Beach season is here and everyone is eager to get back in shape. The gym gets packed and people are in a great mood to get the results they desire. Every year its the same thing a bunch of people show up with high expectations and end up quitting after the first month or two. When I use to train at a commercial gym I enjoyed seeing a bunch of new faces and would do everything I could to help them out. I am always bummed to hear or see people not reach their fitness goals, it is definitely a hard path to take. Exercise and eating good in and of it self is not hard but changing bad habits accumulated over years and sometimes decades is an extremely arduous endeavor. Hopefully these 5 tips will provide some help to get you and keep you on track.

1. Be Patient

Seems simple enough but no one ever seems to do it at least not the ones who quit and retry every year. Keep in mind fitness and healthy eating is a lifestyle and it takes a lot of time. Think of it this way if you’ve spent 10 years trashing your body with zero exercise and bad eating you will need at least the same amount of time to fix those habits. Yes body composition changes can happen fast but don’t fall victim to the dreaded get lean in 30 days post that some of these scam artist try to pull on you. Give yourself 3-6 months to shift your lifestyle to a healthier on and than another 6 months to see some good results. If you keep this long term and patient approach to this new healthier lifestyle I will guarantee you success in 2016

2. Meal Prep, Meal Prep, Meal Prep

This is by far the most important thing you can do to be successful in any diet. It is taking the time to one learn how to cook and two prepare food ahead of time so you always have food readily available. Learning how to cook and make heathy food taste good is almost as important as having it ready to go. So really take the time to cook food properly, spice food to taste and find low calorie condiments that you can use. The worst excuse I hear is I don’t have enough time to prep, to me thats a clear sign that this is not that important to you. If anything is important you find the time to get it done. I like to cook proteins every 4 days and carbs every other day. That way I can switch things up with taste and different foods.

 

3. Don’t Change Everything All at Once

Small changes will take you further than making huge changes. It may yield the fastest results but I bet it will allow you to stop making getting in shape a new years resolution. You can’t expect yourself to completely change your lifestyle in a day so doing small changes here and there will go a long way. Things like going from soda to diet soda to flavored water, to water. These small changes made on a week to week basis will ensure that you will be successful at reaching your goals and also maintaining them throughout the year.

4. Know its Not Suppose to Be Easy

Yes it is not all rainbows and unicorns, it will be hard work and it will not come easy. Healthy food is not as tasty as junk food and every weekend will be somebodies birthday or BBQ. You will also see a lot of your favorite social media people promising you 30 day quick fixes and get shredded fast plans. Do not fall victim to that and don’t let other people dictate your goals or make you feel bad for trying to eat healthy or go the gym. Your goals, your live make them count!!

I always tell clients and lifters who come into the gym, this is a tough sport and everytime you think you have it figured out the weights humble you. Progress is great and it can come in the way of huge gains to a measly 5lbs PR on one lift with a year of training. With great success comes the possibilty of even bigger disappointment, when things don't go the way you think they do you are forced to dig deep and keep grinding. This is when you see people go one of two ways. They realize the amount of work that this sport entails and they quit or the make a plan and get back in the gym to put in the work.

You see for me its not so much about the product or the outcome to me its about the process. Meaning if the weights stop moving and the PR's quit coming I will keep on doing what I do because the process of being in the gym, the discipline of being in the gym, those things will carry over to everything I do in life and if I went to the gym everyday because if I cared about the numbers on the platform more then I cared about the lessons I learned from training than I would not last. The iron always wins and so it has to be about more than the outcome if you truly want to stick with it and achieve things that you have set out to do.



This journey will take up the rest of my life because I love being in the gym and training my ass off and that won't ever stop. So the question is now what did I learn from 2015 and how can I grow and get better in 2016.  Here are a few things that I learned from 2015 that I will be implementing in 2016 to help me get to my goals.

• Push top sets heavier

I tried the whole submaximal training and although I like the merit of it I got away from pushing heavier weights. So to fix that I am pushing my one top set heavier than doing drop sets to build up my volume.

• Set my schedule and don't let others influence it

I know this sounds like an excuse but having a set plan than having something or someone pull you in a different direction is not conducive to a successful training cycle. So I am picking my meets with plenty of time to train for them and not straying from the plan.

• Eat to grow

Another no brainer right, as a nutritionist I pride myself on staying somewhat lean but I've come to the realization that the leaner I get the weaker I get. My body type does not allow for strength and leanness to work synergistically. 

• Add in more Recovery daily

Over the course of the year I added in 10 minutes of bike plus foam rolling at the end of my workouts and I felt a lot better because of it. So I need to continue to push that and do more so I can always be fresh for my workouts.

• Switch to Conventional Pulling

Being a wide stance squatter that pretty much mimicked my sumo stance my hips would get trashed. Which would lead to inconsistent training days for my pulling. So switching to conventional will allow for more recovery and more consistency over time with training.

These are the main areas of focus I am working on this upcoming training cycle. The great thing about this sport is that you always have something to improve on, to learn from and grow. The same thing applies to life, thats why in this sport and in life when things get tough or don't go your way take pride in what you do, don't quit and keep grinding.