So who else wants to get in shape and start feeling and looking better now? I’m sure you already answered that for yourself before you found this article. The problem for you now is how to go about it. Today there are more options than ever and while some are better than others, I’ll try to break down the 10 most important things you can do to get in shape fast. Some of these may be new to you and some you may have heard before but nevertheless, these proven strategies will cover just about everything you need.

 It’s important to understand that as I present these tips, they will only work if you apply them. I’m sure your too busy to waste your time absorbing information that you’re never going to use. So if your serious about doing something about getting in shape , please read on. Ok let’s get started:

1. THINK LONG-TERM

About 30% of those who make the resolution to get in shape–whether at the start of the year or sometime during it–will quit after 3 weeks and of the remainder another 50% will not make through an entire year. Why?  Because most will try to make up for years of poor nutrition and/or lack of exercise by dieting hard and hitting the gym 5 to 6 days per week for hours at a time and will invariably get ‘burned out’ after 4 to 8 weeks. Achieving any significant gains requires time and a long-term outlook. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your body.

Even if you have been at it for a while and are in shape, the goal should be to keep at it.  Once you achieve the level of fitness you’re after the next step is to then implement a plan for maintaining it for years to come.

2. STRIKE A BALANCE

The key to long-term progress and outstanding results comes from striking the proper balance between training demands and recovery time.  It is during the time you are recovering that your reap the benefits brought about through exercise. Too much exercise and too little rest will inhibit your recovery and subsequently any potential gains. Likewise, too little exercise (or exercise that is not intense or heavy enough) and too much rest  or complete abstinence from training will be be insufficient in stimulating gains.

Maximum gains are achieved through higher intensity effort carried out on a relatively infrequent basis. For the average individual this typically means 2-4 bouts of high intensity weight training per week with the occasional full week off.

3. INCREASE EXERCISE DEMANDS…ONCE IN A WHILE

In order to make gains you need to occasionally push your workout demands BEYOND what is ideal over the long-term. This means if you’ve found training three times per week to be ideal for making slow and steady gains without getting burnt out then in order to force your body to make new adaptations (i.e., muscle growth and/or increased strength) you must exceed what you are accustomed to and place greater demands on your body. In this instance it might be pushing your training to five times a week in order to create these new demands and adaptations.

However over the long run this frequency of training could result in injury, illness, muscle loss, decreased strength, and overall fatigue, otherwise known as overtraining.  For this reason, periods of overreaching should be kept to 1-4 weeks max.

4. USE WEIGHT TRAINING AS YOUR PRIMARY TOOL

Adopt Weight Training as your PRIMARY form of exercise. No single form of exercise affects more aspects of your total fitness than weight training.  Unlike yoga, pilates, running, spinning, aerobics classes, and the endless fitness fads that have come and gone, ONLY intense weight training affects and improves ALL the components of fitness:

• strength
• endurance 
• muscle tone
• flexibility 
• fat-loss

It also has a positive affect on cardiovascular health and helps to relieve back pain when performed properly and requires the least amount of time investment to achieve great results.

5. GET A PLAN, AND EXECUTE!

You must first have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. The next step is to plot the course for attaining this goal. Then you need to go out and EXECUTE the plan. Neither of the first two steps–clear idea & plan–mean anything if you don’t take ACTION . Unfortunately most people fall short in this respect.  Or, if they do take action they fail to see that action through until the end.

It’s imperative that you stay the course and don’t get turned away when you encounter set backs.  It is equally important to reassess your plan and the actions taken if you do not achieve your goal, so that you can plot a NEW course in the continued pursuit of your goal.

6. DIAL IN YOUR DIET

Is the ideal diet “low carb” or is it “low fat”? Is it high protein? Or is it a specific percentage of all three? Should you eat organic, vegetarian, vegan, or raw food? The combinations are endless and that only scratches the surface. How about when should you eat and how much and in what ratio? No wonder everyone is confused and clever marketers are taking advantage of it. So what’s the answer? Your bodytype, metabolism, activity level and goals dictate how the amount, type and timing of the nutrients you need. Eliminating or overindulging in any one of them can have undiscoverable consequences. Take the time to experiment with different combinations and ratios of protein, carbs, and fat in conjunction with a sufficient caloric intake to find out what works best for you.

