Get back in there and start getting after it again. It’s that simple.
If you’ve missed a couple of workouts, don’t stress it—move forward and pick up where you left off.
If you’ve taken a couple weeks off
Reduce the volume (or the total amount of exercise you do), the intensity, and the amount of resistance you use. For example, if you’d typically do 7-10 exercises for 3-5 sets each, make it 4-6 exercises for 2-3 sets each, and drop the weight by about 10%.
If you haven’t seen the gym in several weeks
Restart in an even further reduced capacity. For example, if you typically would follow an elaborate plan mixed with strength splits, power workouts, HIIT training, etc., etc., then you might need to make things a bit basic for a couple weeks to adapt. Something like three full-body workouts, every other day, while working at about 60% of you max capacity. You can progressively add more and more of everything with each week until you get back to where you were.
If you’ve really fallen off the wagon
Months away means steering clear of very difficult, complex exercises and high-intensity workouts. Just because you were able to do everything in the book before, doesn’t mean you can just jump right into it again. The idea of “use it or lose it” is real. If it’s been a while, focus on mobility, flexibility, and strengthening your core. Then, you can get back to the tougher stuff. Strengthen your core with any of these 25 workouts. Ease back in with these low intensity workouts.
Research goes back and forth, but at the end of the day, whatever works for you is the way to go. Don’t stress the minutia. Get in the gym or get outside and train, whenever you can.
When your work, relationships, and life outside of fitness say you can train is the best (and realistic) time to get it in.
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Weight loss comes with being in a calorie deficit, or eating less than your body needs to operate. Fat loss comes with how those calories are broken into specific macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats). You can 100% be eating healthy, but still gain weight, in fact, you can even get fat “eating healthy”.
First thing to do is log all of the food you’re eating, and be very specific with how much of it you’re eating. Then, calculate your total calories and the macronutrient breakdown. That’s your starting point. Then, use a tool likefreedieting.com to calculate how many calories your body needs based off your age, height, weight, and activity level. (This is an ESTIMATE, everyone is slightly different) From there, you can explore different types of macronutrient ratios to see which works for you. If you’re going for weight loss and for fat loss, as mentioned above, you’ll want to be in a caloric deficit and have the right macronutrient breakdown. A good starting point would be 50/30/20 of protein: carbs: fat. There are other options, but that one in particular seems to work well (and is most balanced) for building muscle and losing fat. However, there are some exceptions because, as previously mentioned, everyone is different.
Very important note: There are a lot of experts and resources that will bash the idea of counting calories or counting macros, but the truth is, in my personal experience, if you have no idea what you’re doing and you’re struggling to see results, then you need to find your starting point. Once you find that starting point and get a better understanding of what you’re eating, how much you’re eating, and how your body responds, then you don’t have to worry about counting anything, but until then, you cannot have the expectation that you can “listen to your body”, eat whatever you want, and see great results without understanding how things work first.
Generally speaking, when working with DigitaFitnessAdvisor.com clients, most beginners experience small progressive increases in strength and endurance in as little as the first few weeks. Some improvements to posture are noticeable as well. After that, strength and endurance continues to improve for a few more weeks before hitting a potential plateau. (Not always, but potential). At this point, about 4-6 weeks out, as long as the diet is lined up well with the needs of the body; strength, endurance, and postural changes should be get a bit more noticeable. As for the very noticeable body composition changes (muscle vs. fat): that’s usually around week 8,10,12. However, it is very possible to see significant changes in body composition in is as little as 3 – 4 weeks, but those are usually in either highly-controlled/restrictive environments or with previously fit people. (Or with use of illegal substances)
As a general rule of thumb, here at HFP, and with DFA clients, we like programming with several phases lasting 4,6, and 8 weeks, but that’s not a hard rule. Sometimes there are shorter phases and other times there are longer phases.
Bodyweight workouts can build you a solid base of muscular strength and size. And the sky’s the limit when it comes to improving muscular endurance (being able to perform bouts of exercise for extended periods of time) and cardiovascular conditioning. Weight loss? Fat loss? Yep, that too. However, at some point, you’ll max out on the amount of muscular strength and size that it’s possible to build with bodyweight alone.
