business/job opportunities

8. Better decision making capabilities

9. Turbocharge your self-confidence (ability to travel solo without worrying, talk to strangers, etc)

10. Improve mental performance at school or work.

Convinced yet?

Thought so.

Why Men?

Dunno really.

I run a men’s lifestyle blog so I’m not going to switch up and write to women am I?

I suppose if you had sinister intentions of going to a foreign country and using your broken dialect to pick up babes that could be a motivating factor…

You dirty dog you.

ARE THERE CERTAIN LANGUAGES THAT ARE BEST?

Spanish is the main player here.

It is probably the easiest to pick up out of every language that isn’t English. If you speak English – which I assume you do if you’re reading this – then you’ll have an easier time picking Spanish up.

Being spoken in over 20 major countries, it will open a whole lot of opportunities up to you and make you seem a bit less like an ignorant tourist fool.

Great stuff.

It also gives you a good springboard to learn other languages once you’ve got the hang of it, such as Portuguese (quite similar), French and Italian.

Not only that, but the discipline you build from studying Spanish can really stand you in good stead for attempting far more challenging languages in the future such as Russian or Mandarin.

HOW CAN I LEARN QUICKLY?

One word – Babbel.

I reached out to these guys to help me with my learning and they only went and hooked me up with a 6 months free membership.

To be fair, their app is actually pretty inexpensive as it is, so I probably would have invested anyway but a freebie is always a nice treat.

Anyway, Babbel is the best app out there for learning foreign languages.

It takes you through a beginner course to get you acclimatised to the language somewhat and then it has a huuuuge range of topics to go through such as lifestyle, food & drink, culture and sports.

I just chose to stick to the main curriculum which breaks it down into lots of beginner, intermediate and advanced chunks as I think this is the best way to pick up a language in a hurry.

Considering I wanted to learn french in a month then Italian in another, this was sort of my only option…

Babbel make it so easy though and it’s almost a gamified experience, which makes the whole process less of a chore and more of a relaxing activity to do after work.

I like to do a few lessons before and after my dinner so I can try and jam the knowledge in before I hit the sack. So far it’s working pretty well.

I’d definitely suggest getting yourself a language learning routine/habit that keeps you accountable and is something you can stay on top of every day.

And that is that people.

Every man should learn a foreign language. It will open so many doors to you.

And don’t forget, one of the best ways to do it is through my good pals Babbel. You can sign up to their app here and follow them on Instagram here.

What is and How to Deal With Imposter Syndrome at Work

Imposter syndrome can be a real bugger. A lot of us suffer terribly with it but we don’t actually realise what it is so we get worked up and quit without really knowing why. This blog is going to tell you what is imposter syndrome and how to deal with imposter syndrome at work.

So what is Imposter Syndrome, why do we all seem to suffer from it at some point and what can we do to combat this widespread, insidious dream crusher?

All shall be revealed in the next 1,000 or so words.

What Is and How To Deal With Imposter Syndrome At Work

WHAT IS IMPOSTER SYNDROME?

In its simplest terms, imposter syndrome is feeling like you don’t deserve to hold the position you do, or that you’re simply not good enough at something, despite being more than adept at the task. It can impact your mental health, make you feel like a fraud and leave you feeling like an imposter.

So many people have suffered from Imposter syndrome over the years, including myself very recently - despite it going against my personality traits.

After the two year anniversary of the blog, I found myself in a bit of a rut.

Despite consistently posting once a week for 104 weeks on the bounce, I felt like my blog simply wasn’t good enough, that people didn’t care what I was writing about and that truth be told, I was just a big stinkin’ failure.

I started looking on job sites to see if there was any work going and after finding nothing I fancied, I reluctantly persisted with the writing.

I didn’t really understand at the time, but I was suffering from imposter syndrome.

I felt like I wasn’t good enough, and this permeated through my effort levels. I wasn’t pitching to brands as much, I wasn’t writing content regularly enough and I just wasn’t giving it the beans I knew I should have been.

