I find that most people do not get the results they
want at the gym because they fail to focus on three key aspects and instead get distracted by the little things such as 'wonder supplements'. No pill or powder will fill in for not getting these 3 key principles right.
1, Train consistently in the gym with the required frequency
and effort every training session
You must train hard and be prepared to bust your ass in the
gym. This is one of the secrets of why facilities such as Ultimate Performance where
I coach get our clients such great results. We push people harder than they
have previously ever done when training.
Training harder also means getting stronger. There must be
progression of some sort, whether it be using more weight, doing more reps or
reducing the rest period which would serve to increase training density. Muscle is metabolically active a tissue so the
more you build of it the better your metabolic rate will be which increase your
bodies demand for nutrients at rest. Its also not easy to build so don't concern yourself whether you are male or female about getting 'too bulky'. Being 'bulky' is normally because your body fat is too high.
Consistency means getting to the gym enough times per week
in order to stimulate an adequate training effect. Put the date in your diary, block out that hour at least three times per week. Your body will thank you for it.
The type of programme you use is important but in my opinion
is secondary to actually putting in effort. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect
programme’ and many people have created great results with less then stellar
exercise regimes because they dug in worked hard!
Keeping a log of your training is an important aspect as you
need to be able to access how you are progressing and adjust future programmes accordingly
to enhance the training effect. If you don’t bother to write down your
performance how are you supposed to target to beat that in the next workout? Every
one responds differently to a style of training so without this critical analysis
it’s like shooting a shot gun into a dark room in the hope you hit something.
This guy knew that he had to put in the work to see results
2, Eat to support your training goal.
If your goal is to add muscle then you must consistently
intake a small positive nutrient intake to provide your body with the raw
materials to build new muscle tissue.
For fat loss you must create a deficit in order to encourage
your body to use body fat as fuel. Yes there are lots of arguments about “is a calorie
a calorie” however that is a deep topic I won’t expand on in this
article.
Whether you try to create a positive or negative calorie intake accuracy is important here. For fat loss it’s very easy to overeat and ruin the deficit you are trying to create even when eating primarily whole foods. Typically this happens when someone over consumes
nutrient dense foods such as nuts and oils which can quickly add a lot of calories to a
persons overall intake.
This is why I give students specific numbers or weight of nuts/oils they are to consume rather than a guideline of ‘a handful’ as there is far too
much variability in what someone would consider a handful.
Creating a deficit
is most effective when it is created through a combination of diet and
exercise.When trying to add muscle its also very easy to overeat, putting on too much body fat at
the same time which in future can be troublesome to remove.
Whether it be a positive or negative intake you are trying to create you have to choose to make the effort
regarding your food choices. You always choose how much you eat; it will never
magically jump into your mouth.
If you over consume food and ruin the deficit
you need to create to encourage fat loss or eat too much when adding weight and
make yourself over fat then you should take responsibility for this and accept
that you choose to make this happen.
This guy confused creating a positive intake for muscle gains with preparing for sumo wrestling
3, Ensure adequate Recovery
Sleep
Sleep is crucial to support recovery as it is the most restorative
time for you body. Lack of adequate sleep has a whole host of negative side
effects including interfering with hormone balance in, increasing inflammation
and reduced cognitive function.
In my experience there is no way to get around not sleeping
enough, you simply have to make the effort to prioritise this and ensure that
you get enough hours of quality sleep that includes full sleep cycles.
If you find that you have trouble getting off to sleep or
wake up during the night then this needs to be investigated more deeply as to
why this is happening and then addressed.
Artificial lighting and over stimulating entertainment (TV,
Computers) have contributed to interfering with the evening time which should
be focused on winding down and relaxation.
Stress
Managing stress is the second area and this is a combination
of emotional, physical and environmental based stress.
Emotional based Stress
How you hold your stress in important too. The stress
response as explained excellently in this book ‘why zebras don’t get ulcers’ by
Robert M. Sapolsky is largely governed by how you react to things.
Elevated stress affects many bodily functions including
digestion, blood pressure and cognitive function. This is the ‘fight or flight’
response which gives you the ability to get out of danger quickly and then be
able to resume a normal level. The mechanism was never designed to experience a
constant ‘background’ level of stress over an extended period of time.
Environmental Stress
We unfortunately assaulted daily with environmental
stressors including air pollution, chemicals contained in cosmetic and cleaning
products, artificial additives in food and contaminants in water. This area is very important to address as its becoming an ever growing problem.
A book I recommend
on this is subject is ‘Achieving Victory In A Toxic World by Dr Mark A Schauss
Physical Stress
Exercise in itself is a stressor on the body. Its this
stress which is planned correctly promotes the body to adapt and get stronger
so that it can better deal with the same stressor the next time. This is the
basis of progressive overload.
That being said the ‘prescription’ of exercise
needs to be appropriate and needs to encourage a positive adaption. Excessive
exercise through bad exercise programming is actually negative and the lack of recovery from will halt someone’s progress very quickly.
Creating too great a deficit with your food intake is
another sure fire way to quickly stress out your body physically. Dieting needs
to be done at the appropriate speed that doesn’t lead to the body perceiving
the event as ‘famine’ and putting the stoppers on fat loss.
Ways to improve recovery
There are many ‘force multipliers’ that you can use to
enhance recovery which include massage, magnesium baths, contrast showers and
soft exercise such as some forms of Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi gong or even gentle
swimming and walking.
There are also some supplements which can assist in
promoting recovery such as adaptogenic herbs and certain vitamins however I
feel that without addressing the key psychological aspects of stress that these
are no better than a band aid and might only work temporarily.
Recovery also means if you are genuinely training hard you
cannot expect to go 100% in the gym all of the time and the need for periods of
‘de-loading’ and active recovery where you do some less intensive forms of
exercise are important to ensure continued progress and avoid burning out.
Investing the time utilise active recovery methods such as foam rolling, massage, Yoga, Tai Chi or just ensuring you give yourself enough 'you time' to relax is crucial
To wrap up if you are not getting the results that you
expect first relook over what you are doing and ask yourself if you are doing
the right things in the three key areas outlined above?
