Yes, another fitness post. Yes, another post about building good habits.

Is it just my algorithm or is everyone getting a lot of posts, reels, TikTok’s, and/or YouTube shorts about fitness, wellbeing, and longevity?

Everyone is an influencer now, telling you how to drop weight, tone abs, and build muscle.

Here is what I’ve learned… none of this is mine, it’s all learned from others. These are 11 things that can help you transform your body for the better. (Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, don’t play one on the internet… these are things that have worked for me. Consult real experts, especially if you have health challenges.)

1. Weight Loss: The only thing that matters, more than fitness, more than what you actually eat, is being in a calorie deficit. That’s it. If you are in a deficit you will lose weight. Period. Full stop. End of story. So choose an app that tracks what you eat and use it religiously. Want to eat more? Exercise, burn calories, and you can have more calories that day, and still be in a deficit.
2. Track your workouts. Choose a minimum amount that counts as a workout and track them. Here is one rule that is simple if you build a routine, and hard if you aren’t actually tracking: Never miss 2 days in a row. You can make up other rules or requirements as you see fit, so long as you NEVER break your own rules. One break gives permission for other breaks, then habits are lost and you are stuck trying to be disciplined. Habits are easy, discipline is hard. Track your progress and you will ‘see’ your habits, which will help you perpetuate them.
3. Protein and Creatine. There is a 99.9% chance that you are not eating as much protein as you should. Quite literally if 1,000 people read this, there would only be one of you actually eating as much as 1 gram of protein per pound on the scale. That’s my goal and I still don’t regularly hit it. Protein is good for the body AND the brain. Same with creatine. Creatine reduces muscle soreness after workouts, and is one of the most studied supplements. Less than 1% of the population can have digestion issues with it. Probably not you and there is literally no other down side and huge upsides to taking it.
4. Train most of your cardio in ‘Zone 2’. What is Zone 2? If you tried to talk normally while in that zone, it would be challenging to catch your breath, but if you were told at the end of your workout that you had to keep going at the same pace for 5 more minutes you could maintain that pace. So many people think they have to kill themselves with high heart rate cardio blasts. Still do this once per week to improve your Max Vo2, but 80+% of your cardio should be in Zone 2. My tracking requirements are a minimum of 20 minutes. I walk on a treadmill, on an incline, with a weighted vest most days. This is much lower impact than running, and I can still get in the zone. You want better weight loss gains? Cardio tip: Don’t eat before cardio. You want to drain your glycogen reserves and get to fat burn. Food reserves will be used as energy before fat. No food reserves means your body gets to fat burn faster. Mind you, this is moot if you aren’t in a calorie deficit.
5. Weight train. Lift and carry heavy things. Muscles are quite literally things that you use or you lose. Research shows a direct correlation between larger muscles and longevity. Grandma or grandpa who can do a pull-up and deadlift their own weight are not the ones who are going to stumble and break their hips. They are also more likely to be cognitively’ ‘there’ compared to their sedentary peers.
6. Weight lift your muscles completely to fatigue. This is called hypertrophy training, you are wanting to build muscle. First, because larger muscles means a longer (healthier) lifespan. Secondly, you are literally telling your body to stay young. Building muscles demands your body to be in ‘growth mode’ rather than in sunset mode on your way to the grave. Pick at least one muscle group and work it to failure. Personal secret: 90% of my workouts are done in 40-45 minutes with 20 minutes cardio and 5-10 minutes stretching. How do I get it ‘all’ done so quickly? Besides cardio and stretching, I just work one muscle group but I work it really hard. Yesterday was shoulders. I did 4 sets of free weight shoulder press (1st one at 1/2 weight for warm up, then 3 progressively heavy sets to 10-12, but the last set I could only get to 9). Then lateral raises, again ending with a set to failure. Today was biceps. Seated curls, then standing hammer curls, then 1 set of elastic ban Bayesian curls to fatigue. In both day’s examples the sets took 20-25 minutes. Tomorrow I’ll do abs and legs to give my upper body a rest, then chest the following day. I love when I go to the gym with a budy and workout more body parts in a workout, but I share my example to emphasize that you can make progress doing an entire workout in less time that it takes to watch a show on Netflix. That said, this is minimal volume and I know I’d make more gains if I did more.