One morning, after sitting myself down and basically telling myself that I was being stupid, I fired off about 200 emails to companies, I sent hundreds more freelance copywriting pitches to potential clients and within 2 weeks, I had turned it all back around.

Imposter syndrome almost derailed a career that I love and I can put good money on the fact that it has claimed a lot more budding careers of people who weren’t as fortunate as me.

If someone like Michelle Obama suffers from it, we can rest assured that it isn’t just a mental issue of peasant rat-race dwellers like us – so don’t be disheartened – that’s my main message.

But, I don’t like people who wallow either, so although we can admit that Imposter Syndrome is a cruel mistress, if you’re not willing to put the work in that is required to flourish again, then quit yo jibba jabba foo’.

However – if you are ready to put that fire back in your belly, then read on… do you feel like an impostor or are you suffering from impostor syndrome?

WHY DO WE SUFFER FROM IT?

It’s not exactly known why we suffer from crippling self-doubt and imposter syndrome but there are a few theories flying about.

For some reason, it seems that the more successful we become, the more likely we are to suffer from imposter syndrome. This is why we see imposter syndrome in the workplace and many professionals are experiencing imposter syndrome. This is why many high achievers and high achieving women get imposter syndrome.

You work harder and harder to justify yourself to yourself, which becomes a never-ending cycle of pushing and pushing to try and prove to yourself that you are worthy, even if you were already to begin with.

HOW TO QUIETEN THE SELF-DOUBT

Overcoming imposter syndrome can be hard. There are a few ways that I have learned over the past few months that have really helped me to quell the inner doubt in my mind and that has allowed me to push on to start to really make a career out of what I do best – writing.

I’m probably not even a very good writer truth be told, but because I have almost bulletproof confidence, people believe in me – and so I believe in myself.

Here are the tips that can help you do the same.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

Once I realised that what I was suffering from was a serious bout of Imposter Syndrome, I did what anyone would do…looked for celebrities who shared my flaws. You are not alone in the impostor phenomenon.

This sounds a little bit daft I know but it’s a great way to realise that what you’re going through isn’t just happening to you and that it isn’t an ailment the elite are immune to.

Once you realise that it is actually quite a common occurrence, you will come to realise that it isn’t that big of a deal if you don’t let it become one.

It was comforting to realise I wasn’t insane for thinking this and that actually, my thoughts were common – but also that they were symptomatic of Imposter Syndrome and not actually of the facts, because the facts were – I was doing well! I just didn’t (want to) see it.

The same is more than likely happening to you if you’re reading this article, so just know that you are more than good enough and that you shouldn’t quit your mission just because you have a bad few days, weeks, months or even years.

Things have a habit of working themselves out for those that believe in it.

AFFIRMATIONS

I have actually written about affirmations before at length.

I believe them to be a huge help for those that need to give themselves a mental boost.

Having used them for about 3 years now, I can safely say that they have helped me in whatever I have utilised them for.

As cringe as it sounds, I used to have an affirmation a couple of years ago when I first started out that went as follows;

“I am an elite-level writer and successful businessman”.

At the time? An absolute load of bollocks – I was neither.

But now?

Still bollocks!

However, I am getting much closer. I write for a living and work for myself, two things that weren’t true at the time of affirming them but that became true after hard work, belief and consistency.

Using affirmations can remind you of your mission every day and keep you on track to become who you want to be.

My imposter syndrome did actually come at a point where I hadn’t done affirmations for a few months actually…maybe I should start doing them again…

MEDITATION

I harp on about the benefits of mediation like I was on commission from Buddha himself, but it really is a life-changing habit. Many people use meditation to get over the imposter phenomenon.

If you can find the time to be still for 10 minutes per day and meditate properly, you will literally become a different person in a drastically short period of time.

I’ve always been a very calm bloke (with the exception of stress from time to time) but meditation just blew everything away.

It made me feel so composed and helped me to see the bigger picture. When something bad happens in our lives, we always tend to focus in on the micro, not the macro.

