Oh the mistakes I’ve made. It’s shameful.

But, lucky for you – this is your chance to learn from my (and other people’s) mistakes. In this post, I’ve decided to address an issue that I believe is very important to those of us with gym memberships.

Let me explain… The gym is a shared space so, as with any shared space, there are certain unspoken rules that all members should adhere to in order out of common courtesy to other members.

At this point I’ll share a little anecdote from my gym as to what you SHOULD NOT do in a public space where you’re expected to show common decency to other people. I was a member at a gym that happened to have an Olympic sized swimming pool.

“This is great!” I thought because I’d be able to enjoy a low impact form of exercise, which was exactly what I was looking for while I was recovering from knee surgery. Anyway, the pool had slow and fast lanes, so the idea was that swimmers were supposed to share lanes with others who had a similar pace.

Predictably, not everyone was fast enough for the fast lane or slow enough for the slow lane.

One day, I witnessed a guy getting increasingly frustrated in the slow lane because he was swimming behind someone who was a little TOO slow. What did he do? Did he politely ask the person if he could split the lane or go around him? Of course not! That would be too nice. What he basically did was have a temper tantrum that involved a lot of shouting and then he actually grabbed the slow swimmer from behind and literally picked up the poor guy and shoved him aside.

So obviously that is not socially acceptable. It’s a shared space! If you want a swimming pool where no one will be in your way, get your own damn swimming pool! So, what’s the point of all this? My point is, in a public space, there are rules of common decency people are supposed to follow and that’s what this post is all about. I

’m going to list the FIVE stupidest common mistakes made people make that should always be avoided…

Number One – Waiting Around For Gym Equipment

All right, we’ve all be there… At the gym during peak hours waiting for the elliptical machine or the bench press while someone seemingly oblivious of your increasing panic setting in that you’ll never get your turn on the machine. Here’s a little tip for you—STOP!

There’s no reason to wait for equipment at the gym. You’ll never get an effective workout if you find yourself waiting around for five or ten minutes (or more!) while the person in front of you complete his or her workout.

The best course of action here is to have a Plan B. Always have an alternate workout routine in mind when you go to the gym—especially at peak hours. That way, you’ll NEVER wait in line for equipment again!

Number Two – Skipping Your Warm-Up Routine

Here’s the deal: I know a lot of us don’t have a lot time when we go to the gym. Personally, I used to go to the gym early in the morning before work or in the early evening after work. These are usually the peak hours at the gym so a lot of people were getting their workout in, like me, before or after work. What this means is that most people are on very limited time when at the gym. I mention this because it’s super tempting to skip the warm-up routine to save time and jump right into the main part of the workout routine. I know it’s tempting but you’ve got to fight that urge to skip the warm-up. Here’s why—if you skip your warm up routine, you will definitely injury yourself eventually, which would really suck. Injury will not only knock you out of commission for potentially a long time, but also some people develop such chronic injuries that they never work out again. The point is—it’s not worth it so don’t skip the warm up!

Number Three – Doing Cardio BEFORE Weight Lifting

Recent studies have shown that doing cardio before you lift weights can dramatically increase your chances of injury.

It’s tempting to do cardio prior to lifting weights because you get a good warm-up exercise that increases your heart rate and loosens up your muscles.

The problem is that you get fatigued when you do a substantial cardio session prior to lifting, which results in poor form and an increase in injuries. The solution? Do your cardio AFTER weight lifting bro!

Number Four – Doing The Same Routine Every Time

This is a very common mistake. It’s tempting to go through the motions and do your workout routines week in and week out doing the same exercises.

The problem here is that your body becomes accustomed to the routines and you’re not getting the most out of your time in the gym after a while because there isn’t as much muscle growth or stress because your workout has become too routine and your body has adjusted to it.

There’s something called “muscle-confusion” which forces your body to adjust to the stress you’re putting it under from exercise to exercise. That way, your body doesn’t adjust to a particular routine, which means more muscle growth, which is a good thing if you’re trying to get ripped. If you are looking for a new routine check out this post on training like a Special Forces champion.

Number Five – Not Timing Your Rest Between Sets

I’ve seen A LOT of dudes in the gym over the years who love to chitchat between sets or walk around, look out the window or whatever. This is a HUGE mistake! You should never be in the gym for longer than 45-60 minutes.

If you’re chatting or zoning out looking out the window between sets, you’re not working out correctly. You’re letting your body cool down too much and you’re just wasting time.

To get a good workout, limit your rest period and get the job done! So there you have it—my common mistakes to avoid at the gym.

I should add one more—STOP GRUNTING SO LOUDLY AT THE GYM!

Nobody wants to hear that so try and keep it down! Look, I get it, you’ve got to exhale loudly between reps, but again, here’s the deal… it’s a shared space so keep that in mind, be courteous to other members, and keep it to a reasonable decibel when you’re lifting heavy weights or hitting the gym hard. Ok, so there you have it. I hope you find these rules useful and good luck getting ripped!

