21 Basic Yoga Poses for Beginners: Plus Videos of Complete Routines

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: October 1, 2020 • 149 comments

It’s time to learn some yoga poses!

Whether you’re comfortable on a yoga mat or you think a downward dog is just something your puppy does, you’re in the right place.

We teach yoga as part of Nerd Fitness Prime (we have a whole course on it!) and today we’ll share with you the top 21 poses for beginners

Our yoga poses are broken out into three levels, for you to progress in difficulty. What can I say, we love leveling up here at Nerd Fitness. Most of our poses are basic, Level One, in case you are completely new to yoga. However, we’ll include a few more advanced poses for further advancement.

We’ll start by discussing a little Yoga 101, in case you are totally lost right now and don’t know yoga from yogurt. If you wanna skip to your desired video or pose, just click on it.

Super Sweet Sequence Covering Basic Yoga Poses

Complete video routine from Nerd Fitness Yoga

Basic Yoga Poses (Level 1)

Seated Cross Legged
Table Top Cat-Cow
Child’s Pose
Forward Fold
Standing
Standing Mountain
Cobra
Low Lunge
Knee Hug
Corpse Pose

Beginner Yoga Poses (Level 2)

Downward Dog
Crescent Moon
Bridge
Half Splits
Lunge
Ninja
Seated Side Fold

Intermediate Yoga Poses (Level 3)

Chair Pose
Warrior 2
Extended Side Angle
Rebel Warrior

Yoga Stretches for Desk Workers

Wrist Mobility Video
Proper Posture Video

Roll out the matt! Let’s do some yoga.

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How to Touch Your Toes (The 4 Best Stretches to Improve Flexibility)

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 30, 2020 • 60 comments

It’s time to learn how to touch your toes!

What makes me so confident you’ll be able to reach your little piggy wiggies?

Because we teach even the most “inflexible” of folks how to touch their toes in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and we’ll share with you all our secrets below.

Here’s what we’ll cover in our guide, How to Touch Your Toes:

The benefits of being able to touch your toes.
Why can’t I touch my toes?
Determining your initial flexibility (We all start somewhere)
The 4 best stretches to touch your toes (Improve your flexibility)
How to become more flexible (Next steps)

It’s time to become bendy like Gumby!

Let’s get started.

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10 Ways to Make Vegetables Taste Good: How to Start Eating Veggies!

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 29, 2020 • 349 comments

If the sight of a plate of broccoli makes you gag, this post is for you!

We’ll turn any “Veggie Hater” into a “Vegetable Lover” by showing you how to make a plate full of greens not taste like a wet gym sock ^[1].

If you’ve been a picky eater your whole life (I didn’t eat veggies until 22!), our guide today will help level up your taste buds!

We work closely with our Online Coaching Clients to help them find their gateway vegetables, and I even picked our coaches’ brains to get their favorite tactics in this guide too.

By the end of this guide, I’m going to have you excited to eat vegetables, and ready to take the “NF Veggie Challenge”:

Why You Should Eat Vegetables (Your Mom Was Right)
How to Start Eating Vegetables (Finding Your Gateway Veggie)
How to Buy Vegetables (Discovering New Veggies)
10 Ways to Make Vegetables Taste Good (Hide Them)
How to Start Liking Vegetables (It’s All in the Preparation)
What Are the Best-Tasting Vegetables? (the NF Veggie Challenge)

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How to Spice Up Any Meal. Literally.

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 28, 2020 • 91 comments

Let’s learn how to use simple spices to make your meals awesome!

Maybe you’re just getting comfortable cooking in the kitchen.

Or maybe you’ve been eating the same chicken and broccoli for weeks and it’s time to spice it up.

Either way, you’re in the right place.

We’ve been conducting “Cooking Classes for Newbies” in Nerd Fitness Prime. Today, we’ll share with you our secrets for making any meal delicious, using only a handful of common spices.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Why your food doesn’t have to be bland and boring
The 6 best spice combinations for tasty food
How to add spices to a meal (7 simple recipes)
5 tips for using spices while cooking
Getting started spicing up your food (Next steps)

Grab your apron and let’s do this!

Our Rebel Chef, Noel, will take it from here:

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How to Build Muscle as a Woman: The Ultimate Guide for Gaining Weight the Right Way

By Staci Ardison • Last Updated: September 28, 2020 • 27 comments

If you are interested in learning how to gain weight the right way, you have come to the right place!

My name is Staci Ardison.

I overcame an eating disorder, discovered a love for heavy strength training, and now I help women like you get stronger for a living.

Believe it or not, I’m 50 pounds heavier in the photo on the right (and WAY stronger, and healthier, and happier!).

I’m currently a lead coach here in the Nerd Fitness Coaching Program, where we train women to pick up heavy weights, get strong, and build confidence.

