Quite a few of our Nerd Fitness Coaches are parents, so they know firsthand how challenging it can be to train while you have a three-year-old running around in the background.
When I asked them for advice for this guide, the most common response I received went something like:
“Training with kids running around is going to be chaos. That’s okay. Do the best you can.”
In other words, it might be challenging to hit personal records (PRs) in your deadlift while also watching over a four-year-old.
This doesn’t mean “Don’t bother working out.”
It just means you should forgive yourself ahead of time if all doesn’t go according to plan.
If you want proof of how working out with kids can be “a hot mess,” watch Coach Matt exercising with his young children.
#1) Meet kids where they are. For young kids, invite them to be a partner. Maybe they can count your reps, tell you when to start, etc.
On the other hand, older kids might be able to participate more fully, and maybe even train alongside you.
No matter what, it’s a good idea to invite kids to join when and IF they want, without requiring it.
#2 ) While every kid is different,here are some very general guidelines from Coach Matt’s experience:
2-6 Years Old. These kids are often way more interested in just playing, wrestling, etc. So doing a specific workout may be challenging. However, these kids may still want to be a part of things, so look for ways to get them involved.
7-12 Years Old. At this age, they can start handling a little more structure. They will probably really enjoy “skills” training (more on this below), as well as many play aspects.
13+ (Depending on the Kid). They may be ready to step in and join you more fully in a workout if they want to.
#3) Consider a focus on skills/practice. It can be really frustrating to have a timed exercise or workout interrupted.
Instead, consider thinking of it like “practice time” of building a skill. You can practice for a couple of minutes, take a break, come back to it, etc.
Kids might respond better to “skills” training instead of “exercises” too. Together, you can practice:
#4) There are lots of different ways to get workouts in throughout the day:
Short workouts: a lot of times Coach Matt finds himself squeezing a workout in 10 mins or less.
Accumulation: take little micro-breaks throughout the day to do a couple of reps of some bodyweight exercises. Kind of like “exercise snacks.”
Longer workouts: maybe creating that time and space for your training is still important. If possible, defend this time and let the kids move in and out of the frame as they are interested.
“I go, you go”: you may snag a workout set in, then play a game with your kids, then go back to the workout set. Breaking it up like this can make them still feel engaged and give you a little more time to train.
#5) Whatever happens is okay! Remember, do the best you can, and it’s perfectly fine if your workout gets cut short because your kid starts drawing on the walls.
The 8 Best Exercises to Do With Young Kids
If your kids are light enough, you can actually use them as makeshift weights during your workout.
Just be careful, and if anything feels unsafe, don’t do it.
But if things DO feel good, here are some exercises you can do along with kiddos (or using them as weight).
Coach Matt recommends having your kid’s legs come forward, and for you to grab them, almost like you would with a safety squat bar.
Before attempting this, make sure you can do squats with comparable weight!
#2) Lunges
Much like the bodyweight squats above, but instead do a lunge:
Since you’re engaging one leg at a time, this can be really challenging with a kid on your shoulders.
#3) Touch the Sky
As Coach Matt explains, getting young kids to do squats and push-ups might be tough.
But kids do like to jump!
For “Touch the Sky,” sit in a squat or frog position. Then stand up tall, arms reaching towards the sky.
Bonus points if you jump up!
This will train many of the same muscles as you would with squats.
#4) Jumps
Another good squat substitution to try with kids is long jumps!
You probably want to try this on some type of soft surface (or in your backyard), like the tumbling mat Coach Matt uses. As long as it’s safe, jumping can be really fun with kids.
Make a game out of it, by pointing to a line (or marking one with a soft object) and seeing who can jump over it. You’ll not only train your lower body with jumps, but you’ll also build some explosive power.
The first is to have your kid crawl on your back and use them as a weight:
Feel free to do knee push-ups here too if it’s a little too challenging.
The next option is to include your kid in the workout by giving them high-fives between reps:
Lastly, you can have your kids crawl under you between repetitions, trying to worm their way from one end to the other:
#6) Bear Crawl
A fun exercise to do with your kids is to crawl around like a bear with them latched on!
Crawling is a great functional fitness exercise that will help you stay mobile on the floor. A kid on your back will up the intensity of the workout.
Bonus points if you make growling and roaring noises.
#7) Goat Bag Hinge
This exercise will have you strengthening your hinge muscles, kind of like you would in a kettlebell swing or deadlift.
Stand tall, clenching your kid, chest to chest. Have them hold onto you too.
Push your hips back, again, like you would in a kettlebell swing. When your torso is parrell-ish to the ground, come back up, driving through your heels.
#8) Balancing
One leg balances can become a lot more challenging when your kid is trying to push you over:
Another idea is to stand on one leg, then have your kid push you, and use that force to jump onto your other leg. Attempt to only use one leg at a time to balance:
10 Workout Games to Play as a Family
Being able to lift your kid a few times for some exercises is great. But Coach Matt highlights that anything over 10 repetitions, probably isn’t happening.
The kids will get bored, whine, or revolt.
That’s why you might be better off playing some games with them.
Here are 10 fun and active games to play as a whole family:
#1) Ninja Training
This is easy: just ask your child: “Want to train like a ninja with me?”
If they’re into it, start practicing some of your jumps and crawls!
You can also hoist them up and help them hang from something (ninjas always have to climb up buildings), which would work if you have a pull-up bar:
Some house parkour might also be in the cards here.
#2) Chase (Cops and Robbers)
Here, you’re gonna build some type of fort. When playing this game, Coach Matt stands up his gymnastic mat tall and together, then places his kids in the middle.
Their job? Escape!
Run and track them down and send them back to jail (or your makeshift fort).
Feel free to teach them the phrase, “You’ll never catch me alive, coppers!”
#3) Freeze Ball
This might require a purchase, but foam dodgeballs are a great way to play with kids.
Have the different colored dodgeballs result in a different outcome:
Red: if you’re hit with the “fireball,” hop five times in a row.
Blue:if you’re hit with the “iceball,” you need to freeze for five seconds.
Green:if you’re hit with the “earthball,” it’s time to place your chest to the ground, like you would in a burpee.
#4) Animal Walks
Have someone call out an animal. Then everyone has to walk around like that!
Walking to Mordor is much tougher if you need to crawl like a snake for part of the journey.
#5) Hot Lava
With this game, you’re more or less building an obstacle course in your house, trying to jump from furniture to furniture…because the floor is now lava.
Here are some ideas on creating home obstacle courses:
Another fun way to start this game: start counting down from 5 out loud.
After “1” shout “hot lava” and if anyone is still on the normal floor, it’s time for them to start playing like Gollum when he finally got the ring:
This is a fun standing game to ensure spontaneous activity.
#6) Jump/Duck
This game is pretty easy: take an imaginary sword and swing high or low at the kids, or have them come at you with their imaginary weapon.
You need to either jump if they’re coming low or duck if they’re coming high.
This is really simple, but lots of fun, and can be done with a group of people.
#7) King of the Log (Balance Challenges)
Much like the balance exercises we showed you earlier, but as a game!
Find some territory (a mat, some comfy carpet, grass) and try to push the other off it. Let your kiddos team on you for a more even match.
#8) Wolf & Rabbit
Create a mark or identify a “safe place” within a short sprint away.
Have two people face each other, but keep enough distance that the “Rabbit” feels comfortable reaching safety.
The Rabbit stays frozen until the Wolf makes a move. Then the Rabbit attempts to sprint to safety before the Wolf can tag it.
#9) Ninja Red Light, Green Light
If you’ve ever played “Red Light, Green Light” this is similar, although it involves some sneaking around, because ninjas.
“The Mark” walks around aimlessly, taking turns liberally, while the Ninja tries to sneak up behind and tag them.
If the Mark faces the Ninja, the Ninja must freeze.
Otherwise, the Ninja is free to tag the Mark.
#9) Commando
This game is kind of like Ninja Red Light, Green Light.
You have a Counter (normally the adult).
You have Runners (kids).
The Counter picks a number from five to ten, then counts down.
Before doing so, they announce “Fast” or “Slow.”
Fast, you would count “5, dot, 4, dot, 3, dot, 2, dot, 1.”
Slow, you would count “5, dot, dot, 4, dot, dot, 3, dot, dot, 2, dot, dot, 1.”
So twice as many “dots” are said allowed.
While the Counter counts, they move about (carefully) with their eyes closed. They make sure to turn around a lot to keep the Runners on their toes.
When the Counter reaches “1,” they freeze and open their eyes.
Any Runners caught in the Counter’s eyes has to do a silly “croak.”
Working Out at Home With Kids
Coach Matt is a father of 5, yet he’s still able to train with little ones in the house.
How’s he do it?
Here are 4 tips on how to train with kids at home:
Use every minute. Yep, that means you might be breaking up your workout. This is fine.
Talk to your partner. If there’s another parent involved, share with them your goals. Maybe one of you can watch the kids while the other works out.
Involve your kids. You can always do some exercises with your kiddos. Who knows, you might even help them find a love of working out.
Play some games. You can try one of the 10 games we mentioned above, or even a more traditional sport might be fun if they can handle it.
If you’re juggling working out with your kiddos around, give the video a watch.
How to Workout as a Family (Next Steps)
The most important thing about working out with your kids: have fun!
If kids see you having fun, they might want to join you.
If you make your exercise together enjoyable by including some game elements, they might want to keep doing it.
However, if your kids are not into it, that’s okay. Just try to sneak in whatever workout you can, when you can.
Do the best you can.
The most important thing you can do now: try an exercise or game with your kids!
You’ll never know how your kids deal with your workouts, until you try it out.
So pick one of the exercises or games we highlighted and give it a whirl.
If it devolves to chaos, you can always try again with a different workout or strategy.
Again, just do the best you can.
If you want some more help, Nerd Fitness is here for you.
We have three options on how to continue with us. Pick the option that best aligns with your goals:
Option #1) If you want a daily prompt for doing home workouts, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
Option #2) If you want a professional coach in your pocket, who can do video form checks, provide feedback, and adjust your workouts based on the equipment you have available, check out our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program!
For example, let’s say you find yourself stuck indoors and you want somebody to custom-build you a workout program based on the equipment and furniture you have. That’s where an online coach is a game-changer!
Personally, I’ve been working with the same online coach since 2015 and it’s changed my life. You can learn more by clicking on the box below:
Option #3) Become part of the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out from home” guides.
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The 15 mistakes you don’t want to make.
Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.
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Alright, I want to hear from you and your experience with working out with your children!
Are you a parent who is now learning how to exercise with your kids?
Any tips or tricks for training with screaming kids in the background?
Any fun games we missed?
Let me know in the comments!
-Steve
P.S. If you have older kids, they might be more into doing a workout right alongside you. If so, have them pick a routine from The 7 Best At-Home Workouts and try it together!
As Coach Lauren mentions above, the “circuit” in circuit training comes from the fact that you do a sequence of exercises back to back to back, and then you repeat the sequence.
And then again.
You cycle through the planned sequence of exercises, or circuit, multiple times.
That’s circuit training.
Generally, you hit each major muscle group during one full circuit. You may do a lower body for one exercise. Then the upper body the next.
You’ll find all sorts of different circuit training sequences. Here are some things most will have in common:
Several different exercises. A normal circuit will have five to ten different movements per circuit. You’ll often hear these referred to as “stations.” Overhead press station, squat station, etc.
Little to no rest in between.The goal of circuit training is to keep your heart rate up. Ideally, if you’re physically able, you go from one exercise to another without stopping. Maybe you rest after the whole circuit. Maybe.
Rinse and repeat.Generally, you’ll run through your circuit a few times. Three rounds are common.
Make sense?
The point here is to work different parts of your body with different exercises, and then while those parts are recovering, you’re working on your other movements! This helps build cardiovascular health, while also improving muscular endurance and strength.
More importantly, for somebody with limited time, doing a strength training circuit is more effective at building strength and burning fat than an equivalent amount of cardio.
In other words, if you are trying to lose weight, you should be doing circuit training.
Our Beginner Bodyweight Circuitwould be a great place to begin, and you can download a worksheet to help you get started right here:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
Why Should I do circuit training?
Generally, you’ll hear exercise divided into strength training or aerobic exercise (cardio).
What’s the difference, you wonder?
Strength training. Strength training is also referred to as anaerobic exercise, which would be a short burst of energy for movement. Think of a push-up or pull-up. These exercises help build and tone muscle.
Aerobic Exercise.“Aerobic” means “needs oxygen.” Your heart rate increases to get oxygen where your body needs it, thus the word “cardio.” Running, biking, or jumping jacks would be examples of aerobic exercise.
The thing about a circuit is, you actually do both categories. Presses and lunges fall into strength training. Jumping jacks are cardio.
And since you aren’t stopping much in between stations, you’ll need more oxygen, and voila. Even more cardio.
With circuit training, you build muscle and burn fat WHILE building stamina.
As Michael Scott would say, “that’s a win, win, win.”
There’s some debate on what kind of exercise is better for weight loss: aerobic or anaerobic.
My thoughts?
If you’re limited on time and only can pick one, I would pick strength training: when you strength train, you break your muscles down, and your body needs to work extra hard over the next 24-48 hours to rebuild those muscles (with increased calories burned).
We work with our 1-on-1 Coaching Clients to create programs that combine both strength and cardio in a fun way – it really comes down to a program that you actually WANT to do.
Before and after your circuit training: Warm up and stretch
No matter which circuit you pick, I want you to start with one important thing:
Warm-up!
I cover why you should always warm up in an article found right here. It doesn’t have to be much though, give it about five minutes to get your muscles active and your heart rate up.
This will help you do exercises properly and help prevent injury. You can run in place, do air punches and kicks, or some jumping jacks.
Here is NF Senior Coach Staci (you might know her incredible story) showing you many beginner options you can use to warm up as well:
Did I just tell you to prepare for circuit training, with a circuit?!
If you’re curious, here’s my personal (advanced) warm-up:
THE NERD FITNESS ADVANCED WARM-UP:
Jump rope: 2-3 minutes
Jumping jacks: 25 reps
Bodyweight squats: 20 reps
Lunges: 5 reps each leg.
Hip extensions: 10 reps each side
Hip rotations: 5 each leg
Forward leg swings: 10 each leg
Side leg swings: 10 each leg
Push-ups: 10-20 reps
Spider-man steps: 10 reps
Our goal isn’t to tire you out. Instead, we want to warm you up.
That’s step one.
Completing your chosen circuit training routine would be step two.
Below, you’ll find 15 workouts you can follow along with! And if you like our style of workouts, you might like our new app, Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Right now, you can try it for free for a full week (no credit card required). Jump in below:
Once you’ve done the above three times, go ahead and put your kettlebell away for your final step: stretches.
If you want a kettlebell worksheet for this workout, grab one by signing up in the box below:
Grab Your Beginner Kettlebell Routine Worksheet!
Complete this workout at home or gym with 1 kettlebell.
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing kettlebell exercises.
Build strength, burn fat, level up your life!
We also have a fun new adventure in our app that will allow you to train with your kettlebell right alongside Hack Morris (this will make sense more sense when start).
Jump in right now for your free trial:
Beginner Gym Circuit Training
If you have access to a gym, you have a lot of circuit options.
If it’s your first time stepping foot in a fitness facility, check out our Beginner’s Guide to the Gym. The gym can be a scary place, but we’ll give you a strategy to get comfy.
We’ll also walk you through each movement for both Days A and B below. I would recommend picking one of our 5 Beginner Gym Workouts, going through the leveled progressions, and working your way up to the circuits below:
Alternate your circuits on different days. Rest in between. “Day A” could be Monday. Rest Tuesday. Wednesday could be “Day B.”
We LOVE helping people get started in the gym, as we’re huge fans of barbell training and helping beginners build confidence with weight training! If that sounds like you…
And you can download our full Strength 101 guide too, which has this routine along with other circuits to help you start building strength today:
Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
The Hotel Workout Circuit: For Travelers that Train
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a workout circuit you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
Gimli “Shall I get you a box?” jumps: 7 box jumps – REALLY explode
Helm’s Deep-Squats: 9 bodyweight squats – get your ass to the ground
Tower of Orthanc Holds: 1 minute (Kick up against a wall and hold a handstand for as long as you can until 1 minute is complete, in as few as sets as possible. Check out our Guide to Handstands.)
“Army of Dead”lifts: 9 lightweight reps, barbell or dumbbell
Samwise Gamgee Carries: 1 minute (Demonstrated here by AKLulu carrying me at a NF meetup) A heavy sandbag over the shoulder works too. No sandbag? Just carry two dumbbells around the gym for a minute.
If you can get through a superset three times, consider yourself an honorary Ranger. Nothing found in Mordor can faze you.
Barbell Deadlift / Dumbbell RDL / Banded Good Morning / Regular Good Morning: 10 reps
Medicine Ball Slam / Quick Downwards Bodyweight Squat: 10 reps
Push-up to Renegade row (push-up, row left, push-up, row right, repeat): 5 Rows per side
Transverse Lunge and Chop: 5 reps each side
How many times do you do this circuit? AMRAP, or, As Many Rounds As Possible. I suggest setting a 12-minute timer and getting to work. Be careful though, because only Wolverine can heal automatically.
You’ll need actual rest.
Boom!
There are your nerdy circuits. Feel free to rock the soundtrack of the referenced movies during your workout. If you own a cape, now’s the time.
Complete List of Circuit Training Exercises
You can do any of the workouts in this article and get a great workout, but if you want to build your own workout, you can totally do that too!
Here is a list of exercises you can use to create your workout.
Simply pick a few, and do one after the other in as many circuits as you want!
Do 3 circuits with 10 reps of each exercise, one after the other!
Have fun and keep things interesting. And if you don’t want to build your own workout, that’s cool too! We have 15 free workouts in this article, and we can also do all the heavy lifting for you.
(Well, not literally DO the heavy lifting, but you know what I mean.)
We create custom workout solutions for busy people just like you in our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. Let us create a workout and help you make better food choices.
It’s like having a Yoda in your pocket (again, not literally).
How to Stretch After Circuit Training
Once you finish your workout, the final step (three) would be stretching and cool down. No matter what circuit you go through, stretch after a workout. It can help a lot with muscle recovery.
Scope this video for an awesome stretching sequence to follow:
You could also do some yoga poses. For stretching, find what feels good and take your time. Let your heart rate come down while you stretch.
You could even do some foam rolling too if you’re a glutton for punishment!
YOUR MISSION: Complete one of the above circuit training workouts! If you don’t know which one to pick, start with the Beginner Bodyweight Circuit. It’ll get you used to the idea of hustling from one exercise to the next.
And you can do it in your living room!
