1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,500 Welcome to the Mechanical PE Exam Prep Podcast, the podcast where I give mechanical engineers like you the tools and motivation to get your professional engineering license and take your career to the next level. 2 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:21,000 In today's episode, we're going to talk about some study advice that goes beyond the books. We're going to talk about fueling your brain and body for the PE exam. 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:30,000 And specifically, we're going to focus on three key areas which are sleep, nutrition, and fitness. 4 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Now, when we talk about these topics, a lot of times I'm hesitant to share what it is I want candidates to really be thinking about because it can sound a bit preachy. 5 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:53,000 And if you're in the process right now of starting to go for your PE and thinking about the studying that you're going to have to do and how much work it's going to be and how you're going to figure out how to organize your time, 6 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 then you're probably already feeling a little bit overwhelmed. 7 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:03,000 And the worst thing that could possibly happen is that you fail to get started because of that overwhelm. 8 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:14,000 So I just want to say right here at the outset that the goal of this episode is not to add more tasks onto an already potentially overwhelming situation. 9 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:25,000 Quite the opposite. I want to offer you some tactics that if you implement them toward the beginning of your study process, they're going to make things easier in the long run because you're going to be at this for a while. 10 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:33,000 This is a process that's going to take three to six months probably in some cases a little longer in a few rare cases, maybe shorter. 11 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:40,000 But typically we're looking at a three to six month window, which is a substantial amount of time, and it's going to take some endurance. 12 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:47,000 So that's why I want you to focus on taking excellent care of yourself and that's really where these ideas are coming from. 13 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:53,000 If some of the things I share here don't make sense for you, then feel free to take what works and just leave out the rest. 14 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Because again, each of the changes that we're going to discuss here would be challenging in and of themselves. 15 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:08,000 So making multiple lifestyle changes at the same time and starting studying could really be doubly overwhelming. 16 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:17,000 So I understand that and when you implement these strategies, if you choose to implement any of these strategies, I want you to give yourself tons of grace. 17 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:26,000 And if despite everything I say here, you end up staying up too late, eating pizza and candy bars, hitting snooze instead of going for a run, 18 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:39,000 then just rest assured that this stuff is not life and death and anything you can do that moves you in a positive direction that starts to create that positive feedback loop is going to be helpful. 19 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,000 So do what you can and don't worry about being perfect. 20 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:57,000 And before we get into the specific tips, we should acknowledge the most important point, which is that any successful study plan should incorporate the use of technical resources that are organized and put into a sensible order 21 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:04,000 and that are consumed and used thoughtfully in order to gain the necessary knowledge and skills that are required for the PE exam. 22 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 We have a program for that if you're interested, you can reach out with any questions. 23 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:25,000 But the purpose of this episode is to talk about some of the additional considerations outside of actually studying and how you may want to think about going through an inventory of some of these key lifestyle elements that may set you up for success over the course of the next few months. 24 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And the reason we're doing this is because studying is, by definition, a cognitive process and the quality of our thinking depends on having enough energy and mental clarity to do the work day after day. 25 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:46,000 So I am a firm believer that cultivating this state of readiness is a meta skill. 26 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:52,000 And by meta skill, I mean it's a skill that allows us to build other skills. 27 00:03:52,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Specifically, in this case, all of this self care that we're discussing is what sets up the possibility of building new skills. 28 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,000 And it rests on these three pillars, sleep, nutrition and fitness. 29 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:19,000 So in this podcast, this is far from comprehensive. This is a very brief episode, but I want to keep this short so that it just gives you a little spark of inspiration because a lot of what I'm going to tell you are things you already know. 30 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:25,000 I just want to give you a nudge in the right direction and encourage you in the knowledge that this stuff does make a difference. 31 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:33,000 We're just going to cover a few quick practical tips that I believe can help candidates like you that are pursuing PE licensure. 32 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And I think what you'll notice is that there's actually an outsized benefit for each additional tactic that you're able to put into practice because of synergy. 33 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:56,000 So it's great if you can improve your sleep habits in and of itself, but if you can also improve your sleep and eat a little better or improve your sleep and improve your eating and get some movement into your daily life, 34 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:02,000 the more of these things that you're able to do, the whole will be greater than the sum of the individual parts. 35 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:15,000 And if you're already pretty good in one or two of these areas, then the other thing that I wanted to mention from the outset is that there's more opportunity to be gained if you have significant sticking points in one area. 36 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:25,000 So if you know that you're good in one or two of these areas already and you can focus on cleaning up the weak spots, that's going to have the most bang for your buck. 37 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:37,000 We don't want to focus on fine tuning until we've done the course adjustments in all three areas. Or just for a quick example, there's not much value in eating your vegetables if you're trying to get by on four hour sleep, right? 