No, I’m totally messing with you, hahahaha. But there are 5 things I wanted to get straight in regards to the internet’s favorite (or favorite to bash) diet.
The Paleo Diet has taken the nutritional world by storm over the past few years, and there’s a lot of misinformation and outlandish claims being tossed around about it, both for and against.
Speaking of which, did you know the Paleo Diet actually cures err I mean causes all diseases?
Being the nice guy that I am, I figured I’d take today to set the record straight on a diet that has changed many lives and earned itself a steady stream of critics and detractors along the way.
Our “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” has been viewed 10 million times by now, and we’ve received thousands of emails with questions, comments, concerns, hopes, dreams, and success stories with regards to this crazy, not-so-crazy way of eating. If you haven’t read our ultimate guide, check it out, and then come back and catch these five things you should know about the Paleo Diet.
1. Nobody really knows or should care what a caveman ate.
There are a lot of pseudo-science and arm-chair anthropologists out there running around telling us what early cavemen ate back in the day.
Based on cave drawings, fossilized remains, and conjecture from scientists and anthropologists, we have a decent idea of what Fred and Wilma Flintstone ate. However, we haven’t invented a time machine yet and we honestly can’t say with 100% certainty what these hunter-gatherer types consumed tens of thousands of years ago.
We can safely assume they ate animals and whatever plants/fruits/nuts/seeds they could find as domesticated farming hadn’t happened yet, and Cap’n Crunch and SpaghettiOs didn’t grow on trees.
So when you hear that the Paleo Diet tells us to “eat like a caveman ate,” that’s not supposed to be taken as 100% religious gospel or iron-clad fact. Instead, it’s intended to be a mental model to help us easily make food decisions without consulting a book, adding up points, counting calories, or tracking macros.
Since we can’t (and wouldn’t want to) eat exactly like them, the Paleo Diet refers to eating what you THINK a Caveman would have consumed.
When you are deciding what to buy at the supermarket or order while out on a business dinner, you can condense all the nutritional information you need to make an informed decision by remembering the basic Paleo Diet philosophy:
Meat, fish, eggs
Vegetables
Fruits
Some nuts, seeds, certain oils
Skip most everything else, and definitely the processed stuff
No counting calories or charts required. Eat the above listed things and skip everything else, and you’ll get 80% of the way there.
“But did some cavemen eat wheat, and what kind of rice? Pandemonium!” It doesn’t f***ing matter! Eat less processed crap, more whole foods, and start following a method of eating that can actually help you succeed!
2. Don’t actually treat it like a diet!
I hate the word “diet.” Almost as much as I hate the word “toned.” These words are like nails on a chalkboard for me, because they imply something that isn’t true!
When we say we’re ‘going on a diet’ it usually means “making some temporary changes to achieve a certain result before returning to normalcy.” You know what I mean. You do something until you get that bikini body you want, or so you lose a few pounds before your wedding, and then you can go back to normal.
Going on a that type of diet is a waste of time and energy in the long run. The Paleo Diet, when done properly, isn’t actually a diet.
It’s a permanent nutritional strategy and a “way of life.” I hate saying “way of life” too because that makes me sound like a fad-chasing nerfherder, but bear with me.
The Paleo Diet is a strategy for making food decisions you keep with you — informed decisions as a result of how you live, forever.
Yes, there are things like Whole 30 where you go all in on a strict Paleo Diet lifestyle for 30 days. I have no problem with Whole 30 – team NF member Lauren and her wife just did it for 30 days and had tremendous success. After their 30 days were up, however, they identified permanent healthy changes they could make to their lifestyle, and stuck with it.
Now, compare this to what most people do on a diet: drastically change everything they eat for a certain amount of time, and then go back to the way things were (and usually gain everything back).
“Never count calories and eat as much as you want!” these are often the two parts of the Paleo Diet that draw people in. We humans are lazy, and we like to eat.
Back in caveman times, we didn’t have access to food the way we have access to it now. When we had food present, we ate it. Because who knew when we’d be able to find or hunt the next meal?
Unfortunately, like a goldfish, put food in front of us and we’ll eat it well past the point of being full. Hence us being mostly overweight as a society and half of us being obese.
So many people find the Paleo diet, read the “don’t count, eat whatever you want, lose weight” as the magic bullet that solves all of our problems. Our brains and our egos say “AMAZING! I eat as much as I want (gluttony FTW!), and still lose weight.”
Ultimately, we do have to factor in the law of thermodynamics and consume fewer calories than we burn every day if we want to lose weight.
