10 PRACTICAL TRUTHS FOR FITNESS AND LIFE LONG HEALTH

Ive been a personal trainer since 2010. I cannot promise that getting healthy and staying health will be "easy", but I can make it simple

1. Complicating things in the short term usually burns people out in the long term... Ocams razor-the simple solution is usually the most effective.

This applies to diets, workouts, exercises, programs. Over optimizing and trying to account for every variable creates a structure for overwhelm and failure

Complex=/=effective or sustainable

The BRO METHOD to Single Digit Bodyfat in 12 weeks (thread):

Im going to make this as simple as possible,

To preface, your bodyfat cannot be higher than about 17% for this to work.

FYI, this uses numbers. Do NOT ask to change them

Step 1-Multiply your bodyweight by 10... That is how many calories you will ingest daily

For same of simplicity, lets say you weigh 200lbs

200x100=2000

So 2000 calories day. Whether, you lift, dont lift, do cardio, dont do cardio, this is your daily calorie intake. Dont change it (until later when you plateau)

AJACS GARAGE GYM PROGRAM:

This is a basic but Proven program I have used for years with clients, you only need the following

Barbell and plates
DBs (they only need to go up to 50 or 60lbs)
Your own bodyweight (calisthenics)

The program goes like this... You train 3x weekly

Each workout, you have 1-2 barbell movements, a DB exercise, and a bodyweight exercise. 3-4 exercises total

Day 1-Squat Day

Day 2-Bench Press Day

Day 3-Deadlift Day

Day 4 (Optional day)-this is a "Pump" day of whatever extra stuff you feel like doing

Top 5 Exercises for POSTURE

Whether sitting too much or moving too little, people are becoming more bent over in how they stand

This kyphotic posture is common, but it is an easily solved problem

These are my 5 favorite exercises from 12 years of training clients 1. Facepulls

Done correctly, this exercise reverses the bent over positioning of the upper spine and requires that stand up straight

It’s good for overall engagement of the upper back muscles and creating new mind-muscle connection and body awareness

28 Fitness Truths you MUST accept:

1) The state of health is always your responsibility, and yours alone

2) You lose fat through a calorie deficit, your body does not defy the laws of thermodynamics

3) The reason you are overweight is because you eat too much. 4) Fitness is based on first principles and science, not pop culture trends and what sounds cool.

5) improving health will require changing your eating habits, your exercise habits, and your mental habits

6) Your mindset is your biggest obstacle to becoming healthy

How to Become Stronger

Progressive Overload is the Principle of increasing stress over time in order to stimulate further adaptations

For resistance training, that means you increase the reps, or the weight, which promotes adaptation in strength and muscle What does that look lik in a workout?

Imagine you are doing an exercise for 8-12 reps

1. Select a weight thats heavy enough that you achieve positive failure with 8 reps

2. Next workout, aim to do 9 reps to positive failure with that same weight.

3. Next workout, 10 reps

Depression has existed for millennia, its gone by different names

We like to think its a modern phenomena, but people have been experiencing depressive states since the dawn of recorded history,

it is not a new problem.

The thing thats changed is how its treated In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt there are historical records describing people as being suicidal, hopeless, and emotionally numb

it was considered a serious condition that merited treatment, usually a combo of various herbal mixtures tonics, along with religious rituals

Want to become better at understanding people?

This start with accepting human nature, for better or worse

1. People are selfish, and will (almost) always act in their own self interest.
Whether this is individual or as part of larger group is the only difference 2. Emotional decision making dominates over rationality and logic. People will perform all levels of mental gymnastics to justify their feelings. Feelings ignore facts all the time

BODYWEIGHT TRAINING AND MASS BUILDING:

Can you get BIG with Only bodyweight?

This is a common question asked by many trainees, the historical record would indicate YES you can

But this also requires a volume of training that most people are unprepared for... Calisthenics undeniably work for muscle gain. If you are untrained, and you begin doing them, you will grow. This is scientific fact

The question is not if calisthenics build muscle though, but whether you can build substantial MASS from doing them,

This requires A LOT of reps

Anxiety is a habit. Framing it as a condition that is inherent and insolvable, something that can only be managed, that you are at the mercy of…

This entire premise is flawed. It turns people into victims of themselves, and denies them power over their own minds “I have anxiety”

Anxiety is not a possession. If it was you could get rid of it

Your reaction to a stressor is conditioned response. The more you convince yourself that your reactions are beyond your control, the weaker you make yourself

You Trigger YOU.