If you’re looking for more hands-on instruction and customized guidance, check out our 1-on-1 Coaching program. You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who get to know you better than you know yourself, and then build a workout program that is specific to your exact goals.
Simply put, we tell you exactly what to do every day, and how to eat. And then, we check in with you regularly to make sure you’re doing it!
If you got this far in the article, I really want you to try one of these workouts. Right NOW. I always mention the most important step in a fitness journey is starting it. Today, start circuit training.
Once completed, I’d love for you to share your story with the community in the comments:
How’d it go?
Did you get through three full circuits?
Which routine did you pick?
Find a circuit you’re comfortable with, and do it.
This High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) guide is probably the best interval training guide in the galaxy.
My justification for such a bold claim?
We’re really good at this stuff, AND we have dinosaurs and Muppets.
Plus, lots of great gifs:
We build custom interval training programs just like the ones in this guide for our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Clients, including workouts for at home, the gym, or even while traveling.
In this Ultimate Guide to Interval Training, we’ll cover:
If you’re interested in starting a HIIT practice (which you are, ’cause you’re here), you may want to try our new app! It contains a fun adventure that will take you from sitting on your couch to a full HIIT workout – with plenty of benchmarks in between for you to find your groove. No guesswork needed, just jump into the app and follow it’s next steps.
You can sign-up for a free trial right here:
Alright, let’s do this thang.
What is Interval Training? What is HIIT?
In 2018, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine.[1]
They wrote:
HIIT typically involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest or recovery and typically takes less than 30 minutes to perform.
Essentially, HIIT is just following a specific regimen where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run, swim, bike, or row.
Any exercise can be a form of HIIT, but here’s a common routine:
Jogging lightly for three minutes.
Pushing yourself harder for a minute (run or sprint).
Repeating this cycle 4 more times.
Because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, fast results in the least amount of time is why most people discover HIIT.
Plus, you can do HIIT with just about anything, including a jump rope:
You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also, your new haircut looks spiffy.”
Thank you, you’re very kind.
So let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals.
What are the Benefits of HIIT? Why Should You Do Interval Training?
The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT.[2]
Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training.
The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. He conducted an experiment with Olympic athletes on stationary bikes and put them through intense bouts of exercise followed by short periods of rest.
The results were fascinating.
Tabata found:
That 6 weeks of moderate-intensity endurance training did not affect anaerobic capacity, but that 6 weeks of high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT) may improve both anaerobic capacity and VO2max simultaneously.
Let’s translate that: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving BOTH:
Aerobic increases (endurance).
Anaerobic increases (power).
Even crazier?
Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes with just FOUR-MINUTE bursts.
So what’s happening here?
Simple: your heart is a muscle.
If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger.
By introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive.
Intense interval training challenges your heart by constantly forcing it outside of its comfort zone.
Coach Jim explains 7 different ways to achieve progressive overload in this video:
Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the positive impact of interval training.
Here are some of the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training:
#1) HIIT can burn lots of calories in a short amount of time.
Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories.
One study backed this up, finding HIIT burned about 20-30% more calories than regular cardio.[3]
The researchers stated:
These data suggest that individuals can burn more calories performing an HIIT session than spending the same amount of time performing a steady-state exercise session.
The name of the game here is “intensity.” The more intense you go, the more calories you’ll burn.
#2) HIIT for lowering blood sugar.Managing blood sugar is really important for health, not just for diabetics.
Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels.
The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels.[6]
#3) HIIT for heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health.
It does so in the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half).[7]
Alright, let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.
What’s an Example of Interval Training? How to Do Interval Running
The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult.” All sorts of different exercises can get you there:
Aerobic (cardio).
Bodyweight (strength training).
Resistance (weight training).
HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.
The easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.
Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout. Go to a park in your neighborhood. Warm-up with some light jogging, high knees, and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc,
And then begin your workout!
Run/jog at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.
Jog/walk at a slower pace for 2 minutes.
After your rest, shoot for another 30-second run/jog.
Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.
And BAM! You just did HIIT.
Don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot during your first week of HIIT training.
You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this!
Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.
It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running.
It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.”
If you’re curious, check out our in-depth Couch to 5k review. If you want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.
More of an indoor person?
Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty.
Just be careful on it…
We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout.
Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programmed to flip between this and an “easy” setting.
And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT.
When we designed NF Journey (our awesome new app), we used an “intense” and “easy” interval switch for most of the workouts.
If you want, you can sign-up for a free trial right here to see what I mean:
How do HIIT Workouts Work? (More HIIT cardio to choose from)
There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.
For example, you could jump on a bike, which is like HIIT running but with wheels (duh):
Every spin class is based on HIIT cycling (SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym now has spin classes).
Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. For a couple of minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process 12 times, which will give you a 20-minute workout.
Stair Climber. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.
Rowing Machine. Start with a two-minute warm-up. On minute three, row like you’re being chased by the Kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full 20 minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.
Jumping Rope.Jumping rope is a full-body exercise. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two-minute easy, one-minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!
So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises.
Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.
What Are the Best HIIT Exercises? (Two Other Forms of Interval Training)
“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”
Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push-up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat until you hate yourself:
Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push-ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our push-up guide and watch this:
Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull-ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull-up, we got you covered in our pull-up progression guide:
Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute.
This will be intense, and worthy of congratulations when you’re done. Check out our 20 Minute Beginner Kettlebell Workout for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells.
Battle ropes.If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be a great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Some variation will help target different muscles.
Weight lifting.The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another quickly enough. For example, hustling from the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training!
To answer your next question: yes, you can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT.
Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back.
Coach Lauren explains the ins and outs of circuit training in this video:
So in a circuit you could go from push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another.
Circuit training would be perfect to mix into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.
Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.
We create custom HIIT programs for busy people like you that are ACTUALLY fun. If you’re looking for a supportive coach to guide you and tell you exactly what to do each day, we got you covered!
If you just want a beginner circuit to get started with, you can try out our Beginner Bodyweight Workout Routine. Plus you can download a free worksheet to track your progress with this circuit when you join the Rebellion below:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
Oh, what’s that? You want to have even MORE fun while getting the benefits of HIIT?
Sure. Let’s think outside the box:
Basketball, tennis, soccer, and Ultimate (frisbee) are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!).
Run here, catch this, and wait for the next round to start.
That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.
So pick a form of FUN exercise that gets your heart racing faster and slower throughout the activity (yes, I suppose even THAT activity would count).
Is HIIT Good for Losing Weight? Is Interval Training Good for Losing Weight?
My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.
And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss.
I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media.
For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article.[8]
That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.
Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.
Ahem.
Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have many benefits.
However, a meta-study reviewed HIIT compared to steady-state cardio, specially looking at fat loss.
Regular exercise is an integral component of long-term weight management. However, unless implemented in very large volumes, short-term exercise in isolation (including HIIT) is unlikely to produce clinically meaningful fat loss.
What’s that mean?
As long as your energy expenditure is the same (and you’re in a caloric deficit), steady-state cardio is equivalent to HIIT for fat loss.
In other words, if you want to lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.
It doesn’t matter how many intervals you do – it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition.
Oh, and if you want help along the way, don’t forget about our Online Coaching Program:
Mistakes to Avoid When Doing High-Intensity Interval Training
There’s a lot to consider when embarking on a HIIT practice.
No matter which routine you end up starting with, make sure you follow these words of wisdom:
Ease into it. As the saying goes, “you must walk before you can run.” The importance is building a HIIT practice. If you need to go “less intense” before progressing to “intense,” that’s fine. It’ll help build your aerobic capabilities (endurance), which will be important when working on intensity. Start with walking.
Keep proper form. Doing your movements correctly will help prevent injury. Here’s how to run properly. This is even more critical in your later intervals, where you may be exhausted and tired. If you find yourself breaking form, go ahead and slow down. Intense isn’t worth an injury.
Get rest. Our bodies actually build muscle while we are resting. So take some “off days” from your HIIT practice. Want to stay active on these days? Do some fun exercise!
Take it easy, focus on your form, and make sure to prioritize rest.
HIIT Timer Recommendations
HIIT centers on doing intervals.
One moment it’s intense, the next you’re onto a short rest break.
A good way to know when it’s time to go from one sequence to the next is a timer. A loud “beep” can tell you when it’s okay to catch your breath or when you have to kick it in gear.
Here are 5 HIIT timers you can try out:
Runtastic. Don’t let the name fool you, this free app is for more than just running. You can customize for many different interval workouts, depending on what exercise you go with. And the interface looks slick.
Seconds. It’s free and customizable to any form of HIIT. It can also integrate with your music, which is pretty sweet.
Seven. If you’re new to HIIT, Seven would be a good app for you. It’s free, plus it has illustrations for exercises. You also get to customize your own virtual personal trainer, which may be the future of fitness. The bots are coming…
Sworkit.First off, it’s a clever name (taken from “Simply Work It.”) Second, it’s free. Third, it can display your workout, goals, and calories burned. I like it.
J&J Official Seven Minute Workout. This free app from Johnson & Johnson is actually really awesome. It has premade workouts you can choose form based on your fitness level, or tweak them to make it your own.
Also, we need to talk about interval timers. Most of the apps referenced are completely customizable.
For example, you can change the intense interval from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.
This is critical because it’s up to you to decide how long you can do intense vs. rest.
Generally, folks recommend one minute of intensity and then two for rest when doing HIIT.
However, this all depends on the individual, and exercises performed.
For example, burpees are tougher to do than jumping over a rope:
So feel free to make changes like 30 seconds of intensity and three minutes of rest. Make it your own.
Whatever way you chose to do HIIT, is fine, as long as you actually do it. The benefits of HIIT kick in when going HARD for you.
In other words, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to get the benefits of HIIT.[10]
A light jog totally works. Just don’t do it in a mascot costume.
As we discussed, if you’re consistent, you’ll improve.
So don’t stress about where you have to start.
For now, download an app and get going. Ours will help you train with HIIT too:
I hate multiple choice. Pick a HIIT workout for me!
Let’s power walk as our form of HIIT.
This is an example of a beginner HIIT workout we might prescribe for our Coaching Clients who are starting to train for their first 5K.
Let’s do seven intervals, two minutes each:
Warm-up. For three minutes, walk at an easy pace.
Intervals.For the first 60 seconds, power walk, like you’re trying to beat someone to the front of the line at Starbucks.
For the next 60 seconds, just walk.
Repeat six more times.
Cool down.You can do some more light walking, or a little bit of stretching here would be great.
Total time: 20 minutes.
I want to stress, that you can do just about any exercise in exchange for this routine. Just minus “power walk” and add “push-ups and bodyweight squats”
It’ll still be a great HIIT workout.
“But Steve, that’s still multiple choice!”
Right, right… sorry. Stick to power walking! Done!
How to Start Interval Training now
Do our power walking routine above. It’s a great place to start.
If you’re looking for EVEN MORE stuff to do, we have a few options for ya:
1) Check out our popular 1-on-1 coaching program. You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself and program your workouts and nutrition for you.
2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Enlist in the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll help you start incorporating interval training into your workouts.
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There are a zillion ways to do HIIT, so don’t let the options paralyze you.
Pick one. Anyone. And get to it.
Interval training, in any form, is a solid fitness choice and a great practice to have in the workout arsenal.
Any questions?
Which HIIT workout style is your favorite?
Leave it in the comments below!
-Steve
PS: Make sure you check out the rest of our content on interval training:
This study demonstrated the benefits of HIIT on ‘recreational active’ participates, showing that the Tabata principles work on regular folks too, not just Olympic athletes.
Before you step foot in the great outdoors, read this guide!
There’s nothing more embarrassing than a city slicker getting lost in the woods, so let’s make sure you know where you’re going, what to wear, and what to bring.
That way your first hike will be fun, adventurous, and more importantly safe!
I’m happy you’re excited about hiking and I can’t wait for you to get started!
I took the above picture while hiking through Killarney National Park in Ireland many years ago, and every time I look at it, I can’t help but think of Tolkien’s Middle-earth masterpiece, so I apologize (not really) for all of the Lord of the Rings nerdery running throughout this post!
Our community members love hiking too. In fact, one of our recent success stories specifically cited hiking as one of the fun activities she loved to do to help her lose 50 pounds:
By the end of today’s post, my goal is to have you pick a trail, pick a date, and identify a fella or gal to join your fellowship (galship?).
Before we jump in, are you here because you’re learning to hike to lose weight? Did you hear it’s a fun way to exercise and get your body moving?
If so, you’ve come to the right place!
As I mentioned, some clients in our uber-popular 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program used hiking as part of their weight loss training. These folks would rather head outside than jump on a treadmill, and our coaches designed a program so they could do just that!
Here’s how it works: your NF Coach will build a custom workout plan based on your experience level and goals. Training to climb up a literal mountain? Maybe you need to get rid of an old ring? We’ll create a plan to get you to the top!
Alright, let’s get you hiking!
How Do I Find Hiking Trails Near Me? (How to Start Hiking)
When you think of hiking, you might imagine a bunch of road-tested perma-travelers with oversized backpacks, hiking through epic mountains for weeks upon weeks at a time.
Or maybe, a pair of hobbits setting out on a worldwide adventure to destroy a ring of awe-inspiring power.
If you’re just beginning your journey to a better lifestyle, just thinking about serious hiking can be enough to keep you inside your comfy hobbit hole.
Although hiking can be an epic undertaking, it doesn’t need to be!
A hike also can be super simple and fun:
A quick jaunt (such a great word, right?) around your local park after work.
Exploring the woods behind your house with your kids on a Saturday morning.
A half-day hike with your friends on a fun nature trail.
A full day or overnight hike that also includes camping.
Here’s my definition for hiking: A person (or halfing, or self-aware robot) exploring their surroundings and their feet are on the actual ground. Like, dirt. And grass.
Some might say it needs to be difficult, have a certain elevation change, require a blah blah blah. It literally doesn’t matter.
What matters is that you go outside and do something you wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Here in the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, hikers would fall into the Adventurer class.
If you’re looking for a fun “cardio” activity and want to exercise in a way that’s exciting, hiking is a great way to get your legs, feet, and body used to some strenuous activity.
You get to pick your speed and difficulty, and you can always find the right amount of challenge for you.
HIKING 101: 5 STEPS TO PLAN OUT YOUR ADVENTURE
1) Decide how long you have to hike
This is a beginner’s guide to hiking, we’re not looking to hike the Appalachian Trail.
Instead, we want to start with trails that can be done in less than a day, that won’t require you to pack a tent, or bring an extra change of clothes. Pick a hike based on how much time you have – do you have the entire Sunday? Or do you just have a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon? It took Frodo and Sam 6 months to get to Mordor, but you probably don’t have that much time.
2) Decide if you’ll be hiking solo or with a friend/group
I love hiking solo – it’s mobile meditation for me. However, it’s also more dangerous should anything happen while you’re out on the trail! If you’re heading into the wilderness, I’d recommend buddying up with a friend or your significant other for your hike. It’s the perfect bonding opportunity. This is especially true if they have more hiking experience or they know the area that you’re hiking in.
3) Determine your level
If you are a hiking newbie and out of shape, sending yourself out on an eight-hour hike through the unmapped wilderness isn’t a great idea.
Start slow, and pick places around your town that will allow you to stop when necessary and get back to your car or home quickly. No need to be a hero; it’s always better to come back excited and say “wow that was easier than I expected!” than to realize you’re six hours from home and out of steam. Well, being a hero is cool. But not THAT kind of hero.
4) Pick your hiking location
Keep it simple! Go to AllTrails.com, put in your zip code, find your hiking trail!
Or pull up Google Maps and look for big green plots of land. We call those “parks.” Google the park name, learn about it, and decide if that’s where you want to go. Do not overcomplicate this step. Just get started.
Ask your active, adventurous friends or coworkers if they know any good spots.
The world is FULL of hiking trails and awesomeness – you just need to know where to look.
5) Regardless of where you are going, let somebody else know where and when
If you are out hiking alone, take the time to email or call somebody and let him know that you’ll be hiking and when you expect to be back.
We don’t want to hear about any 127 Hours[1] stories on NF…that would make playing video games way more difficult.
You don’t need to tell them the brand of your underwear (please tell me you’re wearing underwear) or how many almonds you’re bringing, but let them know the important details so if they don’t hear back from you by a certain time they know to alert the proper authorities.
So right now, you should have answers to the following questions:
That last point is about our fun new habit-building app, which allows you to level up (literally) by going on walks or hikes.
You can try it for free right here:
What Shoes Do I Wear Hiking? (Proper Footwear)
This is simple: stilettos, your favorite mini skirt, a fishnet halter top, and a vest made out of raw meat. You’re welcome!
Wait, don’t do that.
I’m a big fan of being comfortable without breaking the bank. Like, you probably already have most of the clothing you need to go hiking.
WHAT SHOES SHOULD I WEAR TO HIKE IN?
We cover footwear extensively in our healthy feet article, but I’ll cover shoes specifically in the case of hiking here.
We at Nerd Fitness are huge fan of Merrell products – Merrell shoes of various types have treated me well for the past decade.
Just don’t let a lack of quality hiking boots keep you from a hike. If you’re concerned, pick an easy-paced hike with your current shoes to be safe and ramp up when you can ramp up your gear!
Some people hike the Appalachian Trail in their bare feet (must be part-Hobbit), so whatever you do: don’t let your footwear options keep you from getting started. Just make sure you break your shoes in and take them on test drives! Don’t take the tags off a new pair of shoes and then go on a multi-day hike – that’s a recipe for blisters and a miserable time.
Okay, let’s look at our feet.
Now that we’ve done that, let’s look at some shoe options:
LEVEL ONE: Hiking shoes – “hiking shoes” are great if you’re going to be doing simple day hikes or hiking occasionally: they have a good grip on the bottom, give you enough support, but aren’t too heavy that they are a hindrance.
Here are my favorite options if you are in the market for some new basic walking/hiking shoes:
Oh, what’s that? “Steve, I don’t have hiking shoes! Is this the end of the world?”
Well, do you have any sort of athletic shoe? Depending on the grip on the bottom, they could be decently okay for you to get started with when it comes to a basic hike. If sneakers are your only option, lace em up, pick a beginner hike, and see how they do. Just be careful on slippery surfaces – your kicks might not give you the grip you need to get over them.
LEVEL TWO – Hiking boots – I don’t hike enough or do enough multi-day hikes to justify the cost of hiking boots, but again I would point to Merrell boots if you’re in the market.
“Why boots over shoes, Steve?”
Although many prefer trail shoes (like yours truly), I can absolutely see the value in a great pair of hiking boots if you’re going on a serious hike, traveling for multiple days, or more. They have more ankle support, thicker tread, thicker shoes, and provide your feet with significantly more protection.
