Poor Preparation = Poor Results

As I type this I'm sat at work munching on a Lion bar for my dinner. A lion bar! I'm not a big fan of sweet stuff generally, I'm eating this as a desperation measure because of my shitty preparation.

I hated every bite but the most annoying thing about it is I busted my ass in the gym yesterday and I feel like it's now a waste. OK, in reality it probably won't have much physical affect but psychologically it does. My brain is apologising to my body right now.

Poor Preparation. I worked all morning at my second job and then had an hour to go home and get some food ready to bring to the gym. I knew I had to work until 10pm so I downed a protein shake at 2pm and then came to work. Yeah, that'll be enough, I said. 4pm - starving, no food and full of frustration.

Many fitness people will only post healthy recipes, pictures of themselves training and living the perfect life. To be honest when I see that stuff on my Instagram or Facebook it slightly irks me. The person obviously means well and follows the traditional path of promoting health and fitness. Nothing wrong with that, that's our job, but our job is also to be as real as possible too.

To me that means being honest and open about the struggles of goal achieving and getting to where we want to be in life. Of course, we want to set an example for our clients and show that with dedication and planning real results can be found, but it's easier to connect with someone who has the same temptations and distractions as you. It's a journey that's best taken together.

The easiest part of getting the body you want is the endless, lonely and tiring hours spent in the gym or pounding the tarmac every night. The hardest part will always be what you do OUT of the gym. It doesn't matter how much you sweat or how hard you push yourself, If your diet isn't planned properly around it you may as well just give up. I'm talking about specific fitness goals here, I'm very aware that some just like to go to the gym for social aspects and general physical activity without any eyes on real results and that's absolutely fine. But most of us want something to show for our hard work and nutrition is the main thing that will hold us back from reaching the top of the mountain.

It's actually fairly simple to work out what you're body needs from food to adapt to the changes you want. For example, If you're a male looking to add a bit of muscle to your frame you will need a calorie surplus of 200-500 per day to promote growth. This means that you will be taking in more calories than your body burns during normal every day functions, thus supporting any intended size gains. But they have to be the right amounts of carbs, proteins and fats, the right choices of food.

Working out your daily macros is also worthwhile doing as it will give you a much clearer picture of what you need to focus on. The same logic can be applied to someone looking to lose weight, where they would need a calorie deficit (where the body burns more than it's taking in from food). Macros can be worked out to support this also.

Back to the lion bar, It's a good example of a very bad choice that serves me no benefit at all. (Actually, it's kept me alive on this shift, props where it's due)..

Food Prep.

If you haven't done this before please be aware that preparing food for the week ahead is literally one of the dullest, mind numbing and time consuming acts you can do as a human being. We can only try to find ways to make it more exciting. Personally having my IPad in the kitchen tuned into Sky Sports helps a lot but it still sucks. My advice, try and do the majority of it in one 2-3 hour period, otherwise you will panic and hate the thought of doing it even more.

Here's a link to a decent article about how to prepare food if you're struggling to find the time or can't make it a habit that sticks. http://dailyburn.com/life/health/meal-prep-ideas-healthy-eating 

Good Luck!

Carl Ackerley

Consistency is the key

Whenever you hear 'The Rock' talk about training he will often say the magic ingredient to getting the results you want is....consistency. Yes, there are a million other different things you need but the number one ingredient....consistency.

It's the ability to drag your sorry ass out of bed and to the gym on a rainy, cold and dark morning . It's the dedication to say no to your friends when they want to go out on the town and get fucked up. It's the commitment to prepare your food for the week and avoid the lure of your favourite fast food outlets. Yes, you also have to have a life and enjoy yourself too. However, and I know it's not what you want to hear, but you pay a price for that. Every decision you take has a positive and a negative result.

 

Going out and getting wasted usually results in a bloody good night and is good for the soul. Let's face it, one of life's pleasures is having a few pints or bottle's of wine and chatting bollocks with your friends. Unfortunately what's good for the soul isn't good for the body.

And that's why it's so difficult to get the results we want, because most of us are surrounded by things that can easily suck us in and spit us out the other side looking a mess. Nowadays we are all guilty of being glued to our phones and filling our heads with unnecessary shit. That energy could be spent doing something more positive and constructive. We don't get enough sleep, staring at our phones brainlessly scrolling Facebook at midnight. And we drink too much caffeine (I'm massively guilty of this). We don't give our body what it needs to become what we want it to become yet we still expect to be happy with what we see in the mirror.

So what can we do? Realistically? We can always do our best. We can make small changes that will lead to big results in the long term. For example, I've decided to cut out sugar in my coffee. Usually I have two but I thought, "You CAN drink this without Sugar. It may not taste nice but you CAN survive." So I've been doing it. Sure, the coffee tastes like shit now and anyone who knows me knows it's one of my favourite pastimes but I made that choice.

 Imagine if we strung 5 or 6 little things together like that over a period of 6 months. We would be making a massive difference. Consistent little things.

We need consistency in our training too. It's not enough going flat out for 3 months and then taking a two month break because we lost motivation. It comes down to how much we want to change and what we're willing to do to make it happen.

As a Personal Trainer people kind of expect you to be perfect, practice what you preach etc.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that PT's are also imperfect humans. Just because we have a certain knowledge or qualification doesn't mean that we will never be seen in Pizza Express eating a 15-inch Meat Feast. Everyone is faced with the same day to day temptations.

I'm more than happy to admit that I need to get refocused and start working harder and training more often. It's amazing how difficult it is to motivate yourself to train at the end of a long day training other people. I am responsible for me, no excuses. How much do I want it? I'm still hungry to be the best version of me, I just need to DO IT.

So be consistent. Prepare your food, cut out stuff you don't need in your life, turn away from negativity and negative people. Find a programme that works for you and beast it every time you step in the gym.

Then and only then will you get the results you want.

I'm going to endeavour to take my own advice.

Carl Ackerley