For example, if you’re very, very new to exercise, then your body isn’t used to training. Something as straightforward as a set of 5 push-ups, 10 squats, and 20 sit-ups could have you sweating, leave you sore the next day, and build your base of muscle. However, as you progress along (which you will very quickly as a beginner), eventually there comes a point where your body will adapt to that training and no longer be able to increase strength. As you start performing 10, then 15, then 20+ reps at a clip with ease, you’ll be starting to build more muscular endurance, not strength, and if you continue progressing from there, it could even start to become much more like a cardiovascular workout. Now, this doesn’t mean that bodyweight exercise is useless or ineffective because you’ve built your strength to a certain point, but if you want to start actually building more muscle mass or muscular size, you’ll want to push it further. There’s a concept called progressive overload. Basically this means in order to progress (e.g. more muscular strength or more muscular size), you’ll need to gradually increase the amount of stress (or, weight/resistance) you place on the body. Bodyweight exercise, because it’s only your bodyweight, has a cap to it.
If building bigger muscles or super strong muscles isn’t much of a priority, then by all means, stick to the bodyweight stuff. You can still build that base of strength, increase the endurance of those muscles, and if you work in fast-paced circuits, build up serious cardiovascular condition.
But, if you’re really looking for a bit more mass, then you’ll want to start hitting the weights and/or machines and gradually increase the amount of work you’re doing. For muscular size, the general rule of thumb is to use resistance (in which you nearly reach failure) for 10-12 repetitions. For endurance, it’s usually 15+, and for explosive power, under 5. For general more strength, somewhere around 6, 8, 10. What’s important to note here is going to failure or near failure. Doing a doing a set of push-ups for 5 repetitions isn’t going to increase strength, especially if you could potentially do 10 or 20. Also, there are no hard rules, you’ll most likely want to experiment with a variety of rep ranges. Time under tension is another factor. If you’re ripping through 10 reps in 10 seconds, that’s not nearly enough time under tension. But all of that is a whole other nut to crack.
In summary, there’s a lot you can do with your bodyweight alone, but if you want muscle, don’t be afraid to lift some weights. And remember, how and what you eat is what really brings on the changes, check our our article on intuitive eating for lean muscle.
Want a completely customized bodyweight workout plan? Check out our new exclusive programming service at DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com
You don’t need supplements. Flat out. You can accomplish all of your fitness goals with good nutrition and exercise. (If you’ve got some sort of health issues — talk to your doctor.)
Supplements are called supplements for a reason. They’re intended to supplement something you’re lacking. That said, if you’re eating a healthy mix of foods including proteins, carbohydrates (+ greens and colorful veggies), and fats, then chances are you’re getting all of the nutrients (macro and micro) that your body needs to function optimally. In fact, if you’re a beginner, you should focus more efforts on figuring how how your body responses to food instead of what supplement or supplements to add into the mix. (Read: intuitive eating for lean muscle and how to start your own diet plan)
Now, does this mean all supplements are bad or completely worthless? No, not necessarily.
Here’s our general take on supplements:
1. The dangerous or worthless junk
You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s true. There are a lot of supplements out there that are probably downright dangerous. You have no idea what’s actually in them, even if the ingredients are listed on the bottle. Seriously, it’s not a very regulated business. Those wild and unbelievable scientific claims that seem too good to be true are probably biased in some way, shape, or form. Was that “independent research” actually independent? Any time a supplement is being sold super-hard as the greatest thing in the world — that’s a huge red flag.
2. The toss ups
There are some supplements that might help a little bit such as creatine, branch chain amino acids, beet juice, etc. (I’ve also personally experimented with astragalus extract and ZMA (zinc, magnesium, B6) for general performance. And vitamin C, echinacea, and various teas including black, green, and chamomile for immune system support.) Those types of supplements come from more raw, real things, you get them from food. Are they going to make a world of a difference in your life? Absolutely not. Could they help? Sure, a little bit. Could they do nothing at all? Yep, that’s possible too. And could they hurt you? Yes, that’s very possible as well. You never know how your body might react even to something that’s already in your body naturally. Think about it: people have food allergies. Same thing goes for supplements.
