What I've Learned Over 15 Years in Fitness — In 7 Tips if you are under 25
Igor Dabanovic · July 2026
I've spent 15 years in fitness. I've made every mistake you're about to make, wasted money on things that don't work, and finally figured out what actually moves the needle. If you're a teenager starting your fitness journey, this post will save you years of trial and error. No hacks. No shortcuts. Just the 7 things I wish someone had told me at your age.
1. Eat Your Carbs
Somewhere along the way, carbs got a bad reputation. Ignore it.
Carbs are your body's preferred fuel source — for training, for school, for your brain. As a teenager, you're growing, recovering, and (hopefully) training hard. Cutting carbs at your age is like trying to drive a car with the fuel tank half-empty and wondering why it keeps stalling.
Rice, potatoes, oats, fruit, bread — these aren't the enemy. They're the fuel that makes everything else on this list work.
2.Skip the Supplements — Fix Your Habits Instead
You don't need pre-workout. You don't need fat burners. You honestly don't even need protein powder yet.
Here's the truth nobody selling supplements will tell you: your teenage body recovers faster than it ever will again. Your natural hormone levels are doing more for you right now than any powder in a tub ever could.
Supplements are the last 2% — and most people reaching for them haven't handled the first 98%: sleeping enough, eating real food, training consistently. Fix your habits first. The habits you build now are the ones that will carry you for the next 40 years. A supplement can't do that.
3.Weight Train 5 Times a Week
Yes, five. Not one chaotic session every Sunday. Not "when you feel like it."
Frequency beats intensity when you're starting out. Training five days a week teaches your body the movements, builds the habit, and stacks up far more quality volume over a year than the occasional heroic workout.
And no — lifting weights will not "stunt your growth." That myth has been dead for decades. What weight training will do is build muscle, strengthen your joints and bones, and give you a foundation most adults would pay anything to have started earlier.
Keep the sessions simple: compound movements, good form, progressive overload. Show up five times a week and let time do the rest.
4. Make Sleep Non-Negotiable
You can train perfectly and eat perfectly, but if you're sleeping 5 hours a night scrolling your phone, you're leaving most of your results in bed — literally.
Sleep is when your body actually builds the muscle you trained for. It's when your hormones do their job, your brain consolidates what you learned, and your body repairs itself.
Eight to nine hours. Phone out of reach. Same time every night. It's the least glamorous tip on this list and probably the most powerful.
5.Eat Vegetables at Every Opportunity
Not because your mum said so — because of energy utilization.
The vitamins and minerals in vegetables are what allow your body to actually use the fuel you're eating. You can eat all the carbs and protein in the world, but without the micronutrients to process them, your body is running an engine without oil.
More vegetables means better energy, better recovery, and better performance in the gym and the classroom. Pile them on your plate. Every meal if you can.
6. Protein in Every Meal
Muscle isn't built in the gym — it's built from what you eat after.
Protein is the raw material. If it's not in your meals, your body has nothing to build with, no matter how hard you train. The simplest rule I can give you: every time you eat, there should be a protein source on the plate. Eggs, chicken, beef, fish, dairy, legumes — pick your favorites and make them a non-negotiable part of every meal.
You don't need to count grams obsessively at your age. Just never eat a meal that's missing protein.
7. Salt, Water, and 15,000 Steps a Day
Two habits most people ignore completely — and they change everything.
Hydration:
Aim for 3 liters of water a day, and don't be afraid of salt. Water and electrolytes work together for cellular hydration — without enough of both, your energy, focus, and performance all quietly drop, and you won't even know why.
Movement:
Your workout is one hour. What about the other 23? Walk 15,000 steps a day. Take the stairs. Move between classes. Stay off the sofa.
All that daily movement drives up your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) — the total calories your body burns each day. It also supports heart rate variability, your metabolism, and your overall health in ways a single gym session never can. The fittest people I've met in 15 years aren't just people who train — they're people who move.
The Bottom Line
Nothing on this list is flashy. There's no secret routine, no magic supplement, no 30-day transformation hack.
That's exactly the point.
Eat real food. Lift five times a week. Sleep like it's your job. Drink your water. Walk everywhere.
Do these seven things consistently through your teenage years, and by the time you're 25 you'll be ahead of 99% of people — including most of the ones giving fitness advice online.
Start now. Your future self is already thanking you.