Counting Calories, a Powerful Tool for Fat Loss

The Importance of Counting Calories for Sustained Fat Loss

When it comes to achieving sustainable fat loss, one of the fundamental principles that cannot be overlooked is the simple concept of calories in versus calories out. While there are various diets and weight loss strategies available, at the core of any successful fat loss journey lies the fundamental principle of creating a caloric deficit. Counting calories is a valuable tool that can assist individuals in understanding their energy balance and making informed decisions about their diet and exercise regimen.

Understanding the Basics

Calories are units of energy that we consume through food and beverages. Our bodies utilize these calories for various functions like basic metabolism, physical activity, and maintaining bodily functions. To lose body fat, it is essential to create a caloric deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than your body expends. This leads to the body tapping into its fat stores for energy, resulting in fat loss over time.

The Significance of Counting Calories

Counting calories provides a quantitative approach to monitoring your food intake and ensuring that you are in a caloric deficit. It helps you develop awareness of portion sizes, food choices, and their respective caloric values. Without an accurate understanding of the energy content of the foods you consume, it can be challenging to achieve your fat loss goals consistently.

By tracking your caloric intake, you gain insights into your eating patterns, identify areas where you may be overconsuming calories, and make adjustments accordingly. It allows you to make informed decisions about your diet, such as choosing nutrient-dense foods that keep you full longer while fitting into your daily caloric goals.

The Argument Against Counting Calories

There will be many gurus out there who will try to convince you that calories don’t matter, and you only have to avoid nutrients/ toxins x or y, but when studies are conducted in a tightly controlled environment it's the calorie deficit created which was always the most important factor, not the macronutrients.

Now, certainly, there are certainly things you should optimize in a calorie deficit to help minimize lost of lean tissue and also to help keep you feeling full in the form of adequate protein and fibre. Strength training is also an important tool for any fat-loss journey.

Avoiding Mindless Eating

One of the significant benefits of counting calories is that it helps combat mindless eating. In today's fast-paced world, where food is readily available and portion sizes have increased, it is easy to consume excess calories without realizing it. By tracking your food intake and staying within your calorie target, you become more conscious of what you eat and avoid impulsive or emotional eating habits that can hinder your fat loss progress.

Accountability and Progress Tracking

Counting calories also provides a sense of accountability. When you record everything you eat, you have a clear picture of your daily calorie consumption. This accountability can help you stay on track with your fat loss goals and resist temptation or unnecessary indulgences.

Additionally, tracking your caloric intake allows you to monitor your progress effectively. By comparing your actual calorie intake with your target goals, you can make adjustments if needed to ensure that you are consistently in a caloric deficit. This data-driven approach enables you to fine-tune your diet and exercise plan for optimal fat loss results. There are excellent app’s for your phone available that will help you track accurately, I personally like to use My Fitness Pal.

Overcoming Plateaus and Establishing Long-Term Habits

Plateaus are common during weight loss journeys, where progress stalls despite your efforts. Counting calories can help you break through these plateaus by providing insights into potential reasons for the lack of progress. By analyzing your calorie intake and expenditure, you can make necessary adjustments to jumpstart fat loss once again.

Moreover, counting calories fosters the development of long-term healthy eating habits. By understanding the energy content of different foods and learning to make informed choices, you empower yourself to maintain a balanced diet even after reaching your fat loss goals. This sustainable approach to weight management is crucial for preventing weight regain and ensuring long-lasting results.

I feel this is one of the most underrated powers of counting calories. Calorie counting is not something that you will necessarily have to do forever. However, during the process, you will become much better at being able to ‘eyeball’ what’s on the plate in situations where it isn’t possible to be wholly accurate. This knowledge gives you power to make better informed decisions for your health. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, counting calories is a valuable tool for achieving sustained fat loss. By creating a caloric deficit through mindful eating and tracking your food intake, you can effectively manage your weight and improve your overall health. While it may require some initial effort and diligence, the long-term benefits of counting calories far outweigh the challenges. Remember, sustainable fat loss is a gradual process that requires consistency, patience, and a good understanding of your body's energy needs. So, next time you embark on a fat loss journey, consider the power of counting calories as a key ingredient in your recipe for success.

How to lose body fat

The Best Way to Lose Body Fat: Calorie Deficit

Losing body fat is a common goal for many individuals seeking to improve their health and appearance. One of the most effective and proven methods for achieving this goal is through a calorie deficit. By consuming fewer calories than your body requires, you can prompt it to utilize stored fat for energy, leading to a reduction in body fat over time. In this article, we will explore the best ways to create a calorie deficit and optimize fat loss.