3. The conveniently helpful basics
Protein powder is conveniently helpful, and it’s basic. We all need protein and sometimes it’s hard to get enough down either because of time or because you just don’t want to eat pounds and pounds of meat or fish all day. The only thing to really watch out for with protein powder is any other random stuff companies sometimes like to throw in it. You don’t need (or want anything else). You just want protein. (And if you are allergic to something like whey, then there are plenty of vegan options available).
To summarize, figure out your food situation first, get into a regular training routine, then you can look into supplements. (We pretty much just like protein with the exception for a couple others) However, you should probably talk to a nutritionist, dietician, and your doctor beforehand.
Looking for custom workout and nutrition programming? Check out DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com, our new exclusive service.
It depends on where you are in terms of understanding how certain foods work (or don’t work) with your body. Right out the gate: If you’re happy with your physique and ability to perform in your sport of choice, then cheat whenever you’d like. Congrats — you’ve got it all figured out. However, if you’ve been struggling a bit with your weight or aren’t feeling your best, then maybe it’s worth taking a closer look at what you’re doing.
For a complete beginner, there are probably two schools of thought for this particular instance.
The first thought is to give yourself a break from time to time. Let’s say a single cheat meal every week is acceptable. Maybe a cheat meal every two weeks. Maybe it’s more frequent than that, or less frequent than that. This particular approach might work for you if don’t want to deprive yourself of things you enjoy. However, things get difficult when it comes down to defining what depriving yourself is vs. simply doing what you need to do to make the changes you want to make. Are you depriving yourself? Or are you just making an excuse to eat the junk you want? Only you can truly answer that question. But if you’re not seeing the changes you want then your eating plan isn’t necessarily working. Could that be the “cheat meal”? It’s possible. But it’s also very possible it’s your overall approach to eating that needs reevaluating. Read our piece on intuitive eating for lean muscle and our piece on the 6 steps to make your diet work for you.
The second thought (and my preferred thought) is to NOT CHEAT for a predetermined amount of time. Let’s say no cheat meals for two months. Again, this is for complete beginners or anyone that really can’t seem to figure the whole “eating right” thing out.
Here’s one reason why to take this approach:
If you’re a complete beginner and you’re not happy with the way you feel, perform, or look, then you need to learn how to use food as fuel and nourishment first, then the treats and indulgences can come. You should be figuring out how much food you should be eating, what the different macronutrients are, how those macronutrients work in the body, what’s the right ratio for you, etc., etc. When cheating is RESTRICTED for two months that gives you a significant period of time to figure things out on the most basic level without any random variables thrown in. For example, did you have a single cheat meal? Or was it in fact actually cheat meals? Do you have a ballpark idea on what was in those cheat meals? Do you know how any of that actually factors in? Honestly, you can make it two months eating the bare essentials, then slowly start reintroducing other things.
Here’s another reason to take this approach:
You will be amazed at how much you might stop craving certain things after you’ve stopped consuming them. Eating things like sugar or fat will make you want more sugar or fat. (Here’s a strong argument for why sugar and fat trick the brain into wanting more, if you don’t believe it.) Cut out “cheats” for two months, and you might not even care about a cheat meal. Or at least cheat a whole lot less and mindfully indulge instead. (See the pizza above, which came over a super-long day of working out. And yes, every bite was enjoyed.)
DISCLAIMER: This is a personal opinion. Like most things fitness and nutrition-related, there are many different approaches. Take it or leave it.
If you’re looking for custom workout and nutrition programming, check out HFP’s new exclusive service at DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com
It’s all about the Keto diet right now, but that buzz will fizzle out soon enough. While “going keto” will lead to weight and fat loss, the truth is: it’s not sustainable for most people. Most importantly, it might not even be healthy. And it’s not even necessary to do.
Your ultimate goal should be to become an intuitive eater, and the only way to do that is to take your time with nutrition 101 stuff, and learn how your body responds to certain foods. While this approach takes a bit more time, there are some guidelines to getting there a little more quickly.
First of all, if you’re eating more calories than you need, then you’re going to gain weight. Whether or not it’s fat or muscle depends on the macronutrients. On the flip side, if you eat less calories than you need, you’re going to lose weight. Whether or not it’s fat or muscle depends on the macronutrients. It really is that cut and dry. (Unless you have some type of metabolic disorders, but only an actual doctor would be able to tell you that.)