Your dinner tastes like uncooked pigs nipples, so what? You’ll have another dinner tomorrow. Hell, you’ll probably have another dinner later that night – get over it.

That’s obviously just a stupid example but hopefully it’s painted a picture of the sort of laissez faire attitude we need to employ if we are to beat Imposter Syndrome.

Meditation allows us to hone this mindset. It allows us to develop a thicker skin, more resolve and much better willpower to push on through the doubt and get to the other side, where we will find more work, more joy and more good vibes – true story.

PRACTICE

Just keep practicing.

I know it’s a simple instruction but I am a very simple man. Simple is what works best. It has done for a million years before us and will do for a million years after.

The chances are – you’re really good at what you do, but maybe you’re disheartened by a lack of progress – that was my main issue.

This is why keeping a log of how far you’ve come is exceptionally important to shake you out of a rut.

Whatever it is that you do, keep going, keep improving and KEEP A LOG.

The gym? Take pictures once every two weeks along with measurements, a log of amount of weight lifted per session, etc.

If you’re a social media star, look how far your pictures have come, how many followers you’ve gained, etc.

If you’re a shelf stacker, look how many more shelves you stacked this week than last.

It can be applied to anyone, anywhere, anytime. As long as you’ve got some form of log to look back on after 6 months to see how much you have improved, you’re on the right track.

When I was trying to get out of my Imposter Syndrome rut, I took a look back through my old Instagram posts and stories and good lord, were they bad.

Some of the crap I’d uploaded was off-the-scale bad and yet I thought of myself as not having changed, having basically been plateaued the entire time, when in fact, my content had improved a hundred fold and I had made so many more new friends online – it was a huge eye opener.

And that was all because I had a record of how far I had come.

As the old saying by C. S. Lewis goes;

“Isn’t it funny how day by day, nothing changes but when you look back everything is different?”.

Imposter syndrome is a curse but coming out the other side is a big fat blessing and one that can really give us the inner-confidence to push on and smash the back doors off whatever it is we have chosen to do with our lives.

Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.

How to create your own real-life limitless pill (NZT-48)

NZT-48 is now one of the most researched pills on the internet, just after viagra and proprietary phallic enlargement blends.

I can’t actually confirm whether that’s true but I assume it’s pretty near to the truth…

Long story short, you’re probably not going to get a hold of it (I’ll explain why in a moment) so the next best thing is to make your own.

EXPLAIN THE TITLE PLEASE…

Have you ever seen the film ‘Limitless’? Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have.

Whether it’s fresh in the memory or this article has just brought back the mems, NZT-48, the pill that Bradley Cooper’s character takes, is the main star of the show.

It allows him to “unlock 100% of his brain”, something which apparently, we only use up to 20% of although this has sort of been debunked.

Anyway, Bradders takes this pill and instantly, he transforms from a deadbeat writer (much like myself), into a prolific author, stock trader, businessman, etc. He also bangs his neighbour’s wife like straight away, which was a weird scene to watch.

This pill gave him limitless self-control, memory, creativity and basically enhanced everything in his life.

The funny thing is though, this pill simply unlocked what was already there. He was calling on information and skills he already had, but were off limits due to his clouded brain.

This is the basic premise of what I’m trying to say. I want this article to be a guide that you can refer back to and share with friends – something that will help you to realise the vast potential that your mind already has – that just needs unlocking.

As a psychology graduate, I have always been fascinated by the dormant power of our minds and how we can improve and harness them to dramatically improve our lives.

To see the power of thought alone, just read some of the testimonies in The Secret, or even better, look at World War II, where they gave injured soldiers sugar pills for pain relief. They believed these pills would stop their pain and they did…

If that isn’t testament to the unbelievable power of our minds, I don’t know what is.

WHAT IS NZT-48 AND DOES IT REALLY EXIST?

NZT-48 is basically just a pill. It was what Cooper’s character, Eddie Morra takes that allows him to use 100% of his mind as explained above.