Understanding Calorie Deficit

Before delving into the methods for creating a calorie deficit, it's essential to understand what it means. Simply put, a calorie deficit occurs when you consume fewer calories than your body expends. This imbalance prompts your body to tap into its fat stores to make up for the energy shortfall, thereby leading to fat loss over time.

Establishing Your Caloric Needs

To create a calorie deficit, you first need to determine your daily caloric needs. This can be done using various methods, such as calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and factoring in your activity level using the Harris-Benedict equation or using online calculators. Once you have an estimate of your daily energy expenditure, you can adjust your calorie intake to create a deficit.

Harris-Benedict Calculator (Basal Metabolic Rate)

Setting the Right Deficit

When it comes to setting a calorie deficit, it's crucial to strike a balance. While creating a significant deficit may seem like a quick way to lose fat, excessively restricting calories can lead to muscle loss, nutrient deficiencies, and metabolic slowdown. Generally, a moderate deficit of 500-750 calories per day is recommended, which can lead to a sustainable and healthy rate of fat loss.

Now bear in mind, the above calculation is the best scientific guess. There will be some variability from person to person. Treat it as a starting point number which can be adjusted as needed to create the desired speed of fat loss.

If you are not losing fat on the deficit you have created, you are not in a deficit. This is either because you are not tracking your food intake accurately or the calculation has overshot what your calorie needs are. The key thing here is to be honest and pragmatic in your approach

Prioritize Nutrient-Dense Foods

While reducing calories is essential for fat loss, it's equally important to focus on the quality of the calories you consume. Prioritize nutrient-dense foods such as lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. These foods provide essential nutrients, promote satiety, and support overall health during the fat-loss process. 

A large high protein salad is going to keep you feeling much more full and satiated than a packet of crisps for the same amount of calories. The two most important allies in creating the feeling of fullness for longer are protein and fibre.

Embrace Macro Balance

In addition to overall calories, paying attention to your macronutrient intake is crucial for optimizing fat loss and preserving muscle mass. Adequate PROTEIN intake is especially vital, as it supports muscle retention and boosts metabolism. Aim to consume a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats to support your body's needs while in a calorie deficit. This is an area to focus on first. Make sure you are hitting your protein goal and then get the other ducks in order. I have found setting a protein goal of 2-2.5 grams per kilo of body weight delivered the best results. For some hard-training athletes, I would even recommend up to 3 grams.

Now there are going to be people who will argue it's not about calories but about hormones, and it's more important about what you eat rather than how much. There are some truths about the importance of the quality of food you eat. 

There is an additional factor sometimes which is the health of someone's gut. A gross imbalance of the gut flora can cause big problems with how you digest food, which foods you may be sensitive to and might contribute to driving certain conditions of autoimmunity. In these circumstances, the expertise of a functional medicine practioner or other specialist in this field may be required before an efficient fat loss journey can be undertaken. 

The type of approach in regard to which foods work best varies a bit from person to person too. Some people do better on more carbohydrates, some thrive on a higher fat intake. 

Some people do well on 3–4 meals a day, others get a lot out of time restricted eating fasting protocols that involve only 1 or 2 meals per day. 

There are some genetic components to this which can give some clues. Also, when a person is at a higher level of body fat there might be some degree of hormonal dysfunction such as insulin resistance that might favor more of a lower carbohydrate approach until the body fat levels are reduced. This is quite a deep subject and is beyond the scope of this article. 

However, in studies when conditions are tightly controlled and calories are matched, it's the deficit that overall is most important for fat loss. So, for everyday person, the consistency creating this calorie deficit is what should be focused on. 

Incorporate Strength Training

While diet plays a significant role in fat loss, incorporating regular exercise, particularly strength training, can amplify results and help preserve lean muscle mass. Muscle tissue is metabolically active, meaning it burns calories even at rest. By engaging in resistance training, you can retain and build muscle, which in turn supports a healthy metabolism and enhances the fat loss process.

Monitor Progress and Adjust

As you embark on your fat loss journey with a calorie deficit, it's crucial to monitor your progress and make adjustments as needed. Keep track of your body weight, measurements, and how you feel both physically and mentally. If progress stalls, consider adjusting your calorie intake or exercise regimen to continue moving towards your fat loss goals.

Practice Patience and Consistency

Finally, it's essential to emphasize the importance of patience and consistency when pursuing fat loss through a calorie deficit. Sustainable fat loss takes time, and it's essential to approach the process with a long-term perspective. Consistently adhering to a moderate calorie deficit, balanced nutrition, and regular exercise will yield the best results and support overall well-being.

