I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
The other day I was talking to a client and he asked me a simple question,
“Why are all the things we’re doing going against what I’ve been told to do my whole life?”
Most of what we’ve been lead to believe about losing weight and getting lean is old outdated information.
In order to get to our leanest bodies we gotta give a middle finger to the rules and create new ones that fit our lifestyles.
In today’s blog I want to share with you the 5 most unconventional tips to getting lean that you probably won’t find in popular local fitness magazine.
These are tips that I’ve used on my own body to keep it at it’s leanest shape and I’ve used the same methods with every single one of my clients with great success.
You ready? Here they are…
5 Unconventional Tips for Getting LEAN
1. The less meals you have during the day the more control you have over your diet.
Snacking is probably the one habit that’s causing you to gain weight year by year.
If you eliminate this you start controlling your hunger and getting more satisfied from your meals.
2. The shorter the time frame in which you allow yourself to eat the better control you have over your diet.
One of the low key secrets to dieting successfully is to put more focus on eating time frames.
Most people eat from the time they wake up to right before they go to bed. That’s a good 12–13 hours of feeding in a day. Plenty of time to eat above your calories.
I start people off on an 8 hour feeding window (12 to 8pm) and a good number of clients gravitate towards 6 hours or less.
The shorter your time frame the easier it is to stick to a diet.
3. Do the minimal amount of exercise possible to illicit the best benefit out of your training. 2–3 times a week work best.
When it comes to fat loss less is more when it comes to workouts. Too much volume hampers your recovery in the gym and can cause other issues (increased hunger, less motivation and muscle damage).
It’s not about killing yourself in the gym and going 5 days a week.
It’s about doing the most effective exercises to illicit the best effect from your body. Which leads me to….
4. Focus on doing 3–5 exercises per each workout session. Do the same exercises for at least 12 to 16 weeks straight. Every week aim to get stronger at each exercise.
The workouts I give my clients are based on the most effective exercises that illicit the best muscle building effect.
Some call it powerbuilding. I call it effective.
You want to do no more than 5 exercises in the gym a day (remember 2 to 3 days a week) and get stronger at each of them every single time you step in the gym.
This is how you build muscle. This is how you get stronger.
It’s not about doing 10 different exercises every time you workout. Do this and your heading down a path to nowhere.
5. The best body fat range to be lean, healthy and still have a lifestyle is anywhere from 15 to 20%. Getting down to sub 10% and seeing your abs is cool but overrated in the long run.
Abs are awesome and I recommend every guy get them at some point in his life just to see how much effort is needed to get there.
But it should not be the standard. The best body fat range for optimal health and lifestyle is about 12 to 19%.
This ensures that you’ll avoid major health scares and time with the doctor and also gives you enough leeway to eat outside of your diet and have a drink or two.
One more…
Learn to love eating your vegetables.
It’s way harder to fill up on 300 calories of green fibrous veggies than on 300 calories of chocolate.
Summary
It may not seem like it but we’re just starting to find out what affects the body on the level of fitness and fat loss.
The old rules don’t serve us anymore and our lives are changing too rapidly to be following age old advice.
It may seem counterintuitive at first but try these “unconventional” tips out.
It takes the body about 7–10 days to start adapting to any diet.
Give yourself that time and break free from the common rules of fat loss. Your body will get lean and you’ll feel more confident as a result.
Before you go…
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Hi there, have just read your email, and reading this post now, it is making more sense. I am female and am 44, and have been training for years, yet after i passed 40, it has been getting harder. Yet the less I train, the better my body responds! Not like in my 20s or 30s! I do struggle with diet though, and I think it is that, which is keeping my fat alive! Must be more diligent with it, as I know that I CAN do better.
Thanks!
Great comment. Thanks Rachel! Diet is key and the more you optimize that the more everything will tie in together.