If you’re here because you want to go from skinny to muscular, you’ve come to the right place!
I know exactly how you feel.
I was once a very thin guy struggling to put on muscle! Hell, my “before photo” below on the left below is after a decade of training and “eating a lot.”
It took me 10 years of struggle to crack the “bulk up” code, so don’t beat yourself up if you’re really struggling to put on mass.
We’ve helped people just like you get bigger in our Online Coaching Program: we use the same tactics and strategies I’ll discuss below!
Okay, let’s get into it! Click any of the links below to learn about the 9 key mistakes skinny guys make when trying to bulk up:
I didn’t put the weight on a necessarily healthy or sustainable way, but after 6 years of struggle, this experience solidified the connection between diet and getting bigger.
It finally made sense.
If you don’t eat enough calories, you won’t get any bigger.
So if you are not getting bigger and more buff, then you are not eating enough.
It’s science.
If you’re trying to gain weight: when in doubt, eat.
Under optimal conditions, you’ll most likely be able to put on 1-2 pounds of muscle per month.
Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t make tremendous strength gains – you’re just not going to build 50 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks.
So start by having proper expectations: don’t try to “Put on 50 pounds” by the week or month. It’s time to think in terms of days and years to make your progress permanent:
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and muscle isn’t built in a matter of days either. It’s going to take months of sustained effort, and it’s going to take consistency and patience.
But you can get there.
If you struggle with not seeing results, and you want a Yoda in your pocket (that sounds weird…) to help you bulk up fast, our online coaching program fits that exact scenario
It’s better to pick a basic plan and stick with it for months and months and months, than jump around from week to week chasing the newest shiny object.
If you are trying to get bigger, you might not be doing a tough enough workout in the gym or in the park to stimulate muscle growth.
No matter what, you need to be doing heavier weight, or doing more repetitions in order to challenge your body, breakdown muscle fiber, and force your body to rebuild stronger.
This is called “progressive overload,” and it’s the only way you’re going to build size in the right places.
Coach Jim breaks down different strategies for progressive overload in this video:
However, you must be scaling these exercises constantly to make them increasingly more difficult, which many people struggle to do.
Just doing more regular push-ups, bodyweight squats, and pull-ups is a good way to get conditioned, but after a certain point, it most likely won’t produce muscle growth without increasing the challenge.
That’s when you need to progressively overload your muscles with a more difficult movement.
I detail this during my “stay in shape while traveling” post, in which I packed on a few pounds of muscle while ONLY doing bodyweight exercises.
I started by doing just pull-ups and dips.
Now I’m up to doing pull-ups with 60 pounds on a weight belt, and dips with 70 pounds on a weight belt.
I used to just do push-ups and pull-ups, now it’s parallette gymnastic complexes:
And muscle-ups on gymnastic rings:
So, YES it can be done!
You just need a solid plan that allows you to consistently push your muscles further.
Looking for a plan to gymnastics mastery? Outside of our coaching program, our new app will show you exactly how to start training with rings.
In the age of instant gratification, we always want more, now now now.
Over the past decade, I followed a terrible cycle of setbacks and injury:
Try to get bigger. Eat lots of food, and put on some weight.
Ramp up my workouts too quickly.
Sustain some sort of injury from trying to do too much.
Take a month off to recover.
Start back at #1.
Repeat the process.
Have patience.
Start out with easy weight, and get a teeny tiny bit better every single day.
In fact, it wasn’t until I stopped chasing fast goals and instead focused on tiny habits that I went from Steve Rogers to Captain America.
Back when I started deadlifting again, I kept thinking “I can do more! I can go heavier!” – but I patiently forced myself to go just a tiny bit further than the week prior.
Live to train another day, and just focus on the process:
“Hit the gym 3-4 times per week, get a tiny bit stronger. Then go home and eat!”
As bodybuilder Lee Haney says:
“Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate.”
Getting yourself to slow down and put faith in the process is really difficult. It’s why everybody fails at diets, and why nobody can get results that stick.
They try to do TOO much, TOO soon, and keep falling back to square one.
If you are tired of falling back to square one and want somebody to help you make sustainable, permanent progress towards bulking up, check out our coaching program!
As Coach Jim mentions in the video above (where he documents his journey on gaining 50 pounds), you need to be consistent with your workouts and nutrition.
For me personally, I’ve found sustained success by doing the following:
Eating roughly the same meals every single day.
Getting enough sleep by going to bed at the same time each night.
Training 4 days a week for about an hour.
As a result, I’ve been able to make consistent progress for the past 4 years, and my new “normal” is progress and strength improvements!
What I’m trying to say: be honest with yourself.
If you can’t work out six days a week for the next year, DON’T train that way!
Start with twice a week, doing a basic weight training program, and dump the extra time you would have spent training into eating more or getting more sleep.
If you can train three days a week, that should be plenty to make you bigger: muscles are made in the kitchen, after all!
Remember, if you’re not getting bigger, you’re not eating enough!
Eat more.
It might take you 6+ months longer than if you went all-in and did nothing but eat and lift all day every day, but you’ll actually KEEP the progress you’ve made rather than giving it all back.
This was a brutal lesson I couldn’t learn until I hired an online personal trainer who helped me get my mindset right, and put the right systems in place!
Here’s what I did to prioritize my transformation and training:
I ate extra meals even when I wasn’t hungry.
I rearranged my training schedule so work would NEVER be an excuse.
I said “no” more often to staying out really late and drinking.
I programmed my workouts into my calendar.
I had my coach keep me accountable.
I scheduled Saturday morning workouts so I wouldn’t go out drinking on Friday.
I made fitness a priority.
Is this goal of going from skinny to buff truly a priority for you? If it’s not, you’re going to give up when you’re tired, or not hungry, or don’t want to exercise.
As we talk about in our “How to Get in Shape” article, you need to have a BIG WHY: the reason you’re doing this!
I wanted to get bigger so I could be more confident when going on dates.
What about you? Why are you here?
Write down your reason, stick it on your bathroom mirror or laptop, and use it as a reminder.
Because this isn’t going to be easy!
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
And if you want to GET bigger permanently, you need to do things differently, consistently, and permanently.
Never forget why you are doing this!
I did this journey alone for a decade before I finally got some help in staying accountable and keeping me on track.
If you’re looking for somebody to keep you accountable, tell you exactly what to do in the gym, and tell you how many calories you should eat, we can help there too.
“But where’s my bicep curls, tricep extensions, ab work, etc.!?!?!”
ALL of those muscles get worked incredibly well with the above exercises, so don’t worry about isolating.
Instead, just get strong.
When you can lift heavy things or complete intense bodyweight exercises, your body needs to adapt.
If you want to do things like bicep curls or triceps extensions, great.
Just do them AFTER doing the big important workouts.
As long as you are eating enough to fuel your recovery and following the Bulk Up Like the Hulk Axioms, you’ll be good to go!(Covered in the free download when you join our email list in the box below!)
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
If you are somebody who wants to get bigger, and go from skinny to buff, make sure you don’t make the 9 mistakes I used to make!
And if you want results, here are 3 options we offer:
1) If you’re tired of the guesswork and just to be told exactly what to do, consider checking out our 1-on-1 online coaching program! We create custom programs and nutritional guidelines for people like you struggling to put on size.
2) If you want a roadmap for home workouts, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion! We have a free newsletter that we send out twice per week with new content helping you build muscle and level up your life.
Sign up the box below and I’ll send you a bunch of free guides!
Download our free skinny guy’s guide to putting on muscle!
Enter your email below to download now
The Nerd Fitness “Get Bigger” Shopping List
Bulk like the Hulk with our rules for getting bigger
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below:
What are your biggest struggles when it comes to bulking up?
Have you had success as a skinny dude or lady and made great progress?
Have you struggled your whole life with being skinny and still can’t seem to crack the code?
Let me know how I can help!
-Steve (former Steve Rogers, current Captain America)
PS: Check out these other articles in our “Build Muscle Fast” Series:
As Coach Lauren mentions above, the “circuit” in circuit training comes from the fact that you do a sequence of exercises back to back to back, and then you repeat the sequence.
And then again.
You cycle through the planned sequence of exercises, or circuit, multiple times.
That’s circuit training.
Generally, you hit each major muscle group during one full circuit. You may do a lower body for one exercise. Then the upper body the next.
You’ll find all sorts of different circuit training sequences. Here are some things most will have in common:
Several different exercises. A normal circuit will have five to ten different movements per circuit. You’ll often hear these referred to as “stations.” Overhead press station, squat station, etc.
Little to no rest in between.The goal of circuit training is to keep your heart rate up. Ideally, if you’re physically able, you go from one exercise to another without stopping. Maybe you rest after the whole circuit. Maybe.
Rinse and repeat.Generally, you’ll run through your circuit a few times. Three rounds are common.
Make sense?
The point here is to work different parts of your body with different exercises, and then while those parts are recovering, you’re working on your other movements! This helps build cardiovascular health, while also improving muscular endurance and strength.
More importantly, for somebody with limited time, doing a strength training circuit is more effective at building strength and burning fat than an equivalent amount of cardio.
In other words, if you are trying to lose weight, you should be doing circuit training.
Our Beginner Bodyweight Circuitwould be a great place to begin, and you can download a worksheet to help you get started right here:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
Why Should I do circuit training?
Generally, you’ll hear exercise divided into strength training or aerobic exercise (cardio).
What’s the difference, you wonder?
Strength training. Strength training is also referred to as anaerobic exercise, which would be a short burst of energy for movement. Think of a push-up or pull-up. These exercises help build and tone muscle.
Aerobic Exercise.“Aerobic” means “needs oxygen.” Your heart rate increases to get oxygen where your body needs it, thus the word “cardio.” Running, biking, or jumping jacks would be examples of aerobic exercise.
The thing about a circuit is, you actually do both categories. Presses and lunges fall into strength training. Jumping jacks are cardio.
And since you aren’t stopping much in between stations, you’ll need more oxygen, and voila. Even more cardio.
With circuit training, you build muscle and burn fat WHILE building stamina.
As Michael Scott would say, “that’s a win, win, win.”
There’s some debate on what kind of exercise is better for weight loss: aerobic or anaerobic.
My thoughts?
If you’re limited on time and only can pick one, I would pick strength training: when you strength train, you break your muscles down, and your body needs to work extra hard over the next 24-48 hours to rebuild those muscles (with increased calories burned).
We work with our 1-on-1 Coaching Clients to create programs that combine both strength and cardio in a fun way – it really comes down to a program that you actually WANT to do.
Before and after your circuit training: Warm up and stretch
No matter which circuit you pick, I want you to start with one important thing:
Warm-up!