REI has a great article helping you pick between Trail shoes and Trail boots. My advice? Start with what you currently have before deciding whether or not to invest in big boots. Once you build up the habit of hiking and decide you want to make it a bigger part of your life, you can make the investment.
My advice? If you are going to buy boots, go to a professional store, get fitted properly, and then break them in over many weeks before going out on a trail.
WEIRD BUT FUN FOR SIMPLE HIKES: Vibram FiveFingers – I hiked all around the globe, in various situations, wearing my Vibrams for close to 4 years. They made me feel like a ninja monkey and a hobbit. I got weird looks, but something just felt right about being able to feel the contours of the ground beneath me. I will say, when hiking in Vibrams it can be easier to twist an ankle when stepping on a root or rock, stepping on sharp rocks can hurt, so I found myself watching my feet much more than expected.
These days, I’m much more of a trail shoe kind of guy, but some still swear by Vibrams!
If you’re in the market for buying new boots, this quick video is a good primer:
WHAT SOCKS SHOULD YOU WEAR?
If you’re wearing boots or sneakers, you want to wear socks that aren’t going to give you blisters or make your feet all sweaty and gross.
Depending on how long the hike is, how serious you are about hiking, and your budget, you can look into merino-wool socks.
Like the rest of your outfit, what you wear on your feet will largely be dependent on a few things:
Weather! Are you hiking in the forest and it’s 72 degrees out? Or are you hiking up the side of the mountain in cold conditions?
Shoes! Are you in lightweight hiking shoes, lightweight hiking socks for the win. Hiking in big boots in cold months? Big thick warm socks are almost a requirement.
Budget! Are you shopping for specific socks? Tall or short? Great. If you are brand new to hiking, just wear whatever athletic socks you wear while exercising.
What’s the environment? If you’re hiking through grass, tall plants, etc. I’d go with tall socks (with your pants possibly tucked into them too). You’re not out there to win a fashion show!
Pro tip: Don’t go pantless through the wilderness. I cannot stress this enough.
The real advice when it comes to pants/shorts is heavily dependent upon your environment. If it’s going to be cold, shorts might keep you shivering. If it’s going to be hot, pants might get too uncomfortable.
Jeans? Ehhhhh. Sure. ONLY if it’s going to be a comfortable temperature and you have no other option. Being sweaty and hot while wearing jeans isn’t very fun.
I’m a big fan of my nerd pants – the Columbia Silver Ridge pants. Although they look kind of goofy, they’re incredibly lightweight, dry quickly, and can transform from pants to shorts in mere seconds!
Traveling through woods, not sure what you’ll encounter? Wear lightweight pants. I am horribly allergic to poison ivy and who knows what else, so I like to keep as much of my body covered while hiking to make sure I don’t make contact with anything I’m allergic to. [2]
WHAT TYPE OF SHIRT SHOULD I WEAR?
My favorite options are merino wool long shirts and t-shirts: they’re light, wick away moisture, hide odors, and breathe well – though you will be paying top dollar for them.
If you’re just starting out, pick an old t-shirt and rock that – you can work on optimizing performance once you’ve got a few hikes under your belt.
If you’re on a multi-day hike in various conditions then having lightweight merino wool shirts you can layer and not need to wash would be great. But just going for a hike in the woods in your backyard? Whatever you would wear while running, training, etc. Aka whatever won’t chafe!
SHOULD I BRING A JACKET?
I’ve been wearing this Mountain Hardware jacket on most of my hikes and it has been awesome (10 years and counting) – very lightweight so packing it isn’t a hassle, waterproof so it keeps me dry when it rains, and heavy enough to block the wind to keep me warm when it’s chilly.
Don’t go out of your way to buy a new jacket if you have a decent windbreaker, but if you’re going to be doing a lot of hiking or you’re in the market for a new coat, here’s my advice: go to a local store and try out all of the jackets until you find one you like.
Once you find the perfect jacket, go home and check online (you can sometimes find the same jacket for up to 60% less) – then, ask the local store if they’ll price match or just buy it online.
SHOULD I WEAR A HAT?
You should definitely bring a hat. I’m usually rocking my Nerd Fitness hat or my Red Sox hat (booo Yankees), but while hiking in Australia I wore a hat with a giant floppy brim to keep my ears and face protected from the sun.
The tops of your ears and back of your neck are highly susceptible to getting burned while on the trail, so either get some sunscreen or wear a hat that keeps them covered.
The same is true for keeping pesky things out of your hair, the sun from burning your ears and face, and keep you a bit cooler.
WHAT KIND OF BACKPACK SHOULD I BRING?
Digging into the ins and outs of backpacks is far beyond the scope of this article. I’d recommend you check out my friend Chase’s Bag Review Youtube channel – guaranteed to be the most fun you’ll ever have learning about bags.
So what would I recommend for a beginner on a hike? The bag you currently have! If you’re going on a short hike, you can start with simply whatever bag you have. The lighter and comfier it is, the better.
Multi-day hikes where you’re living out of your bag, packing up, and building a tent each day – this is beyond the scope of this article. I have rocked a Kelty Coyote bag that I’ve lived out of for months at a time, and have also used on multi-day hikes.
If you have the means and the time, and you’re planning to go on certain hikes, go to an outdoor specialty store, speak with a professional, and get fitted for your body type and the type of hike you’re doing!
THE MORAL OF THE STORY: VERSATILITY
If your weather forecast is “75 and sunny,” and you’re hiking for the afternoon through a gradually sloping wooded forest, you can severely limit what you’re bringing with you.
If it’s questionable or looks like things might change during the day, versatility is your best bet – a jacket, pants that can become shorts, a long sleeve shirt that you can take off or roll the sleeves up, etc.
Don’t go out and buy all new stuff until you’re sure hiking is an activity you want to invest in. Borrow from friends, make do with what you have
Just get started.
BY NOW YOU SHOULD HAVE A ROUGH IDEA OF WHAT YOU WILL BE WEARING!
In your head you should be saying, “Steve how can you read my mind?!
I just decided:
I’d hike in my current gym sneakers.
I have a pair of gardening pants and tall socks I can wear.
I have a floppy hat.
I feel like I’m good to go!”
Perfect.
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How Much Water Should I Bring On My Hike?
If there’s ONE thing you should not leave home without, it’s a water container so you can stay hydrated.
“How much water should I be drinking on my hike, Steve?”
Great question. I knew you were smart from the moment you started reading this article.
You should be drinking 1 liter of water every two hours as a rough guideline. Increase this amount if you are hiking in very warm/desert climates.
FAVORITE WATER CONTAINERS:
I’m partial to stainless steel bottles or aluminum bottles over Nalgene or reused plastic bottles, but make do with what you have. Just make sure you bring enough water with you to keep you hydrated through your adventure.
Going on longer hikes?
Get yourself a hydration backpack (which can double as your hiking pack!) to transplant water more conveniently.
Not only that but make sure you have been consuming water before you go hiking so that you’re not starting at a hydration deficit.
Hangovers + early morning hikes – water = bad news bears.
What Gear Should I Bring on My Hike? (Sunscreen, Knives, and First Aid Kits)
If you’re just getting started, I’m going to guess you won’t be climbing to the top of a mountain in Alaska, but rather going on an introductory hike that will help build your confidence and get you rolling.
Here’s what I’d recommend you bring with you on your adventure:
Sunscreen – If it’s sunny outside and you’re hiking through the woods or up a mountain with a cool breeze in your face, you probably won’t be able to tell that your ears and face are getting absolutely torched. Get yourself some waterproof sweatproof sunscreen (SPF 30 minimum) to cover up those ears, cheeks, and back of your neck.
Bug spray – especially if it’s “that time of the year” in your area where bugs are out in full force. Nothing worse than coming home to arms and legs covered in bug bites.
First aid kit– Having some first aid stuff with you is a good idea: band-aids and moleskin for blisters and cuts, Neosporin or some type of disinfectant for cuts/scrapes, and maybe a bandage or two just in case. Outdoor stores sell travel first aid kits (as does Amazon), but I’d advise you to make your own (you should have these things in your medicine cabinet anyway – and then you’ll know exactly where everything is!).
Pocket knife – Not essential if you’re in a park, but a good thing to have with you out in the woods so you’re prepared for anything. Like McGyver.
Sunglasses – No need to go blind while out on the trail. You probably already have sunglasses floating around your house: I’d recommend bringing the $5 ones rather than $250 Ray-Bans.
Cellphone – a phone can help bail you out in case of an emergency, and if you have a smartphone it can multitask as your compass, distance tracker, mapper, and so on. Even if you have a cellphone, bringing a compass or GPS system isn’t a bad idea (unless it’s bright and sunny and you’re good at orienting yourself).
If you’re going on a longer hike, bringing a lightweight phone charger that you can use to charge your phone up quickly is usually pretty easy.
What Food Should I Bring Hiking? What Should I Eat on a Day Hike?
FOOD!
You know, the stuff that keeps us alive.
The answer to this will vary greatly depending on how long you plan on hiking for, the time of day, your love of snacking, so the advice here is going to largely mirror the advice we give in our nutritional posts!
Although by no means a complete list of snacks, this is usually what I like to pack in my bag before a hike:
Nuts – Almonds or walnuts. Great for snacking on, loaded w/ healthy fat and protein. Nut butters are a good healthy fat option too – my favorite is Trader Joe’s raw unsalted almond butter. Ingredient: almonds! They are high in calorie content however, so if you are trying to lose weight, don’t do a 10-minute walk and eat 4000 calories worth of nuts. We in the business like to call that “counterproductive.”
Fruit – I throw two or three apples in my bag; apples and nuts mean I’ve pretty much got all of the fat, protein, and carbs I need for my day. Things like bananas, raisins, and other fruit are good options as well – pick based on your personal preference and tastes. Just be careful with dried fruit, because it can have lots of sugar and calories, so don’t kid yourself into eating 5000 calories worth of dried fruit and call it healthy! It’s something we explore in-depth in our guide “Is Fruit Healthy?“
Beef jerky!Make your own or go with some high-quality store-bought stuff. Lots of protein, easy to pack, and keeps well. Mmmmmm.
What about trail mix or granola bars? You’d probably think granola bars and trail mix are synonymous with hiking, but I’m actually not a fan of either unless they’re homemade – these products are usually loaded with salt/sugar and processed grains and are pretty damn unhealthy.
If you’re gonna go with trail mix, make your own with dried fruit and raw unsalted nuts. If you DON’T have other options, tossing a few granola bars in the bag isn’t the end of the world.
A book (optional) – I LOVE READING (more than I love lowercase letters), so I always travel with my Kindle. Although hiking with friends can be fun, I also get a huge thrill out of hiking out to a remote location overlooking a valley or sitting on the edge of a river with a book so that I can spend a few hours getting lost in a story.
If it’s a multi-day hike and you’re avoiding technology, then bringing a dead tree book is worth the extra weight in your bag!
A camera (optional) – Although I have a camera that I travel with, most of the pictures I’ve been taking recently have been done with my iPhone using apps like Camera+ or ProHDR (which I freaking love). Both apps are worth the price.
You don’t need to be a great photographer, just need to capture the moment to look back on fondly as a crotchety old grandpa. Obviously, if you’re a serious photographer, you’ve already planned to pack your DSLR so I won’t get into that.
Seven Hiking Tips for Beginners
KNOW THE LOCAL WILDLIFE! Do a quick search of your hike to know what sorts of critters you’ll encounter on the trail. If you are hiking in bear country or snake country, these are things it’s very important to know. Whether it’s carrying a can of bear mace or knowing what to look for, this can help you prevent serious problems. Also, watch out for wild ostriches.
CLEAN UP, CHECK FOR TICKS – if you’re in a heavily wooded area and carving through the wilderness, check yourself for ticks and make sure you take a shower with hot water and soap immediately when you get home in case you came in contact with any poisonous plants or things like that. I can’t tell you how many times I woke up with a swollen face as a kid because of my hike through poison ivy the day before.
AIM FOR THE HIGH GROUND – I love hiking to tall things: the top of a mountain, the high point in a town, the roof of a building. It gives you a great halfway point to stop, eat some lunch or dinner, and enjoy the view; plus, you already know exactly how far you need to go on your way down. One piece of advice on going DOWN a steep mountain or a lot of steps: Shorten your stride, and take care to land on the balls of your feet with a bent knee if possible – if you’re landing on your heels for thousands of steps, it can wreak havoc on your knees and joints as there’s no shock absorption. I remember how sore my knees were the day after hiking down Colca Canyon in Peru with my buddy Cash because I didn’t make an effort to soften my steps and take care of my body.
URBAN HIKING – “But Steve I live in a city, I can’t go hiking!” Why the hell not? Load up your backpack, map out a route on Google Maps, maybe even find a tall building – avoid the elevator, climb the steps. Or walk until you find a park, sit on a bench, and read a book. Sure, it’s not the same as hiking the Rockies, but it will still get your heart pumping and feet moving! Like The Goonies teaches us, adventure can be found in your own backyard with the right attitude!
KEEP TRACK OF IT – If you have an iPhone or Android, download a hiking or running app to keep track of how far you go and how much hiking you do. Although I haven’t been tracking my hikes abroad (I leave my phone in Airplane mode while traveling), I’ve heard great things about RunKeeper and EasyTrails. If you have more apps or suggestions on how to keep track of your hikes, let me know in the comments and I’ll add them here. I personally use a cheap Fitbit Flex 2, which tracks my steps and elevation. Good enough!
GEOCACHING – Great fun can be had while geocaching. Simply go to the website, track your location, and then decide on which cache you’re going to track down. Think of it as a real-life version of Indiana Jones or Uncharted, minus the Nazis and undead warriors. We geocached around Sydney for a Nerd Fitness meetup, and it was delightful!
GIVE A HOOT, DON’T POLLUTE – Pack it in, pack it out. If you bring anything with you, it better be coming back with you. Don’t leave trash in the woods, and pick up any extra trash you see out there. The wilderness thanks you for your service, citizen!
Not all those who wander are lost (sTART hIKING tODAY)
This article is just a primer, meant to whet your appetite and make you excited to go hiking and exploring the wonderful world around us.
Here are a few other resources on hiking if you want more information. Feel free to let me know more in the comments:
I challenge you to plan a hike for this upcoming weekend. YES, even if you’re in the opposite hemisphere and it’s really cold out!
Get some great snacks, strap on your shoes, grab a friend, and go explore.
I’d love to hear from you about the place you’re going hiking this weekend.
Leave a comment below and let me know:
Where you’re going.
When you’re going.
And what you’re most excited about!
Promise that you won’t hike pants-less.
Any tips you have for your fellow hikers.
-Steve
PS: Still unsure if you’ll be ready for your big hike? I’ll again remind you of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. We have clients who successfully used the program to train for hiking up large mountains, and we’d love to see if we can help you too!
PPS: If Coaching ain’t your bag, you can always use our new app to jumpstart your new adventures!
The dude went hiking alone, got trapped under a rock, and had to cut his own arm off to get free and survive
True story: when I was a little kid, I made myself a little bow and arrow (trying to be like Link) and unknowingly feathered my homemade arrows with poison ivy leaves. My face swelled up for 2 weeks
I know what it’s like to hate exercise, and ALSO want to lose weight and see results. Ugh.
We’ve built an entire company and community around helping people overcome these obstacles – our Online Coaching Program helps people find exercises they love, and also how to make the right nutritional choices.
We are all on a unique journey and we’d love to help you with yours!
ExercIse Sucks. Do This Instead.
“But Steve, I don’t like to exercise!”
While some are like Odie and love to run around all day, others are like Garfield and feel like they must be allergic to exercise.
Exercise is merely a supporting actor, which is why we don’t ever NEED to spend time doing exercise we hate.
We’ve already talked extensively on Nerd Fitness on how to eat nutritiously, so I won’t hash that out here.
So let’s talk about exercise.
Sure, it would be great if we all strength trained 5 days a week and got super strong, but the reality is most of us don’t have that time – or the desire – to hit the gym.
Overweight people have a tendency to sit, while lean ones have trouble holding still and spend two hours more a day on their feet, pacing around and fidgeting, researchers are reporting in findings published today.
The difference translates into about 350 calories a day…
350 extra calories burned per day ain’t no joke!
As we cover in our “How many calories should I eat every day?” guide, burning an extra 350 calories per day can result in sustainable weight loss and maintenance over time for many.
Not only that, but when you factor in inertia (an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and object in motion tends to stay in motion), it paints a pretty interesting picture:
We spend our lives trying to be more “efficient.” What if the key to weight loss is to be LESS efficient?
From standing up more frequently to parking FARTHER away from the grocery store, every additional step or movement counts. Today’s guide shares TONS of ways to get yourself used to moving more frequently.
I’m actually air drumming and shuffling my feet as we speak!
From dancing to yoga to climbing to roughhousing with your kids, it all counts.
This brings me to today’s point:
Exercise is a bonus. Exercise helps your heart get stronger, can help build muscle, usually gets you outside the house and absorbing vitamin D, and brings you a litany of other health benefits. Also, any additional calories burned is a bonus!
Exercise can help us make fewer unhealthy food choices. Instead of “I earned this” you can start telling yourself: “If I’m going to exercise regularly, I might as well make it worth it by eating right too.”
Daily exercise is a constant reminder that we are leveling up our lives – that we should continue to make other good choices or we’re practically wasting our time.
This is the type of stuff we focus on – with personalized instruction, with each of our online coaching clients.
Some clients are learning Olympic lifting, while others are simply focusing on taking the stairs more and tracking their food.
We are all on a unique journey and we’d love to help you with yours!
40 Ways to Exercise Without Exercising
#1) Hiking, especially with friends – Strap on a pair of shoes, get out of the comfy confines of your hobbit-hole, and go explore the world around you!
Make sure you follow our Beginner Hiking Guide on how to find a hiking spot near you, what shoes to wear, what to bring with you, and more.
#2) Walking – No time to hike? Go for a simple walk. Even a 15-minute brisk walk is enough time to get close to a mile walked, which gets you one step closer to Mordor.
Do you have a 30-minute meeting at work? Have a walking meeting instead. Steve Jobs was known for doing this.
You should know Tim, a member of our Nerd Fitness community who lost 50 pounds – while injured – just by fixing his nutrition and going for long walks every day!
I’m proud that Tim used the philosophies laid out in our online courses under Nerd Fitness Prime to get his results!
#3) LARP – Live Action Role Playing. Might seem silly to those on the outside, but to those playing, it’s an amazing adventure that reminds us how awesome our imaginations are.
Also, depending on the game, you could be wearing a heavy costume, swinging heavy weaponry, and running for your life!
#4) Rock Climbing – I love rock climbing. It’s one of the best arm/back/forearm workouts in existence, you get to feel like a badass when you reach the top of the wall, and all climbing routes are graded so you can level up the challenge as you get stronger/fitter/better.