7. AVOID FITNESS AND DIET GIMMICKS/FADS

Fitness gadgets and gimmicks will always blur the reality of effective exercise. Many of these “tools” originate in the rehab sector and others are simply born from the imagination of someone looking to satisfy their greed. Just because something looks fun, doesn’t make it effective, appropriate or even safe for your needs. While I believe that most things have their use, albeit limited, I recommend you stick to the tried and true basics. Increase your strength and stamina with tried and true techniques like progressive weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Leave the balls, boards and other destabilizing tools behind and focus on real productive workouts.

For more information on our personal training systems go here: Vancouver Personal Trainers

I’m going to start a series aptly called “Reality Check” to help distill the information people receive in regards to planning a fitness program. In today’s fitness world there are many terms and concepts being erroneously perpetuated and I’ll look at couple of these now. Specifically I’ll be addressing some common confusion around women and weight training.

Reality Check #1 : Toning Your Muscles

As part of my my personal training service, I have all new clients fill out a detailed report that includes relevant information, not the least of which is goal setting. In that section I have clients put 8 common training goals in order of importance. These include weight loss, cardiovascular fitness and endurance to name a few. Most people, especially women, will almost always have strength and muscle building in positions #7 and 8. Now this isn’t because they don’t want to be strong with a lean muscular physique, rather that strength training or muscle building conjures up negative images for them. These same people will tell me their #1 goal is to be “toned” but they were concered that it wasn’t on the list. It must have been a mistake right? Actually no. When I’m confronted with this (almost every time I do a consultation) I promptly push strength training to the top of their list. Let me explain.

The term “muscle tone” or tonus describes an electrophysiological phenomenon, a measure of ionic flow across muscle cell membranes. It can be thought of as the muscle’s readiness to do anaerobic work. The more fit the muscle, the more electrophysiological activity it exhibits at rest. Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, aerobic exercise improves tone a little bit, low-intensity weight training improves tone more, and high-intensity training improves tone the fastest. This why a strength athlete’s musculature appears to be flexed even when  at rest.

Most exercise programs that claim to improve muscle tone are actually lower-intensity muscle building programs. You know the ones with very high reps counts. usually in a circuit setting. These are only moderately effective for improving muscle tone. If “tone” is the goal, strength is the method. Period.

Reality Check #2 : Women and Big Muscles

Everyone knows men want muscular development, for obvious reasons of masculine dominance and peer respect (and intimidation). But women who are afraid of developing ‘masculine’ muscles soon change their tune. Initial concerns of getting “too bulky” are quickly abandoned as they become aware of just how difficult it is too gain a significant amount of muscle. Strict nutritional, training and recovery protocol must be implamented 24/7 to accomplish this. In addition, you must possess the genetics and motivation to build large muscles. Most women have neither. Simply lifting weights is not enough to create more than a few pounds of muscle gain in most cases. However, this is the ideal scenario if you want to make subtle but noticable changes to your physique.

With rare exception, when a woman begins to see the shape of her triceps, roundness in her shoulders, sweep of the thighs, and particularly a hint of abs poking through the fat, she is hooked. Perhaps wearing smaller clothing sizes and being more ‘compact’ or ‘tight’ in dimensions is good encouragement to tolerate any added muscle. Such tolerance likely is the case since in today’s world an acceptable look for women ranges from the hourglass or ‘petite-and-slim’ look to the athletic.

