Back to the Basics

Back to the Basics

I used to make things so complicated for myself.

When I first became serious about training in my early 20s, I would follow a workout program for a couple of weeks. When it “didn’t” work, I would switch things up and find a new program.

When I attempted to make a transformation in my body a few years back, I would follow a plan for a couple of weeks. Then, it “didn’t” work, and I would find something different to follow.

I would constantly read things about meal timing, tempo, rest periods, what shoes to wear and whether sweet potatoes are better than regular potatoes.

I was majoring in the minor.

Many of the blogs we read and the podcasts we listen to talk so much about supplements, workout gear and how many grams of protein to take in following a workout.

For most of us, these things don’t matter one bit.

They’re minor. They’ll get us the extra one or two percent.

But the things that get us 90-95% of results don’t get talked about nearly enough.

They’re not sexy.

They’re boring.

They’re seemingly obvious.

But still, most of us fail with them.

So let’s get back to the basics when it comes to building your body and improving your performance.

We’re not talking about doing something for two weeks.

We’re not talking about doing something for 30 days.

We’re not talking about doing something for two months.

We’re talking about doing something for a long period of time – months or years.

Consistency is the most boring thing to talk about, yet many of us aren’t consistent with our workouts and nutrition.

We come up with reasons along the way for why we don’t stick to our workouts or nutrition plan:

“Oh, it was the weekend. Weekends are hard.”

“Oh, I was on vacation.”

“Oh, I was tired.”

“Oh, I’m too busy.”

And then we end up not getting the results we want.

Honestly, there are times I don’t want to write these blog posts. In fact, I didn’t want to write it this week.

I did it anyway because I know it’s necessary for my long-term goals with my business.

If you haven’t gotten the results you want, you need to look at how consistent you’ve been with that thing. Have you truly been doing it day-in and day-out?

ACTION STEP: If you’re not seeing results with something, track it. If you’re not seeing results with your body, track your food and track your workouts. If you’re not seeing results at work, track your activity in the category you want to improve. Numbers don’t lie.

Don’t worry about which protein powder you should take. There are plenty of good ones out there.

Don’t worry about whether you should have collagen or casein protein. Just get enough protein.

When it comes down to it, you’ll get the majority of your results from hitting your calorie and macronutrient requirements.

It doesn’t matter what specific foods you eat. There are no specific foods that cause you to automatically gain or lose weight.

You won’t gain weight if you eat ice cream.

You won’t lose weight if you eat an avocado.

It depends how much of certain foods you eat.

In order to lose weight, you need to burn off more calories than you consume. It’s science.

If you want the majority of the weight you lose to be body fat, keep your protein high. Most people should aim to hit between 0.8 and 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight or target body weight.

If you need 2,000 calories and 170 grams of protein per day to lose weight, you can eat ice cream every day as long as it fits within those requirements.

If that scoop or two of ice cream per day is going to prevent you from going off the deep end and eating a gallon of ice cream on Friday and Saturday, it’s likely not going to hurt anything.

ACTION STEP: If you’re not seeing results with your nutrition, log the food you eat in an app like MyFitnessPal. Track every single thing you eat. Don’t lie about it because you’re cheating only yourself. Then, adjust your nutrition plan (or have someone knowledgeable adjust it for you) based on the results you get.

How many sets and reps should I do?

What exercises should I do?

While these are important, the specifics are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

The way to see improvements if you have body composition strength goals is to increase the stress you place on your body over time.

If you do three sets of eight reps at 135 pounds on the bench press, do 140 pounds the next time.

If you do four sets of six reps at 135 pounds on the bench press, do 140 pounds the next time.

The volume (24 total sets) is the same in both cases. Unless you’re a high-level (note the word “high level”) bodybuilder or powerlifter, you don’t need to worry about whether you do three sets of eight reps or four sets of six reps.

In this scenario, as long as you pick a set and rep scheme and focus on lifting a little more weight each time you’re going to see progress.

If you want to do a floor press instead of bench press, go for it.

Most of us don’t need to worry about drop sets and precise rest periods.

The exact exercise and exact number of sets and reps you do isn’t nearly as important as progressive overload, or increasing the stress you place on your body over time.

Show up. Do a little more work each time.

Do this consistently for a long period of time.

ACTION STEP: If you’re not seeing results with your workouts, track them. Use pen and paper or track them in an app. Track the exercises you do, the sets you do, the reps you do and the weight you do. Then, make sure you’re progressive your volume (sets x reps x weight) over time.

That’s the formula to building the body and strength you want. If you need any help figuring out the specific plan you need, APPLY FOR COACHING, and let’s chat!