16 Fitness Tips learnt from others
Posted on 13 August 2008
Collective Fitness Wisdom from people I have trained with who are in great shape naturally!
This list of bullet points is compiled from tips and advice I have picked up over the years from people I have met at gym’s or while training who were in great shape without being obsessed with their training. It was a mind opening experience digging these up from my memory. The people who gave me the advice often did not have a clue about nutrition or exercise they just worked out and ate instinctively.
-Don’t Overeat – All the people I know who are in great shape, with athletic and muscular physiques do not pay much attention to eating regularly. They eat when they are hungry and usually have about 3 meals a day. Most even skip breakfast.
-Compounds – They all do heavy compound exercises like Squats, Bench Presses, and Military Presses
-Hit the Road – Most go running or jogging, or did some kind of cardio
-Body weight rules – Body weight exercises like dips, chins and pushups are staples of their training regimes
-Know nutrition basics – Eating wholefoods is important to them. They may not know much about nutrition, but they know enough to stay away from McDonalds and other junk.
-No Bodybuilding Supplements – Most don’t use any supplements except for a Multi-Vitamin and the occasional scoop of Whey
-Coffee – is pre-workout and morning fuel
-Go Bananas - Bananas are good after sport, and most seemed to eat lots and are preferred post workout replenishment for many people I know
-Play a sport - Nearly all participated in a sport regularly whether it be soccer, tennis or martial arts
-Focus on body parts if you want size – All the bigger guys did body part splits and demolished each body part once or twice a week (This is only necessary if you are after volume)
-Exercise daily – The guys is the best shape trained for 4-5 hours a week in total
-Eat Meat – None were vegetarians but most did not care/monitor their intake of protein
-Get Strong – The bigger guys were all fairly strong but nothing extraordinary. (I have noticed it is hard to become extremely strong whilst staying lean and athletic)
-Live your Life – They all lived life with training thrown in, not training with life thrown in
-Don’t be scared of a beer – All the guys I have ever met in great shape would kick back and relax with beer or wine
-Fasted Workouts -At least 5 people have told me their best fat loss has come from jogging on an empty stomach with going to bed slightly hungry. Others have said its the first thing they do when they need to lose some weight or lean out.
While I know some people who look great may have good genetics to thank but I think they all have value worth taking out of what they do.
Also I found this blog called Marc and Angel Hack Life who put a superb post up a few weeks back which ties in quite nicely with this one. check it out Click HERE…………….
Comment by Dan
27 August 2008
Hey Chris,
I really enjoyed this post, as I have noticed similar habits amongst my fit friends/relatives. In fact, it’s funny that when I look back to when I was in the best shape, I did not have a clue about nutrition, ate when hungry, did a good amount of cardio, and used bw exercises and a pair of 30 lb dumbells as my weight routine. Sometimes too much information is bad, which is why I enjoy the “primal” model of fitness. Simple and sound principles to be in great shape!
Comment by Chris
27 August 2008
@ Dan. Thanks for the comment. I really enjoyed writing the post and feel a lot of people can benefit from giving it a read, it reminds us things are sometimes more simple than we like to make out…… I find what you wrote in your comment about when you were in the best shape very inspiring and probably the case for most.
Comment by Mark
27 August 2008
Nice post Chris.
Comment by pjnoir
30 July 2009
The lowest level of cardio is running. Too many mistake ALL cardio as some form of jogging. You get more for your buck doing an honest form of Tabata. And it doesn’t have to be sprinting (which is a good one). Carrying a heavy load (A Farmer’s walk or even a couple of suitcaes)pumps the heart rate into a good Oxygen Debt burn long after the exercise is done.
Comment by pjnoir
30 July 2009
Oh and I’d take as much Fish Oil as you get- it is the supplement YOU need.
Comment by Matt
21 October 2009
I don’t agree with the statement ‘eat meat’, nor do I think its necessary to being fit. Its rather ironic that the name of this website is ‘Zen to Fitness’, yet you advocate consuming meat. Zen Buddhists are Mahayana and tend to look favorably upon a vegetarian diet.
Comment by Minimal Student
18 January 2010
Some really good tips but I agree that ‘eat meat’ (or don’t care/don’t monitor) goes a little bit against ‘fitness’, even if you are either building muscle or losing weight I think its important to keep an eye on amounts.
Nevertheless, a very interesting post , I love your blog so much I’m going through your archives and finding some really good advice!