I cover why you should always warm up in an article found right here. It doesn’t have to be much though, give it about five minutes to get your muscles active and your heart rate up.
This will help you do exercises properly and help prevent injury. You can run in place, do air punches and kicks, or some jumping jacks.
Here is NF Senior Coach Staci (you might know her incredible story) showing you many beginner options you can use to warm up as well:
Did I just tell you to prepare for circuit training, with a circuit?!
If you’re curious, here’s my personal (advanced) warm-up:
THE NERD FITNESS ADVANCED WARM-UP:
Jump rope: 2-3 minutes
Jumping jacks: 25 reps
Bodyweight squats: 20 reps
Lunges: 5 reps each leg.
Hip extensions: 10 reps each side
Hip rotations: 5 each leg
Forward leg swings: 10 each leg
Side leg swings: 10 each leg
Push-ups: 10-20 reps
Spider-man steps: 10 reps
Our goal isn’t to tire you out. Instead, we want to warm you up.
That’s step one.
Completing your chosen circuit training routine would be step two.
Below, you’ll find 15 workouts you can follow along with! And if you like our style of workouts, you might like our new app, Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Right now, you can try it for free for a full week (no credit card required). Jump in below:
Once you’ve done the above three times, go ahead and put your kettlebell away for your final step: stretches.
If you want a kettlebell worksheet for this workout, grab one by signing up in the box below:
Grab Your Beginner Kettlebell Routine Worksheet!
Complete this workout at home or gym with 1 kettlebell.
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing kettlebell exercises.
Build strength, burn fat, level up your life!
We also have a fun new adventure in our app that will allow you to train with your kettlebell right alongside Hack Morris (this will make sense more sense when start).
Jump in right now for your free trial:
Beginner Gym Circuit Training
If you have access to a gym, you have a lot of circuit options.
If it’s your first time stepping foot in a fitness facility, check out our Beginner’s Guide to the Gym. The gym can be a scary place, but we’ll give you a strategy to get comfy.
We’ll also walk you through each movement for both Days A and B below. I would recommend picking one of our 5 Beginner Gym Workouts, going through the leveled progressions, and working your way up to the circuits below:
Alternate your circuits on different days. Rest in between. “Day A” could be Monday. Rest Tuesday. Wednesday could be “Day B.”
We LOVE helping people get started in the gym, as we’re huge fans of barbell training and helping beginners build confidence with weight training! If that sounds like you…
And you can download our full Strength 101 guide too, which has this routine along with other circuits to help you start building strength today:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
The Hotel Workout Circuit: For Travelers that Train
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a workout circuit you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
Level 1
Level 2
Set the alarm clock to 15 minutes from now and see how many circuits you can do!
Check out our full post on hotel circuits if you want Level 3!
We have a LOT of business travelers in our 1-on-1 coaching program, which is why we create workouts for both their home gym and while traveling!
If you need worldwide accountability, workouts for home and the road, and want expert guidance…
Nerdy Circuit Training Exercises
If those workouts above don’t tickle your fancy, we have these other nerdy circuits you can do too!
Gimli “Shall I get you a box?” jumps: 7 box jumps – REALLY explode
Helm’s Deep-Squats: 9 bodyweight squats – get your ass to the ground
Tower of Orthanc Holds: 1 minute (Kick up against a wall and hold a handstand for as long as you can until 1 minute is complete, in as few as sets as possible. Check out our Guide to Handstands.)
Superset 3: The Return of the King
If you can get through a superset three times, consider yourself an honorary Ranger. Nothing found in Mordor can faze you.
Barbell Deadlift / Dumbbell RDL / Banded Good Morning / Regular Good Morning: 10 reps
Medicine Ball Slam / Quick Downwards Bodyweight Squat: 10 reps
Push-up to Renegade row (push-up, row left, push-up, row right, repeat): 5 Rows per side
Transverse Lunge and Chop: 5 reps each side
How many times do you do this circuit? AMRAP, or, As Many Rounds As Possible. I suggest setting a 12-minute timer and getting to work. Be careful though, because only Wolverine can heal automatically.
You’ll need actual rest.
Boom!
There are your nerdy circuits. Feel free to rock the soundtrack of the referenced movies during your workout. If you own a cape, now’s the time.
Complete List of Circuit Training Exercises
You can do any of the workouts in this article and get a great workout, but if you want to build your own workout, you can totally do that too!
Here is a list of exercises you can use to create your workout.
Simply pick a few, and do one after the other in as many circuits as you want!
Do 3 circuits with 10 reps of each exercise, one after the other!
Have fun and keep things interesting. And if you don’t want to build your own workout, that’s cool too! We have 15 free workouts in this article, and we can also do all the heavy lifting for you.
(Well, not literally DO the heavy lifting, but you know what I mean.)
We create custom workout solutions for busy people just like you in our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. Let us create a workout and help you make better food choices.
It’s like having a Yoda in your pocket (again, not literally).
How to Stretch After Circuit Training
Once you finish your workout, the final step (three) would be stretching and cooling down. No matter what circuit you go through, stretch after a workout. It can help a lot with muscle recovery.
Scope this video for an awesome stretching sequence to follow:
You could also do some yoga poses. For stretching, find what feels good and take your time. Let your heart rate come down while you stretch.
You could even do some foam rolling too if you’re a glutton for punishment!
There are all sorts of different ways to do circuit training. We just showed you fifteen.
YOUR MISSION: Complete one of the above circuit training workouts! If you don’t know which one to pick, start with the Beginner Bodyweight Circuit. It’ll get you used to the idea of hustling from one exercise to the next.
And you can do it in your living room!
If you’re looking for more hands-on instruction and customized guidance, check out our 1-on-1 Coaching program. You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who get to know you better than you know yourself, and then build a workout program that is specific to your exact goals.
Simply put, we tell you exactly what to do every day, and how to eat. And then, we check in with you regularly to make sure you’re doing it!
If you got this far in the article, I really want you to try one of these workouts. Right NOW. I always mention the most important step in a fitness journey is starting it. Today, start circuit training.
Once completed, I’d love for you to share your story with the community in the comments:
How’d it go?
Did you get through three full circuits?
Which routine did you pick?
Find a circuit you’re comfortable with, and do it.
So you want to lose weight and get in shape, but don’t want to leave your house?
Well, as your fitness Yoda, I will teach you a great bodyweight workout routine that you can do ANYWHERE: In your living room, at a park, or in a galaxy far, far away…
These are the types of workouts we build for our busy Online Coaching Clients, and I’m pumped to share it with you today!
Let’s dig into the different parts of this workout and get to the action:
Make sure you also download the Beginner Bodyweight Workout PDF so you can track your progress and level up at home.
I’ll send it on over when you join the Nerd Fitness Rebellion in the box below:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
You just need to make sure you have the right program to follow.
Enter the Beginner Bodyweight Workout.
I’m going to take you through a basic home workout today that can be completed anywhere – in your house, apartment, out at a park, in your basement, on the moon, wherever.
In a circuit routine, you’ll do each exercise in succession without a break in between (if you’re able).
Once you’ve finished all exercises in the circuit, do it again.
If you’re still able after the 2nd run through, go for a third.
Because all of these exercises come one after another, you’re bound to get tired – and that’s okay!
It’s better to stop and take a break than to do an exercise incorrectly.
Before you start, don’t forget to do a Dynamic Warm-Up – Make sure to get your heart rate pumping and get your muscles warmed or you’re just asking for injury.
You can run in place, jump rope, do a few push-ups, pedal on a stationary bike, do some punches and kicks, jog up and down your stairs, and/or twist and swing your arms and legs to get them moving!
“HOW OFTEN SHOULD I DO THE BEGINNER BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT?”
Do this routine 2-3 times a week, but never on consecutive days.
You don’t build muscle when you’re exercising, you build muscle when you’re resting, so try not to do a strength training routine (of the same muscle groups) two days in a row.
In addition to checking out our Online Coaching Program, make sure you download the worksheet for this workout by joining the Rebellion (our free online community)!
I’ll send it to you right away when you sign up in the box below:
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Note: We have helped hundreds of 1-on-1 Coaching clients get started with strength training and other awesomeness – but EVERYBODY starts with bodyweight training like these movements and this workout!
You have two options here to dial in your nutrition:
We’ve actually developed our own 10-level nutrition system and mindset blueprint in Nerd Fitness Prime, but let me break this down into some basics:
Eat natural, whole foods whenever possible.
Cut back on sugar and liquid calories wherever you can. The stuff is in everything!
Put vegetables and fruit on your plate!
Know your fats and carbs – these are the foods we can overeat without realizing it.
Make sure you get enough protein each day (meat, chicken, fish) – this helps with rebuilding muscles and things like that.
You can download a Free 10 Level Diet Guide too when you join the Rebellion and sign up in the box below:
Download our free weight loss guide
THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life
Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace
What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating
3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target
The raw honest truth:how you eat will be responsible for at least 80% of your success or failure.
If you’re doing bodyweight workouts because you’re interested in losing weight, know that training is only 10-20% of the puzzle!
If you need help figuring this all out, or you just want your own Yoda to tell you what to do, you’re in the right place!
We’ve been helping busy people like you train at home and make better food decisions without hating life! It’s our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and it might be a great fit for you.
Schedule a call with us to learn more by clicking on the image below:
Do this Beginner Bodyweight Workout for the next 4-6 weeks and focus on getting better.
If doing just one circuit of the workout was really challenging, no big deal!
Write down how you did, and try to do just 1 more rep or exercise next time through.
The whole point is “do a bit more than last time.”
I also have MULTIPLE options for you to take for your next step too. Pick the option below that best aligns with your goals and timeline:
1) If you want step-by-step guidance on how to lose weight, eat better, and get stronger, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:
2) If you want a daily prompt for doing workouts at home, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get the Beginner Bodyweight Workout sheet so you can print out the sheet and train at home!
Grab Your Beginner Bodyweight Routine Worksheet. No Gym Required!
Complete this workout at home, no equipment required
Avoid the common mistakes everybody makes when doing bodyweight exercises
Learn how to finally get your first pull-up
I’d love to hear how this workout went for you, and how else we can help!
This is what we’ve dedicated our lives to, and you’re now part of a killer community.
Welcome to the Nerd Fitness Rebellion!
You can do this, we got your back!
-Steve
PS: If you’re looking for more workout routines to follow, I got you covered:
PPS: As a reminder, today’s bodyweight workout looks like so:
Click on it to pull up your own PDF of the infographic!
Home fitness rooms are growing in popularity and sophistication.
