Coming Up With A Fitness Plan That Really Works
Coming up with a fitness plan that really works is so important. If you don’t take the time to come up with one that works for you, then you’ll spend hours working out and eating in a way that won’t yield any real results. Although you can’t rush results, and you should also focus on health, you do want to be able to see that you’re not labouring for no reason at all. Here are the important things to do when you want a fitness plan that really works:
Know Exactly What Your Goals Are
In order to develop a fitness plan that works for you, you need to know exactly what your goals are. If you go ahead and blindly follow a fitness plan that somebody else is doing, you may not get the results you envision. Do you want to gain weight/muscle? Do you want to lose fat, and gain muscle? Gaining muscle for women will result in a more toned appearance. Women can’t physically bulk up too much unless they are taking hormones and drugs of some kind. Building muscle takes a lot of effort, so you will never ever wake up one morning and look like the hulk. Outline your goals, and then you can begin to look up plans for your goals. Usually, fat loss plans will incorporate high-intensity training, including weights and bodyweight exercises. Muscle building plans will incorporate more weight related exercises, but cardio is still important for health. This doesn’t mean spend ages on the treadmill – that can actually stop your progress!
Be In It For The Long Haul
You must be in this for the long haul. Changing your body composition and getting truly fit and healthy takes time. While doing an 8-12 week plan might be a great way to get started, it isn’t going to give you long term results unless you’re prepared to stick to it for longer. Kayla Itsines workout can be used again and again, but you should read up on it before you decide to do anything like that. Knowing that this is a lifestyle change rather than just a quick fix is the key.
Track Everything
Tracking everything is the key to knowing how far you’ve come, how you can improve next time and other important elements to sticking to this new plan. Track your measurements, and make sure you take pictures of yourself to compare later on. Track the weights you used, the settings on the treadmill, absolutely everything. All of these things help you to improve and see you move in the right direction, which will motivate you even more. Buy a little book if that helps, and dedicate it to your plan. You could even make a spreadsheet if you don’t want to carry a book around the gym with you.
Do Lots Of Research
Do lots of research on different plans and ways of training. This will help you to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Again, learning all of this stuff can take a long time. Letting everything sink in and truly learning it can take months, years even. YouTube is an amazing resource, as there are so many professionals on there who like to share their knowledge. Don’t buy fitness magazines to learn about fitness properly. They are full of propaganda and fads that won’t help you in the slightest!
Make Sure You Enjoy It
It doesn’t matter how effective your fitness plan is supposed to be. If you don’t actually enjoy doing it, you won’t stick to it! This doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be challenging. You should give it a couple of weeks to get used to exercise, if you’re not already before you decide whether you enjoy it or not. If you don’t, work out what it is and change it if possible. It might be a simple case of swapping one exercise for an equally as effective exercise. It might be a case of changing your training style completely. The more research you do, the better prepared you’ll be for changing your routines when it’s called for.
Challenge Yourself
Challenging yourself with your fitness plan is so important. This means pushing yourself. Maybe having a shorter rest period, or using a heavier weight. Maybe sprinting a bit faster. Just because a plan has worked for you for a while, doesn’t mean it’ll continue to work if you’re not pushing yourself. Being honest with yourself about how much effort you’re putting in is essential.
Ensure Your Eating Enhances Your Efforts
There is zero point in coming up with a great fitness plan unless your eating is going to enhance your efforts. In fact, your eating is the most important thing about it! You need to make sure you’re getting enough protein to keep and build more muscle. This could mean having up to a gram per pound of bodyweight. Your fat intake needs to be healthy and balanced too. Fat will not make you fat, as long as you’re getting it from healthy sources! Carbs aren’t the enemy either. Some choices are healthier than others, but ultimately it’s about consuming them in moderation. If you cut out a particular food group, your body will wreak havoc on you as soon as you introduce it back in. Eating at regular intervals so that you don’t get too hungry is important too. You really need to be committed to making sure your eating enhances what you’re doing. This might mean shopping for food regularly, spending more money on it, and maybe even purchasing things like protein supplements.
These tips should help you to come up with a fitness plan that really works. When you know enough, it should be quite easy for you to come up with your own plan. Bear in mind there are plenty out there that are cost effective to buy to get you started on the right path. Have fun with it and don’t give up on your goals!
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