Skip to content

How to Get in Better Shape than 99% of People

2024-10-01 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Dan Go · recording, 19:37 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: List of tips or lessons · tags: Evidence-based framing, His own numbers, Sponsor segment present

Drawing on his interview with fitness coach Dan Go, Ali sets out six practices for getting fitter than 99% of people (a body dashboard of health numbers, movement, strength, sleep, nutrition and mindset), each with a level for the top 20% and one for the top 1%, and reports his own progress.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Getting in shape as the meta habit; six practices, each with a top-20% and a top-1% level

  • ★★★ Dan Go calls getting in shape, and doing the behaviours that get you there, the number one meta habit, one that makes all other areas of life better. — 00:00:00

    “It is the number one meta habit that is going to make all other areas of your life better”

  • ★★ According to Dan Go, six main practices get you into the top 1% of fitness; each has a level one that puts you in the top 20% and a level two that puts you in the top 1%. — 00:00:00

  • ★★★ Ali says that, according to Dan Go, the first thing to do to improve your health and fitness is to build a body dashboard: you track health numbers as a business tracks revenue and expenses. — 00:00:29

00:00:36 — Principle 1: the body dashboard, from daily weighing to DEXA scans and blood work

  • ★★ Dan Go says a body dashboard has two sets of numbers, surface-level and deeper; measuring the surface-level numbers gets you into the top 20%. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ One of the easiest things Ali has found is to track his weight every morning on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled smart scales, though scales do not tell fat from muscle. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ Ali cites a randomised controlled trial published in 2020 of a weight-loss programme: the half who also weighed themselves up to twice a week lost 4.5 kg more after six months than those who did not. — 00:01:37
  • ★★ Dan Go says a DEXA scan is one of the most accurate ways to track body composition, from lean mass to how much fat you have. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ Ali had his first DEXA scan on 17 June 2022 and has had DEXA scans about two or three times a year since. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ In London a DEXA scan costs about 110 pounds, which Ali says is not insanely expensive. — 00:02:02 · London
  • ★★★ Ali calls the DEXA scan one of the single best things he has ever done for his health, because it makes the numbers visible. — 00:02:02
  • ★★ Dan Go says a DEXA scan looks at three things: body fat, lean mass (organs, muscle and water together, not just muscle) and visceral adipose tissue. — 00:02:31
  • ★★ Ali explains that visceral adipose tissue is the fat lining the organs, unlike subcutaneous fat under the skin, and is associated with diabetes, cancer and heart disease. — 00:03:00
  • ★★ Ali has a strong family history of heart disease, so visceral fat is the DEXA number he watches most closely. — 00:03:00
  • ★★ Dan Go says blood work shows how healthy you really are, since you can look healthy outside: track cholesterol and insulin, and blood pressure through a doctor. — 00:03:25
  • ★★ Dan Go and most fitness-minded athletes and entrepreneurs Ali has spoken to advise blood work every six to 12 months, but only for those who want to be in the top 1% of health, not as population advice. — 00:03:54
  • ★★★ Ali's most important takeaway on health, whether you aim to be average or in the top 1%: start measuring what you want to manage and track the changes over time. — 00:03:54

00:04:08 — Sponsor read for Headspace and its Feel-Good Productivity collection

  • ★★★ Dan Go calls going for a walk outside without your phone one of the simplest and most underrated forms of exercise, though few people think of walking as exercise. — 00:05:22
  • ★★ Ali learned recently that about 10 minutes of walking is around 1,000 steps, which has made him much more motivated to walk. — 00:05:22

00:05:24 — Principle 2: the movement practice, walking, Zone 2 cardio, HIIT and VO2 max

