Think about it this way. You have a group of friends showing up and you promised you’d make dinner for them at your place. Imagine that you are not the seasoned chef that you are. You show up the grocery store with no idea what you are going to make. As you scurry about the store hoping that a great idea will come down from the heavens and enlighten your mind, you can’t help but fill your cart with items that will not collectively produce any known meal to mankind. You begin to get worried. Then fear sets in; will others notice your lack of knowledge of meal preparation? Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Who cares about that.
The point is that just like preparing a meal and grocery shopping, you need a WORKOUT PLAN prior to working out!
BASIC WORKOUT PLANS
I’ve got quite a few go-to plans that I use on a regular basis to fit in exercise whenever I can; let me share some of those plans with you:
I cannot express enough how important appropriate nutrition is to all aspects of the fitness lifestyle. Whether or not you want to lose weight, maintain, or gain muscle you need to pay close attention to what you are eating. It’s no secret that abs are “made” in the kitchen!
RESULTS VIA CONTROL.
Let’s be real here. Self-control is going to be your biggest fight. When it comes to proper nutrition, its unfortunately VERY easy to screw it up. You need to visualize your goal and set the path to realize it!
MAINTAIN A CONSISTENT CALORIC INTAKE.
Calculate a suggested calorie intake and use it as a STARTING point and not the absolute number. You need to pay close attention to the actual needs of your body. I use a simple calculator as the starting point and adjust calories accordingly. I consume 3100 a day, 6’3″, 205lbs.
Once you know your approximate caloric intake, tack your intake!
TRACK FOOD INTAKE DAILY!
If you grab 5 tortilla chips and eat them but don’t track that then you’re lying to yourself, that’s like 70-80 calories untracked. Do this type of sloppy tracking a few times a day and you’ll end up with sloppy results. If you drink a beer, track it. If you have a crappy food day and binge eat, track it. Check and use MyFitnessPal like you do Facebook.
KEEP BALANCE BETWEEN MACRO NUTRIENTS.
If you can’t figure out what’s good for you, stick to the traditional 40/30/30 breakdown. If you want to gain muscle, pay close attention to your Protein intake, I ensure mine is 30% of my daily intake using foods like my HDF Meatloaf.
DRINK WATER AND DROP SODA.
I consume 1 gallon of water a day among everything else that I drink. I like cold brew coffee in the morning with coconut milk and occasionally I’ll drink a diet soda. I always stay away from unnecessary sugars.
BE REALISTIC.
You have to enjoy life, so unless you are in a body building competition, enjoy some restaurant foods or a glass of wine occasionally. Don’t confuse occasionally with daily and make sure you track what you ate, see point 2.
You might think this is the hardest part. But it isn’t. The hardest part is staying “started”. Keeping that momentum. Eating right over and over and over. Working out consistently and on a regular basis and with appropriate intensity. There are some TRICKS to keeping yourself active that have worked for me over the past few years.
Here is the quick list:
PROGRESS: Take daily selfies and progress pictures. Log that information somewhere, such as Instagram.
KNOWLEDGE: Get comfortable enough with your work out programs so that you are not lost.
SCHEDULE: Schedule time to work out. Remind yourself that it is beneficial that you spend time at the gym, for you and everyone around you. Confidence will be amplified based on your appreciation of your own physique.
NUTRITION: Prep meals to eat at the office. Don’t wait until last minute, you won’t do it. Find a few meals that you love, stick with them and go from there.
RECOVERY: You have to allow your body to recover properly. Get quality sleep. Don’t expect great results if you’re living on 4 hours of sleep and stressing out from life.
GEAR: Yes, this matters. Find gym clothes that you love. Find headphones that stay on and sound great. Find a long list of music that pumps you up.
Yes, you can out-work a poor diet, to a certain degree, and still look decent. But let’s be honest, do you want to be just decent and still unhealthy? No. Learn how to EAT well for physical GROWTH that is sustainable for months and years.