It’s a fit nerd’s dream!
#5) Geocaching – If rock climbing is a fit-nerd’s dream, then geocaching is an adventure nerd’s dream brought to life. Become a real-life treasure-hunter (Lara Croft? Nathan Drake? You decide!), and get a great workout in while you’re at it.
Or, if you’re truly nerdy, you can do some Digital Geocaching with Pokemon Go or Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
#6) Dancing – Ever tried serious swing dancing? You’ll be sweating within ten minutes. How about hip hop? Drenched in sweat, and sore as hell the next day.
Zumba? Tango? Flamenco? You’d be surprised at what you can sign up for and what will elevate your heart rate.
#7) Roughhousing with your kids. I don’t have kids, but when I do, you can bet your ass I’ll be the dad out rolling around in the back yard with them. Don’t forget what it’s like to be a kid – it keeps you young.
#8) Climbing on stuff – A few years back, I attended a great conference, Midoricon, and I was walking through the woods with NF Rebel Joe (No, not THAT Joe).
It was awesome to see this guy, having lost 100 pounds since finding Nerd Fitness, explore the woods like it was no problem: climbing on stumps, balancing on fallen trees, climbing trees, and more.
We work with LOTS of Coaching Clients to get them outdoors and help build them “fun climbing programs” that burn tons of calories but don’t really feel like exercise.
Whether it’s Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Karate or Capoeira (breakdance fighting, seriously), there’s a martial art out there that will make you feel like a badass.
And might help you defeat your archenemy.
#10 Consider a standing desk – Although we all know that correlation does not prove causation, it’s no surprise that there’s a strong correlation between sitting all day and an unhealthy lifestyle.
Why not fix your posture, strengthen your legs, get more “fidget time” in, and spend the day being more productive with a standing desk? I have THIS desk and it allows me to switch between sitting and standing.
#11) Have an active meeting – Hat tip to Charlie Hoehn on this one. If somebody wants to meet up with you for coffee, suggest something active: throwing a baseball, tossing a frisbee, going for a hike – anything that gets you up and moving.
I say yes to pretty much anybody that invites me to play golf. Wink wink.
#12) You know… that thing that consenting adults do?
Yeah. Do that.
Self-explanatory.
Moving on…
#13) Clean! – Ugh, nobody likes to clean the house/apartment. It’s not my favorite thing to do. So I instead make a game out of it.
I see how much I can accomplish with a single song blasting at max volume, while probably also dancing. I also CRUSH podcasts while doing the dishes.
Of course, after getting through one song, I figure “welp, I’ve already started, might as well keep going.”
#14) Try handstands – This is a fun activity that builds up some serious arm and core strength and will leave you sweating bullets after even a few minutes.
So go find a park, go do handstands, cartwheels, somersaults, and whatever else makes you feel young again.
#15) Parkour – Our Beginner’s Guide to Parkour is one of the most popular on Nerd Fitness. I don’t care how old you are, there’s no reason you can’t get started with rolling around in your yard and vaulting over picnic tables and bike racks.
Or, you can do it in your office:
#16) Playout – Is Parkour too serious for you? Try a playout! Spiderman was on to something – climbing walls, swinging from skyscrapers, and popping flips around the bad guys.
You might not be able to swing between buildings, but you can definitely visit a playground in your area and get creative!
#17) Adult gymnastics – In the same vein as parkour, gymnastics will help you build some of the BEST real-world strength you can get with any type of exercise, and it’s all done in a playful way without a single weight being picked up.
Swing from rings, somersault, flip onto pads, and more.
There are gyms all over the country.
#18) Yoga – Build flexibility and strength, plus learn to freaking relax.
There are a million kinds of Yoga, including awesome stuff like Acro-Yoga, baby goat Yoga (not kidding), and Yoga with beer.
Sign up for a few different kinds and see which one lines up the best with what you’re looking for.
#19) Play video games that make you be active – Beat Saber. DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) counts too. Just Move. Anything that gets you off your ass and moving!
Oh, what’s that? You’re playing a normal game like Grand Theft Auto V? Make a rule that you can only play while standing up, or that you have to do 10 push-ups every time you die.
That’s what I do to keep myself from spending twelve hours on the couch in marathon gaming sessions!
#20) Play on a playground – Go down the slide, swing across the monkey bars, climb the rope all, balance on the balance beam.
Create an obstacle course for yourself and see how quickly you can get through it.
Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.
Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.
#23) Bike to work – I know there are a lot of Rebels in our community who dropped a bunch of weight by making one change: they biked to work, or biked to their friend’s house, or started biking generally.
You get from Point A to Point B, you save money on gas, and you get a workout.
Plus, you can do it with friends!
Here’s our Guide to Biking if you want some help getting started.
#24) Play a childhood game – What games did you play as a child? Capture the flag? Kick the can? Simple tag?
Get a few friends together and give it a try – it will be the most fun you’ve had in a while!
#25) Park at the far end of the parking lot – Every step counts.
Every tiny decision that is slightly different than the “OLD you” counts.
#26) Take the stairs. It’s only two flights! And we are designed to move. You can do this.
Sure, you’ll get winded the first handful of times. But it eventually becomes routine.
And it all counts! Make a game out of it.
#27) Crush audiobooks while “exercising.” This is called ‘temptation bundling.‘ Pair something you love with an activity you’re trying to do more of.
But I bet if you could only listen to Harry Potter (for the 600th time) while walking on a treadmill, you’d be more likely to get to the gym.
#28) Build stuff. Whether you’re building a fort with your kid in the backyard, or trying to figure out why you have 5 extra screws in that IKEA dresser you’re putting together, building stuff involves lots of moving and bending and picking up and maneuvering.
Warning: you’ll swear no less than 100 times building furniture. Earmuffs!
#29) Sit in a squat, or pike position on the floor while watching TV. No, not leaning against the couch. Sitting up actively engaging your core!
You can also do some sort of stretch or movement like these bodyweight exercises during commercials (or in the 15 seconds between Netflix episodes!)
#30) Impromptu dance parties. Kids or no kids, I find that great Disney songs are fantastic for bringing out your inner child.
Blast the tunes, dance around the house, and be absurd. WHO CARES! As a wise woman once said…”Let it gooooooo.”
#31) Go for a walk while on the phone. What if you just decided you had to stand for all of your phone calls?
For starters, I know many people who do phone interviews while standing because it makes them more alert and a better guest.
Next: you’re gonna get so many steps in while on the phone without realizing it!
#32) Having an impromptu picnic. Instead of sitting and gorging yourself at the dining room table, why not eat on the floor?
Grab a blanket or a towel, eat in your living room or head out into the backyard, and make it a picnic!
You’ll need to adjust your posture and seating style constantly.
#33) Sit in a squat. We cover this in our “How to squat” guide, but sitting in a deep squat – often for long timeframes – is built into us as a species! We’ve just become soft from sitting in chairs all day long.
I try to accumulate 15 minutes of “squat time” each day – sitting in a squat while reading a chapter in a book, or journaling, or answering an email with my laptop on the ground.
Here I am sitting in a squat while reading Level Up Your Life(available online and in bookstores nationwide!)
#34) The “Pull-up bar Tax”. Get yourself a door-frame pull-up bar. Put it on a door that you have to cross through regularly.
And every time you go through, you have to do either 1 pull-up, 1 negative pull-up, or 10 seconds of hanging from the bar.
#35) Lasers around the house. Set up colored string pulled tightly across your kid’s rooms or in certain hallways, and you have to go over and under the lasers each time you traverse the hallway.
Don’t touch the lasers!
#36) Climb a tree. Your level of safety and ability on this will be dependent on your experience here, but I remember climbing trees like a monkey as a kid and loving every minute of it.
Even if it’s just hanging from a tree branch or trying to scramble up to a low branch, it can be a great way to “exercise.”
#37) The floor is lava. This is both great for exercising around your apartment, for a fun date night or night with the kids, and for playing True American. Though one is slightly more healthy than the other.
#38) Casual Parkour. From avoiding cracks on the sidewalk to balancing on curbs, or jumping from tile to tile, or hopping up onto a bench and then back down, it all counts!
Just get yourself to move differently than you would have otherwise! We are currently working with a woman who has lost 100-pounds through our Coaching Program, and her exercise is all “fun parkour in the woods behind the house!”
#39) Literally fidget more! Yes, from tapping your toes to music and twitching your legs to the beat of the music. Getting up and sitting back down. Doing laps around your office.
You don’t need to get a standing desk or treadmill desk, but there’s a definite correlation between those that can’t sit still and body composition.[1]
#40) Your kid is a backpack! From piggyback rides to playing horsey, staying active with your kids is really powerful in instilling a love of fitness in them.
If you’re a badass mom like Brownwyn – a success story from Nerd Fitness Prime, you can even do pull-ups while your kid holds on!
Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.
Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.
Challenge yourself to Have fun: Next Steps!
If you are looking for more guidance beyond the 40 Fun Exercise Suggestions above, we have three options to continue your journey:
1) Join our epic Online Coaching Program! We create personalized programs for each customer based on their lifestyle, goals, and personality. From parkour in the park to just walking more with your children, or even “becoming a badass powerlifter,” we cater each experience to each person.
2) If you’re looking for a bunch of fun ways to exercise, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you move more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
We assign fun missions daily to get you to exercise in a way that doesn’t feel like exercise…because it’ll feel like a side quest instead.
Try your free trial (no credit card needed) right here:
3) Enlist in The Rebellion (it’s free)! Sign up for our biweekly newsletter and join the Nerd Fitness Rebellion!
I’ll send you tons of free guides and bonuses to help you get started on your journey today.
Sign up below:
Get your Nerd Fitness Starter Kit
The 15 mistakes you don’t want to make.
Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.
Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.
No matter which path you pick above, I want you to commit to trying something new, or doing something different, at some point in the next week:
Say yes before you can say no. Stop saying “I don’t have time” and realize you do. Stop saying “I can’t afford it” and find a way to make it a priority. Do all of this before you can talk yourself out of it. The best way to do that?
Commit in advance. Put down a deposit and make an investment in yourself. I pre-paid 6 weeks of swing dance lessons. Having already paid for it, I knew I’d be just throwing my money away if I didn’t attend.
Go with a friend. I went to my swing classes alone, which forced me to further develop my social skills, but if you happen to be TOO afraid to attend a class, get a friend to drag you there.
Expect to suck. If you are learning a new skill, expect to suck at it. You’ll get better as long as you remember to…
Have fun. Remember, we could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Every day above ground is a blessing, so enjoy it!
When in doubt, move more.
That one thing you always wanted to try but have been putting off?
Today’s a good day to get started. Just take that FIRST step.
Google classes in your city. Find a site that focuses on beginners, and read about it. If there’s a place to pre-pay or make a deposit, do it.
If you’re curious about where fruits and other foods such as potatoes fall on the “healthy eating” spectrum, you should check out the Nerd Fitness Diet guide and cheat sheet. It’s a level-up system designed for you to adopt new healthy habits that will stick, by slowly progressing you from a newbie to an expert.
You can check it out for free when you join the Rebellion!
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
Is Fruit Good for you?
As we lay out in our “Healthy Eating” guide, fruit is absolutely healthy and can help you reach your goals – in the right quantities.[1]
There is A LOT of evidence that the excessive intake of added sugar is indeed harmful to human health. Study[5] after study[6] after study[7] shows the adverse effects of added sugar into the diet. Fruit contains fructose, which is a sugar.
Sugar is a carbohydrate. If you’re following the Keto Diet, the Paleo Diet, or any other low-carb plan, you need to limit the number of carbs you eat – which includes sugar.
If you’re not doing Keto, you don’t need to worry about that second point, because you aren’t eliminating carbs.
But how about the first one? Is the sugar in fruit harmful to us?
In one word: no.
Fruits are loaded with fiber and water, so it’s not strictly composed of fructose.
It also takes a decent amount of effort to chew an actual piece of fruit.
All of this slows down the absorption of fructose from the fruit.
According to Dr. Ludwig of Harvard Medical School, if you eat whole fruit, it’s difficult to consume enough fructose to be harmful.[8]
Notice that caveat “whole fruit.” This is critical and deserves its own section.
But first…
Is Eating Fruit Good for Weight Loss?
We’ve established that fruit is good for you.
That news shocks exactly no one.
But is fruit good for weight loss?
To answer that question, let’s consider two points:
#1) Fruit can be generally low in calories
Here is 200 calories worth of an apple (thanks to WiseGEEK):
Compare that to 200 calories worth of a bagel:
#2) Fruit can be satiating
Fruit can help kill hunger or scratch that “I WANT SUGAR” itch. When you eat 200 calories worth of an apple, it can help make you feel fairly full.
When you eat 200 calories worth of bread, you haven’t even finished a single bagel yet.
Studies done on the satiating power of different foods have shown fruit to be some of the most satisfying food studied. People feel more full from eating an apple or an orange than from eating beef or eggs.[9]
In summary: Fruit can be high in nutrients, low in calories, and can help us feel full.
As we discuss in our Guide to Healthy Eating, this is a great recipe for successful weight loss.
So yes, fruit can indeed be part of a meal plan to lose weight.
We need to stop and make a point here: fruit, like every other food, obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Meaning the calories in fruit will still contribute to your total daily calorie goal.
Why does this matter?
Weight loss comes down to eating fewer calories than you burn.
Yes, there’s nuance, hormones messing with our hunger signals, and so on. But successful weight loss depends on consuming fewer calories than you expend consistently.
If you’re trying to lose weight, you need to establish calorie goals. Fruit can factor into those goals and the calories should be accounted for.
This means that even with all the nutrients and fiber, eating all of your meals along with 30 bananas a day will result in you wondering “Why can’t I lose weight?”
Save that for Donkey Kong:
Where fruit can really get you into trouble is if you start to move in the direction of “fruit-like.” We’ll jump to that with our next section.
First, if you are trying to lose weight and wondering where fruit fits into the equation, I want you to know you’re on the right track.
Lots of our coaching clients come to us with all sorts of different fitness questions, like what to eat and how to exercise, proving we all start from unique situations. The important thing is that you’re beginning to ask questions and looking for answers.
If you want help on your journey, we’re here for you. Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program partners busy people just like you with a coach who will get to know you better than you know yourself.
Is Fruit Juice Healthy?
While fruit can 100% be part of a healthy diet, “fruit like things” don’t quite get our stamp of approval.
Without the fiber, water, and intact cell walls of the fruit, your body will absorb the fructose very quickly.[10]
Not good.
Let’s chat specifically about “drinkable” fruit first:
#1) Fruit juices (cranberry juice, orange juice, grape juice): these are high-calorie, sugar-filled beverages.
For example, here are the calories in one 8 oz serving of:
Apple Juice: 103 calories, 22 g of sugar
Orange Juice: 103 calories, 18 g of sugar
Grape Juice: 136 calories, 32 g of sugar
For reference, an 8-ounce glass of Coca-Cola would have about 26 grams of sugar.
2) Fruit Smoothies: Just because it’s a fruit smoothie doesn’t mean it won’t make you fat! Have you seen the calorie count and sugar content of smoothies and ‘green drinks’? Yikes.
Green Machine Naked Juice (15.2 oz or 450 ml bottle): 270 calories, 53 g of sugar.
Smoothie King Banana Boat (20 oz or 591 ml smoothie): 450 calories, 70 g of sugar.
Another “fruit-like thing” we need to talk about is dried fruit.
Dried fruits are notoriously easy to overeat because they are so small. Since the water has been taken out, all that’s left is the sugar and fiber.
Here’s 1 serving of raisins, which is 108 calories and 21 g of sugar:
If you are saying “oh man, I eat 5x that many raisins when I eat them…” then multiply those calorie and sugar numbers by 5!
Per weight, all dried fruit will be higher in calories and sugar than its “whole fruit” counterpart.
The other thing to consider is that sugar is often ADDED to dried fruit to make it even sweeter.
Consider these banana chips:
Second ingredient after dried banana? “Organic sugar.”
An ounce of these banana chips is going to run you about 147 calories and 10 grams of sugar (17g for total carbs).
For comparison, an ounce of a regular banana is about 25 calories.
You really have to be careful with dried fruit because it’s so easy to overeat.
However, this isn’t the only place where sugar is added to fruit.
Is Canned Fruit Healthy?
The big concern with canned fruit is the syrup that is often included with it.
What’s in the syrup? Sugar. Of course it’s sugar.
Let’s take a look at Del Monte’s canned peaches:
The syrup here is composed of “high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and sugar.”
Let’s compare the canned fruit to a normal peach you’d pick from a tree:
Del Monte’s Canned Peaches (in heavy syrup):
Serving size: 256g
Calories: 200
Total Sugar: 42g
Total Carbohydrates: 50g
Extra Large Peach
Serving size: 224g
Calories: 88
Total Sugar: 19g
Total Carbohydrates: 21g
When you package peaches this way you DOUBLE the calories and the sugar content.
This is why you should always read the nutrition label when purchasing canned fruit (although it’s a good habit in general).
To summarize the last few sections: fruit is healthy, provided you stick to fresh or frozen and not fruit-like food, dried fruit, or canned fruit packed in syrup.
If you enjoy a small glass of orange juice occasionally, or you pack a serving of raisins in your lunch and it makes life worth living, by all means!
Just don’t chug OJ by the gallon, drink a 64 oz “real fruit smoothie,” and eat raisins by the handful and then wonder why you’re not losing weight.
AVERAGE CALORIE AND SUGAR CONTENT of popular FRUIT
The best way to paint a picture of sugar and calorie content of fruit is with some actual serving sizes.
If you’re targeting 2,500 calories a day, and your meals are bringing you up to about 2,300 calories, you know you can fit in a couple of bananas for a snack.
If you’re following a low-carb diet, and you have about 10 net carbs left in your daily allowance, you know you can eat a handful of raspberries and still meet your goals.
Building a Healthy Plate (Next Steps)
Like anything else, Nerd Fitness recommends fresh fruit in moderation.
Except for awesomeness.
Like this.
You can have as much of that as you want.
Back to fruit!
We recommend eating a healthy combination of vegetables, protein, and healthy fats.
Your “healthy carb” could 100% be a serving of fruit.
Of any type of fruit!
The different colors of fruit will correspond to different nutrients, so go wild![11] Try different fruits and experiment with new kinds. Keep rotating to ensure you give lots of different vitamins and minerals.
If you’re trying to lose weight, just remember to watch your overall calorie intake (fruit included).
You got this!
Still here? Want some more help starting your fitness journey?
Alright, I’ll give you my favorite next steps. But only caused you asked nicely.
