Simple Workout Advice I Wish I’d Known 7 Years Ago

Confession: My fitness journey was once filled with uncertainties.

Or better said: seven years ago, my workouts sucked. Having no idea, what I’m doing, I would try to work out as much as possible, achieving little to no results. Only to waste time.

Luckily, I’ve tried hard enough, failed often enough, but learned even more often, and now I work out more effectively than ever before — here’s how.

Tip 1: Choose functional movements over isolation exercises

Isolation is never a good idea.

When you start in the gym, coaches will tell you to start with circle training. Going rounds and rounds of isolation training.

I did that, too. As naive as I was, I hoped it would kick-start my progress. Instead, it hindered my progress because it sucks. Isolation exercises are a bad choice because they’re training online one muscle group at a time. And that’s the worst thing to do if you want to keep your workouts short and sweet.

Isolation isn’t the way to go — functional movement is. Use your body how it was designed to be used — as a whole. Save time and pain.

Functional movement is the most natural type of workout.

Tip 2: Focus on quality over quantity

Quality always trumps quantity.

What’s the point of working out every day, if your workout sucks? Get your workouts right.

Does this mean, that you have to know it all before you even go to the gym? Hell, no. But I wish I had focused more on the quality of my training, instead of its quantity. I’d spend hours at a time in the gym. You got something better to do.

Quantity is the way to go. Focus on functional movements, you understand, make it difficult for your body to adapt, and give yourself some rest. That’s how you make progress.

Focus on “how” instead of “how many”.

Tip 3: Incorporate High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Do you also hate spending hours on the treadmill?

Good news: you don’t have to. But choosing HIIT makes it more intense.

You don’t want to know how many hours I’ve spent doing cardio. When I started working out, I believed cardio was an important part of muscle growth — talking about how wrong one can be. Cardio isn’t part of building muscles. It’s part of losing weight. But even for that, you don’t have to spend hours on it.

Instead, make it short and sweet. HIIT only requires a couple of minutes and creates impressive results. Why wouldn’t you want better results in less time?

Choose HIIT over cardio.

Tip 4: Consistency is more important than intensity

What’s worth the best workout you only do once?

Nothing, nada, nichts, niente. Don’t waste your time going to the gym only once a week.

If you want to see results, you need to become a regular. When I started going to the gym, I’d try to make my workouts as hard as possible. Only to feel sore the next day, not wanting to hit the gym for another 3 days. Don’t do that. That’s the surefire way to avoid any progress.

Instead, create a routine. Even give only 80–90% in your workouts, instead of 120%. Consistency builds your muscles, while too much intensity decreases your motivation.

Create a routine you can stick to.

Tip 5: Listen to your body and allow time for recovery

Talking about recovery.

Ever heard about super compensation? It’s the muscle-building process your body starts after a workout to adapt to new circumstances.

It’s great if you give it time. It only hurts if you don’t. I had to learn it the hard way because I’d go to the gym too often. If you’re sore, your body sends you a signal to take it slow. Accept it. Otherwise, you won’t look better, but feel worse.

Allow yourself time to recover. It’s during recovery when your body creates new muscle tissue. Don’t interrupt this process, to see results.

Work out, rest, repeat.

Getting the workout basics right isn’t difficult, it’s just:

• preferring functional movements
• choosing quality over quantity
• using HIIT
• being consistent, instead of overly intense
• allowing yourself to recover