Reality Check #3 : Developing flexibility

There is some concern from women that weight training will decrease their hard earned flexibility. This is simply not the case unless they train that way. A lot of younger women that I run into display an impressive degree of range of motion through most of their joints. This is usually because they regularly participate in activities that encourage extensive passive flexibility (ie. stretching on the floor) like most yoga. Of course there is nothing wrong with this (in most cases) but there needs to be an implement in place to develop ones active flexibility or ability to stretch under load .

In the same way a lot of weight lifters (if they develop too much mass)  eventually become stiff if they don’t stretch, you will likely soon develop hypermobile joints if you don’t get stronger. Your flexibility might seem impressive but is actually unsafe and unnatural. You cannot allow your joints to move through terminal ranges without a certain amount of strength supportting them or you risk injury. It’s always about balance. With intelligent weight training you can balance  out your active and passive flexibility (the active flexibility deficit).

An example might be someone performing a basic hamstring stretch on a mat to a desirable range but are unable to duplicate that range while under load in a Straight Leg  Deadlift. This is not good and may eventually result in injury. This deficit also correlates positively to your performance in a chosen sport. If your joints are unstable, your power and strength will suffer. The bottom line ladies: I know you love your yoga but make sure you compliment your flexibility with a sound strength training regimen.

I hope this helps some of you make more informed decisions about setting up a workout schedule. I’ll be back soon with more reality checks, this time for men.

Today I’d like to write about something that has become alarmingly apparent to me.  My body is weak!  I can’t believe I am saying this but it’s true.  Let me explain . . .

I have been a bodybuilder for twenty years and along with that lifestyle came the acquisition of overall strength, muscle and the feeling of invulnerability to all external forces.  About four months ago I stopped weight training cold turkey so that I could spend more time on my business and in the almost forgotten arena of sport.  I just figured my mind and body needed a break from the wear and tear and overly structured daily regimen that comes with the bodybuilder’s life.

I’m 35 now, and I wanted to play again, interact with others and basically recapture some of those lost feeling of what it means to be young.  All good so far, right?  Well almost. I play hockey three to four times a week, and while it does keep me lean, I’ve lost significant amounts of muscle and strength.  Sure I’ve done a few “maintenance” workouts along the way, but they’ve been too infrequent and uninspired to be effective.  At least I’ve improved my endurance, flexibility and my hockey skills in the wake of my strength loss.

So how does this translate to my  life in general?  Not so good, I’m afraid.  I have noticed an awarness in my movements that I never used to even think about.  Bending, squatting, pulling, pushing and even sitting now take far more energy and concentration than they did only months ago.  Why is this so?

At the end of the day, playing hockey all week has just made be better at playing hockey.  This is truly a testament to weight training and the benefits derived from a properly structured program.  Clearly weight training was what kept me strong and injury free for 20 years.   No sport in the world can prepare you for the sport of life.  Sports skills are specific to the demands of the sport and don’t necessarily carry over well into everyday life. Golfing (if we’re calling it a sport – sorry Tiger) everyday will not aid your ability to bend down to pick up a pen or tie your shoe.  It won’t help you lift your children into their car seats.  It won’t make running to catch the bus any easier on your aching ankles either.  Weight training on the other hand, can help with these and most other day-to-day physical challenges.  Weight training is a key component to preparing yourself for the sport of life.  When done properly it is also the safest and most effective means to improving your overall strength and vitality.  You can train the muscles at any and all angles to develop strength in all planes of motion which is a major advantage to other modes of training.

You can always pick out the people who don’t take care of themselves or properly prepare for the sport of life.  They generally:

• Decay rapidly;
• Suffer needlessly from disease and degeneration;
• Experience higher than normal incidence of injury; and
• Experience prolonged healing and recovery periods from injury and illness.

This is unfortunate and certainly puts a major drain on our health care resources.  I have always believed that most illness and disease are preventable so long as each individual takes it upon themselves to learn natural ways to prevent ailments and expedite the healing process.

