Fitness Learnings and Opinions

Fitness is for everyone

Exercise is good

• It releases endorphins that help improve your mood
• Most research seems to suggest that it only takes a little bit of exercise to see health benefits
• A little bit is better than nothing

Everyone should do some kind of resistance training

• Being stronger allows you to be more independent, happy, and healthy
• It may not be as effective as burning calories as cardio in the short run, but it can in the long run by raising your resting metabolic rate

Everyone should do some kind of Zone 2 cardio exercise everyday (i.e. brisk walk)

• You can still hold a conversation, but you are still exerting yourself and getting your heart rate up
• Zone 2 cardio helps train your VO2 max (although may need to be longer sessions for best effect)
• One 30 minute walk is probably better but not significantly than 2 15 minute walks so just walk whenever you can
• 10,000 steps is a nice metric (although completely arbitrary) but your heart rate is important during those steps too

On Progress and Motivation

Consistency is better than anything

• Changes happen over time so be aware but also don’t hyper focus on small changes because that can be demoralizing especially if backslide
  • Even if you aren’t making strength improvements at the very least you are working to maintain your current progress and still being active and helping keep your body and mind healthy
• Not every workout can be great but if you’re tired, do it tired you can even scale down work but it’s better than doing nothing and it helps keep the streak and better ingrain the habit over time
• Try to find something that you actually like doing so that you can do it consistently and actively enjoy it

Recovery is important and don’t ignore pain

• You don’t have to be sore after the workout, that isn’t necessarily a sign that muscle growth won’t happen
• Soreness means that you will need to rest more
• Improper form can lead to injuries
• Warming up can help prevent injuries

Don’t compare yourself to others

• A lot of it is genetics and/or differences in time and money
• Your achievements are still impressive in the light of other’s

Exercise Science

This is all my own interpretation of the literature and information out there, but I suggest that you do your own research and form your own opinions on things.

There’s no optimal answer

• Knowing too much is bad
• Premature optimization is bad
• Each person is different and different things will work/not work

More is not always better

• Volume is not the answer and fatigue is the enemy
• You only really need about two movements per muscle (and try not to do them consecutively in your workout)
• Train close to failure 2-4 sets
  • Whatever makes you feel like you’re working your muscles is probably close to optimal
  • When pressing, pause to feel the stretch
  • Control the eccentric/negative because that is half the exercise
  • Aim to lift heavy enough that the last 2–3 reps of each set are challenging
• There are diminishing marginal returns to working out more within a week

Aim for good form

• Good form means targeted stimulus
• Cheating reps will work your other muscles and not adequately stimulate your target muscles
• Good form will prevent you from injuring yourself (i.e. joints) or needlessly tire you out

Beware pseudoscience or old science

• Straight versus pyramid sets don’t really affect muscle growth
• Cardio doesn’t hurt gains but it can be a hindrance to your recovery process and/or tire you out before your lifts

People I’ve found useful for learning more science-based lifting:

• Dr. Mike
• Tyler Path
• Jeff Nippard