It is a very interesting concept, yes, but does it actually have any basis in reality? Is the limitless pill a real thing?

Unfortunately not.

There are ‘smart drugs’ which I’ll touch on in the next section a little bit but they are nothing like how NZT-48 is depicted.

Basically – it’s a great concept but completely made up for a film. Who’d have thought it?

There are ways you can boost your brain power, creativity and all those other things Mr. Cooper experienced though…

HOW YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN LIMITLESS PILL

If you know me at all, you’ll know I’m a big hippie and like to do everything naturally.

Recently, I even stopped taking supplements all together as I hate the feeling of having to bring my pill box round with me whenever I travel and relying on exogenous sources for my wellbeing levels – it feels like I’m on life-saving medication!

That’s why the scope of this article will be centred around natural, healthy ways you can expand your mind, unlock your full potential and get the limitless feeling without having to resort to potentially dangerous nootropics like Modafinil.

That being said, I’ll try everything once in the name of science so I’m not going to rule out a week long Modafinil binge/review in the near future – but that’s another story.

The essence of NZT-48 isn’t so much about the pill itself, but the unlocking of our main protagonists brain. It was there all along, but he just had to tune in to the right frequency to get all 100% of it firing at the same time.

I’m going to cover as many tactics as possible to improve all the aspects of your mental state.

Things such as energy, concentration, stress management, calmness, proactivity, stillness, creativity and a bunch of other amazing traits that, when working in tandem, will make you an unstoppable mental machine.

I’ll also be covering a few boring ones in here but their reasoning for inclusion might be a bit different to what you’ve heard before and I’ll try and throw a unique twist on each to stop them being too tedious for you and your yet-to-be-opened mind.

Do make sure you read each one carefully as they’re all important to the success of this process.

And don’t worry, I’ll be doing a full section at the end on how you can implement them all into your daily routine – trust me, it isn’t actually that difficult to just start every one of these habits tomorrow – even today – if you’ve got the hairy gonads for it.

Before we dive in, lets just establish/recap what we want from the NZT-48 pill. What does Eddie Morra (Bradders) actually experience?

Clearer thought, better recall & overall, just smarter
More energy
Motivation to be better (cleaning his apartment, sharpening his dress sense, haircut, etc)
Better attention span – more absorbent of all the information in his environment.
Gets into great physical shape
Improved productivity & creativity
More structured with time management, routines, etc.
Higher self-respect
Looked younger/more presentable/more attractive
Better social skills
Lowered stress – far calmer

Every single one of these steps will improve at least one of these aspects tremendously.

Now let’s start.

SLEEP

No matter what sort of health benefit article you’re reading, sleep is going to be in there somewhere – that, I can guarantee.

Sleep is the all-important factor for improving health. It helps your body to recover from intense exercise, it clears mental fog, makes you happier, helps you retain more (and higher quality) information and so much more.

If you want to get close to NZT-48 level ability then sleep should be your number 1 priority.

Try to get at least 6 hours per night, ideally 8.

RISE EARLY

Maybe this a juxtaposition to getting a lot of sleep?

But…

Rising early is potentially a more important aspect to getting stuff done than sleep. Not overall, but if you want to be productive then getting up early is peerless in its effectiveness.

As long as you adjust your bedtime accordingly, getting up at 5am should be no hassle at all. You can still stay up as late as 11pm and scrape 6 hours so it really isn’t that hard.

Hell, you’ll get your 8 hours even if you went to bed at 9 – that’s still pretty late!

When you’re up at 5am, it’s like someone has switched a different mode on in your brain. As I sit here in some random games room at 5:47 writing this, I can attest to the quiet that early mornings bring.

This room would usually be packed with people chatting, playing ping pong and smashing pool balls but I can sit here on one of the sofas and write some of my best work to date (right, guys?!) because no one else does this and thus, no one else is awake!