38 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:44,000 So without further delay, I'm going to get into the specific tips and I've got two tips for each of the three areas. 39 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,000 So we'll do two tips on sleep, two on nutrition and two on fitness. 40 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:57,000 And if you like these, you think these are helpful, I'd love to hear your feedback after the episode, so feel free to send me an email or reach out. 41 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:04,000 If any of this is useful and you're putting it into practice, then I'm excited to hear what difference it can make for you. 42 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:10,000 So the first tip around sleep is to establish a standard bedtime. 43 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Super boring advice here, right? The most common advice around sleep is to get eight hours of sleep per night. I think we all know this. 44 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:24,000 But the devil's actually in the details on this one because most people work a nine to five schedule or something similar. 45 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,000 Maybe you start a little bit earlier, but it's a regular routine Monday through Friday, typically. 46 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:35,000 And that means that the start of your day is constrained. You can get up earlier, but you can't get up any later. 47 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,000 You need some minimum amount of time in the morning. 48 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:46,000 And depending on if you like to do anything before work, whether it's exercise or you have family obligations, there's a certain start time that isn't movable. 49 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:54,000 So it doesn't take an engineer like us to work backwards and do the subtraction and figure out if we're going to get eight hours of sleep, 50 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:01,000 then we can find out what our ideal bedtime is just by that simple subtraction. 51 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:11,000 And as simple as that sounds, a lot of us don't actually stick to a standard bedtime because we probably feel like we have a lot of things that we have to do. 52 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Maybe we're wound up at night or maybe you've been going all day and you finally have an opportunity to relax at night. 53 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000 So you're not exactly eager to end the day because that's a little bit of time that you get for yourself. 54 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:28,000 So it definitely is a compromise, but studying for the PE is something that's going to involve sacrifice. 55 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,000 And I think all six of these tips are going to reflect that. 56 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:42,000 So what I'm suggesting to consider here is to choose a standard time to turn in that allows you to get that eight hours and then set an alarm if you have to at time to go to bed. 57 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:47,000 I did this myself when I was trying to teach myself to be able to get up earlier. 58 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:53,000 I did the subtraction and I was like, well, I've got to go to bed at nine o'clock if there's any way I'm going to be able to get up at five. 59 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:59,000 And I don't always get up at five now, but that's the kind of thinking that's required. 60 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,000 And once you do this for a couple of weeks and you get into that routine, it'll get easier. 61 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:11,000 But initially for that first week or two, it does take a special effort to remind yourself to go to bed at a set time. 62 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:20,000 The second tip around sleep is to get up around the same time every day, including weekends. 63 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 And this follows naturally from the previous suggestion. 64 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:24,000 We're setting a bedtime. 65 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,000 We're setting a wake up time. 66 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,000 We're just trying to regulate our system so that our body isn't getting surprised. 67 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,000 And this one was tough for me personally. 68 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:38,000 My whole life through college and even a few years into my career, I always slept in on Saturday and Sunday. 69 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,000 There were things going on at night on the weekends that I wanted to enjoy. 70 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,000 And then on Monday morning, you have to switch back to getting up early for work. 71 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:54,000 And when you do this for years, it's like having jet lag twice a week every week and eventually it just gets old. 72 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,000 And it leads to the same set of symptoms that you would have with jet lag. 73 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,000 Fatigue, malaise, difficulty concentrating. 74 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,000 I think we've all experienced that as a result of being tired. 75 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:12,000 And once you get into a habit of doing that, then Monday mornings tend to just feel a certain way. 76 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,000 It's not just a function of the fact that there's a whole work week ahead. 77 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,000 It's also our sleep schedules readjusting and it really has an impact. 78 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 So what I'm suggesting here is to try a consistent waking time. 79 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Do this for a couple of weeks. 80 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,000 If you like it, you might never go back. 81 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:35,000 And at first, when you're setting an alarm to go to bed and doing this consistent wake up time every day and trying to get into a rhythm, 82 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 you might not get it exactly right. 83 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:44,000 So obviously you can tweak it and calibrate and try to figure out how to dial it in so it's working just the way you want it to. 84 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:49,000 And if it doesn't work for you, if it gives you more time and you can tell it, it's better. 