The High Performance Journal Written By Dan Go - November 3rd, 2026

When I was a kid, my friends called me "T-shirt". At every pool party I went to, I kept my shirt on even when going into the water. When we played shirts vs. skins in gym class, I begged to be shirts because I didn’t want anyone to see my body.

BREAKING: You can look and perform better in your 40s than you did in your 20s if you do the right things.

Back then, I just thought I was fat, but looking back, my body was actually sending me signals. The man boobs, double chin, and belly were pointing to what was causing the weight gain in the first place.

My shame became the strongest motivation to fix my body, which eventually inspired me to become a health coach.

Over the past 20 years, I've coached thousands of clients who have gained fat in every area you can think of. What I've learned is that where you store fat is a signal pointing to what's driving it.

Every area has a cause, and every cause has a solution. You can't spot-reduce fat, but once you know the cause, you can speed up fat loss in the areas that bother you most.

There are 6 major areas that I get asked about the most. Starting with...

1. Visceral Fat aka. Belly Fat

One client lost 75% of visceral fat in 4 months!

Visceral Fat (VAT) is the most dangerous type of fat, and it's packed around your organs, making your belly stick out.

The biggest drivers of VAT are inflammation, gut health, and a poor environment, usually involving alcohol, processed sugars, poor sleep, and chronic stress. Chronic stress and inflammation tell your body to store energy close to your organs so it's easy to grab in an emergency. For most people, that emergency switch never turns off.

How To Train: A review of 84 studies found that a combo of lifting, walking, and HIIT training accelerated visceral fat loss, with the harder efforts doing the most work.

How To Eat: Eliminate alcohol and processed sugars and eat an Optimized Mediterranean Diet in a time-restricted manner. This is a combination of fatty fish, polyphenols, olive oil, and green veggies. We had one client (see image) use the exact training and nutrition strategies to drop 75% of his visceral fat, taking him out of elevated risk. This stuff works.

2. Face Fat aka. Double Chin

Face fat is a combination of overall body fat and genetics. Most of what people call face fat is actually water. When you combine high sodium with alcohol, it can make your body hold fluid, showing up in your face first

How To Train: Aside from weight training, jaw trainers and facial exercises can help define your face muscles.

How To Eat: Eliminate the alcohol and lower your sodium intake while leaning in on cooking most of your meals at home for the next 2 weeks. In the early stages, you'll see water bloat leaving, and the rest will come off when you lose excess fat.

3. Hips and Thighs

Sarah was an entrepreneur who said she stopped wearing shorts because she didn't like how her thighs looked. No matter what she did, her legs were always the last thing to change.

I had to tell her that fat in the hips and thighs is a female pattern driven by estrogen, and it's actually a good thing. We just need to get lean and firm up the right places.

How To Train: The game here is about building muscle in the right places. Exercises like the squat, trap bar deadlift, lunge, and hip thrusts help put curves in the right places. Within 3 months of lifting 3x a week, Sarah's jeans fit better even though the scale dropped by only 4 lbs.

How To Eat: 40 grams of protein at every meal and a modest calorie deficit. Avoid crash dieting to keep the area firm.

4. Upper Body Fat aka. Man Boobs

Ah, my old nemesis. My man boobs got so bad they would jiggle every time I ran, hence why my T-shirt never came off. For guys, man boobs are a sign of low muscle in the chest + shoulders and too much estrogen in the body. For women, upper body fat often shows up around the upper back and bra line.

How To Train: The most important exercise for men is going to be incline presses to build the upper chest. For women, the focus is going to be on building the upper back with rows and pull-downs.

How To Eat: For women, it's a calorie deficit and protein. For guys, it's a dance between bringing overall body fat down while improving hormonal function. That said, get your testosterone checked if you suffer from this.

5. Arm Fat aka. Chicken Arms

Loose arms are usually an issue with muscle. If we lose muscle in this area, the arms show it early, especially if they haven't been trained directly. The less muscle you have, the more the fat hangs.

How To Train: Put your focus on the triceps, not the biceps. A good exercise is an overhead tricep extension because it trains the long head of the triceps, which sits right under the part that usually jiggles

How To Eat: Much like the thighs, we're aiming for a focus on building muscle, which means we're focusing on protein. Aim for 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight every day.

6. The Lower Belly

This is me prepping for a photoshoot. Losing the lower belly fat requires precision and dedication

Lower belly fat is the final boss of getting lean. When I was prepping for a photoshoot, it was the most stubborn to leave due to poor blood flow and receptors. If a guy wants to get rid of it, he needs to get to roughly 10% to 12% body fat, while women need to get to around 15% to 20%

How To Train: No amount of ab exercises is going to get rid of this fat. Each area of your training, from walking to your lifts to your sleep, has to be dialled in because we're reaching bodybuilder/supermodel territory.

How To Eat: The key here is accuracy and precision. Aim to lose a little bit slower, at around 0.5% to 1% of your body weight each week. When you track your foods, it's best to track them by the gram.

With that said, no one's going to get extra health points by getting the uber levels of leanness. The big question is: is it worth it? For some people, it is, and for others, it isn't.

The Best Time To Get Lean Is Now. Not January.

Here's a little secret most people won't tell you.

Everyone is waiting for the new year to get started, but the best window to get in shape is the months of November and December. Almost no one takes advantage of it.

If you start now, you won't just get lean by the new year. You'll walk into 2027 as a wildly different person who has momentum (and that New Year's motivation) on their side, ready to chase bigger goals.

While everyone else is waiting, you're gonna start building.

So don't wait. Start now!

- Dan

When you're ready, here are 2 ways I can help:

1. The Lean Body 90 System: When you’re ready to get in great shape, Lean Body 90 is the obvious choice. You can get in great shape and reach your fitness goals in just 90 minutes a week. Lose weight and build muscle even without hours in the gym or highly restrictive diets. Join 1000+ students here.

2. Are you an entrepreneur who wants to get lean, boost energy, and get in your best shape? Apply for private one-on-one coaching here.

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.