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You should track your workouts. But I get it. Who wants more stuff to track? We live in a day and age where we can track everything. Finances, weight, food intake, steps, sleep, whatever. Want to track the health of your lawn? I’m sure there’s an app for that too.

But workouts? They’re already painful enough. Who would want to transcribe them too?

When I first started working out, I didn’t think much of tracking my workouts. I was young and impatient and just wanted to “get jacked!” This served me well in some aspects, like not waiting to craft the “perfect’ workout plan before starting. I just started. But in other areas, like tracking my workouts, a little forethought could have proved valuable.

I don’t remember when or why I finally decided to track my workouts, but eventually I did. And I’ve been doing so in some fashion for over 20 years now.

I’ve tried all sorts of ways to track my workouts. From notebooks, to excel spreadsheets, to word documents, to apps. Like many things, I’ve learned that there’s “more than one way to skin a cat” when it comes to how to track your workouts.

But if you’re like I was, before learning how to track your workouts you’d probably like to know why you should track your workouts.

Back to my original question. Why would you bother to track your workouts?

Why You Should Track Your Workouts

1. To Ensure You’re Making Progress

Whether you’re using the progressive overload training principle, or training for a race, or preparing for a grueling event like a Spartan Race or even some form of military school, if you’re not tracking where you’ve been, where you currently are, and where you’d like to be then there’s no way to make sure you’re making progress.

And if you’re putting in all that work, chances are you are wanting that work to have a payoff. Whether it’s to get stronger, look better, or feel better, whatever your goal is you want to be sure you’re progressing towards that goal.

Let’s take the progressive overload training principle. To grossly oversimplify, this is a training system where each training session you look to lift a little bit more weight in an effort to get stronger.

Lift weights to stress your muscles, they adapt by getting stronger, then lift more weight to further stress your muscles thus creating a new adaptation and getting even stronger. Rinse and repeat.

In this system, each training session builds off of the previous training sessions. If you don’t track what you’ve done, you’ll have no way of knowing what you need to be doing next to get stronger. You may end up just doing a whole bunch of work without ever getting stronger or more muscular.

Wasted work? No thanks!

While I’ve never trained for a race like a marathon, I imagine it’d be just as important to track your running times during training to ensure you’re getting faster.

If you’re not getting stronger while on a progressive overload program or not getting faster on a running program then what’s really the point of the training program in the first place?

You’d literally just be spinning your wheels!

You’d be exercising and not training. Exercise is just doing work. Training is doing work with purpose. Purpose like getting stronger, more muscular, faster, etc.

If you’re going to be pushing yourself, sweating, and putting in the work, don’t you want there to be a payoff? Don’t you want to get stronger or build more muscle so you can up that confidence and be more comfortable come swimsuit season?

Not to mention it’s fun and motivating to see progress. Seeing progress builds positive momentum and can help ingrain exercise as a habit.

If you want to see these results then learning to track your workouts can play a significant role in achieving them.

2. Tracking Your Workouts Gives Direction and Focus

When I was young and didn’t track my workouts, they often had little structure to them. Like I mentioned above, I was exercising but not necessarily training.

I’d walk into the gym with a vague idea of what I was going to do and just wing it. There was no big-picture goal I was aiming for. I just had some idea that I wanted to be bigger and stronger so I walked into the gym with that mindset and just rolled.

What ended up happening is I would walk around the gym and do this or that and waste a lot of time. I’d leave having usually gotten an okay, but not great, workout.

The workouts weren’t efficient and they weren’t the most effective either.

Once I learned to track my workouts that changed significantly. The workouts became focused and efficient. I had to know ahead of time what I was going to do in order to properly track the workouts. This required forethought and planning.

I had to have an idea of whatever big-picture goal I was trying to accomplish while also having planned the daily workouts needed to achieve that goal.

I had to have a macro and micro view of my training.

The macro was the big picture. For example, while preparing to join the Marine Corps I knew that pull ups would be important so I made it a macro goal to be able to do 25 dead hang pull-ups.

The micro piece of that macro goal was the specific daily pull up workouts that I scheduled to achieve that goal. I would write out the daily pull up workouts and track them to ensure I was improving and ultimately making progress toward the goal of 25 dead hang pull-ups.

Tracking my workouts gave them focus and direction. I no longer wandered into the gym ready to wing it. I came in with a plan and focus. This made it so I was training and not just exercising. It maximized my time in the gym and helped me get more work done in less time.

Isn’t that what we all want?!?!

More results in less time? Of course we do!

That’s why we’re suckers for all sorts of gimmicks and “get rich quick” schemes. But in this case, it actually works! It’s not a gimmick and it’s not immediate results. Consistency and time are still required.

But if you learn to track your workouts you’ll be focused and moving in the right direction on a path to achieve your goals.

What to Track in Your Workouts

Before you can learn how to track your workouts, you need to know what to track. The core of what I track consists of the following.

exercises

This is pretty straight forward. It consists of the exercises I’m doing. Squats, deadlifts, sprints, pull ups, CrossFit workout, etc.

repetitions (aka reps)

This is how many repetitions of each exercise I’m completing. Sometimes I’m doing 10 reps of squats and other times I’m doing 3. It depends on what my overall goal is. Regardless of the goal, I plan the number of reps I’m going to attempt to do and then track what I actually do.

sets

This is how many sets of each exercise I’m going to do. For instance, if the exercise I’m going to do is squats and I plan on doing 5 reps then the number of sets will be how many times I do 5 reps of squats.

For example, I might program 3 sets of squats with 5 repetitions each set.

This would be written as: Squats – 3 x 5 (3 sets of 5 repetitions each).

I would do my first set of 5 squats and then I’d put the bar back and rest. I usually wait around 2-4 minutes between each set. This depends on what exercise I’m doing and how much time I have to workout.

After doing my first set of 5 squats and resting for 2-4 minutes I’d then do my second set of 5 squats. Once again after a sufficient amount of rest I’d then do my 3rd and final set of 5 squats.

All in all I did 3 sets of 5 squats.

weight

For weighted exercises, you need to track how much weight you are lifting. If you don’t know how much weight you are lifting, you won’t know whether or not you are lifting more weight the next time you do the same exercise. And if you don’t know if you’re lifting more weight you won’t know if you’re creating the stimulus necessary to make your body adapt and get stronger and more muscular.

