Your script for the first 3 years of lifting. Build muscle and lose fat around a full-time job, 3 days a week. What works, what's a myth, what to skip.
Joined September 2022
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I wasted my first 5 years in the gym.
No structure. No tracking. Ate whatever.
Zero progressive overload.
Here's the script I wish I'd followed 🧵
"How long until I see results?"
What do you mean by results?
Losing 10kg? Training and diet dialled in, 5-6 months (This is hard, btw.)
Seeing changes in the mirror or on the scale? 6-8 weeks, with the occasional treat.
5
5 years in the gym. It felt like no progress.
Same weights every week, and I never missed a session.
What changed? A notes app.
Now I have a number to beat every session.
1
150
A 3-day plan you follow beats a perfect 6-day programme you quit.
How many days a week do you train?
23
The 3-step starting weight test:
1. Pick a weight you can lift for 10-12 reps
2. Losing a rep or two by your last set is normal
3. Hit 12 reps on every set? Go heavier next session
When you're starting out, every session hits hard.
You'll be sore for days. Add a full workday on top and it's miserable.
But if you rest a day or two between sessions, you'll still be training in month six.
90
I used to tell myself I'd remember last session's weights and reps. I couldn't remember what I ate for lunch the day before.
Every week was the same weights, same reps, same exercises. Same training every week.
Why would anything change?
44
The 3-step gym return:
1. Schedule your first session, without guilt.
2. Ease back in with 2 sets per exercise.
3. Plan 3 training days around this week's commitments.
Fat loss doesn't require extra cardio.
Swapping regular soda for zero is one way to cut calories without adding cardio time.
57
How I deload every 6–8 weeks:
- I do 1–2 sets per exercise.
- I keep the weights light.
- I leave feeling like I could do more.
297
Of course your programme didn't work. It ignored your:
-5pm meeting that always overruns by 2 hours
-Dinner still to cook
-Deadline brought forward 4 days
64
"I don't have time to train."
You do. Just not 2 hours.
3 days of 20 minutes is your entry point.
100
Common fitness advice, translated:
❌ Train hard
✅ Leave 1 or 2 reps in reserve
❌ Eat more protein
✅ Eat protein at every meal to hit 1.6 g/kg
❌ Be consistent
✅ Hit your 3 days, no matter which days
89
In 6 weeks the mirror won't show it. The log will.
"Impatience with actions, patience with results."
– Naval
61
Your meals have 2 jobs
Give you at least 20g of protein
And calories to fuel your workout
Hit them daily
Lessons from 10 years of lifting:
Track your lifts and food
Plan your workouts or they won't happen
Add a rep or weight every week
Deload every 6-8 weeks
One miss doesn't matter
Show up for your gym buddies
This is not a summer project
Lifting keeps you sane