85 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:55,000 But for whatever reason, you just don't like it, then one thing you might consider is just doing this for a few months while you're studying for the PE exam. 86 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,000 Because it is going to help with your studying. 87 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,000 I'm sure of that. 88 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:06,000 But if it doesn't necessarily fit your overall lifestyle and how you want to live long term, then it doesn't have to be a permanent change. 89 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:14,000 But you can do this for three to six months, knock out the PE exam, and then go back to a sleep schedule that's a little bit more relaxed after that. 90 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,000 The next tip is around nutrition. 91 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,000 This one might be a little bit controversial, but it's something that helped me. 92 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,000 So I wanted to share it with you guys and I'm really curious to hear if it can help you too. 93 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:30,000 And the idea is to eat half as many carbohydrates. 94 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:35,000 So the standard American diet includes 300 grams of carbohydrate per day. 95 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:36,000 That's quite a bit. 96 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:40,000 And we've actually known for years that the food pyramid is flawed. 97 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:46,000 Yet somehow this information seems to not propagate back into the mainstream guidance. 98 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:51,000 So we're all just kind of eating a significant amount of carbohydrates every day forever. 99 00:10:51,000 --> 00:11:01,000 And I'm not necessarily saying that folks are choosing the wrong foods and they're eating things that are high in sugar, necessarily eating junk food, some of the obvious stuff there. 100 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,000 You could be eating healthy grains, right? 101 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:11,000 It's not necessarily that bread and pasta and rice and potatoes are bad for you per se. 102 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:12,000 That's not my claim here. 103 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:23,000 I'm just saying that the total quantity of starches that we're eating that ultimately accumulates about 300 grams per day for a typical person is higher than it needs to be. 104 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:28,000 So my suggestion here is to eat half as much. 105 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:34,000 I'm not suggesting that everyone should go on a ketogenic diet and eat 50 grams of carbs a day. 106 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 That's going to dramatically change the way your body works. 107 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:43,000 And it's interesting to look into, but I definitely would not recommend that kind of a change on a permanent basis. 108 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,000 I've tried it just as an experiment. 109 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,000 I did it for six weeks and it's doable, but it's different. 110 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,000 It's not something I wanted to do long term. 111 00:11:51,000 --> 00:12:01,000 But I do recommend this kind of lower carb eating on a continuous basis where we kind of drop from 300 grams to maybe 100 to 150 grams per day. 112 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 And that's a significant adjustment. 113 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:10,000 If you're happy with the weight range that you're in and you're not looking to make any changes there, then 150 is perfectly fine. 114 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,000 So literally just cut it down by half. 115 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:19,000 If you do want to drop a little bit of weight, then going a little bit lower to maybe 100, 125 range would be helpful in that regard. 116 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,000 But that's not the goal here. 117 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:33,000 The goal is just to eliminate enough of the starches and definitely eliminate all the empty calories from sugar, added sugar and, you know, soda, Gatorade, anything like that. 118 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,000 That's got to go because that's going to take your energy spiking and crashing and spiking and crashing all the time. 119 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:48,000 But we'll keep all the incidental carbohydrates that come from things like whole fruits and vegetables because we're not going to eliminate all the nutrients and vitamins that are in those foods. 120 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,000 We want all of that. 121 00:12:50,000 --> 00:13:02,000 And then we just control the pure starches, like I mentioned before, the bread, pasta, rice and potatoes to make up the difference to get us the rest of the way up to, let's say, 150 grams. 122 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And then you're going to have a shortfall, calorically, if you eliminate half of your carbohydrates. 123 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,000 So where is that coming from? 124 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:12,000 We've got to top up with a little bit more protein and healthy fat. 125 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:20,000 And ultimately the outcome of all this is that it's going to stabilize your energy throughout the day and get rid of that crashing and brain fog. 126 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:25,000 I know for me, I didn't pay any attention to this when I was in my 20s. 127 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And I would eat big lunches, big dinners and lots of pasta and rice and grains and again, not unhealthy food, but large quantities of it. 128 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:42,000 And after a while, you start to notice that you're crashing as a result of these meals at the same time every day. 129 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000 And it takes some amount of time to come out of that. 130 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 And there's just no need to live like that. 131 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:54,000 You can regulate and stabilize that by just choosing different foods and eating them in the right quantities. 132 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,000 And then you can have energy throughout the day. 133 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,000 That's like a DC battery. 134 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:58,000 It's just constant. 135 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,000 And it's not up and down all over the place. 136 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:06,000 It's really going to help allow for that clear thinking, which is a hard requirement for studying. 137 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:12,000 And the next tip that I wanted to offer around food is to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. 