In my example above about sets, if I wrote out that I was going to do 3 sets of squats with 5 reps each set, then on the day I do that actual workout I’d note somewhere how much weight I was squatting for each set.

This would ensure that the next time I was doing 3 sets of 5 squats (Squats- 3 x 5) I’d add a little more weight, if I felt like it was possible, so I could further stress my muscles and subsequently get stronger.

times

If you are tracking exercises that don’t involve resistance training like running or CrossFit-style workouts, you are often focused on the time to complete the exercise. For these you’d want to track the time to complete the prescribed exercise.

For example, let’s say you programmed four 400m sprints with a five minute rest between each sprint for your workout. Your goal is to run each 400m sprint as fast as possible versus pacing them to a specific time.

You might write that out in your workout journal/log as follows:

Sprint 400m/Rest 5 minutes x 4
1.
2.
3.
4.

During the workout, you’d time each of your 400m sprints and fill in the times in the allotted 1-4 spaces.

Another example where you would track time would come if you program a CrossFit-style workout that is “for time.” Fran, a famous CrossFit workout “for time”, would be an example. The theory is that the faster you can complete Fran, the more fit you are.

So if you programmed “Fran” for your workout one day you’d want to track the amount of total time it took you to complete Fran.

Pretty simple.

intangibles

The items mentioned above are the foundations of what I track in my workouts. I like to keep things simple. The more I track, the more work there is to do, and the more likely it is that I might throw in the towel and say, “forget this.”

With that said, there are a few times where I might track some other things such as:

Bodyweight

I don’t track this too often, but occasionally I do. If I were actively trying to gain or lose weight then I would track this more often.

Pain/Aches

I often write things down in my workout journal like, “back was sore today so backed off my deadlift.”

Or, “tweaked my leg doing lunges so stopped my workout early.”

How I’m Feeling that Day

Sometimes you feel like crap and it’s reflected in your workout. That’s ok. It happens to the best of us. So I’ll often jot things down if I’m not feeling it that day.

I’ve written things like, “tired today so wasn’t able to lift prescribed amount of weight.”

I do this so the next time I’m doing that exercise I’ll know to look back at the past few times I had done that exercise to get a better representation of what I should be doing that day since I felt bad the last time I did it.

Distractions

I work out from home and I have kids. I’m not saying my kids are a distraction, but they are a distraction. But certainly a WELCOME distraction. Well, most of the time.

I’ve literally tracked things like, “kids outside with me, wasn’t able to finish these sets.”

I’m honestly not sure why I track stuff like that. Maybe it’s important for context or maybe I just know someday when my kids are grown and gone if I ever look back at these I’ll smile and remember the days when I was in the garage working out and my kiddos were out there running around with me.

In the end, I’d caution against tracking too much. I’ve seen some folks who create some elaborate tracking spreadsheets and databases. I suppose that works for some people, but for most, I’d bet simpler is better. I know it is for me. If I make it too time-consuming and difficult it’s more likely I’ll eventually say, “forget it.”

Also, there can sometimes be diminishing returns with too much data. Nassim Taleb discusses this in Antifragile. If there is too much data it can become noise. And the more noise there is the harder it is to decipher the true signals.

Noise is the nonsense. Waist trainers. “Get shredded fast” pills. “Toning exercises.” Fad diets. Gimmicks.

Signals are the tried-and-true methods. The things that work. Calories-in-calories-out. Resistance training. Consistency.

Signals get you where you want to go. Noise distracts you and takes you off course.

Noise is thinking you have to spend hundreds of dollars on supplements to get the body you want. Signals are learning how to do a proper squat, how to properly program that squat into an effective and safe workout regimen, and eating enough quality protein to get those legs strong.

Track the basics. Maybe track a few personal things that make sense to you. Try not to overdo it.

The simpler it is, the more likely you’ll be able to maintain the habit.

What I Use To Track My Workout

Get ready for some truly mind-blowing content here. This is the type of truly astonishing insight that can only be gained from this website. Buckle up!

To track my workouts I use a notebook and pencil.

WOW! Truly astonishing. I know.

That’s the kind of staggering wisdom 20+ years of experience gets you.

I always say to keep it simple. And I’m not sure it gets much simpler than a pencil and a piece of paper.

Sometimes I use an actual notebook, and sometimes I write my workouts on a piece of paper.

benefits of using pencil & Paper to track your workouts

1. Simplicity – It’s easy.

2. Flexible – It’s easy to adjust on the fly with a pencil and paper. If I tweak something and have to adjust my workout I can easily do that. Just cross out whatever I was planning on doing and write in what I’ve changed. Easy.

3. Personalized – It’s easy to personalize my workouts this way. When I talked about how I sometimes track how I feel or unique situations that come up during a workout like my kids having me stop to play sports with them, I can easily track all this. Just add a hand-written note in the column and I’m good to go.

4. It makes it feel like a journal – I’ve started hearing a lot over the last few years about the importance of journaling. I’m sure it’s a great practice and something I should do. But I don’t. At least not consistently.

I did journal once for a year. I used The Daily Stoic Journal and it was great. I should do it more but that’s for another day.

So I guess sometimes tracking my workouts can double as a form of journaling for me.

5. It keeps me off my phone – There are a lot of apps that track workouts. I’ll get to more on that later. But I think looking at a phone during a workout is distracting. It’s easy to pick up your phone, start scrolling, and next thing you know the workout has stalled.

Tracking on paper solves that for me.

If I don’t pick up my phone to track anything there’s no risk of being distracted by my phone.

I’m sure many people have the willpower where they could track on their phone and not get distracted by apps. I don’t though. The allure is too strong! So I just remove it altogether.

why i don’t use apps to track workouts

There are a million apps you could use to track your workout. Personally, I’ve never felt like they were the best option for me for a number of reasons.

While I’ve tried many of them, they’ve never been able to replace my good ol’ pencil and paper for a number of reasons.

First, I find the ones I’ve tried inflexible. As I mentioned earlier, if I want to adjust my workout on the fly I can easily do that when I’m using a pencil and paper to track my workout. I just mark through some things, or erase, and write in the adjustment and just like that, I’m done.

I don’t feel like that’s as easy to do with apps.