Even athletes aren’t except from this dubious distinction.  Although they may be very skilful in their chosen sport, for some, it ends there.  They live the rest of their life with reckless abandon.  Their diets are awful and most don’t appreciate how to eat properly in order to deliver the best performance.  They are getting injured at rapid rates, mostly due to poor lifestyle choices and inactivity off the field.  Being active on a continuous and daily basis is the only way to keep fit and strong.  If you’re one of those people who believe that playing a sport a couple times a week or suffering through some grueling weekly bootcamps are the answer to your health and fitness, think again.  Just look at my situation as an example. Nothing feels worse than being weak and there is no such thing as staying the same; you’re either getting weaker or you’re getting stronger.  I know I’m going to make a better effort to balance my fitness by lifting weights more often.

When you wake up every morning you need to plot a course of action that best prepares you for the sport of life.  From what you eat, how much you sleep, when you exercise and so forth, you need a plan that allows you to get the most out of your existence.  Eat foods that are produced naturally, lift weights regularly, play a sport, engage in physical activities and walk when possible. It’s a simple solution to most of life’s problems, and it works.

Don’t suffer through life, take the reins and be the master of your own fate.  Emphasize quality into your life and settle for nothing less. In turn, you’ll be a more productive and influential person, empowered with wellness that can’t believe you ever lived without.

Today’s post is based on an experience I had at the gym today while observing a fellow fitness professional spotting their client on the bench press. The end result was an unnecessarily awkward and dangerous failed attempt. These days I train my clients in a private studio, in part because I believed it would prevent me from witnessing the kind of  gym stupidity  that is quite rampant in commercial gyms. This isn’t surprising since most people don’t have personal trainers and those that do are usually receiving a lower quality of instruction. In a private studio I don’t see things like this too often but it still occurs. The kind of stupidity I’m referring to is trainees using inappropriate exercises or loads in respect to their current needs. When someone has a trainer guiding them, their common sense goes out the window and they pretty much do what the trainer says. Unfortunately this can have dire consequences.

The example I bring you today is the all too common, failed attempt on the bench press. Too much testosterone can elicit a false sense of invulnerability and when combined with an out of control ego you have a potential problem. Add to this an instructor that shares these same traits and it’s only a matter of time before he is referring you to his physio-friend or worse, to the emergency room. Here’s a case in point.

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Ouch!!!! There is no doubt that the Barbell Bench Press will probably always be the go-to exercise for developing raw upper body strength and muscle size. This is for good reason. Since the 1950′s, has become the most widely-recognized resistance movement in the world the one exercise most representative in the public mind of barbell training, the exercise the vast majority of people are most likely to want to do, and the exercise most often asked about by most people if they are interested in how strong you are.

Once you’ve been lifting for a while you will undoubtedly reach a level where you’ll want to challenge near maximum loads. Or maybe your lifting confidence is not where it needs to be because the exercise is new to you just need some insurance. Whatever the reason is you’ll eventually be seeking a spotter to satisfy these needs. Most people just ask the biggest guy in the gym to come, tell them how many reps they want and try to eek out those extra forced reps that are so popular among novices ( enter sarcastic tone  here). This can usually result in the scenario illustrated in the above video. You need to find someone you can trust to spot you and communicate well with them on your intent or your probably better off skipping the lift that day.

In case I didn’t get your attention earlier here’s another example. This guy actually has 2 spotters.

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How To Be A Competant Bench Press Spotter

Know your role.

Spotters should be there for safety, when there is a question of safety. Spotters should not be there to help with a set. Make this your rule in the weight room. No rep counts that is touched by anybody other than the lifter. If the spotter puts his hands on the bar during the first rep, and keeps them there for the rest of the set, then who really lifted what? If you and everyone you train with follows this simple rule, all the personal records you set will be honest ones.  Spotters should stay away from any rep that the lifter might finish alone.

The Handoff.

A good handoff is one of those rare commodities — there are more bad ones than good. A bad handoff interferes with the lifter’s timing, balance, view of the ceiling, and concentration, by attempting to participate in the rep. A good handoff spotter is experienced and appropriate with the timing and amount of bar contact, respectful of the mental requirements of the lifter, and, above all, conservative about when and how much to help.

