What is Your Fitness Goal for 2019?

Let’s talk about fitness/physique goals and realistic expectations

I think this is extremely important and a key factor to success for getting in shape. I have seen too many people fail getting in shape because they get discouraged when they don’t see immediate results.

So let’s break down the 4 key points to think about in order to crush your 2019 fitness goal!

#1 – Bulk or Shred 

To build muscle or to lose weight? That is the question. Do you want to put on muscle and get a more muscular physique or do already have too many unwanted pounds and want to lose weight? The thing most people say is both!

Sure, that sounds good but when most people try to add muscle and lose fat at the same time they generally fail at both or very slowly move the needle on both.

If you want to add muscle the solution is to do a bulk first, which means add muscle in the winter time and gain a little excess weight, then when spring time hits start a shred plan to burn all the unwanted body fat. This is what professional body builders do and there is a reason they do it like this, because it works extremely well. Simply put to add muscle you need excess calories beyond your daily needs, to lost fat you need less calories… so to both at the same time is not optimal.

However, if you already have a higher % body fat then a fat loss program first is probably the best bet, once you have that extra weight off then focus on adding muscle.

#2 – Be Realistic and Have Patience 

Make your goal realistic, don’t expect to look like a fitness model by summer if you have not been working out and eating right for the last few years, sorry not going to happen. However, you can make significant progress and changes but be sure to take a before picture and compare to yourself 3- 6 months or whenever from now, this will keep you in check. Look at the progress you made vs day 1 not how close you look now to the ripped model on Instagram.

The second piece of this is expecting results overnight. 2 weeks of clean eating and going to the gym constantly do not equal a 6 pack. It will take time, which most people don’t want to hear as they have been doing something out of their comfort zone and likely struggling with it and not seeing results soon can be a big letdown and then ends up killing the goal all together. So, if you are newer to this or even more experienced it will take at least 6 weeks before you start to notice some changes and then to see more meaningful changes in the mirror out of hardcore programs expect 12 weeks. From there it will be progressing those changes to where your end goal is and that can take years.

#3 – Plan It Out

So, what is your plan to achieve your fitness goal? Having at least a high-level plan beyond “I will start going to the gym and eating better” is essential. If that’s your plan I am telling you now you will likely fail and be one of the millions of people who start the New Year strong and by Feb/March are totally off track. On average 65% of gym memberships at larger commercial gyms are held by those who don’t use them. So, don’t contribute to that statistic, make a plan and stick to it.

If you are not sure what to do some research online find a program you like (bodybuiling.com has great plans to get started with) or hire a personal trainer to help guide you. I will be posting a free muscle building program up in the next month so check back in for more details on the release date for that

#4 – Why? 

The last one is something that is often very over looked but critical to your goal, why?  Why are doing this? The motivation behind the goal, your why. So, when work sucks, kids are crazy, and life is throwing everything at you, you can still dig deep to your reason and push through find the time to get to the gym and stay on track with your nutrition.

So, be honest and ask yourself, why? Do you want to be in better physical shape to achieve or do some activity you are passionate like surfing or snowboarding, improve a heath issue or do you just want to look and feel better? Whatever your motivation is make sure it’s a good one and trust me just wanting to “look better in a swimsuit” generally is not enough for people to dig deep when things get busy/tough… and let’s be honest it always does!

By

Bryan Tayefeh