Second, I find a lot of the apps inflexible to different styles of workouts. They often seem to specialize in one style of exercise whether it’s power lifting, body building, CrossFit, etc.

However, I, and many other folks, tend to do all sorts of styles of workouts. On any given day I may do a CrossFit workout or a power lifting workout, or a bodybuilding-style workout. Sometimes I may just be running sprints and others I may plan to go on a long walk with a weight vest.

The bottom line is, I’m mixing in all different styles of workouts and movements on a weekly basis and using just a pencil/pen and paper to track those workouts makes it much easier to do since I’m not specializing in one particular method and thus needing a tracking app to also specialize in some specific method.

If you are specializing in one style of working out then maybe an app would work for you. There was a time where I was strictly trying to get stronger overall. I was focusing on power lifting. I used an app called strong lifts to track this and it was great!

I loved it!

However, now that I’m back to doing a lot of different styles I’ve gone back to the pencil and paper method to track my workouts.

how i track my workouts

I think of my workouts from a macro and micro point of view.

Macro is the big picture. What I’m trying to accomplish overall.

Do I want to get stronger? Am I looking to get “fitter” from a CrossFit standpoint? Am I wanting to increase my 1 rep max on the snatch and clean and jerk? Do I just want to look better?

These are the macro-level things I’m thinking about. Some might call them mesocycles. To me, it’s just the macro view. Where do I want to be from a “health and fitness” perspective.

The micro is the daily workouts. This is what we are focusing on when determining the daily activities needed to hit those macro-level goals.

These are the daily activities. These are what I’m tracking when I’m discussing, “How to track your workouts.”

Here are the specific steps for how to track your workout:

1. Decide your macro vision.
2. Once a week, I do this on Sunday, write out the daily workouts for the upcoming week that will lead you to your macro vision.
3. During the workout, track your reps, weights, exercises, etc.

Let’s break this down using a real-world example.

Let’s say I’ve decided that I want to increase my overall general fitness. I’m not trying to grow my arms as big as possible or increase my one-rep max deadlift. I am trying to stay as strong as I am now while focusing on my overall conditioning.

The macro focus would be, “increasing overall metabolic conditioning during an 8-week macro cycle while maintaining strength.”

Now it’s Sunday and I sit down to write out the daily workouts, the micro, for the first week of the macro cycle.

At the top of the page I write out the macro focus so I remember what my overall focus is.

Next I write, “MONDAY” and I write out that workout. I’ll do this for all of the days of the week, including any rest days. I’ll write the exercises and the sets I’m doing for each. I’ll often write what weight I’ll be planning to use based off of the progressive overload principle and what weight I had used the previous time I had done that exercise.

This is what we think of when we talk about how to track your workouts.

Next Sunday I’ll do it all over again. I’ll refer to the previous week to help me plan out the current week in regards to the weight I’ll be using and the reps I’ll be shooting for. I’ll also see if there were any notes I had made that might impact my planning for next week’s workouts.

Pretty simple. No need to overcomplicate it.

what to do with your old workout entries

You’ve learned how to track your workouts and more importantly, you’ve tracked some workouts. Now what?

There’s lots of things you can do with your old workout logs but only one thing you have to do.

So what is the one thing you have to do?

REFER TO THEM!

The point of tracking your workouts is to see what you did previously and to try to do more. That’s how you progress. To be able to do that you have to refer back to what you previously did.

What did I do last week? Now let’s plan to do a little more this week. Again, progressive overload.

Simple!

tracking benchmarks

Up until now, when discussing how to track your workouts I’ve been referring to daily workouts. This is what most people are referring to when they talk about tracking workouts.

However, for me, I’ve found that in addition to tracking my daily workouts, tracking benchmarks has also been beneficial for my progress over the years.

First off, what are benchmarks?

Benchmark is defined as, “a standard or point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed.”

In relation to working out, fitness, and health, these are the things that I’ve determined are big-picture measuring points of my progress in these areas. They also give a snapshot of where I currently am in regards to these goals.

For me personally, they consist of things like my bench, squat, and deadlift one-rep maxes. They also include my times on a number of CrossFit workouts like “Fran” and “Helen.” There are also some random things like my max number of burpees I can complete in one minute.

To me, each of these benchmarks represent a measuring stick to my goals.

If my goal is to get stronger, which it always is, I’m going to measure that against some of my more strength-oriented benchmarks. Specifically, my bench, squat and deadlift one-rep max.

I know those numbers because they are benchmarks I’ve tracked. I have them written on a board in my garage.

Every so often I’ll test myself and see if I can lift heavier than those numbers on the board. If I can, great! I’m getting stronger. If not, I either need to mix up my programming or just keep grinding.

When I was in the Marine Corps, despite hating running I knew I had to complete a yearly Physical Fitness Test, known as the PFT, which consisted of a 3 mile run amongst a couple of other things.

Even though I hated running, my 3-mile run time became a benchmark I measured myself against. I knew my best 3-mile time during all of my preparation for the Marines and during my entire time in the Marines. I was always trying to exceed that time and thus create a new personal best and a new measuring stick for myself.

Boy was I happy when I got out of the Marine Corps and could drop this as a benchmark for myself. No more long, slow running for me! Not to say that kind of exercise isn’t beneficial. I’m sure it is! It’s just not something I like to do often.

I track my benchmarks SEPARATELY from my daily workout tracking. I like these benchmarks clearly visible at all times. I use a whiteboard I’ve hung up in my garage so I can see them at all times. And if I ever improve on a benchmark, I can easily make the change to the benchmark white board.

As you can see, there’s no one way to track these benchmarks. I filled out the board in a way that made sense to me.

If I worked out at a gym and didn’t have my own personal whiteboard to track my benchmarks on, I’d probably use the first page of my workout journal to mark these entries. Each time I got a new workout journal I’d rewrite all the benchmark information.

Summary

Getting fit, healthy, and strong is a grind!

It’s rooted in consistency. Day in and day out of doing the same foundational things over, and over, and over.

It’s not always glamorous. It’s not always fun. But it is effective and it’ll enhance your life more than any hack, pill, injection, or supplement will.

An absolutely critical component of making this grind effective is to learn how to track your workouts. It’s a must. Without this step your workouts will be less effective. And if you’re going to spend that effort and grind for months and years at a time, don’t you want the payoff?

