The Self-Help Basics: Exercise

EXERCISE

According to the Oxford Languages, sport is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment." In my self-improvement language, sport is the best activity you can do to improve every single aspect of your life right now. To give you a small background, I was a fat child, and as I grew up my physique and mental health got worse, and worse. And what saved me, was sports.

You might not believe me when I say this but sport really is the best activity you can do, and surprise, you can do it right now. Here are the benefits of practicing any kind of sport, or in other words physical activity: improved physical health (improved hormones, brain function, digestion, metabolism, strength, cardiovascular strength, muscle mass in some sports, bones, gut, and more) as well as improved mental health (improved confidence, mental clarity, purpose, direction, strongness of decision, improved mood, improved emotions, more control over one's decisions, improved will-power, etc.)

As you can see, the benefits are immense, and there is no real downside. The only downside you get from exercise is the re-investment of the time you could've spent otherwise. But this time is seldom spent productively for most people, in fact, most of this time is spent on the couch for the majority of the population.

I'm not asking you to practice 2 hours of sports, 6 times a week. I'm telling you to do at least 30 minutes most days, and "most days" means 4 to 6 times a week. And even tho that might seem like a hassle, trust me, if you follow MY method, you can get your way up to 6 times a week with a big smile on your face. Ready? Let's dive in. 

Oops, I forgot to mention. Before we dive in completely, we need to put on our equipment. So to prepare you for the long article you're going to read, here are a few definitions, ones that are deeply important in the sports world, that I want you to understand. 

REPETITION (REP) AND SERIES (SET)

A rep, or a repetition of an exercise, is a concept of weight-lifting which consists of doing the same movement again and again to create a SET (a series of an exercise). For example, on the famous bench press exercise, going down and then up is considered one rep. Squatting once is considered one rep. Squatting 8 times and then repeating this three times, means you completed 3 sets of 8 reps.

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD

Progressive overload is another concept of weight-lifting but which can also be used in cardiovascular exercise. This concept means adding sets, reps, or weights to your training routine each week or simply regularly. Explained simply, your muscles get used to the stimulus you give them, and so if you always do the same thing, with the same weight and the same reps and the same sets and the same exercise, your muscles will not grow as much as they could, or they will simply not grow.

TIME UNDER TENSION

Time under tension is the time your muscle spends when they are under tension, so when they are tensing. For example, time under tension is when you control the weight down, stretching your muscles and putting tension on your biceps.

Now that you know about these definitions, we can continue and dive into the vast world of sports.

TWO DIFFERENT TYPES

There are two different types of sports that you can practice. The first one is cardiovascular sports, the second one is weight-lifting sports. Cardiovascular sports help to build cardiovascular endurance, and it specifically promote heart health. Weight-lifting sports help you build muscle strength and size, which can make your physique more attractive and appealing to the eye. Let's begin with cardio.

CARDIOVASCULAR SPORTS

Cardiovascular sports are sports that consist of fast-paced movement. Walking very fast, running, sprinting, cycling, swimming, rowing, aerobic exercises in general, all of these are cardiovascular sports. However, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, American football, and any martial arts, all of these are cardiovascular sports too, which often are in "club structures", with teachers to monitor and guide the trainees.

You probably haven't chosen which sport to practice, but know that most sports listed here will be perfect to train your cardiovascular endurance. However, you need to understand that sports practiced in clubs are not always "purely cardiovascular", as they also often require muscle strength. For example, boxing builds a small amount of muscle and often requires practitioners to train their muscles directly through weight-lifting.

In the same way, some sports also mix mental capacity into the mix. Boxing once more does this. But for example, football requires you to know specific techniques and tactics to mentally trick or to induce in error your opponents.

So, if you only want to practice cardio without having to use tactics, learn mental tricks, or build muscle, the best way is to go with the "basics" of cardio, which are running (jogging and sprinting), cycling, and swimming.

But at what frequency should you train? Two times a week? Three times a week? For how long? These might be questions you are asking yourself at this moment, but do not worry, it's not that complicated. I recommend, at first, to only do a few sessions of cardio throughout the week. This means 2 to 4 sessions of cardio throughout the week. Then, I recommend (especially if you're on the lower range of two times a week) to progressively "overload" your cardio sessions by adding a few sessions in the week (5, 6 times a week instead of 4 times a week for example) and by practicing more intense or longer sessions of cardio.

