Start Growing, Start Training

The world of fitness has now opened up to the masses and it no longer matters who you are;  if you are willing to pay you have access. This has had tremendous impact on the entire industry, there is now a wealth of information available, money being invested and entire culture brewing behind it. If you walk in the average gym today, you’ll quickly realize the pursuit of one’s fitness is no longer exclusive to any one group. You’ll  see all kinds:  young, old, meathead bodybuilders, malnourished runners and even the aggressive soccer mom competing for same equipment as the athlete.  Although each person  is there for a completely different reason,  you can still categorize them into two groups by their approach & mentality

They  are either  people who Train or those who “Workout“

Trust me, if you are looking to achieve any goal you do not not want to be apart of the later group.

What’s the difference?

Those who are  there to just “workout”   are at the gym to simply check workout off of their to do list. The time  they spend at the gym has little structure or  purpose beyond moving & exhausting their bodies because they “should.” When I first tried going to the gym in highschool I was part of this group, I wanted to get “stronger” so I would pick a random muscle group ( chest& triceps, legs,etc) and just do  workouts I had seen others do  on fitness sites. I determined the quality of my workouts by  how sore, exhausted or out of breathe I was; only then did I feel like I had done something.  Needless to say, this lack of direction  gave me very poor results until I eventually learned how to properly train.

Unfortunately, the mentality of just  “working out” because you should, or to just get stronger & healthy is a sure fire way to plateau, lose motivation and have little to no results.

Are you ready to stop working out and start training?

How to Start Training

We often associate the idea of “training” with  hard core athletes, bodybuilders & people preparing for events. The reality is anyone  can train for just about anything, you could simply want to look better naked, get better stamina for hiking or learn a handstand. To train for something is just to add structure and methodology to how you go about your goal.

Step 1: Start with a S.M.A.R.T goal

What’s your overall goal: To move better? lose weight?  get stronger? improve performance in a sport? You might just want to be healthier.  Although there nothing inherently wrong with these goals, we want want to make some adjustments to them to make them SMART Goals.

Here’s some examples:

I want to lose weight   -MADE SMART->   I want to lose 20lbs in 4 months

I want get stronger   -MADE SMART->  I want to add 60lbs to my Squat in 4 months

I want to move better -MADE SMART-> In 3 months,  I want to perform a Muscle Up

I want to be healthy  -MADE SMART-> In 6 months, I want my LDL to be normal.

These goals are now Specific, Measurable, Action Orientated, Realistic, Time Based. If you haven’t ran into the S.M.A.R.T acronym before, I highly suggest you read further into it; as it can be applied to many aspects of life beyond fitness. For the broader examples of health, movement, strength, etc, you would just need to make more than one smart goal.

Step 2: Know the steps you need to take

Once we’ve established our goal, we must figure what steps we will need to take to get what we want. Before we even  pick up a weight, lace our running shoes  up, we need to have a  program or plan. Each training session should serve a specific purpose and get us closer to our goal. Now, that doesn’t mean every session we need to make progress, we just need to see an upward trend of progress over time. A good program progressively challenge us, have effective recovery protocals and provide consistent measurable results. If you are just starting out and have general goals, I recommend you find yourself a solid premade program that fits this criteria. Making you’re own program requires knowledge and experience, simply put; if you don’t have any idea how to make a program you’re probably not ready (you’ll get there one day 🙂 )

 Lets say, you want a to add 60lbs to your the Bench Press

Example of a Good Program:

• I will bench press twice a week  on non consecutive days.
• For this exercise I will perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions adding 2.5 lbs every session
• If I fail to successfully perform the full exercise I will  drop the weight next sessio

Example of a Bad program:

• I will Bench Press or do Pushups 7 days per week.
• I will do 2 sets to failure  and attempt to get more repetitions each session.
• If I fail to progress, I will try harder next time.

Althought the second example is fairly exagerated, it’s not far off what I see alot of people who “workout”  do in the gym. Before starting any program, make sure that it has proven results, do your research and hear what most people have to say. We are all different and there are some unique individuals  who will progress doing just about anything.

Step 3: Keep a Log of your Progress & make notes

Whenever I walk into a gym I make sure I have a notebook. I will literally ask someone for a pen and paper if I forget one. Why? You need to keep track of your progress and write down anything you learn during a session. That means you write down all your measurables: repetitions, distance, weight, time, etc This is not only an excellent way to make sure you are on track, it can also be quite rewarding seeing real evidence of your progress. You might not always make physical advancementseach workout, yet there is almost always something you can take away from it.

When your mentality  focuses on growth,  you will find that overtime, you will have many training epiphanies. These are learnings that  will change the way you approach your training and perform each exercise.  You might discovr how  to properly activate a muscle, the effects of your breathing or the  difference you  feel after a late night of drinking. I recommend making notes everytime you make little adjustments to rest periods, muscle activation, form, sleep and nutrition. These realizations  are often more important than the physical progress,they not only determine the effectiveness of each exercise, they show how well you will be able to continuelly improve with your program.

Step 4: Loose the Ego and  get Disciplined

Naturally humans like to be independant, this makes it  incredibly tempting to stray off  of our programs. We might fall victim to our ego and feel as though results aren’t coming quick enough, you might try to make your own program or want to try something different. The most important part of training is consistency, success with health & fitness is certainly a marathon not a sprint. Give whatever program you try at least two months of consistent effort before making any changes. The one exception here is if you feel the program is absolutely not a fit for you: it might be too intense, aggrevate an injury or just be poorly laid out. In order to truly judge a program you must not add more work to your sessions, change exercises, mess with your diet or neglect recovery. If your program has been tried & tested with lots of success, there is  probably a very good reason it’s written the way it it.

This requires discipline, which  is something not everyone is naturally good at,  you might need to make yourself accountable to someone: a workout partner, personal trainer or disciplined friend. If still you want to take the solo approach, here are some strategies to get consistent with your training:

• Write it in the calender: Push day, Long run, Leg day, etc
• Track your workouts and celebrate milestones (photos, videos, etc)
• If you can, workout at the same time everyday so your body gets into a routine
• Download an app that will remind you to stay on track, such as: MyFitnessPal, Fitocracy, Coach.ME, Pact 0r Strong.
• Make others aware of what you are doing (but please no instagram food photos)
• Reward yourself after training: Watch netflix, spend time with the family, play video games, drink a coffee or tea (Just DON’T use Food)
• Create a good enviroment: surround yourself  with people who are supportive,  precook food, don’t go grocery shopping hungry, reduce life stressors.
•  Sleep well, it basically determines your ability to make good decisions.
• Meditate the awareness will transfer into your training.

 

Happy Training!

I hope you can take something away from this article, it echoes many things I wish I had I could have told myself when I started out. When I apply these steps, I not only start cruising smoothly towards my goals,  I have more time, energy & confidence to tackle my life outside of the gym. These principle are not exclusive to fitness, they can be applied to just about any venture we want to take on our lives, ask yourself: Where  do I need to start training?

Thanks for being Curious

-Jake Pierce