There are a myriad of phrases about patience that I could quote, but what they all effectively say is that nothing good is built quickly. You should be wary of anyone trying to sell you quick and easy solutions. 

In conclusion, creating a calorie deficit is a powerful strategy for achieving fat loss. By understanding your caloric needs, setting an appropriate deficit, prioritizing nutrient-dense foods, incorporating exercise, and maintaining consistency, you can effectively lose body fat while preserving muscle and promoting overall health. Remember, fat loss is a journey that requires dedication, but the results are well worth the effort.

Exercise Is Not About Suffering

A certain mentality of suffering is promoted in many gyms these days. Both personal trainers, motivational speakers and certain types of group training environments there is a ‘hardcore’ attitude if you aren’t suffering lots when training or dieting then you aren’t doing it right.

This unfortunately puts off many average people from even trying to start exercising. They see it a a mountain not even worth attempting to scale.

Yes you have to work hard, achieving anything worthwhile in life takes hard work but its its not about machoism for the sake of it and it needs to be scaled appropriately according to the level you are at.

Below I discuss a better approach-

1, Training

Feeling like sh*t afterwards isn’t a measure of a good gym session.

It’s common these days to be bombarded by certain types of gyms and magazines promoting the attitude that working harder when exercising is always better. That you should always be crawling out of the gym after every workout in a sweaty puddle of destruction with nothing left in the tank.

This in my opinion is an idiotic and dangerous attitude.

Not only is approaching exercise like this is a sure fire way to quickly grow a hatred for it but I believe your chance of injury is also a lot higher.

This is especially applicable for beginners who’s fitness levels will be at a low baseline and haven’t yet built a better body awareness.

Sure you definitely need to train hard but you do not need to push every set to failure nor want to throw up after every workout, in fact I strongly discourage this as you’ll quickly plateau.

Steady Progression is the key

Your training needs to be focused on the key principles of getting stronger on primarily compound exercises whilst using good form. When combined with patience and persistence these are the ingredients for progress.

Now there are certainly limitations on how strong you can get otherwise everyone would be working up to a 300KG bench press. In order to truly maximise your strength you will at some point have to specialise your training (powerlifting as an example) but for the average person who goes to the gym this isn’t applicable and they are in most cases far away from their potential.


Like most things in life lifting weights will not always have a linear progression. There will be up’s & down’s and It’s natural to reach plateaus from time to time. This will require you to back off the weight you are using before ramping it back up again. The more advanced a lifter you become, the smaller the progress will be. What’s going on in your life; life stressors, quality of sleep and nutritional intake will also have an impact on your progress.

So there are many strategies to drive progress. Four key ways are:

1. increasing the weight you are lifting

2. performing more reps

3. adding more sets

4. reducing the rest period between sets.

I find its best to choose one of two of these methods per training cycle. Keep it simple.

Rep's & Weight Progression Example-

Flat Bench Press- 4 sets of 6-8 reps, 180 seconds rest

Week 1- 80KG x 8, 80KG x 8, 80KG x 7, 80KG x 6 = 29 reps total @ 80KG = 2,320KG total lifted

Week 2- 80KG x 8, 80KG x 8, 80KG x 8, 80kg x 7 = 31 reps total @ 80KG = 2,480KG total lifted

Week 3- 82.5KG x 7, 82.5KG x 7, 82.5KG x 6, 82.5KG x 6 = 26 reps total @ 82.5KG = 2,145KG total lifted

Week 4- 82.5KG x 8, 82.5KG x 8 82.5KG x 7, 82.5KG x 6 = 29 reps total @ 82.5KG = 2392.5KG total lifted

Squeeze out those small victories a rep and set at a time!

If you really want to get strong you have to look at this as a ‘long game’ and anyone who has increased their strength and transformed their body dramatically will have invested a number of years into the process.

2, Dieting

In a nutshell I feel that dieting shouldn’t be a sprint.

How many times have you already possibly tried crash dieting to then put the weight back on soon after possibly with a bit extra?

Yes creating a large calorie deficit for short periods of time certainly can work for a quick assault on your body fat but for most people this ends up being a yo-yo cycle.

During an aggressive diet you’ll likely be pretty miserable as you’ll be very hungry and possibly in a bad mood.

Whatever your time period is, one of the key important factors is maintaining muscle mass whilst dieting.

