Watch These 29 Min Before You Lift Weights

I've trained over 20,000 clients with their workouts in the past 9 years, as well as I have been working out myself and gotten into pretty decent shape. And if I had to give you my most brutally honest advice to help you build muscle faster, here's what I'd tell you. Lesson number 1, what is the best rep range for building muscle? When I first started lifting, I was obsessed with the perfect rep range that I needed to stay within to build most muscle. And everywhere I looked said 3 to 5 reps was for building strength, 6 to 12 reps was for building muscle, and anything more than 12 reps was for cardio and endurance. Maybe you've heard that before as well. So all I did was focus in the 6 to 12 rep range. But after months of consistent training, I wasn't making the progress I wanted to make. And honestly, I was just getting bored. It wasn't until I started digging into the research and coaching more clients that I realized I had been limiting my gains. I learned that muscle growth doesn't come from a specific rep range. It comes from 2 things instead. Number one, your intensity and how close to failure you're pushing yourself. And number 2, if you are having progressive overload, lifting heavier weight and doing more reps week over week, because if you're doing those 2 things, You can build muscle with 4 reps, or you can build muscle with 20 reps. So instead of worrying about the perfect rep range, focus on choosing a weight that challenges you for the rep range you are doing. Focus on lifting heavier weight or doing more reps week over week. And as long as you're doing that in the 5 to 20 rep range, over time you will build muscle. But with that being said, I still think you should set up your workouts aiming for a specific rep range. And let me explain what I mean. Lesson number 2, high reps for low weight or low weight for high reps. Now that we know technically you can build muscle in any rep range, the mistake I see a lot of people make is they only choose one rep range. For example, the age-old question of should I be lifting lightweight for high reps or heavy weight for low reps? And the question in and of itself assumes you can only do one. And this is a mistake because if you only do lightweight for high reps, you will be missing out on building strength and getting to lift heavy weight for low reps. You'd be missing out on some of the pump work and/or some of the muscular endurance components that can help you Build muscle. So what's the fix? You can and should do both in your workouts. Usually how I set this up for myself and our clients is earlier in the workout, you do lower reps for heavier weight, and as the workout goes on, you switch to more lighter weight for higher reps. And later in the video, I'm also going to show you exactly what exercises you should be doing for each of those rep ranges. But before I talk about that, let's talk about your cardio. Lesson number 3, high intensity versus low intensity cardio for fat loss. When I first started coaching people, most of them assumed they had to be doing high intensity cardio like those HIIT boot camp classes or Orange Theory in order to burn the most fat. Because one would think if you're working hard, you're out of breath, you're burning a ton of calories, that's what's going to be best for losing fat. But the issue came when my clients were coming to me not losing body fat, and they felt exhausted, burnt out, and just demotivated with working out. The turning point for a lot of them is when I introduced something called zone 2 cardio for fat loss. This zone 2 cardio is lower intensity where you keep your heart rate around 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. This type of cardio burns fat for energy as opposed to burning carbs for energy, which is what high-intensity cardio does, which is why it leaves you craving sugar and junk food. And Low-intensity zone 2 cardio actually helps you recover better from your weightlifting sessions, which can lead to more muscle growth, unlike high-intensity cardio, which adds more stress to your body, which takes away from your muscle growth. So if your main goal is to lose fat while building muscle at the same time, aim for zone 2 cardio. And if you're tracking your heart rate, That would be 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. But if you're not tracking your heart rate, you don't have to. Just know you should be able to breathe through your nose and hold a conversation when you're doing cardio. That's how you know you're in zone 2. If you're doing cardio like this, it is too high of an intensity and you should bring it down. And this could be on the treadmill, this could be a walk outside, the elliptical, and I would do it for anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes at a time, always after your workout or on rest days. Now that we talked about cardio, our next lesson is going to be talking about what most people want, which is abs. Lesson number 4, how often should you be working your abs? Now, when I first got into lifting weights, I thought having visible