In total, you should practice cardio for a minimum of 10 minutes. This is my basic baseline for most people STARTING cardiovascular exercise. After a few weeks, this number should be upgraded to a 20-minute minimum, and so on. The goal is to progressively make progress, not lash out once on a 2-hour cardio circuit, and then become a lazy couch potato for the rest of the week.

Also, one particular cardiovascular sport or type of training I recommend is high-intensity exercise. One that I particularly recommend is sprinting. It's free of charge, you don't need a gym membership, and it's INCREDIBLE for health.

Sprinting with a specific program has been shown to increase HGH (Human Growth Hormone) levels by 771% temporarily (not for life of course). Read this article here to learn more about this program. Also, sprinting increases testosterone, and it has so many incredible benefits on health, that I will not list them all. Just search it up on Google and you'll be amazed. And, for cardiovascular athletes, it helps enormously with your VO2 max. In fact, it is one of the best ways to increase your VO2 max. Incredible for health.

For people who don't know, VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during intense exercise, so cardiovascular exercise mainly. To increase your VO2 max, do cardio at least once a week. Through time, you will get increasingly better at it.

STRENGTH TRAINING

Strength training is the best method of training if your goal is to build muscle strength and size. To get the ripped physique of Rocky Balboa or the massive back of Arnold Schwarzenneger, you do not need to only practice cardio: you need to mix it with dumbells, chalk, and a good old protein bar.

Just kidding, more seriously, strength training requires you to lift weights, following a structured program. Weight-lifting is composed of 4 main categories, which I have explored in depth in my weight-loss course but which I will simply explain here:

BODYBUILDING is the first way to strength-train. It consists of putting an emphasis on muscle size rather than muscle strength, even tho you will gain a lot of strength if you bodybuild seriously. Oftentimes, bodybuilding involves training in the 8 to 15 repetitions per series (reps per sets) range.

There is a big problem concerning bodybuilding and sets, which is that often, on social media, people who take PEDs (Performing Enhancing Drugs, which enhance physical capability) are sharing their "workouts" that they made, often composed of an enormous amount of volume of sets per week. Most natural lifters do not need an enormous amount of volume of sets per week for each muscle group. It depends, but I recommend checking my full list of volume per week for each muscle group, inside of the weight-loss course, more precisely in the 11th Bonus.

There are many bodybuilding training programs, but the most famous ones are the four-times-a-week Upper Body, Lower Body workout program, the six-times-a-week Push Pull Legs workout, or the three-times-a-week Full Body workout. Oftentimes, bodybuilding focuses on compound exercises as well as isolating specific muscle groups through certain exercises, as the goal is not to build massive strength in compound movements but simply to build muscle size and some strength.

POWERLIFTING is the second way to strength-train. It consists of emphasizing muscle strength rather than muscle size, even tho you will gain a lot of muscle size if you power lift seriously. Powerlifting can be dangerous if pushed too far (lifting too much, with bad form) but more often than not it is a safe, great sport to build muscle strength and size. In other words, if your goal is to become strong, do powerlifting. Oftentimes, powerlifting programs consist of a three-day training split (training program) based mostly on compound exercises, compared to bodybuilding which often uses isolating exercises that isolate a specific muscle group or a specific muscle. There are of course a lot of training programs and exercises and ways of practicing powerlifting out there.

CALISTHENICS is the third way to strength-train. It consists of putting an emphasis on bodyweight strength and on building muscle size. In most cases, calisthenics is not enough to build a great physique. Most calisthenics experts have a very good physique, but these physiques could be attainable more quickly (saving years) through bodybuilding or power-lifting. In other words, if you want to get fit and strong with your body weight, meaning you can do incredible things such as one-arm pull-ups and gymnastic figures, then you might be interested in calisthenics. If your goal is to become huge in muscle mass or very strong at deadlifting, calisthenics has nothing to do with it. Calisthenics requires more volume of sets per week per muscle group compared to the other ways of gaining muscle strength and size, with more time under tension and often more reps, as the only weight there is, is your body weight.

CROSSFIT is the fourth way to strength-train. It consists of putting an emphasis on muscle strength and size, as well as bodyweight muscle strength, as well as cardiovascular endurance. It is a mix of everything, the "salad" of the strength-training sports. However, it is important to remember that CrossFit can be heavy on the joints and can result in really bad consequences, just like powerlifting can if taken too far or like any other sport can if taken too far. However, compared to the risks of other sports, CrossFit is often more dangerous, as most times the movements are not done correctly for the sake of timing (as CrossFit is often timed with a timer of any kind since it's a fast-paced military-style training) and therefore it's risky.