Speaking of picking up heavy weights, here I am deadlifting 455 pounds:

This is what I LOVE to do. And in this Ultimate Guide to Building Muscle as a Woman, I’m going to be covering the following:

Why building muscle is difficult for some women.
Should women build muscle? (7 reasons women should grow muscle)
How to eat to gain muscle as a woman.
What foods should I eat to gain weight?
Strength training for women to build muscle.
5 muscle building workout routines for women
Best tips and tricks for gaining weight as a woman.
Next steps for women looking to build muscle.

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40 Ways to Exercise Without Realizing It: Fun Exercise!

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 27, 2020 • 194 comments

I know plenty of people who hate exercise but WANT to find a way to like it.

And that’s what today’s post is all about:

Exercising in a way where life doesn’t suck AND helps you reach your goals.

Luckily, this is exactly what we do for a living!

“Exercise” sucks! Do this instead:
40 ways to exercise without realizing it.
Next steps, and my personal challenge to you:

I know what it’s like to hate exercise, and ALSO want to lose weight and see results. Ugh.

We’ve built an entire company and community around helping people overcome these obstacles – our Online Coaching Program helps people find exercises they love, and also how to make the right nutritional choices.

We are all on a unique journey and we’d love to help you with yours!

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How Do I Sleep Better? The Ultimate Guide for Improving Sleep

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 27, 2020 • 183 comments

You’re here because you want to get better sleep.

Well my friend, you’ve come to the right place!

We believe proper sleep is so critical for health, we discuss it with each one of our coaching clients. Today, we’ll share our tips for sleeping like a log with you too.

Here’s what we’ll cover in our Ultimate Guide to Getting Better Sleep:

Why do I need to sleep? (Why sleep is awesome)
How much sleep do I need?
What does good sleep look like? (The perfect night)
What are the stages of sleep? (REM isn’t just a band)
10 Tips on how to get BETTER sleep (Plus the single best advice on better shuteye)
How to get MORE sleep
How to wake up (The NF Sleep Calculator)
Am I a Night Owl or a Lark? (Why am I NOT a morning person?)
Should I take naps? (How to nap during the day)
What is sleep apnea? (What’s the best treatment for sleep apnea?)
What is second sleep? (Waking up in the middle of the night)
4 Tips and tricks to hack sleep
Start sleeping better tonight (Next steps)

Let’s get right to it so you can go hit the hay.

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The Beginner’s Guide to Parkour (How to Become a Ninja)

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 23, 2020 • 201 comments

Today we’re going to take you step-by-step (and jump-by-jump) through beginner parkour training.

We’ll teach you everything you need to know (yep, even that).

A ninja costume is optional, but having fun is mandatory!

(That’s one of the cheesiest things I’ve ever typed. Sorry!)

While parkour can seem very advanced, we actually use it as a tool in our Online Coaching Program when we program workouts. Yes, you can start exercising with some basic parkour movements if being glued on a treadmill seems like death.

Here’s what we’ll cover today:

What is parkour?
What’s the difference between freerunning and parkour?
Am I too old or big for parkour? (You’re not)
Beginner training for parkour (Ninja 101)
4 Parkour techniques for beginners
6 Advanced parkour moves.
Additional parkour resources (Next steps)

After you’re done with today’s lesson, all you’ll need is a killer soundtrack and somebody following you around with a camera to create your own epic parkour montage.

Just please don’t be like Michael, Dwight, and Andy:

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Does the Perfect Workout Exist? 9 Steps to Find the Best Workout Plan (For You).

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 16, 2020 • 155 comments

So you want to get in shape and start getting fit, but you’re not sure what the perfect workout is?

Not only that, but you want a workout program that you’ll ACTUALLY do?

Great. This is what we do, and we’re pretty dang good at it.

We create personalized workout programs for our Online Coaching Clients, and this guide walks you through the exact 9 steps we follow to create each program:

This may seem like a lot, but ALL of the steps are important!

In our step-by-step guide to picking the best workout plan and getting fit, we’ll cover:

Step #1: What Are Your Workout Goals?
Step #2: What Workout Is Best for Weight Loss?
Step #3: Finding a Workout Routine You Enjoy.
Step #4: What Is the Best Workout Routine? (An Introduction to Strength Training).
Step #5: Creating a Strength Training Workout Plan.
Step #6: Focus Your Workout Plan on Specific Goals.
Step #7: Have Healthy Expectations for Your Workout Plan.
Step #8: How Do I Pick a Sustainable Workout Routine? (Exercise with Others)
Step #9: Tracking the Results of Your Workout Plan.

Let’s jump right into #1!

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What is DOMS? The Ultimate Guide for Relieving Sore Muscles

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 11, 2020 • 90 comments

What’s DOMS?

That’s easy – DOMS stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

How do you relieve DOMS?

That…gets a bit trickier.

Luckily, you’re in the right spot. We help clients in our Online Coaching Program deal with sore muscles by practicing “active recovery,” and today we’ll share with you the goods too.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is DOMS? (What causes muscles to be sore?)
Is DOMS a good sign? (Should I be sore after I work out?)
How do you treat DOMS? (How do I get rid of sore muscles?)
Can you prevent DOMS? (Next steps)

I can see that you’re in a lot of pain (tough workout, eh?), so let’s get right to it.