abs meant I needed to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to working them out. And so that's what I did 7 days a week for at least 30 minutes. I did abs and this was crunches, sit-ups, leg raises, planks. And honestly, it was boring as hell, but I did it because I thought I had to. And honestly, despite all of that work, my abs never really popped like I wanted them to, as well as I found myself having a lot of lower back pain and not getting much stronger in my workouts. And it wasn't until I learned more about muscle activation, I realized abs, just like any other muscle, responded to progressive overload and quality movements, not just working them out every single day. I also learned movements like squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, shoulder presses also was working my abs. So I was way overdoing it on the ab training, which was causing my lack of progress. So instead, what I started to do and what I now do for all of our clients, I incorporate ab exercises into the warm-ups of the workout that we are doing for that day. So for a lower body workout, this might look like a plank and a reverse crunch. I do those 2 exercises and I do my lower body day, and that's all I need for abs. Trust me, you do not need an entire ab day or ab workout. You're going to be working your core in your strength training. Workouts. And last but not least, no matter how much you train your abs, if you're not at a low enough body fat percentage, you'll never be able to see your abs. And getting to a low enough body fat percentage is in your nutrition— eating in a calorie deficit. Now speaking of eating, let's talk about if you should be eating before your workout or not. Lesson number 5: fasted workouts versus eating before a workout. When my clients first started to train with me, a lot of them were under the impression they should not be eating before a workout because maybe you've heard before, if you don't eat, you are going to burn more fat during the workout. And while technically this may be true, just because you're burning fat for energy doesn't mean you are losing stored body fat, because the only way to lose stored body fat is to eat in a calorie deficit. Not to mention, your muscle's main source of energy is carbohydrates, so not eating before your workout is actually going to cause you to have less workout performance. You'll be weaker, lift lighter weights, and you'll see less muscle-building progress. So If your goal is to get stronger and build muscle, I would try to eat 20 to 50 grams of carbs 30 to 90 minutes before your workout. And don't worry, I can already hear people asking in the comments, well, Eric, what if I work out super early? If you work out very early, I would still try to get something small. That's what she said. Like a half a banana, because I do believe it can help. Or just make sure your dinner the night before is high in carbohydrates. Now remember, this is for weightlifting in particular. If you're doing some sort of cardio, it's not as important, although I still do recommend having something small in carbohydrates. So now that you're all carbed up, let's go to the next lesson of how much weight should you be lifting in your workouts for your exercises. Lesson number six: How much weight should you lift? Probably the number one question I got asked as a trainer was Eric, how heavy should I be lifting? And people almost wanted me to tell them the exact weight to lift, like twenty pounds for a shoulder press or thirty pounds for a squat. And the truth is, I'm not going to be able to tell you how much weight you should be lifting. You are the only one who can tell yourself that. But how do you figure that out? There is something called R. RIR, and this stands for reps in reserve. And what this means is when you get done a set, let's say you're doing 10 reps. If you get done that set and you think, man, maybe I could have done 5 more reps if I really, really tried, that means you had 5 reps in reserve. So now that you know what it is, there is a sweet spot you should be in. For your RIR, if your goal is to get stronger and build muscle, and that sweet spot is going to be 1 to 3 reps. Meaning, if you get done a set, you should think, man, I maybe could have done 1 or 2 or 3 more reps max if I really, really tried. That means you had a 1 to 3 RIR, and that lets you know you're lifting heavy enough weight for the exercise and the set that you just did. So again, this goes for if you're doing a set of 5 reps or a set of 15 reps. The actual weight that you choose might be different, but as long as you have the 1 to 3 RIR, you will know that is the correct weight for that exercise and for that amount of reps. If you have higher than a 3 RIR, you, my friend, Need to go pick up some heavier weight next time. And now the next question I get asked a lot is lesson number 7: How often should I be changing my workouts? Early on, I thought I had to change my workouts every week for something called muscle confusion, which basically just meant you would keep your muscles guessing and that's how you would make the