I know no-one else does this because every time I get up this early I am ousted from my girlfriend’s apartment to this very games room so I don’t wake her up…

Anyway, enough story time. 5am offers distraction free time to be by yourself, no phone calls, texts or people, just you and whatever you want to do.

If you want more detail on how 5am is the ultimate NZT-48 productivity companion, read it here.

MAKE YOUR BED

This may seem small, but making your bed every single day is one of the best habits you can develop.

Accomplishing a task that requires just a little bit of willpower sets you off on the right foot every day.

This will keep you in a sort of motivated, flow state whereby you don’t want to break your chain of good habits and accomplishing things, pushing you on to complete whatever tasks and goals you have given yourself that day.

Again, small steps, but big rewards.

READ!

What better way to expand your mind to superhuman levels than to read the words of men and women who have already done so with their own?

You want the sharpest mind in town? Read some books gosh darn it.

There are books that teach you how to go deep and work your socks off to achieve your wildest dreams, books that teach you how to manifest your goals with just your thoughts and there are even books on how to turn your body into a muscle building machine.

There are also books that teach us life lessons, books that thrill us, teach us new words and there are books that make us feel things we thought we could never feel.

In short, books will take you through the widest range of emotions and thoughts whilst swelling your brain with a ridiculous amount of new knowledge – much more than a 15 hour Avenger’s marathon ever could (although that is still pretty fun I will admit).

DRINK WATER

Right, this is the last boring-ish one I swear.

I SWEAR.

So, we all know why we should drink water kind of – it’s good for us!

But what makes it so good for us?

Why is water so bloody good for the mind, body n soul?

Because it gives us natural energy, keeps us hydrated (which is pivotal for thinking clearly and rationally and keeps us privy to breakthroughs), makes our minds sharper, makes us stronger, happier, less likely to develop diseases – basically, if we were to put the benefits of water on a supplement from a fancy store, they’d be sold out in seconds.

Do not underestimate the power of h2o fellas.

USE CAFFEINE TACTICALLY

Caffeine can be really good or it can be really bad.

It really just depends on how you utilise it. See, if you rely on caffeine as your only source of energy and depend on it to make you feel good, then you sir, have a problem.

But if you use caffeine as a tool to increase your output at work, in the gym or to sustain a nice fast you’ve got going on, then I’d wager you’ve got a pretty healthy relationship with it.

I try not to have more than a cup of coffee a day, I never have it after midday and I don’t drink it any weekends (I use weekends as a sort of mini-reset for my tolerance levels).

But during the week, I’ll use it to develop Eddie Morra-like laser focus on the task at hand or to really fire me up for a workout where I am still fasting heading into it.

Caffeine is also a great appetite suppressant so if like me, you do struggle towards the end of your fast, coffee is your best friend.

It lets you push the fast just a couple of hours further, leaving you to enjoy your huge meals later in the day.

*A quick side note – if you have a massively unhealthy food binge problem, maybe this pattern of eating ain’t for you.

Anyway, coffee – and caffeine in general – is a fantastic cognitive enhancer and can let you zero in on a task for hours on end.

I recommend sitting yourself down at your workstation with a wee cup of Joseph, setting up a flow playlist (classical works well), switching your internet off unless you reeeeeaaaaaally need it and just cracking on.

You should be able to naturally concentrate for a long time anyway if you’re following all the habits in this article but a tactical deployment of some heavy-hitting caffeine will help you work for 3+ hours straight (you don’t need to wear a nappy though, toilet breaks are allowed).

INTERMITTENT FASTING

I have written about intermittent fasting at length but the basic premise is you have an eating window (usually 4-8 hours) and fast the rest of the time.

During the fasting window you should only consume water, coffee and green tea.

Whilst in this fasted state, you will get a sort of tunnel vision for whatever task you’ve got your sights set on.

I find that since I’m not focused on food, trying to digest anything or the banal tasks that surround the breakfast/lunch rituals as we know it, I can hone in on what I want to achieve and give it my unwavering attention.

This is the sort of concentration and drive that Morra has in Limitless. No matter what’s going on around him, his concentration is so fierce that nothing can knock him off course.

