An Answer To The Million Dollar Dilemma

 

I’ve decided to open up one of the biggest secrets I am privy to, in order address one of the biggest health and fitness problems known to man and woman-kind.

I can sum up the phrase that epitomises the main issue going on for the average person in this world. Might I say, plenty of bodybuilding would-be and current competitors have this issue too – they just use the old comp prep as a thin guise for a drastic approach.

And here it is – the $1 million dollar question. That I can begin to fix.

“Nothing I do seems to work for me”

You’ve never said that? Well maybe you haven’t said or thought exactly that phrase in so many words – but check out this list and see if any of these you;

·        Perpetually on a roundabout of choosing a new challenge/program/trainer/celebrity/magazine article to follow in order to lose weight and maybe even grow some muscle?

·         Your eyes immediately track to anything that has the words; “diet”, “lose weight fast”, “best ever diet”, “brand new proven weight loss program”, “weight watchers”, “jenny Craig”, “Atkins”, “paleo”, “caveman”, “5 foods you should never eat for fat loss” …. I could go on forever.

·       You join up and the first 7-10 days on any given program is exciting, challenging, hard but achievable, brag-worthy to your workmates and family, full of instant success and life-changing results. But day 11 and onward seems to start the spiral backwards… and the results dwindle … enthusiasm wans … you stop ‘feeling’ like you are getting anywhere … the drive to succeed gets lost behind that pissed-off-at-yourself feeling of giving in to those Friday night drinks and  nibbles, or that workplace morning tea muffin?

·        Ripping into a brand new gym program with gusto that would make Arnie smile. Strutting your stuff with new gym wear and the confidence that first-week-results gives. Only to find within a couple of weeks you’ve gone from 7 days a week to 3 if you’re lucky, and the excuses start piling in from every direction – too busy, working late, kids not coping without you for that hour, creepy man in the gym annoys you, body pump instructor has a grating voice, too cold, too hot, too smelly.

·        You make a decision to compete in a fitness, figure, physique competition and you excitedly sign up with a fabulous trainer only to be prescribed even less cardio than you already doing, more food than you currently eat and no weird exercises (like front lunge squats with your eyes shut while balancing on a bosu ball). Because really, you figure you know better than the trainer you just paid a fortune to follow so you already determine that you’ll add and subtract factors in the program as you see fit. Better still, you know how to cater for the food-blow-outs and exercise-non-events that you’ve secretly planned so you pretty much row your own boat from the get-go but hold your poor trainer accountable for the overall lack of results.

·        You jump onto yet another 12 week challenge and you sell your soul to complete that gruelling program from week 1 all the way through week 12. From about week 4 onwards you are planning your splurge/binge/pig-out that will occur approximately 13minutes after your final weigh in. You simply cannot wait to take your foot off the gym pedal and have a sleep in now and again, and the thought of having bread, milk, pasta and the odd hot chip becomes a psychological obsession. Life has pretty much been ‘on hold’ for the 12 weeks and week 13 will mark some huge changes.

·        You spend more money on diets and training programs than you do on the actual food you eat.

·        You have a pile of clothes that you only approach when you ‘feel’ slim. Otherwise they are hidden away in another cupboard with the hopes that one day you’ll be able to grace the world in them again.

·        You wear comfy (Daggy! Too-big! Dark coloured! Unflattering! Men’s clothes worn by a woman!) clothes under the guise of “I dress for comfort – not style” when you really know that you are dressing to cover your anticipated weight gain, or your too-full belly from a sugar or bread binge.

·        You make an immediate assessment of everyone you meet as being slimmer or fatter than you. The feeling of inferiority or superiority surely follows.

·       You track weight, food, measurements when you feel good, but abandon it quickly when you head off the health track while loudly proclaiming to anyone that will listen that, “diets suck”…. All the while scouring the mags, websites and social media for the next one to follow with the expectation that it will be better and more successful than the last you tried.

·        And as for you competitors – you are post comp and all is fine and dandy. Until the weight starts piling on. So the competition calendars begin to be your focus. If only you can find one that suits and is not too far away. Building muscle is secondary to finding a stage date that will ensure you are able to gain control and slim down again. In fact, with that date all set and announced publicly on Facebook, you can now relax a little more and ‘carb up’ all in the name of “Comp prep is starting soon!! Woohoo!!!”

So there are some of the problems from a very human point of view. I am arrogant enough to know I have them right. Why? Because I have personal experience with each and every one of them. I have lived a high proportion of my life as a slave to the cycle. And I know I’m far from alone.

