Dan John > Quotes

“If it is important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it at all.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“Honestly, seriously, you don’t know what to do about food? Here is an idea: Eat like an adult. Stop eating fast food, stop eating kid’s cereal, knock it off with all the sweets and comfort foods whenever your favorite show is not on when you want it on, ease up on the snacking and—don’t act like you don’t know this—eat vegetables and fruits more. Really, how difficult is this? Stop with the whining. Stop with the excuses. Act like an adult and stop eating like a television commercial. Grow up.”
― Dan John, Mass Made Simple

“In a group of five workouts, I tend to have one great workout, the kind of workout that makes me think in just a few weeks I could be an Olympic champion, plus maybe Mr. Olympia. Then, I have one workout that’s so awful the mere fact I continue to exist as a somewhat higher form of  life is a miracle. Finally, the other three workouts are the punch-the-clock workouts: I go in, work out, and walk out. Most people experience this.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“The problem is yes, everything works. Doing everything at once makes you marginal at everything... at best.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“When things go wrong, simplify.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“Most new trainers agonize over the perfect workout, over-train virtually everyone and are the crazy purist idiots who embarrass themselves at restaurants trying to impress everyone with how clean they eat.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“What do I mean? Well, let’s break down the body by movements, rather than by muscle: • Vertical Push: militaries, overhead stuff • Vertical Pull: pull-up, chin-up, lat pulldown • Horizontal Push: bench press • Horizontal Pull: row and the gang • Posterior Chain or Deadlift • Quad-dominant Lower Body: squat • Abs: crunch or ab wheel • Rotation or twist and torque movers: Russian twists • Single arm/single leg push/pulls: This can go on forever!”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“There’s nothing worse than when someone takes a community education course and becomes an expert on how yoga is the best way to burn the visceral fat that’s housed deep in your abdomen.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“watch moms pick up, put down, lift, swing, load and carry fairly large loads all the time. We call these loads ‘children.’ Yet, when we get to the gym, we seem to think a woman needs to use very light loads. Like Milo and his calf, perhaps we should start women off with an eight-pound weight and progress upwards as the child grows.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there!”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“Here’s a great home workout that allows you to train and work on the usual issues I find ailing most people: • Right-leg Bulgarian Split Squats with the dumbbell in the suitcase position, 10 reps • Left-leg Bulgarian Split Squats with the dumbbell in the suitcase position, 10 reps • Goblet Squats with the dumbbell cradled on the chest, 10 reps • Deep Push-ups, chest touching the floor, with the push-up handles, 10 reps • Doorway Chin-ups or Pull-ups, 10 reps • Ab Wheel, 10 reps Try to do these six exercises one after another straight through without resting much between movements. Repeat this sequence, after a minute or two of rest, three to five times.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“If you’re training yourself, you’ll tend to know everything you decide to do. You’ll always push yourself exactly as hard as you feel like pushing yourself. You won’t have any gaps in your training because you have no idea what you’re lacking. Finally, you’ll be able to progress and regress easily in your system since your single follower—you—will know what you want, even if it isn’t something you need to do. I hope I painted a picture of mediocrity here.”
― Dan John, Can You Go?: Assessments and Program Design for the Active Athlete and Everybody Else

“I never stopped reading. I never stopped listening. I never stopped learning.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“Just tell me what to do. I don’t know where I’m going, but I know I don’t want to be here.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“The hips and shoulders are the connecting links between the powerful core and our whippy, fast friends, the arms and the legs.”
― Dan John, The Hardstyle Kettlebell Challenge: A Fundamental Guide To Training For Strength And Power

“The art of progress,” wrote Alfred North Whitehead, “is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“If it is important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it at all. You”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“we always seem to want what we can’t have and, if we can have it, we want something else!”
― Dan John, To Grad from Dad

“Be wary of getting your goal and discovering it wasn’t worth it.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“Unfortunately, many people think they're undertraining all the time because they don't puke every workout, the world record doesn't fall during the session, or a swarm of reporters from People Magazine aren't taking their pictures.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“Their highs are too low and their lows are too high.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“please understand nearly every concept I hold near and dear has been stolen from others much brighter and better than me.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“T. H. White once said, “The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch someone else do it wrong without comment.”
― Dan John, Can You Go?: Assessments and Program Design for the Active Athlete and Everybody Else

“Come, enter into my imagination and see me as I truly am.”
― Dan John, Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning

“I have learned these lessons the hard way every time I deviated from them. Let my stalls, sputters, dead-ends and surgeries be your lessons. It’s cheaper and easier for you because I’ve gone ahead so blindly!”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“I’m going to try not to be the problem anymore.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“As we’re bombarded daily with new ads for pills, diets and ab-doers, we have to protect our wallets and our time.”
― Dan John

“Yes, I can.” I have the resources. I went to the class. I sat through the clinic. I read the book. I can do it. That’s right, with just a little information, I can add something new and pretty to a training program and sports system.”
― Dan John, Intervention: Course Corrections for the Athlete and Trainer

“Slow Strength It is a long-established scientific fact that dynamic strength is built on a foundation of slow strength. If you want to jump high, you need to squat heavy first. No, this will not make you slow—at least, not until you become very strong.”
― Dan John, Easy Strength

“only mastered cynicism in my 30s.”
― Dan John, Mass Made Simple