A few principles of muscle-growth

You might be looking to grow bigger muscles, and that is understandable. Having a better, muscular physique will help you in every area of your life, at least if it improves your health if not taken too far. Or, you might be searching to gain strength, so as to become more powerful in your day-to-day life or healthier. Either way, here are a few principles of muscle growth.

The first principle of muscle growth I want to teach you about is called progressive overload. Progressive overload is basically when you progressively add weight, sets, reps, or time-under-tension (the time you lower the weight A.K.A controlling the weight) at each session. The most common ways of progressively overloading is to keep the same sets and time under tension but simply to add weight or reps. Going to failure can also lead to progressive overload without having to overthink it much.

Let's say for example you lifted 80kg on the bench press exercise on Monday, for 3 sets of 8 reps each. The next Monday, you get to the gym, and your goal, taking into consideration that you apply progressive overload, is to do at least one more rep on one of the sets.

For example, on your first set, you could do 10 reps of 80kg, on your second set, 8 reps of 80kg, and on your third set, 8 reps of 80kg. That's only 2 more reps compared to last week (not progressively overloading a ton), but that's already huge progress. Do this on each exercise and you're basically growing muscle this way.

The second principle is going until muscular failure. Going to failure is when you fail to lift the weight up. It's when you have no reps in reserve, meaning, you can't perform a single rep anymore during your set because your muscles are too tired.

For example, if you wanted to do a set of bicep curls for 12 reps, once you hit 12 reps, just push a little bit more, until you can't even perform a single more rep, until you literally push like crazy and you look like you're pooping yourself because of the red pigment of your skin or the veins popping out of your forehead and the weird grunting noises, without being able to lift the weight up, say around the 14 rep mark.

Some bodybuilders like Sam Sulek train near 96% of failure, but I simply recommend going to failure on your last two sets of each exercise. Too much failure kills failure because it induces too much muscular fatigue. Personally, I don't really care and I try to go to failure on the vast majority of my sets, and it seems I get better results this way, so I suggest doing the same and adapting if your body is too tired.

The third principle of muscle growth is time under tension. It's when you control the weight back to its original position, that's the most important part of lifting weights. The eccentric part of any exercise is the most important part of any exercise. The eccentric is basically the part of the exercise when you're lowering the weight-down, or "letting it go back" to its original position.

For example, in a bench press, the eccentric is literally when you lower the weight down all the way to your chest, but in a lat pull-down, it's not when you lower the weight down but it's when you let it go back to it's original position, which is upward.

Basically, the eccentric is the part where you're stretching your muscles and it's the most difficult part of the exercise or the repetition because let's be honest, in a lat pulldown for example, or in a pull-up, it's not exploding up or pulling the weight down that is hard, it's controlling the weight or the weight of your body back to its original position. And, if you do not control the weight, you will lose time under tension, which is a quintessential part of muscle growth.

To illustrate what I mean, here is what it looks like:

So, try to hold the weight for three to five seconds if your goal is pure hypertrophy/muscle-building. Taking this too far could actually hurt your performance and generally your muscle gains. Try to only control the weight for five seconds maximum and you will get incredible results. And, this principle also works as an ego-check because it pushes most people to use better form, and on top of that it makes people lighten the weight to actually work their muscles instead of "lifting the weight up".

Because yes, a mindset that could help you is to WORK YOUR MUSCLES. Your goal is to work your muscles, and the object to do so is the weight. Most people, consciously or unconsciously use the mindset of LIFTING THE WEIGHT UP, and muscle building or feeling being a side effect. It's false. Simply false. If you don't trust me, see the difference between a 30kg calf raise with perfect form and incredible mind-muscle connection, and a calf raise with 80kg and no mind-muscle connection. I can bet you the guy with 30kg calf raises has better calves in the long term.

Speaking about the mind-muscle connection, what is that? Well, when you exercise, instead of focusing on lifting the weight up like I said before, focus on working your muscles. The mind-muscle connection is the connection between your mind (your attention, your focus), and the muscle that is being worked. You need to find exercises to build a good mind-muscle connection, such as ones that stretch your muscles so you can feel them really working and maybe even burning or stretching apart.

