2. Mindset and Goal Setting
3. Lifestyle and Stress Reduction
4. WATER, WATER and More WATER
5. Nutrition (Eat CLEAN To Get LEAN)
6. Resistance Training
7. Metabolic Training
#1. ABC (Attitude, Belief and Consistency)
ATTITUDE! You MUST have the right attitude from the moment you start. Develop a success-orientated attitude and avoid negativity at all costs.
ACCEPTANCE! A is also for ACCEPTANCE. In that you MUST ACCEPT the fact that fat loss is hard, because once you accept that it’s hard you will take it more serious and commit to your fat loss nutrition and training plan, which ultimately makes fat loss a lot easier.
ACTION! A is also for ACTION. In that you MUST Take ACTION and apply what you know you need to do, because until you do it, it really doesn’t matter what you know. Apply these 7 action steps starting today and start seeing results real soon!
BELIEF! You MUST believe that you will succeed and attain the beach body you want for the summer season of 2009. As the saying goes ‘You must believe it, if you want to achieve it.’ Develop the attitude and belief that this summer you are going to look your absolute best once you hit the beach and you’ll have the confidence to wear the bathing suit of your choosing.
CONSISTENCY! You MUST be consistent with your training and nutrition. Summer seasonwill be here in approximately 12 weeks, which is enough time to make significant changes in your body, provided you are consistent with your training and nutrition from now onwards. There’s no room for major errors. Small mistakes will happen, but repeated mistakes or major slip-ups are not acceptable.
Journal your fitness (nutrition, training, etc) so you can look back and see how consistent you are being with your training and nutrition. This is a very helpful tip. DO IT!!!
#2. Mindset and Goal Setting
Develop a more athletic based mindset. This is a mindset that focuses on bringing about physical performance improvements, which ultimately leads to improved physical appearance. Focus on getting stronger, faster and fitter (improving your conditioning levels) and you will get leaner and sexier.
Set goals that are challenging but realistic at the same time. The goals you set must require you to work hard and maintain consistency during the run up to summer season. Make sure you write your goals down on paper and constantly look over them. Look at them daily and read them out allowed. Keep your goals fresh in your mind and you will achieve them.
#3. Lifestyle and Stress Reduction
As I like to say, you need to sculpt your life in order to sculpt your body. You don’t need training to become your life, but you MUST lead a lifestyle that is conducive to achieving the goals you want.
Eliminate stress as much as possible. Avoid stressful situations, as well as avoiding negative events and people. Don’t stress the small stuff. STAY focused on what you want to achieve.
#4. WATER, WATER and More WATER
I shouldn’t have to tell you to DRINK YOUR WATER. You should know that already. Aim to drink at least 3 liters of water a day. Bring your own bottle of water with you to the gym, even if the gym has a water fountain. CARRY YOUR OWN!
Water, green tea and herbal tea should be all you drink. Don’t drink any calories from soft drinks (sodas), fruit juices or milk. Lose the booze from now until summer time or at least cute back significantly on your intake.
#5. Nutrition (Eat CLEAN To Get LEAN)
You got to eat clean if you want to get lean. You DO NOT need to starve yourself however. Be SMART with your food choices.
Here’s the basics:
- Eat lean proteins such as skinless chicken and turkey breast
- Eat omega 3 eggs and if eating cheese do so in very small amounts, with low-fat options.
- Eliminate or significantly reduce your intake of dairy.
- Eat your GREENS and lots of them. Go raw or lightly steam!!!
- Eat your fruits, but don’t overdo them. 2-3 servings a day MAX!
- Don’t fear the FAT. Choose healthy fats and consume them.
- Time your higher content carbohydrate meals around your workouts (pre or post workout)
- Use a quality fish oil supplementation and increase dosage over time.
- Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time.
- DO NOT DIET or Try STARVE Yourself!!!
#6. Resistance Training
Train using resistance training, such as free weights, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells and using medicine balls.
Make sure you perform full body and or upper and lower body split routines, making sure you HIT all your bodies ‘Metabolic Hot Spots’. Your bodies metabolic hot spots are the sites on the body that have the most muscle mass and therefore greater metabolic expenditure is required to repair the muscle tissue of these sites. The 3 main metabolic hot spots are:
1. Chest
2. Back
3. Legs (lower body).
Aim for a minimum of 3 resistance training sessions per week.
#7. Metabolic Training
Most important thing you want for summer is to be very lean. No doubt you want your stomach to be really tight and toned looking or ripped up if you’re a guy. Well that doesn’t mean you need to start doing lots of ab work. AB work will do nothing about abdominal fat loss. So CUT Back on the crunches and AB work, GET METABOLIC and your abs will get CUT UP!!!
Getting metabolic means training anaerobically, not aerobically. It means training at higher intensity and for less duration, as well as training for improved conditioning.
The BEST options for metabolic type work is supersets, tri-sets, circuit training, work capacity circuits, and interval training.
I would suggest you use supersets and tri-sets as the method you use on your resistance training days and then on another day perform some type of circuit training using bodyweight and dumbbell or medicine ball exercises.
If training more frequently add in a short and intense interval training session at the end of one of your resistance training days and dedicate another day solely to interval training, lasting anywhere from 20-40 minutes, based on conditioning levels.