Proper positioning.

The bench press spotter stands behind the head of the lifter, in the center of the bar. This position can be adjusted a little if necessary. The primary requirement of the position is that it is close enough to grab the bar, but far enough back that after the handoff so the lifter has an unobstructed view of the celling. From this position the spotter can do whatever might be necessary at the end of the set, from just watching the lifter finish the set, to securing the rack by shadowing the bar as it meets the uprights, to taking the bar out of a sticking point ( about the midpoint of the lift for most people).

If your lifter fails in his attempt.

The bar is stuck when it reaches a point of zero upward movement. Sometimes the lifter may be able to tell you to take the bar, and sometimes they won’t. This why the set termination point should be determined by the spotter. After you decide to take the bar, the amount of help you actually provide will depend on the situation and your correct assessment of it.

Identify your lifters experience level. 

When spotting an intermediate lifter with the last rep of the fifth set of five, the situation will warrant a different amount of help than in the case of an experienced lifter being spotted on a maximum single rep, or the case of a novice trainee doing the first heavy work set of his third workout. Each instance requires a different response in terms of how fast to react, how closely the bar should be followed, the amount of weight to take off, whether or not to help maintain bar velocity, or whether to take the bar to the rack or the safety hooks.

**A Note To All Lifters

A good spotter is hard to find and is probably more interested in doing their own workout than supervising yours. You don’t need every bench press set to be spotted. This is inefficient, unnecessary, and bothersome to other people in the gym who are trying to train. But if your gym contains mostly people who can’t be bothered to help you when it is legitimately necessary, you need to find a better gym. Get a spot when you really need to, and know when this is.

When done correctly and responsibly the bench press is arguably the best way to develop upper-body strength and a valuable addition to your strength and conditioning program. Train Hard Train Responsibly!

• It’s not just a man’s exercise you know. . .

   

• [youtube 7Yk0LgJaqEI&hl]

The purpose of this post is not only to celebrate women but also to send out a wake up call to all the men out there that are losing a grip on their role in life. I should come as no surprise to any of us that the hallmark of being a “real man” has steadily lost its meaning and significance since it was first coined; long before I was born. In fact, this trend has led to a new generation of men that are, well, more like women.

This gender reversal has carried over to many all areas of our culture and not even the gym is exempt from its effects. There has been a major shift in the expectations I have in regard to fitness performance for men and women. I’ve used standards for years to give my clients a sense of how their results should correlate with respect to their age, gender, level of motivation etc. The issue now is that my standards have to be re-written because I have women out-performing men of equal age and ability. I have an 88 year old lady who can pull more weight than some of my 30 year old clients. I also have a 72 year old lady (with COPD) that circuit trains at a pace that actually challenges some of the males I train who are supposed to be at the prime of their life. What’s worse is that if I share this information with these guys, how do they respond? Without any care or worry at all, that’s how. Where is the pride?  The shame?

Now, if I told one of my female clients that another woman was out performing them, things are very different. These women will generally become so inspired by the competition that they not only rise to the occasion but obliterate the meagre expectations set forth by me. Gender is becoming a fleeting variable in my assumption of fitness levels.

If you look inside a gym nowadays you’ll still see some women wasting their time with uninspired routines and low effort levels, but a new breed has evolved and it’s taking over . . . I’m talking about the Super Woman! I personally know quite a few of these women and they masquerade as regular women most of the day: working and managing their families just like everyone else. But when they step into the gym they are transformed into a warrior, to be sacrificed on the fitness front lines for the greater good of their health and wellness.

 They are always on time and they ask for no mercy, for their strength and fortitude is their salvation. The only thing that trumps their power is their humility. They do not recognize their own strengths and believe it is the responsibility of all sentient beings to be as strong and as fit as they can be.

Men can only yield to this type of raw energy as they have no answer to this shifting paradigm of what it means to be a women.