most progress. And then I eventually learned that was bullshit. And then what I did was I kept the same workout program for months on end. And I also eventually learned that was stupid as well because I ended up getting a lot of injuries and I just got bored of my workouts. So I knew there had to be a sweet spot in the middle of how often I should be changing my workouts. And that's what I want to share with you. If you change your workouts too frequently, then you're not going to be able to have something called progressive overload, which I know we've talked about and we'll talk about a bit later in the video. You're not going to get better at the skill of doing your workout, and you actually risk injury because you're always doing new movement patterns. But if you keep the same workouts for too long, you're going to get burnt out from it. You also start to develop overuse injuries. Where you're doing the same movement pattern over and over and over, and your joints, your tendons, your ligaments start to get injured. So the sweet spot is you should be changing up your workouts every 4 to 8 weeks. This gives you a long enough period of time to progress with your workouts, but it also switches things up frequently enough to keep it fresh and exciting, to prevent overuse injuries, And to hit your muscles from different angles and ranges of motion. I promise if you start doing this, you're going to feel physically a lot better and you will see more progress being made. And by the way, if you need a free workout program to follow, there'll be a link in the description of this video. Now for the next lesson, this is one that drives people insane sometimes. Lesson number 8, how long can you take off without losing muscle. For the longest time, I thought if I took a workout off, or God forbid, a week's worth of workouts off, that meant I was going to lose all of my progress. Whether it was for a vacation or for getting sick or just life happened, I would freak out. But the reason I was freaking out was because I didn't understand the science of that I do now. And hopefully I can share this with you so you don't have to freak out like young Eric did. The truth is, yes, you will start losing muscle if your body isn't using it. The old saying of, if you don't use it, you lose it. But how long does that actually take? Well, studies show it takes at least 3 weeks to start losing muscle, and those 3 weeks are no workouts, At all whatsoever, not even body weight. And once you start losing muscle, it's not even actual muscle tissue. It's the glycogen and the carbohydrates that are stored inside of your muscle. So really, it takes at least a month of no workouts for you to lose progress. And here's the other cool part, something you may have heard called muscle memory. This just means any muscle that you do lose you will be able to gain it back very quickly, usually within 1 to 3 weeks depending on how long you took off. So if you were going to freak out about losing progress because you missed a week, please don't. And when you come back, ease back into your routine that first week, and I promise your muscle memory will be working and you'll keep making great progress. And for our next lesson, it's One that I promised you we'd talk about earlier. Lesson number 9, what order to put your exercises in. If you remember earlier in the video, I said you should be doing heavier weight for less reps earlier in the workout and a lighter weight for more reps later in the workout. But what does that look like from an exercise perspective? Because the mistake most people make here is either number one, not having any sort of routine or order to why they're doing their exercises in, or number 2, they're doing exercises too early in their workout that either slows down progress or increases their risk of injury. So to make sure you avoid all of that, you're going to want to start your workout with what we call compound exercises, and these are your bigger exercises that work multiple muscles at once. So think about squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press. And these are usually exercises where, number one, you'll be able to lift much heavier weight with a squat than you would a shoulder raise, for example. And number two, these exercises have a higher risk of injury. When you're doing a deadlift or a squat or a bench press, there's a higher risk of injury than if you're doing a bicep curl or a leg extension. So doing these exercises early in the workout can allow you to maximize your strength and muscle growth because you're lifting as heavy as you can, and you're doing these exercises when you are the most fresh and the least fatigued. Think about trying to keep proper form on a deadlift Or a squat when it's your last exercise in the workout. And think about trying to lift heavy weight on the last exercise in your workout. It's a recipe for injury. So start with compound movements and then work your way down to what we call the isolation movements. And these are things like tricep extensions, shoulder raises, leg curls, leg extensions, where you're typically not