9 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Training

Check out my client Ben’s transformation where he lost a whole bunch of fat.

Do you ever wish you could just rewind time and do certain things all over again differently using the knowledge that you have now?

Well, one thing’s for sure I definitely would not be lifting the same way that I used to.

Unfortunately, you can’t rewind time but I can teach you all the things I wish I knew when I started lifting.

This way you can ensure that you won’t make the same mistakes that I did because…

those mistakes literally slowed down my transformation by not weeks or months but by years.

1. So let’s start with mistake number one, not taking steroids….. just kidding…. the biggest mistake was focusing too much on exercise and not enough on diet.

I didn’t start focusing on my diet until my 4th or 5th Year of training. And then I didn’t get really serious about diet until like my 6th year.

So it should come as no surprise that in my sixth year of training I got the most results. Probably almost as much as I got in all the other years combined.

Whether you’re trying to bulk cut or maintain it all starts with your diet. I used to think that if I exercised more often and harder I would build the body that I wanted.

I would try upping my weight as often as I could and I would always be trying new ways to overload my muscles but never really took the time to learn about nutrition.

This led me to burn some fat but I still looked like that typical lanky guy that could lift heavy weights but didn’t look the part.

It wasn’t until I started really focusing on my diet to the point where a lot of friends and family thought it was an obsession that I started getting really good results… aesthetically speaking.

When I started tracking my macros and when i setup a diet plan that I followed consistently…that was when I built a bunch of muscle and got shredded. If you’ve ever heard you can’t outrun a bad diet… well it’s true.

2. The next thing that I would definitely do differently would be incorporate more leg days.I worked my upper body for two or three years before I seriously started working my lower body.

Sure I did some Smith machine squats and some leg presses here and there but most of my workouts were totally upper body.

When I finally started doing barbell squats I was squatting 95 lbs when I could already bench 225 lbs on the bench press.

And ever since then it’s been a long game of catching up. Most guys starting out think that the most important muscle groups are biceps and abs. …

If you have an arm specific day and you don’t have a leg specific day you’re crazy.When you work your legs you have the biggest testosterone and growth hormone release when compared with any other body part.

This is gonna help not only your leg muscles but also all your other muscles grow. On top of that leg, exercises are going to be the exercises that apply to any kind of functional activity that you do in life,

whether playing a sport or picking up a heavy box off the ground so if you want to consider yourself fit you better start working those legs.

3. Another mistake I made was taking pre-workouts to pump me up. The mistake I made with that was taking it daily.

Since I worked out almost every day and I was looking to have the best workout I could, every time, it was a good idea to take a pre-workout before every one of my workouts right?

No wrong.. what happened was that the Pre-Workout completely lost its effectiveness because my body developed a tolerance to it. So I started trying different pre workouts. And each of them lost their effectiveness faster than last.

The biggest problem was that now on the rare occasion that I didn’t take a pre-workout I felt like garbage at the gym. Like I had no energy at all because my body was so accustomed to the Pre-Workout.

Now I know that the best way to use your pre-workout is maybe once or twice a week.This way it doesn’t lose its effectiveness and you can make sure that you only use it on the days that you’re gonna really try to push yourself and lift really heavy.

Speaking of lifting heavy that’s one thing that I would definitely not change. I highly recommend that push yourself with the weight load that you use and always up to your weight after you’re able to do an exercise for 8 or more reps.

4. The one thing that I do wish I did differently regarding this topic is I wish I had better form when trying to Target certain muscle groups for growth.

So if I was trying to specifically work on my chest I would still get caught up in lifting the heaviest weight that I possibly could and then I would wind up incorporating a lot more shoulders and triceps.

So when you really want to isolate concentrate more on the form then on weight load. Even though again you should have at least a couple heavy lifting days because as a natural lifter this is one of the best ways to build muscle.

5. Another mistake I made when I first started was spending tons of money on supplements.

I literally had a table with every vitamin mineral joint support fish oil herb root and everything else that you can possibly imagine.

Why in the world was I taking a vitamin for prostate support at 20 years old when my prostate had no problems?

You don’t need supplementation at all to make a dramatic transformation. Everything that you get from the supplement you can get that and more from real food.

Instead of researching and reading about supplements that can help you build muscle you should learn about food that can help you build muscle. Because that was….

6. another mistake I made. Until like my 5th year of working out I never realized how valuable carbs are for building muscle.

A huge portion of your muscle is glycogen and water. Carbs are called carbohydrates for a reason.

In order to Pump and stretch the muscle carbs help the most. that’s why bodybuilders will carb up right before they get on stage.

Also, carbs spare your muscles from being broken down and keep you in an anabolic mode.

They also help you lift more weight which in turn will help you build more muscle. the bottom line is this…

the results I got in relation to building muscle from increasing my protein intake paled In the comparison to the results I got from upping my carb intake. When trying to build muscle don’t be afraid of carbs.

7. Another thing I really wish I never did was trying to Target fat burn. Now I know there’s no such thing as site-specific fat burning.

There is no way to spot reduce so all the crunches side bends and leg raises that I did to get abs yes it did help me get better ab muscles but it did nothing to help me burn the fat on top of the ABS.

My abs looked the best after I finally did a cutting phase in which I followed a solid diet for six weeks with no cheating…

Also, I started using weights for my ab exercises around then…

8.which leads me to another wish. I wish I used the right equipment. All that electrizer machinery that you see in the gym.

You know ….the machines you pull out the pin select your weight put the pin back in and then you’re just locked in the range of motion that the machine allows.

All those machines are a complete waste of time. Repeat after me barbells dumbbells kettlebells and the cable cross machine. That is all you need.

Seriously the old school ways in which you have a free range of motion are the most effective.. the end of the story. What else…

9. I wish I did more compound exercises like squats deadlifts bench and rows instead of isolating with exercises like bicep curls and tricep extensions.

Because at this stage I realize that those exercises are not very functional or applicable to real life.  I would still do these exercises if I were to do it all over again. but my main focus would be on the compound exercises.

Honestly, a simple way that I could solve a lot of these problems would be by working with someone that already knew what they were doing.

Now even though I did make a lot of mistakes there were two things that I did very well that made up for these mistakes.

Number one and the most important was my consistency. I’ve been working out for close to 14 years now and I’ve never in that time missed a week.

When you’re consistent for 14 years you can make a lot of mistakes and still end up successful.

And the second extremely important thing that I did was I always had my workout partner.

We helped motivate and push each other and without that, I’m not sure if I’d be able to do the number one thing that made me successful and that’s been consistent.

that’s it guys I really hope this video has helped you guys out if you enjoy this tips Also if you don’t have a steady workout partner visit gravity transformation.com where we can set you up with your own accountability coach.