10 things I've learned from 15 years of lifting weights.

Hi,

I’ve been resistance training for 15 years.

Here are 10 things I’ve learned:

➡️More isn’t always better.

Think of exercise is just the stimulus. Everything you do outside the gym is how you adapt and grow.

When the stimulus is too high (overtraining) you can no longer adapt to it and the exercise actually starts to become a negative.

How much is too much is very individual and depends on your recovery rates which are impacted by fitness, sleep, life stress, training age, genetics etc etc.

➡️Calorie burn is the least important thing about your workout.

Exercising to lose fat is a really ineffective way to
a) enjoy exercise
and b) lose fat effectively.

The amount of calories you burn during a workout has a negligible impact on energy expenditure and thus fat loss. Exercise is AMAZING, literally AMAZING. it is without a doubt the BEST thing you can do for your health… but it is way overhyped when it comes to its impact on fat loss.

➡️As you get stronger/more experienced, results get slower.

Accept it.

Much like fat loss when you have less fat to lose it becomes harder to lose fat.. when you are stronger it becomes hard to continue to increase strength.

Look, I don’t make the rules - I don’t love it ether.

-➡️ ‘Optimal’ programming should consider what you enjoy not just what will build the most muscle.

Worry less about the optimal split and factor in what you enjoy.

Enjoyment of exercise will make you more consistent and this will BLOWETH YOUR MIND but when you are more consistent.. you get better results.

➡️Lifting weights won’t make you bulky.

That has far more to do with your diet.

If you’ve started lifting and put on a lot of weight- it has very little to do with building muscle - unfortunately building muscle is painfully slow (especially for women). You’re not going to see a big jump up on the scales.

➡️Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

Do the 10min workout.

The research around this is INCREDIBLE!

You get HUGE health benefits from even 60mins of exercise PER WEEK! yes, you read that right!

You significantly reduce your risk of dying by doing 60mins of exercise over the course of a week.

➡️You will notice those who are genetically ‘lucky’ also train their asses off.

Not much to add here.. I just find it interesting when people comment on how lucky it is that someone is in shape - especially when they see them working out everyday

➡️Don’t program hop.

Changing your workouts too often will lead to slow progress. You don’t need to ‘keep the body guessing’

➡️The best results come when you stop looking for results

Focus on simply enjoying the process instead. You’re not going to see any results from your gym session today. In fact, it will make no difference if you don’t go - it’s your consistent behaviours over time that drive results.

➡️The biggest benefits of resistance training aren’t aesthetic.

I would still lift weights if it had no impact on my physical appearance. In fact, even if it had no impact on my health. The effect lifting weights has on my mood, my productivity and how I show up in life is by far the most important outcome to me.