I’ve decided that 2018 is the year I’m “not messin’ around.”
(Happy New Year btw.)
What about you? Are you gonna mess around? Or really go for it and become the leanest, strongest, best version of yourself?
Let me tell you a story about Stef Lach. He hired me a couple of months ago to “get his fat ass in shape” (his words, not mine.)
Five weeks in, Stef wrote: “I can definitely see a clear difference in the mirror and I’m pleased with the changes in my body shape, but I’m a bit confused as I’ve actually not lost much weight. Maybe only one or two pounds in 5 weeks.”
I replied: “What matters more? Some numbers on the bathroom scales – or how you look and feel?”
Stef messaged back: “My stomach is slimmer and I can now see muscle definition – so I don’t really care how much I weigh.”
EXACTLY!
And that takes me beautifully to the first point.
#1 Obsessing Over The Scales
Unless you’re obese, don’t stress too much over a number on the bathroom scales. What’s more important is your body fat to muscle ratio.
Just because you’ve not lost much weight doesn’t mean you’re not making progress. While shedding unwanted flab, you may have gained lean muscle fairly quickly. One pound of muscle is naturally more dense and compact than one pound of fat. Therefore improving your muscle to body fat ratio might not register any difference on the scales but you will see noticeable changes in your overall body shape and how your clothes fit.
This is why I always recommend that you take photos before, midway, and after starting a fitness program. You might also get bodyfat tests done at your local gym as part of your membership, which is another metric for measuring progress.
And you might want to throw those scales out the bathroom window.
#2 Counting Every Calorie
I’m not a fan of all these diet plans that encourage you to count every calorie or give different meals “points” scores. Who really wants to be number crunching their food every day like Rain Man on overtime?
Instead, I suggest that you get a rough idea of your daily calorie requirements for your fitness goals and keep an eye on your nutrition in a simpler way. I like the MyFitnessPal app. It’s free to download and you can manage your diet easily in just a few minutes per day.
You may not use the app forever, but it’s a great tool for helping you understand your caloric requirements and quickly getting a handle on calories and the mix of proteins, carbs and fats in the foods you eat regularly.
#3 Eating Small Meals All The Time
“Eat small meals regularly to build muscle effectively and keep bodyfat levels low,” is a common message that’s been spoon-fed to gym-goers for a long time.
I used to follow this advice after I first started weight training 19 years ago. I’d wolf down 5 or 6 small meals/snacks/shakes per day. The thinking was that this would make your metabolism more efficient and control the hormones insulin and cortisol, while also better managing the appetite. Then a pretty significant study was carried out in 2011 by 11 sports nutrition experts, including world-renowned Dr John Berardi, founder of Precision Nutrition, which blew this idea out of the water.
Their conclusion: meal frequency is actually irrelevant – as long as we eat the right foods in the right amounts over the course of the day.
Personally, I don’t see the point in complicating matters and stressing over eating lots of small meals when you can eat a few bigger meals with longer breaks in between (i.e. eating normally) and just get on with your day.
#4 Combining Cardio With Weight Training
Confession time – I’ve chucked this in here because it’s my pet hate. Of course, it’s your choice if you want to do some cardio in the gym and then lift some weights afterward. It’s just a pretty inefficient way to exercise, and a no-no unless you fancy taking the long bumpy road towards achieving your fitness goals.
Standard cardio training might burn a few calories, but it does pretty much zilch for developing muscle and your overall body shape. Lifting weights not only helps you burn calories but it keeps your metabolism levels heightened much longer after you step out of the gym.
This means you could still be burning fat while you’re sleeping. Standard, boring cardio simply doesn’t have the same afterburn effect. Plus, lifting weights also develops lean muscle and increases your strength levels at the same time.
There’s no point in spending half your workout time and energy burning a few calories on the treadmill when you could conserve that energy and give it all you’ve got in the weights section and get much better results overall.
#5 Slipping Up On Your Sleep
This is a biggie. The hard work may be done in the gym, but it’s at night when your body really goes to work.
During a tough gym session you’re putting your body under a degree of stress and you’re also causing tiny tears on muscle fibres through lifting weights. It’s when you’re snoozing that the body really goes to work on repairing that damage – and remodelling your body.
Anabolic hormones are spiked in the early hours when you’re sleeping to rebuild muscle tissue. That’s not a process you want to interrupt by staying up late watching garbage reality TV shows or flicking through Instagram selfies for 4.5 hours.
Aim to get at least 7 hours of sleep, although eight is even better, to give your body the chance to recover well from workouts and the everyday stresses of life.
#6 Being Impatient
Here’s a nice wee cliché I’m sure you’ve never heard before — “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Same goes for that lean, strong, awesome, athletic body you’re after. Don’t be swaggering into the gym with an “ima make things happen this year” attitude and then expect to see good results after a fortnight. You’ve got to train hard, eat well, maintain focus, stay positive, and do all of this consistently.
Consistency is the key. Being impatient won’t get you anywhere.
Don’t look for the shortcuts. Embrace the hard work. Take on the challenge. Nothing worth having comes easy.
#7 Being An @sshole To Yourself
You probably weren’t expecting this to be my final tip. That’s good – because I dig cheeky wee surprises.
I work with people of all shapes and sizes transform how they look physically through strength training (not bodybuilding). These people all have various different problems but 90% of the people I’ve worked with have one problem in common. That problem is their mindset – and negative self-talk.
“I’ve tried to lose weight in the past, but I always end up piling it all back on again.”
Or “There’s no way I could do a single chin-up”
Or looking in the mirror frustrated and saying to yourself, “I’m still not seeing any difference.”
This self-defeating chat is much more common than you’d think. If you stopped to properly listen to yourself sometimes, you’d realize that the inner critic has taken charge of the controls.
The mind and body are completely connected. There’s no point in working hard in the gym, making healthy food choices, and then undermining it all with self-doubt and criticism.
Praise yourself for…
- Making the gym when you would normally be lying on the sofa watching TV.
- Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new exercises, lifting heavier weights etc.
- Walking past the fast food takeaway place and cooking a fresh dinner instead.
- Every small discipline that brings you closer towards your health and fitness goals.
Then you’ll be well on the way to becoming a stronger, leaner, better version of yourself in 2018.
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Photo: Getty Images