Don’t you want to be healthy? Strong? To feel good about yourself in a swimsuit? Don’t you want to set a good example for your kids? Or keep those bones strong and that testosterone high?

Of course you want to do and feel all of these things! I know I do. And that’s why I track my workouts and why I think you should track your workouts too.

Nassim Taleb says in Antifragile that the best way to spot a charlatan, someone like a consultant or a stockbroker, is to look for someone who tells you what to do instead of what not to do. That certainly applies to the “health and fitness” gurus out there.

Since most of my posts so far are about what to do, or at least what I do, it got me thinking, “am I a charlatan?!?!”

I sure hope not!

But it’s probably something I should ponder to keep me humble. I certainly don’t know it all. Reflecting on this can keep me, and any other so-called “expert”, from becoming closed-minded.

Before I begin, I have to say that I don’t love using the term “fit and healthy” or “health and fitness.” If one really dials that down, what is the definition of those terms? Outside of Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, I don’t know if I’ve come across too many people trying to define these terms.

These terms can also vary for everyone. But here, I’m using those phrases interchangeably to mean what I think most people would first think of when picturing “fit and healthy” or “health and fitness.”

Traits such as strong, agile, flexible and “in shape” come to mind. Healthy blood markers and blood pressure too. Intangibles such as feeling healthy and full of energy. The ability to fall asleep definitely comes to mind. And of course being confident, looking good, and liking what you see in the mirror fall in there as well.

Real world applications of health and fitness could be reflected in the ability to hike up five flights of stairs without having to stop and catch your breath. Being able to go out in the yard for two hours of yardwork and still feel energetic the rest of the day. Or the ability to pick up a heavy object or get on the ground to play with your kids or grandkids.

This certainly doesn’t cover all the ways one could feel fit and healthy but I think you get the picture of what I mean when I use that term.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the things not to do for health and fitness. In fact, there could be thousands of things that could fill a list like this. Many of them would be personal to each individual.

But these are the ones I’ve struggled with or tried to steer clear of throughout the years. And these are the things I’ve focused on not doing that have simplified things most along the way. These are also what I see as some of the biggest barriers to being fit and healthy. And finally, these are some of the things I think aren’t just applicable to me but to others as well.

1. Don’t Get Paralysis by Analysis

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about how to get in shape. There’s so much information that you could spend a lifetime on research in the health and fitness space.

And let’s be honest, “research” is often just procrastination. Stephen Pressfield talks about this in Do the Work. Research can often be a form of resistance keeping us from doing the actual work.

Who among us hasn’t researched for a day, or even months, only to never put any of that “research” into action?

I know I have!

You set out to change your life. You’re going to go on this health and fitness journey. You’ve finally committed to getting in shape or getting out of debt or starting that company. “I got this!” your inner self proclaims. Or who knows, maybe your outer self does too with a post announcing it to the world.

So you set out to “research” how to make these wholesale changes. Next thing you know ten years have passed and you still haven’t started because you’re still working on the “research” so you can form the perfect plan.

And guess what? The perfect plan doesn’t exist!

Some good plans definitely exist. Like this one for getting stronger or this one for meal prep. But these plans, or any plans, only work if you ACTUALLY DO THEM!

Trust me. I know. I’m the king of “making plans” and doing endless research. But I haven’t always been that way.

I was lucky when I started working out. I was 14 years old and my brain didn’t operate like it does now. I didn’t overthink things. I just got started and figured it out from there.

That’s one of the great things about youth!

It was pretty simple. I wanted big biceps like my friend had so I started going to the gym with him.

My 14-year old self: “Oh man, look at those biceps! I want some like that.”

And that’s all it took. I was probably at the gym the next day doing atrocious-looking exercises. But I had started! That’s what mattered.

It took that start to get to where I’m at today. I’m thankful I didn’t spend the next 28 years after seeing my friend’s biceps researching the “perfect” plan.

That’s just the mindset we have when we’re kids. We just did stuff. We didn’t overthink every-single-freaking-thing!

I miss that.

Why do our brains evolve to this mind-numbing level of overthinking as we get older?

I know all the married people will relate to this. My wife and I overthink EVERYTHING! My goodness, we go out to eat and you should hear us talking about what we should order. Honestly, if someone actually did hear us, I’d be pretty embarrassed.

Me: “What are you going to order?”
Wife: “I don’t know. How about you?”
Me: “I don’t know either. Do we want to order our own meals or order some things to share?”
Wife: “I’m not sure. I like the idea of sharing so we can try different things but I’m not sure we’re going to agree on what to share?”
Me: “Good point. So are you saying you don’t want to share?”
Wife: “I’m not sure what I’m saying.”

It’s so absurd!

But for some reason that’s how our minds work as we get older. Every single decision can be agonizing if we allow it to be.

Kids don’t operate like that. They live in the moment.

We need to operate like that as adults. Let out our inner child. It was there once so just summons him or her back to the present.

Decide on a plan, without overthinking it, and do the work!

How’s that saying go? Perfection is the enemy of progress. That couldn’t be more true.

Don’t overanalyze.

Don’t do “research” for years.

Don’t get paralysis by analysis.

Just get started!

2. Don’t Overcomplicate Things

Lots of so called “experts” make things too complicated. I’ve been pretty in tune with the “health and fitness” industry for a LONG time. I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading on the topic and more importantly, thousands of hours actually being a practitioner in the field.

Don’t get me wrong, that DOESN’T mean I know it all. I don’t! But I know enough that if a “health and fitness” blog, idea, or method is so complicated that I can’t make sense of it, then I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s probably overdone and too complicated.

Some of these exercise or nutrition programs are like understanding organic chemistry or advanced physics!

Why would “health and fitness” experts put out such complex information?

Is complexity key to being fit and healthy?

Absolutely not! In fact, I’d say that for most, myself included, simplicity is key.

So then why do so many make it seem so complicated? I think they do it to make themselves look smarter or to convince people that they need them and their complex ways to reach their goals.

Who knows.

The reality is that for the majority of people, myself included again, being fit and healthy is pretty simple. Eat quality, nutrient-dense food, centered around protein. Get plenty of sleep. Resistance train a few times a week to stay or get strong. Go for lots of walks. Get out in nature and soak up some of the sun, without getting sunburned. Surround yourself with good people. And try to manage your stress, which these other items can help with immensely.

