This is the follow-up to Consider the Source (August 2021) that I forgot to write. Sorry for the delay. In that early post I admonished people looking to YouTube for training and nutrition advice to consider whether they are part of the audience being advised. In other words, even correct information can be wrong for you, depending on your goals and/or a host of other limiting factors such as experience, age, injuries, medical conditions, etc.
If you are one of the vast majority of people whose fitness goals are simply to a) lose fat and b) build muscle, and you are at or near the beginning of this journey, wading through the approximately nine gajillion terabytes of information online can be daunting, and frankly, a lot of it is simply unnecessary.
First, many of the popular fitness channels are run by professional bodybuilders – whether current or retired, chemically enhanced or natural. Do they know what they’re talking about? Yes. Is it going to help you? Probably not much, unless your goal is to one day compete on the bodybuilding stage. There is a HUGE difference between training and nutrition for competitors and training and nutrition for those trying to improve their health or appearance. Is there overlap? Sure. But bodybuilding at the competitive level is not just a training/diet plan – it’s a 24/7 lifestyle.
Second, and this is the bigger issue in my opinion, in order for these channels to remain monetized, their creators need new content almost daily in order to keep the eyeballs, likes, and subscriptions rolling in. That’s fine – I have no issue with anyone making money. But the result is 17 million videos on exotic or obscure exercise variations for every body part (to name just one example), often pitched as the “game changer” or secret sauce that will revolutionize your physique, etc., with the implication that somehow your workout is deficient if you don’t add said exercise to your routine.
A perfect example is Athlean-X (Jeff Cavalier), one of the most popular YouTube fitness channels. Is Jeff a professional trainer? Is he knowledgeable? Is he in great shape? Yes to all of the above. But hardly a day goes by when he’s not demonstrating some exercise you’ve never heard of. Are the exercises worthless? No. Do you need them? Also no.
The bottom line is that for the average person who wants to get healthy/in shape, nutrition and training are not rocket science (despite the fit-biz’s efforts to make it seem that way). If you’re that person, here’s what you need to focus on:
- Diet and Sleep
- Basic Resistance Training Exercises
- Cardio (optional)
In that order.
It goes without saying that diet and adequate sleep are important, which is why I put them both as #1. You can’t outrun or outwork a bad diet, and you can’t out-caffeinate insufficient sleep.
You don’t need complex training routines or lengthy exercise menus. In fact, while there are “better bang for your buck” exercises (four of them, maybe five), there really is no exercise that is absolutely required for every person who walks into a gym, and there certainly aren’t dozens of them.
As for cardio, I already wrote about why it’s not the best choice if long-term fat-loss is your goal. Consider it a supplement (at best).
Thanks for reading,
Dan
