by Ben Dearman, KDR Fitness

Over a decade. That’s how long I have been coaching for.

I am going to drop 30 minutes (that’s how long I am going to type for) of knowledge bombs all about getting the most out of your workouts.

And go!

1. Consume a recovery shake of roughly 10-20 grams of protein and 20-40 grams of carbs. Guys on the upper end, gals on the lower end.

2. Wanna gain muscle? Double that requirement.

3. Wanna lose fat? Don’t change it.

4. Always try and lift more weight using the same form.

5. If your form changes, the weight is too heavy.

6. Every workout you should be lifting more weight in at least a third of your exercises. Perform 10 exercises? Then 3 of them have to be harder than the last workout.

7. Doing something for 10 seconds longer than last time qualifies as harder.

8. Lifting one pound more for every rep than you did last time every time is 100% doable and generally better than making a 10 pound jump all of a sudden.

9. Bench press, squat and deadlift – that’s all you need.

10. If you want to focus more on athletics switch it to SA bench press, single leg squat and single leg RDL.

11. Having said that, every work out should have a push, pull, squat, carry and hinge, or picking something up from the ground.

12. Squeeze your butt at the top of every single rep. HARD. Like you’re trying to create a diamond by squeezing.

13. Hip ups for a nice ass. Every day. 100 reps. If your butt doesn’t change in 30 days then you’re doing them wrong.

14. Do you want to bring up your biceps/shoulders/calves, etc.? Do a few sets of 5-25 reps before every work out. Go for the pump, then do your normal work out. Give it a month and you should see changes.

15. The muscles that need to be strengthened are generally – butt, delts, triceps, traps, rhomboids.

16. The muscles that need to be stretched are hamstrings, calves, pecs, biceps and lats.

17. Can’t touch your toes? That’s a problem. Fix it.

18. Lie on the ground with your legs and arms straight like a pencil. Are your arms over your head? Is your lower back off the floor? If it’s “no” and “no” to those questions –fix it.

19. Not being able to get your arms over head and the ability to touch your toes are probably the biggest issues we see that cause the most problems for people.

20. If your knees/lower back/shoulder/etc. hurt doing an exercise you’re probably doing the wrong exercise.

21. If you think you’re doing the right exercise but you still have pain, then you’re probably doing it wrong.

22. If you think you’re doing the right exercise with the correct from and you still have paint then you’re wrong. Hire a personal trainer, or go see your doctor.

23. The width and strength of your back is directly proportional to how healthy your back will be.

24. Females need to get stronger, males need to lose weight. Speaking generally.

25. The females that look the best are generally the ones that can do a few strict push-ups, a few strict pull ups (any grip) and can deadlift 1.5 to twice their body weight. Focus on those things first if you can’t lose weight.

26. Injured/hurting/not seeing results? Generally getting stronger fixes it.

27. A work out should never take longer than an hour. Stop talking so much.

28. Everyone should do a powerlifting competition at least once. See number 26 above.

29. The application of strength in the gym is the realization of ability outside the gym…minus 50%…roughly.

30. You’re stronger then you think you are. Find a way to test it every 3 weeks.

31. It’s just exercise, don’t make it so complicated.

32. If you don’t leave feeling better than you did when you arrived then the workout didn’t accomplish the goal. A workout should allow you to work off what’s bothering you.

33. More strength less cardio.

34. If you can’t walk up 3 flights of stairs – then more cardio.