I know it sucks being reminded that you’re a beginner, but I hope you won’t take it personally. Most of us are beginners at the gym. I’m not saying it to hurt your feelings or undermine the work you’ve put into your health all these years. I’m telling you you’re a beginner because knowing where you stand gives you an immense advantage. It allows you to know where you’re going to get the highest return on investment in your efforts. The more that we can set ego aside and remind ourselves that most of the general population are beginners, the better off we’ll be. Because next to the elite athletes of the world, trust me, we’re as beginner as it gets.
You are a beginner if:
- You don’t consistently get 3-4 workouts in a week (mix of cardio & strength training)
- You don’t eat vegetables and fruit on a daily basis
- You don’t hit your protein goal at least 50% of the time
- You don’t get 7-9 hours of sleep 75% of the time
- You haven’t established any stress management tools
If you’re a beginner (or even if you’re more advanced), you will absolutely 100% without a doubt get more out of trying to achieve the items on the list above than doing any of the items below that are commonly touted on social media.
There isn’t a single thing on the list below that will get you a better result than the items on our beginner list above. The beginner list isn’t sexy. It’s frustrating and monotonous because it’s the list you have to do for the rest of your life. That doesn’t mean we get to skip it. It means we need to learn to enjoy the process.
The non-beginner list:
- supplements
- protein timing
- training splits
- eating organic
- counting macros
- biohacking
- cold plunges
- red light therapy
- bioavailability
- intermittent fasting
This list is full of gimmicks that could be considered “worth a shot” but are most likely a waste of time even for advanced athletes. Should olympians try this expensive and time consuming stuff to get 1% better and win gold? Maybe! Should we?
In my opinion, no. I only want to spend as much time, effort, and money on my health as I need to in order to live an incredible life. I don’t need to be the best athlete in the world. I want to maximize my health-span and look good naked.
The beginner list is more than enough for us to worry about. The more we remind ourselves that it’s okay to be a beginner, the better off we’ll be.
Looking for the next ab workout to add to your rotation? This one is so incredibly tough I was sore for days after I programmed it. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
2 Rounds:
:30 Full Body Crunch
:30 Heel Taps
:30 Scissor Kicks
:30 Bicycles
:30 Side Crunch (R)
:30 Side Crunch (L)
You’ll notice that there is no rest involved and rather than doing an allotted number of reps per movement, you’re doing the movements for time. This is on purpose because everyone loves to rush through reps in an ab routine. Slow down and enjoy 30 seconds per movement and do your best not to give up!