Barbara Chancey Design
Exercise shows up on most New Year’s resolutions lists. Is it one of yours? If so, it may be a source of frustration as well as motivation. Getting to a gym doesn’t fit with your work or family schedule. Waiting on a piece of equipment feels like a colossal waste of time. You prefer your own shower and privacy. Any one of these factors – most likely a combination – could account for the home fitness equipment market predicted to grow at a 5.2% clip in the next five years and, according to a “recent TD Ameritrade survey,” quoted by NASDAQ, “59% of Americans do not plan on going back to the gym after the pandemic.” For those that do return, “87% plan on continuing to work out at home.”
Movement and mobility specialist Michael Jones knows this well. As he told Forbes.com last September, he sees his Atlanta, Los Angeles and Bangkok clients in their homes, both on site as he rotates his home bases, and remotely via the Internet. Close to half of his clients started working out at home during the pandemic, he recalls, and many plan to continue.
“Remodeling requests over the last three years increased when owners realized their existing home fitness spaces were not designed to meet the needs of a family working and learning from home,” points out Barbara Chancey, a Dallas-based expert in fitness architecture and design. Her clients include boutique fitness studios, health clubs and residential spaces worldwide.
Exercise Space Essentials
Jones shares these essentials for clients’ home fitness spaces:
Ample natural light: A bright and airy fitness space is more motivating than a dark, dreary one, he points out.
Proper ventilation is essential for any fitness room, as it helps to keep the air quality fresh and prevents odors from building up.
Mirrors are helpful for checking your form while working out, the trainer suggests, and can make a room feel less cramped.
Small Space Planning
“Both the optimal and minimum size for a home fitness space is related to the client’s training goals, required equipment, and the floor space needed to perform certain exercises,” Chancey explains. “With keen awareness, even the smallest home gym can become a single destination for total well-being.” Planning needs to factor in room around the equipment, she points out.
“For strength training, FitBench has been called the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of fitness equipment and takes up only a few feet of space,” Chancey comments. “It’s a great solution for even the tiniest of rooms,” she adds.
The designer suggests maximizing vertical walls for expanding a room’s usable space. This can be achieved with a barre, resistance bands, suspension training and a shelf for recovery tools, “making this corner your sweet reward after a long day of sitting at a desk or commuting!” she muses.
Room Essentials
Chancey’s must-haves include:
Flooring that addresses joint pain, slippage, sweat absorption, and cleaning is a top priority. Thick athletic matting found in wrestling venues is beneficial to serious athletes, but also to anyone with stiff joint issues, she says. “Bamboo or a hardwood sprung floor is ideal for yoga, dance, and barre spaces.” For strength training spaces, she likes environmentally certified rubber flooring.
Antimicrobial wall coverings are crucial for inhibiting microbes, bacteria, and viruses, and keeping the space looking new.
Storage is essential. “From water bottles and towels to cycling shoes and yoga mats, every square inch matters. Oversized shelves that sag after a year of supporting heavy dumbbells are an expensive mistake,” the designer cautions.
Privacy is key. When you decide you need privacy from curious neighbors watching your every move, it’s too late. Chancey is a fan of smart shades that can be programmed to protect the space and occupants.
“Having motorized shades in a space is a nice touch,” observes Kristin Reinitz, a smart home technology integrator in the Minneapolis area. They can also control glare, which can be detrimental to a workout or training session, and reduce the room’s heat.
Connected Fitness Room Imperatives
Jones says a high-speed internet connection is a must for remote training sessions. “This helps limit screen ‘freeze,’ and I can see form and movement in real-time,” he explains. He also likes clients to have a smart TV. Many newer models allow for Zoom-type sessions. “This platform is where I see most of my clients,” he comments.
Reinitz is seeing requests for multiple televisions in fitness rooms, (along with always-popular speakers for those who work out to music). These TVs often tie into a home’s entire smart home system and to fitness equipment, especially cardio gear like exercise bikes, she says. “Having distributed video in a room can make it more costly, but the fitness room has become a staple in home building at the level we generally work on,” she notes.
Fitness Room Enhancements
“Being that the fitness room is now a highly-designed space, a very important element is lighting,” Reinitz observes. “Imagine being able to tune your light to match the type of workout you are doing. The way I want a space to look and feel for a high intensity bike ride or strength training session in the morning is very different from an end of day yoga session where I’m working to transition to evening.” Smart lighting enables that flexibility and control.
Smart climate control is another definite plus in a home fitness space. “Being able to walk into the room and, with the hit of just one button, the lights turn to the right temperature for your workout, TVs turn on to the show you watch, the shades shut for privacy and tunes start pumping into the speakers. There are systems that also can work with your HVAC system that monitor and control air quality,” the integrator says.
“While not required for residential spaces, adding an automated external defibrillator (AED) and first aid kit are important nice-to-haves, along with an emergency button to call 911,” Chancey suggests. “Whether feeling lightheaded or full-blown chest pain, seconds matter in saving lives.” The designer also likes a “small refrigerator stocked with chilled eucalyptus towels, scented air, and recycle bins for towels and empty water bottles.”
Noise Issue
Those heart-pumping tunes, coach instructions or just the vibrations from a treadmill can be a problem for the home’s other residents. “We do a lot of acoustical wall treatments,” Reinitz shares. “These can be entire walls or just portions.” Fitness room floors are often covered with acoustically-friendly rubberized material, she notes. “That can help absorb a lot of sound.” Insulating all the walls before sheetrock also helps, she says.
Adaptability
“Home gyms that accommodate ‘adaptive athletes’ of all ages is a growing need,” Chancey states. “We’re designing spaces for clients with spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s, ALS, or other limitations that require specialized equipment,” she says. “Equipping a space with thoughtful features for all stages of life is the essence of inclusion and gives new meaning to the cliché, ‘fitness for all.’”
Last Words
“We are excited that the fitness space is becoming a more important and highly designed part of the home,” Reinitz declares. “I think the automation industry is just starting to scratch the service when it comes to health and wellness.”
***
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Contributors Chancey, Jones and Reinitz will be sharing more fitness room insights in an hour-long Clubhouse conversation tomorrow afternoon (January 4, 2023) at 4 pm Eastern/1 pm Pacific. You can join this WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS discussion here. If you’re unable to attend, you can catch the recording via Clubhouse Replays here or the Gold Notes design blog here next Wednesday.
This guide will tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about CrossFit but were too afraid to ask (Including “Is CrossFit good for losing weight?”).
If you’ve ever questioned why people run around parking lots with sandbags, you’re in the right place.
Many of the coaches in our Online Coaching Program have been CrossFit instructors or gym owners, so this is what we do best: help people start strength training confidently and without injury.
CrossFit can be AMAZING…for the right person…with the right CF coach.
Luckily, this guide is going to help you figure out both of those things!
In this Beginner’s Guide to CrossFit, we’ll cover:
With constantly varied, high-intensity functional movements, CrossFit is a training philosophy that coaches people of all shapes and sizes to improve their physical well-being and cardiovascular fitness in a hardcore yet accepting and encouraging environment.
Here’s the definition of CrossFit from the official site:
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing.
Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.
CrossFit contends that a person is as fit as they are proficient in each of ten general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.
Or, in nerd speak – CrossFit is a training program that builds strength and conditioning through extremely varied and challenging workouts.
Each day the workout will test a different part of your functional strength or conditioning, not specializing in one particular thing, but rather with the goal of building a body that’s capable of practically anything and everything.
Like moving boulders.
CrossFit is extremely different from a commercial gym…and not just because you won’t find any ellipticals, weight machines, or Zumba.
Not that there’s anything wrong with some of those things. We work with our coaching clients to find the style of exercise that works best for them.
If you want to mix up strength training with other fun exercises…
This program “is designed for universal scalability, making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience.
We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.”
What that means is that every day there is a particular workout prescribed (you’ll often see this written as “Rx’d”) for everybody that comes to CrossFit.
Rather than having one workout for older women and another for hardcore athletes – there’s ONE workout each day that is completely scalable based on your skill.
For example, if the workout calls for barbell squats with 135 pounds but you can only do squats with the bar (45 pounds), then that’s where you’ll start.
If you’re injured and can’t do squats at all, a similar movement will be substituted, and if the number of reps is too many for your current ability, that will be reduced.
As you get stronger and more experienced you’ll work your way towards eventually doing the workouts as prescribed.
Now, although CrossFit can be for everybody, it certainly ISN’T for everybody. In this blogger’s humble opinion, CrossFit is perfect for a few types of people:
#1) Beginners to weight training– If you have NEVER weight trained before (or trained only on machines), CrossFit is a great place for you to start (provided you have a great coach, which I’ll cover shortly).
You’ll learn how to do all of the important lifts in a super supportive and nonjudgmental environment. You might even find that…GASP…you love strength training!
#2) People looking for support and community – This is the appeal to CrossFit for me: every CrossFit gym has a really tight-knit community feel to it.
You’re not just a membership payment to them; you’re a person that needs support.
When Nerd Fitness gyms start popping up (don’t think it won’t happen!), I’ll be drawing a lot of inspiration from CF as to how members are so supportive and inclusive of each other.
#3) Fitness fanatics – You know those people that love to work out every day and feel like something is missing if they don’t?
The general protocol is 3 days on, 1 day off, but many CrossFitters end up at the gym more frequently. It’s addicting.
#4) Masochists – I mean that in the nicest way possible. CrossFit often rewards people for finishing workouts in the least amount of time possible.
This means that you’ll often be in situations where you are using 100% of your effort to finish a workout, exhausting yourself, and forcing yourself to push through the struggle.
#5) Former athletes – CrossFit has built-in teamwork, camaraderie, and competition.
Almost all workouts have a time component to them, where you either have to finish a certain number of repetitions of exercises in a certain amount of time, or the time is fixed and you need to see how many repetitions you can do of an exercise.
You get to compete with people in your class, and go online to see how you did against the world’s elite CrossFit athletes. There is even an international competition for those that become truly dedicated.
There are a few people for whom I don’t think CrossFit would be as beneficial, but this doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy it:
#1) Specialists – CrossFit prides itself on not specializing, which means that anybody who is looking to specialize (like a powerlifter) will not get the best results following the standard CrossFit workout schedule.
If you want to be good at a specific activity, that’s where your focus should be.
#2) Sport-specific athletes – Like the specialists, if you are an athlete training for a sport, you’d be better off finding a coach that is trained in getting great performances out of athletes in your specific sport.
Every sport has special movements that require certain types of power in specific muscles.
CrossFit prepares you for everything, but won’t improve your specific sport skills unless you are training for those specific sport skills! Many athletes choose to combine CrossFit with sport-specific workouts (see things like CrossFit Football) in their off-season for conditioning, but that’s up to each sport’s coach.