When I was 18 I got arrested, sentenced, and served 2 months in a county jail

Why? Because I committed a crime, grand theft, & got rightfully caught

Incarceration was best worst experience that could ever happened to me

I realized the state of YOUR LIFE is always YOUR FAULT The only thing in this Universe that you have direct control over is your mind, your thoughts, your actions and reactions

You can either embrace this Ownership, or disavow it

Your life Will always reflect your choice

The History of Wrestling in the Ancient World:

Wrestling, unarmed, is probably the father of all combat sports that exist today

Men have used wrestling to strengthen their bodies, minds and prepare for war for millennia

These are the oldest wrestling forms from history 1. Shuai Jiao (ancient China)
Chinese imperial records dated to 2697 BC describe a military grappling practice known as "jǐao dǐ", which translates to "horn butting"

You had to throw or "butt" your opponent out of a ring. This ancient form may be the precursor to Kung Fu

ARTHUR JONES AND THE RISE OF MACHINES:

Arthur Jones is forgotten about today, but anyone who has ever used ANY machine in a gym has used one of his inventions

Jones was the first person to recognize that machines could be SUPERIOR to free weights for muscle building Jones loved muscle building, but hated the false machismo that many men had with lifting. He didnt care about squat bench deadlift numbers

He recognized most lifters had no sense of scientific objectiveness with training, they only knew how THEY liked to train

Most Effective Compound Exercise for EVERY Muscle

Pectorals:

DB Chest press
Dips
Bench press
Machine Chest Press

Deltoids:

DB Shoulder Press
Machine Shoulder Press
Overhead press

Trapezius:

Seated Row
DB Rows
machine Rows Lats:

Chinups/pullups
Pulldowns
Lat biased rows

Quadriceps:

Leg Press
Squat, high bar, knee flexion
Hack squat

Hamstrings:

Stiff leg deadlifts

Glutes:

Reverse lunges
Romanian Deadlifts

I was a barbell fiend when I first started lifting, I refused to do anything else for the first 3 years or so

I loved the barbell, still do.

Eventually I had to accept that it simply was NOT the most effective tool that I could be using… I had a conversation with a friend, very successful powerlifting coach, this was years ago

He was straight up with me

“Your genetics are definitely shitty for strength, you need to train like a bodybuilder, this isn’t it for you”

He was right.

TOP 20 ISOLATION EXERCISES FOR MUSCLE GROWTH 🧵

These exercises are the most effective movements you can for INDIVIDUAL muscle hypertrophy, as advocated by Mr America Doug Brignole

Let’s start with the most controversial…

1. Decline DB chest press Contrary to popular belief, the decline db chest press works the ENTIRE pec muscle, not just the bottom portion. Your “upper chest” Does not magically turn off

All 3 divisions of pecs are working when doing this movement

50 Fitness Truths you MUST accept:

1) The reason you are overweight is because you eat too much.

2) You lose fat through a calorie deficit, your body does not defy the laws of thermodynamics

3) Your state of health is YOUR fault and responsibility 4) High reps dont burn fat, a calorie deficit does

5) no amount of ab exercises burn fat, a calorie deficit does

6) If you want to permanently change your metabolism, you must learn to lift weights

7) Your state of health is determined by your habits, its not accidental

VINCE GIRONDA’S EXERCISES FOR COMPLETE MUSCLE ISOLATION:

ABDOMEN
Bent knee leg raise; abdominal hip roll; frog sit-up; concentric double-up; overhead leg raise; isometric body float; abdominal squeeze. PECTORALS

Broad movement
Wide and middle Dip slide; flat bench d.b. press; bent arm flat bench d.b. fly.

High Pectoral
Incline d.b. press; neck press; bent arm incline d.b. fly; incline pulley fly (cleft)

8 Timeless Lessons from Vince Gironda, the worlds first personal trainer

Vince was a bodybuilder, coach, trainer to the stars in the 1960s-1980s,

He is forgotten today, but his methods were decades ahead of his time

Anyone can use them to optimize their physiques & health... 1. Low and Zero Carb dieting

Vince realized that so long as protein intake was kept high, that carbohydrates could be reduced & the energy deficit this created led to exceptional fat loss

He called this an extreme definition diet. Today low carb dieting is clinically proven

Losing fat isn't as straightforward as it seems

On paper it looks like this
-Eat clean
-Lift weights
-Eat at a calorie deficit

But the reality is.. if it's your first time, you're journey is going to be slowed down with a number of problems, doubts and distractions 2 months ago I ran an 8 week, men-only fat loss challenge group

About 90 joined and the average fat loss in that time frame in the group has been around 11-12lbs

During that time, the men faced a number of obstacles WHILE running the challenge

Some examples:

The mindset and habits of the LEAN and FIT Man (versus that of the FAT Man)

Learn and adopt these

Live them for 8 weeks, until they are ingrained & become part of YOUR identity

Make permanent change

There's no going back to being lazy & fat if you've seen & lived LEAN

Thread 1. The LEAN Man Weighs Himself Daily, despite bean lean

He does this because he knows his body is a constantly changing biological system that'll get heavier or leaner depending on various factors such as food, sleep, activity levels etc