I Wish I’d Known These 3 Simple Truths When I Started Working Out

I’ve been working out for over 10 years.

While now, I’ve found ways to get the results I want and can get in shape within a matter of weeks, I struggled hard in the beginning. My first five years were filled with setbacks, plateaus, and questioning why I did all of that. The following years were filled with many experiments, another round of setbacks, breakthroughs, and realizations along the way.

As often: in retrospect, it’s easy to see what I’ve done wrong.

Here are 3 simple truths I wish I’d known when I started working out.

Nutrition is more important than exercise

To look good, you need to eat clean.

When I started working out, I focused only on the exercise part. Sure, I knew I’d need some more protein, but I had no idea, how important nutrition is.

Nutrition is everything.

“Abs are made in the kitchen.”

It’s cliché, but it’s true.

Back then, I may have heard it once or twice, but I only took working out seriously. I was putting in the effort in the gym, but not so much in the kitchen.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t feasting on donuts every single day, but I was eating what I ate. Besides eating more protein, I didn’t do much.

Only when I started tracking calories (something I can’t recommend long-term), I realized what I was eating daily.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to burn a couple of slices of cake? No? Let me tell you a story.

It’s May 2021. I didn’t know it back then, but over time I developed an unhealthy eating pattern. I’d eat clean for two to three weeks, only to crave junk food, stuff my face, and feel guilty afterward.

Meaning, that the last two weeks before my sisters’ birthday, I had eaten clean. But it was about to change.

It was a lovely day. Warm weather, shining sun, pleasant people. We gathered as a family and had some cake. I was an exception. I had some more cake. And then dinner.

That’s when I felt sick and horrible again.

What did I do, when I was filled up to the brim with chocolate cake and dinner? I decided to burn this freaking cake in the morning.

My alarm clock was set to 6 am.

I stood up and ran a half-marathon.

Yes, I really did that.

And with running 21 kilometers, I burned around 3 slices of cake.

That’s nothing if you compare: I’ve spent 10 minutes eating them and more than one and a half hours burning them off.

Nutrition does make a difference.

By the way, nutrition is important for everyone, no matter if you want to look good, bulk, get lean, or be healthy.

It has the potential to change your life in so many ways for the better. And the best thing? It doesn’t have to be difficult.

After reading more than 20 books on nutrition, here’s the most basic rule everyone can follow starting today:

Eat mostly whole foods.

Lesson here: get your nutrition right, to boost your progress and health.

Consistency trumps intensity

Every. Single. Time.

There’s no shortcut and no hack. You can’t skip your way to looking good (or being successful).

Even if you want to.

I spent many hours researching how to skip or at least shorten the process, and I tried many many things. But there’s none. Sure, you can improve your workouts, eat better, and sleep more.

But you still need to work out, eat healthy, and sleep more. On a consistent basis. Why?

• Because your body doesn’t care about your awesome workout 3 years ago when you spent your last two years doing nothing.
• Because your body doesn’t care about the salad you ate last week when you ate 5 donuts since then.
• Because your body doesn’t care about the one time you got 10 hours of sleep because you were so tired when you give your body 5 hours of sleep daily.

Getting in shape isn’t winning the lottery.

It’s more like investing.

A couple of times, it’s fine to skip putting in the effort. But if you keep skipping, your portfolio aka your body will show.

A couple of years ago, I’ve seen so many people looking better than me within a couple of weeks. Only to see them never again another couple of months later.

The funny thing is, at some point, everything falls into place. Just like Eve Arnold says when it comes to writing. When you’ve been working out, eating healthy, and sleeping well for long enough, you’ll get rewarded big time.

Don’t aim for the perfect workout, nutrition, or sleep.

Aim for showing up every single time.

That’s where the magic happens.

Lesson here: show up every time, even if it’s only for a mediocre workout.

Less is more

Save yourself some time.

When I started working out, I was still going to school. This meant I had plenty of spare time I could waste.

That’s why my gym sessions propelled out of proportion. Sometimes I’d spend 4 hours in the gym. 4 hours. That’s a crime against time itself.

“Why?” you might ask.

• First, I had plenty of time.
• Second, I had no idea what I was doing.

I would do 7 exercises for a single muscle group, two or even three muscle groups per session, and take too much time between the sets. All fired up by 20 min Cardio.

To my frustration, I didn’t see any results.

Yes, there’s too much. I was tired, my muscles didn’t grow, and I felt like a loser seeing others with better progress, who have started at the same time.

I thought more was the solution.

Only after trying for many years, I found out the real solution:

Less, but more intense.

Now, my workouts consist of:

• two muscle groups per workout
• 5 sets per muscle group
• supersets

I can fit my workouts in 45 mins tops.

The lesson here: don’t train more, train less but more intense.

If I had the chance to go back in time and give myself starting to work out some tips, they would be:

• focus more on your nutrition, eat mostly whole foods
• show up every single time, even if only for a mediocre workout
• don’t train more, but less and more intense.