What common fitness advice did you ignore and got good results?

23 comments

1. Using whey protein

2. “Lighter weights to tone and not get too bulky.”

   It’s wild how many people think that you just magically become huge by lifting heavy. Especially women. So they just do less effective workouts and call it “toning.” Toning is not a thing. You build muscle or lose fat. There is no “toning.”

3. That you need to eat “healthy” food to be physically fit. I lost 80 pounds, and have kept it off for years, by changing only the quantity of food I was eating. I was eating fast food for lunch 3-5 days a week and still losing weight and getting in good physical condition just by adjusting the amount I would eat (combined with a daily weight lifting regimen).

4. I ignored the advice to work out every day and got good results. Instead, I focused on quality over quantity and listened to my body. I worked out 3-4 times a week but made sure each session was intense and effective. This allowed my muscles to recover and grow stronger. Don’t be afraid to take rest days and trust your body’s ability to adapt and improve. Listen to your body and find a routine that works best for you.

5. No more disgusting protein shakes. They make me not want to work out.

6. “Don’t deadlift more than 1 time a week”

   I deadlifted 3 times a week without any problems.

7. All of it. Never worried about working this or that muscle group, my weight or reps, specifics of nutrition. Nothing. I showed up at the gym every day, did pull-ups, the same 3-4 lifts until I couldn’t anymore, then ran a few miles, then did the same lifts again. Got in the best shape of my life and was very satisfied. Never sought out a scrap of fitness advice, and apparently I didn’t need it.

8. That I needed to avoid fats.

   No, I needed to avoid sugars, and to a lesser degree carbs.

   Fuck those mid 1900’s sugar industry funded studies.

9. The concept around perfecting form.

   This is the single biggest crutch in fitness and training.

10. “Avoid steroids.”

    Love my big juicy gains.

11. Dunno, I just go and do what I want. I’m not trying to get big or anything. I’ve been back to the gym for 9 months and haven’t lifted a weight yet. I’m well on the track to reach my goals in the time frame I wanted.

12. Almost none of it actually matters, just lift the fucking weights. Building muscle is really simple, I think people just overcomplicate it to make it seem more interesting and deep than it really is.

13. That you need to constantly track your calories. Not denying that it will optimize your results, but it’s not sustainable long term.

    I’d recommend it only as a temporary/short-term thing at most. For example, if you’re switching from a bulk to a cut and need to get into the habit of eating less for the first 2-3 weeks.

14. Mind muscle connection. Squeeze the muscle youre working out. Light weights = more reps / heavy weights = less reps gets the same result but less likely for injury. Definitely eat 1.2-1.5g protein per lb of body weight, 1.5g per lb of carbs, adjust fat .2g per lb fat to gain muscle and keep energy levels decent. The diet is the hardest part, and staying consistent.

15. Also “lift with your legs, not your back”

16. “Stop drinking”

17. “Don’t run before you lift” and in general “don’t run too much because it hurts your results.”

    For me personally, running 1.1 miles at a medium pace is a perfect sweaty (heart pumping) start before lifting and I can push way harder than if I cold lift.

    From a friend who was forced to run during the pandemic: he was already quite fit with a little more bulk and saw his abs really come out when he added running.

    For health in general: do some cardio to live longer. Everything about your performance is linked to your heart pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of your body. The next guy might be bigger than you, but if his breathing is way off, or his heart is weak/inefficient, he’ll lose the fight eventually.

18. “Carbs are bad”

    Carbs are not bad for you at all. If you eat clean carbs from: fruit, sweet potatoes, rice, pasta, sourdough, or whole grain bread it is not bad for you. Remember that these carbs must NOT be ultra processed. I’m talking clean carbs and carb resistant starch (cooked pasta and potatoes, oats, bananas, beans, lentils) Shop the edges of the store (produce, bakery,) and not the isles where food can last for years in those shelves.

    I lost 112lbs total from 21-23 years old. I lost the first 60lbs by doing very low carb. My libido was down, energy and lifts went down. When I increased my clean carb consumption my metabolism ran better, libido and energy returned and low carb fatigue went away.

    Also clean carbs decrease your risk for upper (pancreas, gallbladder) and lower GI cancers (colon cancer). I read it’s from less stress on those organs and clean carbs have higher healthy fiber intake levels, where high saturated fat diets like Keto increase your risk for those same cancers in upper and lower GI tract organs.

19. Learning what level of cardio triggers my body’s “fight or flight” response (which causes the body to reserve fat stores instead of burning it) and keeping extensive cardio under that limit. Combined with a strict diet of proper protien and vitamins with nothing else (way beyond what anyone would consider a normal “keto” diet), I can use this to lose 1.5lbs per day once the full transition into keto has taken place. You read that correctly – one and a half pounds per day. Lost 45lbs in 30 days doing this. Takes tremendous willpower, but it works. All my friends ask me about it but not one of them was able to pull it off. I guess that makes me a badass.

20. “Sleeping with your step-sister won’t give you gains…wtf is wrong with you?”

    Wrong again Mom!

21. That I needed to lift weights and go through bulking and cutting cycles. I didn’t have the means to hit the gym and buy crazy amounts of food so I got to researching calisthenics and bodyweight workouts and managed to change my physique in a year eating at maintenance as a skinny fat guy.

22. Basically all of it except “consistency”. I eat a lot of junk food, sit around a lot, get shitty sleep, overtrain certain muscles while ignoring others, drink beer and smoke weed.

    But I’ve been going rock climbing every other day for years putting in good effort and do a few supplemental exercises each week. It seems to work for me.

23. “You cant lose weight with cardio”. You cant when cardio is 20 min on the treadmill after lifting in the gym. You absolutely lose weight very rapidly when youre running/riding outside 20 hours a week.