5 BEST Workout Tips For Weight Loss

Today, I’m gonna give you 5 of my best workout tips for weight loss, improving your overall health, and fitness. 

They’re not earth shattering tips, by any means. It’s not about trying to reinvent the wheel of fitness. It’s all about execution.

5 BEST Workout Tips For Weight Loss

These best workout tips are gonna be a bit of a step up from the basics which are making sure you’re doing resistance training to build muscle, don’t just do cardio, finding your optimal training frequency, etc. 

I have separate videos all about those topics so make sure you check them out. 

Let’s start with one of my best workout tips. This might be near the top as one of the best things you can add to your workout routine. It gives you the best bang for your buck.

I have to admit, I’m a little late to this party. I only started doing this when the world kinda went crazy recently. And it’s made a huge impact in my health, especially my mental health, and all my students swear by it as well.

1. Go for a walk first thing in the morning

How long should you go? It’s up to you. 

It can be as short as 5, 15, or 50 minutes if you have time. The longer you go, the better. But even a short 5 minute walk can yield massive benefits. 

Trust me. Once you get outside, you’re gonna want to keep going.

Why am I such a big advocate for this? Going for a morning walk is hands down one of the best ways to set up your day for success and re-affirm this new active lifestyle you’re living.

If you’re someone who works from home, going for a walk first thing in the morning as your “commute” to work, and going for another walk at the end of the day as your “drive” back home is a great way to separate work from home. 

It also gives you some sort of routine and a sense of normalcy. Because it’s so easy to just lock yourself at home all day and not leave the house.

There are also tremendous benefits when it comes to getting some early morning sun exposure. 

For example, it boosts your brain’s production of serotonin.  Serotonin is the key hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness. It also helps with sleeping, eating, and digestion.

You also get some much needed Vitamin D, which is actually a hormone that controls blood calcium concentration and impacts the immune system, when you get regular sun exposure.

Morning sun exposure also helps prevent certain cancers when done in moderation. 42% of the US population is Vitamin D deficient.

If you live near the equator, this shouldn’t an issue for you. But this is why seasonal depression is real when you live in a place with four seasons. 

Physically exposing your eyes to daylight first thing in the morning also helps set your circadian rhythm which means you’re gonna get better rest at night because your body is in sync with the sun. 

If you get good sleep at night, that means you’re gonna get better recovery from your workouts. 

Your fat loss hormones are gonna be better optimized, and you’re just gonna be a healthier and happier human being because you’re well rested.

I’ve never met anyone who complained about getting a good night’s sleep. It’s an absolute game changer.

So get up first thing in the morning, get dressed, and go outside. I like bringing a cup of coffee with me sip on. 

The world is also a little different in the morning, especially if you get out there early enough. It’s nice and quiet.

You can also listen to a podcast or an audiobook. And I’ve mentioned that tip many times in my walking videos how walking while listening to an audiobook has literally changed my life. 

I went from reading one book a month to listening to one or two audio books a week. That’s how I’m able to come up with new ideas for videos.

You can go with a walking buddy to help keep you accountable. I’ve gotten my parents to do this and go for walks together. 

You can use it as active meditation. Bonus points if you can go for your morning walk somewhere close to nature like a park, a trail, or a body of water.

Being in nature helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Don’t you just feel better when you’re in nature?

2. Keep trying different things

This remains true even if you love your current training routine. 

If you’re trying to make any sort of change in your life, consistency is everything. But, here’s the key. It’s a lot easier to stay consistent if you like what you’re doing and you’re having fun.

There are so many different ways to workout these and even combine different things. You can play around and treat it as fun time. 

You want to frame this opportunity as something that brings you joy rather than something you have to do. It’s an absolute privilege that you get to move your body. Don’t forget that.

Every few weeks, it doesn’t hurt to check in with yourself and see if there’s anything you can do to change it up or possibly even make things better. 

