Fitness Is a Video Game. Start at Level 1.

Have you ever Googled, “How much exercise should I be getting?”

If you have, you’ve probably come across the government’s recommendations for how much exercise adults should get each week.

For healthy adults, the general recommendation is:

• 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week — things like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming — or 75–150 minutes of vigorous activity.
• Strength training at least two days per week.

Those are solid goals.

But here’s the thing:

Most weeks, I don’t even hit all of them.

Between owning a business, coaching clients, and chasing around toddler twins who apparently think sleep is optional, life gets busy.

And I think that gets to the heart of why so many people struggle with fitness.

It’s not because the recommendations are bad.

It’s because people think they have to start there.

The Fitness Industry Loves a Level 10 Checklist

If you’re trying to get healthier, it doesn’t take long before you’re told you need to:

Count your calories.

Hit your protein goal.

Strength train multiple times per week.

Walk 10,000 steps every day.

Do Zone 2 cardio.

Stretch.

Get eight hours of sleep.

Drink a gallon of water.

Meal prep.

Track your workouts.

Suddenly, getting healthy feels like a second job.

No wonder people get overwhelmed.

The problem isn’t that any one of those things is necessarily bad advice. The problem is trying to implement all of them at once.

Think of Fitness Like a Video Game

Imagine starting a new video game.

You begin on Level 1.

You learn the controls. You make mistakes. You figure out what works. You get a little better.

Then you move on to Level 2.

Eventually, you’re ready for Level 10 because you’ve built the skills to handle it along the way.

Now imagine the game dropped you straight into Level 10.

You’d probably lose immediately.

Then you’d try again.

And lose again.

Eventually, you’d probably stop playing.

That’s how a lot of people approach fitness.

They go from doing very little to trying to completely overhaul their training, nutrition, sleep, and lifestyle overnight.

It might work for a few weeks.

But eventually, life happens.

Start With Level 1

Instead of trying to do everything at once, figure out what Level 1 looks like for you.

Maybe it’s simply making it to your scheduled workouts every week.

That’s it.

Once that starts to feel automatic, maybe you focus on getting a little more protein into your meals.

A month or two later, maybe you add a couple of walks each week.

Then another habit.

And another.

Over time, those small changes start stacking on top of each other.

Before you know it, the things that once felt difficult are simply part of your normal life.

You Don’t Need to Be Perfect to Make Progress

Health guidelines give us something useful to work toward.

But where you’re going and where you need to start are two different things.

You don’t need to overhaul your entire life on Monday.

You don’t need to check every fitness box.

And you definitely don’t need to be perfect.

The people who stay strong and healthy for decades usually aren’t the ones who made the biggest changes overnight.

They’re the ones who made small changes they could actually stick with — and kept building from there.

So don’t worry about Level 10.

Start with Level 1.