In a video shoot prep post here, I made mention that 168 is my number. It’s true. I’ve been around that weight for the last 8-10 years with sub 10% body fat. Don’t believe it? Here’s a split screen of me around 2009 and then me in early 2017. Pretty close. That’s consistent training and consistent clean eating. Neither have changed very much at all.
Over the last several years I’ve become more and more of an intuitive eater.
Since 2009 or so, this has been my general (and rough) template.
Breakfast: 30 grams of a protein shake with BCAAs + 1/2 cup oats (May 2019 update: I don’t use BCAAs much anymore because the research just doesn’t seem as strong as it once did for muscle recovery. These days creatine at 5 grams pre workout and 5 grams post workout is much more regular — I really like the research now.) Snack: Handful of mixed nuts/almonds Lunch: Grilled chicken breasts (.5 lb) + mixed veggies and/or salad Snack: Plain Greek yogurt infused some 15 grams of protein powder Dinner: Grilled chicken breasts (.5 lb), tuna, or salmon + 1/2 cup oats + a green veggie of choice Post-Workout: 30-40 grams of a protein shake with BCAAs
Very approximate totals:
2,000 calories
265 protein (~53%)
120 carbs (~24%)
47 fat (~21%)
This “diet” was structured around the following:
Eat 6 meals per day
Protein is the base of all/most meals; aim for 30-40 grams
Carbs only in the morning and/or around workouts. Only 25-35 grams or so each.
Fat kept relatively low and eaten separate from carbohydrates
Here’s where things get confusing
After not doing this for quite some time, I looked at a couple online calorie calculators to see the recommended amount for maintaining my weight. For my moderate activity level, it gave me 2,670 calories to maintain. And 2,170 calories to lose a pound per week.
If I follow a 50/30/20 protein/carb/fat ratio based on the 2,670 calorie recommendation: Protein would be about 330 grams, carbs about 200 grams, and fat would be 59 grams.
Now, if we recall my diet above, the total calories were approximately 2,000. Protein was 265g, carbs was 120g, and fat was 47g.
The calorie and macro formulas are not perfectly aligned with my results.
Here’s what this tells us about the process
1. Trying to be precise is difficult and may not even be the right approach. It’s more about finding a range (and fine-tuning that range) that works for you.
2. Starting with a basic calorie counter is a great idea but you can’t expect it to be the end-all be-all answer.
3. The next step would be deciding how to break those calories out into macronutrients. (I recommend starting with 50/30/20 and sticking with it for a month to see how your body responds.)
4. Take a before photo, weigh yourself, even get your body fat checked if you want. (But, the mirror does the better job, IMO).
5A. At the end of the month, if you gained weight, you know you’re eating a surplus. However, if you’re leaner and more muscular, your macros are on point. But, if you’re carrying more body fat, then either the calories or the macros need readjustment (or both).
5B. At the end of the month, if you lost weight, you know you’re in a deficit. If you look leaner and more muscular, your macros are good, but you will need to bump up your intake to gain any additional muscle.
5C. If you weigh about the same, but look leaner and more muscular, you’ve found a good spot for calories and a macro breakdown.
6. The only way you’re going to push the needle in either direction is working on your own personal macronutrient formula. Maybe you need 60/20/20, a 70/20/10, a 50/10/40, a 40/40/20. Something in between two of these? There are many possible variations…
7. Speaking of variables; age, body type, stress levels, and the type and amount of exercise you’re doing all come into play. A 21-year-old college student has high testosterone and a carefree lifestyle, a 39-year-old investment banker is under significantly more stress, and his test levels are slowly dwindling.
8. As you manipulate your diet over time and become pleased with your results, then you know you’re becoming an intuitive eater. You know what you need, when you need it, and how the body responses.
9. At this point in your process, given the increased awareness of your body, this becomes a more appropriate time to experiment with more advanced or elaborate strategies such as fasting or carb cycling. (I’m not recommending you try them, especially if you’re in a good place, but if you’re interested, go for it.)
