Summary facts

• Resistance training builds muscle and strength - you should do it
• Cardio improves metabolic health - you should do it
• HIgh intensity training improves VO2 max, which is a predictor of longevity - you should do it

RW OBVIOUS weekly exercise plan

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Ray's Take

Exercising is the best thing you can do for your health. Period.

Strength, VO2 max, and cardio each have separate benefits. You should do all of them.

Here is an obvious way to get started.

1 - Strength

Everyone agrees

• Resistance training aka lifting weights is the best way to build strength, muscle, and bone density.
• Compound exercises (those that use multiple large muscle groups) are the best, overall.
• You have to progressively increase weight (or reps) to keep getting benefit.

People argue

• How many reps per set
• How many time you have to work out per week
• Which exact exercises are the best

RW OBVIOUS take

• Everyone should strength train. No excuses.
• You should have a simple program. This means, pick 4-6 core compound exercises, and do them consistently. Consistency aka not quitting is more important than having "the perfect program."
• Write down what you do, and beat it next time you do the same exercise. One extra rep, one extra set, one extra lb, or a shorter time between sets all work.
  
• If you want to do extra isolated exercises (abs, bicep curls, chest fly, etc), you should. This should be viewed as "fun" accessory work which is effective especially if you want to get bigger (just less efficient).
• What you do and how you start depends on your personal preferences (what are your goals? how much time do you have? what equipment do you have access to? what is your starting point?). Here is an article focused on how to build muscle.

Core compound exercises

Here is a table of core compound exercises. You can use a barbell, dumbbell, or machine. I've used the (*) to indicate what I actually do, but you can work however you'd like.

Volume

• Choose 4-6 of above core compound exercises.
• Do at least 5 sets each per week.
• If you want to build muscle, make sure to hit at least 10 sets total per muscle group. This means for to build your chest, you need to do 5 sets of bench, 5 sets of incline bench every week. For legs and lower back, 5 sets of deadlift and 5 sets of squat.
• Example:

You can add more exercises that you care about but the above will take you a long way!

Repetitions per set

• If you are optimizing for strength do sets of 5 reps.
• If you are optimizing for muscle growth, do sets of 8-12 reps.
• If you don't know, just do sets of 10 reps.
• Example: Do 5 sets of 10 repetitions of bench press. Use the same weight every time. Write down the weight you used. Increase it next time.

Effort

• Make sure you know the right technique.
• RPE stands for rate of perceived exertion. RPE 7 means you could have done 3 more reps with perfect form. RPE 9 means you could do 1 more rep. RPE 10 is all out max. *RPE as defined here also referred to as RIR - reps left in reserve.
• Start with RPE 7 or 8 on work sets (sets that count. you always need to warm up with light weights before work sets). No need to get to RPE 9 or 10 until you are more comfortable.

Time in between sets

• Your choice.
• There is evidence shorter rest results in higher metabolic stress for muscles and lead to more muscle growth. However, to maximize strength, longer rest periods could be better.
• If you don't know, just start with 2 min between each set.

What this looks like

• Someone who goes to gym 2x a week: Two 45 min sessions per week. Each session does 5 sets of two core lifts. The rest of the time can be doing accessory work (anything you want to build a particular muscle such as chest fly or incline press for chest).
• Someone who goes to gym 1x a week: Do everything in one day. Choose 4 exercises. 5 sets each.
• Someone who goes to the gym 4x a week: Four 45 min sessions per week. I would choose 6 exercises and do bench, dead, and squat 1-2x a week each. Doing these more than 1-2x a week can make it hard to make progress.
• Someone who does at home workouts and has equipment: It's your world
• Someone who has no equipment at all: You can start with push-ups and air squats. I'd recommend getting TRX or adjustable dumbbells.

If you still don't know what to do

Go to the gym 2x per week:

• Make sure to warm up before every work set.
• Make sure to write down numbers for every workout.
• Make sure to progress every single workout.

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2 - Cardio

Everyone agrees

• Cardio is good for your cardiovascular system and metabolic health
• Cardio burns calories

People argue

• How much do you need?
• Does cardio burn muscle?
• Should you do cardio for the calorie burn?

RW OBVIOUS take

• Cardio is good for you and anyone can do it. The more you do, the better for your metabolic health.
• Don't do cardio just for aesthetics. Strength and nutrition are more effective for looking better.
• Doing cardio for calorie burn is tricky. Yes, it burns cals, but you are also more likely to be hungry and over eat after cardio (big mistake).

What this looks like

• Choose any exercise you like (jogging, biking, swimming, jogging, sports).
• Do that activity, at the highest effort you can, while still being able to talk to a friend. You can also measure your heart rate, and get into "zone 2" aka 60% of your max heart rate (which is 220-your age).
• Do it for at least 2 hours a week (split it up any way you like).
• The major key for cardio is making it enjoyable and convenient. If you can do a work call, listen to a podcast, or something else to make it efficient, thats great. If you can play a sport (tennis, soccer, basketball, golf, etc.), measure your heart rate with an apple watch while doing it. If its 60% of your max, congrats - it counts.

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3 - High intensity aka VO2 max training

Everyone agrees

• Higher VO2 max is better than lower

People argue

• Even though VO2 max clearly reduces risk of mortality, how important is it to train?
• How do you get people to actually improve VO2 max

RW OBVIOUS take

• Higher VO2 max is associated with lower risk of dying.
• However, training VO2 max is painful.
• If you don't like pushing yourself to the max, you probably won't train VO2 max.
• I probably shouldn't write this, but most people just won't do VO2 max. It's too painful. You should do it, if you can. It takes no equipment, and 1x per week is enough. It really will improve your longevity and make you feel good.

What this looks like

• Choose any exercise you like (running, biking, swimming, rower).
• Your goal is to get your heart rate to 90-100% of your maximum heart rate (220-your age).
• Do that activity, at the highest effort you can, for 30 sec to 5 min. Fully recover with a long break. Repeat 4-5x.
• Studies say the biggest improvement will come from if your highest effort is sustained over 4-5 minutes with a 4-5 min break. However, if you would rather all out sprint for 30 seconds, that works too (this is what I do).
• The key is to get 6 total minutes (excluding breaks) per week when you are using all out effort.You only have to do this 1x per week, or feel to split into multiple sessions.

For more details, this article goes through all forms of endurance training in more detail.

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Putting it together

RW OBVIOUS weekly exercise plan

You can do all of this in 4 hours a week. That's a tiny investment compared to the crazy health benefits you will get.

The key is to make your program sustainable.

• Think constantly about the benefits (exercise is the most powerful drug)
• Maximize your enjoyment (by making progress, listening to pod, etc.)
• Minimize annoyance (do what you can at home)
• Minimize pain (push yourself, but don't kill yourself. Slow and steady is the key).

Add notes to your program

Action item

RW OBVIOUS take

• Exercise
• Track every workout on your My Program stream

Bonus

• If you do not know how to lift weights, learn by watching videos. Then video yourself. This is really effective and underutilized.