The Paleo Diet works because when done properly, vegetables should make up most of your diet. And a plate full of vegetables will have significantly fewer calories and less sugar/carbs than a plate full of pasta/bread/processed foods, and leave you feeling fuller for longer. The same is true for a plate of vegetables having fewer calories generally than meat, fruit, and nuts. So, a handful of raisins (Hey! Paleo!) has 30 grams of sugar. A tiny amount of nuts can have 300+ calories. Conversely, an overflowing plate of broccoli only has 200 calories.
Fruit and nuts can be sugar bombs and calorie bombs in the Paleo world if you’re not careful.
So don’t take the “eat as much as you want” as gospel. Again, that’s more of a marketing tool to get people wrapped around the idea of eating the RIGHT kinds of food instead of trying to eat smaller portions of addictive and unhealthy foods. Which is VERY difficult if you’ve ever tried to eat one M&M, or half a serving of something delicious.
So eat mostly vegetables and some meat. Mix in some fruit and nuts. (And please, don’t eat “Paleo cookies” or “Paleo muffins” by the truckful and assume you’re being healthy!) Keep it simple, but don’t fool yourself. And don’t forget, you’re the easiest person to fool!
“Well my breakfast is ruined, so I’m gonna start the Paleo diet next week.”
“Shit. My only options are non-Paleo at this restaurant. Everything is ruined.”
“AH! I don’t know if I should eat this sweet potato or that chicken. Is the seasoning Paleo?”
The Paleo Diet is not all or nothing. There are 50 shades of Paleo, and it all counts. Every meal. Every calorie. Every decision. As we say, an adequate diet you stick with consistently is better than a perfect diet you abandon after a few weeks.
In fact, we believe that “Paleo-ish” is one of the best ways to adopt the diet.
Now, sure, if you have a lactose intolerance, tolerance to gluten, or something similar to Hashimoto’s disease, strict Paleo can make a lot of sense.
These are a few examples in which going strict Paleo can help you determine if you have any food allergies or physiological challenges with eating modern foods.
However, for most of us, the Paleo Diet just helps us eat less junk food, more vegetables, and consume fewer calories on average than we used to in the past. It helps us transform our relationship with food to be healthier and less of a roller coaster. Over the long term, this can result in a healthier lifestyle and smaller waistline.
So, consider going Paleo in one of many different ways:
Eat Paleo Breakfasts and Lunch, then normal food for dinner with your family
Eat Paleo Monday through Friday and whatever on weekends.
Alternate Paleo and your regular foods.
Do one week of Paleo, one week of normal.
Make one permanent change (swap out french fries for vegetables every time).
Combined with your goals, your current weight, your genetic makeup, etc., you will have varying degrees of success depending on how “Paleo” you are.
That’s up for you to decide.
5. There’s no such thing as a magic bullet
The Paleo Diet will not solve all your problems. It won’t give you big muscles and a small waist and six pack abs and clear up your skin and make you sleep better. It won’t make automatically make you the healthiest person on the planet. It won’t do your taxes or gain you entry to Hogwarts.
It COULD do some of those things.
But there’s no such thing as a quick fix. Any site that promises you life-changing results with minimal work in a short period of time is full of shit and hyping you into buying their product.
Looking for real long term success? Here’s the formula:
It’s not rocket science. Whenever I meet people who have finally cracked the code and had permanent long-term weight loss, I jokingly ask them “let me guess, diet and exercise?”
And they chuckle and go “well yeah. But it was Paleo Diet and strength training” or “I walk every morning and cut out drinking” or something along those lines. And that’s awesome. At the end of the day, whatever mentally gets you to move more and consume less crappy foods, I’m all for it.
The Paleo Diet is a great mental model to help people get started making more informed and healthier food choices. Depending on just how unhealthy/overweight you are right now, switching to a Paleo Lifestyle could have DRASTIC results for you very quickly. It could also NOT work for you.
At the end of the day, the goal with Nerd Fitness is to help you get out of your own way, have a healthier relationship with food, and get excited about exercise. We know the Paleo Diet works for many people, and we love whatever gets you results.
If you’ve gone Paleo now or in the past, how did you do it? How far down the Paleo-ish line did you go?
Thinking about going Paleo? What comments or questions do you have?
-Steve
PS: Most people at NF are “Paleo-ish”, and its the nutritional strategy we recommend in our NF Academy – We’ve created a 10-level nutritional system that allows you to SLOWLY adjust your eating habits over months so that you finally find permanent success with your journey! Join 25,000 other members and start leveling up today 🙂
Earlier in the year, I heard something that made my head explode.
The 2016 Summer Olympics had just ended. The internet was aflutter with a debate about Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet.
The debate was about how quickly Usain Bolt could run a mile.