The same applies here, when you’re fasting, you’ve used caffeine tactically and you’re up early, the focus you’ll experience will be nothing like you’ve ever felt before.

MEDITATION, THE WIM HOF METHOD AND ICE BATHS/COLD SHOWERS

These three really deserve a section each to themselves but I wanted to highlight the importance of utilising them in conjunction with each other so that you don’t skimp out on any of them.

On their own, meditation, the Wim Hof method and ice baths/cold showers are great tools for health, wellbeing and NZT-48-esque prowess, but when used together, they will take you to another plane completely.

Some of the benefits you can expect with these three are:

Complete mental clarity
Resistance to basically all diseases (within reason)
More energy
Better breathing
Resistance to extreme temperatures
Unbelievable confidence
Improved recovery
Better skin
Boundless happiness throughout the day

I know this all sounds like a really bad JML infomercial, but it truly works.

Here’s some links to full guides on each below:

SAUNAS

What can I possibly say about saunas that hasn’t already been said? These puppies should be a mainstay in every self-respecting man’s daily routine.

If you have access to a sauna then get involved.

They can boost your brain output, they help to flush toxins out of your body, they give you better skin, a more youthful appearance, they help to recover from hard gym sessions and so much more.

The humble sauna is one of the hidden gems in the natural NZT-48 stack. I don’t see them bandied about too much but trust me, they work.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

This is going to be a simple section.

A brief NZT-48 recap, if you will.

The only difference is, during our recap, I’ll be slotting these habits into various points in the schedule of your new NZT-48-optimised day…

I’ve done this routine for the average 9-5 worker as this is what most of us do.

To be honest, the most important parts of the routine are outside of these hours anyway so if you need to re-jig it to fit your schedule feel free.

Shall we?

05:00 – Wake up (try a natural light alarm clock), down a pint of water, make your bed & go through your morning routine. Don’t eat straight away.

05:30 – 10 minutes of mediation, 3 rounds of Wim Hof breathing & an ice bath.

06:00 – Self-improvement time. Try reading, writing, maybe the gym if you want (although this could be done after work).

09:00 – Work

10:00 – Coffee (pushes hunger back & helps you focus on getting that deep work done).

13:00 – Lunch (go heavy on the fat and protein, this will reduce any blood sugar spike and saves your carbs for after the workout later in the day).

17:00 – Gym time (do a weights session followed by a 15-20 minute sauna, 5 times a week if possible, then get showered and fresh at the gym).

18:30 – Home & your huge carb-heavy dinner (now you’ve changed at the gym, that’s one less thing to worry about once you set foot through the door. You can now concentrate on reaping the calorie-laden rewards of your fast and workout).

19:00 – Ready your things for tomorrow (should only take about half an hour. This is stuff like getting your clothes laid out, readying your meal prep that you definitely did on Sunday evening and any documents, etc you might need the next day).

19:30 – Now its time to relax. You did all your self-improvement work before and during your work hours, you’ve done your gym workout, sweated the toxins out and now your home can be used for what its meant to be used for – chilling the hell out.

20:30 – Night time routine (this should take anywhere between 30-60 minutes. No screens and lots of mindful breathing and you’ll be off to bed in no time).

BONUS BITS

These kind of fit into your daily routine but at the same time, kinda don’t, so I’ve popped them in a lil’ bonus section just for little old you.

If you want to take your NZT-48 journey to the next level, try these two.

THE PARETO PRINCIPLE

This is also known as the 80/20 rule.

It can be applied to basically all areas of life. In business, 20% of your clients probably bring in 80% of the revenue, 20% of your exercises in the gym get 80% of the results and most importantly for our natural version of NZT-48, it can be applied to learning new things quickly.

In the film, Morra is able to learn piano in 3 days, pick up new languages effortlessly and seemingly absorb knowledge left, right and centre.

Obviously this is exaggerated massively for effect in the film but the beauty of the Pareto Principle is that you can apply it here.