#1) Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the image below for more details:
#2) If you want an exact blueprint for leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
If you follow our Nutrition missions, you’ll learn to eat healthier while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Enlist in the Rebellion! We have a free email newsletter that we send out twice per week, full of tips and tricks to help you get healthy, get strong, and have fun doing so.
I’ll also send you tons of free guides that you can use to start leveling up your life too:
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
Okay enough about me, let’s talk about you:
Do you LOVE fruit?
How do you compose a healthy plate?
Any great snack or recipe ideas?
For the Rebellion!
-Steve
PS: Make sure you read our Full Guide on Healthy Eating if you are just starting to level up your nutrition game.
Read “Health-Promoting Components of Fruits and Vegetables in the Diet.” Source, PubMed.
Read “Whole Fruits and Fruit Fiber Emerging Health Effects.” Source, PubMed.
Read “Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Adverse metabolic effects of dietary fructose: results from the recent epidemiological, clinical, and mechanistic studies.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Examining the Health Effects of Fructose.” Source, JAMA.
Read, “A satiety index of common foods.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Examining the Health Effects of Fructose.” Source, JAMA.
This article has a great explanation of different colors and the nutrients they contain.
If you’re interested in running a 5k (which you are, ’cause you’re here) you may want to try our new app! It contains a fun adventure that will take you from sitting on your couch to running a full 5k – with plenty of benchmarks in between for you to find your groove. No guesswork needed, just tie your shoes and follow along with the app.
You can sign-up for a free trial right here:
What is Couch to 5K? Why is the Couch to 5K Plan so popular?
“Couch to 5K” is a free program that takes people from their couch to running a 5K race in 9 weeks.
5K is short for 5 kilometers, or 5,000 meters or 3.1 miles.
This running program was invented by Josh Clark of CoolRunning WAY back in the day.
It has since been co-opted and copied by every running blog out there, so we’re going to be referring to a generic “Couch to 5K” program when we talk about it.
(When people ask the question “How long does it take to complete Couch to 5K,” it really depends on which program they pick.
It might be 6 weeks, or 12 weeks, or 9 weeks. The original Couch to 5K plan created by Cooling Running took 9 weeks).
Here’s the Couch to 5K plan a nutshell:
The program utilizes an uber-popular concept called interval training – moving at different speeds throughout a running session – and lays out exactly what to do every day for 6-12 weeks after starting.
By varying your pacing, your body is forced to adapt to different speeds, and your heart and lungs have to adapt to various levels of strenuous activity (and get stronger/healthier as a consequence).
As a result, you actually burn more calories and get better prepared for a race than compared to just training at a constant speed.
Over the weeks, Couch to 5K slowly ramps up the amount of time you spend running and cuts back the time you spend walking until you’re at the point where you can actually run a 5K without stopping.
“STEVE, I’M INTRIGUED. WHY IS COUCH TO 5K SO DANG POPULAR?”
#1) It’s simple and clear.
Print out a PDF or download an iPhone app and for the next 9 weeks you simply do what it tells you:
Today, do this.
Tomorrow, do that.
Repeat.
We’re all busy. Most of us lead hectic lives. And programs that tell us EXACTLY what to do allow us to follow instructions without needing to figure it out ourselves.
If you’re brand new to health and fitness, and you’re trying to lose weight, you’re most likely overwhelmed by what you should start with and how you should train.
As much as I would WISH that was the answer (it’s probably the fastest path to changing one’s physique), it’s often a bridge too far for many folks.
So a majority of newbies equate running with weight loss (which MIGHT be true, but MIGHT not, I’ll explain here), and decide to start with a jog around the block.
#3) Couch to 5K is not overwhelming.
It’s a free program (or inexpensive app), and it’s very approachable.
Programs like P90X and Insanity are designed to appeal to people that consider themselves hardcore (whatever the hell that means).
Couch to 5K appeals to people who are overwhelmed at the idea of doing P90X or Insanity or mustering up the courage to go to Crossfit.
Couch to 5K makes you think “maybe I can actually do this…” which is the most important part of any fitness journey: starting.
#4) Everybody wants to “have run a 5K.”
If you’re new to health and fitness and working on setting a good obtainable goal, “run a 5K this year” is a great place to start.
It’s a short enough distance that with some training you can pull it off, even if you have to walk some or all of it.
There are 5Ks practically every weekend, many of which raise money for charity or are themed in a fun way,
So in completing Couch to 5K, you train and get to see yourself progress weekly, you get to finish a race and feel a sense of accomplishment, and you go home with a medal you can hang on your wall reminding you of the proud moment.
Plus, it might get you in shape!
Maybe…we’ll explore in just a moment.
If you are trying to get in shape, I’ll mention our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. I know of no better way to transform yourself than through the help of an expert who knows exactly what to do. We’ve helped hundreds of people run their first 5K and helped others train for triathlons!
Does Couch to 5K actually work? Will I lose weight Doing Couch to 5K?
“Steve that’s all fine and good. But what do you REALLY think about running 5Ks and Couch to 5K?”
Okay, you got me. I got thoughts. I also got jokes (they’re bad).
RANT INCOMING!
Will the Couch to 5K program help you run a 5k? YES! If you actually stick with it for the entirety of the training program.
Will the Couch to 5K program help you lose weight? MAYBE.
Is Couch to 5K a program that will get you healthy permanently? MAYBE.
Will Couch to 5K make me sexy and look damn good in a bathing suit? MAYBE, but probably not.
Here’s the truth about Couch to 5K: It’s the same truth with popular programs like P90X or Insanity or any other structured workout program:
It totally works and will help you lose weight if you do two things:
MISTAKE #1: Couch to 5K totally doesn’t work and won’t help you lose weight if you do two things:
You actually complete the program, BUT
You don’t fix your diet.
As sexy as it is to think that just going for a run will help you lose weight, the data doesn’t back it up. In fact, as Time Magazine rightly pointed out years ago and got yelled at for telling the truth, exercise alone won’t make you lose weight.
This is Common Mistake #1: not fixing your nutrition if you’re running for weight loss!
If this were a movie, nutrition would be Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible and exercise is that funny sidekick who helps Tom. Let’s be real here, Tom is doing all of the heavy lifting to make that movie what it is.
Couch to 5K helps people run a 5K.
That’s it.
It’s not designed to help you lose weight or build a body you’re proud of. It’s also a temporary program that lasts a certain number of weeks until you run your 5K.
For Couch to 5K to be successful for you long term, and for it to help you lose weight, it needs to be the catalyst that causes you to build a consistent long term habit of exercise and changes how you think about food.
Remember:you never get to be “done”, so you need to enjoy the journey and look forward to exercising daily.
You also need to train the right way to build the type of body you want! And eat the right way.
That’s priority numero uno.
I know nutrition is a really challenging, complex, controversial topic (Keto? Paleo? Ah!), which is why we make it stupidly simple for smart, good looking, modest people like yourself.
In addition to our online coaching program that guides you on making healthier food choices, we also created a free 10-level NF Diet blueprint you can hang on your fridge next to your Couch to 5K PDF.
Print it out, hang it on your fridge, and follow the instructions to level up every 2 weeks! You can get yours free when you sign up in the box below:
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
Now that we have the “will I lose weight?” stuff out of the way, I have two BIG questions to ask you:
Do you like running?
Are you healthy enough to run?
Do I Even Like Running?
Bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman said it best:
“Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, don’t nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight.”
In other words: “Everybody wants to be in shape, and look great, but nobody wants to put the work in to actually GET in shape and look great.”
And yup, getting in shape is tough; if it were easy we’d all look like Captain America and Wonder Woman.
Instead, 70% of America is overweight and 30+% are obese. Crap.
This brings me back to the most crucial question of this entire 5K process:
Do you even LIKE running?
The world is split into three groups:
People that like running and want to run.
People that don’t like running but eventually learn to love it.
People that don’t like running and will never like running.
Here’s that Ronnie Coleman quote, slightly adapted: “Everybody wants to have run a 5K, but many people don’t actually enjoy running.”
Running a 5K is a great achievement and a worthwhile fun goal, but it’s only one way of thousands to “get in shape.”
Many people feel like Andy Dwyer in Parks and Rec when they go running.
Some people love that feeling of anguish or pushing beyond the limits, and that’s awesome!
But for everybody else, they make Mistake #2: they force themselves to run even though they don’t like it!
So before you start Couch to 5K, think of it as a science experiment:
“I hypothesize that following Couch to 5K will help me run a 5K. I also hypothesize I’ll enjoy the process, enjoy how I feel after a run, enjoy running a 5k, and/or enjoy the achievement of having run a 5k.”
And that’s all this is: an experiment to see if running is the type of exercise you want to continue doing consistently for the next few years.
If 2 weeks into Couch to 5K you’re miserable and hate it: fantastic!
You just discovered that you hate running and are now free to NEVER RUN EVER AGAIN FOREVER. It doesn’t make you a failure.
It means your science experiment produced a result that you can now use to inform future exercise decisions.
Again, it doesn’t make you a failure.
It just means you found a type of exercise that doesn’t work for you.
If you discover you LOVE running and how it makes you feel: fantastic! You can now make running part of your regular exercise routine. Combine this with a good nutritional strategy, and you will build yourself a runner’s physique. And you’ve found something you can do for the rest of your life.
If you are running to prove something to yourself, because a friend is doing it, because you’re raising money for charity, or anything else: fantastic! Do Couch to 5K and then decide after if this is the strategy that you enjoy and want to stick with permanently.
Don’t make Mistake #2: If you’re ONLY doing this to lose weight and it’s making you miserable, quit. Don’t run. Ever.
Instead, pick an exercise you actually enjoy. But not because the exercise is going to help you lose weight – because doing an exercise you love is a constant reminder of “I’m making healthier choices, and thus I should probably eat healthier!”
If weight loss above all else is your goal, I’d recommend our Beginner Bodyweight routine you can do at home and combine it with our “Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating.” I can promise that if you read those strategies and start to implement them in your life, you’ll see results without ever having to set foot on a treadmill.
Phew! Okay, that covers “do you actually LIKE running?”
There’s another massive question you should be asking yourself before you start…
Are You Healthy Enough to Run a 5K?
Just because you WANT to run doesn’t mean you SHOULD necessarily start running just yet.
It could be a fast track to injury, disappointment, and misery!
Those are literally three of my least favorite things. The fourth being brunch.[1]
Back to your health: are you physically ready to run?
If you’re at or close to your goal weight, then starting a running program is a good idea.
If you are obese or very overweight, I think (power) WALKING a 5K is a great goal for the immediate future.
However, I think Mistake #3 would be running a 5K before properly preparing your body for it!In fact, running prematurely without addressing your weight might cause damage to your joints and ligaments and cause you to backslide a whole bunch.
This will build you a solid foundation of strength, core strength, and endurance.
Download our free Bodyweight Workout Worksheet when you sign up in the box below:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
Here’s why you should focus on strength and nutrition before pounding the pavement with hours of running:
As you begin to drop weight, a lot of the stress on your joints, organs, bones, etc. will start to decrease.
As you strength train, the ligaments that hold your body together will become stronger and more adequately prepared for the rigors of running.
As you refine your running form to minimize resistance and jarring shocks throughout your body, your body will learn to become more efficient.
When you start to approach your goal weight, you can start to introduce increase your speed from power walking to jogging – with correct running technique (see below) – and staying healthy.
“STEVE, I was all excited to run a 5k, and now you have me demoralized. I’m overweight but I still want to run!”
Okay okay okay, fine! I don’t want to keep you from exercising, I want to help you build momentum and make you antifragile.
Obviously, you’re going to do what you’re going to do, and if running before you’re physically ready is what you want to do, go for it!
If you want any help getting in shape to run your 5K, we got you! We help men and women and self-aware robots with our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. We offer nutritional guidance, professional accountability, and custom workouts!
How to Start the Couch to 5K Program
“Steve I’m in. I read all of that jazz above and I am ready to get started. Whether I’m walking or running, I want to start Couch to 5K!”
If you’re ready to do the Couch to 5K program, you can download the following which I believe is the Original Couch to 5K Program (they’ve made it quite tough to find!).
The reason it’s tough to find is they’re pushing people towards the official Couch to 5K App.
For us Nerds, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the super fun Zombies Run! app, which uses interval training combined with fun audio cues and video game mechanics throughout your running sessions.
What I would do next after downloading the program? Do the first day of training!
I would also recommend finding a race that’s 2-3 months from now, and sign up for it even if you’re not ready.
Recruit a friend or two to join you in training and the race!
HOW TO FIND A 5K IN YOUR TOWN: Let me google that for you. Type “5K + [your town]”, and I bet there’s a 5k every weekend for the rest of the year coming up. The Couch to 5K app also lists local races for you.
To recap:
Pick a race that looks fun that raises money for a good cause
Recruit a friend or two
Go for your first day of running!
It’s gonna suck, and you’re going to be fine. You’ll get better!
This is exactly what I did years ago when I dressed up like a Caveman with 20 of my friends and raised thousands of dollars for kids with cancer to go to summer camp!
How to Not Get Injured Training For a 5K
If you don’t learn how to run correctly, you’re doomed to develop an overuse injury and that’s going to negate the whole reason you started running in the first place!
This is Mistake #4: Crappy running form!
When you run, you’re putting hundreds of pounds of pressure on your joints and ligaments with each bounding step down the road.
This is then repeated thousands of times over the course of training and a race.
No wonder nearly every runner has tons of stories of injuries they’ve had to deal with. It can be a brutal activity that can wreak havoc even with good running mechanics.
With poor running mechanics, the results are compounded.
And not the GOOD kind of “compounded” like compound interest like you learned in 2nd grade with the story about starting with 1 penny a day and doubling it every day for 30 days.
The BAD kind of “compounded” like plantar fasciitis and stress fractures and sore IT bands and torn ligaments and crazy soreness all the time.
We don’t want that.
I’m going to get super granular into proper running technique in this section, so if you already have perfect running form, you can skip this section. But I’d still read it.
Yeah, you should probably read it.
Here are the “5 Steps to Not Sucking at Running a 5K,” thanks to my friend Jason Fitzgerald of Strength Running:
1) Lean From Your Ankles
Lean from your ankles, and keep a straight line from your ankle, through your butt, and up to your head.
If you’re standing still with this slight forward lean, you should feel like you’re about to fall forward.
When you start running, gravity will help keep you progressing forward. A proper lean from the ankles keeps your body in alignment and loads your muscles properly and efficiently.
2) Increase Your Cadence
Cadence is your stride rate, or the number of steps you take per minute. It will probably seem weird at first, but you’re putting less stress on your legs with shorter foot strikes.
Your cadence should be at least 170-190 steps per minute when you’re running at an easy, conversational pace. It will probably increase once you start running faster—that’s normal.
“Steve, what the hell do I do with “170-190 steps per minute?”
Great question. Go to Spotify and look for 170-190BPM playlists, like these which I found here:
Not on Spotify? Cool. (But like, why?) To get a cadence, try running to Outkast’s “Hey Ya” and time your strides to match the beat. That’s the cadence you’re looking for:
Research has shown[2] that increasing your cadence and taking more steps (around 180 per minute) provides many of the same benefits of barefoot running: less impact shock that goes up your legs, improved running economy (or your efficiency, which means you’ll run faster with less effort!), and a reduced chance of injury.
You’ll feel like you’re taking way more steps than normal – that means you probably had poor form before and now you’re fixing it!
If your legs get to the point where they’re going this fast, let me know:
3) Foot Strike at the Right Time
When your foot comes down and makes contact with the ground, it should be underneath your body, not in front of it.
Combined with a quick cadence and a slight forward lean from your ankles, you’ll be distributing impact shock evenly—and efficiently.
This aspect of running form is often skipped over by beginning runners.
Instead of focusing on where the foot is landing in relation to the rest of the body, they focus too much on running on their forefoot. If you don’t first land in the right place, a midfoot or forefoot strike will only do more damage.
As you’re running, a good mental cue is to think that you’re just “putting your foot down” in a straight line underneath your body.
There’s no reaching or stretching your leg out in front of you. Practicing this mental cue will have your leg touching down almost exactly underneath your center of mass, distributing your weight evenly and safely.
4) Land on Your Mid-Foot
While not as important as landing underneath your center of mass, becoming a mid-foot striker has a host of benefits.
It can help you avoid a lot of injuries by absorbing impact shock and preventing a severe heel striking running stride.
Heel-striking can’t be entirely blamed for injuries and labeled “bad.”
Even elite athletes heel strike when they run races! It’s not entirely bad— especially if you’re putting weight down on your foot just after you heel strike, instead of directly on the heel.[3]
What you should focus on is having a higher cadence, landing underneath your body, and not aggressively heel striking.
Try to land with your foot flat on the ground, instead of with your toes angled upwards.[4]
5) Symmetrical Arm Swing
Nobody wants to look at you running if you’re flailing your arms wildly all over the place like Elaine dancing from Seinfeld.
An ideal arm swing has your arm bent at about 90 degrees and a front-to-back swing (not side-to-side).
Imagine a pretend line that goes down your mid-line or center of your body. When you run, your hands should not cross over this imaginary line.
Cup your hands loosely together (no clenched fists!) and if you want to use your arms for momentum, pump your elbows, not your hands.
Once you incorporate these changes into your running form, you’ll feel a lot more comfortable and your injury risk is going to plummet.
For extra credit, learn to run softly and quietly. Foot stomping isn’t allowed and gets increasingly more difficult as you approach 180 steps per minute.
A few other things you want to keep in mind:
Keep a tall back, chest up. No slouching.
Look 30-50 meters in front of you – not head down looking at your toes.
Both are easy cues to keep an athletic posture and good running form.
Go back through and read this section a few more times. We know it’s a LOT to think about while running, but it is incredibly important. If you get a chance, have somebody film you running, and then watch your tape back to see how you’re doing.
I should note that we provide form checks to our coaching clients. Through our awesome app, you can record a video of your running form or exercise technique and send it right to your coach! That way you can know your running and training safely and correctly!
10 Tips and Tricks for Training for Your 5K
Although the Couch to 5K Program covers specifically how you should be training, it still leaves out quite a few important things (like technique, which I covered above!).
Once you’ve picked your 5K training program, here’s how to get yourself to ACTUALLY follow through on your training!
#1) Recruit an accountability partner. Have somebody that trains with you (or at least somebody you tell about your training), so that each day you can check in with each other.
Wanna be diabolical?
Give somebody else $100 of your money. And tell them you’ll check in with them after your training every day – if you don’t do your run, they’ll donate $50 of that money to a political cause you HATE.
While you’re building the habit of running, you need to make the pain of skipping your run greater than the pain of doing the run.
Do this enough times until you build up enough momentum and get hooked on that runners high so that you actually look forward to training.