10. The scale becomes completely obsolete and the mirror takes over as the primary evaluation tool.
My final thoughts on food and figuring it out:
Your calories and macros will never be perfect. This is long process.
If you’re just starting out, throw out all the junk food in your house. If you’re serious about figuring this out, you don’t have time for junk yet.
On that note, don’t plan on any “cheat” meals for at least the first month. You don’t even know your body yet, don’t concern yourself with where you can “treat yourself”, you have plenty of time for that.
Most people don’t realize how much or how little they are actually eating. Educate yourself on serving sizes and be aware of what’s in what.
Food quality is more important than quantity.
The winning combination for me: protein is the base, carbs and fat support. It might be different for you.
You can lose a ton of weight doing cardio alone, but combining it with strength training is the best way to do it, especially if you want to see improvements in body compositions (That’s the difference between fat loss and weight loss.)
Here’s why: (as explained as simply as possible)
First of all, you burn calories by simply living. Sleeping, waking up, eating, breathing, etc. burns calories. (It’s called your basal metabolic rate, or BMR). Obviously, the more active you are, the more you burn. Going for a nice long run or bike ride makes you all uncomfortable, sweaty, and burns loads of calories. Great! All of the trackers out there tell you that. But after that run or ride, that “burn” is pretty much all done.
Strength training, on the other hand might not give you that immediate gratification of burning hundreds of calories like you’d get from a run, but the rewards come in a slightly different way.
When you add lifting weights into the mix, you’re putting your muscles under tension and work. Those muscles experience “microtrauma” which then requires your body to work to rebuild and recover. This alone, increases the body’s metabolism because it is actually working to repair damage.
The other piece to this is: When you recover and rebuild new muscle, you’ve added lean mass that wasn’t there before. Being a more muscular person will naturally improve your metabolism because your body is working harder to maintain that muscle.
The bottom line:
You can do cardio on top of cardio on top of cardio, and see the weight drop, but it might not necessarily turn out the way you want it to, or happen as quickly as you want it to.
For example, ever see someone that’s done a ton of cardio and lost tons of weight, but doesn’t seem to have a better physique or figure? That’s because they haven’t really built any muscle. The weight they lost was partially fat and partially muscle!
A combination of strength and cardio is the way to go. At least three days of strength training should be added onto any cardio routine you have going on to ensure you’re maintaining and building muscle.
There are loads of great exercises (and loads of variations of those exercises) for your abs and core muscles. However, what’s more important is the approach and combination of exercises — not simply a collection of the hardest ones. A lot of this also depends on where you currently stand with your fitness. If you’re just starting out, you’ll most likely need to start very basic. If you’re a bit stronger, you can add more challenging moves and do more exercises collectively in a workout.
Back to exercising for abs: The best way to get abs is to work the entire core with different types of movements and/or in different directions. For true beginners, you need to stabilize yourself first — exercises like a basic plank, bird dog, deadbug, boat pose, and Superman have you covered.
If you’re a bit more advanced: lying leg lifts, hanging leg lifts, or bench curl ups are tough “flexion” type exercises. Please note, if this hurts, then stop. You’re either doing them incorrectly, or do not have enough basic core strength. A classic sit-up or crunch would be the more rudimentary versions of “flexion” type exercises.
Rotational exercises are also an important component and could include cable chops, medicine ball throws, or Russian twists.
Another component, especially as you progress in strength, are exercises that force you to stabilize in seemingly awkward positions. While a bird dog is a basic stabilization exercise, a more advanced version is a bird dog row. Same thing goes for a plank, while it’s a basic stabilization exercise, there are several more advanced variations such as a plank row, single-arm/single-leg plank, etc.
Other factors that go into training your core and getting your abs to show are the big lift exercises like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses. These are pretty much essentials because of just how many muscles they involve and should be a part of your programming either way.
If there’s one key takeaway: be mindful not to do too much in one direction. For example, if you do crunches, then sit ups, then hanging leg raises, that’s a whole lot of flexion movements and other areas of the core are going to be imbalanced. You want a nice mix. If it were four solid ones, shoot for: standard plank, bird dog rows, hanging leg raise, Superman is a good combo. There are many others, but that’s an example of a workout that is balanced. Check out our piece on 25 ways to give your core a great workout here.