If you do all those things, you’ll be in a great spot. And then maybe you can add in some more complexity, if you’d like. But it wouldn’t be necessary.

I’ve been working out since I was 14 and I’m in my mid 40s now and I still stick to those basics 95% of the time. My program for getting stronger is about as basic as they come.

Know that simplicity is key. Don’t overcomplicate things. And stay out of the weeds.

3. Don’t Program Hop

This is crucial. This is one of the main points of what not to do to be fit and healthy!

There’s a saying that people overestimate what they can do in a week but underestimate what they can do in a year.

How many times have you heard someone say, “You think I can lose five pounds by next Tuesday?” And next Tuesday is like five days away!

Of course you can’t!

And even if you could, it would most likely be unhealthy, unsustainable, and wouldn’t even consist of actual body fat lost. Who cares if you lose five pounds of water weight?!

When it comes to being consistent over the course of months and years people lose hope. They get impatient and move onto the next thing before their current thing has a chance to bear fruit.

They have no idea what they can accomplish if they give themselves the time to do so.

You have to find a good program and stick to it. And continue to stick to it. And continue continuing to stick to it.

It can be tough not to program hop with so many fads, offerings, and gimmicks out there. The allure of the next great thing is strong. From pills to boot camps to “toning” exercises, there’s no shortage of people trying to pull those dollars from your wallet in the name of “fitness.”

They make all sorts of promises they can’t back up. In fact, often the ripped people selling those products or services didn’t even use those actual products or services to look the way they currently do.

I understand how easy it is to get frustrated when you feel like you’re not seeing the results you’d like. It’s easy to think, “I’ve been busting my butt for a month and I’m not getting anywhere.” And then some buff person says that you could look like them and it’d be easy if you only bought whatever they’re selling.

“That sounds great,” you say.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

In the end, whatever you choose you have to give it time to work. Building muscle and losing body fat (NOT water weight) take time. They take consistency.

They take “the grind.”

Day in and day out. Week in and week out. Year in and year out.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t victories along the way or you have to wait a year to see any kind of results. It just means you have to be patient.

Pick a good program. Give it some time. And never underestimate what you can do in a year!

As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

4. Don’t Set Yourself up for Failure

I love enthusiasm. And I love seeing motivated people.

I also love thinking big and having dreams and big goals.

But I’ve learned over the years that when I’m putting the processes, i.e. actions, in place to achieve those goals I have to make sure the process is achievable. If it’s too far out there then it’s too easy to become frustrated and give up.

There’s a fine line between pushing yourself/stretching your limits and unrealistic expectations.

So what does setting yourself up for failure look like?

Let’s paint a picture.

It’s been 10 years since you’ve worked out. You struggle just to climb a few flights of stairs and your stomach sticks out when you tighten your belt. Both above the belt and the dreaded below the belt bulge too.

So you decide you’ve had enough. It’s time to do something about it.

FANTASTIC!

You go and get yourself a gym membership and decide that you’re going all in. You’re going to go to the gym before work at 5:30am M-F and once on the weekend.

Even though you currently struggle to get up at 7:30am you tell yourself that jumping into 5:30am workouts five days a week will be NO PROBLEM!

From zero to six workouts per week. You’re feeling pretty excited about your new plan.

You also decide that you’re going to eat nothing but chicken breast and broccoli even though you don’t even really like chicken breast and broccoli. But hey, no pain no gain you tell yourself!

Week one comes and you “only” work out three days. You also decide to eat some cake at your child’s birthday party. Otherwise, you had a great week

But even though you had a much better week than you’d had in years, you feel like you failed because you didn’t reach your goal of working out six times and you feel guilty for that piece of cake you ate.

You feel like a failure. You start with the negative self talk. In the end, even though you had a better week than you’d had in years you are so dejected because you didn’t meet this audacious plan that you just give up.

That is setting yourself up for failure.

Dream big! Get after it! Go watch some Jocko videos to fire yourself up. I love that stuff! But when you build out your plan to achieve your vision, make sure you’re setting yourself up for success and not failure.

So what would setting yourself up for success look like? Let’s go back to the example above.

Instead of committing to six days a week with five of them being at 5:30am you commit to two days in the gym and a 10-15 minute walk every single day after dinner. Of these two days in the gym you plan one on the weekend so that leaves you with only one workout you have to plan around your work.

Maybe you decide to do that one day before work at 5:30am or maybe since it’s just one day you decide you can do it after work and get home a little later.

For eating, instead of overhauling your entire diet you commit to focusing on one meal the first few weeks. Since lunchtime at work often leads to your worst food choices you decide that you’re going to meal prep four lunches on the weekend for the week ahead. Here’s how you could plan that.

You leave Friday open in case you want to eat with your co-workers and the rest of the day, breakfast and dinner, you aren’t focused on…for now.

After a few weeks of success you then decide to add another day in the gym and extend your walks to thirty minutes. And along with prepping four lunches for the week, you decide to also focus on having a quality breakfast everyday to go along with these healthy pre-made lunches.

Start small. Accumulate some wins. Build some momentum.

That feels good. And that good feeling will beget more choices that will reinforce those feelings.

It’s a positive cycle.

Don’t set yourself up for failure. Set yourself up for success instead.

5. Don’t Get Too in the Weeds

I get questions all the time about supplements or some obscure exercise. Not to sound pretentious, but those are the wrong questions to ask. I imagine it’d be like someone asking Warren Buffet how to incorporate bonds or gold or crypto into their investing strategy when they haven’t even invested in an IRA or 401k yet.

I don’t blame people though for asking those types of questions.

It’s because of all the BS the “health and fitness” industry pushes on them. This industry wants you to think you need all these intricate, super-secret health products to get fit. They want you to get in the weeds because they can sell you lots of products and services in those weeds.

But we don’t want to get in the weeds for many reasons. First off, it’s not necessary to being healthy and fit. In fact, it’s often counter to doing so.

Second, when we get in those weeds, especially on topics we may not be too knowledgeable about, it’s easy to stagnate because it’s too dense. It becomes complex, confusing, and scary. It becomes too much to process.

So we say, “screw it,” and give up.