For example, don't choose exercises where you don't even feel your muscles working. Find exercises or ways of doing those exercises that push you to feel your muscles really stretching, breaking apart, tensing, relaxing, etc. The goal is to FEEL the muscle, to really connect to it with your mind so that when you work it, your attention is focused 100% on the muscle, and this ultimately gives better results.

Studies proved that mind-muscle connection could lead to a better connection with the muscle being worked and therefore greater gains. When you find exercises where you feel your muscles really working and you focus on it, it just ultimately makes them grow better. Check out this article from the National Library of Medicine of the United States.

If you want to know more about muscle-building, nutrition, sleep, and optimizing your hormones in the objective of fitness, health, and self-improvement, go and buy my weight-loss course here.

BEING CONSISTENT WITH EXERCISE

The number one reason why people do not achieve their dreams is because of a lack of consistency, and this is true in all walks of life, be it business, exercising, self-improvement, building a family, or getting on a new diet.

Sadly, we cannot fundamentally change people since they have to do the change themselves, but we can change ourselves on our own individual scale. And so, we can try to fix our lack of consistency by shifting our mindset and changing our beliefs, as well as using tactics that I will uncover in this section.

Being consistent means to keep consistency to a good level, or in other words, to keep practicing something. If you're consistent with eating clean and natural foods, you keep practicing this activity. The same goes for exercise. If you keep being consistent with exercising, it means you keep practicing this habit for life despite the ups and downs.

So, to become more consistent we need to work on ourselves. Fundamentally, profoundly, and deeply, if we want to become more consistent we have to build up our discipline. Discipline is the art of doing something you don't want to do. It's when you push yourself to go and exercise, to eat clean foods, or to wake up earlier.

Building our discipline is a simple concept: pushing ourselves beyond our edge enough to grow but always keeping back from falling into the void so we don't completely overwork ourselves. We need to be at our individual edge and always push this edge further until we've reached a level of discipline that is far from expected. In other words, do things you don't want to do which will better your life. If you do not want to meditate this morning, meditate. If you want to eat an unhealthy lunch at a fast-food joint, eat the salad. It's all about choices and habits too.

If you automate your "self-growth actions" such as eating clean, exercising, sleeping well, meditating, and reading, then exerting discipline will be WAY, WAY easier. It doesn't feel that hard to go to the gym when it's been two years since you've been going at it 6 times a week. It just doesn't have the same "exertion" of discipline that you had at the beginning. It doesn't require as much discipline as before.

Even tho building your discipline is indeed a great idea to build more consistency through time, as it is the best way to do so, some techniques can still help you on the "rough days" when you really don't want to exercise. So here are these techniques, which can work or not work for you, but which will be probably of good use.

The first technique is the "putting your shoes on" technique. It's a technique I've learned that can work in your favor for building consistency. Let's say one day you do not want to go to the gym anymore. You've been motivated, you had it, you had the "fire," and now as the days pass you don't care anymore. You're shifting back to being an absolute loser. So what could you do? Well, you could ask yourself if you can take the smallest step toward your desired goal.

"Can I get up from the couch?" is too hard? Ok, "can I move a leg?". Start from small, and progressively increase this reasoning. For example: "Can I move a leg?" "Can I move two legs?" "Can I get up from the couch?" "Can I walk to my room?" "Can I put on my shoes?" "Can I get my keys?" "Can I leave my home?" etc etc etc until you've entered the gym. Once you're warmed up and you're ready to go, more often than not you will smash your workout.

The second technique is to simply show up. One technique I've learned about is to make your brain understand that leaving is not an option. However, since it's not that realistic for someone who's new or complacent at the gym, I suggest starting small. I suggest, if one day you don't feel like it, to simply drive to the gym. Enter the gym, and if you do not want to workout, at least you came to the gym, and your brain has understood that.

It might seem ridiculous but there's a high chance that since you'll be at it you'll be warmed up mentally for the gym. Your body is intelligent and when it knows you're going to the gym it "warms you up" mentally so then you're ready to smash your workout. So, naturally, you might suddenly feel good about going to the gym.

Remember that even the smallest effort can be efficient, not for the original goal of gaining muscle for example, but for the underlying goal of showing up and being consistent. If your "daily exercise requirements" are 20 air squats (the bar is set low), then you will undoubtedly be able to hit a workout every day. So if one day you're skipping the gym, at least show up to the gym, do 20 air squats, and you'll probably warmed up mentally and physically so at this point, go for it .