  • ★★ Since his interview with Dan Go a few weeks earlier, Ali's step count has shot up: he walks every morning, uses a WalkingPad C2 under his standing desk during meetings, and takes Zoom meetings walking in the park with AirPods. — 00:05:55 · Zoom, AirPods
  • ★ Ali's Apple Health shows he has averaged more than 20,000 steps a day over the last seven days. — 00:05:55
  • ★★ Dan Go says walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, which is pretty easy, generally gets you into the top 20% of fitness. — 00:06:24
  • ★★ Dan Go: To reach the top 1% of fitness, Dan Go says you need two types of cardio: Zone 2 cardio and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). — 00:06:24

  • ★★ Dan Go calls Zone 2 "conversational cardio": cardio you can do while holding a conversation, which for some is a fast walk and for others a jog, depending on fitness. — 00:06:46

    “it's what I call conversational cardio”

  • ★★★ Dan Go advises 150 to 180 minutes of Zone 2 cardio a week, for example four fast 45-minute walks or a light 30-minute jog about six days a week. — 00:07:15

  • ★ Ali does not do Zone 2 cardio yet: he has added the steps to his life and now needs to add Zone 2 to improve his cardiovascular fitness. — 00:07:15

  • ★★★ Dan Go calls HIIT "the heavy lifting for the heart": it works the heart at its maximum rate, and he advises it at least once a week, for anywhere from 4 to 15 minutes. — 00:07:44

    “I call it the heavy lifting for the heart”

  • ★★ Dan Go says doing both Zone 2 and HIIT raises your VO2 max, the amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise, which raises fitness and is correlated with longevity. — 00:07:44

  • ★ Ali has never had a full VO2 max test, with a mask on a treadmill or bike until exhaustion, but it is on his bucket list. — 00:08:24
  • ★★ Ali's cardio fitness in Apple Health, a rough stand-in for VO2 max, was below average; after he started walking much more, and with the lower average after turning 30, it is now average. — 00:08:53
  • ★★★ Ali's progression from nothing: walk 30 minutes a day, add steps weekly to about 8,000 a day, then walk faster or jog lightly into Zone 2 (or swim, yoga, Pilates), then add weekly HIIT such as sprints, skipping, spin or boxing. — 00:09:22

00:10:08 — Plug for the LifeNotes newsletter

  • ★★★ Dan Go's third principle is lifting weights with progressive overload; for the top 20%, use the most basic exercises and try to get stronger or increase your volume. — 00:10:08

00:10:27 — Principle 3: the strength practice, progressive overload and a personal trainer

  • ★★ For complete beginners Ali suggests following a program; Jeff Nippard has a really good beginner program, which Ali followed before he had a personal trainer. — 00:10:58
  • ★★★ After DEXA scans, Ali calls a personal trainer one of his most ROI-positive health expenses: a trainer teaches form, but above all is his accountability, since alone he tends to skip the gym or half-ass it. — 00:10:58
  • ★★ By his DEXA results Ali is above average among people who get DEXA scans, a group that skews athletic, and he is trying to get into the top 20%. — 00:11:27
  • ★★ For top-1% strength, Ali says go to the gym more often, three to five times a week, lift heavier with more reps and sets, and tailor workouts to specific muscle groups. (hedged) — 00:11:27

00:12:11 — Principle 4: the sleep practice, regular times, seven to eight hours and the 3-2-1 method

  • ★★ Dan Go says that if you do not prioritise sleep you will not optimise the other two thirds of your life, because sleep is one of the most important things for health. — 00:12:11
  • ★★★ Dan Go: For a complete beginner, Dan Go's basic sleep checks are whether you go to sleep and wake up at the same times and whether you get seven to eight hours a night. — 00:12:11
  • ★★ Ali says people focus on sleep quantity, but sleep regularity, going to bed and waking up at roughly the same times, is pretty important as well. — 00:12:40
  • ★★★ Dan Go's 3-2-1 method for sleep: no food three hours before bed, no liquids two hours before (especially if you wake to pee), and no screens one hour before. — 00:13:07
  • ★★ Ali finds Dan Go's 3-2-1 method for sleep really useful. — 00:13:07