138 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Now, you may be thinking, grocery shopping, I don't even want to get involved. 139 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:23,000 It would be completely understandable to me if you wanted to delegate as much of the food preparation as possible. 140 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,000 When you're focusing on the PE exam and you're adding that to your already busy schedule. 141 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:39,000 But for many of us, the challenge arises if there's no one else that's there that's going to do the work to provide you with nutritious, delicious meals that are going to fuel you day after day. 142 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:47,000 So if you have a short list of restaurants or takeout spots in your area that can meet this need, that's perfect. 143 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,000 That could be a strong alternative if you don't mind going that route. 144 00:14:52,000 --> 00:15:04,000 But if the food options in your area are scarce or they're not that healthy or there's not enough variety or it's cost prohibitive, then you're running out of good options here. 145 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:09,000 So procuring your own groceries and preparing your own meals is probably going to be the last good option. 146 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:19,000 So this tip is when you walk into the grocery store, you may notice and you can picture your actual grocery store as you do this exercise. 147 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:25,000 Most of the things that can be actually classified as food are located at the perimeter of the store. 148 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:31,000 So produce, meat, eggs, dairy, right? Think about it. All those things are at the edges. 149 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:39,000 There's a handful of exceptions, but your best bet when you're shopping is to just do a lap around the outside and grab everything you need. 150 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Because what's inside are the manufactured products, right, in the interior of the grocery store, which tend to be packed with added sugar and industrial seed oils, which are questionable and the impact that those can have on our health. 151 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:01,000 There's been some research recently that suggested that some of these seed oils can be harmful for our brains. 152 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,000 I don't know how true that is, but it's enough to make me nervous. 153 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:11,000 So stick to the perimeter, grab the healthy stuff. Those are the ingredients you're going to focus on when cooking. 154 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:18,000 And this is definitely an area where you could spend a lot of time and this could be a huge detour and distraction from the PE exam. 155 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:23,000 That is not my goal for you. You don't have to become an expert chef. 156 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:37,000 For me personally, I learned to make the same two or three meals over and over again on a rotation, but I did that resting in the confidence that I knew I was giving my body something helpful rather than harmful. 157 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Now, you might argue that the lack of variety of making the same things is less than ideal and there's probably some truth to that. 158 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:56,000 But the goal here, my goal at that time and my goal for you is to be able to eat well enough and also to be efficient with your time in the kitchen so you're not taking yourself away from studying. 159 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:11,000 And another tip that's related to that is to make double or triple so that you have extra leftovers and that can make you a lot more efficient so that you're ready and able to show up for your study sessions the way you need to so that it can really be effective. 160 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,000 And the last area is fitness and I've got two tips for fitness as well. 161 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:25,000 The first one is to raise your heart rate to the maximum aerobic function and I'll explain what that is for 30 minutes, three times a week. 162 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:32,000 So maximum aerobic function, sometimes called your math heart rate, can be calculated by subtracting your age from 180. 163 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000 So at the time of this podcast, I'm 37. 164 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,000 So if I subtract 180 minus 37, that's 143. 165 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,000 So that's my math heart rate. 166 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,000 That's my maximum aerobic function heart rate. 167 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 So the goal is to exercise in any manner you like. 168 00:17:47,000 --> 00:18:00,000 You can walk, run, bike, row, jump rope, whatever you like to do, whatever you find enjoyable, whatever form of exercise you're actually going to do because you like it, to increase your heart rate in the direction of that number. 169 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,000 Now you might be saying, oh, you know, 143 beats a minute. 170 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:04,000 That's a lot. 171 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,000 Or if you're younger than me, then it's going to be even higher. 172 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,000 So that sounds kind of intense, right? 173 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:19,000 But actually, it's counterintuitive for most people, with the exception of highly conditioned athletes, the perceived effort level associated with your math heart rate is actually low. 174 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 So if I get my heart rate up to 143, it doesn't feel hard. 175 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 It actually feels easy. 176 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,000 It feels like I kind of want to go a little bit harder. 177 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000 And this is not unusual. 178 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000 This will probably be the case for you as well. 179 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:36,000 So the challenge is actually to prevent yourself from exceeding the target. 180 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:45,000 You're going to want to go harder, and your heart rate is going to easily go over that number, and you have to slow down to keep it below that number. 181 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,000 So how do you do that? 182 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,000 How do you actually manage that? 183 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,000 Well, there's a couple of ways. 184 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,000 One is you can wear a heart rate monitor, which is not as big a deal as it sounds like. 185 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,000 They're pretty inexpensive and easy to use. 186 00:18:54,000 --> 00:19:01,000 It's just a strap around your chest, and you throw on a watch, and you're able to monitor it while you're running or cycling or whatever you're doing. 