#3) Solo trainers – Some people, myself included, love to work out alone: my training is my meditative time each day. CrossFit is group training, which means you won’t have the opportunity to get your stuff done on your own.
If you are somebody that likes the IDEA of CrossFit, but you like to train on your own and you still want expert guidance and accountability…
I have a great solution for you!
Our 1-on-1 Coaching Program helps people EXACTLY like you! We create custom workouts and nutritional guidance based on your personality, the equipment you have access to, and your busy life. Let us help you get strong.
But that could be said of literally any sport or exercise.
Or driving a car.
Or using a Q-tip.
In the wrong situations, with the wrong coaches, and for a person with the wrong attitude, CrossFit can be dangerous:
1) During a CrossFit workout, you’re often told to complete a number of strength training or endurance exercises as fast as possible, or complete as many repetitions as possible in a certain amount of time.
For that reason, it’s REALLY easy to sacrifice form in exchange for finishing the workout quicker. If you don’t have somebody spotting you or telling you to keep your form correct, then you’re in trouble.
When it comes to strength training, improper form (especially at high speeds with heavy weights) is the FASTEST way to get seriously injured.
If a CrossFit gym is run by inexperienced and unproven coaches – which definitely happens – then things like this happen and they happen frequently.
Due to the nature of competition, the motivating atmosphere, and people’s desire to do well, many people in CrossFit often push themselves beyond their personal limitations (which can be a good thing)…but oftentimes they push themselves too far.
I totally get it.
In my first CrossFit experience a few years ago, I almost made myself puke because I wanted so badly to finish with a good time.
Later, I did another CrossFit workout that I hadn’t properly prepared for and cranked out 100 pull-ups quickly…and I ended up walking around with T-rex arms for a WEEK because I physically could not straighten them.
Not kidding.
3) In some extreme cases with a VERY small portion of CrossFitters (or similar types of workout programs), an incredibly serious medical condition called rhabdomyolysis can take place.
When people push themselves too hard, too much, too fast, their muscle fibers break down and are released into the bloodstream, poisoning the kidneys.
At CrossFit, some coaches refer to this as “Uncle Rahbdo,” though it’s not something funny or enjoyable.
You can read all about the condition and issues it can cause here. This typically occurs with ex-athletes who have not exercised for a while and come back trying to prove something, and end up working at a higher intensity than their body can handle.
So, like with any activity, you can have people that like to push themselves too far, too hard, too fast, and too often.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of CrossFit (where this behavior can be encouraged and endorsed by the wrong coach), you can end up in some serious danger if you don’t know when to stop or have a coach that will tell you when to stop.
Personally, I find these issues to be more with individual people than with the CrossFit system as a whole, but it is the nature of CrossFit that attracts these people and encourages them to behave dangerously.
If you like the idea of strength training, but are a bit worried about starting with CrossFit, I hear ya.
We help people like you with our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. We create workout programs that are tailored to your experience, and adjust them based on your progress.
We do video form checks, you can text back and forth any questions with your coach, and more.
We also have our massive Strength Training 101 guide so you know exactly how to get started and even provide you with specific workouts to follow! Get it free when you sign up in the box below and Join the Rebellion!
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
Let’s say you’re interested in joining a CrossFit class, but you don’t know what you’re getting into!
Practically every CrossFit gym around the world will let you come in and try out a class for free, so contact your local gyms and find out what dates and time they’re having newbie sessions.
This is how CrossFit classes are usually structured:
Introduction class – For people who have never tried CrossFit before. Usually, there’s a quick overview, and then a basic bodyweight movement workout, and then they talk to you about joining. These are usually free.
On Ramp/Elements – If you’re interested in joining the regular CrossFit workout, you’ll most likely be required to go through the On Ramp/Elements course. The purpose of these is to teach you the nine foundational movements of CrossFit and all about proper form. No matter how experienced you are, these are valuable and worth the time and money. Even if you think you have perfect form on your squats, deadlifts and/or overhead presses: It’s amazing what can be fixed when you have a trained set of eyes watching you do them.
Regular classes: This is what you’re probably used to seeing or hearing about. A regular CrossFit class takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Everybody starts at the same time, there are instructors walking around helping out and keeping track, and everybody is supporting each other and probably swearing a lot.
Most CrossFit gyms will split their classes into three or four sections:
Dynamic warm-up – Not jogging on a treadmill for 5 minutes, but jumps, jumping jacks, jump rope, squats, push-ups, lunges, and pull-ups. Functional movements, stretches, and mobility work that complement the movements you’ll be doing in the workout that day.
Skill/Strength work – If it’s a strength day, then you’ll work on a pure strength movement (like squats or deadlifts). If it’s not a strength day, then you’ll work on a skill and try to improve, like one-legged squats or muscle-ups:
WOD – the workout of the day. This is where you’ll be told to do a certain number of reps of particular exercises as quickly as possible, or you’ll have a set time limit to do as many of a certain exercise as possible.
Cooldown and stretching – Either as a group, or you’re allowed to stretch out on your own. This would also be the time for people who pushed too hard to go puke in a trash can and stretch their stomach muscles.
Other than picking the one that’s closest to you, why not put a bit more thought into it? This isn’t like picking a commercial gym – the community and coach are so freaking important.
First and foremost, you need a gym with competent, experienced coaches.
You should be able to see through that particular CrossFit gym’s website – not the main CF site – who the coaches are and how long they have been teaching, including their certifications.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what you might see from coaches:
CrossFit Level 1 –an ANSI-accredited certification. This means the person went to a weekend-long course and passed the exam. You’re taught the basic movements, how to scale each movement, but not really much more. There are no specifics on how to deal with injuries, anatomy, etc.
CrossFit Level 2– This is the next level up from Level 1, and involves far more in-depth training in coaching.
Certified CrossFit Level 3 Trainer – This is for coaches who have passed both the Level 1 & Level 2 certification courses as well as a CrossFit-specific exam.
Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach – Given after an assessment/evaluation of a coach’s abilities, and the highest certification level available.
Other non-CrossFit certifications from personal training organizations, powerlifting programs, kettlebell programs, etc.
There’s big money in CrossFit these days, which is why so many gyms are opening up all over the country. Make sure to do the research on who your coaches are, and if they have actual coaching experience.
The other important thing to check out is PROGRAMMING!
CrossFit programs can be truly random, and an inexperienced coach can accidentally program back-to-back workouts that use the same muscle groups in the same way, not giving you enough time to recover.
On every CrossFit gym’s website, there’s usually a blog where they post the workout of the day.
Look over this for the gym you want to check out and see what they typically do. If they do high-rep cleans three days in a row, they obviously don’t program well.
Or if you see every day for a week with heavy shoulder movements, be wary!
Remember, most CrossFit gyms will let you attend one class for free. If you have a few in your area, try out each of them once before making your decision.
Go to each one and make note of the other members:
Are they supportive of each other?
Did they introduce themselves and welcome you?
Were the coaches nice and hands-on with their advice during the workout?
A good community can be absolutely critical for success, so picking the right gym that fits your personality and situation is super important.
If you’re not sure how to find the right gym, or you want nutritional help and form checks as you’re trying to figure this stuff out…
Every day, CrossFit.com puts out the workout of the day (or WOD), which can be done at home, in a commercial gym, or in a CrossFit gym.
Every CrossFit gym will put out their own WOD as well, which can be different from the CrossFit.com site – if you happen to find a local CrossFit site that you enjoy but don’t attend full-time, it’s more than okay to follow their workouts.
The best news about this is the workouts are posted free of charge to anybody that is interested in doing them.
CrossFit gyms can be prohibitively expensive, so if you love CrossFit but are looking to save money, you can follow along at home or in your office gym provided you have the right equipment.
Many times, you’ll run into situations where you can’t complete a particular workout because you don’t have the right equipment. Do the best you can with what’s available to you, and keep track of how you made your modification for tracking purposes.
Now, there are a few challenges with following CrossFit at home or by yourself in a gym:
Nobody is checking your form – CrossFit requires many incredibly specific movements; if you start by yourself at home, you’ll never know if you’re doing them incorrectly and could severely hurt yourself as you increase the amount of weight with which you work.
Lack of communal camaraderie – A HUGE part of CrossFit is the supportive community aspect that comes with each gym. I guarantee you’d finish a workout a few seconds (or minutes) faster if you had 50 people screaming your name and cheering you toward the finish line.
You probably don’t have all of the equipment – If you’re working out at home, you probably don’t have a full squat rack, bumper plates, kettlebells, medicine balls, and so on….so you’ll often be creating your own workouts that are modified versions of the online versions. You might also not be able to bounce and throw your weights around like CrossFitters tend to do 🙂
You will want to buy all of the equipment – The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it properly. This might not cost as much as an actual box, but it will cost you.
Even with all of these negatives, it could save you quite a bit of money each month by not joining a gym, so I don’t blame you – just be smart about it.
If you’re somebody that does want to train at home or doesn’t have access to a CrossFit gym you can trust, there are two things to consider:
Making sure you’re doing your exercises correctly so you don’t develop bad habits.
Personal accountability (somebody to check in on you and cheer you on)
Our coaches work with clients to build workout programs specific to their situation and goals and do form checks on each exercise with their clients via video (to make sure they don’t hurt themselves). Plus, your coach comes with you no matter where you are in the world!
One of my favorite “first time” CrossFit workouts is a benchmark workout named Cindy.
It’s a simple bodyweight circuit (we love workout circuits at NF) and can be done practically anywhere – the only equipment you need is a pull up bar. It’s a favorite for travelling, and shorter versions of it (3 rounds) is often used as a warm-up.
Cindy is 20-minute AMRAP (“as many rounds as possible”):
What this means is that you put 20 minutes on the clock and then do as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats before the time runs out. There is no scheduled rest in between rounds – as soon as you finish your 15 squats you start on the pull ups again.
Now, let’s look at each movement and how to scale it down if necessary.
5 pull-ups –You’re allowed to kip these (which is a useful skill any time that your goal is not pure strength).
10 push-ups – The standard CrossFit push up is chest to the deck, but if you can’t do that, you can substitute knee push-ups or wall push-ups.
15 squats – this is a basic air squat, with no weight.
There are also other variations of this workout for beginner athletes. Some examples are:
AMRAP 20min: 3 Pull-ups 6 Push-ups 9 Squats
AMRAP 12min 5 Pull-ups 10 Push-ups 15 Squats
AMRAP 12 min 1 Pull-ups 4 Push-ups 7 Squats
AMRAP 10 min 1 Pull up 4 Push-ups 7 Squats
Sound too easy? Go faster.