Scientists, marathon runners, cross country coaches, Olympians, and others had one heck of a debate. People started calculating his pace from 100 meters or 400 meters and extrapolated that out over the course of a mile. Math geeks couldn’t get enough of the thought experiment.
So obviously this begs the question: “Well, how fast does heactuallyrun a mile?”
There’s just one problem:
Usain Bolt has never run a mile.
WHAT?!
As pointed out by the New Yorker, “Usain Bolt’s agent, Ricky Simms, won’t say whether he believes that his client could run a mile in less than five minutes. But Simms confirmed that the world’s greatest sprinter has, in fact, never tried running that far: ‘Usain has never run a mile.’”
Let that sink in for a second.
The fastest man on the planet has never run a mile. In Usain’s mind and his coach’s mind, he’s built to run short distances quickly, so why even bother running a longer distance? He has built a healthy frame designed to do exactly what he needs it to do.
I thought about this, my own training (I haven’t run a mile in over 5 years for a number of reasons, including this one), and the training of the people whose physiques/talent I admire… and it made me come to a logical conclusion:
However, if you want to LOOK a certain way or build a certain physique, how you train IS crucial.
And like Usain, it may not fit your typical idea of what fitness is. Instead, you’ll be deliberate with your daily choice, training and eating in a way that build the style and body you want.
Learn how in three missions.
Want to look like the superhero of your choice? Change your mind.
The other day I was talking to a close friend about my personal 3-year transformation thanks to gymnastic rings and advanced bodyweight exercises.
His response surprised me: “That’s just not me, though. I’m not built like you, like a gymnast, so I can’t train with rings. I don’t have the body type to do what gymnasts can do.”
I have heard other things like this from other members of our community, and I bet you’ve said similar things too:
Easy for him to run a marathon, he’s got the body of a runner.
Of course he/she can [do that activity you admire], he/she has genetics like _______.
I need to lose a lot of weight before I can try rock climbing/martial arts/parkour. To the treadmill, ugh.
We see somebody doing something we want to do, or looking how we want to look, and our first thought is “Well, because genetics/lifestyle/opportunity/excuse, they can do that and I can’t.”
We use this mentality to justify our current position, let ourselves off the hook for not trying, explain why we don’t look a certain way, and give ourselves an an excuse why we can’t try/do something.
Or, we might think we need to be a certain weight until we can start doing that thing that we’re intrigued by. So we do a few machines, we run on a treadmill, we do a few bicep curls. We move from diet to diet or from workout plan to workout plan.
We do “fitness,” dislike it, and then also get mad that we’re not building a body we’re proud of and that we don’t like the people on magazine covers.
THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO THINK.
STOP IT!
This is me smacking you on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Stop it.
The truth of the matter is the exact opposite: our bodies are INCREDIBLE pieces of machinery – they reshape themselves and adapt to whatever is thrown at them.
Run fast, and your body builds muscle in the right places to be more efficient with sprints. Train like an MMA fighter and your body will start to resemble a guy that gets in the octagon. Run distances and your blood cells and joints and muscles start to adapt to covering long distances and tiring less easily.
So change your thinking right now. FORM (your body) follows function (the stuff you do with your time):
Gymnasts don’t train on gymnastic rings because they are built like superheroes. The opposite is true: they are built like superheroesBECAUSEthey train on gymnastic rings!
Runners don’t just look like runners and thus run a lot. They look like runnersBECAUSEthey run a lot!
MMA fighters aren’t built like machines and thus fight and do martial arts. They look like MMA fightersBECAUSEthey train in a certain way.
Usain looks like Usain because he intentionally started training to build that sprinting-machine!
This means you need to identify the TYPE of person you want to look like and follow a specific plan to train like them. Or in Nerd Fitness Terms, pick your class (explained below) and then ask “What would [my future avatar] do?”
You need to find your own path to “fitness,” and forget the rest of it.
If it’s going to be a challenge, you might as well be challenging yourself in a way that actually helps you achieve your goal physique, right?
Mission 1: Select your Class
Take the next few minutes and find somebody known for a particular skill or sport you admire, or someone who you’re interested in looking like. What activity are they good at or known for? What’s the body type you’re going for?
And then start acting like that person. Immediately.
I’m guessing you’re here (or you first came to Nerd Fitness) because you wanted to lose a few pounds (or hundreds of pounds), gain some strength/muscle, look better naked and feel better about yourself. And that’s exactly how I started training (for me, it was wanting to get bigger, stronger, and feel better about myself).
Whatever brought you here, welcome. Now let’s get you where you want to go.
