CORE PRINCIPLE #1 – Chart your progress
How will you know if you’ve made progress if you don’t take pictures? In my view, progress photos are a must.
You may not feel like doing this when you begin your journey, but nothing beats having something to look back on once you start making progress. Reflecting on how you used to look and how far you have come can be a very powerful and encouraging tool. Many people are moved to make a change because they see a photograph of themselves and don’t like what they see.
Images can be a far more powerful medium than a measurement or a number on a scale and if you keep a log and take regular update photographs, this will inspire you to keep going.
CORE PRINCIPLE #2 – Separate fact from fiction
There is a lot of misinformation within the fitness world. People often fail to take bodybuilding seriously as a sport because of controversies surrounding performance-enhancing drugs, or because bodybuilders are labelled as boneheads. In fact, bodybuilders have always been ahead of the curve where the latest trends in nutrition and fitness are concerned. While anabolic steroids (synthetic hormones) do aid weight loss, natural bodybuilders don’t use them and have been following the principles of “clean eating” and the benefits of “whole foods” for many years.
Bodybuilders have always used the basic principles of science to push the boundaries of human physicality. Granted, some have pushed it a little too far, but we should not discredit how pioneering the sport has been in terms of attaining peak physicality and human advancement.
So, do your research, don’t jump to conclusions or subscribe to stereotypes, and be sure to separate fact from fiction. Give some of the latest innovations described in this book a chance. You might be surprised at what you learn.
CORE PRINCIPLE #3 – Look at the bigger picture
When embarking on a new path in life, a little perspective is essential. If you focus solely on the problem, you may never see the solution, as simple as it might be.
Before zoning in and breaking down your new workout schedule or eating plan, make sure you have already taken a look at the bigger picture. If your aim is to get a flat stomach, or more muscular arms, or to increase your bench press, take some steps back to work out what you need to do to achieve this. Focusing on the subcutaneous fat around your middle will not help you lose it, neither will doing 800 sit-ups. You cannot spot-reduce fat. Your focus should instead be on lowering your overall body-fat percentage, and you will achieve this by moving more and eating less. It’s that simple. A good diet will improve your six-pack more than sit ups ever will.
Know what you are working toward. Give yourself a clear overall goal, and really consider what you need to do and how far you have to go to get there. Make a list of everything you want to achieve and write it down. Then construct your own programme, keep a log of your development, keep taking those progress photos, and you’ll soon be achieving your goals.
CORE PRINCIPLE #4 – Define your own strategy
Fitness is about detail. It’s about variables. It’s the combining of factors; creating the right environment in order to aid change. It’s about adopting a strategy that works for you. While diet alone (being in a calorie deficit) will help you lose weight, combining the right meal plan with exercise will help accelerate weight loss further. Likewise, lifting heavy weights while eating in a calorific surplus should build muscle (but perhaps some fat, also). It will certainly help you gain size.
There is so much to know. There are so many options, routes, and opinions to consider. For example: ›› What is the best pre-workout, post-workout, mid-workout energy boost? ›› Should I do cardio or weights or both? ›› Should I train fast or full?
There is no right or wrong answer because everyone is different. It’s easy for us fitness types to lecture because fitness is our job. That’s why the most valuable advice I can give you is this: be open to trying new things. Pick a diet and exercise programme that is slightly outside of your comfort zone to begin with, and then push yourself a little harder each week. Remember, baby steps.
CORE PRINCIPLE #5 – Get to know yourself, inside and out
Like a machine, the body has a very specific set of design functions. It has been created with purpose, and that is to survive at all cost. In order to get the best from your body you must listen to it and respect it. And the first step is to learn as much about it as you can.
It takes time and patience to reach one’s peak. We try and we fail. We try again and then we adapt. We try again and then we improve. This is how we evolve, through trial and error.
This is also how muscle is built. By breaking it down, allowing it to repair. Thus, it becomes stronger. It is a complex process that begins with some simple knowledge. Not just an understanding of the nuts and bolts of nutrition and exercise, but through knowledge of YOUR limitations. Knowing WHAT WORKS and WHAT DOESN’T.