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How to Do a Proper Pull-up & Chin-up, Step By Step.

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 10, 2020 • 161 comments

So you want to do a pull-up, eh?

Well you’ve arrived at the right place!

Pull-ups are one of my favorite exercises and a critical movement we teach our coaching clients!

Today, we’ll teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about pull-ups:

What are the benefits of doing pull-ups? What muscles do pull-ups work?
How to do a pull-up (proper form and technique).
How to get your first pull-up.
Pull-ups vs. chin-ups (what’s the difference?)
5 common mistakes when doing a pull-up.
Advanced pull-up variations.
How to do weighted pull-ups.
How to include pull-ups in your workout.

It’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it!

If you’re just starting your strength training journey, check out our massive guide Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. You can snag it for free when you enlist in the Rebellion (that’s us!) by signing up below:

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How To Build Your Own Workout Routine: Plans, Schedules, and Exercises

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: September 4, 2020 • 641 comments

I get multiple emails and messages per day asking:

“Steve, what should I do for a workout?”

Well, partner, today is your lucky day.

I’m gonna help build you a custom workout program, step-by-step!

After all, a workout should be developed around a person’s age, goals, nutritional strategy, free time, etc.

Not only that, but it’s easy to overcomplicate this process – there are an infinite number of exercises, sets, reps, and programs to choose from.

Now, if you’re somebody that wants to skip all of that, and JUST want to be told what exactly to do:

We build customized workouts for our Online Coaching Clients and would love to have you. We get to know your story and struggles, your goals, and your lifestyle, and develop a workout plan that fits your schedule.

Now, if you’re more of a “figure this stuff out on my own” kind of person – we’re going to dig into how to build your own workout plan today!

We’ve also created a free resource for folks who want to build their own workout but would love some more specific direction and instruction.

You can download our free guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know, which covers all of this stuff in a single guide:

OKAY! Are you ready to start building your own routine and want to know how it’s done?

Great! Let’s do this:

Step #1: Determine your “Get in Shape” situation!
Step #2: “What exercises should I do to lose weight (or build muscle)?”
Step #3: “How many sets and reps should I do per exercise?”
Step #4: “How long should I wait between sets?”
Step #5: “How much weight should I lift?”
Step #6: “How long should I exercise for?“
Step #7: How to create supersets and circuit training workouts.
Step #8: “How many days per week should I train?”
Step #9: How to record your workouts and progress.
“Steve, just BUILD a workout for me!”

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The Ultimate Guide for Performing Lunges (Forward & Reverse)

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: August 24, 2020 • 12 comments

It’s time to learn how to lunge!

The lunge is a perfect bodyweight exercise that doesn’t require any equipment, so I’m excited you want to learn more about them.

When we design workouts for our coaching clients, we often include lunges so they can train their lower body ANYWHERE. Today, we’ll share with you the goods on how our clients perform their bodyweight lunges.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What muscles does the lunge train? (Why do lunges?)
How do you perform a lunge? (Lunges for beginners)
What is the difference between front lunges and reverse lunges?
15 lunge variations to try (How to scale lunges)
How to include lunges in your workout (Next steps).

Let’s jump (lunge?) right in!

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The 5 Best Pull-up Alternatives (How to Do Pull-ups Without a Bar)

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: August 21, 2020 • 10 comments

So you want to do a pull-up but don’t have a bar?

Or maybe you just don’t quite have the strength yet to hoist yourself up?

Either way, no problem!

We’ve been teaching people how to do pull-up alternatives in our Online Coaching Program, with “no-bar pull-ups”. Today, we’ll show you all these tried and trusted workarounds.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

How to do pull-ups without a bar (5 pull-up alternatives)
The 6 best pull-up alternative exercises (How to get your first pull-up)
What is the easiest type of pull-up? (Start with chin-ups)
When should I do my pull-up alternatives? (Next steps)

Let’s get started!

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How to Do a Proper Dip: Get Strong With the Dip Exercise

By Steve Kamb • Last Updated: August 19, 2020 • 71 comments

Today you learn one of the most underrated exercises of all time: the dip.

It’s something we remind our coaching clients not to overlook, and I’m excited to share the exercise with you today.

Here’s what we’ll cover so you can learn the bodyweight dip:

What is the dip exercise? What muscles does the dip train?
How to do a dip (Video tutorial)
What if I can’t perform a dip? (Progression plan)
Tips and tricks for performing the dip exercise.
Variations on the dip (Advanced dip moves)
How to do bodyweight dips at home.
When should you do dips in your workout? (Getting started)

A quick note: we have compiled ALL of our strength training content into a comprehensive guide that will remove all the confusion and answer all the questions you have about weight training! Grab our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know, when you sign up in the box below!

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