To learn a language, if you can master 20% of the words, you can probably get by in 80% of conversations.

Learning 20% of a full guide to playing guitar will probably allow you to play 80% of chords pretty well. It’s definitely a shortcut, yes – but is it effective? Damn right.

You won’t be a master but you’ll be bloody good.

TURN OFF YOUR INTERNET

This is such a huge step to take for all of us, I know.

If you can take the leap of faith though, and turn your internet off when trying to go deep with whatever task you’re trying to get done, you’ll notice remarkable improvements in its quality and quantity.

When you haven’t got the option to distract yourself, you’ll keep coming back to the task. By offering no alternative, you are forced to work.

This sounds a bit draconian but it works – and once you’re in the flow of things, you’ll never want to stop.

There’s a hell of a lot of info to take in there and I do appreciate that it might have blown your kite off a bit but even just taking up one of these habits is a really good start.

NZT-48 may not actually exist, but you can do the same, if not better, naturally and drastically improve your health while you’re at it.

The life changing power of ice baths

I love ice baths.

I'd happily marry one if I could, such is the feelgood factor they bestow upon me.

The fear can be crippling just before you dip your hairy wee toe in, but after 5 minutes when you get out, you enter into some mad state of euphoria, trust me on this one.

Let's give you a quick history lesson, run through the benefits then tell you how to do it.

And yes, I am teaching you how to take a bath...

Ice baths

Let’s talk a little bit about Ice baths shall we?

It’s as simple as it sounds, just get a bath that is ice cold. You can fill a tub entirely with ice if you’re crazy, you can fill it half with cold water and half with ice or you can just use the ice cold water.

I’ll be straight with you, I’ve just been using the ice cold water and that is more than enough to shrink your gonads inside your body.

Sometimes I’ll pop a bag of ice in with me but to reap the benefits, I’d wager the cold water does the trick.

Do you want a quick history lesson? No?!

Doesn’t matter, still gonna give you one.

Cold water immersion has been around since the dawn of time itself, with loads of different civilisations giving it a go - the Romans, Ancient Egyptians and more recently - sort of, the Victorians.

In The Victorian era, cold water therapy was prescribed for just about any ailment you could think of, be it hysteria (whatever that meant) or the flu.

People rated it.

And so they should have.

Cold Water therapy has come full circle and is now back in fashion thankfully, with Paula Radcliffe (famous for being a world class marathon runner, infamous for taking a poo at the side of the road during one of her races) attributing her 2002 Olympic gold to cold therapy - barmy.

What are the benefits?

The list is basically infinite when it comes to the benefits of taking ice baths. It offers even more than my trusty favourite, the cold shower.

Euphoria & Natural energy

This is without doubt my favourite byproduct of an ice bath. You get a sense of euphoria that’s extremely hard to match.

When you step outta da tub, you feel like you’re floating 3 inches off the ground - it really is heavenly.

Do some Wim Hof breathingbeforehand and you’ve got quite the potent 1-2 combo for a drug-free morning high.

Let’s call it; Wake and Lake (lake is the only water-based word I could think of to replace bake - maybe it’ll catch on, who knows - #WakeAndLake).

Reduce stress, depression and anxiety

This is such a key benefit to consistent ice baths. They can actually help to alleviate symptoms of all 3 of these potent mental illnesses.

I can become riddled with stress really easily and I have no idea why but I find it can be kept well managed when I am taking cold showers and ice baths regularly.

This is due to the fact that when you plunge yourself deep into cold water, you cant think about anything else but breathing and the sensation on your body.

You become instantly present and it feels good. Your mind becomes empty and that immediate lift you get really gives some mental clarity to your day, trust me.

I like to do an ice bath in the morning, do a workout, go in the sauna, steam room then the plunge pool (if your gym has these - make use of them!), have a cold shower, meditate and do some Wim Hof breathing. This will all usually be done by about 2pm, meaning the rest of the day I can relax with a quiet mind.