187 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:07,000 So running is a heart rate monitor on my chest. It's been that way for years. It's not really a big deal. 188 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 And keep you in check. 189 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 You can even set an alarm on some of them. 190 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000 So it'll buzz if you go too hard and keep you below that level. 191 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Or another easier, low-tech and perfectly acceptable way to accomplish the same thing is to train with a partner and make sure that you're always able to carry on a conversation. 192 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000 This is called a talk test. 193 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:35,000 So if we're exercising at a level that we're above our ventilatory threshold, it's difficult to talk. 194 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:41,000 So if I'm riding my bike by myself and I don't have a partner with me, if my heart rate monitor is not on for whatever reason, 195 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,000 then I just imagine myself trying to have a conversation at that level. 196 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:52,000 And if I can't do it, if I can't sing a few lines of a song while riding my bike, then I'm going a little bit too hard. 197 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:57,000 And you've got to step off the gas and get down back below your math heart rate. 198 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000 So why is this important? Why do we want to stay below a certain level? 199 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Wouldn't it always be better to go harder in terms of exercise? 200 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:06,000 Actually, no. 201 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:11,000 The goal here is to train our cardiovascular system to burn fat. 202 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:17,000 As soon as we pick up the pace, as soon as you take your heart rate over that math heart rate limit, 203 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:25,000 your system, your metabolic system in your body actually switches from burning fat to burning glucose instead, 204 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000 which has the same effect as eating lots of carbs. 205 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,000 When we finish the workout, all we want to do is eat a sandwich and take a nap. 206 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:39,000 And you're again into this energy roller coaster where you're feeling energized and then we crash. 207 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:43,000 So what we want to do instead is train our bodies to run on fat. 208 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:50,000 And also, if we follow the nutritional tip from earlier, we're probably eating a little bit more healthy fat since we're reducing some of the carbs. 209 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,000 There's a big synergy between this one and the reduction of carbs discussed previously. 210 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,000 And when we do this, when we train our bodies to run on fat, we stabilize our energy, 211 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,000 not just when we're exercising, but also when we're not exercising. 212 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,000 And that's the benefit we're looking for. 213 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,000 There's a lot of benefits to cardio exercise in general. 214 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,000 It balances our neurotransmitters. 215 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,000 It increases blood flow to the brain. 216 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 And it produces that mental sharpness that we're looking for. 217 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:21,000 I read about this in a book over the summer last year called Spark, 218 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,000 the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise in the Brain. 219 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:30,000 It's really quite compelling what a difference exercise can make for the long-term health of our brain, 220 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:36,000 but also just our ability to think and remember and have that feeling of mental clarity day in and day out. 221 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,000 So hopefully that's not too big of an ask in terms of fitness. 222 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:43,000 We're looking for half an hour, a few times a week, and we don't have to go that hard. 223 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,000 So my hope is that hearing this is actually a relief. 224 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:52,000 And if you've been kicking yourself like, oh, I really need to get out there and I need to go hard 225 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000 and I got to do these long workouts or I got to make them super intense, 226 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,000 otherwise there's no point. 227 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,000 Actually quite the opposite. 228 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,000 Some light jogging or easy spinning a few times a week can make a big difference. 229 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:11,000 And the last tip that I have around fitness is to lift or carry something heavy a couple times per week. 230 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:17,000 And the reason I wrote it that way is because I don't want you to feel like weightlifting has to be some formal, 231 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,000 structured, time-consuming activity. 232 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:25,000 I think a lot of us have this vision of going to the gym and you're going to be there for an hour. 233 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,000 You're going to do certain exercises. 234 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000 You're going to leave exhausted. 235 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:34,000 If you enjoy weightlifting and you've been doing it for a long time and that's your thing, more power to you. 236 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:42,000 But for those of us who don't do that regularly or just aren't drawn to the idea of being in the gym and doing structured workouts, 237 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,000 a couple of sets of pull-ups and push-ups twice a week. 238 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,000 Like I hung a pull-up bar in my basement so I can just do 10 reps on my way up or down the stairs. 239 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000 Like it doesn't have to be... 240 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,000 You barely sweat, right? 