Being weak is dangerous. Nobody wants to be weak as it can ruin the quality of life for you and those around you.
There are various social movements that attempt to normalize weakness via a plethora of methods.
Have no strength? That’s ok.
Have no willpower? That’s ok.
Have no discipline? That’s ok.
And that’s ok, because there are multiple posts put out there to exculpate your weakness.
But you have to ask yourself, are your content with being weak?
The reality is that you are not perfect the way you are — you can always be and do better.
The other, sadder, reality is that gurus, activists, influencers, et al, who promote weakness only do so for cheap dopamine and to assume a false status of superiority — not by raising themselves up, but by putting others down.
How to Stop Being Weak
For the purpose of this article, we will segment weakness into three categories: the physical, mental, and spiritual.
All three points are intertwined: a weak body is no home to a healthy mind; a poor state of mind allows for the body to wither and sag; poor mental health will often lead the person away from the spiritual; poor spiritual health can often lead to ingratitude towards one’s faculties and render the marvelous gifts at our disposal to go underappreciated.
In this article, we will attack all three points, giving you a near manifesto of what to do in order to bulletproof your life — with the goal to steer you to a happier, clearer path.
The Physical
1. Build Muscle
The first one is an obvious choice.
Building muscle is one of the first paths to eliminating weakness from your life.
Regardless of your sex, you should be aiming to build muscle.
Muscle will allow you to become stronger, which will in turn raise your confidence. Extra strength will also allow you to look better while becoming more functional.
Another added benefit of having more muscle means that you will reduce the risk of suffering serious injury throughout your life. Patients with more muscle mass also enjoyed a higher chance of surviving life-threatening illnesses such as cancer.
Muscle mass will also improve your metabolic health while simultaneously improving insulin sensitivity, lowering chronic inflammation, and bettering other health markers.
Still not convinced? Here are 30 reasons why you should lift weights:
- You will look better than >90% of your peers
- Better posture — if you’re not an idiot about training
- Greater libido and attractiveness
- Higher testosterone levels
- Lowered risk of depression
- Improved cardiovascular health
- Higher basal metabolic rate
- (You can eat more without getting fat)
- (Greater energy levels)
- Lower net body fat
- Greater bone density
- Lower risk of injury
- Lower risk of injury in late adulthood
- Greater levels of confidence
- More athleticism
- Faster sprinting speed through greater rate of force development
- Improved quality of life and life expectancy
- Stronger connective tissue (tendons, ligaments, etc.)
- Look cool AF
- Instills good behaviors
- Lower time preferences/more discipline
- Easier to lose fat
- Muscle memory if you have lengthy breaks in training
- Fun hobby
- Help develops high-quality friendships in gym
- Better sleep
- Lowered chronic inflammation and risk of disease
- Better insulin sensitivity
- Increased brain function
- Better sex
Before we continue, your style of training will inform much of your success in building muscle — there is no room for ineffectual programs or lackluster effort.
You will need to put the effort in the gym, kitchen, and bedroom (for sleep — get your mind out of the gutter!) to reap the most of your efforts.
A program that prioritizes compound movements such as Deadlifts, Squats, Lunges, Bench Presses, Dips, Overhead Presses, Pull Downs, Rows, Etc., with periodization stressing on progressive overload is one that almost guaranteed to put on some size if you have the patience.
The beauty of lifting weights, aside from adding muscle to your frame, is that it adds character to your personality.
Don’t get it twisted, lifting weights will challenge you positively.
Having a well-developed muscular physique conveys the following about your mettle:
- pain tolerance
- discipline
- deferral of gratification
- determination
- goal-orientation
Simply by lifting weights, you will learn a lot about yourself, but this is where the fun starts — there’s a lot more to talk about!
And this is where we enter the kitchen. Showing up and working out isn’t even a third of the tale in strengthening your body; your dietary choices will be reflected in your body.
If you want to build muscle, but don’t know where to start, pick up our BEGINNER’S BUNDLE here.
2. Improve Your Diet
Bodybuilding legend Kai Greene once said that diet was everything. And he wasn’t wrong.
You can leave your heart and soul in the gym, but if your diet isn’t on point, you won’t have a body to correspondingly exhibit your efforts.
It doesn’t matter if you’re training 10-15 hours a week, if you eat 5000 calories a day in mass building shakes, cheeseburgers, beer, and chips, you will look like garbage.
Now, let’s run down some commonly accepted numbers you should be hitting in the kitchen to build muscle effectively AND without gaining fat.
- 1-1.2g protein per pound in body weight
- 16 calories per pound in body weight
- 4-6 liters of water per day
And to lose fat:
- 1-1.2g protein per pound in body weight
- 11-12 calories per pound in body weight
- 4-6 liters of water per day
In theory, it’s an extremely simple principle to abide by. In practice, it’s a whole other matter.
People who struggle to eat right often delude themselves into believing a false reality to excuse improper dietary habits.
Once they track their food, their daily caloric consumption is often a rude awakening.
Protein is a rightly over-hyped macronutrient due to its muscle-building properties.
Despite this, a diet high in protein is one most conducive to your long term success in freeing yourself from weakness.
Protein is highly filling, delicious, and will often quash any cravings for junk foods.
Protein is also highly thermogenic; around 25% of the calories a protein source contains are burnt off in digestion — yet another win for protein.