While you are getting strength benefits from this workout, the goal of this workout is more metabolic conditioning, so making the movements harder (like switching to divebomber push-ups) isn’t something you would want to do here.
You can find some of the other benchmark workouts here.
And if you want a fun series of workouts you can follow along with at the gym or home, let us create a custom workout solution for you! We’ll even help you start eating better too so you can reach your goals:
CrossFit has group classes. Think of yoga classes – they are typically $10-20 each. It’s not like a normal gym where there are hundreds of members who come in, use the elliptical for 20 minutes and go home – there is a coach teaching the class.
#2) “Is CrossFit just classes? If I want to work out in addition to my CrossFit classes, would I need a separate gym membership?”
At most CrossFit gyms, yes – it’s just group classes. Some CrossFit gyms have “open gym” hours – but not many are open for use 5am-11pm like your local commercial gym.
#3) “Do I have to eat Paleo Diet if I do CrossFit?”
Absolutely not. Paleo is the diet recommended by CrossFit and a lot of CrossFit gyms have paleo challenges – but you don’t have to (and I’ve never had it pushed on me).
#3) “What is a kipping pull-up? Isn’t that cheating?”
A kipping pull-up is a form of pull-up where you swing your body and use the momentum and a hip drive to get your body to the bar.
It’s not cheating because it’s not meant to be the same exercise as a dead-hang pull-up.
Some workouts call for a dead-hang pull-up – and in those you would not be allowed to kip.
#4) “Will CrossFit make me lose weight?”
If you work hard and change your diet. Diet will be 80% of success or failure, but combine a healthy diet with CrossFit and I’d bet anything you start to look better, get stronger, and feel better within 30 days.
However, if you eat like garbage and do CrossFit, your results will vary. It’s why we preach focusing on your nutrition above all else!
#5) “What’s with the girls’ names for workouts? Why do people say things like ‘We’re doing Mary at CrossFit today!’?”
CrossFit has what are called “benchmark workouts” with female names (they also have “Hero WODs” named for fallen military/police/fire personnel).
CrossFit’s reasoning is this: “…anything that leaves you flat on your back and incapacitated only to lure you back for more at a later date certainly deserves naming.” (CF Journal – Issue 13, September 2003)
GREAT community aspect. Unlike a commercial gym, you actually get to know the people at your box. Most gyms will have outings that a LOT of people show up to. There’s always that feeling of teamwork and camaraderie.
Constant coaching and support – In a commercial gym you have no clue if you’re doing an exercise right or not. While it’s not 1:1 training, you have a coach with you during every workout to help out.
If you don’t show up, not only do people notice, but they call you and ask where you’ve been. The only time that happens in a commercial gym is when you miss a session with your overpaid trainer.
Leveling up – Because you get to keep track of how much you’re lifting, and you know how many reps and sets you’re doing, you get to see constant improvement. You also get to advance at your own pace, slowly working your way up toward doing the workouts as prescribed.
Humbling yet encouraging – Yeah, you might end your workout lying on your back, but you have a sense of accomplishment when you finish a workout faster than last time.
Competition – It’s amazing how much further you’ll push yourself when surrounded by other people cheering you on and competing with you.
It introduces SO MANY people to weight lifting, especially women who would have never ever attempted to get off the treadmill and strength train. It’s like a gateway workout – you learn what you love and can specialize further from there.
It’s a good outlet for former athletes who like to compete. After playing competitive sports through high school and college, all of a sudden there’s nothing left to compete in – CrossFit gives people that outlet.
You get to find out what you’re made of. CrossFit can be miserable, but it can also teach you how to push through mental barriers, build mental toughness and more.
It builds great physiques (look good naked). While so many women say they want that “toned” look and try to get it with hours of cardio, those bodies are being built every day in CrossFit gyms. Seriously, while their goal is performance rather than aesthetics, take a look at any serious CrossFit female athlete and tell me she doesn’t look incredible!
It builds good muscular endurance and all-around fitness – your body is prepared for pretty much any athletic situation through smart CrossFit programming.
The Negatives of CrossFit:
Not great for specialization – You kind of get good at a lot of things, but not great at any one particular thing. If you want to be a great powerlifter or athlete, you’d be better suited finding a sport-specific coach.
Lack of consistency – You rarely do the same workout twice, which makes it incredibly difficult to track your progress. You might go down one week on squat strength and be disappointed, but it’s because you destroyed your legs two days earlier with 150 “wall balls.”
Odd programming – As you’ll read in another critique later in this article, I don’t agree with some of the workouts that are prescribed at some CrossFit gyms. For example, some workouts might call for high reps of snatches; these are Olympic lifts that require perfect form in order to be done successfully. Doing 30 reps of them is a surefire way to sacrifice form and dramatically increase the risk of injury.
Price – CrossFit boxes can be two or three times the monthly cost of a commercial gym, and this is just for the group classes, not use of the facilities any time you want.
A bad coach can REALLY cause problems – You’re doing advanced moves that often take months of learning to do right; with heavy weights, this can lead to horrible injuries. Make sure you have a great coach that doesn’t rush you into anything!
Almost everything is for time or most reps possible, which means form starts to slip in order to finish quicker. This can be fixed with a coach…but I still find it to be an issue.
You start to talk a language nobody understands – talking to a CrossFitter is like talking to somebody in a foreign language. CrossFit people oftentimes forget that nobody outside of CF understands what half the stuff they say means, so they shout out achievements or accomplishments and explain how quickly they did specific exercises…but they don’t realize nobody really cares!
You can get addicted! This can go in either Pro or Con depending on how you look at it, but I know many people that started going to a CrossFit and now all they do or talk about is CrossFit. After a month or two, for better or worse, you might find yourself married to your CrossFit gym and community.
Some CrossFitters drink WAYYY too much “kool-aid.” You’ll run into CrossFit people who think CrossFit is the be-all, end-all training solution, and anybody that doesn’t do CrossFit is a wuss. If you can do 20 pull-ups, they can do 22, and do them faster than you, after doing 25 handstand push-ups and running 400 meters. I tend to dislike elitists no matter what they are elitist about, and CrossFit is no exception.
Depending on where you fit on that Pro vs Con list, you probably are starting to make your mind up about whether CrossFit is for you.
If you like the IDEA of CrossFit but aren’t sure it’s for you, we help people like you through our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. We create custom workout programs, offer video form checks, and provide nutritional guidance to help you reach your goals safely!
Other Critiques and Articles on CrossFit
If you’re new to CrossFit, you might not know that it is an INCREDIBLY polarizing topic.
If you have 15 minutes to kill, a quick look at this anti-Crossfit timeline (created by a person who truly dislikes CrossFit) will explain why so many people are pissed off about it.
We’ve tracked down a few other articles, some biased, some not, that explain a lot of the background and why CrossFit is the way it is.
I LOVED this critique of CrossFit by 70’s Big, which I found to be incredibly fair and very objective. The fact that the author starts with “Note: Read ALL of this before attacking me” goes to show you how hardcore some CrossFitters can be.
Although long, this article does a GREAT job explaining why CrossFit is the way it is, coming from a guy who has a CrossFit II certification and spent a few months following the main site workouts.
This paragraph sums up the appeal of CrossFit:
CrossFit can be fun, especially if you’re a person who hasn’t done anything physically challenging since playing sports, or ever.
Athletes enjoy it because it because it provides that difficulty that their training did. Unathletic people like it because it makes them feel athletic.
People who never had good social group experiences like it because, even if they are crazy, CF communities are always positive, supportive, and good-natured.
CF brings people together and makes them compete every day in a society that shies away from competition. The challenge creates a heightened sense of self-worth that develops into being an elitist..
…The forum addicts are proud of the fact that they think other populations can’t do what they can do. They revel in the fact that they got injured doing CF. They want to push so hard that they vomit.
This only reflects a certain percentage of the CF population, yet the worst part of any population will create the stereotype.
I have a few problems with CrossFit. The conditioning often doesn’t apply an optimal stress and it’s superfluous.
It doesn’t have any real element of consistent strength training…It has entirely too much frequency at high intensity and almost always results in injury.
It doesn’t follow a logical application of stress to induce adaptation…but CrossFit gets people to do something rather than nothing.
It also gets the exercising population to do something better than 45 minutes on the elliptical.
…It’s a nice gateway into other forms of training and the people are always great.
This T-Nation article also does a solid job of explaining the potential pitfalls of CrossFit and tracks down some big names to give their input:
Alwyn Cosgrove notes that this “all over the place” programming can be dangerous: “A recent CrossFit workout was 30 reps of snatches with 135 pounds.
A snatch is an explosive exercise designed to train power development.
Thirty reps is endurance. You don’t use an explosive exercise to train endurance; there are more effective and safer choices.
Another one was 30 muscle-ups. And if you can’t do muscle-ups, do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips.
It’s just random; it makes no sense.
Two days later the program was five sets of five in the push jerk with max loads. That’s not looking too healthy for the shoulder joint if you just did 120 dips 48 hours ago.”
Mike Boyle adds, “I think high-rep Olympic lifting is dangerous. Be careful with CrossFit.”
Turned off from CrossFit after reading all of that?
I hear you – it really comes down to having a GREAT CrossFit gym being the difference maker.
If you’ve had a bad experience, or you just want to know you’re going to start strength training on the right foot and you like our style here at Nerd Fitness…
First, I’m obviously a fan of CrossFit. I do it on a regular basis and have my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Certificate, but I didn’t start out with CrossFit and it’s not all I do – so don’t think I’m completely biased here 🙂
I think if you find the right box, CrossFit is an awesome choice for a lot of people.
It’s different every day, so it’s never boring, someone is writing your workouts for you so you don’t have to think about it, and it’s fun.
When I don’t show up, people notice and ask where I was.
It gets you to do things you wouldn’t do on your own. I would never go running or rowing on my own – but if it’s in the WOD, I don’t have a choice.
Also, I’ll go and do things that I would never do before (such as yoga classes, or spending a Saturday afternoon doing hill sprints) because I know it will help me get a better time on a WOD later on.
My biggest issue with CrossFit is that it has no quality control across the boxes – all you need to start an affiliate is to pass the CF-L1 course and pay a $3000 affiliate fee, and once you are affiliated there are no check-ins or anything; you just have to pay the fee every year.
I have now been to 13 CrossFit gyms in my travels and while most of them were great, the quality of a few of them scared me.
I would absolutely love to see CrossFit take some of the money they are making now that it’s becoming more mainstream and invest in a quality control system.
