First off THANK YOU To everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday On FaceBook Friday! It made my day!

So Friday past I turned 36 years old (young) or whatever you care to call it!  But I turned 36.

It’s a weird number because I can no longer look back and say “well I am not that far from 30″ because, well, now I am lol.

This means that I have been exercising and working out for almost 20 years now.  Which is a long time!  But in that time I have learned & experienced a lot in the gym!

So I wanted to share 36 “Insights” that I have learned over the years

1. Have Fun!  If the gym isn’t fun find something that is fun!

2. Help Others. Most people who workout are focused on their own goals, or their own body.  Help others, it will come back to you 10 fold

3. Stay Healthy!  It’s one thing to be big and strong, but its NO good if your not healthy.

4. Don’t stop learning!  Its easy to get complacent, always keep learning and improving!

5. Ask for help!  I can assure you that many people have done or are doing what you want to accomplish.  Ask for some help

6. Try different sports!  When I was hardcore into weights I wouldn’t dare try another sport as it would ruin my workout.  What a mistake that was! Stay Active!

7. If you want to get bigger it isn’t hard.  Eat More, Train Harder, Rest, Repeat!  The hard part is the eating!

8. We are creatures of habit.  Identify your habits and fix them.  It will make it easier to build muscle, lose fat, or whatever you goal is.

9. If you aren’t building muscle the way you want ask yourself 2 questions 1. Are You Squatting?  2. Are You Deadlifting?  If you answered YES to both questions then you need t0 eat more food!

10. Cardio isn’t the enemy for building muscle! Far from it!  No one lost muscle doing 15-20 min cardio 5 days a week.  If your not doing cardio you are missing out!

11. Pay attention to your Pre & Post Workout Nutrition!  It doesn’t matter how hard you push yourself, if you dont pay attention to what goes in your body you won’t get nearly the results you should!

12. Do a bodybuilding or figure show!  Not for the ego, but do it as a challenge and to see what your body CAN look like.  It will surprise you!

13. Get a GOOD COACH or TRAINER!!  It amazes me the people that buy 1-2 magazines and think they know it all!

14. Protein, Creatine etc ISN”T bad for you! (God I hate hearing this) It doesn’t hurt your kidneys or any other crap like that!

    
    

15. Your Doctor doesn’t know everything!  Always ask for help, research, learn, and ask questions.  I see anti depressent and thyroid meds way too often with customers these days…

16. CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT!  Is it Monday?  That mean’s Bench & Bicep for 80% of the people at the gym.  if this is you PLEASE CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT LOL.

17. You Get ONE body!  Take care of it!  It amazes me to see people spend all day cleaning and fixing their car, only to neglect their OWN BODY.  Think about this for a second.  It’s pretty scary!

18. STRETCH!  Let me say that again, STRETCH.  It is by far the most neglected part of fitness & exercises today!

19. “You can’t out train a bad diet” Remember that, it is beyond important!!!  Nutrition is everything for getting in shape & feeling good!

20. Train heavy, then back off.  you can’t always get stronger and stronger.  Sooner or later something will remind you that.  Better to back off by your own choice than a bad injury!

21. Train with your friends!  Go try a different workout, try a new program!

22. The biggest obstacle of people getting in better shape is POOR NUTRITION!  I see packed gym’s but hardly anyone in shape!  What does that tell you?

23. BCAA’s, Fish Oil, Multi Vitamins & Greens should be staples in everyone’s diet!

24. To build more muscle train heavier, eat more quality food, reduce cardio (not cut out), and hit the big muscle groups.

25. To get leaner train at a faster pace.  Blend circuits with basics in the gym, reduce carbohydrates and bad fats.  Dont reduce FOOD, reduce CRAP.

    

26. Your biggest roadblock to getting in better shape is your surroundings! (work, home, school etc). YOU Can’t control that but you can control YOUR RESPONSE.  If everyone is having a tims donut & they want you to eat one it is because THEY want you to fail!  They feel better when you are weak like them.

27. Stop using machines.  I know, every gym is full of them!  Which is why you should NOT be using them.  More on this soon!

28. Do more exercises standing.  Why would you sit down to shoulder press?  I will tell you why, because your gym is making you lazy!

29. Don’t Do Bar Curls In The Power Rack!  Please….only unless there is NO one at the gym…  Please….

30. Don’t growl, scream, grunt, or make weird noises in the gym.  Unless you want to be known as an idiot, then by all means scream away!

31. Take 8-10 minutes and do a proper WARM UP.  It will make your workouts better, improve recovery, and reduce injuries.

32. Train your GLUTES!!  Yep train that butt of yours!  It’s important!  More info on this shortly also!

33. IF your squats aren’t at least parallel then please don’t brag about your squat #’s.  A 225 squat done RIGHT is far more impressive than a 405 knee bend!!

34. The best way to bigger arms is squatting.

35. If your in the gym longer than 60 min your making friends (or staring at the girls on the treadmill way too long lol)

36. Your own as OLD as you FEEL!  And after my birthday celebrations I feel OLD!!  :)

I hope this gives some brief insights into my thoughts!  I thought I’d post some party pics but i will save those for another day lol.

Stay Thirsty My Friends!