Is it a problem to act in these ways? To think like this? Millions around the world do, so what’s the big deal? Here’s the big deal. It’s like living in a food prison. This roller-coaster of weight loss, weight gain, picking a program, succeeding then failing then re-signing up – it’s energy sapping, debilitating, financially taxing for you and your family and it sets us all up for nice big highs and terrible lows. That’s not freedom.

And here is my answer to break this cycle. My golden rule in life for, not only health and fitness, but for all important things to me. The way out of a rut and into success.

Consistency.

If only I could get it through your head. Consistency. That means taking one approach and following it for a long time. More than 12 weeks. More like a year. Not 12 weeks, then 4 weeks off and then another challenge – that doesn’t work. Those 4 weeks off are more than enough to undo most of the hard work achieved.

Consistency.

That means taking a good periodised and progressive training program and doing it the prescribed amount of times per week for a year. Going hard 7 days a week is so silly – and I think most people realise this pretty quickly. No one – absolutely no one – needs to exercise 7 days a week. I’m not surprised that a month later the attendance rate is nearly zero – I’d throw the towel in too. So so so so so much better to start at 3 times a week, and still be going 3 times a week in 6 weeks’ time.

That means starting a fat loss program at reasonable and achievable food levels. 1200 calories is mental. Truly it is. I don’t care what the celebrities say. 1200 leaves no room for treats and no room for life. It will put you in a box of your own and you’ll feel very strong and dedicated some days, while other days you’ll feel exhausted and ostracised from the society you live in. So so so much better to start on higher calories and stick to them as best you can for 3 months.

Consistency.

I want to pretend I have wonderful secrets that only a personal trainer can have (lol). It would be fun to make out that certain exercise combinations are just so much more superior to others. Or that certain food groupings are going to get way better results than others. But the reality is they quite probably won’t.

Better than that is this thought that I know to be true – any sensible approach WILL work. If you follow it consistently for a decent amount of time. 

As for you competitors, you’ve signed up for a long-term sport. You may be lucky enough to blitz your first competition after a solid 12 weeks of training, but the higher you compete, the more the judges will rely on a solid and consistent approach to training. They won’t say so in so many words unless you ask, but I have judged twice now and my ears strain to hear the comments made by the other judges. And make no mistake – they are looking for muscle. Leanness is the way to show them off – it isn’t the crux of the competition.

So maybe you need to address your attention span and give it a stiff uppercut. If you can nail a sensible diet and nutrition program for a decent amount of time – it WILL work.  Maybe you’ve never tried the medium-term approach? It’s a little ‘unsexy’ but the results won’t be.

I’ve always maintained my personal strength to be in this area. I’m not the most lean, I’m certainly not the biggest or the muscliest (is that a word??), nor do I have any great genetics – but I’ve got the doggedly stubborn mindset that just refuses to give in. I train as part of my daily list of things ‘To Do’ and nothing stands in my way. It’s not driven by some desperate attempt to lose weight or show-off on stage – I don’t keep myself particularly lean most of the year and I tend to have at least one year off between competition seasons – it’s driven by a deep knowledge that health is so very important and my goals to better my physique can only be achieved by regular and progressive training.

So there it is. One part of a Million Dollar solution. My Sunday gift to you. For free.

PS: If your trainer is making out that they have a secret way of getting results and it’s all in the way they fabulously plot your program – it probably isn't so much the program as your commitment to following it. If you just follow a sensible and progressive program, any sensible and progressive program, it will work. They can’t possibly have any secret way that hasn’t been done for centuries. No 2015 trainer or coach has the ultimate answer that wasn’t available in the 1950’s, 60’s or 70’s. Perhaps they inspire you and guide you and put together a brilliant package – that’s great and well worth paying them for. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s the only way. Just look at the vast variety of physiques and listen to their approach – they are all different. If one way worked so much better than others – don’t you think the top competitors would all be doing it? So relax and stop thinking the grass is greener somewhere else. It’s probably a case of the trainer/coach having a better marketing campaign or they are more inspiring in their approach. But a sensible and progressive program cannot fail to have results. It’s that simple.

PPS: Fasted cardio; Intermittent Fasting, Carb Cycling, Israeli Deficit Training, Ketogenic anything, Caveman eating, Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free;

-          So many of these would not be necessary for fat loss if you only took a consistent approach to a sensible program. Sigh…….