Know this:the path to that success is dependent on knowing the TYPE of physique you’re looking for, and then training, eating, and acting like the people who have that particular physique or can do those particular things.
(It sounds simple, but nearly everyone misses this point in how they decide to train. Most people have training ADD and don’t focus on nutrition.)
Here’s why this methodology is so important.
Your body responds to every piece of stimuli it receives and adapts accordingly. The more signals you can send it to adapt in a certain way, the more likely it will be to adapt to handle that stimuli.
This means it’s time to start hitting your body with the right stimuli immediately and frequently:
You don’t need to lose weight before you train like a gymnast. Start training like a gymnast NOW so your body starts to develop like that of a gymnast from day one.
You don’t need to lose weight before you train like a parkour traceur or a marathon runner. Start training like a traceur or go for your first long walk or 10 second jog NOW and your body will start to adapt over time to look like your heroes.
You don’t need to become more bendy before you can try Yoga. You become more bendy BY trying Yoga. The more you do, the more your body responds accordingly.
Want to get bigger and build muscle? Don’t run just because you think fitness = running (this path will never get you where you want to go!). Start hitting your body with strength training and barbells and bodyweight movements and tell it “better get used to this by getting stronger!”
Every meal, every push-up, every step walked, every mile run, every second practicing a handstand, every second doing ANYTHING is sending tiny signals to your body “change and get better at this thing.” THAT’S how you get started building a body to be proud of, and that’s how you end up building a body that looks like the body you want to have!
I love video games that operate like this, games like Morrowind or Skyrim: You don’t allocate points to improve skills – there’s no “add +1 to archery” or “add +1 to sword fighting.” You improve those skills by USING them! Shoot enough arrows, and archery gains +1, swing a sword enough times and you gain +1 sword fighting!
Conveniently, that’s how life works too.
Note: this doesn’t mean doing the workout of the most elite people you can find. Jumping into the Octagon and fighting an MMA bout tomorrow if you’ve never thrown a punch is bad news bears. Going from your couch to running the Boston Marathon next week is a recipe for disaster. Instead, start with the basics for the TYPE of person you want to be. But START TRAINING LIKE THEM IMMEDIATELY. That’s the most important part.
Here’s what this looks like in real life:
Want to look and perform like a marathon runner? Get started with long walks and small jogs.
Want to look and perform like Georges St. Pierre or Ronda Rousey? Find a beginner Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class and show up.
Want to look and perform like Usain Bolt? Try your first hill sprint and see if you can find a beginner sprinters program. Also know that strength training will be crucial for you.
Want to look and perform like NF Team Member and deadlift hero Staci? Try your first barbell deadlift or bodyweight squat. But start.
Want to look and perform like NF Yoga instructor Kate? Do your first downward dog today. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Whenever I’m faced with a decision of what I need to do, if I should workout or skip it, if I should eat this or that, sleep in or get up, etc., I ask myself “What would future Gymnast Steve do?”
And then I do that thing.
Remember: if you just want to lose a few pounds and not hate exercise, pick something you love. If you’re looking to build a certain type of physique, make sure you are training in the way that lines up with those goals and forget the rest!
Of course, this poses a challenge: It’s possible (likely in fact) that you’ll be afraid to start. Why? Because you’re probably going to be awful at whatever you are just starting!
If you’re really overweight, the thought of doing parkour might make you want to throw up. Or if you’ve never done a gymnastics move before, you might think you need to get really strong first before you even attempt any movements. Going for a run is a ‘fit person’s game’, not yours. That’s why its crucial that we learn to get terrible out of the way. It sounds terrifying, but embracing terrible, as I explain in this video, is a LOT of fun!
Once you have your training path selected, it’s time for your next mission:
Mission 2: Overcome Genetics and Age with Lifestyle
In this game of life, you are randomly assigned a character/race.You might be a waifish high-elf, or a lumbering troll/ogre. You might be predisposed to be better at strength training or running. Or predisposed to Type-2 diabetes and had parents that fed you junk food your whole life. It ain’t fair, but that’s life, bub.
Just like some players get power-leveled, BUY the best gear, or cheat in some video games, there are genetic freaks out there and people who have opportunities you don’t. The top 1% of athletes or actors or actresses in their respective field have incredible genetics, financial incentive to succeed at their physical craft, and decades of training in a very that have allowed them to sculpt their physiques to suits their life’s needs: to be the best at something.
Some people just hit the genetic lottery, and it is what it is.
Some are naturally predisposed to running fast, others are predisposed to running for distance. Some people build muscle effortlessly, while others struggle to put on any weight at all. Some people are naturally predisposed to accumulating fat.