#2) Warm-up before, stretch after. Don’t do static stretches before your runs. It’s not doing what you think it is[5]. Instead, you’re going to warm up your muscles through active movement.
Do a dynamic warm-up before you run. Continue this by going for a light jog, high knees, and warming up your muscles through movement.
#3) Make it the first thing you do each day. Build the habit of doing your run first thing in the morning when life hasn’t had a chance to get in the way.
Sleep in your running clothes.
Put your alarm clock/phone across the room. Put your running shoes by the door. By hacking your Batcave, you’ll minimize the steps between you and the new habit you’re trying to build.
#4) Strength training makes running easier. Doing 1-2 sessions of strength training per week (on days you’re not running) will help you burn fat, build muscle, and stay injury-free.
Follow our Beginner Bodyweight Routine, no equipment required. We’ll have you training with your furniture instead:
If you sign-up for our free weekly newsletter, I’ll send you a PDF of the workout so you can track your progress.
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
#5) Don’t worry about your shoes when you start. Wear whatever shoes you have so that you can just get started building the habit immediately. If you START to love running, read our article on proper footwear and get yourself some better kicks.
The same is true for “running clothes.” Do not let this be a barrier to entry.
Start running first and make sure you like it before you go spending any hard-earned cash on stuff you’re not gonna use.
Oh, and as Coach Jim mentions in the video below, DON’T RUN IN BRAND NEW SHOES!
Trust us on this one.
#6) Sign up for your race as far in advance as possible. Use 20 seconds of courage if you need to, but commit to the race.
If you don’t sign up, you’re going to be much more likely to back out when life gets busy.
But if you pay for it ahead of time, and get other people to run with you, you’re going to be using positive peer pressure to follow through on your commitments.
#7) Your race time doesn’t matter! Who cares if you’re the last person to finish? Like the Rock taught us, it doesn’t matter.
What’s important is that you finish something that you started. That’s a huge accomplishment in itself.
#8) Start a running club or join one at work – the more people you surround yourself with that are doing the things you want to do, the better. Hang out with runners that are faster than you.
You’re the average of the 5 people you associate most with, so you might as well start associating with faster, healthy runners.
#9) Don’t have an in-person running community? That’s cool! Join the Scouts Guild in the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
It’s the section of our community that does running, biking, swimming, and other distance-based activities!
#10) Hire a coach. Outside of having a group of friends or co-workers keeping you accountable, a coach who routinely checks in with you and your progress can be a godsend. We’ve helped tons of people build the habit of running!
What Do I do After the Couch to 5k?
You made it through the training, and you ran/walked your first 5K! I’m so proud of you.
Gold star.
A+.
So after successfully completing your first 5K, you may be wondering what you should do next. To run again or not…
Many new runners absolutely love the atmosphere at a race; the number pick- up, pre-race motivational speech, cheering crowds, and crossing that finish line.
Oh, and the post-race beer and meal is the best food and drink you’ve ever tasted.
So after the excitement settles down, you need to ask what you want to do next.
Your three options:
Run Faster: Sign up for another 5K, keep training, and try to beat your previous race time.
Run longer: Maybe you want to run a longer race like a 5 miler, a 10k, or go slay a bigger dragon, like half-marathons or marathons.
Pick a different activity: Going from Couch to 5K to Couch doesn’t help you at all. Temporary changes create temporary results.
Notice there wasn’t a 4th option, the option that usually everybody picks:
“Go back to sitting on the couch”
That’s Mistake #5: not having a plan to CONTINUE exercising after Couch to 5K!
As we say at Nerd Fitness: “Temporary changes create temporary results.”
So you have to do SOMETHING next, otherwise all that hard work and training will have been for naught!
Want help figuring out exactly where you should go from here? I got you!
Pick the option below that best aligns with your goals and timeline:
#1) We have a bunch of NF Coaching clients that are training for 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons, and tough mudders. If you want step-by-step guidance on how to lose weight, eat better, and train for races, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:
2) If you want a fun way to start running 5ks, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get the Nerd Fitness Starter Kit, including the 15 fitness mistakes you don’t want to make and our guide to the most effective diet and why it works
Get Your FREE Nerd Fitness Resource Kit
15 Fitness traps you should avoid
Comprehensive beginner’s guide to Paleo diet
BONUS: How to level up your life and be the hero of your own story
4) Check out these other sweet running resources:
Beginner’s Guide to Running: Covering everything you need to start a running practice, including technique, proper footwear, and a training schedule.
To recap our guide on the Couch the 5K plan, these are the 5 Mistakes to avoid:
Running a 5K might be a good way to lose weight. It is entirely dependent on your nutrition. The same is true of literally ANY workout program. (Mistake #1: Not changing your nutrition)
Couch to 5K may or may not be a great program for you. It depends on how much you enjoy running, and what you are hoping to get out of the program. (Mistake #2: not actually enjoying running)
Make sure you are fit enough to endure the rigors of running! If you’re severely overweight, let’s get you in shape FIRST before we put stress on your knees and joints for thousands of running steps. (Mistake #3: Running before you’re ready)
Make sure your running technique is solid. It’ll save you years of pain and injury. (Mistake #4: Running with improper form)
Recruit a friend or find a way to stay accountable so you actually do the race!
Who cares about your race time! Just completing the race should be your goal.
Once you finish the race, decide if you want to keep running or if you are going to pick a different activity. (Mistake #5: Not having another goal after completing your 5K)
Okay, it’s your turn. I’d love to hear your experiences when it comes to training for a 5K, and if you enjoyed the process.
Have you DONE Couch to 5K? Did you stick with it?
What challenges did you run into along the way?
Share it in the comments below!
-Steve
PS:I’ll leave you with a final reminder of our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. If you’re blown away by the fact that you don’t have to run to get in shape, but don’t know where else to begin, we got you.
So you want to know, “How much water should I drink a day?”
The short answer: drink enough to not be thirsty (maybe slightly more).
The long answer: read this guide for that!
Proper water consumption is a must for health and fitness, which is why we discuss it with every single member of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. We even assign them fun missions to make sure they’re adequately hydrated.
Here’s what we’ll cover to answer the question, “How much water do you really need?”
Pour yourself a glass of water (duh), then let’s do this thing!
Should You Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day? (The Controversy)
First and foremost, yes you need water.
Boom. Article done. I’m going on break.
I kid, I kid.
Water is good for you; a significant portion of your body is composed of water, and when you lose fluids through sweat, exertion, bodily functions, etc, consuming water can help you replenish fluids.
HOWEVER…
The whole “8 glasses of water a day” thing is not law.
In fact, there’s no real proof of this being a proper amount at all.[1]
As we’ve told you before (the perfect workout, the perfect diet), we are all unique snowflakes, and we all require different amounts of water!
Somebody that exercises with regularity and goes on a lot of long runs will require more water than somebody who exercises less regularly.
There’s no exact amount of water that works for each person.
So where did this magical “8 glasses of water a day” number initially come from?
Back in 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council stated that adults should take in about 2.5 liters of water per day (which is roughly the equivalent of eight glasses of water), but it also noted most of that intake level was already satisfied through the consumption of food without the need for the additional drinking of water.
That’s right, you get a SIGNIFICANT amount of water from the food you are consuming. A huge percentage of our body is water, a huge percentage of the planet is water…why wouldn’t a huge percentage of our food be water too?
So, yes. Consuming water is important.
But the 8 glasses a day case doesn’t hold water (ha!), as we get a significant portion of our daily H2O from the food we consume. Things like fruits and vegetables (and even meat) are composed of a tremendous amount of water, all of which count towards our ‘hydration quotient’ for the day.
How Much Water a Day Do You Really Need? (Follow Your Thirst)
So you now know you don’t need to always drink 8 glasses of water.
It could be less and it could be more.
So how much exactly do you need?
Honestly? Drink when you are thirsty.
That’s it. I’m going on vacation!
Kidding again.
Seriously though, your thirst is a pretty damn good indicator of when you should consume more water. Do you think dogs and cats and elephants worry about hydration levels?
Nope – they simply consume water when their body tells them that they are thirsty.
Adorbs.
As nerds, we tend to overthink, overanalyze, and drive ourselves crazy with too much info.
Now, if you happen to be one of those people that needs MORE advice than that, check your urine color.
Weird, I know.
This chart provides a great test for the proper shade of urine:
Things to consider:
You want to aim (not literally) for the first three categories from the top, or “lemonade” color.
If your pee is starting to resemble Lemon Lime Gatorade (4th category down), you’re dehydrated. From here, the darker and browner the color, the more dehydrated you are.
If your pee comes out a different color altogether, I would probably seek medical attention immediately. You’re welcome 🙂
What if your pee doesn’t have ANY color to it? You might actually be “overhydrated,” which we talk about in this section.
So what are the telltale signs that something is wrong, that you are dehydrated?
According to the National Institute of Health,[4] your primary signs of dehydration are:
A feeling of thirst (duh)
Dry or sticky mouth
Low or no urine output; urine looks dark yellow
Sunken eyes
Lethargy
If you are feeling one or some of these symptoms, you may be dehydrated. We want to take this seriously, because SEVERE dehydration can be terrible for your health, even resulting in a coma.
Not good. So drink water whenever you get thirsty.
There’s a myth running around that says “if you are feeling thirsty, it’s too late and you’re already dehydrated.”
This is also not true.[5]If you are feeling the signs of dehydration, consuming some water can get you right back on track.
If you are regularly dehydrated, let’s discuss a quick hack to make sure you’re consistently hydrated.
How to Drink More Water
The above video comes from our Daily Win series as part of Nerd Fitness Prime.
The series is based on quick actions you can take (5 minutes or less) to help you build healthy habits.
In this video, Coach Lauren walks you through a quick hack if you find yourself constantly dehydrated during the day: drink a glass of water first thing in the morning!
That way you can start off properly hydrated before the chaos of the day takes over:
It can also help you wake up to seize the day!
Here are some more tips for drinking plenty of water:
Fill up a water bottle before bed, leave it in plain sight, and drink it first thing in the morning.
If you don’t like the taste of water, you can try adding some cucumber slices and mint leaves to your overnight bottle. Your morning water will soak up the flavor!
If cucumbers or mint ain’t your thing, you could also try some frozen berries or some cut-up lemon.
We’ve heard from many of our coaching clients that water first thing in the AM helps them feel more energized throughout their day.
Next, I want to address a question we get quite often from our readers.
Can You Lose Fat by Drinking Lots of Water? (Weight Loss and Water Intake)
It’s common advice to drink lots of water for weight loss.
Is it legit?
Is there any evidence that drinking plenty of water can help one lose weight?
Eh, there’s a little!
One study conducted had two groups go on the same diet, the only difference being one group had 500 ml of water (about 17 ounces) 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Non-Mandated Water Group: lost about 1.1% body fat
This isn’t a TREMENDOUS difference, but it is interesting!
What might be going on?
Here are two reasons why drinking plenty of water might help with weight loss:
You’re full. Drinking water takes up room in your stomach. There is less room now for food, but also other water like drinks (which may have sugar and hidden calories in it, like fruit juice).
Water consumption may slightly raise your metabolism. I’m not talking a crazy impact here, but one study found your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate or how many calories you burn at rest) is raised by 24% for 60 minutes after drinking 500 ml (17 oz).[7]
Let’s provide some context here.
As we address in our guide “Why Can’t I Lose Weight?”, our bodies obey the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Thermodynamics:
To lose weight, we need to burn more calories than we consume regularly.
The two factors above might lower your “calories in” and raise your “calories out” respectively (a concept we discuss in our Guide to The CICO Diet). This may help someone get in shape.
However, I wouldn’t bet the farm (note to self: buy a farm) on solely drinking water for weight loss. When we highlighted the study above on water consumption and weight loss, it’s important to remember that the two groups were both on a calorically restricted diet. It’s not like strategically drinking water alone made people lose weight.
If you are on a weight loss journey, and wondering what might help, I have two resources for you to check out:
How to Lose Weight Without Dieting (The 5 Rules of Weight Loss): you’ve probably been on a diet before. You might even be on a diet right now. We discuss why they generally don’t work (temporary changes create temporary results) and provide a less conventional but more permanent solution (tiny changes for the win).
Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: many of our clients spent years yo-yoing their weight, going from one diet to another. It’s only when working with one of our coaches that they were able to achieve sustainable weight loss.
I now hear you saying:
“Okay Steve, I got it. I don’t want to be dehydrated, and drinking water before meals may make me feel full. Why don’t I just start pounding water all day long?”
Great question, my dear friend.
Can I Be Overhydrated? (Too Much of a Good Thing)
While being properly hydrated is good, it doesn’t mean chugging a gallon of water during your gym session is a good idea either.
A single individual working for the U.S. military decided that water was a tactical weapon.
That if the military could be encouraged to drink more during maneuvers, they’d have less heatstroke and less illness and they’d be more productive and could be better soldiers. It was purely his idea. It had no scientific basis at all.
Two years later he published a paper supposedly saying that if the US soldiers drank 1.9 liters per hour [64 ounces] when they were exercising in the heat they would perform much better. There was utterly no concrete evidence that that was true.
The problem was, his advice was embraced by the U.S. Military. They changed their drinking guidelines to say that you should now drink 1.9 liters per hour. The same people who drew up those guidelines were then invited by the American College of Sports Medicine to get involved with drawing up guidelines for runners.
In 1996, that culminated with the new American guidelines,[9] which said that you must drink as much as tolerable during exercise, up to 40 ounces per hour.
That became the mantra—that you had to drink before you became thirsty, and as much as possible during exercise. It was after that the problems of hyponatremia really become problematic around the world.
Combine this with the sports beverage industry (which I’ll skewer in a minute) and the bottled water industry (one of the best scams going, which I’ll get to as well), and you have a marketing engine that won’t slow down:
“Drink before you’re thirsty or it’s too late.”
“Running a marathon? It’s better to over hydrate then not drink enough!”
“Better safe than sorry!”
Actually, you CAN overhydrate, and it can be dangerous – it’s called hyponatremia, it’s an electrolyte imbalance from too much water consumed, and it’s bad news bears.[10]
Want to know the people who suffer from hyponatremia the most?
Marathon and ultra-runners.
Dr. Timothy Noakes, the author of Waterlogged, explains that the overconsumption of water can lead to our body developing a severe imbalance of sodium in our system, which can lead to a litany of side effects, even death.[11]
What Noaks discovered people who have dealt with cases of exercise-induced hyponatremia:
“What I’ve found is that all of these people were probably drinking 1.2 liters per hour [40 ounces]. They continue to drink like that for four or five hours. Now, normally, if you’re drinking at that rate, you simply pass it out as urine.
A person who is overdrinking will start passing urine so frequently that they’ll realize, this is stupid. I’m going to stop drinking.
But what happens in hyponatremia is that, for some reason, the brain interprets that the person is dehydrated and secretes the antidiuretic hormone. As a consequence, that prevents all urine production.
Although they are sweating, they may be sweating at a rate of 20 ounces per hour, but they are drinking at a rate of 40 ounces per hour. Every hour they are accumulating 20 ounces. You can do that for a couple of hours, but once you’ve accumulated about 60 to 80 ounces of water in your body, all of your tissues become bloated, and the organ that becomes most affected is the brain.
The brain swells, and because it is in a rigid skull, it cannot swell very much. The more it swells, the more pressure, and that eventually squeezes the arteries supplying blood to the brain. Ultimately, there is less oxygen getting to the brain, and certain parts become damaged.“
Not good.
One 2002 study found that 13% of Boston Marathon runners experienced hyponatremia. While many experience hyponatremia without being in immediate danger, it certainly isn’t healthy.[12]
So, how do you combat this?
Drink when you are thirsty!
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!
Time to answer your next question: “If drinking too much water causes an issue with sodium imbalances, what about sports drinks? They have electrolytes and sodium in them!”
Allow me!
Are Sports Drinks More Hydrating Than Water? (Water, Sugar, Salt, and You)
Michael Jordan is famously seen drinking Gatorade during his flu game in 96, which tells us that without Gatorade he wouldn’t have been able to play:
Little do they tell you that Michael also had another secret weapon at his disposal that helped him play up to snuff in that game: apple sauce!
So why is that famous commercial all about Gatorade and not about apple sauce?
One word, and it rhymes with “honey.”
There’s wayyyy more money in the sports beverage industry, and they can sell on the term “replenish electrolytes” which is actually way simpler to do than they make it out to be.
We’re promised that without the careful combination of electrolytes and ingredients in Gatorade, we’re going to get dehydrated when exercising and suffer.
Here’s what happens: When you sweat, you lose fluids and electrolytes, especially sodium and chloride (which is why your sweat tastes salty…stop tasting your sweat). Now, when you’re lacking fluids and electrolytes, your muscles and performance can suffer.
So that’s where Gatorade ALLEGEDLY will solve all of your problems.
Here’s the truth: unless you are exercising for hours and hours and hours, your electrolyte imbalance will not cause a drop in performance. If you are exercising for an hour or less, some sips of water to quench your thirst is more than enough.
If you ARE exercising for hours upon hours, then additional electrolyte products may help.
In these instances, Gatorade could help potentially, but there’s nothing in Gatorade that’s magic. It’s sugar, water, sodium, potassium, and then some artificial and natural flavoring to make it taste and look the way it does.
Want the benefits of Gatorade while on your marathon run without having to buy Gatorade? Make your own!
As Al Kavado talks about here, try mixing water, honey, salt, and/or lemon juice. Try different combos (mixing in some OJ or using coconut water!)
And just like that, you have your sodium, some sugars, and rehydration. No fancy marketing required.
THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO?
Do some boring cardio for 20 minutes (which burns a minimal number of calories), and then chug a 32 oz Gatorade (200 calories and 50+ grams of sugar!) and think you’re better off.
Negatory!
Water works just fine for 98% of the activities you will ever do.
Does Coffee Dehydrate You? (Caffeine as a Diuretic)
Time to put the myth-busting cap back on: You’ve probably been told that drinking caffeinated beverages will dehydrate you.
That by consuming caffeinated beverages, you’re actually expelling more water than you are consuming.
This is another one of those bits of conventional wisdom that gets blown out of proportion.
Yes, caffeine is a mild diuretic. However, our bodies are pretty darn smart, and because all drinks are composed almost entirely of water, it more than makes up for the effects.
Ingestion of caffeine in large doses (at least 250-300 mg, equivalent to the amount found in 2-3 cups of coffee or 5-8 cups of tea) results in a short-term stimulation of urine output in individuals who have been deprived of caffeine for a period of days or weeks.
A profound tolerance to the diuretic and other effects of caffeine develops, however, and the actions are much diminished in individuals who regularly consume tea or coffee.