I saw a perfect example of this on Instagram recently. It was posted by James Smith who’s a fitness influencer I really like. He tells it like it is. He was talking about how he posted a picture of him flexing his biceps. I guess one of his biceps was slightly larger than the other and he got a lot of questions about that “muscle imbalance” and how to fix it.

It was a perfect snapshot of getting too in the weeds. The dude is strong and fit so WHO CARES IF ONE BICEP IS SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN THE OTHER! Like he said in his video on this, unless you’re a professional bodybuilder it doesn’t matter.

And like he also said, he’s certainly not going to go to the gym to train one bicep so it won’t be slightly smaller than the other. What a waste of time!

What’s the best pre-workout supplement? Should I point my toes forward or have them slightly pointed out during the squat. Should I rest for 90 or 120 seconds between sets. Should I eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight or 1 gram per pound of lean body mass? Should I have a protein drink or just eat some protein. Should I eat 100% grass-fed beef or just eat beef? Must I rush to get protein in within 20 minutes of my workout? Should I eat 3 meals a day or 5?

It’s enough to make anyone go crazy!

These are not bad questions. They just are questions on the periphery. They’re in the weeds. There’s certainly a time and place for them and I admit I sometimes enjoy thinking about these types of questions.

But they aren’t necessary to being fit and healthy!

They are not the foundation of health and fitness. And they’re certainly not what the focus of a beginner should be on.

There is so much “health and fitness” information out there. Lots of it is garbage. You can do yourself a big favor by focusing on the big picture and not sweating the small stuff. At least not until you have a good handle on the basics.

Focusing on the basics and staying out of the weeds will not only be good for your physical health and fitness, but it’ll also be good for your mental health because trying to process too much information on any subject can be overwhelming and demoralizing.

Not to mention physical and mental health are connected so what’s good for one is good for the other.

It can be tempting to go down a million different rabbit holes. Who hasn’t lost three hours of your life on YouTube when you only wanted to watch a 2-minute video?

Keep it simple. Focus on the activities that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Leave the nuance and intricate details for further down the road. Or leave them forever if you’d like.

Stay on the highway and stay out of the weeds.

6. Don’t Rely on Motivation

A lot of us are sitting around waiting to be struck by motivation. We want that motivation to finally get us off our butts!

“I just need something to get me motivated,” we tell ourselves. The problem isn’t us, it’s that nothing external has ignited our internal fire.

I know I’m guilty of that.

But here’s the thing I’ve found in my own experience. Sure, some days I find myself feeling motivated. But that unexpected burst of motivation is fleeting. And it doesn’t happen too often.

Mostly, motivation follows work. Get started on something and the motivation comes AFTERWARD.

Me writing right now is a great example of this. I didn’t want to start writing today and I went through a hundred reasons why I shouldn’t and procrastinated another 100 times today not to.

I told myself that I wasn’t motivated and I delayed starting while waiting for this inspiration to strike me. But it never happened. I reluctantly just started hitting the keyboard. I got started. And within a few minutes the ideas starting flowing and the motivation to write more started to hit me.

The motivation came to me after I got to work!

It’s almost like the motivation made me prove I was worth it bestowing itself on me. Once I got to work it said, “ok, let’s visit and grace him with a little motivation…he’s earned it.”

Steven Pressfield talks a lot about this in his books Turning Pro and Do the Work. He calls it the “muse.”

Even when we have motivation, it doesn’t last. It fades. Often quickly.

The trick is to learn to act despite not having motivation. That happens through building habits and systems.

I don’t need to be motivated to work out. It’s not because I have an iron will and monk-like discipline. I’ve just built a habit to work out so I don’t really think about it too much. I just go do it. Like brushing my teeth.

If only I could do that in other areas of my life!

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with some good motivational content. I love a good Jocko or David Goggins speech to fire me up. I’ve read countless self-help, motivational books. But I know in the end those speeches and books won’t do work for me. Consuming them won’t get you fit and healthy.

If you are waiting for some external piece of motivation to sweep in and get you moving you’ll be waiting a long time.

The conventional wisdom is backwards. Get motivated and get to work. That doesn’t work.

The real equation is: Get to work and THEN get motivated!

7. Don’t Identify Too Much With One Idealogy

Whether it’s a type of workout or a way of eating, I’ve found it’s not beneficial to wrap my identity around too specific an ideology or philosophy. Doing so in the past has led me to almost a dogmatic thinking on the topics. It’s closed my eyes to new ideas on the subject.

Let’s add some nuance to this. I do think it’s good to form an identity. As someone who’s identity is shaped around movement and healthy eating it helps me keep those activities in my life and makes me less likely to abandon them altogether.

I’m also less likely to come home after work and sit on the couch every single day and eat a bag of chips while drinking a six pack of beer. I have no moral judgment for those that do want to do this, but it just doesn’t mesh with my identity.

I’d rather have a good snack and go for a walk or lift some heavy weights. I’ll save the booze for the specific times where it makes sense. Like on a date with my wife or watching college football with our neighbors.

Time for a little more nuance. Unfortunately, not everything is so simple. After extolling the benefits of using an identity to help on the health and fitness journey, it’s important that one recognizes there can be some harm when one identifies too much with a specific workout or nutritional philosophy.

So you say it’s good for health and fitness if you identify with healthy activities but it can also be bad?

Yes. I’ll explain.

I’ve mentioned how I identify as someone who is physically active and eats healthy. I know that “eats healthy” is broad and vague but when I apply it to myself I’m able to define it as I see fit.

For me, that’s quality protein, healthy fats, and moderate carbs from fruits, vegetables potatoes, rice, etc. I eat like this most of the time but not all of the time.

By identifying this way it helps me keep my habits in line with those principles.

I prepped my lunches for the week because I enjoy eating healthy. I worked out today because I am an active person.

But this can easily go too far. It’s happened to me before. And it’s certainly impacted my physical and mental health over the years.

I love CrossFit. I’ve been doing CrossFit since 2009. I used to identify NOT as someone who is physically active but as a “CrossFitter.” I was proud of that and really got wrapped up in the CrossFit culture. And it’s a GREAT culture.

But I took it a little too far. I thought that if I wasn’t going all out in every one of my workouts, finishing in a pool of sweat barely able to breath after a workout then I was a slacker.

