Summer is fast approaching and a lot of people are already panicking about not being ready for the beach. It’s rare that someone lives a healthy lifestyle and is in good shape all year round. They usually wait until a few months out and then think ‘I need to lose the extra pounds’, not learning anything from the year before!
Rest assured it’s not too late as you still have a good 12 weeks left. This is a good enough timeframe to work with. However, you WILL need to stick to a structure, as your time is limited. I am going to give you several tips about getting summer ready. Here at VA we carry out the following steps and more to ensure our clients will reach an optimal shape ready for the sun, we have a ‘Get Summer Ready in 3 Hours’ Package that means you don’t need more than three hours to spare in the week when preparing to hit your goals.
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Start Your Diet & Training Plan Today
Forget about waiting until Monday to start your new “diet” get started straight away. So if you are reading this while simultaneously eating a chocolate bar and drinking a cappuccino, put that shit down and reach for the good stuff! Don’t be one of them people who moan about not being in decent shape the time summer comes around all because you feel entitled after eating two salads in a week. Unfortunately getting into shape isn’t that easy. It requires hard work, eating healthy and sleeping well. In theory, it is quite simple really. You still have time to lose a good amount of healthy weight, tone up, and get fit. The one thing you do need is time and the more you have of it the better. However, at the time of reading this blog your time is short to get the best results you want. Get yourself doing some form of exercises today and eat well for the remainder of the day, no matter what time of day it is.
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Do Some Resistance training
This is key for anyone wanting to build lean muscle and that is something we all want. Whether you want to look huge like a bodybuilder or not, the goal is still to build more muscle regardless. A lot of people think resistance training is purely body building style weight training but there are various forms of resistance training. Calisthenics and Olympic weight lifting are both different and enjoyable. Both of these forms of training can provide great variety as well as building some muscle. There are plenty of studies done on resistance training. One of which conducted by WL Westcott in 2012 found that inactive adults experience a 3% to 8% loss of muscle mass per decade, accompanied by resting metabolic rate reduction and fat accumulation. Ten weeks of resistance training may increase lean weight by 1.4 kg, increase resting metabolic rate by 7%, and reduce fat weight by 1.8 kg. Benefits of resistance training include improved physical performance, movement control, walking speed, functional independence, cognitive abilities, and self-esteem.
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Embrace HIIT Cardio
HIIT is the abbreviation of High Intensity Interval Training and has been getting a lot of attention in the fitness industry of late and no wonder! As I have said before, this day and age the “can’t find time” to exercise excuse is absolute bulls**t. I don’t know why people put them little stars in a swear word as we all know what it says. It was a moment of madness from me so I apologise. Anyway, back to HIIT cardio. Whether or not you are on a time limit with your exercise is irrelevant. This form of cardio is far more superior to any long distance training you can do. If you are specifically training for a long distance event such as a marathon etc. then there is no need to be doing hours and hours of boring cardio. Martin Gibala who is a researcher in the field of fitness is a huge advocate of HIIT cardio. Gibala’s latest study found that sedentary people derived the fitness benefits of 150 minutes of traditional endurance training with an interval protocol that involved 80 percent less time and just three minutes of hard exercise per week. In addition, the first person to break the four-minute mile was also using the HIIT protocol on a regular basis. As for fat burning HIIT is second to none. Long distance cardiovascular training promotes a huge rise in cortisol levels, which causes you to store fat. Yes any type of exercise will increase your cortisol levels as you are putting your body under stress it doesn’t want to be put under. However, the less stress you can put it under the better. If HIIT cardio isn’t part of your training routine then get involved.
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Exercise Does Not Have to Take up All Your Time
You see someone in great shape, what’s one of the first things you think? I know from comments people have made to me that one of the thoughts is that you must live in the gym. Wrong! If you know how to train properly either from educating yourself or with expert guidance then you should not be spending hours upon hours training. I train maximum six hours a week. If you ask most people who are in great shape then they wouldn’t be far off that either. If I really wanted to up the intensity or save on time I could train and get the same results in under three hours a week. That’s not much time in your week to give up. If you can’t even give up three hours then you don’t deserve it anyway. You need to be smart with your training, it’s not always as simple as more is better. If you haven’t got the ‘know-how’ then employ someone who has.
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Get your Nutrition on Point
I have barked on about this before but the nutrition is key for every single type of fitness related goal. Whether that’s increasing fitness, getting stronger or decreasing body fat. What and how much you eat will depend on the type of goal you have set. If you don’t know what to eat or how much you should be eating then it’s time you found out because your dream physique could be lost without that knowledge. I think the fitness industry is possibly one of the worst industries around because almost everyone thinks they know all about it. The reality is not many people have any kind of clue. It is also finding the balance between eating for a more muscle frame and still staying healthy. Let’s face it bodybuilders are committed more than probably any sport when it comes to dieting. However, a diet loaded with meat and dairy products isn’t healthy in the slightest. Your diet shouldn’t be lacking in nutrients because you are bypassing fruits and vegetables on the way to your goal. So many people stray away from fruits with trying to build muscle because they are worried about eating too much sugar. As long as you are not overdoing it on the fruits you will be fine. The nutrients of the fruits are too good to be missing out on. There are certain fruits that should be in everyone’s daily diet such as pomegranates. These bad boys help boost testosterone like no other. They also taste great with numerous other benefits.
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Be Realistic with Your Aims
This one is about you being honest with yourself and you have probably heard me mention it before. The reason it’s important is because although you should aim high, you have to work with the time you have got, you have more than enough time to rip up for summer now but don’t expect to be walking around like Arnie if you are overweight and looking to shift some pounds, set your goals and make them real. Sometimes people who set out with a deluded aim give up way too easy when they don’t see changes within a week. If you have only just started training and you are expecting to look like a magazine cover within 12 weeks then you are mistaken. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and be truthful to yourself about what you can realistically achieve. If not then it is only going to lead to disappointment. The time frame has a huge impact on your results. If you are training and eating well for three months you will obviously get much better results than if you was to do it for three weeks. I know that is stating the obvious but it has to be said. Also only you know if you have been sticking to it. If you purchase some training or diet tips from someone and you don’t stick to it then it is on you and no one else. If you are not serious about trying to achieve the best version of you then don’t waste your own time or somebody else’s.
Get started now! Don’t waste anymore time, you won’t regret trying to better yourself today!
Summer Ready
Get summer ready in three hours, you don’t need to train two times a day to lean up. Tone up, burn fat and prepare for summer with our weight training, HIIT workouts and personalised diet plans for you.