I think we all recognize that change is a good thing. Yet so many people resist change when it comes to their training and nutrition. Unfortunately, it often takes an injury or health scare for people to get motivated to change.
Well, I say get ahead of the game and be proactive. If you are not seeing the results you desire from your training and nutrition plan, guess what? You need to make some changes.
Don’t get me wrong — I love having a routine. I’m not saying you have to ditch your entire approach and start from scratch. Instead, pick one thing to focus on at a time.
Even if you think you are the healthiest/fittest/strongest person in the world, if you are not reaching your goals, you need to mix things up. Here are my top 5 things to look at when it comes to kick starting your progress:
- Vary Training Intensity: If you are strength training, you need to increase your weights to get stronger. So, if you can complete all of your reps and all of your sets of a particular exercise with good form, its time to increase your weight. If you are doing interval training, go harder. Go faster. Reduce your recovery time. You get the picture, right?
- Vary Training Volume: This can mean increasing the number of days you train or increasing the volume of your training within a particular workout. Either way, you should consider increasing your training volume if you have reached a plateau.
- Clean Up Your Nutrition: I don’t expect anyone to eat perfectly 100% of the time. But, I am pretty sure there is something each of you could tweak in your diet to make it cleaner and healthier. Cut out dairy. Eliminate sugar. Stop drinking alcohol. Avoid grains. These are some of the biggest culprits when it comes to stubborn pounds, fat, and/or digestive issues.
- Go To Bed: Most people do not get enough sleep. And even those who get 7-8 hours are often going to bed too late to get the full hormonal cycle of rest and recovery. Your goal should be to get in bed by 10pm. That means no TV, iPhones, iPads, etc. These devices are excitatory and negatively impact your sleep.
- Hydrate: I know I sound like a broken record with this recommendation, but drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day is a must! Try going for a week drinking nothing but water (this means no coffee, booze, fruit juice, etc.). This simple change alone can get you results.
There are plenty of other ways to get to your health and fitness goals. But these are the big ones. Tackle one at a time and challenge yourself to set new goals. You can do it. You just have to be willing to make some changes.
Good luck, and let me know how you are doing with your goals.