This thinking was so entrenched in me that it blinded me from all sorts of other great physical activities.

Like going for walks!

Even though I’m confident Greg Glassman would probably say going for walks is great, at the time when I identified as a “CrossFitter” I didn’t think they were intense enough. They didn’t fit into the narrow identity I had formed.

Now though, going for walks is one of my favorite activities. Do they get me ripped? No. Are they intense? Nope. But my identity is around being physically active and walks certainly fit that bill.

And the great thing about my identity not being tied to any one ideology is that I can still do CrossFit. And I do! But I also go for walks. Walks and CrossFit…they both fit my ideology now that I stopped identifying too much with one specific ideology.

I’ve also gone too far with my nutrition identity in the past. For years I identified as “Paleo.” I think paleo is great. You focus on nutritionally-dense foods that have shelf lives.

Sounds like a great way of eating right? Sure is, if it makes sense for you. However, the issue was that I would feel massive guilt if I ate something not considered paleo. I’m not just talking about things like cookies or ice cream. I’d feel guilty if I had rice or even some white potatoes.

While I’m no nutritional scientist with a PHD like this guy, I’m confident that white potatoes and white rice aren’t going to kill me now.

And the good thing now is that I can still eat in a paleo manner, which I often do, but I can also eat some white rice, which I often do as well, without feeling guilty. It’s because I don’t over identify as “paleo.” I just identify as someone who likes to eat healthy foods.

As I reflected on these strict identities for myself I learned a few things.

One, there’s nothing wrong with white rice and white potatoes. At least for me.

Two, if my identity is so closely tied to one way of eating like paleo or keto that I feel guilty when I eat something not “approved” then I’ve gone too far.

Eating healthy is supposed to enhance the quality of my life. Not be a source of anxiety and guilt.

Anxiety and guilt are certainly not traits of health and fitness. In fact, a healthy lifestyle should help mitigate one’s anxiety, not add to it.

In the end, I think it’s a positive thing to identify with certain behaviors that are in line with being fit and healthy if that is what you want to be. But keep them broad and don’t get too obsessed with one specific subset. That way you’ll continue to be open to learning new things and growing.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that no matter how sure I think I am on a topic I never know it all. And chances are my views on health and fitness with evolve and change over time.

I’d rather keep myself open to new perspectives than blinded by my identity.

8. Don’t Rely on a Biohack, Supplement, or Pill

I could have titled this, “don’t rely on any shortcut.” Or, “don’t rely on any quick fix.” Surgery, injections, waist trainers…there’s a whole load of things that could be included.

It seems like the health and fitness industry is really just a market for pills, injections, schemes and biohacks.

Up until a few years ago I had never heard of the word biohack. Now it seems like it’s all I hear about. What does it even really mean? I’m not sure. I guess it’s a shortcut? Is resistance training, outdoor walks, a diet focused on quality protein consumption a biohack? If not, why? Because it’s not about efficacy but more about length of time?

I just looked it up and it sounds like it’s something like human enhancement through testing on yourself. Seems fishy.

Anyway, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a supplement, pill, or testing new things on yourself, aka biohacking. There’s certainly times where surgery makes sense. But it’s the expectation that these will be a cure-all or will replace foundational practices like proper exercise, nutrition and quality sleep where the problem lies.

They can give false hope.

Supplements are called supplements for a reason. They are not called primaries. They supplement the basics and they should be used to add value at the margins.

For me it’s not about biohacks, pills or supplements. I focus on quality food, resistance training, sleep, good relationships, and managing stress. I try to get sunlight often, without burning, and go for walks in nature. That accounts for probably 99% of my health and fitness.

Yes, I use some biohacks, supplements and pills, but only to fill in those tiny gaps that I may be missing with my basics.

Whey protein is one example. It’s one supplement that I include almost daily. It helps me reach my protein goal of around 1 gram per pound of body weight per day. I use it for practical purposes. Life is busy and this helps me manage that.

But I know that whey protein is not necessary for me to be fit and healthy. If I had the time I could certainly trade that daily protein shake for some real food and my results would be the same.

In the end, no biohack, supplement, or pill is going to make you fit and healthy. Yes, they could add some value. But it’ll never be near the value that the basics offer.

So master the basics. Make the basics the foundation of your health and fitness. Then worry about biohacks, supplements, and pills if you want to. It’s certainly not necessary most of the time.

Maybe this is counter to what many health and fitness “experts” say on the topic. But most of those “experts” probably have some biohack or pill or supplement to sell you.

9. Don’t Let a Bad Week Turn Into a Bad Year

One of the things I often stress is to not let a bad week turn into a bad month or a bad year.

Life gets in the way. It always will. And it should at times. No routine should be too rigid that you can’t adjust it when life calls. Otherwise you are working for the routine instead of the routine working for you.

Maybe you get sick and are out of commission for a week. Or maybe you go on vacation for a week and decide to spend all that time with your family and don’t stress about trying to fit in a workout everyday.

Life happens.

Our health and fitness doesn’t occur in a vacuum sealed off from the rest of our life. For it to be effective, and sustainable, it has to be able to fit in with our entire life. It’s certainly easier said than done.

When I was younger, often a week off would lead to a month off. At that point it was alway so much harder to get back into the routine. And the longer I waited the harder it became. It’d be like I was starting over. It happened all the time.

Things would be humming along. I’d be making some solid gains and feeling pretty good about myself. My eating would be good. My training would be good. My confidence would be good.

And then BOOM!

Life would happen and something would come up. Next thing I’d know it was six months later and I’d be wondering what the hell happened.

That’s why it’s so important that when you get off track to get back on track as soon as possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect either.

If I’m out of the gym for a week my next few workouts back usually suck. But I understand the purpose of those workouts back after a break aren’t to get me fitter and stronger. Their purpose is to get me back in the routine!

After a vacation of eating crappy food the first thing I do when I get home is to go to the grocery store. I had my fun. I ate everything in sight and I made memories and I don’t regret it. But now it’s time to get back on track and to do it quickly.

I know if I come home and say, “I’ll just wing it this week since I’m tired from vacation,” it would make getting back in the routine way more difficult then just buckling down and doing it now. That extra week off could easily turn into a month or two.

It has happened many times to me in the past.