CORE PRINCIPLE #6 – Increase your metabolic flexibility
Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand. Metabolic flexibility aids the dispersion of glucose within the body. This stops the body storing it as fat.
There are four metrics that help us control our glucose. These are: 1. Activity level 2. Muscle mass 3. Physical fitness 4. Physically active. The benefits of having greater muscle mass means you will have a smaller insulin spike than those with less muscle density. The more muscle mass you have, the better you will be at disposing of glucose.
If you are physically active before eating, or partake in one rigorous workout, your insulin sensitivity will increase (for up to 48hrs), in essence diluting any spike in your blood sugar levels. Fasting will also aid Metabolic Flexibility, as does carbohydrate timing – eating a larger quantity of your daily carbohydrate allowance around a big workout will allow the body to process the glycogen produced.
CORE PRINCIPLE #7 – Stick to clean whole foods
Processed or pre-prepared food such as sandwiches, ready-meals, even protein bars should be avoided, if possible. You only have to look at their lists of ingredients to see the additives, preservatives and extra “hidden” sugars.
Checking the labels on the food you eat will have a big impact on what you allow into your body. The author doesn’t mean the “Low Fat” label on the front (which more often than not means it will also contain more sugar), or the more recent fad of labelling something “High in Protein”, because it has some peanuts in it. He means checking the nutrition matrix on the back. If something weighs 250g (9oz) and has 50g (1.8oz) of sugar, that’s 20 percent of the overall nutritional value of that entire food item. This is not good.
Protein bars and milkshakes found in the supermarket are the fitness industry’s equivalent of fast food, so always read the label before you buy and beware. If in doubt, always go for the natural option.
CORE PRINCIPLE #8 – Don’t be afraid to make changes
Never be afraid to move on. If your eating window doesn’t fit into your lifestyle, then adapt and change it. Likewise, train when and where you want to. If you don’t want to go to the gym because you can’t be bothered to work your legs and it’s leg day, then change it up. Your body isn’t going to punish you for working out your chest instead of your quads. It’s far more beneficial to do something rather than nothing.
Even while working out and eating a strict diet, at certain level your body will plateau; you will find yourself in a position that many people call maintenance. That is just maintaining your physique in its current state. This is the stage where people tend to panic and will start buying supplements and fat burners to enhance their progress.
Before doing this, first consider if your diet is in check, or maybe it has plateaued. Perhaps it needs to be adjusted. If your body has adapted to your training regime, then perhaps you need to ramp it up, maybe by increasing the weights or introducing more food beforehand.
CORE PRINCIPLE #9 – Never stop learning
Some people find a training method that works for them – an exercise they like, or a diet that helps lose a little fat – and they figure that learning why it actually works serves little purpose. They stick with that one thing, and never consider there might be other options or tweaks that can improve it. Part of working smarter involves taking a little time to consider how the science behind something can really change your understanding of an exercise or specific diet, especially as you grow and adapt.
As your fitness levels improve, then so too will your tolerance to certain foods and training routines. Getting from 30 percent to 15 percent body fat is by no means an easy feat, but getting from 15 percent to 10 percent, or from 10 percent to 8 percent is a lot harder. The body wants to hold on to fat (and water) so we have to adapt and almost trick it into using it as fuel. This is how the ketogenic diet works
This is why lifting heavy weights are more effective for weight loss than, say, cardio. So many men and women avoid lifting heavy weights because they fear they will become musclebound. Others meanwhile still believe that muscle can turn to fat. Both are nonsense. A little research will go a long way.
Even while working out and eating a strict diet, at certain level your body will plateau; you will find yourself in a position that many people call maintenance. That is just maintaining your physique in its current state. This is the stage where people tend to panic and will start buying supplements and fat burners to enhance their progress.
Before doing this, first consider if your diet is in check, or maybe it has plateaued. If your body has adapted to your training regime, then perhaps you need to adjust or ramp it up, maybe by increasing the weights or introducing more food beforehand.