241 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:03,000 It's this concept of slow weights where you do a little 20 push-ups here, 10 pull-ups there. 242 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,000 And cumulatively, over the course of a day or a week, you actually do a fair amount of heavy lifting. 243 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000 But it doesn't necessarily have to be one discrete effort. 244 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,000 So like I said, it could be push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges. 245 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,000 You can do it with dumbbells if you have them or just some heavy objects. 246 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,000 Or just your body weight, depending on your level of fitness. 247 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,000 That might be enough. 248 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000 I know for me, like, I don't need a barbell to do squats. 249 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,000 If I can just do a few body weight squats, that's going to be a big benefit to me. 250 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Another thing that's interesting is you can put 20 pounds of books in a backpack and just go for a walk for 45 minutes. 251 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 There's a whole community of people around this activity. 252 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000 They call it rucking. You may have heard of it. 253 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,000 And they use bricks or special weights or weighted vests. 254 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,000 But for me, I'm only going for about 20 pounds. 255 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:57,000 So if I just take some old textbooks and throw them in a backpack and go for a walk, that's fine. 256 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:04,000 If you have things around the house to do, depending on your living situation, you can rake some leaves, chop some wood. 257 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,000 There's any number of things if you just look around at what's going on. 258 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:15,000 Maybe your grocery store is half a mile away and instead of driving, you could walk there instead and carry the bags back. 259 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:19,000 So be creative. Find things that fit into your lifestyle. 260 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:25,000 Don't necessarily feel like you have to add separate additional effort to get these things done. 261 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Try to fit them into your life the way it's already set up. 262 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000 Anything that involves your muscles will work. 263 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:38,000 And for our purposes here, the goal is not to necessarily increase strength, although that's a pleasant side effect. 264 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:47,000 Specifically, what we're seeking here is the chemical and hormonal release that accompanies the strength adaptation when we do heavy work. 265 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:53,000 That's what improves the cognitive performance in ways that are complementary to the cardio training. 266 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,000 So if you're doing, and again, it comes back to synergy, right? 267 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:02,000 If we are doing some of the cardio that we discussed in the last point, and now we add in a little bit of this strength, 268 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:08,000 and like I said, a little bit goes a long way, then it can make a tremendous difference. 269 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:14,000 Now, if you want to run sprints and max out your bench press and do all these intense things, that's fine. 270 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:22,000 But I just want you to know that the most intense forms of exercise are not a requirement to achieving the improved thinking, reasoning, and remembering. 271 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000 That make for high quality studying. 272 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,000 So keep it easy. 273 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:38,000 It's more important to get the reps in and do it a few times a week than it is to make it super hard where it starts to feel like a burden or an obligation just to get out of the gate, just to put your shoes on and go do it. 274 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:48,000 So the bottom line, sleep, nutrition, and exercise are cornerstones not only to health and longevity, but also of optimal cognition. 275 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,000 These are crucial to the foundation of studying. 276 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,000 And I want to reiterate a little bit about what I mentioned at the beginning. 277 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,000 Don't feel like you have to be perfect. 278 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:05,000 If before listening to this podcast, your sleep was erratic, your diet was bad, your exercise was non-existent, don't be discouraged. 279 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:12,000 The main point here is for you to take inventory and find opportunities for gradual improvements that can be sustained. 280 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:21,000 Can you get a little bit better in one or two or all three of these areas and start to create that positive feedback loop for yourself across all three domains? 281 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:27,000 It's something that can have a long-term benefit beyond the PE exam and spread into other areas of your life. 282 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:38,000 And the potential benefits are even greater to you if you can find meaningful upgrades in all three areas because of the synergy between them. 283 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:47,000 And I know that any improvements that you're able to make are going to powerfully set the stage for an enriching and enjoyable study experience. 284 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:52,000 So I hope you're feeling inspired. I know I am. I'm going to go out for a bike ride after recording this. 285 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,000 And until next time, happy studying. 286 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Thanks for listening to the Mechanical PE Exam Prep podcast. 287 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:03,000 If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review to help other engineers find the podcast. 288 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:11,000 And if you're looking for a program that will help you pass the PE exam, check out the full-access bundle available at mechanicalpeexamprep.com. 289 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,000 And feel free to reach out with any questions. 290 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:34,000 I would be honored to be your guide on the journey to becoming a professional engineer.