The worst mistakes people make with diet and exercise (with Menno Henselmans)

1. Structure Environment to Avoid Temptation

Rely less on willpower by proactively structuring your environment, lifestyle, and schedule to avoid temptations and distractions, as successful people often use discipline less.

2. Adopt a Diet “Way of Life”

Reframe “dieting” as adopting a permanent “way of life” by making sustainable, long-term modifications to your eating habits that you enjoy, rather than temporary, unsustainable changes that lead to weight regain.

3. Prioritize Sleep for Productivity

Never sacrifice sleep for productivity, as sleep deprivation cumulatively lowers mental capacity and ultimately makes you less productive, with effects similar to an all-nighter after just eight days of sleeping one hour less.

4. Cultivate True Intrinsic Motivation

Recognize that temporary enthusiasm does not equate to sustained motivation; instead, cultivate intrinsic motivation, which is characterized by consistent action and taking things for granted rather than outward excitement.

5. Starve Cravings, Don’t Satisfy

To eliminate cravings, starve them by consistently avoiding the craved food, as cravings are psychological representations of hunger that fade with lack of reinforcement and exposure, rather than biological needs that require satisfaction.

6. Set Growth Goals, Not Performance Goals

Adopt a growth mindset by setting goals focused on continuous improvement (e.g., “I want to be stronger”) rather than fixed performance targets (e.g., “350lb bench press”), as this provides better direction and resilience to failure.

7. Use Evidence-Based Information Sources

When seeking advice, prioritize sources that cite scientific research and demonstrate quality control, understanding that for most personal goals, following well-established basics is sufficient without needing to become an expert in every scientific nuance.

8. Rethink Willpower as a Muscle

Understand that willpower is not like a muscle that simply drains; how much you enjoy a task significantly influences task fatigue, suggesting a more complex interaction with well-being.

9. Minimize Smartphone & Browser Distractions

Install apps to block distracting social media, turn off all phone notifications, and set your browser homepage to a neutral page (e.g., Google search) to reduce reliance on discipline and improve focus.

10. Automate Exercise, Use Motivation Hacks

Automate your exercise routine to avoid daily decision-making; if unmotivated, take caffeine/pre-workout and commit to only warming up, as momentum often leads to completing the full workout.

11. Boost Protein, Fiber, Whole Foods

For health, fat loss, and muscle growth, significantly increase your protein and fiber intake (aiming for 30-50g fiber/day), and prioritize whole, unprocessed foods that are closer to their natural state.

12. Practice Deliberate, Focused Work

Maximize productivity by eliminating all distractions during work hours, such as disabling notifications, using minimalist email interfaces, and clearing desk clutter, to maintain deep focus.

13. Efficient Email Management

To avoid distraction and cognitive load, only read emails you intend to answer immediately, and disable email text previews so you only see the title.

14. Prioritize Resistance Training Over Stretching

For improved mobility, muscle length, and injury prevention, prioritize resistance training through a full range of motion over traditional stretching, as it offers superior benefits for strength, muscle growth, and overall health.

15. Listen to Pain Signals in Training

Avoid overuse injuries by learning to distinguish between “good” muscular exertion pain and “bad” injury-related pain; never train through discomfort, stiffness, or pain that feels wrong, instead adjusting your exercise or volume.

16. Avoid Ego Lifting in Training

When strength training, prioritize proper technique and full range of motion over lifting heavier weights, as “ego lifting” is more injurious, less effective for muscle growth, and prevents accurate tracking of true progression.

17. Fuel Workouts Within 6 Hours

Optimize workout performance and recovery by ensuring your training session is “sandwiched” between meals within a six-hour window, providing consistent nutrient availability.

18. Supplement with Creatine Monohydrate

Take 3-5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily (3g for women, 5g for men) to safely and effectively improve strength and muscle growth, ideally consumed post-workout for better absorption.

19. Learn to Cook Healthy, Enjoyable Meals

Make your diet sustainable and enjoyable long-term by learning to cook and finding simple, healthy recipes that you genuinely like, moving beyond restrictive and unappealing food choices.

20. Train to Failure for Muscle Growth

For effective muscle growth, focus on training close to muscular failure within a repetition range of 5 to 30 reps, as the specific number of reps is less important than the intensity of effort.

21. Match Reps to Strength Goals

Tailor your repetition ranges to your specific strength goals: use lower reps (1-5) for maximal strength development and higher reps for strength endurance, as the body adapts specifically to the type of training performed.

22. Monitor Rep Drop-Off for Fatigue

Use the drop-off in repetitions across sets as a “fatigue index” to gauge neuromuscular fatigue; if reps are consistent, consider increasing volume, but if they drop sharply, consider decreasing volume for better recovery.

23. Maintain Fitness with Minimal Workouts

To maintain a good level of fitness, you can significantly reduce your training volume, potentially to just two intensive 60-90 minute workouts per week, which is roughly one-third or less of the volume needed for growth.

24. High-Intensity for Minimal Exercise

For those who dislike exercise, prioritize high-intensity efforts for time-efficient benefits; even a single daily 30-60 second sprint to failure on a bike ergometer can achieve significant health improvements.

25. Efficient Warm-Up for Body Temperature

Optimize your warm-up by focusing on increasing your core body temperature, which improves neural function and muscle elasticity; five minutes is often sufficient, and dressing warmly can accelerate this process.

26. Mimic Exercise in Warm-Up

For strength training, warm up by performing the exact exercise with lighter weights and progressively increasing the load, as this effectively rehearses the motor pattern and prepares the specific tissues.

27. Embrace Utilitarian Motivation

If an activity makes you better, healthier, or improves your well-being, embrace the motivation behind it, even if it stems from social rewards, as long as it doesn’t lead to self-destructive choices.

28. Identify System 1 vs. 2 Clash

Recognize willpower failure as a clash between your emotional System 1 urges and your rational System 2 decisions, where System 2 eventually fails to suppress the urge.

29. Prioritize Results Over Enjoyment

Understand that adherence to activities like exercise is more strongly predicted by the results or utility you gain from them, rather than how much you initially enjoy the activity itself.

30. Understand Core Diet Principles

Instead of getting lost in specific named diets, focus on understanding the underlying principles of nutrition, such as energy density and satiety, to make sense of various dietary approaches and apply them effectively.

31. Design a Satiating Diet

Prevent cravings by maintaining a highly satiating diet, as the underlying problem is hunger, and if you’re not hungry, you won’t experience cravings.

32. Avoid “Forbidden Fruit” Mindset

When eliminating certain foods from your diet, consciously choose to do so rather than feeling like they are “forbidden,” to prevent the psychological effect that can make them more desirable.