Volume 1: Bro science in bro lifting for my bros

May your meals be light and your lifts be heavy - Swolltech motto

I figured I'd switch it up from all this heavy, philosophical stuff and just get to the heart of things. Plenty of people ask me how to kick start their weight loss / muscle gain growths. So, here's all the bro science I've gathered for the past 4 years, all rolled into some tongue-in-cheek advice. This is just my take on dieting, lifting and living a healthy life - so please, take it with a grain of salt.

Speaking of salt, stop eating that shit. It'll kill you. Do you know what salt does for you? It sticks in your system, it fills you with water and it makes you soft and fluffy. Which, by the way, is the total opposite of what I'm sure you're looking for. So here's my number one recommendation - Limit your salt. Realize that the average person (according to the CDC, so no bro science here) only needs about 1500mg of salt. That's less than a teaspoon! Most Americans eat double or triple that amount daily, especially if you're one of those guys that eats out all of the time. So I challenge you, go on a SALT diet. SCREW all of the rest of the diet nonsense until you're further down the road - counting macros (fat, protein, carbs), weighing food, portion sizing, simple carbs vs complex carbs - throw it all out. Just make sure you throw it all out in front of you, because in a few weeks you'll be far enough in your program to have to pick it back up.

Now that we've got the diet thing out of the way (caveat: yes, once you get past "phase 1", you can start focusing on macros, portion, etc. - this is just to get you going) let's talk about lifting. Just like number one, stop focusing on all of the complex gym jargon about muscle-ups, clean and presses, olympic snatches etc. Are those great, fully-functional exercises? hell yes! Can you do them? hell no. So stop trying. Focus on building a base first and then as your body gets more adept and stronger, then move to the more complex moves. Getting healthy is a marathon, not a sprint. No one picks up a light saber and expects to fight Darth Vader on his first night out.. so why the hell would you want to be the guy trying to deadlift 4 plates with me, saying "I got this bro". So put your weight belt, metal hooks and knee wraps away, you don't need it yet.

The reality is, most guys can get to the gym maybe two or three times a week. Cool. You know your body best and you know what you like and what you don't like. Keep your lifts simple! Be deliberate about your program and stick to it for the next 12 weeks...yes, the whole 12 weeks (change your program at the end of this time). The third fundamental shift is stop giving yourself excuses. The words "I can't work out right now" needs to leave your body. Pick the schedule that works for you, pick the times, pick the workouts and stick to it. again KISS (keep it simple, stupid) - just pick something and do it. Also, if it's easier for you, bring a log. Most gym noobs don't realize this, but you don't look like a noob because you're carrying around a notepad and writing stuff down. You look like a noob when you wander around aimlessly doing 2 sets of a half-ass workout, moving from one machine to another. Most gym rats respect it when they see a beginner making a deliberate attempt at learning the craft.

My fourth and final recommendation is just freakin' show up. Now that you've picked everything out and customized your own gym schedule, just get in the car - no matter how tired, busy, hung over, blah blah blah, you are and just get to the gym, scan in and get your gym clothes on. I guarantee you just being at the gym will get you psyched up enough to do what you have to do... Oh and please remember to look at yourself in the mirror, gaze for miles into your own eyes and say, yes, I will look sexy as f--k, naked.

Here's my list of lifts - add any variation you want (grip, machine, inside, outside, upside-down, rope, barbell, dumbell, whatever), there's a ton of ways to do these - you can also combine them in whatever days you want. Common ones are chest/tri, back/bi, push/pull, shoulders/legs, quad/ham, leg/abs, chest/shoulder, etc.

Chest	Back	Shoulders	Legs	Arms
Incline dumbell press	Pull ups	Dumbell press	Squats	Arnold curls (bi)
Bench press	Machine pull downs	Military Press	Lunges	Hammer curls (bi)
Decline barbell press	Bent over row	Front raises	Leg press	Reverse curls (bi)
Cable flyes	Dead lifts	Lateral raises	Leg curls	Pull downs (tri)
Wide Dips	Good mornings	Rear delt flye	Leg extensions	Skull crushes (tri)
	Shrugs	Cleans	Calf raises	Dips (tri)
				Close grip bench (tri)