As we explain in our Guide to Genetics: You might be predisposed to being a great runner, but WANT to be a powerlifter, or vice versa.Or, you might put on fat easier than other people and want to be a marathon runner. Welp, you can either complain about it, force yourself to do the thing you dislike just because you’re better at it, or you can just DO the thing that brings you happiness and purpose with your training.
Depending on your genetics, age, job, lifestyle, how many kids you have (playing life as a Multiplayer Game!), or how much disposable income you have, yes: all of these factors will affect your training and ability to transform.
But you WILL be able to transform.
You might have a slower journey or lower maximum skill level based on the above factors. But it’s not yourstarting location/race, but rather yourchoicesonce you start playing that will determine how your character transforms.
You see, we all have baggage. ALL OF US. We’re all pretty freakin’ weird people with inner and outer demons we’re battling.
And yet, we find ways to succeed despite our baggage. We have single moms doing Nerd Fitness Yoga with their sons in our community. 60 year old women who started powerlifting at age 59 (and are now going to powerlifting competitions). Age does not matter! Guys who are built like ogres have fallen in love with marathon training. We have a community of parents, students, people struggling financially, with mental health issues, and with incredibly difficult physical health issues, all making progress each day.
REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU ARE IN LIFE, I guarantee we have somebody in our community who has it worse, is older, has the same injury you do, has more children, less money, and has found a way to succeed in the way you want to succeed.
This realization leaves you with two choices:
Rationalize why you don’t look like that person, why you’re a unique snowflake with unfixable problems for whatever reason, and go back to Netflix. (I get it. Too many good shows!)
Get EXCITED: if they can do it, so can you! Yes. Even you. In that situation. I promise. Learn from them. And then do what they do.
Once realized, this is amazing:
… that you AND YOU ALONE have the ability to do and become whatever you want.
But it starts with personal responsibility, the GREATEST skill you can learn if you want to live better. Wherever you are right now: age, money, family size, waist size, is your place in life at this moment. Some of those things are things that you chose, other things have been thrust upon you (genetics, etc.).
Find somebody your age, with your body type, that has succeeded how you want to succeed. And start emulating them. You might not have the potential to look like King Leonidas or Black Widow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get to a place that YOU’RE proud of with your particular genetic makeup and situation.
It might not be your fault, but it’s your responsibility to accept it, and take action with it.
Mission 3: Conquering Nutrition is 90% of Physique
Now that we’ve talked about picking your character type and training like them despite whatever your life situation is, we need to talk about your nutrition.
I can see you eating that donut right now, by the way. Put it down.
Every day, your body uses a certain number of the calories you consume to perform basic bodily functions like breathing, pumping blood throughout your body, brain functions, liver functions, and so on. This is called your basal metabolic rate. Any calories you consumeoverthis amount essentially need to go somewhere and do something.
Depending on how you train and how much you eat, your body will respond to those extra calories in one of three ways:
Your excess calories go to building more/bigger muscles.
Your excess calories are burned off with additional activity.
Your excess calories get stored as fat.
Conversely if you eat LESS calories than you burn every day, your body has to make tough decisions and determine what to do with the lower quantity of calories it consumes: does it preserve the muscle you have and burn the fat you’re storing? Does it conserve those calories and burn fat and muscle equally? Does it use the calories to fuel runs instead?
So how do you tell your body WHAT it should be doing with calories and transform the way you want?
Through your own Sorting Hat, like inHarry Potter!Each calorie entering your body is sent to the Sorting Hat, which tells them which of three houses to join:
Build muscle and strength:Pick up heavy things or do advanced bodyweight training and you’re “sorting” those extra calories into muscle building.
Burn as energy:If you choose to run a lot, the body will sort the calories into “use as energy” house, fueling your runs with more and more efficiency.
Store as fat:If you sit around like a bum, you’re signaling to your whole body “meh, please sort these calories to the “fat storage” house. Mmmm double stuf oreos.”
Like Harry influencing the Sorting Hat to put him in Gryffindor, you can influence how the Sorting Hat works for the calories you consume through training type, intensity, and frequency!
Take me for example:I’m built like an elf. I have thin wrists and ankles, I struggle to put on any weight, and I’m naturally predisposed to be a runner (I was built like Steve Rogers but wanted to be Captain America). But since I wanted to look like and train like a gymnast, I just started doing that! And over time my workouts and diet signalled to my body “you better build big muscles here and here so Steve can do his strenuous rings workouts.”
And unsurprisingly, my body listened, and I’m stronger, bigger, healthier, and happier than ever.
My training and diet each day signal: “I am a gymnast, and I am strong.” It flies in the face of my genetics, but I get to direct my own Sorting Hat!