However, you should proceed with some caution; just because a cheeseburger is high in protein doesn’t mean you can eat it guilt-free — and the same applies to other foods we will approach.
There’s a prevailing notion in the mainstream which conflates foods high in animal protein with ill health.
But if you wish to stop being weak, you’d better listen up for this part.
Many foods out there contain one or some of the following, that contribute towards making you weak:
Be sure to always check the label and prefer foods that have the least amount of packaging possible.
From an anecdotal, personal perspective, as a former junk food aficionado, since cleaning up my diet and eating a 99% clean diet, my brain fog has vanished.
As a result, my productivity is through the roof.
I also feel infinitely more energetic.
The food you eat will deeply affect your mood as well as contribute towards your success in the gym in your journey to build strength.
To recap:
- A Diet High in Protein
- Consume a Diet Predominantly Made up of Whole Foods
- Always Read the Label
- Avoid Seed Oils, Soy, Beer, Alcohol, Plastics, Etc.
- Track What You Eat
If you want to clean up your diet, but don’t know where to start, pick up our BEGINNER’S BUNDLE here.
Mental Weakness
This point is a little more controversial, but it’s one that must be said — since mental health is a very touchy subject these days.
3. Get More Sleep
And I cannot stress this enough.
Get more sleep.
This alone can help eliminate much weakness from your life.
Squeezing in 7-9 hours of sleep per night will leave you wanting to take on the world in the morning.
Partying followed by 2-4 hours of shut-eye will leave you weak in body, mind, and soul.
Good sleep will help you recover faster from the gym, keep your hunger hormones — ghrelin and leptin — in check to prevent you from wanting to eat junk food, as well as reducing stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
Think of sleep as the foundation — the bedrock, if you will — to your body; lifting weights, the cornerstone; and adequate nutrition as bricks.
Any physically or mentally demanding task is always harder to complete under sleep deprivation.
Imagine how hard it is to want to hit the gym or commute to work after getting a couple hours’ zzzzz?
Now, imagine doing this for the long haul?
A healthy mind begins with a good night’s sleep.
If you want to remain weak then watch Netflix until 3am, party like there’s no tomorrow on a Tuesday — it’s your funeral.
Of course, there are some people, who, despite their best efforts, struggle to get enough sleep. And if this is you, we recommend that you check out our article on sleep that contains a section on sleep hygiene to make falling asleep an easier experience.
4. Discipline
Discipline is foundational in your quest to stop being weak.
Do you want to lift weights for years to come? You need discipline.
Do you want to eat clean and keep temptation at bay? You need discipline.
Do you want to go to bed early and finish your Netflix series over the weekend? You need discipline.
A lack of discipline is what’s driving our endemic weakness.
But discipline without clear purpose is an exercise in futility. And I emphasize the word clear here as disorganization is anathema to discipline.
Without clear goals set up to realize your purpose, all the discipline in the world isn’t going to save you.
You need to organize your thoughts, goals, and mind to stay on the straight and narrow path towards your success.
A lack of clarity where there’s will breeds anxiety — and that’s something, in excess, we want to avoid.
Some mild anxiety is akin to lighting a fire under your a**; too much anxiety will burn you to a crisp.
As somebody who suffered from bad bouts of anxiety in the past, I cannot urge you to write down your thoughts, goals, or problems enough.
When left to roam wild in your head, they may seem insurmountable, but corraling them on paper makes them smaller and less of a problem.
For a great value for money discipline program, check out LifeMathMoney’s seminal “Live Intentionally” 90 day program.
Spiritual Health
5. Enjoy the World
You were not meant to be crammed into a can like sardines for an hour only to work in a cubicle to stare at blue light for 9 hours, 5-6 days per week, for 40 years.
This is only a new adaptation that many westerners have had to make — and it’s making them weak.
Be sure to spend time outdoors, in nature, surrounded by beauty.
You will feel reinvigorated by doing so.
I went through a particularly unhappy period of my life a few years ago when I was completing my master’s degree in a major city.
Spending around 8-10 hours per week walking in a park did me a world of good.
It was an opportunity to escape my problems, anxieties, and hardships at home.
The fresh air, sounds of birds and insects, plant diversity, and the sun all combined to bring me a sense of inner peace.
I make no pretentions in being a spiritual guide, but when body and mind are in sound condition, spiritual health follows.
However, when body and mind are battered, bruised, bloodied, and beaten, being in nature can elevate your spirit when it’s down in the dumps.
Many of the demands of modern living are weakening you.
Seek to perform tasks, make lifestyle choices, eat foods that weren’t necessarily available a hundred years ago before mass production cheapened their quality.
Meditation, in conjunction with clearing your mind, weeds out much of the extraneous stimulation we receive through entertainment, advertisement, social media, etc.
Sometimes, shutting out the world can help you organize your thoughts and perform some much-needed introspection.
Don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] for personalized coaching and a client questionnaire if you’d like DEDICATED tailor-made personal training on strength training, building muscle, losing fat, developing athleticism, and more — all to your liking, lifestyle, habits, and taste!
Otherwise, don’t forget to claim your FREE eBook detailing how to lose 20lb of fat while building muscle in 12 weeks! You can claim it here.
Alternatively, you can pick up a FREE eBook on fundamental strength principles offering an introductory workout program.