We all fall off track sometimes. It’s okay. It’s life. Don’t beat yourself up.

Ge back up. Get back on track. And don’t let that bad week turn into a bad year.

10. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

The older I get the more I recognize the value of sleep. I could write a book on it’s importance but I’m not sure that’s necessary. Do a google search on the effects of sleep deprivation and it won’t take long to see why you don’t want to skimp on sleep.

I used to have the mentality that I’ll sleep when I die. But I’ve realized that I can’t really thrive in life if I’m always sleep deprived.

Sometimes you don’t have a choice. As I talked about earlier, life can sometimes get in the way of our best made plans. Sometimes that includes getting in the way of my sleep. But just like when my workouts get thrown off track, I try to get back on track as soon as I can when it happens to my sleep.

Whether we like it or not, we need it. We need if for our mental health and we need it for our physical health.

There is a lot of things we can do to help our selves get better sleep. (Check out #5 in this post for some tips).

When it comes to what not to do to be fit and healthy there might not be a more important step than this. Lack of sleep is not a badge of honor. It’s not something to brag about. First off, nobody cares. But more importantly, it’s detrimental to your health.

You can’t thrive if you’re sleep deprived. So hit the rack at a decent hour and wake up feeling refreshed.

11. Don’t Eat Too Much

If you’re gaining weight you’re eating too much. It’s that simple.

Most of us eat way more than we need to. It’s understandable why.

Food is designed to be hyper palatable. Companies are spending millions of dollars to convince us to eat their food and to make us not want to stop eating their food once we start. It’s a battle and we’re up against the odds with these food companies.

I understand that saying, “don’t eat too much,” while accurate and important, is not a helpful piece of advice. The same way telling someone in football to score more points than the other team wouldn’t be helpful. The proper response in both cases would be, “no kidding.”

The question is how? How do I not eat too much?

That deserves it’s own post. If I had to try and boil it down as simple as I could I’d say to get a food tracker and track how many calories enter your body daily. If you are gaining weight eat fewer calories. Continue to do this until you stop gaining weight and then you’ll know around how many calories you can eat daily and still maintain your weight.

Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, it’s a good exercise for everyone to track what they eat at least a few times to really get a sense of how many calories they’re eating on a daily basis and how many calories are truly in the foods they’re eating.

I’ve done this some and I was astonished at how many more calories I was eating than I thought.

I have a smoothie I make all the time and I would have guessed that it has around 3oo calories. But when I put it into a tracker once and it had over 600 calories I was shocked!

Another time I got a sandwich from one of my favorite places. I would have guessed it had around 600-700 calories. Nope, I wish that was all it had! I tracked it and it had OVER ONE THOUSAND CALORIES!!! Holy cow! It wasn’t even some super-jumbo-sized sandwich either. It looked pretty normal size.

There are a lot of experts on this topic who know far more than I do. My favorite person for all things nutrition-related is Layne Norton. He’s a great follow for anyone looking to understand nutrition and how to eat to lose, gain, or maintain your weight.

Stan Efferding and Mike Dolce are two other experts who I think are great resources on this topic.

Don’t eat too much. Simple in theory, but not always simple in practice. But it is a key to longevity, good health, and a thriving lifestyle.

12. Don’t Believe Everything I Say

Let’s be real. You don’t know me from Adam.

I hope I’ve built up some trust in you but at the end of the day I’m just some guy on the internet. I’ll also admit that I don’t know it all. I rely on a lot of other experts and am continually learning and adjusting my fitness and nutrition practices around the edges. The foundations are the foundation and those don’t vary much.

I also could have titled this section, “Continually Question What you Know.”

Things change. Ideas evolve. We change so therefore our needs can change over time. Just know that you don’t have it all figured out. And that’s okay. It’s a good mentality to have because it keeps yourself open to learning.

Have some healthy skepticism. Find a good group of “experts” to lean on. Find people that are not selling you gimmicks or fads. Selling is fine. People have to make a living. But try and find genuine, authentic people and not snake-oil salesmen.

Look for people who are practitioners themselves. They practice what they preach. Meaning they are not selling some “system” it’s obvious they never used themselves.

You want to lean on people who got to where they are by using the ideas and methods they preach.

Having a solid group of people you follow on a subject allows you to, “trust, but verify.”

I lean on people like Layne Norton, Stan Efferding, Mike Dolce, Aaron Horschig (Squat University), Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, Peter Attia, Mark Rippetoe and Mark Bell. There are many more, but these are the first that come to mind.

Don’t believe everything I say. Not because I’m not being authentic. And not because these might not be good things to adhere to. But more so to foster a mindset of healthy skepticism and to foster a mindset of growth, openness, and evolving.

Summary

When compiling this list of what not to do for health and fitness, I realized that it could stretch on forever. I could essentially put anything on the list.

Don’t look at social media during workouts.

Don’t compare yourself to others. Especially on social media.

Don’t drink too much alcohol.

Don’t eat donuts everyday.

Don’t max out your deadlift when you’re tired and not feeling it that day.

And on and on and on.

The reality is that while there are things most people should NOT do for health and fitness, many things are personal to the individual.

For some, drinking alcohol can be a part of their healthy lifestyle. For others, not so much.

The “dont’s” I wrote about above are major ones that have had a profound impact on my health and fitness over the years and the ones that I thought would be more applicable to others than some of the more personalized ones of mine.

I often talk of not overcomplicating things. There is so much information out there that it can be a challenge to filter through the noise and arrive at the signals. Eliminating and cutting out things is a good way to quickly filter the amount of noise flooding your senses. The more noise you can quickly filter out, the easier it’ll be to find the signals.

If there are 100 things coming at me and I can quickly eliminate 70 of them, I’ve immediately made the situation more manageable.

For me, this list of what not to do to be fit and healthy has simplified the process of getting “healthy.” It helps me cut down on the noise hitting me from the “health and fitness” industry.

It’s like wiping off your sunglasses after a day at the pool. The lenses are grimy. Caked in sun screen and sweat. It makes the world look blurry. But once you wipe them off on your shirt, remove the grime and junk, suddenly the view becomes crystal clear.

What not do do to be fit and healthy has been addition by subtraction for me. It’s helped clear up what my “health and fitness” journey looks like.

It’s allowed me to see it through some freshly cleaned sunglasses!