It’s all to signal to my body what I chose: “YOU ARE A GYMNAST, BETTER ADAPT AND LOOK LIKE ONE.”
Start asking your new identity the following question, and where you want your body to sort the calories you consume:
Am I signalling to my body through my training to my body what to do with these calories?
Am I eating how the person I want to look like would eat?
Am I recovering how the person I want to look like would recover?
Don’t overthink it, just ask yourself with each meal: “is this what a [what you want to be] would eat?” Ask yourself this with EVERY nutrition decision you make every day. The more times you can answer yes to that question every day, the faster you will see results.
To show how important your training signaling is to your diet: Imagine two identical twins eat the exact same food for 3000 calories a day. Twin 1 lifts heavy weights every day. Twin 2 sits on his ass every day. 12 months later, one will have used those extra calories to build muscle and more closely resemble King Leonidas. The other will have used those extra calories to store more fat and resemble Jabba the Hut.
They eat EXACT same amount of food and have the same genetics, but due to different signalling through activity, their Sorting Hats will make sure they develop VERY different physiques and abilities.
Hang something on your wall that says “what would a runner/Olympic lifter/fighter do?” and then do that.
Repeat this, meal after meal, decision after decision, month after month, year after year, and you will start to become that person.
Just don’t expect to have it happen overnight!
Impatient? Use performance goals, not physique goals
I leave you with one final piece of advice: be patient, my friend.
Although your mentality can change in an instant, it could take years and years for your body to catch up. Depending on what your goals are, you might need to make DRASTIC sacrifices like Katniss Everdeen.
Your nutrition might need to be solid, your training might need to be intense, and you might need to start saying no to a lot of things you enjoy but don’t line up with your goals.
If this is really what you want, that’s okay!
Three years ago when I started my gymnastics journey, I told my friend Anthony (who is coaching me online) how I had made some progress in the past but would always slide back after a few months. I was eager, willing, and ready to get started and couldn’t wait to get results, and he told me:
“Stop thinking in terms of weeks and months. We’re going to think of your training in terms ofyearsand base our daily expectations on that. A decade from now you’re going to be in better shape than you are right now. But it starts by expanding your timeline and setting proper expectations.”
So, how did I get out of my head and be okay with the long journey?
I stopped worrying about what I looked like, I started thinking about performance based goals instead:
Can I do 5 muscle ups in a row? (I can now!)
Can I hold a handstand for 60 seconds?
Can I deadlift 405 pounds?
Can I hold a front lever for 5 seconds?
With my goals focused on performance, I didn’t have my eye on a the final form I would take and be “done.” Instead, I just picked whatever the “next” level of difficulty is. No “Before” and “After” – just “what’s next?” And that’s how I actually, finally, transformed.
So start asking yourself THESE questions instead of what the scale says:
Can I run a mile in 7 minutes flat?
Can I last 3 rounds in a MMA fight?
Can I squat 1.5x my bodyweight for 5 reps?
Use performance goals to keep focused on what’s in front of you, while signalling to your body each day to transform the way you want to transform. The number on the scale doesn’t define you. Instead, focus on what you’re capable of today that you weren’t yesterday, and fuel your body to help you achieve that goal.
As they say, “Appearance is a consequence of fitness.” Work on getting better at the skill, and your body will develop as a result. Make sure your nutrition is dialed in, and things will happen.
What are you going to do today?
Which brings us to TODAY. Start by asking yourself: “Am I training like the person I want to be? Am I eating like the person I want to be? Am I making decisions like the person I want to be? Am I recovering like the person I want to be? Am I working towards goals that help me become the person I want to be?
Try our flexibility challenge:a two week flexibility challenge with videos to help you start determining your bench marks for mobility and improving the way your body moves. No more feeling like the Tin Man!
If you’re looking for a more Comprehensive Path to follow, try one of our premium courses.It’s tough going it alone, and often times it’s easier to have a specific path and resources to keep you accountable and tell you exactly what actions to take next.
If you want to build a specific physique, we can get you there if you’re willing to work for it:
The Nerd Fitness Academy – Join 25,000 students in our flagship course to get you started on the right foot with your first year of fitness. We walk you through your journey to help you build strength, lose weight, and get started living healthier with workout routines, boss battles, missions, meal plans, and more. We cover mindset, habit building, and more.
Nerd Fitness Yoga –easy to follow stretching routines that make things fun. Watch these videos on any device and get started fixing lower back pain, improving your posture, and finally touch your toes for the first time!
Nerd Fitness Rings and Handstands –if you’re an aspiring gymnast or just want to learn great party tricks while also building strength/muscle and power. The course is closed currently but we’ll be opening doors again in 2017 so sign up to be notified.