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In this post, I’ll be discussing whether it’s worth getting a personal trainer in order to get into great shape. This is a topic that I’m very interested in since I’ve observed the rapid growth of corporate gym culture and the personal trainer-gym industrial complex in the last decade or so.

I have more than twenty years experience with high level fitness training, so I wanted to reach out to my readers and dispel some popular misconceptions about what you need to do to quickly gain muscle and lose fat.

So, here’s the deal… a lot of us just don’t have the time to hit the gym three or four days per week. When I was a college student I never even considered this to be a problem because I always had the time. Now that I work all the time, working out just got more and more difficult. I’ve researched some great work on how to quickly gain muscle and lose fat and there’s a lot of great courses and cutting edge programs out there that I consider to be a revolt against corporate gym culture.

Unfortunately, a lot of people assume if they throw enough money at a problem they’ll be able to solve it. When it comes to physical fitness that means throwing away money on gym memberships and personal trainers. DON’T DO IT!!!!

I’m going to let you in a little secret that’s known to personal trainers and fitness experts, but they don’t really like to disclose this because it would obviously cut into their profit margins. Corporate gym companies would lose a TON of money if the truth came out about what techniques can be most effective in enabling you gain muscle and lose fat quickly.

Ok, so I’ll stop beating around the bush and get right to the point about what you really need to do to get into shape quickly and have a full body workout without any weights or equipment. All you need is yourself and an open space.

Alright, so let’s get to it… First of all, there are only two exercises you need to blast the flab away and get ripped. The simple push-up and the tried and true pull-up.

Yup, you read that correctly, these are the two tried and true exercise techniques that researchers have now come to discover really get all the muscle groups people have been trying to target spending hundreds of dollars on gym memberships.

Regarding the push-up – there are all sorts of variations of this exercise that has been proven to be the simplest and most effective way to build your chest and arms. The manner in which you position your palms (how far apart you place them from one another) that will target different muscle groups in your chest, arms and shoulders. Not only that, but any form of push up you do also strengthens the core muscles so you’re also working out your abs and even your quads.

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This may be counter-intuitive, but the answer is YES!

Since you’re reading this post, I’ll make the assumption that you’re also interested in finding out what you should be eating, or more importantly, what you shouldn’t be eating in order to get into great shape.

Well, I’m here to offer some information on that and hopefully it will give you a better idea of what you should be doing in your quest to get into great shape.

I’ll start off by saying that the medical community is always changing its mind when it comes to what people should be eating or what people should be doing to get healthy. When I was a kid, butter was supposed to be bad for you and then it was good for you and then bad again.

I have no idea whether we’re supposed to be eating butter or margarine at this point, but you get the point. Consensus in the scientific and medical community changes whenever new information comes out. Ok, let’s get down to business and discuss the importance of diet when it comes to getting ripped.

When I think about the most badass ripped dudes on the planet, I think of those in the elite units of America’s military and tactical police units. I’ve got to say, these dudes are definitely ripped and there’s no way in hell you’re going to catch them on some cleanse diet or whatever. These dudes eat whatever the HECK they want and that includes cheeseburgers, pizza and even beer!

This is not a well-known approach to getting into great shape, but there are a few programs out there that take their approach to diet and fitness right out of the special forces operator playbook. You may be wondering how the heck can you get into great shape without maintaining a strict diet. Well, here’s another secret that’s going to blow your mind and decades of conventional thinking out of the water! You don’t even need a gym!

Yeah, you read that correctly. If you really want to get ripped, DO NOT join a gym! Again, elite military trainers will tell you, you can be in top physical condition without ever stepping foot inside a gym. These guys undergo what’s called bodyweight specific exercise routines that are designed to use the body’s own weight and gravity to give you a killer workout. By targeting specific muscles and sticking to a cycle of quick reps, you can pack on the muscle and burn away unsightly fat.

The other great thing about these sorts of exercises is that they’re bound to get the testosterone pumping in your body. Testosterone is a hormone known for helping with muscle growth and vitality. Once you kick your system into high gear with body specific exercise training, it doesn’t even matter what you’re eating. Your metabolism is going to be working at such a high rate, you’ll be burning calories like crazy.

Here’s the other kicker—if you’re doing body-specific exercises the right way, they should be done in as little as twenty minutes! What that will do is it will kick your metabolism into high gear and your metabolism will do the rest for you. The other great thing about consistent routines of exercise is that they dramatically reduce stress levels.

It’s a known fact that most people eat more when we’re stressed. This leads to weight gain. It’s also well known that stress can cause cortisol levels in the body to soar. This in turn causes your testosterone levels to plummet. There’s a lot of great research that’s been done on this. For those interested, here’s an interesting article on the topic.

So the key is to make sure you’re putting aside as little as twenty minutes per day to do bodyweight specific exercises that target specific muscles and kick the metabolism into high gear. This in turn will cause your testosterone levels to increase and lower cortisol levels.

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