Life hacking is something that truly amuses me - to find a way to do/learn something really fast, but in an effective way. Without losing out on the core essentials. And since I'm majorly against the 'get fit quick' and 'get rich quick' scams run in mainstream media, i took up the challenge of actually writing a genuine 'get fit quick' and a 'get rich quick' lifehacker guide consisting of only 10 points.
This, is the lifehackers guide to getting fit. Apply these 10 tips to your life and you WILL find yourself stronger, fitter and healthier within 3 months - and will be successfully able to translate it into a lifestyle. Are you ready? Here goes:
1. Join a Gym.
As simple as it may seem, it is the first rule to getting results in fitness. you may want to believe the million get fit at home ads you see on tv and mass media, but they are all crap for a reason. So join a good gym - and by good i don't mean swanky - i mean well equipped with quality free weights, a good squat rack and certified trainers that have been certified from a credible institute. And hire a good trainer/fitness consultant - atleast for the first 3 months. A standard fitness consultant charges as low as 10k for a year of mentoring.
2. SQUAT, DEADLIFT, BENCH PRESS and OVERHEAD PRESS.
Whether you want to lose weight, get abs, get bigger biceps, look like a model, grow stronger or fight aging and get younger - these lifts are your holy grail. If you have the option between doing all the exercises in the world on the fanciest machines OR doing these lifts, choose these lifts. These lifts build your entire body strength, are most functional and directly applicable to real life movements, cause the highest amount of muscle microtrauma leading to highest amount of fatloss through raising your APOC and are universally the best workouts irrespective of your sex and age.
3. Go full range. Go heavy.
There's no point in doing a workout if you are going to cut corners and do half range motions. Doing your workouts with complete range of motion is healthiest for your body and your joints and for muscular development. Don't listen to quacks who tell you that full range squats are bad for your knees. Also, dont be afraid to go heavy. As Kaizzad Capadia says "you are always stronger than you think you are". Aim to lift as heavy as you can - the goal should be to get stronger. When you get strong - aesthetics, fat loss, confidence, everything else just follows.
4. Cut out Sugar.
Corn is the greatest cash crop of the US and of the modern world - so the whole corn and sugar industry has you believing that FAT is what makes you fat. but dietary fat and body fat are two entirely different things. Body fat is created from excess glucose - which is a sugar - which comes from carbs. So when i say cut out the sugar, i mean SUGAR, WHITE BREAD, SWEETS, POLISHED RICE and all things with cornflour.
For everyone, cutting out all of these wont be possible - so start with just cutting out actual sugar itself, along with white bread and white rice and that will be enough to drop fat considerably, reduce LDL, feel lighter and be healthier overall.
5. Have more Protein.
How can i advise you that even without checking your diet? because most probably, unless you are a competing bodybuilder who has taken pro nutrition guidance, i'm pretty sure your diet lacks protein. And that's thanks to the mass media that keeps scaring you with myths regarding protein. If you are vegetarian, have loads of paneer, milk and whey protein supplements. If you are Non-vegetarian, add eggs to your breakfast, chicken and fish to your meals and paneer to your dinner everyday - and have some protein supplements too. Research has shown that by simply by adding 2 good quality protein shakes to your diet everyday, you can actually reduce 4-6 kgs of fat in a month.
6. The Universal Supplement Stack: Protein, Creatine, and a good preworkout.
No matter what the fitness magazines tell you, there are only 3 supplements you REALLY need - and that's the protein, creatine, and a good preworkout. Creatine allows you to train heavier, protein gives you the nutrition to rebuild the body and a good preworkout ensures that you can give it your 100% even when you are feeling down.
7. Make a workout group
Influence matters. Get with a group of motivated people who genuinely love being fit. This makes your workout a social activity which is fun and rewarding and also gives you a group of motivators instead of just one.
8. Take up a martial art / activity.
Besides going to the gym, indulging in a physically intense activity on the weekends or 2-3 time s week can be very rewarding. Not only for the body, but also for the mind. It gives you a new sense of accomplishment and confidence and requires higher and higher levels of fitness to keep getting better at it - which goes a long way in keeping you driven to stay fit.
9. If you get injured, visit a sports physiotherapist.
Usual physiotherapists, from my personal experience have been a waste of time - because they try to return your body to normal - where as an athlete or someone aiming for superhuman capabilities, thats just not enough. You need a sports physio who can guide you to recuperating quickly and getting back to training asap.
10. Don't read magazines, and celebrity crap - read actual research papers instead.
Magazines and mass media are 99% crap. Pulishers lie to sell products and celebrities faff to protect their image. It will take you a lot of personal experience and research to be able to tell the good from the bad from the outright ridiculous. Searching the very first pages on google will only give you the sponsored pages and not the real articles. So if you want genuine knowledge on not only fitness but on any topic, search deeper, read books by authors with real qualifications and engage in conversations with real experts on social media or if you can, in real life.
This is it. This is the fitness lifehack. Plain and simple.
If you just follow these 10 simple things, I personally guarantee you that you will find your physique better and stronger and your body healthier than ever before in just 3 months.
-Pushkaraj S Shirke
K11 Trained Fitness Consultant
Creative Director, Climb Media
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