50 fitness tips from 6 years in the gym: 1. Improving your fitness is 95% mental.
2. When you eat like shit, you feel like shit. 3. Figure out your why. Some people are powerlifters, some are bodybuilders, some just want to be healthy. Your why determines how you should train. 4. Find a plan and stick to it. 5. You can't outwork a bad diet.
6. Eating healthy isn’t hard, you just don’t know how to do it. Start by eating whole foods + prioritizing protein intake. 7. A couple of drinks a week isn’t the reason you’re fat. It’s the weekend long binge drinking + the poor food choices you make.
8. Eat protein with every meal (aim to get ~1g protein per lb of bodyweight). 9. If you’re gaining weight = you’re in a caloric surplus. 10. If you’re losing weight = you’re in a caloric deficit. 11. If you’re maintaining weight = you’re at maintenance calories.
12. Sleep is the most underrated way to increase your performance. Create a schedule and stick to it. 13. Worry less about what is ‘optimal’ and more about what is sustainable. If you can’t do it for more than a week, it’s not the program or diet for you.
14. The reason you keep quitting is that you worry about the little things too much and fail to do the simple things well. - Hydration - Caloric intake - Lifting Weights - Walking/Cardio - High protein diet
15. Eliminate the option of choice. If you have junk food in your house, you’re gonna eat it. 16. A accountability partner is huge for the gym. They'll help keep you focused and push you to your limits while keeping you safe. 17. You can get shredded with dumbbells and a bench.
18. You don’t get a six-pack from doing crunches. You get a six-pack from losing fat. 19. Lift in flat-bottomed shoes or barefoot. 20. The less you workout the more tired you are. It’s a cycle you need to break out of. 21. You only need two supplements; Whey and Creatine.
22. The biggest guys in the gym are the ones who want you to succeed the most. 23. Train each body part 2x a week. 24. Form > Weight. Always. 25. A 30 minute workout can be better than a 2 hour workout. Time ≠ Quality. 26. You don’t need to live on the treadmill to lose fat.
27. Tracking your calories is essential for any beginner. You’ll learn more about food in 1 month than most people do their whole life. 28. Avoid processed foods. 29. Buy a big water bottle. Drink 2-3 of them per day. 30. Lifting weights > cardio for fat loss.
31. Most of the time you think you’re hungry, you’re just dehydrated. 32. Rest is just as important as training. Sometimes you need a break from the gym. 33. People start lifting to look good, they continue lifting because the rest of their life improves.
34. There is no ‘best’ diet. Find one that works for you. 35. Create a menu of healthy meals. You’ll already know the approximate calories and how they fit into your diet. This means less work for you. 36. Don’t stick to a meal plan. Stick to a protein & caloric intake.
37. Determine your maintenance calories. This is hard to do, but if you do it once, you'll have a good idea for the rest of your life. 38. Goals are great for setting a direction, but your habits are what will get you there. Focus on building better habits.
39. Take progress pictures. You’ll always be the last person to see the progress you’ve made. When you are just starting your fitness journey you need to keep motivation high. Every week take a pic. 40. Skipping 1 workout is ok. Skipping 2 workouts is not. Consistency is key.
41. Try working out at different times of the day. Some people prefer the morning, some prefer the night. Find what works best for you. 42. Try meal prepping for a week. It eliminates any decision you have to make around food. It’s a great way to get started and save time.
43. Increase your daily movement by doing more activities outside you enjoy. Hit 10k steps a day. 44. Logging your training is key for tracking strength progress and progressive overload. 45. The last two reps are more important than the first 10.
46. Don’t rely on motivation. If you only exercise when you are motivated, you would rarely workout. 47. Motivation and willpower will fade. You need to make your health & fitness easy, enjoyable, and almost effortless to maintain.
48. Just keep going. Don’t start and stop over and over again, I see too many people in life do this. Everything gets easier with time, the same goes for fitness. 49. Slow progress is always better when it comes to maintaining muscle.
50. This is the most important one. You need to be patient. Anything worth achieving takes time. In 3 months you’ll feel like a new person. In 12 months you’ll look like a new person.
The hardest part is getting started, but it only gets easier from there. Improving my fitness changed my life for the better in every way possible. I promise you'll never regret getting into better shape. Every aspect of your life will improve, there are ZERO downsides.
I hope you enjoyed this thread. If you did and you learned a few things: 1. Follow me for more tips on improving your health and fitness @TheRiAnderson 2. Retweet the first tweet to share with your audience
