61 Fitness And Diet Rules For A Lean, Stellar Physique

41. Emphasize your abs.

Everyone loves a ripped, cut-up, tight midsection. Everyone loves good posture and a strong back too. Abs are the surefire way to attract attention and make people swoon.

A worthwhile investment.

42. Give it a rest.

Give yourself a day off from lifting/cardio at least once every 4 days. Your body needs time to recover in order to grow.

43. No cheat days — make it a cheat meal.

I know cheat days are a common way for people to stick to diets, but remember how I said diets suck? Well cheat days suck too.

If you need to take a break from your diet and healthy life I firmly believe you’re not committed enough. Imagine a firefighter looking into a burning building and just thinking to himself, “hmm…I’ve worked really hard this week, I’m gonna take this one off.”

Extreme, but you get the point.

I’m not saying it’s never ok to have a rib-eye steak or a bowl of pasta — that’s fine and necessary to be a social person — but the idea of devoting one entire day to complete and utter nutritional debauchery is ridiculous. Keep it to an occasional cheat meal.

44. Do squats and deadlifts as often as possible.

You’ll burn a ton of calories and fat, and release high levels of HGH and testosterone — two hormones that promote muscle growth and fat loss.

Learn how to deadlift here.

45. Be an educated supplement consumer.

Supplements are called “supplements” for a good reason — they’re designed to aid superior health and fitness. Just know what you’re buying and do some research beforehand. Products like protein powder, BCAAs, creatine, l-carnitine, fish oil, and others are extremely effective for safe muscle gain, fat loss, and overall health.

46. Drink low-fat milk for the calcium and protein.

Got milk? Besides getting an awesomely cool milk mustache, drinking milk is a phenomenal source of calcium. The benefit? Calcium is proven to be an extremely powerful reducer of body fat¹.

47. Don’t eat canned food.

Canned food is either a) extremely high in salt, b) gross, c) devoid of nutrients, or some combination of the three. Due to processing, canned veggies get stripped of almost all of their vitamins and nutrients. Isn’t that why you eat veggies anyway?

Go fresh if possible. If not, frozen is just as healthy.

48. Say no to sodium.

Too much sodium causes hypertension and heart problems. It’ll also make you look puffy and bloated.

49. Don’t eat broccoli before the beach.

Broccoli and other cruciferous veggies cause gas build up and bloating. Once your shirt comes off, this’ll give you the appearance of being fatter than you really are. That’s cruel.

50. Always use strict form when lifting.

You’ll prevent injury and maximize muscle gain.

Sections: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-61

References, Notes, Links

1. Papakonstantinou E, Flatt WP, Huth PJ, Harris RB. High dietary calcium reduces body fat content, digestibility of fat, and serum vitamin D in rats. Obes Res. 2003;11:387–394. doi: 10.1038/oby.2003.52. [↩]

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Bryan DiSanto

Owner & Editor-in-Chief at Lean It UP

Bryan DiSanto is the Owner & Editor-in-Chief of Lean It UP, ACE-CPT & CSN, NYU graduate, ex-fat kid, and all-around fitness/nutrition nutjob.

When he’s not working on his (or somebody else’s) abs, whipping up Eggocados, or running a Tough Mudder, he’s probably off yelling at a Carolina Panthers game somewhere.

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