I’m well aware that this sounds like some optimal guru parody but all of those activities have been clinically proven to alleviate stress, depression and anxiety and I know for a fact that doing them keeps all 3 at bay for me.

It is especially important in today’s climate that you take care of your noggin as well as your physical state, so doing a combination of physical activities like the ones I have outlined above is a double edged sword in terms of its efficacy at improving both the mind and body.

Mental willpower

Stepping into an ice cold bath every single day builds major mental fortitude. The willpower to force yourself out of your comfort zone every day will have a positive effect on your overall willpower.

I am notoriously terrible with my self-control and willpower but about 3 weeks after I started regularly doing cold immersion I noticed I was snacking less on garbage and I had managed to stick consistently to my 5am wake ups.

I think it’s a case of not wanting to waste your day now that you’ve done something so difficult if you get what I mean?

Say for instance, you take a big fat ice bath in the morning, do a bit of meditation and Wim Hof breathing - you don’t then want to break the chain by having a snickers for breakfast or drinking so much Guinness that you poo your pants.

Feel me?

How to do it

Ideally, you’d want to do this in the morning or if you’re at home, when you hit the afternoon slump around 2-3pm. I tend to do it in the morning as I wake up around 5am and need something severe straight away to wake me from my zombie-like state.

Fill the bath up so that when you get in and lie down, only your head will be poking out. This way, your full body is getting hit with that cold ass h2o.

I tend to put my feet in first (like anyone was going to dive into their bath head first...) and just stand there and take 5 deep breaths to brace myself for the onslaught of feels about to come my way - I highly recommend this step.

Then lower yourself in and sit in the water for another 15 deep breaths. This acclimatises the majority of your body to the cold.

Once you’ve taken your 15 breaths, it’s time to lower yourself down into the lying position. This takes major stones - it’s okay if you wuss out the first few times. But if you feel like going the full 9 yards, dump yourself back and let the water flow over you.

You’ll feel like screaming - do so if you wish. After a few sharp inhalations, you’ll actually get used to it and the water won’t even feel that cold at all.

You may also get some numbness but that’s all part of the fun - obviously if you start to feel too weird, get out. I won’t be held responsible for you drowning in a tub full of your own filth you animal.

Anyway, take another 30 breaths and then dunk your head under briefly before getting out. This will give you a final shock and if you weren’t already awake before that, you certainly will be after it.

Get yourself out of the tub and get dried. You’ll feel instantly better. Literally as soon as you stand up out of that water you’ll feel like a new person.

Take a look in the mirror and more than likely, your skin will be pink as anything and it’ll feel tight - in a strangely rather good way.

Put your clothes on, feel on top of the world and get out there to smash whatever goals you may have.

That sounded a bit GaryVee didn’t it lol.

The sentiment still stands though. An ice bath will set you up for success in whatever you do, I don’t care if anyone disagrees with me they’re all wrong and stink because they didn’t take a bath.

Explain that title please...

Luxury style on a budget. Really?

The perfect pieces

Overcoat

Biker Jacket

Cowboy Boots

Smart Shirt

Trousers

Putting them together

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Alfa Romeo 8c

Alpine a110s

Bentley Continental 6.0 W12 GT

BMW i8

BMW Z4 M Coupe

Bristol Fighter T

Ferrari Enzo

Ferrari 812 Superfast

Fiat Barchetta

Fiat Coupe

Ford Puma

Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth

Ginetta Akula

Honda NSX

Jaguar F-Type (V8 Turbo)

Jaguar XJR-15

Koenigsegg Regera

Lancia Stratos (NEW)

Lexus LFA

Lotus Evora GT430 Sport

Maserati Granturismo

Mercedes AMG GT C

Morgan Aeromax

Nissan Figaro

Noble M600

Porsche Macan GTS

Smart Roadster (Brabus edition)

Spyker Spyder

Trident Magna

TVR Sagaris

Vauxhall VX220

Volkswagen Scirocco

Weismann MF5

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