Let me tell you my personal progression. I’m actually a bit of a late bloomer in terms of working out.

I didn’t start going to the gym until I was around 19. My brother actually had to drag me to the gym kicking and screaming.

Looking back now, I wish I started sooner. Back then, I just did mostly body building and power lifting. 

How CrossFit changed my life

When I was 25, around 2012, I started doing CrossFit. It’s literally changed my life because it has allowed me to unlock my full genetic potential physically. 

It allowed me to transition into an Olympic weightlifter. I reached National level status and I did pretty well in international competition. 

CrossFit allows me to try different things because the workouts are rarely ever the same. The whole premise of it is constantly varied functional movements done at high intensity.

As much as I love and enjoy CrossFit, you always have to constantly grow and evolve. Remember, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.

To stay true to this idea of always trying different things, I’m also in a good place where I’m able to try something new, I finally took up martial arts this year and started training Muay Thai. 

If you don’t know anything about Muay Thai, it’s easily one of the most brutal form of martial arts on the planet. It’s definitely not for everyone. 

I didn’t know I’d do something like this at 33. But guess what? I love it. Nowadays, I mostly do Muay Thai and I do CrossFit to complement it.

I didn’t know that I’d enjoy martial arts had I not had the mentality of always trying something new. 

Also, be brave enough to suck at something new. Last week, I tried acro yoga for the first time. That was interesting.

The same idea goes with integrating walking into my daily routine. I was the laziest fit person before. But again, you always have to evolve. 

Who knew that this guy would go out of his way to always make sure he gets 10,000 steps a day. I actually feel weird if I don’t get in my daily 10k steps. Who am I?

So, always challenge yourself. Experiment with new things. Step out of your comfort zone. Everything you want is outside of it. 

Find joy when it comes to exercise. It’s literally the definition of voluntary hardship. It’s not easy but it’s absolutely worth the effort.

Make it a lifestyle. Turn it into something that you want to do forever. Again, it is an absolute privilege that we get to move out bodies. 

That type of mindset is what’s gonna allow you to stay consistent, constantly evolve, and get to your goals faster.

3. Building a consistent routine is everything

This is directly tied to tip number two and is directly connected when it comes to achieving any sort of success in life.

I know I just said experiment with different things. But in the grand scheme, you definitely want to build consistency first into your routine. 

For example, I started out with body building and power lifting. I did that for years. Then, I transitioned to CrossFit. Now I do Muay Thai and CrossFit.

Even if you’re always checking in with yourself and being open to new things, you want to be consistent with whatever you’re doing until you jump into something new.

Being consistent over time is what gets your results. 

This is a mistake that a lot of beginner’s make in that they go hard or too heavy right away. They want to get it all in one day. The problem with that approach is it usually leads to burnout. 

Or they’re so sore from that one hard workout that they don’t come back for the rest of the week. Or worse, they get injured.

If you’ve ever been injured before from working out, it sucks.

Whereas if you’re consistent with your effort every day. You’re laying a good fitness foundation brick by brick. You can just keep building on that. 

The other benefit of building a consistent exercise routine, where it just turns into a habit and becomes part of your lifestyle, is it takes motivation out of the equation. 

The problem with motivation

Motivation is great to get people started. The problem is, it’s fleeting.

If you’re doing something for the first time because you’re motivated, that’s great. But what do you do when the going gets hard and you’re not motivated anymore? 

This is why the failure rate for new years resolutions is something like 98%. It’s directly tied to motivation. But again, motivation is effervescent. 

Whereas, discipline and consistency is reliable. The key to success is training yourself to still do the work when you’re not motivated. When you want to do anything but exercise.

This is why bad workouts are so much more valuable than hitting PR’s. Having a bad workout means you still showed up to the gym regardless of how you’re feeling.

If you can get yourself to a point where you don’t think. You just do.

You have a plan, you execute it regardless of how you feel. That’s when start achieving some pretty amazing results and not falling off the wagon time and time again because you tied everything to motivation.

