Top 10 lessons (so far)
Happy 4th of July! I launched Pointman exactly 2 years ago today. This is my list of top lessons so far. And if you’re new to Pointman and getting in shape, check out the latest post on the best workout and diet programs.
This is where Pointman started, my garage, with Achilles the strength coach, and homemade lifting equipment made during the pandemic. Candid snap by James, an original member here.
1. Do what works for you
“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” - Bruce Lee
The only thing that matters is progress. If something doesn’t work for you or doesn’t suit your tastes, disregard it and use something that does. Take big steps now and worry about optimizing later.
2. You already have everything you need
You don’t need the gym to workout. You don’t need equipment to workout. You don’t need much time to workout. You don’t need complex programs to workout. You don’t need to feel good to workout. All your barriers are imagined. Eliminate whatever is blocking you from getting started and move your ass now.
3. Movement is a blessing
Your body is a gift and movement is a celebration of that gift. Why would you sit all day? Why would you choose laziness? 10,000 steps per day at a minimum is the goal. None of our ape cousins can move walk, run, jump, and throw like us. Bipedalism is what makes us uniquely human. Moving yourself across a distance, with or without weight, is one of the best things you can do for your body, and it can be done more frequently than weight training.
4. The only factor that matters for weight loss is calorie reduction
There is tons of debate about this, so I set out getting to the bottom of it. My assessment is that it’s all about calorie reduction. Calorie surplus creates bodyfat and calorie reduction reduces body fat. It’s just physics. Most diets are actually calorie reduction strategies and, of course, everyone has different preferences and responds differently. See above “Do what works for you”. The Alex Hormozi video macros and protein is an absolute masterclass and one of the best pieces of diet advice I have ever seen.
5. These are the top 2 most underrated stretches
The western lifestyle has made our bodies hopelessly deficient in natural human movement, largely due to sitting and idleness most of the day. If you work on a computer all day this is made so much worse because it ruins your shoulders, back, posture, and eyesight.
These top 2 stretches can reverse the degeneration and can be done every day. They are both ridiculously simple and can be done anywhere.
Deep squat — Just squat down and hold it. At first it will be difficult, but then work up to several minutes at a time. It doesn’t get any more simple than this, folks.
Hanging — Grab a pull-up bar and hang. If you don’t have a bar, grab a door frame or bend over and extend your arms on a chair. Can be done anywhere and it opens you up for proper posture.
6. These are the top 2 most underrated muscle building exercises
If you study all workout systems too closely they seem super different. But if you zoom out, you notice the most successful systems have 2 exercises in common. Use these exercises to build the best body possible. You can and should do some version of these every day.
Lunges — Lunges are critically different from squat and deadlift movements in that each leg will have a different load. It doesn’t matter if you do them with weight or no weight, walking backwards or forwards, jumping or slow. Get lunging and to get your legs big and strong.
Speed pulls — These help correct your posture but also build up big shoulder and traps, which will is the best way to look good with a shirt on.
7. Vitality is King
The mainstream exercise industry is bad news. They all have the same playbook: confuse and scare you, and then sell you on their solution, and keep you coming back for more. “Health” and “fitness” are meaningless terms without any objective definition. So what are you trying to achieve?
Unless you are training for a sports specific goal that has a quantifiable outcome in competition, ultimately what we all want is VITALITY.
Vitality is energy to live your life the way you want to live it. From dictionary.com — Vitality is the capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence.
Pointman is about building and optimizing vitality.
8. Training for competition is usually counterproductive to vitality
The only concern of training for competition is to get your name or team’s name on the board, and higher than anyone else. Training for competition does not care about your vitality. If you only train for competition, your body will break down.
This is why professional athletes can’t be professional athletes forever. The ones that last the longest proactively train to balance out their body to protect it against damage and degeneration. We all must do the same.
SUBTLY ALERT!
Training for sports is extremely valuable, but training for sports competition must be balanced and carefully considered. Because you’re guaranteed to hurt yourself, immediately or in the long term. Taking what is valuable from sports training, and omitting the risky parts, is how you design an efficient program that makes you grow in the long term.
9. Average is dangerous
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” - Richard Feynman
Our understanding of an acceptable human body has been severely distorted. Don’t fool yourself, the state of public health is complete madness. From The NEW Food Pyramid
The food and nutrition system is a failure. 2/3 of Americans are obese or overweight. In some cases, obesity is as high as 50%. I just learned this one — worldwide obesity has tripled since 1975!
Average is not the same as normal. A normal human being has vitality and strength. The average human now is sick and weak.
Most health and fitness information designed for the average person. Don’t be average.
10. Every day is leg day
The luxury of the modern work environment is that we don’t have to expend much energy to become prosperous.
The curse of the modern work environment is that we don’t have to expend much energy to become prosperous.
This has never been the case ever in human history. It’s poison for your health.
Can you imagine the athlete stepping on the field and not using their legs that day?
Can you imagine the farmer tending his fields but not using his legs?
Can you imagine the store owner going to work and not moving about their store?
Can you imagine the hunter and gatherer looking for food but not using their legs?
Can you imagine the salesman setting out to close deals without moving around the city?
Can you imagine the mother raising her kids without chasing them around?
This is how you fix it.
Train legs with every workout. Full body workouts are superior to bro splits for so many reasons. Here are top leg day workouts.
You can work your legs even on non lifting days. See above “Movement is a blessing”
Workout every day.
11. *Most important* — prioritize your well being immediately
“A healthy man wants a thousand things, a sick man only wants one.” - Confucius
“If not now, when?” - Hillel the Elder
“At some point you will care more about your health than you do anything else. Might as well make that time now” - Jerry Teixeira
“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” - Socrates
Here is the original post from 2 years ago.
I wish you peace and progress!
Nate