Doses of caffeine equivalent to the amount normally found in standard servings of tea, coffee and carbonated soft drinks appear to have no diuretic action.
So coffee can actually help you stay hydrated.
What about alcohol?
Same thing.
Alcohol has diuretic properties, but only causes dehydration when consumed at beyond normal levels. (Here’s our Guide to Drinking, which covers our thoughts on being a fit nerd that can still enjoy an occasional cocktail.)
What ALLLLL OF THIS MEANS:
Drink when you are thirsty.
All liquids you consume count towards hydration, and only in cases of overconsumption can they negatively affect your hydration.
A Note on Bottled Water (Invest in a Water Filter)
In 2019, total U.S. bottled water consumption increased to 14.4 billion gallons, up from 9.1 billion gallons in 2011.[14]
Every person in America drank an average of 43.7 gallons of bottled water last year.
Bottled water sales increased by 3.6 percent in 2019, and now total $34.6 billion.
Yikes,
It is very likely that your local tap water is fine!
Check your local government for more information, but if you live in the United States, chances are your tap water is equal or better to the bottled stuff! Heck Coca-Cola knows this, as their Dasani Brand is ultimately filtered tap water.[15]
Want that bottle of Fiji water because it’s clean and pure and provides you with magical abilities like a waterbender?
There is less arsenic in Cleveland Tap water than Fiji water![16] Much less expensive too 🙂
If you don’t like the taste of, or are concerned about your local tap water, try a Brita filter or something equivalent. Stop going through hundreds of plastic bottles of water every year, and drink the water you already have available to you.
Yes, if the choice is between no beverage, a Coke, or a bottle of water, go with the bottled water!
Just don’t go out of your way to buy water from the polar ice caps, Hoth glaciers, or the Swiss Alps because you think it’s going to be healthier for you, provide you with more of a benefit than regular water.
That’s all hype, sucka!
So go invest in a nice refillable water bottle. You can even snag a Nerd Fitness one if you want!
Staying Properly Hydrated (Next Steps)
There you have it, the long answer on how much water you should drink.
Water keeps your body functioning properly. Consume it when you feel the need and your thirst will be quenched, your body will stay regulated, and you will live to see tomorrow.
On top of that, consuming water before a meal can help you feel fuller and thus prevent you from overeating.
If this works for you, keep doing what you’re doing!
Water should definitely be consumed when you are thirsty!
But the importance of water has been overblown, and you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars each year on fancy bottled water from glaciers.
Here’s how often you should drink H2O::
Chill out about water, don’t overthink it.
Drink when you feel thirsty.
If your pee is a darker color than normal, drink more water.
Don’t stress about drinking water neurotically throughout the day.
Don’t bother with sports drinks unless your exercise is intense, over several hours, or in very hot conditions.
I think that about does it for today’s guide.
If you’d like to join our community, I have three ways for you to continue your journey with Nerd Fitness:
#1) Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.
You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the image below for more details:
#2) If you want an exact blueprint leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
If you follow our Nutrition missions, you’ll learn to drink more water while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.
Try your free trial right here:
#3) Join The Rebellion! We have a free email newsletter that we send out twice per week, full of tips and tricks to help you get healthy, get strong, and have fun doing so.
I’ll also send you tons of free guides that you can use to start leveling up your life too:
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
Have any more questions for me? What else do you need to know about water?
Let’s hear it.
-Steve
PS: We walk about how water fits into a proper diet in our Guide to Healthy Eating. Check it out if you’re just embarking on leveling up your nutrition game.
The HuffPost has a good interview with Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which discusses this issue. Check it out here.
The study was called, “Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults.” Source, PubMed.
Read, “Water drinking induces thermogenesis through osmosensitive mechanisms.” Source, PubMed.
Today, you’re gonna learn the importance of warming up, and how to warm up with specific video routines…because I’m a nice person.
This is so critical for training safely that whenever we design a workout for our coaching clients, it always starts with a proper warm-up. So I’m excited to share these warm-up tips and tricks with you too.
In this guide we’ll cover the following (click to go to that section):
This stuff is so important because getting injured sucks.
And every single day I watch people wander into the gym, immediately lie down on a bench, and start cranking out their workout with a heavy weight within seconds.
This makes me weep for humanity.
These people are just WAITING to get injured. They’re essentially playing with dynamite (also not recommended).
So you’re reading the right article.
Also, if you’re interested in a program that tells you exactly how to warm up and work out, you may like our new app!
Nerd Fitness Journey will set you on an adventure that will tell you exactly when to workout, when to warm up, and when you should rest. No guesswork needed.
You can sign-up for a free trial right here:
Should I Stretch Before A Workout? No. Warm Up Instead
Above all else, the most important thing you can do when working out is to warm up properly.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, “Come on. Surely it’s not the MOST important thing…”
To which I’d reply: “First, don’t call me Shirley. Secondly, if you don’t have enough time to warm up, then you don’t have enough time to work out.”
Boom!
So WHY is it so important?
Think of your muscles like rubber bands.
If you spend all day sitting at a desk, hunched over a keyboard, those rubber bands have gone almost completely unused.
Then, if you go to a gym and immediately start lifting heavy weights or sprinting really fast, those cold, unstretched rubber bands get pulled apart very quickly and can get snapped or pulled out of shape.
#Fail.
So, what about just regular, static stretching before working out?
However, dynamic warm-ups – what you’ll learn in this article and what we focus on with our 1-on-1 coaching clients – are AWESOME for prepping you to get ready to strength train:
Think of it like a pregaming for your muscles – except replace “alcohol” with “awesome.” By jumping around and getting your muscles loose, active, warm, and ready for action, you are putting your muscles through their full range of motion and getting them ready to start handling heavier loads (strength training).
As pointed out in this study, “warming up” can also help reduce soreness after a workout.
On top of that, doing a dynamic warm-up can help activate your central nervous system, priming your muscles for a great workout that produces your best effort.
Add “improved blood circulation” to the list of benefits of warming up, which will help you perform well in each exercise.
Need another reason? When your body is properly warmed up, your muscles and joints are ready for maximum flexibility, which means you can perform each exercise with PROPER form (like deep barbell squats, for example) that maximize results and minimize the risk of injury.
So, whether you are running or strength training…a proper warm-up is probably the most important 5-10 minutes of your day.
Still with me?
Great. If you have been injured in the past, and you’re learning to warm up so you can stop stalling out on your progress, let us help!
We create custom workout solutions with nutritional guidance for busy people like you.
In other words, we help you get strong and eat better, every step of the way.
Don’t overthink this: Your goal is to elevate your heart rate, put your muscles and joints through their range of motion to warm them up and make sure everything is functioning properly, and preparing your body to strength train!
If you read the above paragraph and thought: “Yes I am doing strength training, please tell me more Steve! More!”
Firstly, thanks for saying please – your mom taught you well.
Next: let us help get you strong, safely! We help busy people go from strength-training-newbie to strength training badasses.
Whether you’re doing bodyweight or new to weight training, we create a workout program and provide food guidance that’s specific to YOUR life.
3 Advanced Dynamic Warm-Ups And Videos
#1) Here is an Advanced Warm-up Circuit you can do anywhere:
Jump rope: 2-3 minutes (optional)
Jumping jacks: 50 reps(pull your shoulder blades back, extend arms and really focus on the movement)
Bodyweight Squats: 20 reps
Lunges: 5 reps each leg
Hip extensions: 10 reps
Hip rotations: 10 reps each leg (like you’re stepping over a fence)
Forward leg swings: 10 reps each leg.
Side leg swings: 10 reps each leg
Push-ups: 10-20 reps
Spider-man steps: 5 each leg
This particular warm-up might be more difficult than your actual workout, especially if you’re following something like The Beginner Bodyweight Workout.
Yes, there is a lot of work put on your hips, butt, legs, and core. As nerds/desk jockeys, these tend to be the muscles that are the tighest and least active, and thus most susceptible to an injury.
If your arms and chest are particularly tight or sore, you can throw two more movements as well:
Arm swings (holding your arms straight out to the side, and then swing them and cross them in front of your chest)
Shoulder rotations (holding your arms straight out to the side, and move your arms in a circular motion, making bigger circles each time)
Are you a runner?
#2) Check out our warm-up routine specifically designed for runners:
#3) Here’s another advanced dynamic warm-up video from my coach, Anthony, which also covers a lot of Mobility:
When it comes time for your workout, if you are doing heavy strength training (with barbells or dumbbells), make sure you do some warm-up sets before jumping into the weight you’ll be training with for EACH EXERCISE.
Always start with a set using just the bar to work on your form and get your body used to the movement.
Then, do a few sets of just a few reps with increasing weight (but won’t tire you out) and THEN start your workout.
It’s something we bring up before every workout in Nerd Fitness Journey, our new habit-building app! If you want, you can test drive it right now for free!
15 Best Dynamic Warm-Up Exercises To Prevent Injury
These are our favorite quick warm-up exercises that can help you prevent an injury during your workout!
Marching in place while swinging your arms.
Jumping jacks
Walking jacks
Arm circles and shoulder shrugs.
Mountain Climbers
Swinging toe touches.
Leg swings (forward)
Leg swings (side to side).
Hip rotations (like stepping over a fence)
Hip circles (like you’re hula hooping)
Bodyweight squats.
Push-ups.
Lunges.
Hip extensions.
Get into the habit of doing these exercises before doing any workout. They’ll help keep you mobile and limber and injury free. If you’re not sure how to do any of these movements, watch the videos for them below.
Oh, what’s that? You’re new to strength training and not sure what you’re doing? No problem!
We help people exactly like you.
Well, not exactly. You’re a unique snowflake, your mom loves you, etc.
What I mean is we help people like you to start strength training.
We do form checks, create custom workouts based on your equipment and time commitment, and more.
To Answer Your First Few Questions…
“Steve, I can’t do jumping jacks/I live on the second floor.”
That’s okay – the reason I love jumping jacks is that they work out all four of your limbs at once and get you bouncing around.
Instead, channel your inner Chuck Norris and do punches and kicks with each leg. I don’t care if you can’t kick higher than your shins and your punch wouldn’t kill a fly…just get those limbs flailing and warmed up!
You could also just do “Walking Jacks.”
“Um, your warm-up is tougher than my actual workout!”
The dynamic warm-up above is designed for people who are doing serious training.
If you are doing heavy deadlifts and squats and overhead presses, a proper warm-up could keep you out of a career-ending injury.
However, if you are just getting started with exercise and you’re only doing bodyweight exercises, obviously 20 real push-ups during your workout isn’t possible…
THAT’S OKAY. Think of the above as the warm-up you aspire to complete. In the meantime, do the best you can. Let’s say:
With enough consistency and persistency (not a word, but rhymed better and sounded way better than persistence), you’ll be busting out the full warm-up routine before kicking ass at your actual workout!
Don’t have a program to follow? Or tired of following a random plan online that’s not getting you results?
Check out our Online Coaching Program – we’ll take care of all the heavy lifting (except the actual “heavy lifting,” that’s your job).
Warm-Up Properly and Avoid Injury!
Hopefully, this is a post you bookmark, as it’s probably one of the more important ones I’ve ever written.
If you want to stay injury-free, put your body through a dynamic warm-up before you start your exercise.
If you are somebody that wants to follow a program that is tailor-made for their life and situation and goals, check out our popular 1-on-1 Coaching program.
You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself, answer any and all fitness questions you have, and program your workouts and nutrition for you.
What other questions can I answer for you about warming up properly?
I’m here to help!
-Steve
PS: Still here, but not sure what to do after your warm-up? Why not let our app tell you exactly what to do!
PPS: The companion post to this guide is “How to Stretch After a Workout.” Give it a read if you’re wondering about what post-workout routines you should try.
Want to get strong like these LEGO lifters but don’t how to start?
In this Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training (part of our Strength 101 series), you’ll have both the confidence to start getting strong with resistance training AND a plan to follow.
These are the exact strategies we use with our Online Coaching Clients to help them start strength training, and I’m excited to cover everything you need.
By the way, we’ve combined this article along with the rest of our strength articles into a “Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know” guide.
Grab it free when you join the Rebellion by putting your email in the box below.
Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
How Do I Start Strength Training?
Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.
You’ll look back years from now and thank “Past You” for starting strength training today.
And I promise, you WILL strength train today.
After all, strength training or resistance training doesn’t need to be scary or overcomplicated!
Strength training really comes down to two things:
#1) Movement of any weight against “resistance”(including your body weight) – Doing ANY exercise that pushes your muscles outside of their comfort zone, forcing them to rebuild stronger to prepare for the next challenge.
#2) Progressive overload: doing slightly more than last time (lift heavier weight or do 1 more rep) consistently. Your muscles will constantly have to adapt and rebuild themselves. These microscopic tears (that don’t hurt) force your muscles to go through hypertrophy, meaning they grow bigger and stronger so they can meet the demands of the exercise.[1]
Coach Jim explains the ins and outs of progressive overload in this video:
That’s all there is to it:do some resistance training and attempt to make it more and more challenging, and you’ll grow stronger.[2]
This means if you drop down and do ONE knee push-up right now, technically you’ve done a strength training workout.
It also means if you then do TWO knee push-ups tomorrow, then you are officially following a strength training routine.
In other words…
Now, there are many different “strength training” and “resistance training” paths.
Like a “skill tree” in a video game (with branching paths and progressions), you can progress up one path, and mix and match movements from others depending on the situation.
These paths depend on your goals and what equipment you have available to you.
What Are Some Examples of Strength Training?
Let’s chat about a few different types of strength training.
#1) BODYWEIGHT TRAINING
Bodyweight training is simply doing an exercise in which your own body is the “weight” you are “lifting.”
Duh.
This is the BEST place for anybody – regardless of weight or age – to start their strength training journey.
Why is this the best place to start? Two big reasons:
A) You always have your body with you (unless you are a ghost, in which case, this is awkward). This means you can work out ANYWHERE with bodyweight training:
B) Using your body for resistance training is the most “human” thing ever! By learning to push and pull and hang and squat and lunge, you are doing what your body is literally designed to do.
By getting strong with bodyweight movements, you’re making yourself antifragile and less injury-prone.
Now, it’s SCIENCE TIME!
While learning the movements with bodyweight exercises, you are allowing for proper communication to develop between your neuromuscular systems.
More efficient communication between your neuromuscular systems will result in something known as “proper motor unit recruitment.”
You may be asking yourself: what is a motor unit?
That’s okay because I was asking myself this same question.
A motor unit is a single motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates.
You can think of two different types of motor units:[3]
We all have small motor units, meaning that a single motor neuron innervates relatively few muscle fibers, and these smaller motor units are good for precise and detailed movements (e.g., moving your fingers).
We all also have large motor units, meaning that a single motor neuron innervates hundreds of muscle fibers, and these larger motor units are good for generating a lot of force (e.g., getting larger muscle groups like the quads to generate a lot of force to help in sprinting).
When you start strength training, you really are helping your muscles communicate bettertogether.[4] This is why we recommend starting with bodyweight exercises, to help start this process.
However, bodyweight training isn’t as easy to ‘scale’ the difficulty as some of the other strength training methods (“put more weight on barbell”), but you can get REALLY strong with just bodyweight training.
For example, you can start with knee push-ups, then go to regular push-ups, then elevated push-ups, then even up to things like handstands and handstand push-ups.
You just have to know HOW and WHEN to scale up (we can help there too).
#2) DUMBBELL TRAINING
Dumbbells are a great first step into the world of weight training and strength training:
Most gyms will have dumbbells, even if it’s a basic gym in your apartment complex.
A set of dumbbells doesn’t take up a lot of room, which means you can have a pair at home without a large footprint.
Dumbbells make it easy to add difficulty to a bodyweight movement: holding dumbbells while doing lunges, for example.
Dumbbell exercises can be less intimidating than barbell training for some, and are a step towards barbell training.
Dumbbells have an added stabilization challenge,[4] and will point out muscle imbalances pretty easily (“oh my right arm is stronger than my left arm.”).
Dumbbells allow for single-arm and single-leg exercises to be performed. This can allow you to strengthen any muscle imbalances and can come in handy especially after an injury.
You can scale easily. Once the 10-pound weights become too easy, pick up the 15-pound ones!
#3) KETTLEBELL TRAINING
A kettlebell is essentially a cannonball with a handle on it. They come in any weight imaginable, they don’t take up a lot of room, and can be used in dozens of ways for a great compact workout.
Our 20-minute kettlebell workout has 8 simple exercises you can do with just one weight.
Although there are “adjustable kettlebells,” you’ll most likely be working with a single kettlebell, and then adjusting your movements for “progressive overload” (making the workout slightly more difficult each time).
If you are a member at a gym, they’ll probably have multiple kettlebells that you can use to level up.
#4) BARBELL TRAINING
Regardless of sex or gender age, if your goal is to get strong quickly, use 20 seconds of courage and get comfortable training with a barbell (I’ll help you, I promise):
“Progressive overload” is easy – you simply add weights to either side of the bar, allowing you to progressively lift more and more weight each week.
It’s much easier to go heavy safely – especially for lower body movements like the squat and the deadlift.
The biggest downside to barbell training is that in order to train at home, you need to have purchased a squat rack, a barbell, a bench, and enough weights for your house or garage (which can be an expensive investment, especially when starting out!).
Not sure which path to pick? You’re not alone – this stuff can be overwhelming. Check out our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. We get to know you and your goals, will check your form via video, and make adjustments based on your progress!
Which Strength Training Program is Right for Me?
So, what’s the best workout program to start as a beginner?
Realistically, it’s the one that you will ACTUALLY do.
Barbell training might be optimal in terms of building pure strength quickly, but if you don’t see yourself getting to the gym regularly – or you’re too self-conscious to enter the free weight section (for now) – no problem!
Conversely, bodyweight training might seem convenient and easy to start now, but if you can’t motivate yourself to work out at home, you might be better off joining a gym.[6]
So let’s get you a workout program!
As we cover in our “How to Find the Perfect Workout Plan (for you)”: MOST beginners will be best served by following a “full-body” or “total body” routine, 2 to 3 times per week, with a day of rest in between each workout.[7]
This full-body workout will have 4-5 big compound movements.
A compound movement is an exercise that recruits LOTS of muscles simultaneously and forces your body to work in unison. These compound exercises are considered multi-joint exercises meaning that they involve more than a single muscle group.[8]
An example would be the barbell squat, which recruits every muscle in your core, butt, and legs to work together to lift the weight.
This is WAY more efficient – and effective at building pure strength – than doing 5 different isolated leg exercises.[9]
Why do 5 exercises when 1 exercise will get you better results in 20% of the time?
To answer your next question, let me tell you about how many sets and reps you should do as a beginner!
Reps in the 1-5 range build super dense muscle and strength.
