Thread by @xavierjp__1

I know times are tough for some people financially, so here’s a mega thread on BUILDING YOUR OWN FITNESS PLAN FOR FREE

After reading this you’ll have no excuse to be out of shape in 12 months time, because you’ll have all the required information

All you need to do is act

Food & General Tips:
- 2L+ fluids per day
- ~10k steps per day
- 6hrs sleep per night MINIMUM
- 0.8g protein per lbs bodyweight (if obese you can lower this amount)
- you don’t need to cut out junk food, you can have it in moderation, I.e. as a reward for not missing workouts

- You don’t NEED to do Keto, OMAD, intermittent fasting, etc. None are inherently superior as dietary approaches. If you want to try them & find that they work for you, great. If you don’t, no problem - you don’t NEED them, they are optional. My clients don’t use any of them

- have a handful of fruit/veggies & minimum 30g protein with each meal
- don’t skip breakfast. You’ll be less likely to snack if you’ve had a healthy, nutritious meal in the morning
- don’t go food shopping whilst hungry
- cook food in bulk for 2-3 days to save time & effort

- dont starve yourself to get thin & dont “dirty bulk”. What good is it to look good on the outside but destroy your innards with poor nutrition?
- low carb is not fun, I don’t encourage it at all
- green tea, apple cider vinegar & other fads don’t “boost metabolism”

- you don’t need supplements, especially testosterone boosters and fat burners. The only supplements I’d say are worth using are creatine & protein (if you struggle to eat enough protein). Anything else is unnecessary but optional or entirely useless and a scam

- if you overeat on one day, don't stress, you can eat less on other days of the week to average out your daily calorie intake

Let's say my daily target is 1600kcal but I eat 1900kcal on Monday. No problem! I'll just eat 1550 every other day of the week to average it out to 1600

- you can still enjoy yourself at restaurants & dinner dates with your Mrs. You don't have to take kitchen scales with you & you don't have to say no to a slice of cake

You’re not going for Mr Olympia

Getting fit isn't supposed to be total torture, so try to enjoy the process!

- some people make the mistake of being unnecessarily restrictive with their diet for say, 6 days of the week, and then on the 7th day they will absolutely binge eat into oblivion & undo their work. Do NOT be overly restrictive.

On paper it sounds macho, but in practice it's 💩

How many calories you should eat:

1400-1900kcal for weight loss
2400kcal+ for weight gain

These are estimates, individual requirements will vary. Just pick a number according to those guidelines, try it for 4 weeks. If you see results, carry on. If you don’t, adjust accordingly

- Having a glass of water before you eat is a great way to avoid overeating
- avoid liquid calories (juice, smoothies, oils, sauces, etc) if you're trying to lose weight. Do the opposite if you're trying to gain weight
- Fast Monday & Thursday (earn good deeds & gains!)

- I’ll do a separate post on training/diet & the menstrual cycle because there’s not much out there for Muslim women who are interested in training

But women should eat more when on their period as they use more energy during this time

~200kcal extra per day is a good estimate

Training:
- 3 times per week for 60 minutes
- Pick 5-6 exercises from the groups listed later in the thread, a mixture between upper body and lower body.
- Women should focus more on lower body
- Do 3-4 sets of 5-12 reps per exercise
- Rest for 3 minutes in between each set

- if you are stretched for time you can reduce the rest time. It is best however to allow 3+ minutes rest time per set (in my opinion). You can also superset exercises (do 1 set of 2 different exercises back to back with no rest in between, and then rest after doing these 2 sets)

- For muscle growth, focus mostly on machines. You want maximum stability.
Cables are cool too and Barbells and dumbbells also have their place but are less suited for muscle growth - you can still build a good physique with them though so don't stress.

- you could start your workout with the more difficult lifts (squat, dumbbell press, etc) or you could start with exercises that target the muscle group you want to focus on the most
- perform 2-3 warm up sets of 1-5 reps each, working your way up to your main set weight

- Most influencers post what
LOOKS good, not necessarily what IS good. Be careful not to just blindly copy someone because they have a fat ass or shredded abs. Plenty of fit people have poor training philosophies & technique but get away with it because... genetics & social media

- cardio AFTER you lift weights if you must do them in the same session (excludes the optional, light warm-up cardio of 2-5 minutes to get you warmed up before lifting weights)
- don't stretch before you lift
- you don't need to stretch after you lift either
- track your lifts

Here are non-exhaustive lists for each group of exercises

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

- don’t change your exercises every week. Pick a set of exercises, and stick with them for at least 3-6 months
- aim to get stronger with each week (measured by lifting the same weight for more reps or more weight for the same reps, for example)
- don’t train whilst ill

Other bits:
- Train when works best for you based on your lifestyle and commitments. If you do train in the morning, spend a bit more time warming up
- the amount of days you go to the gym doesn’t matter that much, minimum 3. You need time to rest in between

- don’t just focus on chasing the pump
- sweating isn’t an indicator of a good workout
- being very sore isn’t an indicator of a good workout
- there are no “MUST DO” exercises
- don’t train your ego, you will injure yourself
- 4-6 INTENSE sets per muscle group per week is enough

- train at/near failure. You don’t have to always go to failure, I wouldn’t recommend it

1-2 reps short of failure is cool. But understand there’s a difference between what you think is failure and what is actually failure

You’ll only learn the difference through experience

Nobody who reads this thread has any excuse to be fat or unhealthily skinny in 12 months time

You can no longer complain about not knowing what exercises to do, how many times to train, how much water to drink, how much protein to eat or how many reps to do

It's up to you now