I personally struggle on a regular basis because I’m much more interested in heavy strength training than anything else – and I’m one of those people who really likes seeing very linear graphs and results to my training, and I do want to specialize.
I have a very hard time creating workout plans because with CrossFit, you never know what’s coming next.
I’m lucky enough to have a coach that will work with me and will also let me do my own strength training and work the WODs around that.
Does it work? Well, what’s your goal? If it’s to get in better shape or to lose weight, then yes, it works. However, it’s not some cure-all magic pill – as with any other training program, you will get out of it what you put into it.
So do I think you should try it? Of course, if you want to and aren’t afraid of putting in a little work to get what you want.
And here are my thoughts. I’m just a nerd who happens to love strength training and is the goofball who wrote this article:
I understand the appeal, and I love the community aspect of it…but it’s just not for me.
I like feeling like I just had a great workout, but I don’t enjoy feeling like I want to die at the end of each workout – I know that’s how I’d feel at the end of each CrossFit workout because of my competitiveness.
The biggest reason for me why I’m not a CrossFitter? Well, other than my crazy travel schedule… I LOVE working out alone.
I know at CrossFit I’d be part of a team workout and constantly ripping myself for not being as good as the guy next to me.
From a programming standpoint, I don’t agree with some of the workouts (mostly the high-repetition Olympic lifting), but I understand that there are GREAT CF trainers that create amazing programs.
I love that it gets people started with barbell training and heavy lifting, because nothing makes me happier than watching guys doing proper squats and women doing deadlifts 🙂
Like with anything related to fitness, a good coach can be the difference between a great CrossFit experience and a dangerous one.
I think everybody should try it (your first trip will be free) and decide if it’s for you. If you decide it isn’t for you – that’s okay!
I’ll admit that CrossFit isn’t for me and I have no intentions of ever joining a CrossFit gym, but I don’t have any problems with others doing it if they enjoy it and they’re safe.
However, when the day comes that I open Nerd Fitness gyms (and it’ll happen), I’m going to be taking a LOT from CrossFit on how to build a great, supportive gym environment and community…something you won’t find at any commercial gym.
My final advice: If you’re interested, give it a shot. If you can afford it, and you enjoy it, keep doing it. If you don’t or can’t afford it, don’t. And don’t feel like less of a person because of it 🙂 I’ll still like you.
If you’re somebody that thinks similarly to Staci and I, and you’re looking for a Yoda to help you get strong without needing to join a specific gym or attend classes at certain times, check out our 1-on-1 Coaching Program!
Any More questions about CrossFit?
Good lord that took a while.
Thanks for taking the time to get through it, as it took Staci and I a few weeks of research, hours of writing, and LOTS of back-and-forth conversations to put this post together.
I’ll throw one final mention in there for our Nerd Fitness Coaching Program, where we pair NF Coaches with busy people like you:
We create your workout programs and adjust the intensity based on your progress.
We provide video form checks to make sure you’re doing each movement correctly.
We help you get your nutrition in order to line up with your goals.
If you have read this far, I commend you.
You just read 6,500 words about CrossFit which means you’re probably serious about taking your physical fitness into your own hands.
Now, you just need to act.
Let’s go! Go do a workout RIGHT NOW, CrossFit gym or no CrossFit gym.
If you don’t know where to start, start here. You can do it right in your living room.
Or maybe you just don’t quite have the strength yet to hoist yourself up?
Either way, no problem!
We’ve been teaching people how to do pull-up alternatives in our Online Coaching Program with “no-bar pull-ups.” Today, we’ll show you all these tried and trusted workarounds.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
By the way, all of these pull-up alternatives can be done in our sweet new app. Why not learn how to lift yourself up (even without any equipment) while you build your very own superhero?
You can test drive it for free (no credit card needed) right here:
Coach Jim walks you through 5 different levels of pull-up alternatives, depending on your experience level and what items you may have lying around the house.
Pull-up Alternative #1: Doorway Rows
Our first alternative is to simply use your doorway for bodyweight rows.
To perform a doorway row:
Stand in front of your doorway and grab both sides.
Place your feet a little closer to the doorway, so you’re leaning back.
Sit back so you put weight on your arms.
Pull yourself forward.
That’s it. The more you lean back, the tougher this will be.
To start, you can also just hang back to start building some “pull” strength.
Pull-up Alternative #2: Towel Doorway Rows
Our next alternative is to do doorway rows, but this time using a towel.
The towel might help you lean back even further, creating a more challenging exercise.
Take a towel, and fold it twice lengthwise. Then take your long, folded-over towel, and tie it around the door on the handle opposite side of you.
Make sure the door opens AWAY from you. You don’t want the door accidentally opening, which could cause an unexpected tumble.
Once you have your towel secured around the doorknob, perform rows by using each side of the towel.
Pull-up Alternative #3: Inverted Rows with Chairs
For this pull-up alternative, you’re gonna need two sturdy chairs and a broomstick (or dowel).
We’ll be combining them together, Voltron style, to form our own row station:
The important thing here is the setup. Give your newly created station a few gentle pushes to check the integrity of the structure. Only when you feel confident should you start performing inverted bodyweight rows.
Pull-up Alternative #4: Towel Pull-ups
Now, we’re gonna start doing some actual pull-ups…with towels.
You can either use a couple of sturdy hand towels or washcloths.
Tie an overhand knot in the corner of both towels, which will be used as your anchor.
Then place these knots over a door and close it. Make sure the knots are secure before you start doing your pull-ups.
Again, you’ll also want to make sure the door opens AWAY from you.
Doing towel pull-ups is going to be a great way to improve your grip strength, although if you find them a little too tough, you can use a stool to support your feet as you lift. This will help as you build strength.
Pull-up Alternative #5: Strap Pull-ups
You may or may not have some Forearm Forklifts hanging around, but if you do, you’ll have the perfect equipment for a pull-up alternative.
Forearm Forklifts are made to help you and a friend lift heavy furniture or equipment, but Coach Jim discovered they’re also pretty useful for doing pull-ups.
They have loops designed to hold your arms, which makes them easier to grip than a towel.
Tie a knot in them just like you would with a hand towel and use it to anchor them against your door.
Bodyweight rows are the PERFECT precursor to pull-ups – they work the same muscles, and have you lifting your own body weight, just at a different angle.
Our goal here will be to work towards a lower and lower angle, increasing the difficulty of the movement.
So at first, we’ll do rows with the bar higher up:
Then we’ll progress to getting the bar lower:
As soon as you’re doing bodyweight rows where your body is at a 45-degree angle or lower, you can progress to the next level.
Level 3 Pull-up Alternative: Assisted Pull-ups
At this point, you are going to start actually doing pull-ups…with a little bit of assistance.
We’ve got a few options for you.
#1) Assisted Pull-ups with Chair
Either one foot or two on the chair, depending on your needs. Your feet are ONLY there for support, use your upper body as much as possible.
#2) Assisted Pull-ups with an Exercise Band
You can get different types of exercise bands with different levels of strength, or a variety pack for easy progression.
Put your foot in the exercise band and pull yourself up.
#3) Assisted Pull-ups with a Partner
Have a friend hold your feet behind you and help you complete each rep. Have them use the least amount of help possible to get you through your workouts.
Once you’re comfortable doing a form of assisted pull-ups, and can do about 10 repetitions, it’s time to advance to the next level.
This is probably the TOUGHEST level before getting your pull-ups. If you get stuck on “assisted pull-ups” and “assisted chin-ups”, you’re not alone. This is where most people get stuck.
We work hand-in-hand with people like you to get them their first pull-up in our Online Coaching Program. If you don’t know how to fit these movements into your workouts, or you just want somebody to give you the exact workout to follow every day, we got you!
Level 4 Pull-Up Workout: Negative Pull-Ups
Our next level on our path for a pull-up is what we call “negative pull-ups.”
Grab onto the bar with an overhand grip
Jump so your chest is touching
Slowly lower yourself under control until you’re at the bottom of the movement.
As you continue to lower yourself down, you’ll build strength, eventually creating enough muscle so you can pull yourself up.
If you want more specific instructions on any of these levels or movements, check out our guide “Get Your First Pull-up” for more.
The easiest pull-up variation for you to attempt will likely be the chin-up.
That’s why we have a Chin-up Challenge in our app, because we feel Rebels will have an easier time lifting themselves up with this variation, compared to a traditional pull-up.
For reference:
A CHIN-UP is when your hands are facing toward you:
A PULL-UP is when your hands are facing away from you:
Chin-ups are generally easier to perform than pull-ups because the wider grip of a pull-up isolates your lats, which means you get less assistance from your biceps.
Start with chin-ups. Once you get comfortable doing them, you can then work on more advanced variations. For ideas here, check out our guide How to Do a Pull-up.
You could also do Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Even just working out Monday and Thursday – twice a week pull-up training – would allow you to see some great progress.
Feel free to do whatever works best for you.
If you want any more help with designing your workout, we got you.
Check out the option that best fits your goals:
Option #1) If you want a professional coach in your pocket, who can do video form checks, provide feedback, and adjust your workouts based on the equipment you have available, check out our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program!
For example, let’s say you find yourself stuck indoors during a pandemic, and you want somebody to custom-build you a workout program based on the equipment and furniture you have. That’s where an online coach is a game-changer!
Personally, I’ve been working with the same online coach since 2015 and it’s changed my life. You can learn more by clicking on the image below:
Option #2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Plus, it’ll teach you how to do pull-ups, even if you have zero experience (or any equipment).
Try your free trial right here:
Option #3) Become part of the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Enlist below and we’ll send you our free Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
Alright, now I want to hear from you!
Can you currently do a chin-up or pull-up?
What’s your favorite pull-up alternative?
Am I missing any tips or tricks for pull-ups without a bar?
Let me know in the comments!
-Steve
PS: If you want more pull-up goodness, make sure you check out:
I get multiple emails and messages per day asking:
“Steve, what should I do for a workout?”
Well, partner, today is your lucky day.
I’m gonna help build you a custom workout program, step-by-step!
After all, a workout should be developed around a person’s age, goals, nutritional strategy, free time, etc.
Not only that, but it’s easy to overcomplicate this process – there are an infinite number of exercises, sets, reps, and programs to choose from.
Now, if you’re somebody that wants to skip all of that, and JUST want to be told what exactly to do:
We build customized workouts for our Online Coaching Clientsand would love to have you. We get to know your story and struggles, your goals, and your lifestyle, and develop a workout plan that fits your schedule.
Now, if you’re more of a “figure this stuff out on my own” kind of person – we’re going to dig into how to build your own workout plan today!
We’ve also created a free resource for folks who want to build their own workout but would love some more specific direction and instruction.