7. Stretch. I don’t believe you should ever stretch cold. That’s why I do cardio first. Research says that to slightly improve muscle gains, do weights before cardio. But on my daily (early morning) routine, I want to stretch before weights, and I want to be warm when I stretch. I’ll pass on tiny gains to get a routine that works for me. Stretching makes you feel better and more mobile, and helps to reduce injuries. It’s also a way to feel a connection to your body.
8. Meditate. I cheat and meditate on the treadmill. I clip the emergency stop clip on me, hold the rails, close my eyes, and do a guided meditation. I find the physical activity a distraction that helps me reduce my mind wandering, and this also gives me more time in my tight morning routine because I’m double dipping. Meditation is not a state of quiet mind, it is a continual state of quieting the mind. It’s not about no distraction, but a state of coming back from distraction. Beyond that I’m years into my practice and still a rookie. Get meditation advice elsewhere, but take my advice and start a regular meditation habit. (I track this like I track my fitness, with stickers on a year-long calendar.)
9. Have a workout buddy. I only get to workout with someone about once every couple weeks. I wish I could do more because being with him pushes me to be better. But even when I don’t work out with him, he and I keep each other accountable. We can share our highs and lows. I tell him I had a shitty workout, he congratulates me on showing up. I hit a personal best, I can share it with him and he’ll celebrate it with me, without it feeling like bragging. It’s our victory. Find someone to share you journey with.
10. Routine, routine, routine. Build your habit so that you don’t require discipline. My favourite example of reducing workout friction and thus making my routine easier is my workout shoes. In my small basement gym I have workout shoes and a shoehorn. My shoes are pre-tied tight enough to walk (or run) on the treadmill, and I can still slip them on with the shoehorn. Why? Because I hate tying shoes and I hate getting on the treadmill with one shoe feeling tighter than the other. This was a pain point. What are your pain points? Remove them. You workout after work? Routinize having your workout bag by the front door the night before. Then put it on the passenger seat as a visual reminder when you get in the car after work. Reduce the friction and the habit will form, and then you’ll get used to showing up.
11. JUST SHOW UP! The most important days in the gym are the days you don’t want to show up and you do anyway. These are the days that make the habit an actual habit. These are the days that make a routine an actual routine. The days you had to drag your ass into the gym and do the bare minimum are more important than the days you hit a personal best. And as a bonus, some of the days that you drag yourself in might also be a personal best day when you finally got there. Showing up then becomes a habit, and it no longer feels as hard to do on the hard days. Because if you ‘just show up’ enough on the hard days then showing up no longer feels like work. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle… But the early hard days are the toughest. Go back to tip 2 and Never miss 2 days in a row.

One final thought. While I’ve seen significant progress in the past 2 years, I’ve been on this path for 6-and-a-half years. I initially saw a good weight loss and small muscle gains, but it took the addition of creatine and a higher protein diet before I saw the most recent gains. Day-to-day I really haven’t seen a lot a gains anywhere. I share this because many people get discouraged when they don’t see the gains or fat loss immediately. Here are two things to think about related to looking for gains: First, if you are gaining muscle while losing fat, muscle is heavier than fat. Don’t focus on the scale, focus on the habits. And second, if you aren’t getting stronger, you are not really training your muscles to fatigue. These gains are slow too, but if you can only do 10 pushups and 2 months later that’s still your max, you probably could be training harder. If you walk on the treadmill at the same speed and incline every week, with no incremental increase and it still feels just as challenging, you probably aren’t working hard enough. Don’t look for gains weekly, but set goals for progress and even if you don’t hit them, make sure you are trending up. Trending up is often slower than you hoped, but as long as the trend is up… you are doing great!

And finally… if you see something that I’ve gotten wrong, please tell me and help me in my learning journey.