It’s your turn. Leave a comment below and tell me who you want to look like:
Name/Type of the Person you want to emulate
How they train: running, yoga, martial arts, powerlifting, gymnastics
What your OLD self would use an excuse as to why you don’t look like them
TWO signals you can teach your body today to start training like that person:
One workout adjustment you can make to make your body adapt.
One dietary adjustment to fuel your body for your activity.
Some sort of “HELL YEAH, STEVE” from you letting me know that you’re in.
And I’ll even bribe you because I want you to START. Leave a comment below, and I’ll pick 5 winners at random to send them signed hardcover copies of my book,Level Up Your Life!
Two weeks ago, I almost puked and it inspired this article.
My friend Noah was in town, and he invited me to join him in a special workout with some other internet dorks (that’s what I call affectionately refer to those of us who make our living online). Noah lives in Austin and I haven’t seen in him in a while, so although the idea of going out in public (yikes), and working out in a group setting (nope) are things I try to avoid, I figured I’d be a good sport.
Upon arriving at the gym, I walked into a room with 25 other people, and an instructor who looked like he had been picked from a “good looking super jacked trainer” casting call.
What transpired was a 25-minute bootcamp style workout where we all did various things like burpees, box jumps, squats, dips, etc. There was no break, and you moved from one exercise to the next as thumping hip hop played, the training yelling louder and louder to encourage us to push ourselves.
I HATED EVERY SECOND OF IT.
I think I would rather get a root canal than go through that style of workout again. Or watch an episode of the Real Housewives of Rivendell.
Let’s be clear:I’m not saying this just wasn’t my cup of tea…This wasn’t mild-displeasure, but pure misery.
As I finished my gazillionth burpee, wheezing and out of breath, I looked at my friend Roman and we both kind of chuckled: “this is not my thing,” Roman said to me. Okay actually what he said was more profanity-laced, but I like to keep things relatively clean around here.
When the workout was over, I glanced at some of the other people around the room, also drenched in sweat, but with smiles on their faces:“That was great!” and “I loved it, thanks man!” phrases were shouted.
Although I knew I probably wouldn’t enjoy this type of workout, after realizing just how much I hated it – I knew I needed to write about it.
“Just how many people hatetheseworkouts, and think they hateworking out?” I wondered as I pushed myself to the point of puking during the workout.
Today, I’m going to give you permission that you didn’t realize you needed.
Don’t like “exercise” ? It’s probably the type
I have been training in gyms, parks, and playgrounds for 15 years.
I own and operate a health and fitness website, and thoroughly enjoy exercise. It’s one of my favorite things to do, and if I miss a workout, it feels like something in my life is missing. And yet, I found myself during that workout, cursing the exercise gods, wishing I was doing anything else.
You see, I like exercise to be an enjoyable and solitary experience. Pushing myself to the point of almost puking is not fun for me. Training in a group setting is not also not generally enjoyable for me, as I prefer my workouts to be contemplative and meditative. Headphones in, playlist on, eyes down, mouth closed, doing my routine designed with specific goals in mind.
Because of this, other than going for extended walks around New York City, hiking when I can, or doing ring routines that last for a few minutes, I don’t “do cardio.”
So a bootcamp/crossfit style workout is not one I particularly enjoy.
People look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I don’t “go for a run” ever. It’s like there’s this law that says “in shape = formal cardio,” which I disagree with strongly.
I couldn’t help but think about somebody that might be in their mid 30s, who has been sitting hunched over a desk for the past decade, potentially also severely overweight, and ends up in a boot camp as their first fitness experience.
I think some people will love it.And maybe they build up to Crossfit or Soul Cycle or some other similar type of workout atmosphere. And that’s AMAZING. They love that feeling of pushing themselves harder than they thought possible, they get to work out alongside others, and it gives them a hell of a workout. They end these classes really beat up, and fired up.
That’s what some people will do.
I think many other people won’t particularly enjoy this workout style, especially if they’re rookies to fitness or very overweight.
Sure, they might find a way to push through enough times that they learn to “love to hate it,” and make this a thing they do regularly.
HOWEVER, I imagine the far majority of out of shape/new people fit into this category: Hate the workout, assume this “fitness” is the only kind of fitness, and get discouraged and embarrassed. “Screw this, I’m going back to my couch.”
Like Billy Madison getting teased when he HAD to write in Cursive, he got discouraged and never wanted to come back to school:
There’s nothing wrong with bootcamps and Crossfit. I would LOVE it if I liked that stuff. But It never worked for me. If that’s your thing, keep killin’ it! These are amazing ways to get in shape for the right type of person. (Here are my official thoughts on Crossfit, btw.)