You can download our free guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know, which covers all of this stuff in a single guide:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
OKAY! Are you ready to start building your own routine and want to know how it’s done?
As Coach Staci lays out in the video above, we need to answer a few key questions when designing a workout:
QUESTION 1: What are your goals?
Whatever your goals are, it’s good to write them down and be aware of what you’re trying to accomplish.
These goals will shape HOW you build your workout.
An effective way to create goals is by using the SMART method, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.[1]
Specific – Your goals must specifically state what is to be accomplished. They must be clear and easy to understand.
Measurable – Your goals must be measurable so you can tell if you’re making progress or not. For example, I want to gain 5 pounds of muscle. To track your progress you will need body composition equipment that is designed to assess your fat and muscle mass.
Attainable – Your goals should be realistically attainable. Remember, a realistic amount of muscle mass to gain per week is about 0.5 pounds. For example, gaining 5 pounds of muscle should realistically take about 10 weeks
Relevant – Your goals must be relevant to your particular interests, needs, likes/dislikes, and abilities. Another thing to remember is that your goals need to be generated by you and you alone!
Timely – Your goals must have a timeline for completion. If your goal is to gain 5 pounds of muscle then a reasonable end-point should be at minimum 10 weeks.
A SMART goal is a good goal.
QUESTION 2: How much time can you devote to exercise?
If you can do an hour a day, that’s fantastic.
But maybe you have a wife or husband, three kids, a dog, two jobs, and no robot butler…
…then maybe you only have thirty minutes, twice a week.
That’s fine too!
Also, break up your workout! According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), if you accumulate three 10-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day to total 30-minutes of exercise, then that is as effective as someone who does one 30-minute bout of exercise.[2]
Now, no matter how much time you have, developing the most efficient workout is crucial.
Why spend two hours in a gym when you can get just as much accomplished in 30 minutes, right?
So whether you are building muscle or looking to lose weight, a strength training workout will get you the results you’re after (when combined with the right eating strategy!)
While we’re talking about time, let me quickly mention something important:
As we mention in that guide, here are some realistic timeframes for weight loss or muscle gain:[3]
If you are trying to lose weight it is recommended that you seek a calorie deficit by consuming 250-500 fewer calories per day below your typical calorie intake. This will result in a realistic weight loss goal of 1-2 pounds per week
If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, then it is recommended that you seek a calorie surplus by consuming 250-500 additional calories above your typical calorie intake. This will result in a realistic gain in lean muscle mass of about 0.5 pounds per week.
Unless you’ve been strength training for years and know what you’re doing, we recommend that you pick a full-body routine that you can do 2-3 times a week.
You want a workout routine that has at least one exercise for your:
Quads (front of your legs).
Butt and hamstrings (back of your legs).
Chest, shoulders, and triceps: (“push” muscles).
Back, biceps, and grip ( “pull” muscles).
Core (abdominals and lower back).
I have a trick for you: by targeting compound movements that recruit multiple muscles at the same time, you can build a full-body routine that uses only four or five exercises.
How’s THAT for efficiency!?!
A compound exercise would be the yin to the yang of the isolation exercise.
Think of a push-up (compound):
Compared to bicep curls through a machine (isolation):
Compound exercises have been found to result in improvements in aerobic endurance, muscular fitness, and flexibility, since you’re recruiting all sorts of muscle groups at once.[5]
Where an isolation exercise would be a single-joint movement involving only one single muscle group, like the biceps, in our example above.
I will say, there is a time and place for implementing compound and isolation exercises.
You don’t need to make things more complicated than this!
(Not that we humans have a tendency to overcomplicate things to the point of paralysis and inaction…)
Ahem.
If you’re not sure how to do any of the movements above, click on their links for thorough write-ups and video demonstrations.
Pick one exercise from EACH category above, specifically ones that scare you the least, and that will be your workout every other day for the next week.
Get really good at these basic movements and focus on getting stronger each week (I’ll cover how below).
If you get really strong at squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and push-ups, you will build an incredible physique to be proud of.
Plus, building strength with these exercises will also help in other areas such as improving your performance in sports, decreasing your risk of chronic diseases (e.g., CVD) and premature mortality (an early death).[6]
*mic drop*
**picks up mic**
Then, once you get confident in those movements, feel free to add some variety.
Why?
If you do the same exact routine, three days a week, for months and months, you might get bored, and start slacking…
So if you find yourself getting bored, feel free to stick with the above ‘formula,’ but change the ingredients:
If you hit a plateau or find yourself getting bored, pick a different exercise to improve so you’ll stay challenged, and you’ll actually DO the workout!
I know it’s really easy to overcomplicate this process as there’s an infinite number of exercises, sets, reps, and programs to choose from.
And yes, we have a solution for people that JUST want to be told what exactly to do: our uber-popular 1-on-1 coaching program pairs you with your own Nerd Fitness Coach who will get to know you, your goals, and your lifestyle, and develop a workout plan that’s specific to not only your body, but also to your schedule and life:
If you can do more than 15 reps without much of a challenge, consider increasing the weight or the difficulty of the movement. This is true for things like lunges, bodyweight squats, push-ups, pull-ups, etc.
There are some other generally accepted ‘rules’ – as pointed out in Starting Strength – about how to determine how many reps you should target per set, based on your goals:
Reps in the 1-5 range build super dense muscle and strength (called myofibrillar hypertrophy).
Reps in the 6-12 range build a somewhat equal amount of muscular strength and muscular size (this is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).
Reps in the 12+ range build muscular endurance.
A 2015 study [10] called into question the best rep strategy for building muscle or size:
It appears that high-intensity resistance (sets of 3-5 reps) training stimulates greater improvements in some measures of strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men during a short-term training period [compared to sets of 8-10 reps].
What this means: Do not freak yourself out by worrying if you should do 4 sets or 5 sets of 8 reps or 10 reps.
Our advice would be to START with lighter weight and more reps as you learn the movement, and then decide if you want to stay at higher reps and lower weight or vice versa.
You do you, because either way will get you results!
The only thing you need to worry about: get stronger the next time you do that movement.
Either pick up a heavier weight, or do 1 more repetition than last time.
“JUST GIVE ME THE ANSWER!”
Keep your TOTAL (all exercises combined) workout number of sets for all exercises in the 15-25 set range, with 8-10 reps per set:
5 exercises total, each with 4 “work sets” is a good start.
Remember, the most important part is to get started – you’ll learn how your body responds and you can adapt as you go.
What you DON’T need to do: multiple exercises for each body part with 10 sets.
This will result in significant fatigue during your workout increasing your risk for sustaining an injury. It can also result in overtraining, in which you will experience a decrease in performance and plateauing (will not see muscular improvements).[11]
So calm down you eager beaver.
A BIG CAVEAT:How you eat will determine if you get bigger or stronger. Nutrition is 80-90% of the equation. So pick a range that feels good, and then focus on nutrition.
And if you don’t want to figure any of this out and just want to be told exactly how what exercises, sets, and reps to do, our online coaches can take care of that for you.
Adequate rest in-between sets will allow your body to regenerate energy, so you can execute the next set of reps with good form and technique, therefore, decreasing your risk of injury.
I’ll provide some guidelines for how long to rest based on how heavy you’re lifting (not rules set in stone!):
1-3 Reps (lifting heavy for strength/power): Rest for 3 to 5 minutes between sets.
4-7 Reps (lifting for strength): Rest for 2 to 3 minutes between sets.
8-12 Reps (lifting for size/strength): Rest for 1 to 2 minutes between sets.
13 Reps+ (lifting for endurance): Rest long enough to recover to allow you to do the next long-ass set!
If you need more or less rest than the above recommendations, that’s fine.[13]
Do the best you can, record how long it takes you to rest between sets, and try to rest for shorter periods in the future.
Your body will adjust as you get stronger and healthier!
If you want more information on how much you should lift, how many reps, and when to scale certain movements or adjust your workout, check out our Strength 101: Everything You Need to Know.
It’s free when you join the Rebellion with your email in the box below:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
The simple-to-learn but tough-to-implement answer:
Lift enough so that you can get through the set, but not too much that you have NO fuel left in the tank at the end.
How do you determine how much that is?
Trial and error.
ALWAYS err on the side of “too light” versus “too heavy” when starting out.
It’s better to say “I bet I could have done more!” instead of “that was too much, and now I need to go to the hospital!”
Plus, when you start working out, you’re actually programming your neuromuscular systems to do the movement correctly.[14] You can’t rush this, so it’s best not to start off too heavy.[15]
If a person can do two reps (or more) over their set goal, then they should increase the load.
How much should you increase weight by?
For less trained people (i.e., beginners), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 2 – 5 pounds and by 5 – 10 pounds for lower body exercises.
For more trained people (i.e., advanced), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 5 – 10 pounds or more and by 10 – 15 pounds or more for lower body exercises
I will say, if you’re doing exercises with just your body weight, you need to make each exercise more difficult as you get in shape – once you get past 20 reps for a particular exercise and you’re not gassed, it’s time to mix things up.
20 bodyweight squats too easy? Hold some weights high above your head as you do the next set. Eventually, you can scale up to do exercises like the pistol squat:
Longer answer: If you’re doing 15-25 sets of total exercise (3-5 sets for your 5 exercises), you should be able to get everything done within that 45-minute block.[17]
Now, factor in a five or ten-minute warm-up, and then some stretching afterward, and the workout can go a little bit longer.[18]
If you can go for over an hour and you’re not completely worn out, try increasing the intensity.
You’re getting a cardiovascular workout by consistently moving from exercise to exercise.
You’re exercising different muscles back to back, giving each muscle group a chance to recover, but in a condensed amount of time. Efficiency for the win!
If you’re familiar with CrossFit, many of the workouts are built on circuit principles.
This is also the most effective way to make you involuntarily swear at inanimate objects because you’re so tired and beat up.
We get this question quite a bit, usually from overeager beavers who decide they are going to go from “sitting on the couch watching The Office on repeat” to “exercising 7 days per week.”
I would advise something different.
I mean you can still watch The Office…
…but you don’t need to be training 7 days a week!
We don’t want you burning out quickly and falling back to square one, a concern we mention in our guide “How Often Should I Work Out?“
Just pick “exercise” that’s fun for you and that won’t exhaust your muscles.[26][[26]]However, don’t forget that recovery is key to preventing injuries and allowing the body to rebuild itself after the stress of exercise. If you are looking to exercise on your off days we suggest that you cross-train. Cross-training involves engaging in a training routine or exercises that are different from what you normally would do. For example, if you always run for cardio, we would suggest that you change things up and go on the elliptical or bike. This allows you to stay active on your off days while also allowing the muscles that are always stressed from running to rest and recuperate. (Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).[[25]]
Also, here’s a lifehack: Program your workouts INTO your Google calendar (or Outlook).
