5 Stages of Fitness

 

MAKE PROGRESS - NOT EXCUSES!

(The next 12 months will go by whether you're making fitness progress or not. Where do you want to be in 12 months? Do you want to be at square 1, or would you like to be a fitness fanatic with a year of training under your belt? The choice is yours!!!)

Do you want to make a change? Do you want to create the physique that YOU have always wanted? Do you want to get back into the shape you USED to be in?

Well, if any of this interests you, there is a way. If you genuinely want to make meaningful progress, on a consistent basis in your training, all you need to do is follow the process.

I will show you the way. It is simple, and it is logical. Unfortunately, too many people are in a rush, and they try to skip important stages.

I believe that is a mistake. I believe that this is why most people fail in their fitness pursuits. This is also why people quit before they really get going.

So, if you're ready to succeed, in the pursuit of your fitness goals, here is a great place to start.

Here are the 5 Stages of  Fitness:

1. Creating a habit of going to the gym: 

Start by simply going to the gym every weekday. Stay for one hour each day. Don't miss days and do your best to focus on training.

(NO PHONES!!!)

Watch the people with phones at the gym. They accomplish nothing. Leave your phone in the locker room. You're here to work!

2. Building strength:

In the beginning, you won't be able to SEE your progress. This plays on people's psyches. They work out. They look in the mirror. They get on the scale and they get depressed.

Look, this will take time. Even though you don't see (Visible) progress right away, you ARE making progress. You're changing your habits. You are working out regularly and this WILL yield results . . . in time.

The good news is, if you focus on building strength, you will be able to see, measurable, strength gains relatively quickly. These gains will continue and that will give you the confidence and motivation to continue.

3. Building muscle:

This is where things being to become enjoyable. During the strength-building portion of this process, you won't see much change. That is because muscle is more dense than fat. Therefore, it takes up less space. (It's smaller)

You won't see this in the beginning. Your body will look the same, but it will be getting firmer. Now, one word of warning (at the strength-building stage) - your weight will, most likely, either stay the same or increase. Again, this is simply due to the dense nature of muscle.

The fun part is, that this is the stage where you will now begin to SEE your progress! You will begin to see your body changing shape. This is a great time. Your confidence will really begin to grow. Going to the gym had become a habit, but now it's something you look forward to.

4. Adjusting your diet:

Ok. Now it's time to really get to it. You're going to the gym every day. You're training hard and getting stronger and more fit. You've started to see some visible improvement in your body. Now you're ready to move to the next stage.

It's time to begin to focus on your diet. You may have been trying to do this early on. That can be a bit of a mistake. You don't want to try to change too much too fast. This can be overwhelming. It can cause failure. (Check out other posts on this blog.)

The wise thing to do, is to begin with training first. Then, when you're in full swing of working out, SLOWLY improve your diet.

Begin by adding healthy foods first. Then, over time, reduce the bad foods. That way, you will be easing yourself physically, and psychologically, toward a healthy diet. You will reduce the stress factor this way.

5 Begin sculpting your body:

This is it! You're a fitness beast now! At this point, you will want to begin to assess your physique and decide on how you wish to proceed.

This process takes time. Be patient and wise. Everyone is different. We all move at our own pace. Just be mindful of what stage you are in and what you should expect. Once you recognize you have reached a stage, prepare to move to the next.

Have fun with this!

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5 Easy Diet Hacks

 

In this blog post, I will share with you the basics you need to reach your fitness goals. If you want to get lean and develop six-pack abs, this is the place to start. I know this because I have already done this myself. After reaching my goals, I taught others my methods.

They reached their goals as well.

I have other posts sharing these, so-called, “secrets.” Although, they are just fundamentally sound, and easy, tactics. All of this is basic and simple. If you want to take a science class, I can’t help you.

We will not be talking about amino acids, insulin spikes, or complex supplementation of any kind. Why? Because we’re talking about a simple lifestyle change to make your life a bit healthier, and more enjoyable. OK?

So, if you’re ready, here are 5 simple, diet “hacks” that can help you reach your fitness, and weight loss (if that’s what you want to do) goals.

