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10 Fitness Hacks That Will Take Your Results to the Next Level

I’m approaching nine years since I started my journey to lose weight and take my health seriously. In that time, I’ve lost 100 pounds, completed thousands of gym sessions, learned the ins and outs of dieting and tracking, and even helped some friends lose weight along the way.

Through a lot of trial and error, learning from others in person, observing at the gym, and utilizing online resources, I've discovered numerous “fitness hacks” that have significantly boosted my results and those of the people I've helped. While there are too many to cover all at once and I'm sure some have slipped my mind 😅, I've compiled a list of the top 10 here:

1. Eat That Frog (Fitness Edition)

Have you ever heard of “eating the frog”?

Not literally. It’s a productivity concept that basically suggests you should start your day by doing the biggest and most difficult task, or the one you want to do the least (like eating a frog). If you do this, nothing worse will happen for the rest of the day. I apply a similar idea to fitness. Walk into the gym and begin your workout with the most difficult and least desired exercise. This is when your energy levels are the highest, ensuring you can give it your maximum effort while setting a positive tone for the rest of the workout.

2. Slow Down On the Eccentric

When lifting weights, we often pour all our focus into the concentric (raising) phase of the movement, but then slack off during the eccentric (lowering) phase, basically just letting the weight drop. Take a bicep curl, for example. We're all about that initial curl upwards but once we're at the top, we tend to just let the weight fall back down without much thought.

Once I started slowing down the eccentric phase, taking about 2-4 seconds to lower the weight, it made a world of difference. I've seen major gains in strength and muscle, and it’s done wonders for my form overall.

3. Walk In-between Sets

I know it’s tempting to just sit there staring off or going on your phone between sets, but I promise you, although it may seem exhausting at first, making an effort to walk around between sets has been a game changer for me. It helps keep your heart rate up, keeps you engaged during workouts, and you’ll end up with a couple of extra thousand steps to add to your daily total.

4. Don’t Start With Cardio

For the longest time, I would start my workouts with cardio, but I noticed that my energy for strength training was always very low. This led to minimal progress since I was too tired and unmotivated to push myself. Eventually, I realized that if you plan on incorporating both strength training and cardio into a workout, don’t start with the cardio—end with it instead.

Strength training requires a high level of muscle coordination and activation, so starting with cardio and fatiguing yourself beforehand will reduce your ability to do so effectively. Additionally, starting with strength training depletes your glycogen stores. When you do cardio afterward, your body may be more inclined to use fat as a fuel source since you've already depleted your glycogen stores, which could increase fat loss.

5. Wearing A Sweater

Let me be clear, this next hack has absolutely no scientific backing (as far as I know). This is purely from my own experiences, but wearing a sweater to start your workout has been something I've been doing for years. What I have noticed is that it helps get my muscles and joints warmed up, which has improved my blood flow and reduced the number of injuries I experience. The loosening of my muscles and joints has made it feel like I can contract and perform my strength training a lot easier.

When I'm really warm, taking off my sweater and continuing with the workout somehow makes me feel a lot stronger and much more willing to attempt heavier weights. Again, zero science here, purely just my own experiences, but give it a try and see if you notice the same thing 🤷‍♂️.

6. Protein. Protein. Protein

Eat at least 0.8 to 1g of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 200 lbs, aim for 160-200g of protein a day. This will help you build muscle, maintain it when cutting, and keep you much more satiated. I’ve written about this topic in much more depth, so check those publications for more details, but the key takeaway is that protein is essential. Don’t neglect it.

7. Training To Failure

I knew a guy who would go to the gym, get on a machine, do a workout for 10-15 reps at a weight that was hardly challenging, and as soon as he felt any resistance or strain, he would stop. He was basically going through the motions and hardly pushed himself. As a result, he made very little progress. That guy was me.

So, I’ll tell you from experience that training to failure, or getting to a point where you only have 1 or 2 more reps worth of energy left, will completely change your results. It’ll help maximize your muscle growth, increase your strength, and give you much shorter and more efficient workouts.

8. Progressive Overload

This is less of a hack and more of a fundamental fitness principle that should be top of mind when working out. The idea is to gradually increase the demand placed on your muscles over time to continually challenge them and stimulate muscle growth. You can do this by adding weight, increasing reps, increasing sets, or reducing the amount of time you rest.

Here’s an example of how I personally follow it: Let’s say I’m doing Dumbbell Press and I’m aiming for 3 sets of 15 reps with 30-pound dumbbells.

First Attempt:

• Set 1: 15 reps

• Set 2: 14 reps

• Set 3: 12 reps

Since I couldn’t complete all 3 sets of 15 reps, I’ll keep the weight the same for the next workout.

After Several Attempts: If, after a few more attempts, I’m now able to do 15 reps for each set with the 30-pound dumbbells, this indicates that I’ve gotten stronger and am no longer reaching full failure with this weight.

Next Step: I’ll then increase the challenge by switching to 35-pound dumbbells for the next workout. The goal is to continue progressing by gradually increasing the weight, ensuring that the weights never feel too easy and my strength keeps improving.

This approach ensures that my workouts remain effective and challenging, preventing stagnation and promoting continuous strength gains.

9. Focus On The Muscle

If I asked you right now to think and focus on your right elbow, you’d be able to do so easily. I want you to apply this same logic when working out. For example, when doing a Dumbbell Fly, focus intensely on your chest and the tension being applied to the muscle.

Use your mind to connect with the muscle you're working, feeling every contraction and stretch. This mind-muscle connection can enhance the effectiveness of your exercises, ensuring you're engaging the target muscle fully and getting the most out of each rep.

10. Make It Nearly Impossible To Fail

Listen, dieting isn’t easy. It requires a certain level of discipline and control that not many people have or can maintain consistently long enough to see results. The solution is to force yourself into situations where it is incredibly difficult to fail.

• Struggling to stop yourself from cheating on your diet at home? Get rid of all foods that could break your diet. Empty out your pantry, fridge, freezer, etc. Now it’s nearly impossible for you to cheat at home.

• Struggling to eat clean while at work? Meal prep. Make it so you always have the right foods on hand. This way, you make it hard to fail.

By setting up your environment to support your goals, you reduce temptation and make sticking to your diet much easier.

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