So, how do you build consistency brick by brick? You need to do three things.

1. Set realistic expectations

It’s gonna take time. You’re not gonna get it all in one day. You’re most likely gonna suck at first. That’s okay. Every expert was once a beginner.

2. Put it on your calendar

If you have a doctor’s appointment, you show up to that appointment. Right? Treat your workouts the same way. You have an appointment with the gym, so you go.

3. Have a back up plan

Stuff happens. Let’s say you’re on your way to the gym and you get a flat tire. What are you gonna do? 

Are you gonna workout at home? Do you have a flex day? Are you just gonna make it up the next day? You need to know what to do when life happens.

4. Follow some sort of program

This is a common mistake that I see a lot of people make. They go to the gym and they just do whatever. 

Yes, there are levels to this. The fact that you showed up to the gym is a great first step. But if you’re just doing random stuff, you’re not gonna get very far. 

You need to maximize the time you’re there. 

The bigger problem with not following any sort of programming is that’s when people just tend to spend 90% of their time in the cardio machine area because it’s easy. 

This is when you see people go like this for hours on the elliptical machine.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing cardio. There’s a time and place for it. 

But if that’s all you’re doing, you’re gonna be severely disappointment with your results. Or, lack thereof.

It could even start working against you if you get into what I like to call chronic cardio patterns. 

It’s when you just stick to your favourite cardio machine and you go too hard and too frequently with insufficient rest while counting calories burned on the screen.

You don’t want to do that. It’s now been scientifically proven that calories burned from exercise does not translate to fat burned in your body.

The benefits of group fitness classes

This is why I’m a big fan of group fitness classes, CrossFit being one of them, because the programming is already taken care for you. All you have to do it show up.

If you’re not into group fitness classes, you need to follow some sort of programming. Whether it’s something you buy online or something that you get from an educated trainer.

If you’re going with the latter, make sure that whatever workout program you end up following is built around resistance training and is focused on progressive overload. 

It’s where you progressively increase the load slowly over time. This is how you build muscle. Having a lot of lean muscle mass if the key driver of your metabolism. It’s also a strong indicator of lifespan.

So, be consistent. But here’s the key. Consistency only works if you’re doing the right thing. 

If you’re consistently doing the wrong thing, it doesn’t matter that you’re the most consistent human being on the planet. It won’t work.

5. Being fit doesn’t just revolve around your workouts at the gym

I used to be so guilty of this.

I would workout for an hour or however long I’m at the gym. But for the rest of the day, I was a couch potato. 

This is called active couch potato syndrome. If that sounds like you, you are still living a mostly sedentary lifestyle. 

Nothing shuts down your fat burning metabolism faster than prolonged periods where you’re completely sedentary. It also comes with a boatload of negative side effects.

You want to aim for at least one hour of movement outside of your workout. This is called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). The more NEAT you do, the healthier you’ll be.

Which brings us full circle to my first tip. The best way to increase your NEAT is to integrate walking more into your lifestyle.

I mentioned earlier that my goal every day is to get 10,000 steps. That roughly translates to an hour of walking. 

You want to avoid prolonged periods where you’re completely sedentary. For every hour that you’re not moving, you need to move for 5 minutes.

Doing this will drastically reduce your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. 

Walking helps with digestion and blood glucose control. It alleviates anxiety and depression. It also up regulates your fat burning metabolism. The benefits of being active are endless.

How do you become more active? Take the stairs, stand instead of sitting while taking transit, work on a stand up desk, walk while you’re talking on the phone, walk your dog, if you don’t have a dog, walk your neighbours dog.

Park a little bit further away when you’re shopping instead of driving around for 10 minutes looking waiting for a spot close to the entrance to open up.

They’re all little things. But small things done repeatedly add up to staggering results over time.

Remember, we evolved to move as human beings. Otherwise, you’d be a tree.

As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!

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