52 Tips for Fat Loss, Muscle-Building, and All-Around Awesomeness

There are a lot of fat loss tips or “tricks” scattered all over the internet. Some are good. Most don’t hold water. Same goes for muscle building.

Everyone claims to have that one things that works better than everything else. The “one simple thing” you can do to burn more fat or build more muscle. Something that somehow only they know, and are now finally going to share it with the world.

Bullshit.

I’m not against handing out fat loss tips, or nuggets of fitness wisdom. I do it all the time over on my Facebook page. What I am against however, is misinformation. And that’s what a lot of these so-called “tips and tricks” are.

That’s why I decided to create my own list. But unlike a lot of other lists, this one contains no “secrets” or “tricks”. Just practical, real-world information that I and many other coaches have used to help people lose fat, build muscle, and become healthier.

Here are my 52 tips for fat loss, muscle-building, and all-around awesomeness…

1. Squat and deadlift. Then squat and deadlift some more. Both are basic human movement, and should be a regular part of your program; not just for getting stronger, but for increasing mobility and overall health. There is a variation of both out there for everyone. If you’re unsure which is right for you, hire a coach.
2. Eat lots of dead animal flesh. If you’re against that for some reason, invest in a quality protein powder like this one from BioTrust. The importance of protein while building muscle AND losing fat cannot be understated.
3. Get 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night. Don’t think you need that much? You’re wrong.
4. Focus your training on compound, multi-joint movements. If you can’t squat or deadlift your bodyweight, you have no business doing curls.
5. The bench press is a great exercise if you maintain good form and have no shoulder issues. However, if your shoulders get angry when you barbell bench press, you might be better off with an incline or dumbbell bench press variation.
6. Your mom was right. Eat your veggies.
7. Your muscles don’t need to be “confused”. Get good at an exercise and progress until you can’t anymore.
8. Eat carbs. They help fuel your workouts.
9. Eat fat. It helps with proper hormone function.
10. Walk. It’s a great way to burn extra calories, it helps facilitate recovery, and gives you time to read, listen to podcasts, or just clear your mind.
11. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Dieting and training isn’t always going to be easy.
12. Invest the time in learning how to count calories and macros. You’ll see faster and more sustainable progress. Sign up for my 5-Day Fat Loss Course and I’ll teach you.
13. Want to get bigger? Focus on getting stronger. No one with a 2x bodyweight squat or 2.5x bodyweight deadlift is going to be small.
14. Want big arms? Get better at chin-ups. Show me someone who can do 15-20 full rep bodyweight chin-ups and I’ll show you someone with an impressive set of guns.
15. Find a diet you can stick with for months and years, not days and weeks.
16. Focus on progressive overload. Add weights, reps, or sets every workout.
17. You can’t train 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Your body needs time to recover.
18. Have sex.
19. You can’t out-train a shitty diet. Cliché but true.
20. Train one leg or one arm at a time. The benefits are undeniable.
21. Farmer’s walks are great for building muscle and shredding fat. Grab something heavy and walk with it.
22. Don’t neglect your glutes. Stronger glutes equals a stronger and healthier body. Plus both men AND women appreciate a nice ass.
23. Don’t sacrifice form to move more weight. You can’t train if you’re injured.
24. Jogging makes you better at jogging. Biking makes you better at biking. Strength training makes you better at everything.
25. Use kettlebells more. Do swings, cleans, snatches…these are highly explosive movements that are great for conditioning and burning extra calories.
26. Sprint.
27. Tension is the name of the game. Get tight while performing all your exercises. Don’t know what that feels like? Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes. Doing so will make the exercise much more challenging, but will also make you much stronger.
28. Enjoy what you’re doing. It will make the process much easier.
29. Take Athletic Greens every day.
30. Do an exercise specific warm-up before each workout, not just stretching and jogging on the treadmill for five minutes.
31. Don’t neglect speed, power, and explosiveness. Best thing I ever did for my bench press strength was to increase my bench press speed.
32. Press overhead. Not just for strength but for shoulder health as well.
33. Everything works. Some things work better.
34. Front squat to help your back squat.
35. Pull twice as much as you push.
36. Track everything. It makes it much easier to adjust when progress stalls.
37. Train your abs for strength and performance, not aesthetics (The former will lead to the latter).
38. Have more sex.
39. Water…you’re not drinking enough.
40. Improve your hip mobility. Your training performance will increase and your lower back pain will decrease.
41. It’s going to take longer to reach your goals than you think. Much longer.
42. Consistency is infinitely more important than finding the “perfect” plan.
43. An intense thirty-minute workout will produce much better results than an hour and thirty-minute workout where you’re on your phone or talking for five minutes between sets.
44. Toning = “Losing fat and gaining muscle”, not “Lift this pink 5 pound dumbbell for 20-30 reps.”
45. Soreness is not the indicator of an effective workout.
46. Get a massage at least once a month (more if you can afford it).
47. For the last time, lifting heavy weight will not make you bulky. Eating too much will.
48. Your beer gut didn’t show up in a month. It won’t go away in one either.
49. Don’t neglect your conditioning.
50. A stronger grip leads to a stronger everything.
51. Learn how to cook a few key meals and eat them often. It makes dieting much easier.
52. The basics aren’t sexy, but they sure as hell work.

None of the above 52 tips are ground-breaking or earth-shattering. But they produce results. Look at any sustainable, result-producing program, and you’ll see a lot of these built into it.

And if you want results, there really isn’t much more you need to do than what’s outlined above.

Jorden Pagel