This post will be an introduction into fitness transformations. If you require any further information or want any particular questions to ask, feel free to contact me and I will do my best to address them. I'll try to keep posts relatively short and to the point, but as I said, contact me for further information.
Before I started training and planning a diet I had trained, on and off, for several years. I primarily did strength training and I would see very little difference in my appearance. I gained a lot of strength but I never looked like someone who went to the gym. This has a lot to do with my motivation, or lack thereof. It was also due to my lack of commitment. Now, I like training. I always have. It's the diet that gets me. Nothing on this earth could make me want to eat a salad. I never had enough interest to research nutrition. 'Diet' was a dirty word for me.
Motivation is key to achieving your fitness goals. 'Why are you trying to make that change?'. For me, it was a tough breakup. I know this is a key motivator for many. Training helps to vent your anger, frustration, released endorphins in your brain that make you feel happy. It also motivates you because you want your ex to see what they are missing! It's not the same for everyone, there are other motivators; a lack of self esteem, health problems, weight problems, etc. Everyone is different and everyone's journey is different. Some of you will struggle with the things I found easy and others may find stuff easy that I found hard. The motivator s always worth remembering. Never forget why you started training, why you started making a positive impact on your life.
Goals are also a major factor. If you don't set yourself goals, no matter how big or small, how near or far, then you won't realise the progress you have made. My goal was fairly simple. But, again, it's different for everyone. My first fitness goal was to get a six pack. I made that my target and everything else was secondary. Since achieving that goal, I set myself a big target once a year to keep me working hard. Some examples of goals could be training for an event, reaching a certain weight or fitting into a certain piece of clothing. Once you have completed a goal, set yourself another, stay hungry!
Training. Now, I like training. At present it takes up most of my day. But there are some types of training I don't enjoy. For me gym and martial arts are the ones. You wouldn't usually find me running! But again, everyone is different, if you don't like one type of training try something else. Learn what you can from the people you train with and develop your own fitness regime. Everyone is different and everyone enjoys different things. My training consists of working out in my home gym, where I lift weights and run circuits or training in various martial arts. If you can find an hour a day to get some exercise then you will see a vast improvement within a very short time.
Diet was a new and difficult challenge for me. There are many fad diets and methods of dieting that come in and out of popularity. I like to keep things simple, I like to understand things for myself. My diet was taken from the bodybuilding concept of counting macros and I will go into more detail about this on a later blog. I think the simplest way to describe it is if you give your body less fat/carbs than it needs and speed your metabolism through exercise then your body will burn your stored fat. If you eat smaller, more regular meals, your body will burn energy more efficiently. Other small tips like this added together make a huge difference. Diet is the hardest part for me, and many others! Like everything else in your fitness transformation it will be unique to you. Don't borrow a diet, it should be individual to you, be designed for your lifestyle and taste. Use the concepts that others use (if they work) and mold it to your own taste.
Fitness is something that constantly develops. Goals you set for yourself now will seem easy in 6 months or a year, you will constantly develop. The hardest part is getting started. But, everyone starts somewhere. You could massively improve your life, there are so many benefits that you don't even think of when you start! So get off the couch and go lift some weights! or, ya know, do something!
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