Your brain needs to understand that you're not leaving. YOU need to understand that you're not leaving. And you are not always your brain. Funnily enough, your brain works against you most times. So why listen to it?! Be logical, and a bit emotional. Learn to trust your instinct, but to be a robot of duty if needed. The goal here is to hit a small workout despite you not wanting.

The third technique is to change your mindset from "I do not want to exercise" to "Exercising will help me better my discipline". This concept was illustrated by bestselling author James Clear in his book Atomic Habits.

Instead of seeing exercise as "I do not want and it's going to suck", see it as "It's going to better my discipline, and willpower, whilst improving my health and making me become a better person." If you put it in this way, how can you even hesitate to skip exercising?

You need to change your identity too. You need to practice self-improvement daily so your identity shifts from being your casual Joe to becoming a real man or woman of character, someone who is strong, intelligent, and wise. It's a continuous identity change that requires you to work on your goals daily, even to a small extent.

By changing your identity, you allow your old identity to die and therefore, you allow a new identity to arise. You allow new habits to arise. You allow your new life to arise. Therefore, by letting it arise, you also let the consequences, be they good or bad, of these habits and identity traits arise. But if you follow the path of self-improvement and self-growth, these consequences will be converted into benefits, stepping stones for more growth.

But identity change takes time, and so therefore it highlights the following important truth.

Consistency, discipline, and identity are things that cannot be shortcutted. It's not a quick-fix solution. It's a long-term commitment to self-growth. It's a long-term commitment to wisdom.

Let that stir in your head for a while, and you will have discovered what self-improvement really, fundamentally is: a long-term commitment to habits that make you grow into a better person. So yes, using quick fixes, and daily techniques such as the "put your shoes on" technique can indeed work, but overall, what really works is working on the deeper parts, on the inward, before going on the outward.

It's the concept that highlights Stephen Covey in his great book entitled The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, which came out in August 1989. The first habit of the book is called "Be Proactive". Being proactive means working from the inner to touch the outer, not working on the outer to touch the inner. In other words, it's working on the inside, on the soul, on the beliefs, ideas, and identities, rather than working on the way we dress, fake social skills techniques, fake "confidence" techniques, etc. It's working on the main issue instead of the superficial issue.

For example, you might be struggling with procrastination. You could use the reactive approach of buying and using productivity apps, stupid "Pomodoro" techniques, and all this bullshit, or you could use the proactive approach, and try to go at the root of your procrastination. Are you scared of failure? Is this task too hard for you, Should you begin smaller? Or are you simply pulling back because you're scared and you don't know how to embrace your fears?

Also, if one day you skip a workout, don't beat yourself up over it. The goal of exercising is to make it a lifelong habit, you'll have a lot of other opportunities to prove to yourself you're not a "skipper". However, do not make this a habit. Make this an exception. Get back on track as soon as possible and do not beat yourself up over it.

To know more about consistency in every walk of life, I suggest reading the weight-loss course I sell, as I've explored this subject in depth in the course.

CONCLUSION

Exercising is THE BEST activity you can do to improve your life right now. It is so good for the body and mind that its benefits have been preached for thousands and thousands of years. It wakes us up, enlivens our souls, and makes us feel complete. Exercising is the habit you need right now.

Thank you so much for reading. Since I genuinely want to help you in your journey toward a healthier lifestyle, here is a resume of what we've learned today.

Exercising is composed of two categories of sports, cardiovascular training and weight-lifting. You need to progressively overload by adding sets, reps, or weight to your training plans if you want to become better at any sport you're doing. Being consistent in sports requires you to be proactive and work on the deeper, underlying issues rather than on the superficial issues. You need to change your identity, beliefs, and thoughts. On "cloudy days", try to start small, and slowly make your way through the gym.

I hope this big, long-form article was of help for you. For more information on self-growth, exercising, dieting, weight loss, reading, meditation, and more, you can check out the other articles. If you want to get daily or at least weekly self-improvement content from the greatest authors, podcasters, and entrepreneurs of our time, I suggest checking out my YouTube channel, Daily Improvement.

And if you're interested finally into weight loss and self-development, improving your physical as well as your mental health, you can check out the weight-loss course I created, which resumes everything I've learned about weight loss which enabled me to go from a fat, obese teenager to a strong and muscular young man, in less than a year. It's my formula for success. And also, for your own good, it has 12 free bonuses. 12! Anyway, that is enough for me, and I'll see you next time.