But for those of you who don’t find these workout styles fun, motivating, and easy to get yourself to do, I want to make something abundantly clear: if you strongly despise a certain style of working out and don’t want to do it, it doesn’t make you a bad person, or lazy, or a quitter.
It might just mean that you don’t like this kind of training! So don’t do it. Ever again. Never ever.
You don’t have to prove anything to anybody but yourself
When I ran cross country my freshman year of high school, I hated every day of practice.
But I had friends on the team, and told myself I was a quitter if I stopped. I made it through the fall season, barely. As I trained for the upcoming season during the next summer, I refused to let myself get ‘beat’ by stopping running, even though I hated it.
Finally, after a month went by of increasing misery, I accepted my training preferences and decided that putting myself through another four months of torture to prove a point to nobody that I could do something I hated was the dumbest idea I’ve ever had.
Well, second dumbest. I once thought it was a good idea to cast a fishing rod a few weeks after breaking my collarbone. That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.
So, when I stopped running, I decided to try something else: I got a gym membership.
And that gym membership changed my life, and started me down a path that led me to Nerd Fitness.
Find your fitness
Today, I’m giving you permission to make some changes:
If you don’t like “exercise,” it doesn’t make you a bad person.
If you don’t like to run, it doesn’t mean you are a quitter or doomed to stay overweight.
If you have gone to a bootcamp and it kicked your ass and you hated it, it doesn’t mean you’re weak.
If you have gone to a gym and youhatedlifting weights, you never have to pick up another weight again in your life.
Instead, I want you to find the type of fitness that brings you to life. If you haven’t done that yet, you haven’t looked enough places. So look more places.
These are all awesome forms of exercise and will get you to a pretty solid baseline of health.
After all, how you eat will determine 80-90% of your physique.
If you are trying to look a certain way or build certain skills , then YES you will need to train and eat a certain way. And next week we’ll show you exactly how to customize your training to your goals.
For the rest of us muggles just trying to lose some weight, get in better shape, or look a little better, eating healthy and doing a fun form of fitness a few times a week along with some walks will actually get you most of the way there.
Don’t worry about getting your heart rate into the “fat burning zone” which is nonsense.
Don’t worry about “metabolic conditioning” or “WODs” or mile splits.
Don’t feel bad if doing squats and deadlifts aren’t your thing and you’d rather be outside in nature. Or that using an elliptical makes you want to cry out of boredom.
Instead, do the thing that actually brings you joy and gets you moving. THAT is what “exercise” is:For me, it’s gymnastic rings and power lifting.
Despite that list being quite “all over the place,” it’s all tied together by one principle: we exercise in a certain way because we enjoy it. This is why you can create a free character [link] on Nerd Fitness with a focus in whatever reaches out to you.
We also all know that some basic strength training, even if it’s not our mail focal point, makes us better and safer at the other activities we choose to do, so we all mix in a bit of that with our routines too.
It’s why principle #1 of NF is to train in a way that you enjoy!This will allow you to stay excited and motivated about moving – if you force yourself to do things you hate all the time, you’ll give up the second you reach an obstacle.
This is built into every element of Nerd Fitness, and we can help you find the path towards the life you want to live. It starts with a foundation of fun and the right attitude towards strength.
Stop today. Start today.
I want you to have an honest conversation with yourself right now:
If you are brand new to fitness, remove any preconceived notions you have about how you’resupposedto train. There’s no perfect way to train, but I’ll tell you there IS a wrong way – forcing yourself to do something you despise because you think you have to.
If you’re already on your fitness journey, is there something you force yourself to do because you’ve always done it, or because you think youhaveto keep doing it? If you’re doing it to reach a specific goal, good for you! But if not (and it just so happens to be what you think exercise is), can you STOP that thing?
I want to hear from you:
What’s one things with regards to fitness you have been forcing yourself to do, or the mental image you have for fitness that has kept you from starting?
And what’s one NEW thing you’re going to try, or an enjoyable form of exercise you’re going to do more of?
If you are lost and don’t have any money or time to try new things, do this instead. Load up an audiobook or your favorite podcast, put on a pair of shoes, and go for a walk.
We all have to start somewhere, so we might as well enjoy it from the first day too! This will help you actually build the habit of doing the activity rather than doing something because you think you HAVE to.
Once you’re ready to set some elite performance or physique goals, we can talk about sacrifice and doing things for reasons other than pure enjoyment…but until then, have fun.
We’ll be covering specific performance and physique goals next week. Get ready!
