Fitness FAQ

Lift weights first. It's better to be worn out from lifting for your cardio, rather than be tired from cardio for your lifting. The former leads to having to do less cardio for the same endurance and health goals, while the latter leads to lower stimulus for muscle growth and an increased risk for injuries.

Exercise is the stimulus, but nutrition (and rest) are required for that stimulus to lead to the proper response. If your goal is to be healthier or lose weight, subpar exercise routine with a great diet will lead to better results than a great exercise routine with a subpar diet. For building muscle or increasing strength, it's closer to 50-50 and more about eating enough rather than having a high-quality diet.

There is no specific number and it changes a lot based on the type of change you're looking for:

• Mental: Immediately!

• Fat Loss: You start losing weight once you are burning more calories than you consume, so also quick, but may not be noticeable right away since one pound of fat is 3,500 calories. For a typical deficit of 500 calories, this means losing one pound of fat per week.

• Strength: Early "gains" are often neurological efficiency and just getting better at the exercise, but you can see reasonable strength gains in a week or two.

• Muscle Size: Takes at least a few weeks of consistent exercise to start seeing increases in muscle size, and requires months to get noticeable changes.

You absolutely do not need supplements. The text below refers to the Nutrition page.

The supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar market filled with bold claims, with the vast majority of supplements being useless or even harmful. Before reading any further, it's important to understand the first rule: supplements are meant to supplement a healthy diet, not replace it. No pill or powder can undo the effects of poor nutrition and an unhealthy lifestyle, so the vast majority of your nutrients should always come from whole foods. However, when used correctly, there are a few supplements can be effective tools to fill specific nutritional gaps or provide a convenient solution for a busy lifestyle.

Here are the main cases where supplements are widely recommended:

• Whey protein isolate or other protein powders if you struggle to eat enough protein

• Creatine monohydrate for strength and peformance goals

• Vitamin D if you live in a northern area with little sun exposure

• Omega-3 fish oil if you rarely eat seafood

• Iron for women with anemia, during pregnany, and with other relevant conditions

Always check Examine and other sources like MedlinePlus for information about specific supplements.

This will largely depend on what works best with your schedule. Ideally you're working out at least 3x/week, but it's all about what you can do consistently without burning out.

Talk to your friends and family about your fitness goals. Social support is the biggest factor in building motivation and discipline for all sorts of goals.

Both! Ideally, you switch (periodize) between low, medium, and high reps on a monthly basis. As for sticking with one reps range for a specific goal:

Strength: High weight, low reps

Hypertrophy: Medium weight, medium reps

Endurance: Low weight, high reps

Generally, free weights, as you're working additional muscles (your stabilizers), while ensuring you're working at the angles your body is comfortable. However, free weight exercises require technique to varying degrees, so machines are appealing and even recommended for beginners. Please note that cable machines like the lat pulldown and seated row are effectively free weight exercises, as it moves more freely than lever-based machines, so you can do those guilt-free.

It's entirely up to you, but generally 30-60 minutes is perfect for a complete exercise. If you're only able to do 5-10 minutes or just 10 air squats (less than a minute), that's completely fine. It's not like your body doesn't count short bouts of physical activity, so even if you can't commit to an hour, do something. Perfect is the enemy of good.

Stretching can help a bit, but realistically, the major soreness 1-2 days after exercise will happen no matter what. However, soreness is much worse when you're just starting out, so it does get better.

The idea of "cheat meals" is dangerous for most people. You shouldn't bucket things into "eat" or "don't eat," as food quality is not binary. Some foods, you should eat more of, while others, you should limit, but healthy eating is not about restrictive diets. "Tempation bundling" is a concept that leads to real progress, which in this case, could mean eating a burger with a side salad to help get in some greens. Sustainably improving your eating habits is much better than the perfect diet you only maintain for a month.

There are so many factors that it's impossible to completely answer here, but I'll list the handful of primary factors:

• You're eating more than you think. I don't usually recommend tracking calories, but if you lack general knowledge of how calorically dense food can be, track for a week or two and see if you either realize you're eating more than you think or if you end up losing weight while tracking.

• You're gaining muscle and losing weight. Also known as recomposition, this is pretty common early on. Generally speaking, the less muscle you have, the easier it is to build, and the more fat you have, the easier it is to lose fat, so beginners are at the best position to do both. Especially if you're feeling stronger and healthier, you may not see the number decrease on the scale due to muscle gains.

• You have a lot of stress or low sleep quality. Improvements to your fitness require recovery, which is inhibited by a lack of sleep and high levels of stress. Either one can lead to your body to hold onto fat, as it signals to your body that it needs to slow its metabolic rate and store more fat.

• You're not burning as many calories as you think. A typical hour-long, moderate intensity workout burns 200-300 calories, which less than two oreos. Even if you work out every day, eating just a little extra can completely counteract any caloric difference.

Ideally, you eat a good amount of high-quality protein shortly after your workout, but it's not something to obsess over. Just make sure you're getting a variety of protein sources throughout the day.

Yeah, of course. Don't worry about feeling guilty about it, but you should do your best to make up the next day and don't make a habit of skipping.

You may come across figures like 15.5 cups for men and 11.5 cups for women, but don't worry about tracking your water intake. Instead, keep water in convenient spots, like at your work desk, in your kitchen or living, order it at restaurants, or bring a flask to the gym. Make it easy and make an effort and you'll drink plenty of water.