We’ve already discussed the DBT Nutrition Principles in the previous post. If you missed it, check it out here.
If you’ve been salivating at the mouth like a Pavlov dog for the training principles, here they are:
- Compliance: Again, compliance is key. It’s like marriage. If it’s not sustainable, it won’t work. So, if you can only exercise 3 days per week, don’t use a program that makes you exercise for 4 days. If you absolutely hate squats, don’t put them in your program. Blasphemy you say. No squats? Yes. There is no one exercise that you have to do. If you put an exercise in your program that you hate doing, you’re just giving yourself an excuse to quit. Find a program that gently forces you to change your lifestyle… Just a teeny, tiny bit. Small changes over time lead to phenomenal, sustainable results.
- Resistance Training: We have one goal with resistance training, and that is to build/maintain muscle mass. We do that with progressive overload, aka continually challenging the muscles with heavier weight, more reps, more sets, or less rest. Remember from the previous article that there are two critical things needed when you’re in a calorie deficit to maintain muscle: 1) High protein intake. 2) Resistance training. Muscle mass is like Boardwalk in Monopoly. Once you have it, you never, ever let it go. So, please, please don’t turn your resistance training sessions into a cardio bootcamp. Lift to add weight to the bar or reps to the set, not to get a good sweat or high heart rate. That’s what cardio is for.
- Cardio: We have two goals with cardio: 1) To burn extra calories. 2) To improve our cardiovascular fitness (health). As far as what type of cardio you use, take a stab in the dark and guess what I’m going to say….. Whatever type you’ll be most compliant with. If you hate running, don’t put it in your program. Use the elliptical, spin bike, battling ropes, boxing, or a body weight circuit. If you think cardio is boring, use HIIT instead of slow, steady-state cardio like a jog, and it will be over in 15 minutes. You need cardio though. Too many guys just lift weights, and forget that the heart is a muscle, if not the most important muscle, too. So please, stop with the excuses.
And because I don’t want to get down from my soapbox just yet, I have two more pieces of advice that aren’t necessarily principles, but are pretty damn true.
- Never take advice from someone that does steroids or has only been lifting for 3 months. Why? Because literally everything will work for him. He could use the worst program in the history of the world and still make gains. Heck, guys that juice can not even go to the gym and still gain muscle/strength just from their daily activities. He’s playing checkers, while you’re trying to play chess. Thank him for his advice, but ignore it.
- Resistance training is a very poor solution for weight loss. Yes, as a gym owner, I said it. If you just want to lose weight, completely ignoring health and appearance, you will struggle to lose weight if all you do is exercise. Nutrition is the key to weight loss. However, with that said, the research is clear. The magic happens when you add nutrition to an exercise program. Not only will you see better results, but you’ll also be healthier, as there is no substitute for exercise when it comes to your health.
So again, ask yourself these 3 questions:
- Can I do this 9 out of 10 times?
- Am I adding weight to the bar, reps to my set, or an additional set every 2 weeks?
- Where the F is the treadmill?
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