Nerd Fitness

It happened again. I came home from coaching my son’s rec soccer game, ran up the stairs, and felt it instantly. My back seized and locked up. And then that sinking feeling hit right away: “Not again. I was doing so well.” And I was doing well. This was about 2 years without a major flare-up, roughly 4x longer than my average through most of my 30s. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’ve dealt with low back pain for over 20 years thanks to congenital spina

There’s so much noise in the fitness industry. So many “Don’t do that” or “You’re doing it wrong if…” So much fear-mongering and finger-pointing. And honestly, it frustrates the heck out of me. It’s overhyped, overblown, and not all that helpful. Especially for those of us who just want the strength, energy, and health to pour into everything else we’ve got going on. One year ago today, I took over writing this newsletter from Steve wit

​I’ve gotten a bunch of really great questions recently, and I noticed a theme. ​ ​A lot of them have this undercurrent of “am I doing this wrong?” I get it! There’s so much conflicting information out there on the internet, and it gets a lot more clicks to talk about how “You’re ruining your gains if you…” That’s why we’re here. To help you sort the helpful advice from the overblown hyperbole so you’re not constantly second gues

Do you remember how you ran and played as a kid? ​ ​Whether it was storming castle walls, avoiding lava pits, or cartwheeling down the sidewalk, we weren’t worried about sets, reps, or time-under-tension. We were just having fun in the moment. ​ When was the last time working out felt like that for you? ​ For those of us that love strength training, exercise DOES feel this way. We love getting in the gym and crunching numbers and focusing on technique. It can be totally absorbing and fun.

Most people go their entire lives never learning how to fall. Everyone takes a tumble at some point. Whether it’s a patch of ice, a trail root, a misstep off a curb, or just an unlucky moment, falls happen to all of us. And for a lot of people, especially as they age, a single fall can be genuinely life-altering. Hip fractures alone carry a staggering mortality rate in older adults. Roughly 20-30% don’t survive the following year, not from the fall itself, but from the cascade of com

Ever wonder how to adjust your training when you’re sick? Or what to do if you haven’t worked out in a few weeks and are ready to get back into it? How about after you’ve just had a terrible night of sleep? These situations come up all the time in our coaching program, so today, I want to walk you through the 50/50 Rule: my go-to strategy for helping people train safely and effectively when life throws you a curveball. Let’s break it down. The 50/50 Rule Here’s the

I got a message from a reader, Sabrina, this week – and she pointed out a pattern I think a lot of us know well. “I allow myself to say sliding into bad habits is alright. After all, I’ve had a bad day. Well, my bad days have a tendency to become hard weeks and then months. It doesn’t take much for me to backpedal.” I know I’ve been there. Here’s how we work through it. Know the difference between an off-day and a repeated pattern. Missing a workout

I got a question from a reader named Rick this week: If this sounds familiar, you’re definitely not alone. When people join Nerd Fitness Coaching, over 70% tell us they struggle with stress eating, emotional eating, or nighttime snacking. I recorded a short video explaining why simply “trying to stop snacking” usually backfires – and what tends to work better. ​WATCH: STRUGGLING WITH NIGHTTIME SNACKING? TRY THIS INSTEAD​ If you’d rather read than watch, here&#8217

One of the most popular workouts we’ve ever published at Nerd Fitness is our Beginner Bodyweight Workout. (Even though Steve filmed ​the original video​ with his shorts inside out and backwards. True story!) But after a few weeks or months, you may wonder: “Cool, this works. But what should I do next? Do I just keep doing the same thing?” Good news: you have lots of options! If the workout is starting to feel easier, here are five ways to level it up. Note: these tips work for

Here are four simple cues you can use to move better and feel great in your workouts. If you’ve had a nagging feeling of: “I’m not sure if this is sketchy, am I doing this right? ” …then this is for you! Let’s dig in. ​WATCH: 4 CUES TO HELP YOU MOVE BETTER​ CUE #1: “Maintain balance across your foot” This helps you avoid your knees collapsing inward, especially on squats and lunges. Focus on maintaining even pressure between your heel, base of you

Have you ever felt like you’re you’re doing your best to workout consistently, but you don’t feel like you’re seeing any progress? That’s exactly how Roseanne felt when we sat down for a live coaching session the other week. Here’s what she told me: I keep a workout journal, and I was looking back over that from the last 3-4 years and just feeling like I don’t often see progress. So that’s another demotivator for me. [I question] am I not dong the

If you find yourself getting excited to tackle a big fitness goal, but then burning out a few weeks in, you don’t need a better goal. You need to choose better problems. Let me explain. Take a marathon, for example. Wanting to complete a marathon sounds pretty cool. But that’s the shiny object at the end of the road. And while that excitement can be enough to jump start us, it’s like lighter fluid that burns quickly and then flares out. The challenges of running a marathon tho

Last week did not go according to plan. My wife ended up in the hospital and needed her gallbladder removed. (She’s okay now .) I wrote last week’s newsletter from a hospital room, using…let’s call it optimistic Wi-Fi. When the email went out this week, I opened it up and immediately noticed the bottom of the email had weird typos. The first letters of words were just missing. Weird punctuation and line breaks. Stuff I KNOW I didn’t put there. And my first reaction

Depending on how the start of the year has gone, you might be feeling one of two things right now. Either: “Hey, this is actually going pretty well.” Or: “I thought I’d have more momentum than this.” Both are completely normal. And both are exactly why this step matters. The fourth and final step: Zooming Out. This isn’t about judging yourself or deciding whether you “succeeded.” It’s about learning how to check in with your plan like a coach would. In the video below, I walk you through how to

You go to bed fully intending to exercise tomorrow. Then the morning hits, and suddenly everything else feels more important. This exact pattern came up in a recent coaching session I recorded with a Nerd Fitness reader named Charlie. Below are three coaching takeaways from that conversation you can use today to avoid the comparison trap, build momentum, and reduce burnout at the start of the year. The comparison trap (and why it keeps people stuck) Charlie has a pattern a lot of people fall in

So far in the Challenge, you’ve: Identified what usually trips you up Picked a starting plan Now we make sure that plan survives real life. In the video below, I walk you through building your Dial Mode – a simple backup plan for the days when time, energy, or motivation are low. We want to be able to answer: If that happens…then I’ll do this instead. A few examples you’ll see in the video: Shortened workouts that still hit the basics Movement snacks on chaotic d

[This is the part 2 in our Nerd Fitness Challenge series – designed to help you build fitness habits that last. You can read part 1 here. In the last step​, you identified the things that usually get in the way when you try to stay consistent. Now we’re going to use that information to choose a starting plan – not your “forever” one. In the video below, I walk you through how to pick: One workout focus And an optional nutrition focus That’s it. Two things, m

Welcome to the kick off of the 2026 Nerd Fitness Challenge! If you’re starting the year excited and a little wary because you’ve been here before, you’re exactly who this Challenge is for. In this first short video, I’m going to ask you to start from a place you might not expect. We’re not starting with goals or motivation. Instead, we’re looking ahead at what usually gets in the way ​Key ideas from the video: The challenges that knock you off track are ofte