How To Get Lean Fast
Ok so you’re probably wondering how I got here...
I mean I’ve only been making Youtube videos on health and fitness for 4 years, getting on my soap box every week to chat about why we should be focusing on our health above all else, but an injury, bad eating habits and work stresses lead to me putting on 8 kilos (17lbs) in just 3 months!
I wanted a quick turnaround so here is everything I did to get lean quickly, and healthily, in a way that allows me stay lean.
1. Increased my step count
It sounds dumb but walking is always my first port of call whenever I want to drop body fat.
It’s a low impact form of exercise, burns more calories than you think, and is easy to incorporate into a day - you just walk to where you’re going.
What’s great about the benefits of walking is that they scale based on our activity level, so literally ANY increase in your average weekly step count is going to be an improvement!
2. Nutrition
‘You can’t out-train a bad diet’ is directionally accurate and it’s what I was shoving into my mouth that was causing the problem (get your mind out of the gutter).
How to eat to get lean is a question that will differ for all of us, but my go to top tip a bowl of vegetables to start my day which does two things:
First, by having such low calorie-nutrition food as my first meal, it puts me in a great headspace to keep this going for the rest of the day - I won’t want to ruin my start!
Secondly, veggies are full of fibre, and so make you feel full so they are literally a cheat code for turning off my unreal sweet tooth! Yes, I did all the usual stuff (keeping a high protein intake, lowering my daily calories by 500), but this tip is what allowed me to feel normal while doing it! And is what typically allows me to stay lean all year round.
3. Training (Reps & Sets)
If you’re looking to get lean fast, your training will need to match the energy of this goal. Half-asrsed workouts where the only thing we train is our scrolling muscles, won’t really cut it.
Personally I find that I respond very well to high reps (8-12 per set) when my goal is to build muscle, and piling on muscle will make it easier to appear lean quickly. Bodyweight Training is great for this, as the compound exercises of calisthenics encourages us to work more of our body, and allows us to build a balanced physique.
A good calisthenics program will always encourage muscle building as a priority, as that is how we condition ourselves to working on other elements like skills and strength.
I managed to go from 88KGs down to 83KGs in 28 days as part of my calisthenics transformation, and will continue to drop this a little more. And if you want a calisthenics program centred around improving how we look and feel as well as getting stronger, for all levels, then check out our programs