1. Addition before subtraction: This is where most people wreck their diet immediately. Their first instinct is to eliminate all the foods they have been eating (and love) for years. This is too much of a change to make so abruptly.

Try this instead. Begin to add the healthy foods you need, before you begin to remove the unhealthy foods. This is a process, and it takes time. If you rush, you risk total failure. As you keep adding healthy foods you will subtly begin removing unhealthy foods. This will make the transition easier.

2. Food shopping: Ok. Let’s keep this simple. Forget that zero-carb B.S. In fact, run fast from any EXTREME diets. I don’t trust them. I worry about the long-term effects. We’re going to keep this simple and healthy. Try to lower your carbohydrate, and fat, consumption while raising your protein intake. As before, do so gradually.

When you go to the store, simply look at the nutritional info on the packaging. Focus on buying foods higher in protein and lower in fat and carbohydrates. It’s a simple method, but one I have found to be very helpful.

3. Since we’re talking about shopping: Have you ever heard the old saying “Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach?” That’s because you’ll come home with a bunch of junk. You’re hungry and everything looks so good.

Whaddya, say we crank that one up a bit? Here’s what I do. I eat a “cheat” meal before I go shopping. (I’ll explain cheat meals next) I eat my tastiest, most calorie-filled meal of the week, right before I go to the store. Rather than shopping “hungry,” I go shopping feeling guilty.

(One warning – you may end up going back to the store. It’s hard to eat nothing but raw broccoli all week. 😉)

4. Cheat Meals: This is an old bodybuilding technique. When you’re training hard and eating a strict diet for an extended period of time, it can be a tough haul. So, bodybuilders typically build in a cheat day. There are different ways to do this. I, of course, made up my own. You can do this however you want, but try to stick to it. A schedule will become a routine. Routines are easier to stick to.

Now, I never had a cheat DAY. In other words, I wouldn’t let myself eat freely for an entire day. I could do too much damage that way. I scheduled two “cheats” per week. I would eat healthy all week. However, I could have one cheat on Wednesday, and a floating cheat on the weekend.

That way, I only had a few days to go, at any time, before I could have a treat. The weekend floater was because you never know when you’ll be at a cookout, or whatever. Wednesday was firm, though. As far as “What was my cheat?” I never got carried away. It was usually a donut, or ice cream, after a healthy meal. Or, I would have a burger and fries as a meal. Sometimes a slice or two of pizza. It’s a great method once you get used to it.

5. How to beat cravings: This is not as difficult as you might think. When you get a craving (and drinking water doesn’t help) simply eat something healthy BEFORE you eat the unhealthy snack.

Here’s a simple example. Let’s say you have been good all day, but you’ve been thinking about pizza all day. It’s just been on your mind and you can’t shake the craving. Today isn’t a cheat day. Ugh! What do you do? I’m glad you asked! I’ll tell ya!

First, eat something healthy. Drink a lot of water. If that doesn’t help, ok. Get pizza.

WAIT A SECOND!!! You didn’t think I was going to make it THAT easy, did you? No. So here’s HOW you should eat your pizza in this situation. First, you go to the pizza. DO NOT have it delivered! Why? Two reasons.

First, you don’t want cheating to be too easy. Second, you won’t be buying a whole pizza. (If you have a whole pizza at home, you’ll eat a whole pizza. (Has a slice of pizza ever made it to the trash can?)

Go to the pizza restaurant and order one slice and a drink. I said ONE! Slice! Why? Because, you have already eaten a healthy meal and drank some water. You still crave the pizza, but if you order 2 or 3 slices, you’ll eat them. It’s just possible, that by filling your stomach with healthy food and water first, one slice might satisfy your craving.

See? By the way, if you MUST have a second slice, do not order it until AFTER you have eaten the first. Give your stomach a chance to let you know it's full.

Try these 5 simple diet hacks. They have worked very well for me in the past. They have worked for others as well. If you like these hacks, check out my other posts. (I discuss some things more than once. I REALLY want people to give my methods a try. They work!!!)

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