going to lift as heavy and you'll do higher reps. For those isolation movements. Again, we know any rep range can build muscle, but if you want some general guidelines for the compound exercises, usually 3 to 8 reps. For the isolation exercises, usually 8 to 20 reps. Now that you know that, we're going to talk about something you might have heard before, but I want to simplify it as easy as possible to understand. Lesson number 10, what is progressive overload. Now you've heard me say this a couple of times already in this video, and you may have heard some other fitness YouTubers talk about it in their videos, but what the hell is progressive overload? Well, let's talk about the mistake that most people make, which is they kind of just show up in their workouts, check the box, and they think that's going to be enough to build muscle and see progress. But what happens is— and tell me if this sounds familiar— you're working out all the time, but you're not Seeing your body change, you're not noticing you're getting stronger, and now you're getting frustrated thinking, why am I wasting my time? And this is where you have to understand the concept of progressive overload. And this just means you are doing more work over time. Your body is not going to change because you want it to. Your body is going to change because you have to give it a great enough stress In order to adapt to. And there's 2 main ways you're going to give your body enough stress to adapt. Either number one, lift heavier weight than what you did last week, even if it's just by 2.5 or 5 pounds. Or number 2, do more reps than what you did last week, even if it's just by one extra rep. On one set. Now, of course, remember, you might not be able to add weight every single week to your side lateral raises. So this is a situation where you might add reps to that sort of exercise. But for a movement like a squat, maybe you put 2.5 pounds on the bar week over week. And as long as you're making these steady increments in weight or reps, that is what we call progressive overload. overload. And that's how you're going to make the progress you want to make. One key note to just remember here, you have to be tracking your workouts because if you're not tracking, good luck remembering what you did last time. This is actually why inside of my brand new Clubhouse app, we have all of our members track their workouts right inside and it shows them what their previous weight and reps was so that they can beat that in the upcoming week. If you want to check that out, there'll be a link in the description of this video. And now that you know you should be having progressive overload week to week, I also want to tell you this lesson. Lesson number 11, realistic expectations for your workouts. Have you ever had those days in the gym where you just feel off? Like the same weight that you lifted last week is about a million times heavier this week somehow? Or if maybe you're really stressed or you didn't get good sleep, you go into your next workout and it's just not the best. And you just heard me say you should be lifting heavier weight or doing more reps every single week to have progressive overload. I want to share something with you. While that is the goal and that's what you should be shooting for, you are not going to have your best workout every single time. In fact, out of every 10 workouts, I would say 4 out of 10 are going to be really freaking good. 3 out of 10 will just be kind of okay, and then 3 out of 10 are probably gonna be shit, for lack of better terms. But here's what you have to remember: even a shit workout is better than no workout. So even on the days when you don't feel like it or you're not motivated and you just want to stay on the couch, that same time you are gonna spend laying on the couch scrolling on your phone watching Netflix, is the same time you could be getting that workout in. And even if it's not the best, you still maintain consistency, you still keep the habit of it, and you still practice your discipline knowing you got your workout in even when you didn't want to. So if you were going to skip your next workout, don't. But also don't freak out if it's not the best. Now, there is something you can do to have a damn good workout almost every single time. Lesson 12, the most underrated supplement for workouts. Now, if you're anything like me, I was obsessed with finding the best supplement for workouts and building muscle. And I was looking up BCAAs, I was looking up creatine, I was looking up protein powder. And I thought all of these products were the key to getting faster gains. But I realized there was one thing I wasn't taking. And I noticed this in a funny way. When I was about 17, I started really taking workouts seriously. And during this time, I was also kind of a jackass kid who would go drink at his friend's house on the weekends. And what I noticed was when I would drink a lot and not sleep, I would try to go work out the next day and I would be so sore, I would be so weak. And it's actually why I stopped drinking, because one night Alex Pick asked me at a