Every Fitness Lesson I Learned After 10 Years In The Gym

Every Fitness Lesson I Learned After 10 Years In The Gym

Physical activity promotes good health, and you should stay active throughout all stages of your life regardless of your body type or BMI.

Understanding the benefits of physical fitness and knowing how active you should be can help you maintain good health and improve your overall quality of life.

Fitness involves activity of some sort that stimulates various systems of the body and maintains a certain condition within the body. Health, on the other hand, involves every system of the body and is only achieved through a lifestyle that supports health.

Life becomes so much richer when we can find the transferrable meaning and find purpose in the things that we do (even the small things).

So without further ado here is Every Fitness Lesson I Learned After 10 Years In The Gym and from my fitness journey.

1. Exercise is a documented anti-depressant. CNN is a documented depressant. Adjust your life accordingly.Regular exercise may help ease depression and anxiety by:                  =>Releasing feel-good endorphins, natural cannabis-like brain chemicals (endogenous cannabinoids), and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense of well-being
   =>Taking your mind off worries so you can get away from the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression and anxiety
2. Hitting 10,000+ steps a day is the most underutilized yet effective fat-loss habit.
3.  Most of the time you’re not hungry – just thirsty.-Drink some water and get over it!
4. Stop calling yourself “fat” “lazy” or “piece of sh*t”. If you want to change, you must change your self-identity. Acceptance is the first stage of self-realization for positive change.
5. Minimize seed oil consumption.
   =>Seed oils often contain harmful additives and are processed with hexane chemicals. =>They are often derived from genetically modified crops. When industrial seed oils are repeatedly heated, even more, toxic by-products are created and they become trans and hydrogenated fats, releasing oxidizing free radicals into our system associated with cancer.
6. Eat the frog first. If you struggle to consistently hit your workouts, do it 1st thing in the morning and then have peace of mind the whole day
7. Working out 3-4 days/week is better long-term than 6-7 days/week. Don’t Live in the gym. Work Out Smarter not harder.
8. Resistance training is underrated as it’s far superior to cardio for fat loss. Cardio is more effective than weight training at decreasing body fat only if you do more than 150 minutes per week. Weight training is better than cardio for building muscle and fat burn with the right diet. A combination of cardio and weights may be best for improving your body composition.
9. Being as little as 2% dehydrated leads to significant decreases in gym performance and impaired decision-making.-About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men. About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women.
10. Lack of sleep increases your hunger hormones during the day, making it harder to lose fat. (Ghrelin, also known as the hunger hormone, is impacted by sleep patterns. Research has shown that sleep patterns influence ghrelin. Sleep-deprived adults tend to have higher ghrelin levels, more hunger, and less feeling of fullness compared to adults who get seven-to-nine hours of sleep.)
11. Get 15+ minutes of sunlight in the 1st hour of waking up to set your circadian rhythm and fall asleep later at night. (Our bodies produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight—about 15 minutes in the sun a day is adequate if you’re fair-skinned. And since Vitamin D helps your body maintain calcium and prevents brittle, thin, or misshapen bones, soaking in sun may be just what the doctor ordered.)
12. Creatine and protein powder is the only muscle-building supplements that aren’t a waste of money. (Creatine increases strength and muscle mass by increasing exercise capacity, whereas whey protein does so by stimulating increased muscle protein synthesis.)
13. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient. Eat protein first to avoid overeating. A hierarchy has been observed for the satiating efficacies of the macronutrients protein, carbohydrate, and fat, with protein as the most satiating and fat as the least satiating
14. The average adult needs a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for optimal satiety, muscle growth, & fat loss
15. More sweat doesn’t mean you’re burning more calories. Sweating is the body’s natural way of regulating body temperature. It does this by releasing water and salt, which evaporates to help cool you. Sweating itself doesn’t burn a measurable amount of calories, but sweating out enough liquid will cause you to lose water weight.
16. Save cardio for after your weightlifting session for optimal muscle growth. The majority of fitness experts will advise you to do the cardio after the weight training because if you do cardio first, it uses up much of the energy source for your anaerobic work (strength training) and fatigues the muscles before their most strenuous activity.
