Start Here: Find Your Fitness Path

If you're feeling overwhelmed by fitness advice, programs, and conflicting information online, you don't need more noise. You need a simple starting point, realistic guidance, and a plan you'll actually stick with. That's what this page is for.

Choose Your Starting Path

I want to…

• Restart my fitness journey
• Lose weight and get fit
• Build strength and muscle
• Run or train for endurance
• Eat better and recover faster
• Find simple, effective home fitness
• Stay strong and active as I age
• Find accountability and a community

I Want to Restart My Fitness Journey

If you're getting back into exercise or rebuilding consistency after time off, start simple.

Focus on:

• Walking
• Low-impact cardio
• Beginner strength training
• Short daily movement sessions
• Consistency over intensity

Next Step: Explore Beginner-Friendly BODi Programs

I Want to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Weight loss that lasts is built on consistency, movement, strength, and sustainable nutrition, not extreme short-term programs.

Focus on:

• Daily movement
• Strength training
• Portion awareness
• Real nutrition habits
• Accountability

Next Step: Explore My Recommended BODi Programs

I Want to Build Strength and Muscle

Strength is the foundation of everything else, metabolism, posture, performance, and staying capable for the long run.

Focus on:

• Full-body strength training
• Progressive resistance
• Recovery
• Protein intake
• Consistency

Next Step: Strength Training on My Coach Blog

I Want to Run or Train for Endurance

I've been running for 60 years and I'm still training and racing. This isn't theoretical for me.

Focus on:

• Building a real base
• Smart progression
• Recovery
• Staying consistent for the long haul

Next Step: Visit my Running page, visit my Running for a Lifetime blog, follow my training on Strava, or explore Next Step Running, my 30-year ode to running in New Mexico.

I Want to Eat Better and Recover Faster

Training is only half the equation. What you eat decides how much energy you have and how well you recover from every workout.

Focus on:

• Whole, nutrient-dense foods
• Enough protein to support your training
• Hydration
• Sleep and recovery days

Next Step: Visit my Nutrition page, read Nutrition & Recovery on my Coach Blog, or get $50 off your first Blueprint order.

I Want Simple, Effective Home Fitness

You don't need a gym, expensive equipment, or hours a day. You need structure and consistency.

Next Step: Explore My Favorite Home Fitness Programs

I Want to Stay Strong and Active as I Age

What good is a long life if you've lost your strength and mobility? The habits you build now decide how well you move 10, 20, and 30 years from today.

Focus on:

• Strength training two to three times a week
• Balance and mobility work
• Aerobic exercise for your heart and brain
• Protein at every meal

Next Step: Read Longevity Strategies and Healthy Aging on my Coach Blog.

I Want Accountability and a Community

Fitness sticks better when you're not doing it alone.

Communities:

• Take Charge of Your Body for Life on Facebook
• We Are Born to Run on Facebook, my running community
• Getting Stronger Together

My Coaching Philosophy

After more than 40 years of coaching, and my own comeback from a life-altering setback, here's what I believe: consistency beats perfection, strength matters at every age, movement is non-negotiable, and fitness should improve your life, not become a second job. I'm not coaching from theory. I'm still doing the work myself, every day.

Stay Connected

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and check my actual training log anytime on Strava.

Rich Dafter

Founder, Howtobefit.com

Coaching Since 1982

Rich Dafter and his daughter hiking on the Piedra Lisa Trail in Albuquerque, New Mexico