You know, as  much as I love my mother, if she ever ran faster, jumped higher or lifted more weight than me, I would have a nervous breakdown. Unfortunately this IS the case for many men my age. Mothers who are fitter than their sons. Oh the shame of it all. . . .

Of course not all women are Super Women. In fact most are not immune to traditional barriers and unfounded stigma that is still perpetuated in our society today. This doesn’t mean that it cannot be changed, but how do you do it? And what about the men? How can we reclaim our position on the fitness front lines alongside our women? Well this is not an easy answer, but if we know how the Super Women are doing it maybe we can draw some inspiration.

Most Superwomen understand a few basic principles that allow them to succeed with their fitness goals. Putting them into practice is the next step.

The Superwoman Philosophy In The Gym (and out of the gym too)

 I believe weight training is important to health and sports performance.

You must believe in what you do for it to be truly productive. Most men have subscribed to this at an early age but many women still don’t grasp it.

My dietary intake will affect my performance and results. 

Many women are deficient in iron and calcium which can greatly impact your fitness goals. Low iron can affect energy metabolism and oxygen transport, leading to a perception of chronic fatigue and low energy levels. It’s a good idea to include iron-rich foods into your diet,cooking with cast iron cookware and even using a good iron supplement to keep things in check. Low levels of calcium can predispose any age to bone loss. and degeneration calcium supplementation, when combined with weight training can dramatically improve bone density.

I know when to back off training.

It may be advisable to take an “unloading  (or off) week” during your menstrual cycle since this when so much iron is lost. Although women have much lower testosterone levels than men, there is a peak period (about 12 days before ovulation) that could be used as a performance peaking period just before the unloading week.

I understand that I can’t “tone” my body. 

Ineffective “firming and toning” routines have no basis in physiology, and the results obtained from them demonstrate this rather conclusively. You can either make a muscle larger or smaller. That’s it.

I do not have the same level of neuromuscular efficiency as men.

For the most part, men and women train the same way and respond accordingly. It is only the degree or magnitude of change that differs: mostly from differing hormonal profiles. This is why most men can add much more muscle relative to a women’s gains. Women do however, lift weights with less efficiency and may require more overall volume (sets or reps) to achieve maximum results.

My commitment to my health and fitness makes me a role model to my friends and family. 

As with anything in life, with great ability comes great  responsibility. Superwomen understand this and inspire everyone around them to realize their own potential.

I only get out of it, what I put into it.  

Even the best programs fail if your motivation and effort is low. Just going through the motions will not cut it for optimal fitness gains. Always make sure you’re putting in 100% effort into every exercise.  The gym is a sanctuary for sweat, hard work and challenge. You still have 23 other hours to take it easy.

Just by following some of these weight training guidelines for women, you’ll be well on your way to putting your mark on this world and be remembered for being one of the Superwomen!

If you have followed the first 2 weeks of the body transformation series than your probably ready to move on. Week one was all about establishing a baseline and skill acquisition (for those new to weight training) . Week two introduced the split routine and more overall exercise demands. The calories at this point were kept slightly below maintenance, with most of the caloric expenditure coming from the increased activity demands.

Weeks 3-4

During these weeks, you’ll keep the same exercise schedule but steadily increase the exercise demands until you reach a peak at the end of week 4 where you feel you are close to the limit. These initial weeks help prepare you for the more intense endurance activity during weeks 5-8.

During this time, decrease calorie consumption moderately, but not excessively, since severe reduction increases the severity of hunger pangs and introduces the possibility of loss of motivation or eating binges. In addition, and this applies to anyone wanting to lose fat, harsh dieting places the body in a state of alarm (i.e.,starvation). This added strain on the system hinders recovery as the body attempts to cope with low nutrient levels to sustain functioning and to recover from muscular trauma due to exercise.

As mentioned, your weight training should have progressed to the point you you have reached your tolerable limit. This will make it paramount to make some changes to this structure in the coming weeks.