17. 5-10 minutes of light cardio before weightlifting will prevent injuries better than stretching.
18. If your goal is better endurance, do cardio before weights. If your goal is burning fat and losing weight, do cardio after weights. If you want to get stronger, do cardio after weights. On upper-body strength training days, you can do either first.
19.  Magnesium, valerian, vitamin B6, tart cherry extract, ashwagandha, and L-Theanine are some of the best supplements you can take for sleep. If you need a little extra help to get a good night’s sleep, consider trying them.
20. You can eat foods like pizza, ice cream, & burgers and still lose fat if you eat clean 80% of the time.(Clean eating does not have anything to do with food being clean or dirty. It simply involves choosing minimally processed, real foods that provide maximal nutritional benefits. The idea is to consume foods that are as close to their natural state as possible)
21.  Carbs don’t make you fat – too many calories do. (There’s nothing inherent to carbs that makes you fat. It just comes down to caloric intake. You can lose weight on a low-carb/high-fat diet. As long as you eat fewer calories than you’re burning, you’ll lose weight, no matter the macro breakdown)
22.  The quality of your food affects your mind more than your body.
23.  Drink sparkling water or coffee to suppress your appetite. In some studies, carbonated water improved satiety or the feeling of fullness. That could be a benefit for people who constantly feel hungry. Carbonated water improves digestion and helps constipation, so that empties the stomach and could possibly make someone feel hungry
24. To avoid post-dinner snacking, brush your teeth. Watch your cravings vanish. Brushing immediately after consuming something acidic can damage the enamel layer of the tooth. Waiting about 30 minutes before brushing allows tooth enamel to remineralize and build itself back up
25. You burn fat in the kitchen and build muscle in the gym.
26. Getting 7+ hours of quality sleep per night is a performance-enhancing drug.
27. You don’t need a gym to work out. All you need is your body and the right trainer.
28. If you often wake up in the middle of the night to pee, take salt before bed to prevent this.
29. Your body’s ideal temperature for sleep is between 60° – 67° F (15.6° to 19.4° C). ((The ideal temperature for sleep is about 65°F (18.3°C), give or take a few degrees. Our body temperature naturally drops a little during sleep, and a cool — but not cold — the sleeping environment is ideal to have a good night’s sleep. When it’s too hot, you’re more likely to toss and turn, which disrupts your sleep.))
30. Train your back and your core twice as much as everything else.
31. Your progress graph will look like a stock – it’s not linear, but if you keep investing, it improves.
32. You don’t have to eat breakfast – listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry. The evidence is clear, there is nothing “special” about breakfast. It probably does not matter whether you eat or skip breakfast, as long as you eat healthy for the rest of the day. Breakfast does not “jump start” your metabolism and skipping it does not automatically make you overeat and gain weight
33. If your last rep is easy, building muscle will be hard
34. Turn on “night shift” mode on your laptop & phone to decrease blue light after the sun goes down. This will help you sleep better.
35. Sunshine is the #1 supplement for better sleep, mood, energy, skin, & mental health.
36. Alcohol is not the reason you have a beer belly – excess alcohol is.
37. Eat as much fruit as you want. It’s nearly impossible to overeat.
38. The ideal rate of weight loss is 1% of your body weight per week. Too fast is unsustainable. Too slow will take longer than necessary. Most experts recommend a moderate weight loss of 1–3 pounds (0.45–1.36 kg) per week or about 1% of your body weight
39. Compete with the man in the mirror.
40. Remove junk food from your house. If it’s not in the house, you can’t eat it. If Possible also delete fast food apps from your phone.
41. When trying to lose weight, minimize liquid calorie sources like soda, cooking oils, & Starbucks “coffee”. These are the easiest calories to overconsume.
42. The more muscle you build, the higher your metabolism will be.
43. Hiking, Spinning, basketball, and swimming are more effective cardio than a treadmill – these activities are fun so you’ll actually do them.
44. Motivation is fleeting – you must establish proper default actions. Motivation is a fleeting state that requires a certain mental or emotional approach to reach a goal. It fluctuates depending on outward conditions. In contrast, discipline can help you conquer the toughest challenges.
45. Eat slower to allow time for the satiety hormone (leptin) to release in your body. This tells your body when you’re full.
46. Exercise does not reduce stress, but it trains you to better handle stress.

Bottom Line

A “fitness journey” is literally a journey, with no destination in sight! If you only focus on getting your body to a “toned” state, you will have to continue to work just as hard to maintain that toned state.

Your fitness & health journey does not end because you reached a “toned” body.

Thank You.

Joshua.