When in a calorie deficit you should ensure your protein intake is adequate. This for dieters is generally much higher than the RDA and for most people I set it at 2-3 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. The additional benefit of high protein is it helps with the feeling of satiety.

Adding strength training to this mix will further help you fight breaking down muscle and also help you to ‘shape’ your body that will look better at a lower body fat level.

You should aim at no more than 0.5KG weight loss per week and you should aim to do this over the course of at least 12 weeks ideally. If say you have more than 6 kilo’s to loose then you should aim to make this a longer time period to take this into account.

Again just like weight lifting dieting isn’t always a linear progression however you have to trust the process you are following reminding yourself whats most important.

Bodyweight will fluctuate lots depending on you hydration status, sodium intake, bowel content, hormonal cycle (for both men & women) and how much you have slept.

Track your weight without getting obsessed about it and look at the trend over the weeks and the month rather than from day to day. It’s much more likely to look something like this-

Wrap Up

Extremes whether they are with exercise or dieting are rarely sustainable.

Crafting a lifestyle that has good balance of exercise and sensible eating must incorporate patience and persistence.

In addition to this your fitness regime should complement your other interests in life, it should not be the sole focus.

In the pursuit of looking good make sure you aren’t missing out on health and living life!

Three Principles Of Fat Loss

In this article I cover three fundamental principles for creating fat loss- 

1, Regulate Total Calories

In order to loose fat you have to create a calorie deficit. 

So how many calories do you need in order to lose weight? 

I’ve experimented with numerous different formula’s but over time I’ve found the best one is simple your bodyweight in pounds (kilos x 2.2) generally multiplied by either 12-14 as your starting point to establish a baseline. 

Now this is always going to be a best guess and factors such as your individual metabolism and activity levels will have an impact on what multiplier you use. Some people might have to even go down to 10 in order to get them into a deficit if their activity levels are low. 

Select a number and see how things progress. Adjust the number up or down as appropriate to align with you loosing body fat at the right speed. Generally I recommend trainees to aim to lose at most 0.5kg per week. Your total calories over time will also gradually need to be adjusted down as the diet progresses in order to continue to support fat loss. 

Example – Bodyweight 75 KG x 2.2 = 165 lbs x 14 = 2,310 KCAL

This part is absolutely critical, If you have no idea accurately how much you are eating its akin to shooting a shotgun into a dark room and hoping you hit something.

Tracking macros & calories indefinitely isn’t essential for fat loss or maintaining a healthy weight.

However a time period of tracking your food is a useful tool to educate yourself on the nutritional composition of different foods so that you are then able to make better decisions when not tracking. 

Practice this skill, learn to eye ball portions of food and initially measure it to see how accurate you can get. Make it a game. 

Your mindset and how your approach this is important. Remind yourself this is a good thing you are doing for yourself, you will be building a lifelong skill that can help promote better health for the rest of your life.

2, Adequate Protein Intake

You have your calories, now you calculate total protein. This needs to be high enough to support essential body needs and for recovery from training. Protein requirement is increased during a diet and in the absence of adequate dietary intake your body will break down more muscle tissue.

For periods of dieting I like to set it at 2 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight. For advanced athletes who are already low in body fat it may have to be increased even further as the diet progresses. 

Example – 75 kg x 2 = 150 grams of protein daily

Protein has 4 kcal per gram so 150 grams of protein is 600 kcal

Your total calorie and protein intake in my experience are by far the two most important numbers to concentrate on. 

3, Carbohydrates & Fats

So with 2,310 KCAL minus 600 KCAL for the protein the remaining 1,710 KCAL can be divided evenly between fats & carbs.

Carbohydrate 855 kcal / 4 calories = 213.75 (214) grams

Fat 855 kcal / 9 calories = 95 grams

Totals

2310 KCAL

150 g Protein

214 g Carbohydrate

95 g Fat

From there it’s entirely up to you on personal preference how your split this up during the day. In general I guide my trainees to divide this up over 3-4 daily meals. Some people like an even spread of nutrients over each meal, others like to eat a bit lighter in earlier meals to create more ‘allowance’ to have a larger meal in the evening which they maybe are sharing with loved ones.

Example 1 - Even spread over 4 meals 

578 KCAL

38 g Protein

53 g Carbohydrate

23 g Fat

Example 2 - 4 meals but with a larger evening allowance

Meals 1-3

472 KCAL

38 g Protein

35 g Carbohydrate

20 g Fat

Meal 4 

895 KCAL

45 g Protein

100 g Carbohydrate

35 g Fat

My only preference here to help optimise protein synthesis over the whole day is to ensure you get 3-4 servings of 25-50 grams of a high quality protein source.

