New Year, New Body

Some Tips for Helping You to Get in Shape QUICK for the New Year

     The New Year is upon us.  For no telling how many folks throughout the world, that means one thing.  With the New Year comes the resolutions.  There are, I suppose, a whole lot of different resolutions that people make.  But, if I had to guess, there is one resolution that more folks make than any other, the resolution to get in shape.  Too many times, these resolutions are vague.  Eat healthier.  Lose weight.  Those are probably the two most common.  But what most people want, no matter how vague, is to get in shape.  That’s what they really mean by “eating better” or “losing weight.”  With that in mind, here are 4 tips that can help you get in shape quick.

     I think one reason that most trainees don’t stick with their resolutions—I have a feeling that most quit their resolution(s) sometime around the end of February, beginning of March—is that they simply make it too tough.  I have written about this more precisely in THIS piece, so click on the link if you want to read my thoughts there, but the “gist” is that you are more likely to stick with your training resolutions if you make it simpler and easier.  So, there’s nothing really hard about the tips below.  Use them, apply them, and stick with them and I can guarantee you results.

Tip #1: Train 6 Days Per Week

     If you don’t have a regular training regimen, the first key to sticking with your training is to make it consistent.  Even though I think you can get great results by following a program where you only train 3, or even 2, days per week, in order to develop consistency, I think it’s better, when first starting a new program, to train 6 days per week.

     Training 6 days a week doesn’t mean that you have to go to the gym and “kill it” with arduous, long, hard workouts every day save Sunday.  It simply means that you need to do something each and every day for 6 days straight.  If you wanted to, to be honest, you could even get on a program where you train 7 days a week, or as many days in a row as you want, and only take off when you really feel as if you need a day for rest and recovery, but I think most lifters would do better by taking off at least one day.  Train Monday through Saturday, then give yourself a break on Sunday before starting all over again the next day.  It doesn’t, of course, have to be Sunday.  I used to love training hard and heavy on Sunday, as it seemed to better prepare me for the rest of the week.  If I did a heavy squat session on Sunday afternoon, or, even better, a hard full-body workout, I was prepared for whatever work threw at me come Monday morning.  The point is, take off whatever day you want but do train 6 days straight.

     You don’t have to lift weights all 6 days, either.  In fact, that’s not necessary, though you certainly could do it if you want.  If you want to lift 6 days, then get on something like an “easy strength” program.  If you’re not familiar with that mode of training, they are “easy” workouts where you train your full-body each and every day, utilizing around 5 exercises for no more than 10 reps on each movement.  If that’s what you would like to try, then click on THIS link for an overview.

     You can also just train 3 days per week on a more “standard” full-body program, then do some sort of cardio for the other 3 days a week.  Lift weights Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then go for a long walk or a shorter run on the other 3 days.  I like 3 days of full-body workouts interspersed with 3 days of trail hiking, but that’s just me.  Pick any other form of steady-state, relatively easy cardio for the other 3 days.  A good program, for 3 days per week, at least to get you started, is my “Full Body Big & Strong” program.

     You can also choose 3 different activities, training 2 of them each day of the week.  For instance, you could lift weights on Monday and Thursday, go for a run on Tuesday and Friday, and do martial arts or yoga on Wednesday and Saturdays.  The choices are yours.

     The objective is to choose a training path that you know you are more likely to stick with.  Choose what you want, stay consistent, and the results will come.

Tip #2: Fast Each Day Until You Train

     No matter what diet that you follow—we’ll get around to that shortly—in order to get in shape fast, you need to fast (pun intended) until you train.  Let me explain.

     First, train at the same time each and every day, or at least as close to the same time as you can.  Unless you have a job that prevents you from doing so—perhaps you work a job that requires a rotating shift—you need to train at the same time every day in order to establish a routine.  If you train in the afternoon—perhaps on your lunch break—then eat as soon as you are finished training, but don’t consume any calories before that.  You do want to stay hydrated, so just make sure that you consume plenty of non-caloric beverages.  Water is best throughout the day, even when you’re not fasting, but you can drink coffee as soon as you get up.  If you don’t like coffee, but prefer an energy drink or a soda upon waking, just make sure it’s a zero calorie one.

