Like any other athletic activity, lifting weights is a skill. If you want to be any good at it, you have to practice, and you have to specifically practice the skills that you want to improve.

In many training programs, there’s a lot emphasis placed on recovery and not doing too much, often to the detriment of skill development.

Our identity is fundamental. It’s how we make sense of the world and relate to others. By addressing our identity, we get at the heart of why we make the decisions we do.

Your outcome is your destination. Focusing on the process gets you there. But knowing the kind of person you want to be pushes you along the path.

Process goals are the steps that you take along the road toward your outcome goal, or what you ultimately want to achieve. Think of each process goal as a rung on a ladder. Each one builds on the next and takes you toward your destination. Setting good process goals will save you frustration and get you to your destination faster.

If you’re looking to get started training later in life, it can be extremely intimidating.

The good news is that the weight room only appears intimidating on first glance. Sure, there are some gym idiots out there who make everyone else look bad. But the strongest, most in-shape people are often the kindest, friendliest, and most encouraging.

For a long time, one of my main fitness goals was to bench press 315 pounds. There is absolutely no outside significance to that goal. So why did I care? It was about demonstrating an attitude, not a number.

Here’s how to conquer your own goals, whether they be performance-based or health goals.

The ketogenic diet seems to be all the rage when I’m writing this.

I want to look at the real reason why keto works for short term fat loss, and why it might not be great long term.

Language matters.

“Clean eating” is a perfect example of a popular term that is minimally useful at best, and harmful at worst. Here’s why.

Anyone who has attempted any sort of lifestyle change, whether it be fitness related or otherwise, knows that ambitious goals have a huge capacity to induce change.

The primary goals of ANY fat loss program need to be:

1. Maintain lean muscle to maintain the metabolism.

2. Stimulate the body to break down and burn stored fat.

3. Avoid injury in the process.

Here’s how you do all three at once.

Back in college, I put on way too much weight in my short-sighted desire to be as strong as possible. Eventually I decided enough was enough, and I lost 40 pounds of fat. I made some stupid mistakes along the way. Here are some things I don’t recommend that you do.