Reps in the 6-12 range build equal amounts of muscular power, strength, and size.
Reps in the 12+ range primarily build muscular endurance and size and also cardiovascular health.[10]
If you want more, Coach Jim breaks down different set and rep ranges in this video:
Many beginner strength programs will encourage you to keep things simple, doing just 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise.
Personally, I encourage people to aim for a weight that they can lift for 8-10 reps. This gives you a chance to really work on your form and lift safely!
The max lifts will come later, my friend. You gotta learn to walk before you can run!
If your main goal is to get stronger and/or put on muscle, following a more traditional, pure-strength-style gym workout is going to get you there faster.
TRUTH BOMB: ANY strength training workout will help you reach nearly any goal provided you do two things:
Increase the difficulty of your workouts. This is that “progressive overload” stuff we were talking about earlier. Doing 1 more bodyweight squat, lifting 5 more pounds, or completing your circuit 10 seconds faster than last workout. By forcing your body to constantly adapt, your muscles will never get complacent and have to keep burning extra calories and rebuilding themselves stronger.
Depending on your current situation, and how quickly you’re looking to cut through the “trial and error” and get expert guidance, I might have an interesting solution for you.
We have a pretty killer 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program here at Nerd Fitness. You’ll work with a coach that will build a workout program for your body type and goals, check your form to make sure you’re doing them safety, and even help plan out your nutrition too.
The 5 Best Beginner Strength Training Programs
“Alright Staci, are there any ‘out of the box’ beginner workout programs I can start following now?”
Yup! Let me share with you some of our suggestions:
Here are 5 resistance training workouts you can follow TODAY. Pick the level that you feel most comfortable with, and then level up when you feel ready:
#1) BEGINNER BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT:
Our Beginner Bodyweight Workout has a variety of rep ranges to promote endurance, strength, and cardiovascular health.
Complete one set of each exercise and then moving directly to the next exercise:
Otherwise, you can move onto weight training when you feel comfortable!
#2A) BEGINNER NERD FITNESS DUMBBELL WORKOUT
If you are just getting started with dumbbells and you’re looking for a beginner workout program to follow, this is our Level 3 Gym Workout, “Dumbbell Division”:
10 goblet squats
10 push-ups
10 dumbbell rows per side
I knew you’d ask, so here is Goblet Squat video explanation (from Nerd Fitness Prime):
So, probably not in a phone booth or a closet or a bathroom stall. But other than that, pretty much anywhere else.
Complete 3 Kettlebell Workout Circuits:
8 Halos (each side)
10 Goblet Squats
8 Overhead Presses (each side)
15 Kettlebell Swings
8 Bent Over Rows (each side)
6 Front Rack Reverse Lunge (per side)
#3) BARBELL TRAINING: 2 DAY WORKOUT SPLIT
As we cover in our “How to Train in a Gym” guide (where we take you from “lost sheep” to “barbell badass”), this routine is a much more focused weight training, strength building workout that gets your feet wet with barbell training. Click on ANY exercise to learn how to do it properly.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER POPULAR STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRAMS?
#1) “Starting Strength” is considered the gold standard beginner barbell weight training program by many. We highly recommend you pick up the actual book if you are serious about barbell training – it’s one of the most important training books you can ever read.
#2) Strong Lifts 5X5:A solid workout program that starts you out very slow, with just the barbell, and helps you master form before you get too heavy. It also keeps things VERY easy with “do 5×5.” Strong Lifts has been around for a long time and is a solid program.
#3) Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1: This program allows you a little more freedom to do exercises that you enjoy, or work on personal weaknesses, because you choose some of the assistance work.
Note: You can modify any of the barbell training programs to be done with dumbbells, if that’s what you have at home!
Lastly, you can always write your own workout plan! I wrote my own workouts for a decade and it taught me a LOT about training and health.
We do have our own 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program where you’ll work with a coach that will build a strength training workout program for your body type and goals, check your form on each exercise via video, and even help you plan out your nutrition too.
The simple to learn but tough to implement answer: lift enough so that you can get through the set, but not too much that you have NO fuel left in the tank at the end.
And then, try to lift sliiiightly more than last time.
Here are two common questions on strength training:
#1) How much weight should I start with?
If you are using dumbbells or a kettlebell, always err on the side of “too light” versus “too heavy.” You want to learn the movement correctly and build correct form.
If you are training with a barbell, ALWAYS start with JUST the bar, no matter the exercise (By the way, a standard barbell weighs 45 pounds).
#2) How fast should I add weight to the bar?
Here’s what we teach all of our coaching clients: add the minimum amount of weight each week you can, even if you THINK you can lift more. It’s better to finish a workout full of momentum and say “I can do more!” than defeated and saying “that was too much, crapola.”
Think of it this way, even if you are adding just 5 pounds per week to the bar, within a year you would be lifting 300+ pounds!
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recommends a similar approach:[14]
For less trained people (i.e., beginners), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 2 – 5 pounds and by 5 – 10 pounds for lower body exercises.
For more trained people (i.e., advanced), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 5 – 10 pounds or more and by 10 – 15 pounds or more for lower body exercises.
So go SLOW. Even slower than the NSCA recommends if needed.
Team NF’s Steve even bought little half-pound weights and increases many of his lifts by just 1 pound per week. It’s a big part of how he transformed (jokingly) from Steve Rogers to Captain America.
And if you are looking for this content in easily digestible form, make sure you download our free Strength 101 Guide when you join the Rebellion below:
Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
The 9 Best Strength Training Exercises to Learn
If you’re new to all this “strength training” stuff, hopping into a program and going from zero to sixty might be a recipe for failure.
Instead, be patient, and take the time to learn these movements first.
I’m going to share with you the 9 best strength training exercises that every beginner should master (scroll down for full video and explanations!):
1. Push-up: uses every push muscle in your body (chest, shoulders, triceps)
2. Bodyweight squat: uses every muscle in the lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes, core)
3. Bodyweight row: works every “pull” muscle and helps prepare you for a pull-up!
4. Pull-up or chin-up: the best “pull” exercise in history! Everybody should have a goal to get their first pull-up.
5. Bodyweight dip: advanced “push” movement that targets your push muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps) in a different way than push-ups.
6. Barbell squat: the best bang for your buck on muscle building. recruits nearly every push muscle in your whole body, and great core workout.
7. Barbell deadlift: the favorite exercise of every coach at Nerd Fitness. Uses every “pull,” leg, and core muscle in your body.
8. Barbell benchpress: as basic and powerful as they come. Uses every “push” movement in your upper body and can get you strong as heck!
9. Barbell press: press the bar above your head! Targets shoulders and triceps more than the chest.
All of the exercises listed above are considered functional (closed-chain) exercises. That means they relate to our everyday movements and can be used to predict our success in sports, recreational and occupational activities, and activities of daily living.[15]
When attempting all of these above listed exercises, aim to master the movement and perform the exercise through its entire range of motion (ROM).
Why?
Because it will decrease your risk for injury, activate all of the appropriate muscle groups, and result in greater muscle hypertrophy.[16]
Let’s go over these now.
Click on any of these exercises to get a FULL explanation of the movement, step-by-step:
1) The Push-Up: The best exercise you could ever do for yourself when it comes to using your bodyweight for push muscles (your chest, shoulders, and triceps):
2) The Bodyweight Squat: This exercise serves a dual purpose: it is the foundation for building strength AND helps build proper mobility. If you are going to ever do barbell squats, you need to work on hitting proper depth with a bodyweight squat first!
3) The Inverted Bodyweight Row: Until you can get your first pull-up or chin-up, these exercises are GREAT to start building your pull-muscle strength: your back, biceps, and forearms.
4) The Pull-Up and Chin-Up: Once you can support your bodyweight above the bar, the world becomes your playground. No strength training routine should be without pull-up or chin-up work! (Click here if you can’t do a pull-up or chin-up yet?)
5) The Bodyweight Dip: As you start to get stronger with push-ups and need to find a way to increase the challenge, consider doing dips – warning: these are very advanced, but incredible strength building exercises.
And now we’re into the best weight training exercises:
6) The Barbell Squat: Probably the best exercise when it comes to building strength and muscle throughout your whole body. It also burns crazy calories and makes life better. This is a MUST:
7) The Barbell Deadlift: Maybe the best exercise of all time. Actually no, it IS the best exercise of all time. It’s certainly the most primal: “pick the weight up off the ground. Done.”
This is a very technical lift, so make sure you read our article on how to do it with proper form:
8) The Barbell Press: Press a barbell above your head. This recruits all of the muscles in your chest, shoulders, and arms in order for you to lift the weight over your head.
As a bonus, you need to really flex and brace your core, which gets those muscles working too.
9) The Barbell Bench Press. Lie on a bench, and lower a barbell until it almost touches your chest. Pause, and press it back up towards the sky. Repeat! And get strong.
NOTE: All exercises were explained according to the guidelines that have been established by the NSCA.[17]
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: commit to trying ONE of these movements in the next week. Use 20 seconds of courage, recruit a friend who has lifted or trained before, and try your best.
And if you want somebody to help you put these into a workout program, teach you HOW to do these movements properly, and have the confidence to know you’re training correctly for your goals…
How to Know You’re Doing a Strength Training Movement Properly (Form Checks)
Always start out with just your body’s weight and make sure your movement is correct!
If it’s a barbell movement, use a broomstick (or PVC Pipe).
If it’s a dumbbell movement, use two sections of PVC or something else that is light and small to simulate a dumbbell.
When it comes to movements like squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, bench press, your form is crucial. Develop good habits with lightweight and you will save yourself months of frustration later and will protect you from injury.[18]
If you’re struggling with certain elements of a movement, don’t get frustrated! Remember, proper communication between your neuromuscular systems needs to develop.
Do regular video form checks! Record yourself and watch the video.
Alternatively, an expert reviewing your specific movement can be invaluable.
If you’re looking for someone who can do video form checks, provide feedback, and adjust your workouts based on your progress, you can check out our 1-on-1 Online Personal Training!
I’ve had an online coach for 4 years and it’s changed my life.
You could also get expert guidance in person: Look around at your local strength and conditioning gyms and see if you could hire a coach (here’s how to find a good personal trainer) for one or two sessions just to go over the basic movements.
If you can’t do either of those two options, no big deal! Videotape yourself and compare it to the videos here in the articles. You can also post your video to the form check section of the Nerd Fitness Forums.
When I started, I really liked practicing all of the movements at home because I could watch a video online at the same time as I was watching myself do it in a mirror. Studies have found this can actually help![20]
Not only that, but you can find study after study after study that shows you the benefits of strength training for weight management when combined with “calorie restriction.”[22]
As we cover in our “Why Can’t I Lose Weight?” article, here’s why eating a caloric deficit and strength training is SO magical when combined:
When you strength train – by picking up something heavy – your muscles are “broken down” during the exercise itself, and then they rebuild themselves stronger over the next 24-48 hours.
Guess what happens during those 24-48 hours?
Your body will divert as many calories consumed as necessary to “Rebuild Muscle!”[23]
It also diverts additional calories to “Burn as Fuel” to handle this increased “muscle rebuilding” activity.
This means two amazing things:
Your metabolism is revved up for this time period, burning more calories than normal.
Rebuilding muscle is a calorie-taxing activity!
Not only that, but when you eat a caloric deficit, your body doesn’t have enough calories to fuel all the day’s activities. In these instances, your body will pull from your stored fat to make sure all the work still gets done.
This is the trifecta of physical transformation victory:
You get stronger and keep the muscle you have.
You burn through the fat you’re trying to get rid of.
You’re decreasing your body fat percent and keeping your muscle = look good naked.
In other words, strength training + eating right is the BEST path for weight loss out there! And yes, in certain situations, you can actually lose weight AND build muscle at the same time.
Coach Matt explains how to gain muscle WHILE losing fat in this video:
So how do you put this into practice? Pick one of the strength workouts in this article. Calculate your daily caloric needs. Learn about healthy eating. And start.
These are the types of things we work on with our 1-on-1 Coaching Clients: helping them lift weights confidently and eat correctly for their goals! Let us help you:
“Just Tell Me What Strength Training Program to Follow!”
Okay! Unless you are collecting underpants, you should now have a workout program you want to try out!
“Staci, this is a lot, can you just TELL me what to do?”
Okay fine.
Here are the steps again for you:
STEP #1: PICK YOUR WORKOUT PATH:
A) If YOU ARE TRAINING AT HOME. Pick one of these 3 based on what equipment you have:
STEP #2: TRY A NEW EXERCISE: In addition to following a workout program, I’m gonna push outside of your comfort zone – that’s where real growth happens.
STEP #3) HIRE A YODA: If you are somebody that just wants to be told exactly what to, how to train for your goals, and are good at following direction, consider hiring a coach.
I’ve been working with an online coach since 2014 and it has changed my life – and I do this stuff for a living!
STEP #4) JOIN THE REBELLION! If you like how we do things around here at Nerd Fitness, we’d love to have you in our community of misfits, mutants, and rebels!
Sign up in the box below and I’ll send you our free Strength 101 guide:
Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
No matter what you do today:
Don’t be afraid of doing anything wrong – truth be told, the majority of the people in the gym don’t have any idea what they are doing, and are just as nervous as you are!
Muster up your 20 seconds of courage if you need to, and let me know in the comments how it goes!
What questions do you have about getting started?
So, what’s the biggest thing holding you back from starting strength training?
-Staci
PS – Check out the rest of the articles in our Strength Training 101 series:
Powers SK, Howley ET. (2011). Exercise physiology: Theory and application to fitness and performance. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
in order to achieve your training goals or to see improvements, your training must gradually and constantly increase. (Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.)
When you first start strength training, your motor units don’t fire as quickly and smaller motor units that don’t generate a lot of force are recruited. This results in poor technique, you not being able to lift a lot of weight, and an increased risk for injury. However, as you continue working out and become more trained, your motor units fire more rapidly and your brain recruits larger motor units that results in improved technique, greater force generation allowing you to lift heavier weights, and a decreased risk for injury.
This study found that when the chest press exercise required higher stability requirements (dumbbells), it resulted in similar pectoralis major and anterior deltoid activation, lower triceps brachii activation, and higher biceps brachii muscle activity. These findings show that different modes of strength training will result in different patterns of muscle activation, with free weight modes (barbell and dumbbells) having more muscle activation than machine (Smith machine)
As you may recall, this will initially allow you to learn the movements and also allow for proper communication to develop between your neuromuscular systems.
Or maybe grab a friend. Research has shown that exercising with a partner has the potential to increase exercise motivation, adherence, intensity, and/or duration.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) simply recommends that a strength training program should be performed a minimum of two non-consecutive days each week, with 2 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions for healthy adults or 10 to 15 repetitions for older and frail individuals. Eight to 10 exercises should be performed that target the major muscle groups.
Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
To be fair, both compound (closed-kinetic chain) and isolation (open-kinetic chain) exercises all have their time and place. Isolation exercises are better served to target muscle imbalances and to reverse the effects of muscle atrophy after sustaining an injury or having a surgical procedure.
For reference, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recommends 6-12 reps for 3-6 sets for muscle hypertrophy and more than 12 reps for 2-3 sets for muscular endurance.
Circuit training results in a higher excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) resulting in great caloric expenditure when compared to traditional strength training with longer rest intervals in-between sets and exercises.
As we touch on in other articles, the two main drivers of muscle protein synthesis (i.e., muscle hypertrophy) are strength training and ingestion of protein.
We also recommend trying to minimize the rest interval in-between each exercise as much as possible. Why? As mentioned earlier in this article, circuit training results in a higher excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) resulting in great caloric expenditure (decrease fat mass and increase fat-free mass) when compared to traditional strength training with longer rest intervals in-between sets and exercise.
Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Performing an exercise through its full ROM relates to the length-tension relationship, which states that muscles should be stretched to 100-130% of its resting length. The importance of stretching a muscle to 100-130% of its resting length is to ensure maximal cross-bridge interaction between actin and myosin. When one has maximal cross-bridge interaction that will result in more force being produced by the muscle and eventually greater improvements in muscle hypertrophy. Some examples of stretching muscles to 100-130% of its resting length include when the barbell touches the chest during the bench press exercise or when your thighs are parallel to the floor during the descent phase of the squat. Additionally, it is also recommended to perform the appropriate sequence of exercises to decrease your risk for injury (e.g., large before small muscle group exercises, multiple-joint exercises before single-joint exercises, and higher-intensity before lower-intensity exercises). Performing exercises in this sequence will ensure that the higher-intensity exercises will be performed with minimal muscle fatigue.
Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Both research investigations and clinical experiences have indicated that strength training is safe for healthy adults and older adults, frail older adults, and individuals with disorders and/or diseases. Cases of injuries associated with strength training have been found to be related to heavy and repetitive workload, unfavorable positioning or incorrect technique, and exercise selection.
Also keep in mind how you are practicing and learning the exercise. You can learn exercises by utilizing the whole method of practice, in which the whole technique is practiced intact. Or you can utilize the part method (AKA the whole-part-whole method). With this method, you practice the exercise in parts, and then recombine the parts back into the whole technique. The whole method is best used for simple movements (e.g., biceps curl), while the part method is best used for more complex lifts (e.g., power clean).
Observing the performance of another who is successful at performing a certain exercise is known as a vicarious experience. It has been found that vicarious experiences can enhance self-efficacy (i.e., belief in your own abilities) when observing successful performances.
More specifically, you want to seek a calorie deficit (hypocaloric diet) and this can best be established by subtracting 250-500 less kcal/day from what you normally consume. Additionally, you want to make sure you are still consuming adequate amounts of protein (1.2-1.6 g/kg bodyweight spread evenly throughout the day) to be protective of lean mass loss. Finally, carbohydrates and fat may be reduced from your normal intake to satisfy the needed caloric deficit at the expense of protein. However, make sure you are still consuming enough carbohydrate to maintain exercise performance and not cause a hypoglycemic response.
Like this study and this study and this one. Another research investigation found that during a 40% calorie deficit diet, consumption of a diet containing 2.4 g/kg/day of protein was more effective than consumption of a diet containing 1.2 g/kg/day of protein in promoting increases in muscle mass and losses of fat mass when combined with a high volume of resistance and anaerobic exercise (exercise 6 times per week [2 sessions of resistance training, 1 session of plyometric training, and 3 sessions of HIIT cycling]).
ATP is needed to power the synthesis of proteins that are used for muscle hypertrophy and a higher amount of oxygen is needed post-exercise to produce ATP. This results in two things: muscle hypertrophy happening and additional caloric expenditure. Additionally, without sufficient oxygen, our bodies have the potential to activate proteins that increase muscle fiber degradation and limit hypertrophy.
If you have access to a gym, you have a lot of circuit options.
