Fitness coach Jeff Cavaliere wants everyone kicking off the New Year on the right foot. On Dec. 29, 2025, via YouTube, he revealed 15 warning signs of very poor health and how to reverse them.
Cavaliere is one of the most recognizable faces in the fitness industry. For decades, he’s boasted a lean, aesthetic physique and impressive strength. He regularly offers training and nutrition advice through his YouTube channel, ATHLEAN-X, which houses over 14.2 million subscribers.
Age catches up to all of us, but Cavaliere has solutions. From stretching routines to longevity plans, he knows which levers to pull to extract results. This led him to take a hard look at common habits that might be holding you back in 2026.
Jeff Cavaliere’s 15 Predictors of Bad Health and How to Fix Them
Find a quick breakdown from the video below:
- Poor loaded mobility
- Inability to hang from a bar for significant time
- Limited shoulder mobility
- Low VO₂ max
- Chronic dehydration
- Not supplementing with creatine monohydrate
- Avoiding exercises you dislike
- Not training to true failure
- Neglecting corrective exercises
- Over-relying on machines instead of free weights
- Inadequate protein intake as you age
- No direct core/ab training
- Jumping to pharmaceutical interventions too soon
- Weak glute medius / poor frontal-plane stability
- Overall lack of consistency in the above habits
Poor loaded mobility
“Maybe you aren’t doing quite everything you need to do or the right way to do everything, because that is the difference between mobility and loaded mobility. Everything changes once you put a weight on your back or in your hands.”
Inability to hang from a bar for significant time
“Hanging from the bar will improve your core strength first and foremost,” he shared. “It will improve your grip strength, which we know has correlations to longevity.”
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Limited shoulder mobility
“What is the importance here, though? You’re measuring your external rotation in the top shoulder. You’re measuring internal rotation on the bottom shoulder. Being able to maximize these at the shoulder is going to normalize shoulder biomechanics.”
Low VO₂ max
“One of the biggest indicators of overall true fitness is being able to hold on to that Vo2 max and maximize it as much as you can as you get older.”
Chronic dehydration
“Will you go to the bathroom more often? Yes. Does that matter? No. Because in the long-run, staying hydrated makes everything in your body function more efficiently.”
Not supplementing with creatine monohydrate
“It’s not just for the muscle heads, now it’s actually expanding into neurological benefits. It helps people who are sleep deprived to function better because it’s basically feeding your brain’s energy system.”
Avoiding exercises you dislike
“You need to devote at least a small portion of every workout, if not half your workout, to the things you really don’t like doing. The reason is this: your bodies are masters of compensation. They love homeostasis.”
Not training to true failure
“Training to failure is incredibly necessary if you want your body to force change.”
Neglecting corrective exercises
“Doing those rotator cuff exercises, doing those scapular retraction exercises, hip mobility, doing the things that we know actually pay dividends.”
Over-relying on machines instead of free weights
“I’m going to urge you, especially this coming year, to find your way out to that gym floor. Grab those dumbbells.”
Inadequate protein intake as you age
“Prioritizing protein and upping protein intake is going to give you a better chance at holding on to more of that lean muscle tissue.”
No direct core/ab training
“You need to start doing direct core training. Exercises that challenge rotation, that force you to not rotate, that make you control rotation while it is rotating.”
Jumping to pharmaceutical interventions too soon
“What about pharmaceutical interventions? asks Cavaliere. “Part of the enjoyment of the journey is taking one step at a time.”
Weak glute medius / poor frontal-plane stability
“My challenge to you is to build up your ability to do this [side plank] for 30 seconds.”
Overall lack of consistency in the above habits
“Let’s do the things right. These little things will make a big change, and they are going to help you to live a longer, healthier, better quality of life.”
Staying disciplined throughout the holiday season is tough, but Cavaliere highlights the importance of consistency. He recently shared the only four exercises anyone needs to achieve a six-pack of abs over time.
Cavaliere believes avoiding these common mistakes could lead to substantial gains. By reversing these 15 principles, he’s confident anyone can lead a better life in 2026.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Shows How To Fix Knee Pain Forever With 6 Simple Exercises
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