party, Eric, how much longer are you staying? And I said, none, I gotta go home because I'm doing bench press tomorrow. And he looked at me like I had 8 heads. But that's the day I stopped drinking and I started to prioritize my sleep because I wanted to go PR on bench press the next day. So if you are trying to out-supplement not getting at least 7 hours of sleep, just know it is never going to work. Sleep is the most underrated and vital supplement that you could take, and I would damn near say almost a steroid that you could take because of what it does for muscle protein synthesis, muscle recovery, energy, fatigue, motivation, willpower, everything. So really start to dial in your sleep hygiene, doing things like making sure your room is a cool temperature. I would say at least 67 or below. That's 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Aim to get at least 7 hours. I know if you're a parent with young kids, maybe that's a bit more challenging. And prioritize your sleep. Come home early from the gatherings with your friends. Don't drink as much alcohol. Take a nap here and there to make sure you can make the most of your workouts. Now, there is one supplement that could potentially be worth it. And I know it's something you've heard before. Lesson 13, should you take creatine? When I first got into lifting weights, funny story, my mom thought taking creatine was a steroid, so I was banned from taking it. But it's all I heard about, so I had to get my hands on the white powdery good stuff because I'll be damned if I wasn't maximizing my workout progress from taking creatine. At least That's what I thought, because every supplement company and YouTuber and Instagram influencer told me that's what I had to take. But I was so focused on taking creatine, I wasn't focused on the actual fundamentals of what made good progress, which is most of the stuff we've talked about already in this video: pushing yourself close to failure, having progressive overloads, setting your workout up in a proper way. Remember, supplements are on top of an already good diet plan, training plan, and sleep schedule. If you don't have those 3 things in place, it doesn't matter how much creatine or other supplements you take, you're not going to see that good of progress. So the answer is no, you don't need to take creatine, but it is the most researched supplement out there. When it comes to benefiting from a muscle building and a strength gain perspective, it will help you build muscle. It will help you recover better. It will give you better endurance, stamina. So yes, you can take creatine if you would like. If you're going to take it, I would just take roughly five grams per day every single day. If you weigh a little bit heavier, you might be able to take seven to eight grams per day, and think of it as giving you an extra. 3 to 6% of progress. So maybe you'll get an extra rep or two here and there, or you'll lift an extra 5 pounds on some exercises. It's not the Holy Grail, which is going to be steroids for you, and it's not going to make up your lack of not having a good training program and nutrition plan and never sleeping, but it can give you a little bit extra. If you'd like, I can do a whole video on creatine, just drop that in the comments if you do want that below. And if you like the creatine brand that I use and I trust and work with, there will also be a link in the description of this video as well. But you don't have to get that brand, you can get any creatine monohydrate. And speaking of having a good training program, let's talk about a mistake that most people make. Lesson 14: How often should you work out your muscle A lot of the clients that have come to us for coaching, they come from doing full body workouts multiple times a week. And that's because a lot of people think the more you work out a muscle, the more it's going to change and develop and grow. But usually what happens instead is you're always tired, you're always sore, there's nagging injuries popping up all the time that never go away, and you're just exhausted. Not seeing progress. That's when you have to understand your muscles don't grow when you work them out. They actually grow in the 24 to 72 hours after you work out. You build muscle when you're resting, not training. And without proper recovery time, your muscles are never going to get that time to recover and grow stronger and more defined, which is why after you work out a muscle group, let's say you're doing legs on Monday, you should be waiting till at least Wednesday, if not Thursday, to do legs again. This allows you to push yourself in the workouts that you do, recover fully from those workouts, and then go into the next workout fully recovered, To push as hard as you can again, and that is the cycle of how you make great progress. Don't get caught up thinking more is better. More isn't better. Better quality is better. And now that you've downloaded my last 9 years of workout advice, why stop here? Watch this video to keep learning more about how to make your workouts the most effective to build muscle as fast as possible.