So to recap Weeks 1-4 body transformation protocol:

• Moderate Aerobics (60-70% MaxHR) for 30-40 minutes on alternate days to the weight training.            

• Moderate Calorie reduction (250-300 below maintenance should do the trick).            

• Progressive weight training focusing initially on skill acquisition and progressing to reach a tolerance peak.            

• Leave only 1  day/week for rest and recovery.

Weeks 5-8

Cardiovascular Training and Nutrition

Ok, now it’s time to get serious. Both from an effort perspective and a program design viewpoint. For the next four weeks, divide attention equally between activity and calorie reduction. Decrease endurance activity to 1-3 sessions a week for 12-15 minutes of intense aerobics, which can consist of interval cycling,i.e., steady state, moderate intensity alternated with a high intensity bout. For example, you can perform moderate intensity aerobics for 90-120 seconds at a heart rate of about 60-70% maximum followed by 30 seconds of an all-out effort sprint, although any repeating combination of similar proportion is appropriate. Some people prefer only 20-second sprints whereas others can tolerate sprints of up to 60 seconds. The possibilities are endless.

These cycles can continue for as long as is tolerable, but most people will find 10-15 minutes total more than sufficient. Because this method is more intense than low to moderate intensity, steady state aerobics, they must be briefer in duration. And although not as many calories are burned during interval cycling, since the duration is so brief, the increase in intensity greatly promotes a high metabolic rate throughout much of the day after exercise, and this encourages more calorie-burning overall.

During these weeks, continue to reduce calories to appropriate and tolerable levels: a reduction which is easier at this point now that the stomach has shrunken somewhat from the initial four weeks of modest calorie reduction.

I should also note that how much aerobic work you do depends on how lean you are to begin with. Very thin people who desire to increase weight should avoid endurance activity and focus on bodybuilding and increasing quality calories above normal levels to support any growth potential. Those wishing to lose weight would of course, follow the guidlines laid out in this post.

Weight training Application

At this point you may find it advantageous to cycle hard and easy weeks and workouts. It is very difficult to keep pushing forward indefinitely as fatigue starts to accumulate and you will start to lose motivation to workout, or worse, end up getting sick. This is an area where you either need competent supervision ( a good trainer) or be very vigilant to your fatigue symptoms.

Whether you employ these tactics depend on many factors like your level of motivation, focus, and confidence during the transformation. Something I have noticed over the years is that even though many people have the same goal ( weight loss or muscle building) , they don’t all possess the same levels of motivation. Those who are highly motivated always get more out of the program but are also the first to reach a plateau or reach a state of premature exhaustion.

To use this system, you could implement easy and hard training protocols on an “every-two-weeks” basis; exercising easy for two weeks, then hard for two weeks before repeating. Or, perhaps, two very hard weeks followed by only one easy week. Or if workouts for the body are divided into 2-3 sessions, pushing only some body parts to the maximum and taking it easy on the other body parts then reversing muscle priority the following week.

In this example, you could exercise chest, biceps and thighs very hard one week, then the following week exercise back, shoulders, and triceps very hard then repeat. You may also want to use some advanced techniques like drop sets, rest pause reps, pre/ post fatigue methods among other set and rep variables. There are several possible combinations that must take into consideration, such as your personality, preferences, job/school requirements, tolerance, etc. What will be most evident is that regardless of the initial design plan, events in one’s life will always result in deviation and change.

To summarize this point you may structure your workouts as follows . . .

Even Numbered Weeks (6-12): Easy weeks consisting of fairly hard exercise, but not 100% mentally or physically demanding

Odd numbered Weeks (5-11): More effort placed on muscle building and optimal system disruption. Workouts consisting of all-out effort, including set variables.

So I hope this will keep some of you busy for a while. Be persistent but listen to your body. If you do this there should be little room for failure during your body transformation.

If this series is helpful to you, I’d love to hear your comments . . . .