From personal exerience 4 is the best so that each meal is not too large and you get the body protein synthesis.

The distribution of the other nutrients is much less important in the grand scheme of things. 

Wrap up

Nutrition is literally a magic bullet in regards to regulating your body composition.

Certainly the more active you are overall your overall daily calorie requirements are which will allow you to “get away with more” but overall its very very hard to out train a poor diet.

Now there are certainly additional strategies to help further optimise your diet which I will cover in future articles, however without first creating the strong foundation these are somewhat redundant.

Fat Loss Explained

In this article I address some key principles to focus on when your goal is fat loss-

1, You must create a calorie deficit

In order lose body fat you must create a deficit to your energy intake.

This can be achieved through changes to your eating or increases in your activity levels. I find changes to your eating the most efficient as it’s a lot easier to consume calories than it is to burn them. 

As a diet progresses and you lose fat you will have to gradually keep reducing the amount of calories you consume in order to continue to lose fat.

A lighter body expends less energy to move around in everyday activities and so your body as part of its survival mechanisms will attempt to balance this out by reducing your metabolic rate.

This is temporary and after a period of dieting this will gradually return to normal, you are not creating any long term damage. 

Keep these adjustments downwards small, no more than 5-10% at any given time.

You want to lose fat on as many calories as possible as this helps to maintain you energy levels for exercise and everyday life and combat levels of hunger.

You want to avoid you getting too ‘hangry’ as this is going to make you and probably others around you feel miserable and more likely to lead you to falling off of the wagon and binging. 

2, Strength training

You lose fat by creating a calorie deficit. Now in order to get your body to loose body fat rather than lean body mass (muscle) you have to give it a reason to retain that lean body mass. Strength training provides this stimulus and will help you ultimately achieve that ‘toned’ look once your body fat is low enough.

Creating a deficit to lose fat without this concurrent strength training means that a greater proportion of the weight you lose will come from lean body mass and whilst you will certainly over time still lose fat you’ll also lose lean body mass which will likely leave you with a less than aesthetically pleasing ‘skinny fat’ look.

Now this doesn’t mean that you have to go all in and start training like a bodybuilder, far from it. This is a common misperception that puts many people off of lifting weights. Bodybuilding is a very specialised pursuit and it takes years of consistent focused training to achieve that ‘look’.

For the average person weight lifting in addition to preserving lean mass when dieting will make your body firmer and you’ll look & feel better naked.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28507015/

3, Keep your overall daily activity levels high (NEAT)

Creating a calorie deficit is in nutshell subjecting your body to a small famine and body has some very clever in-built survival mechanisms to try to fight this.

One tactic it uses it to subconsciously encourage you to reduce what’s called your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). NEAT can account for quite a number of calories burned during a day on top of your BMR (Basel Metabolic Rate, the amount of calories you burn just to survive doing nothing).

Say you create a calorie deficit through food of 250 calories but at the same time subconsciously you start walking less, taking the elevator, lying down more etc. you’ll find that you can start to quickly make inroads on that calorie deficit and mint end up unconsciously sabotaging your results.

One easy way to counteract your levels of NEAT dropping is to monitor your daily step count. Say your average is 5,000 then aim to keep that constant throughout the ‘diet’, You may actually find upping this to 7,500 or even 10,000 steps per day as your bodyweight reduces will continue to help you lose body fat. A lighter body burns less calorie in every day activities.

• Get off a stop early or walk to work

• Use the stairs

• Get a stand up desk

• Manually clean things rather than using ‘labour saving’ devices.

• Plan a long walk at the weekend

• Find activities outside of the gym that get you active - Martial arts, dancing, climbing, swimming etc.

4, Optimise your Sleep Quality & Duration

Tigger knew the secrets to staying lean

A study highlighted to me in the book ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker showed the amount of sleep you have directly impacts what weight is lost when on a diet. 

In a study, 2 group of people were put on a calorie deficit. One group in addition to this had restricted sleep.

Both groups on average lost a similar amount of weight.

However, for the participants who got only 5 1/2 hours sleep the amount of fat mass relative to lean body mass was significantly reduced- 1.3 pounds of fat and 5.3 pounds of fat-free mass compared to the group who got 8 1/2 hours sleep- 3.1 pounds of fat and 3.3 pounds of fat-free body mass.

In addition to this the sleep restricted group had increased levels of hunger as their Ghrelin levels (‘hunger hormone’) increased.