     If you train in the evening, then do practice intermittent fasting.  Fast until you train in the evening, and then eat your first meal after that.

     If you train in the morning, just after waking—perhaps you get up at 6AM to train before you go to work—then have your last meal early in the evening around 5PM, then don’t have any more food until your head hits the pillow at night.

     Fasting is one of the easiest ways to lose bodyfat fast, not to mention boost your energy levels for your workouts, so take advantage of it.  Now, let’s turn our attention to what you should eat.

Tip #3: Limit Your Carbohydrate or Fat Intake to No More Than 10% of Your Total Macronutrients

     When you are trying to get lean, especially when you are attempting to do so fast, then you must limit either your carbohydrate or your fat intake to 10% or less of your daily calories.

     I know that nutrition can be a “sensitive” subject.  Many lifters, athletes, and personal trainers can be quite dogmatic about it, in fact.  There are “Carnivore” followers that insist that all and any carbohydrates are the “enemy” and should be avoided at all costs.  Likewise, there are just as many that insist that fat is the true enemy, and it must be limited to 10% of your caloric intake or less.  Fat in your diet equals fat in your body, or so they claim.

     I think either approach can work.  But one thing is for sure.  You can’t get really lean without reducing one of them to an extreme.  So, which one should you eliminate (or almost eliminate) from your diet?  My advice for lifters is simple.  Ask yourself whether you naturally have a sweet-tooth or a “meat-tooth.”  If you limit the one macronutrient that you enjoy above all others, you're less likely to stick with your diet, so follow a diet that you know you can stick with.  If you love sweets and often crave carbohydrates, then carbohydrates are what you should eat.  Vice-versa if you don’t feel as if you could ever go without meat.

     In the ‘80s, when I first started bodybuilding, almost all of your professional (and just competitive) bodybuilders followed a diet of 60% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 10% fat.  It worked, for the most part.  And if it worked then, it’ll still work now.  Heard of the “sugar diet?”  It works, crazy as it might sound, by limiting almost all of your fat intake and consuming as much sugar as you want.  I wouldn’t take it to that extreme, but there’s no doubt that it can be effective.

     If you prefer meat, then eat at least 60% of your calories from fat, with 30% coming from protein, and 10% from carbohydrates.  Many Carnivore and keto-diet followers eat as much as 80-90% of their calories from fat.  That’s probably not necessary, but it will get you there, as well.

     Whether you choose fat or carbohydrates as your fuel source, you need to keep your protein intake high, so, carb-heavy or keto, get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.  Limit your fat or carbs and get plenty of protein and you’ll soon be on the way to a leaner you.

Tip #4: Stay Active Throughout the Day

     As I have argued elsewhere, your body becomes its function.  Even if you do a workout 6 days per week for an hour, no matter what those workouts are, but you’re sedentary for the remaining 23 hours of each day, what do you think your body will look like?  Even with “all” of the training, you are still, essentially, sedentary, so your body will “become” (or “remain”) a sedentary body.  But, don’t worry, the answer out of this conundrum isn’t that difficult.  You need to stay active.

     Movement is life.  The more you move, the healthier you will be.  This doesn’t mean to start training for several hours each day or to do multiple workouts throughout the day, it simply means to move more.

     If you have an office job, then take a brief walk of only a couple minutes every half hour.  If you have a desk job that requires you to sit most of the day, then just get up and do some stretches or walk in place for a few minutes every hour on the hour.

     I like to go for long walks.  But even when I don’t, I still get a minimum of 8K steps each day simply by taking short walks throughout the day.  I work from home, and my work involves the very thing that I’m doing right now, sitting at my desk and writing.  But I never write more than 30 minutes at a time without getting up and walking around my property for a few minutes or so.

     Before working for myself as a freelance writer, I had office jobs.  In all of my jobs, I always had an opportunity to get up and walk some.  Even if you don’t have that luxury, then consider going for a short, say 10 minute, walk when you get up in the morning.  Take another short walk on your lunch break, and perhaps another one when you get home from work.

     Stay active.  The more active you are, the quicker you will see results.

     If your goal this New Year is to get in shape, then apply these tips.  None of these are “hard” but they’re all result producing.  If you’ve struggled with getting shape in the past, let this be the year that you finally succeed.  Put these tips to use and a new body can finally be yours.