Men’s Secrets to Achieving and Maintaining Fitness
Does this sound familiar? You start a fitness program, but after a while, you relax your training schedule. And tired of training on and off, you eventually quit, never having achieved your goals or seen any noticeable changes. Later, guilt sets in, and you start training again, but only to quit again. How do you break this cycle of inconsistency? Here are a few tips.
Start Slow
Eager to get into shape quickly? Then you probably intend to push yourself hard with aggressive workouts. Unfortunately, this is the wrong approach, for such intense workouts leave you dizzy, nauseated, or even injured. Instead, take it easy at first, and then slowly build up to more advanced regimes. This way, your body has enough time to adapt to the changes.
Think Positive
Starting slow has another advantage. It allows your mind to associate fitness with positive feelings. And this positive connection is crucial, for remembering, will power keeps you going even when you’re tempted to quit. But you won’t have it if your mind links fitness with dizziness, nausea, or pain.
Try Group Training
Will power alone cannot keep you on the fitness path. You also need motivation. And the best place to find it is in a group session, preferably one comprising of fellow newbies. Together, you both challenge and encourage each other. What’s more, these groups often have a trainer leading and pushing them further.
Stop Diet Hopping
Regarding diet, avoid following what every friend, magazine, or article advises. Not that their advice could be wrong. On the contrary, it might even be helpful. But you won’t achieve noticeable results if you skip from a low-calorie diet this week, to a Paleo diet next week, and to a vegan diet the following week. For the best results, stick to one diet regimen because all of them work. And while you’re at it, remember to throw in a testosterone booster as well. It not only adds strength and stamina, but also boosts energy and sharpens focus.
Stop Fitness Regime Hopping
Besides diet hopping, also avoid changing your fitness regimen needlessly. Remember, each has its benefits, so pick a suitable one for you. If you settle on powerlifting, then that’s fine. Just stick to it until you achieve your goals. The same applies to Olympic lifting, running, or whatever else you pick.
Make Fitness a Lifestyle
Ask the fittest person you know, and they’ll tell you staying fit is more than what you do in the gym. It’s also about making the right lifestyle choices and being more physically active. A term has even been coined for it, NEAT or non-exercise activity training. NEAT involves choosing to walk rather than to drive short distances or to walk up a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Physical activities like gardening also fall into this category.
Contrary to what you think, achieving and maintaining fitness revolves more around what you do outside a gym than what you do with it. It’s about how you think, who you train with, and which diets you settle on. In short, it’s about making the right lifestyle choices and then sticking to them.