This very starkly illustrates the importance of getting good sleep. This should be an areas in addition to neutron that you should invest time in.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101004211637.htm

Here’s an article I wrote on improving your sleep - 15 Tips to Better Sleep

5, Set realistic goals and be patient

You don’t get out of or into shape overnight

Fat loss in order to make it sustainable and create a healthy relationship & lifestyle shouldn’t be a sprint.

Yes certainly you can have brief periods of dieting with a large calorie deficit but these should only be used for short periods of time and are unsustainable. From my experience of helping hundreds of clients, a slower more consistent timeframe for fat loss wins the day.

Adherence is ultimately the key. It’s all well & good creating a deficit for 5 days of the week but then at the weekend if you fill your boots on high calorific food and especially liquid calories (alcohol, with an added effect of reducing sleep quality) it’s very possible to sabotage the very deficit that you’ve created over the week. 

A useful strategy is to set your calories slightly lower during the week to allow for more of a ‘buffer’ of calories at the weekend which will enable you to be social when eating out or cooking with your friends & family without ruining your deficit. This doesn’t mean you give yourself permission to eat in a gluttonous fashion.

How To Have A Good Workout- 4 Tips

Going to the gym is an time investment in improving your body, make sure you get the best return from your investment. Here are 4 simple tips on optimising your gym sessions-

1, Progressive Overload

If you want to change how your body looks you have to give it a reason to. Adaptions to training are simply a response by your body to being exposed to a ‘stress’ and then adjusting structurally (muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones), neurologically and chemically (energy systems) to better be able to handle this stress the next time.

Over time it’s essential to gradually push forwards to get stronger. If you are lifting the same weights that you did 3 years ago you’ll likely look the same.

On this theme it’s also important to stick to a particular set of exercises for some time in order to give yourself time to improve. Changing your programme too frequently doesn’t allow this to happen.

Generally I’d recommend to stick to a particular programme for at least 6-8 weeks. For more advanced lifters with several years of lifting experience sticking to the same exercises but adjusting the sets, reps & tempo after 2- 4 weeks can be sometimes be a strategy to promote continued progress. 

2, Good form, good form Dammit!

What good is a gym programme if you find yourself injured several times a year? Progress takes time and injuries can set you back weeks and even months. Unfortunately we loose gains we make in the gym faser than we create them.

Exercises have been created in mind to work a muscle through a full range of motion in order to maximise the adaptive response. For the majority of people using a full range of motion is your best strategy for safe & effective training. 

Using a partial range of motion can be useful for certain specific situations such as in Powerlifting & Strongman or if your sport has a particular demand to be strong in a narrow range of motion. Specialisation training to help get through sticking points.

However for most of the gym population its doing nothing more than stoking your ego and possibly increasing your risk of injury.

An additional benefit to using a full range of motion is the exercise is in itself a ‘loaded stretch’ so over time using a full range of motion can help to ‘unstick’ some areas that might otherwise feel tight. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23629583/

3, Emphasise Compound Movements First

Exercises such as the Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges, Chin/Pull-Up’s, Dips, Presses and Rows should be your bread & butter movements you spend the most time on when exercising. These types of exercises active the maximal amount of muscles.

Focusing your energy progressing from shoulder pressing overhead 30KG’s to 50KG’s is going to do much more for your shoulder development then performing 3 sets each of a front raises, side raises and rear deltoid raises with a 4kg’s weight. 

Similarly improving on being able to perform 3 Chin-up’s & Dips to being able to do 9 is going to do way more for your arm development than performing 8 different exercises for your biceps and triceps.

No don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with adding some supplementary direct arm, shoulder or glute work but only after doing the basics compound lifts first.

4, Set A Time Limit

Following on the previous recommendation you should set a time limit to the amount of time you spend on any given training session.

45-60 minutes maximum per session 3-4 x per week is optimal for most people. Whilst gym sessions can be longer some some spots specific purposes, I.E. when training some involving a lot technique like olympic lifting or requiring longer rest periods for maximum strength training & powerlifting this isn’t appropriate for most people.

I recommend to set strict rest intervals between your exercises and use either something like an old digital Casio watch or a dedicated timer so that you avoid the temptation of getting distracted by your phone. I am of the belief that Tinder has done much to ruin peoples gains over the years!

Get in, primarily focus on progressing on the big compound movements first and then leave. It’s a spiral diminishing returns to spend any more time than this.

Ultimately the gym should be a tool to help enhance your experience of life outside of the gym and should not be the sole focus of your spare time.