What does it take…for “Fit Success” in 2017?

1.) Build a foundation

It’s not all about getting to the gym and working out to succeed with your fitness goals.

There are 5 fundamental elements you need to work on when trying to change your body shape, fitness level or health:

• Mindset

Dictates whether you take actions on a daily basis, are able to stick to your routine and whether you still push on no matter how many hurdles and setbacks you have to face along the way.

• Nutrition

Can accelerate your progress or build a wall in front of you. It’s not that hard, cut the crap, eat whole foods, drink lots of water!

• Lifestyle

Think about it: Is your lifestyle dictating your goals or are your goals dictating your lifestyle?

It should be the latter if you are trying to get anywhere.

• Exercise

Are you following a program?

If your training is always the same you are not going to change. 

It’s as simple as that. 

It is essential that you change your rep range, intensity, volume of training to name a few. Generally you should start a new program every 3-6 weeks depending on your training age, exercise frequency and training intensity/ goal.

If you don’t hit a new stimulus all the time it’s unlikely for you to progress quickly.

If you are only doing weights 2x week and spend the rest of your gym time doing cardio it’s also highly unlikely your body shape is going to change any time soon. Aim for an absolute minimum of 3 weight sessions/ week, ideally 4. If you still have more time to go to the gym and you love a cardio session go for it.

• Consistency

Some people change faster, some change slower. 

Don’t ever give up on the vision you hold for yourself. Keep working hard and keep trying to improve. There is always more we can learn about ourselves.

Consistency is key. Don’t get disheartened if your body only changes very slowly. 

A lot of people do and then abandon their exercise regime again. If you stop and start all the time you have to start from zero again and again and again.

Establish a good exercise routine, keep working hard, aim to improve every day and keep that vision of yourself and your goals in front of you.

2.) Avoid the 3 biggest downfalls when trying to achieve a fitness or fat loss goal

1.) Too much cardio

Especially for fat loss you need to start lifting weights!

And I am not talking about doing front squats with a 10kg DB I am talking about pushing yourself into lifting more weights, weights with which you struggle to do those last 3 reps,

weights that will make your body shape change. Also try performing body weight exercises that are hard like doing a full push up (nose to floor).

Watch it happen!

Focus on compound lifts such as deadlifts & squats (always with good form) at the start of the workout and finish with some exercises that make your muscles burn such as weighted lunges and  higher reps push ups.

You need to challenge yourself.

If you can do 20-30reps of an exercise without feeling a deep burn in your muscles first of all the weight you are using is not heavy enough or you have poor muscle tension when performing an exercise.

Go to the gym & lift some weights. If you don’t know how get some help.

2.) Too much stress (caused by work, lifestyle, alcohol or food)

People always underestimate the impact of stress on the body.

One of the major causes that I see why people don’t succeed is that they are simply too stressed.

This can be due to:

• Poor stress management (work load, family etc.)
• A lifestyle that doesn’t support one’s goals or too little sleep over a prolonged period of time
• One drinks too much alcohol (more than 2 standard drinks/ week)
• One eats too little food, too much food or not the right foods that can cause a lot of stress on the body

3.)  A poor body image and generally feeling unhappy

Male or female- your body image can become a huge contributor on whether you are achieving your fitness results or not.

Self-love and self-respect are ultimately dictating how fast you are moving forward.

In the end of the day it doesn’t matter how lean you are. You can have a good body image at 15% body fat or at 30% body fat.

A lot of people think that if they lose weight they are going to be happy and no doubt it is going to contribute immensely on how you feel on a day to day basis.

But some people who haven’t worked on their body image end up feeling the same after they have dropped 10% of body fat.

It is important that as part of your health & fitness journey you work on your body image.

Happiness can help with your fat loss goals but weight loss won’t necessarily make you happier

If you are happy you are going to:

• make better food choices

• suffer from fewer food addictions

• choose self preservation opposed to self-sabotage

• be able to deal with stress better which results in lower cortisol levels (stress levels)

• generally have higher serotonin levels (neurotransmitter that gives us a sense of happiness)

3.) Have a goal- not an idea

Most people that abandon their exercise regime haven’t set “true goals”.

What are “true goals”?

A “true goal” is a goal that makes you feel “excited”, “driven” and “motivated”.

If you don’t feel any emotions when thinking about achieving your goals you have had an idea, not a goal.

It’s not always easy to set goals and often requires a lot of thought. 

What do I want?

What are my passions?

What is my potential? … may be some questions you want to ask yourself.

Think about how achieving your goal can impact all other areas of your life.

If setting a true goal makes you stick to the plan and sets a foundation for your mindset moving forward you have made a huge first step.

You will also start to “train” instead of “exercise”. 

Exercising means you hit the gym to merely burn some calories.

Watch your attitude change when you have a true goal. 

You will finally start to train!