You’re much more likely to do a workout that has been planned for in your work week!
Alternatively, you can hire a coach to program your workouts for you, so every day you know exactly what you need to do!
If you want to build from scratch, great! Let’s break it down into easy chunks with this recap:
ALWAYS warm up – 5-10 minutes on a bike, rowing machine, jumping jacks, run up and down your stairs, etc. Get the blood flowing and your muscles warm.[29]
Pick one exercise for each big muscle group – quads, butt and hamstrings, push, pull, and core.[30]
Do 3-5 sets for each exercise.
Do 5-10 reps per set for each exercise.
Determine how many reps and how long you’ll wait between sets for each exercise. Keep it simple. 60 seconds.[31]
Increase your efficiency and work your heart by doing supersets or circuits. This results in a higher EPOC meaning greater caloric expenditure and weight loss!
Give yourself permission to mess up, learn a little, and keep improving as you train more regularly!
More often than not, when I email people back and tell them how to build their own workout, they generally respond with:
“Steve, can’t you just TELL me what to do? I’m afraid of building a crappy workout.”
Why we built THREE options for people like that:
1) If you are somebody that wants to know they are following a program that is tailor-made for their life and situation and goals, check out our Online Coaching Program.
You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself and program your workouts and nutrition for you.
2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally). Plus, NF Journey will build a workout for you!
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion (our free community) and I’ll send you free guides, workouts, and worksheets that you can read at your leisure.
We need good people like you!
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
I certainly encourage you to try and build your own workout routine.
It can really help you develop a sense of excitement and pride when you start to get in shape based on your workout!
If you have more questions, or have a workout program you’re really proud of, share it in the comments below!
-Steve
PS: Check out the rest of our beginner content. I promise, it kicks ass 🙂
No matter which at-home workout you pick, I want you to start with one important thing:
Warm-up!
I cover why you should always warm up in an article found right here. It doesn’t have to be much though, give it about five minutes to get your muscles active and your heart rate up.
This will help you do exercises properly and help prevent injury. You can run in place, do air punches and kicks, or some jumping jacks.
Here is NF Senior Coach Staci (you might know her incredible story) showing you many beginner options you can use to warm up as well:
If you’re curious, here’s my personal (advanced) warm-up:
Advanced Warm-up Routine:
Jump rope: 2-3 minutes
Jumping jacks: 25 reps
Bodyweight squats: 20 reps
Lunges: 5 reps each leg.
Hip extensions: 10 reps each side
Hip rotations: 5 each leg
Forward leg swings: 10 each leg
Side leg swings: 10 each leg
Push-ups: 10-20 reps
Spider-man steps: 10 reps
Our goal isn’t to tire you out, instead we want to warm you up.
That’s step one.
Completing your chosen at-home workout would be step two.
Below, you’ll find 8 sequences you can follow along with!
I warn you, the above sequence will hurt… in a good way. You should be proud if you can get through this three times.
Do you want to get as strong as possible so this workout ain’t no thang?
Sign up in the box below to grab our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll teach you all of these advanced bodyweight exercises!
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a 20-min workout you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
Hotel Workout Level 1:
Hotel Workout Level 2:
Set the alarm clock to 15 minutes from now and see how many circuits you can do!
If you don’t have time to run through the whole sequence, no problem!
Depending on how much time you have during the day, you can do your whole workout at once, or break up your training into four different sessions throughout the day (with each session being ONE of the exercises).
Here’s a sample day for your No-Equipment Workout:
Wake up, do 40 jumping jacks to warm up, and then do bodyweight squats.
At lunch, you grab your suitcase (if you’re at work, milk jug if you’re at home) and do inverted rows.
After work, you do another 50 jumping jacks and then do your push-ups.
After dinner, you do your planks while watching TV.
You could even split it up over two days if needed, but the goal would be to do it the whole sequence at once.
The main Angry Birds Workout article describes in detail Levels 1-6, but here’s Level 3 for you:
Once you’ve done the complete routine, you have my permission to whip out your phone and play the actual game!
Bonus points if you somehow do this no-equipment workout in a cave, as that’s how Bruce Wayne would roll.[1]
This workout is separated into two days for you.
Here’s a video for the first day:
Batman No-Equipment Workout Day 1:
Rolling squat tuck-up jumps: 5 reps
Side to side push-ups: 5 reps
Modified headstand push-ups: 5 reps
Jump pull-up with tuck / Pull-up with Tuck-up: 5 reps
Handstands against wall: 8 seconds
Here’s a video for the second day:
Batman No-Equipment Workout Day 2:
‘180 Degree’ jump turns: 5 reps
Tuck front lever hold: 8 seconds
Tuck back lever hold: 8 seconds
Low frog hold: 8 seconds
This is a relatively advanced workout already, but if you want to progress to the next level, check out the main Batman Bodyweight Workout for tips on how to do just that.
NOTE: This is NOT a beginner program, and should not be attempted unless you have been training consistently and can do multiple repetitions of pull-ups and push-ups with great form.
Like this perfect push-up:
And this perfect pull-up:
Here’s how the PLP Progression works:
Day 1:
Pull-ups: 10 reps
Push-ups: 10 reps
Lunges: 10 reps (each leg)
Day 2:
Pull-ups: 11 reps
Push-ups: 11 reps
Lunges: 11 reps (each leg)
Day 3:
Pull-ups: 12 reps
Push-ups: 12 reps
Lunges: 12 reps (each leg)
How long do you keep doing this?
As originally envisioned by Chad Waterbury, the PLP Workout lasts 60 days.[3]
Yeah…by the end of it you’ll be doing more than 50 pull-ups.
There are two versions:
If you can do 10 straight pull-ups: Start day 1 with 10 reps of each.
If you cannot do 10 straight pull-ups: Start day 1 with 1 rep of each.
Complete your required reps each day in as many sets as you need, whenever you need to. The goal is to do it in as few sets as possible, but enough so that you can complete each rep with proper form.
If you want to advance to the Jedi Knight or Master Levels, check out The Star Wars Workout, which will also offer you a full description of each move.
The trick here is to couple your home workouts with adjustments to your nutrition.
We’re big believers that you can’t outrun your fork, so any successful weight loss plan will include a focus on building a healthy plate.
That will look something like this:
If you want some help on adjusting your nutrition, I’ve got two great resources for you:
The Nerd Fitness Guide to Healthy Eating. This massive resource will help you slowly adjust your nutrition, without forcing you to give up the food you love (yes, you can still eat pizza here and there). No more diets, instead we’ll work on building habits together.
Nerd Fitness Coaching. If you want to take it to the next level, one of our trained professionals can help you adjust your way of eating to help you reach your goals. No shame. No judgment. Just a like-minded nerd who will show you the way.
I have two resources to help you design your own no-equipment workout:
The 42 Best Bodyweight Exercises: This guide will teach you how to perform the best bodyweight exercises – no equipment required! Check it out if you are unfamiliar with any of the movements referenced in today’s guide.
How To Build Your Own Workout Routine: Once you’re comfortable with a handful of bodyweight exercises, use this guide to pull them all together into a full-body workout!
That should get you going on building a workout you can do in the comfort of your own home.
Want more? Alright, eager beaver, I got you.
We built THREE options for people just like you:
1) If you want step-by-step guidance, a custom workout program that levels up as you get stronger, and a coach to keep you accountable, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:
2) If you want a daily prompt for doing workouts at home, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.
Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll help you start incorporating these bodyweight moves into your training.
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
Alright, your turn: I’d love to hear how your home training is going!
Which workout above did you try? Did you make one of your own?
Leave a comment below with your results or any questions you have on working out at home.
For the Rebellion!
-Steve
PS: If you were going to buy one piece of equipment to utilize in your home, a kettlebell would offer you a lot of versatility:
Camp Gladiator Has Acquired T3 Optimization and Facts Over Fads to Create the New CG Nutrition Program Coming This Fall
Press Release –
Jun 9, 2022
AUSTIN, Texas, June 9, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Camp Gladiator (CG), a leading innovator in the fitness industry and a business platform for trainers across the nation, today announced it is expanding into nutrition coaching this fall through the acquisitions of T3 Optimization (T3) and Facts Over Fads.
CG has brought on T3 Optimization’s owner Tyler Wagner as its new Vice President of Nutrition and Fact Over Fads’ owner Joseph Guandolo as its new Nutrition Director. Tyler, with the support of Joseph, will lead the development of the CG Nutrition program, to be introduced in the Fall of 2022.
“The fitness industry has had more change and disruption than any other industry over the recent years, and we’ve been on the forefront of that — innovating to meet the changing needs of the world we live in,” said Ally Davidson, co-founder and co-CEO of Camp Gladiator. “After launching virtual CG training in only 11 days back in 2020, we’ve been asking ourselves ‘What’s next?’ We’re excited to announce the next phase of Camp Gladiator where we’ll be offering the world’s best fitness AND nutrition-coaching program to hundreds of thousands of people.”
Davidson continued, “There’s no one else in the industry offering this combination of world-class service. CG will soon have hundreds of nutrition coaches operating across the country in our existing fitness platform, seamlessly bringing customized nutrition coaching, meal plans, and more to our clients. We want to create the ultimate fitness and nutrition experience.”
Founded in 2008 in Dallas, Texas, Camp Gladiator (CG) is a fitness movement dedicated to transforming lives through fun and challenging workouts led by certified personal trainers who inspire Campers to discover their best selves. CG offers outdoor, online, and on-demand sessions, with each workout designed to challenge clients of all fitness levels. In addition to offering world-class workouts, CG operates as an entrepreneurial platform for trainers across the nation to build their own businesses while tapping into CG’s well-known brand and network of clients. For more information on Camp Gladiator, please visit campgladiator.com and follow CG on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter under @CampGladiator.
About T3 Optimization
Founded in 2021 in Dallas, Texas, by Tyler Wagner, T3 Optimization is a nutrition-coaching program designed to help clients achieve their goals through fitness, nutrition, and accountability. T3 Optimization offers clients meal plans, fitness support, and nutrition education to help create positive lifestyle changes.
About Facts Over Fads
Joseph Guandolo founded Facts Over Fads in 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. Driven by relationships, science-based nutrition, integrity, and accountability, Facts Over Fads aims to provide clients with knowledge and power through nutrition and fitness in order to live a healthy lifestyle.
CrossFit is advertised as “the sport of fitness.” 
