The no bullshit guide to fitness.
Let’s face it, we all want to look lean and feel better with ourselves but most of us don’t do anything about it. But what really fucking annoys me is hearing people say they can’t have a good physique because (insert excuse), complaining just makes me snap sometimes you know? So I’m here to tell you some tips and tricks I’ve gotten in some years of training (strength and endurance related).
You don’t need a gym
This is something I hear all of the time, people usually think you have to be in a gym to be lean and strong and boy are they wrong.
There’s a bunch of bodyweight exercises that can make you a lean muscle machine!
- Pushups
- Pullups
- Chinups
- Burpees
- Squats
- Dips
And I could go on and on!
I actually think that before you go to a gym you should really master these exercises since they are the foundation of the more advanced exercises.
Quality over Quantity
The only thing I think that is crucial in the development of your physique when it comes to working out has to be having a good form, I cannot stress this one enough.
For example, I can do 60 pushups without stopping and feel normal or I could do 30 concentrating on having a full range of motion and maybe stop before finishing.
It all comes down to how good you do an exercise, there’s no race or competition on who does more reps cause at the end of the day your body is the only one your facing.
We hate it but cardio is a must
If you’re like me you probably hate doing a 30 minute run on a treadmill and boring your ass off in the process. So I have an alternative I do that is actually fun and burns more calories than those long and frustrating sessions on cardio.
Some of you might know the term HIIT and for those who don’t know it means High Intensity Interval Training.
It’s just a fancy name for doing a workout in a short period of time with little to no rest in between exercises.
For example you could do this workout below for 3 to 5 rounds and that would be your workout. With a Tabata system (20 seconds on the exercise, 10 seconds rest)
- Burpees
- Jump rope (jump in place if you don’t have one)
- Mountain climbers
- Tuck jumps
- Pushups
- Jumping squats
- V ups
- Burpees
Rest 1 minute in between sets and that’s it!
Strength grows with time not overnight
People generally think that they can get strong in a day or two and it doesn’t work that way.
It’s a progressive game you have to play, if you’re going to a gym you could do something called progressive overload which basically means working out at a weight which you are not comfortable but still can do it. If you’re going to do bodyweight exercises you can test your max rep in an exercise and then double up that number and reach it in 4 sets, or you could modify it and make it harder like doing diamond pushups instead of normal ones.
I repeat, strength and muscle doesn’t come overnight, it takes time, patience and consistency.
Diets don’t work for a long term goal
Yes you can diet for a month or two just to reach your short term goal, but if after that you’re going to go back to your old eating habits then it doesn’t work.
My tip for this is to find a healthy eating habit that you can consistently do and enjoy for example you could do a paleo diet and try it out.
Working out is just the 30 percent of the work, the other 70 percent is your way of eating.
