Unfortunately, Fitness Really Is This Simple

[0:00]I made this post a few days ago as just a simple reminder that getting in shape isn't complicated. Because I don't lift six days a week, my workouts aren't two hours long and I don't take a bunch of supplements or follow some extreme diet. Everything that I do to stay lean and jacked is simple, and my goal of this channel is to teach you how to do the same. Because my first few years in the gym were nothing but overwhelmed from the massive amount of information and contradictions. And I know you guys can relate to exactly what I'm describing because I get comments and messages from you every single day. So after making that post, someone replied and asked, what is the fitness industry trying to feed us? I told them the truth, complexity, artificial supplements that are actually harmful to your health and bad for you and that you don't need gimmicks, trends and the idea that you have to live in the gym or buy what they're selling to make progress. You guys have to understand, the fitness industry literally makes billions every year and it keeps growing because people keep searching for shortcuts. And the more confused you are, the more you buy. People want to believe it's complicated because that makes their excuses valid, but the reality is it's simple. It's always been simple, so the goal of this video is to show you the handful of things that actually matter to getting you jacked. Things that only take a few hours a week and can put you in the best shape of your life. We're going to start with how many times a week you should be lifting. For 99% of people, three to four days is all you need, and four is probably better in the beginning since you'll get more practice overall. But as you advance in your lifting journey, doing less but with more intensity is probably the best bet. Most people don't need more workouts, they need better workouts, more intense workouts. When you train three or four days a week, you recover enough to actually get stronger from session to session. And getting stronger in a moderate rep range is why you build most muscle. It's not the pump, it's not some pyramid bicep workout, it's definitely not a shock the muscle routine you found on TikTok and it's not a two-hour long arm day. It's looking at your incline dumbbell press and seeing that you started with 45 lb for seven reps in each hand, and now a year later you're pressing 80s for 10 reps. And I want to repeat this point, getting stronger in a moderate rep range is why you build most muscle. And this reminds me of when I was in the beginning stages of lifting, I would do something called 21s with a training partner, and we would start with seven reps of barbell curls and then we would literally pass it back and forth until we reached 21 reps. And then keep repeating until we couldn't move our arms and, you know, now I look back and kind of just shake my head. Yes, it built some muscle, like maybe, but really all it did was give me a pump. And what I'm trying to get at is you don't need these fancy tricks or tactics like 21s that sound cool. We would have been better off just starting with two to three sets of six reps for the barbell curls and then adding a repetition each week and then eventually adding weight when we reached the top end of that rep range. And this is what I want you guys to understand, if your lifts aren't going up, your physique isn't changing. It's that simple. This is why I push three to four days so consistently, it allows a normal person to get stronger week after week because if you think about it, you work a job, your sleep is probably okay, but it's not perfect. Your stress most days, you're not hitting your macros or calories exactly like you should, you're not drinking enough water. Trying to train six days a week on top of all that is just going to burn you out because the other important things are so out of alignment. That's why they end up stalling, they get injured, or they eventually quit. Three to four days fixes all of that because you recover, you progress, you stay consistent, you actually build strength week after week and your physique changes because the training is finally working. And remember, most of you guys are just training to look good in normal clothes or at the beach and be strong and healthy for life, so in my opinion, three to four days a week is the most sustainable and will still get you 99% of your gains. Next, we're going to talk about walking 10k steps a day, and I'm not going to spend a ton of time on this one, but walking handles more than people realize. It keeps you lean, it helps with digestion, it reduces overall stress, and it's going to improve your recovery. Because it's low effort, it's low fatigue, and once again, if it's done consistently, this is going to keep you lean without having to do complex cardio. And the next thing is going to be eating a real food diet, and for you guys that continue to watch my content, you're going to know that I talk about three to four day a week training and a real food diet, like I get so repetitive. But understand if you stick to whole foods, so meat, eggs, fruit, honey, potatoes, rice, maybe some vegetables, you automatically control your calories without tracking obsessively. Like I'm seeing all these people using this like AI app, like I honestly shouldn't even shout it out on the channel because it's so much BS. But they literally email me every single week trying to get me to sponsor it, and it's like, you don't need an app when you're eating whole foods. Like, if you're really trying to dial in and get like super lean or, you know, you have these like really concrete goals, you know, yeah, it might be beneficial to track. But for the most part, when you control your calories with whole foods, you just automatically get lean. And I'm not saying you can't overeat on whole foods, but most people will be satiated after three to four whole food meals. And you avoid the constant hunger that's going to come from processed food, and I actually just made a full day of eating video breaking down, you know, exactly what a whole food diet looks like and, you know, what I consume, so I'll link that on the screen somewhere now if you want to see exactly what I eat in a day. So so far we've talked about lifting, walking, and then eating real whole foods. Next is going to be getting sunlight, and I would almost guarantee that 80% of you right now are like, what does sunlight have to do with getting jacked or getting in shape? Sunlight is basically your body's start button, so if you're in tune with the research, when you get morning sunlight in your eyes, it tells your brain to turn on your energy, your focus, and basically your muscle building hormones. It's also going to set up your sleep clock so you can actually recover at night because that's when muscle growth happens. Because most people stare at a screen, they rush to work, they sit inside under artificial lights all day, and they never actually see the sun. So their body never gets the signal to fully wake up, their energy stays low, their mood stays flat, and their sleep is going to get worse. And I can promise you guys if you were trying to build muscle that is going to kill your progress. And I really encourage you guys to do more research on vitamin D, maybe even get your vitamin D levels checked, and just the importance of getting daily sunlight. Because it really does matter for your mood, for recovery, and then your testosterone. And how much sunlight you're going to need daily is obviously going to vary from person to person. But this is truly a super simple thing that could be why your testosterone is low and you're not making the best gains. And the next thing we're going to talk about is sleeping 7 to 9 hours, and this should be common sense, but common sense isn't always common practice. Look at it like this, if your sleep is bad, everything else suffers. Strength, testosterone, fat loss, recovery, all of it. Good sleep is one of the most powerful performance enhancers you can give yourself, and it's free. So what I do each night is I set my thermostat down to a cooler temp. Mine is normally around 66°, use blackout curtains, and try to avoid your phone or any blue light a few hours before bed. I also take a magnesium glycinate supplement before bed for deeper sleep, so you can research that as well as vitamin D. And next, we're going to talk about hydration, so being even a little dehydrated ruins your strength, your pump, and your energy. And most guys walk around tired for no reason other than they barely drink any water. Once again, common sense isn't common practice, and an easy way to get a rough number of how much water you need in a day is to take your body weight and just cut it in half. That's going to give you the correct amount of ounces. Then you can go to Amazon or wherever and just buy yourself a dedicated stainless steel water bottle and just get as big of one as possible so you have to fill it up less times, and then actually track it each day. You might actually find this whole time that you were simply dehydrated, and that's why your workouts were suffering. So it wasn't your program, it wasn't your diet, it wasn't anything other than you weren't drinking enough water. That's why I tell you guys so frequently to track, and I'm going to be honest, this one is the most boring and it's the most overused, but it's the most important. It's be consistent, and I really, really want you guys to understand this. You can do all the things I just laid out, but if you only last two weeks, nothing's going to happen. You must be consistent for months and then even years. So I want you to lift, walk each day, eat real food, get sunlight, sleep, hydrate, and repeat. It works, it's always worked and people only miss it because they're too busy looking for something more complicated. And if you guys want a complete step-by-step program that works no matter your starting point, you can learn more by clicking the pin comment under this video. I truly appreciate each and every one of you guys that comments and tunes in to each video. I'll talk to you guys in the next one. Peace.