Beginner Fitness Mistakes I Learned From

Murin-an, Kyoto. A city I had the opportunity to visit, as it’s right next to Osaka

Fitness Mistakes I Made Early On

At the end of July, I moved from Tokyo to Osaka—one side of Japan to the other.

A new city, a new routine, different food culture, a new gym, and new people to get used to all over again. Even my neighbour here seems unusually friendly—very Osaka.

All of these fresh starts oddly reminded me of when I first began my fitness journey years ago… and all the mistakes that came with it.

Here are a few that stand out most.

Insanity

Like many beginners, I started with Insanity.

Looking back, I don’t think it’s a good choice for most people—and that’s not opinion, it’s experience.

There’s no real progression, it teaches you nothing transferable, and the intensity is unnecessarily high for someone just starting out. You’re essentially jumping around at full throttle for weeks on end.

Two honest questions:

• How many people do you know who actually completed Insanity?

• And once it’s over… what then?

It doesn’t set you up for long-term training or future success. You just finish… tired.

Coconut Oil

At one point, coconut oil was marketed as some magical health food. I bought into it too.

Unsurprisingly, it made zero difference to my results—and if anything, made fat loss harder. Oils are calorie dense as hell, and no, coconut oil doesn’t taste better than a good extra virgin olive oil anyway.

Research backs this up. A 2017 study by Khaw comparing coconut oil and olive oil found no meaningful differences in weight, BMI, blood glucose, or blood pressure outcomes.

Marketing ≠ results.

Too Many Supplements

I had supplements everywhere.

To be fair, I worked at GNC at the time—but that almost made it worse. I thought supplements were the answer.

They weren’t.

What I actually needed was a proper training plan, progressive overload, and nutrition adjusted to my goal. Once those were in place, supplements became what they should’ve been all along: optional extras.

Listening to Anyone Who Looked Good

This is a big one.

Just because someone looks good doesn’t mean they know how to coach. Genetics, training history, and individual response matter—and what works for one person doesn’t automatically work for everyone.

This mindset often leads to the blind leading the blind.

Which brings me to…

Injury

Early on, I seriously injured my left shoulder—tendinitis and bursitis that lingered for nearly two years.

Ironically, it happened because I listened to someone purely based on how they looked.

Yes, there’s always risk in physical activity. But you massively reduce that risk by listening to people with experience, education, and context—not just abs.

Final Thoughts

Those were some of the mistakes I made early on. You’ll probably recognise a few.

Looking back at all of this, the frustrating part was that I was trying hard in the wrong places, repeating mistakes I didn’t even realise were mistakes at the time.

That phase is exhausting. You feel like you’re doing something, changing things, buying into ideas… yet somehow ending up in the same place again and again.

That’s exactly why I later put together my Protein Cheat Sheet.

As a way to solve one of the most common problems I see: you feel like you’re eating in a way that looks “healthy” on paper, but doesn’t actually support fat loss or keep you satisfied.

If you want something simple and practical that helps you structure meals better, you can grab it for free by clicking here.

Speak soon,
Leo