00:13:36 — Principle 5: the nutrition practice, whole foods, ultra-processed food, the 80/20 diet and protein

  • ★★★ Dan Go's fifth principle is a whole-food, single-ingredient, nutrient-dense diet of foods as minimally processed as possible, unlike hyper-processed foods such as crisps or fries. — 00:13:37
  • ★★ Ali says you can usually tell an ultra-processed food by ingredients you would not recognise, such as E-numbers, artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives; such foods are low in fibre and high in calories, salt and saturated fat. — 00:13:37
  • ★★ Ali cites a 2020 paper reviewing 43 studies: none linked ultra-processed food to a health benefit, and most linked it to at least one harm, such as obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression or all-cause mortality. — 00:14:16
  • ★★ Ali concludes that ultra-processed foods are probably bad, but that this does not mean you can never eat them. (hedged) — 00:14:45
  • ★★★ Dan Go says all-or-nothing dieting harms people most: go 80/20, with 80% of calories from whole, single-ingredient foods and 20% from whatever you want, since chasing perfection makes bingeing more likely. — 00:15:07
  • ★★ Dan Go: For the top 1%, Dan Go says to dial down the flexibility: the 80% of calories from whole foods becomes more like 90%. — 00:15:07
  • ★★★ Dan Go advises eating at least 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal lean mass, that is, of your ideal body weight. — 00:15:36
  • ★★ At about 74 kg, Ali should be aiming for 140 to 160 grams of protein a day, a lot more than he expected and than he eats by default. — 00:15:59
  • ★★ Ali's team is working on a whole video on how much protein to eat, fact-checked by protein researchers, to settle doubts about kidneys and minimum guidelines. — 00:15:59
  • ★★ From his basic understanding of the literature, Ali finds about one gram of protein per pound of body weight reasonable if you are trying to build muscle, as he is. (hedged) — 00:16:28
  • ★★ Ali follows Tim Ferriss's advice from The 4-Hour Body of 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking: he wakes, goes for a walk, then has a protein shake. — 00:16:28 · Tim Ferriss

00:16:50 — Principle 6: the mindset practice, routines into habits and habits into identity

  • ★★ For the top 20%, Ali says build routines so the practices become automatic habits: hitting step goals, working out two to three times a week, some cardio, healthy food and attention to sleep. — 00:16:52
  • ★★★ Dan Go says focusing on health outcomes such as weight or blood work causes anxiety, since you control behaviours, not outcomes; an action bias and simply showing up matter far more than hyper-optimising every measurement. — 00:17:22
  • ★★★ Dan Go says the top 1% mindset turns routines into rituals, so health becomes part of your core identity: the fittest people do not push themselves to the gym, it is who they are. — 00:17:51
  • ★★ Ali is nowhere near making fitness part of his identity but is attempting that transition now, from dreading workouts to loving his time in the gym. — 00:18:31

00:19:01 — Wrap-up: getting into the top 1% of anything is really hard

  • ★★ After researching the video and talking with Dan Go, Ali concludes that getting into the top 1% of anything is really hard and requires making it a focus. — 00:19:01

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: 3-2-1 method · body dashboard · Dan Go · DEXA scan · high-intensity interval training · ultra-processed food · Zone 2 cardio

Also: People: Jeff Nippard · Russell Foster · Tim Ferriss

Works: The 4-Hour Body

Organizations: University of Oxford

Concepts: cardiovascular disease · identity-based habits · progressive overload · randomised controlled trial · visceral fat · VO2 max

Places: London

Products: AirPods · Apple Health · WalkingPad C2 · Zoom

Also centred on 3-2-1 method: 8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

Also centred on Dan Go: Try these 3 habits to fix your posture

Also centred on DEXA scan: 8 Simple Hacks to Improve Your Health

Also centred on ultra-processed food: 5 Easy Habits That Could Transform Your Life

← Previous: How to stop feeling lonely (forever) · Next → How to Start a YouTube Channel - Beginners Guide (2026)