You are not alone: many people show the drive, determination and constant effort, but do not achieve their goals. If this sounds familiar to you, the next logical step is usually to find a well-trained personal trainer with proven experience.
To help you out, we speak to some of the best personal trainers in the country. Check out their 25 insightful tips and strategies designed specifically to help you build strength, build muscle, lose fat, improve your stamina, and maintain healthy eating habits.
1. Make sure you eat healthy
Ask almost any personal trainer and they will tell you that regardless of your training goals, healthy eating is the backbone. Food is what fuels your body to achieve your goals, and without proper nutrition through quality food, you are likely to quit. Provide a balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, complete proteins and healthy fats such as fish oil and flaxseed.
2. Prepare in advance
Preparing meals ahead of time gives you the best chance of reaching your nutritional goals, says Micah LaCerte, a personal trainer and world champion of the fitness competition. That way, you don't feel pressured to eat unhealthy foods or skip meals. Check out 10 of our favorite easy meal preparation recipes.
3. Eat more clean foods
Eat only three meals a day? Not a good idea "Half of the people I deal with don't lose weight because they don't eat enough," says experienced personal trainer Mike Duffy. Duffy advises its customers to "eat five times a day, about every three hours, to boost their metabolism," including two mini meals with three basic meals. Now that activities are decreasing during the day, he advises "to eat less as the day progresses."
4. Determine your portion sizes
You will eat more often, so paying attention to portions is extremely important. "Make sure chicken breast (s) meat is no bigger than your palm and pasta is no bigger than your fists," said Jay Cardiello, personal trainer for countless celebrities and professional athletes. He also suggests using "smaller bowls, plates and cups" because studies show that people "serve 20-40% more food when using larger plates". Here we show you how to calculate portion sizes.
5. Eat with a purpose
Everything you consume must have substantial nutritional value. "You want the most nutritional investment for your money," said Dan Trink, C.S.C.S., strength trainer and trainer. "Everything you eat should have a nutritional function in your body, fuel your workouts and (focus on) optimizing your body."
6. Understand the basic concepts of muscle building.
Talk to any personal trainer and they will tell you that there are certain basics of muscle development. First, increase your calorie and protein intake, so your body has enough building blocks to grow. Then when you enter the gym, focus on your shape. Make compound movements and train with weights on average about four times a week. Never underestimate the importance of rest. Remember, muscle tissue grows outside the gym when it gives your body time to relax and recover after your workouts.
7. Work your full range of motion
Don't take shortcuts. "Aim for the greatest range of motion you can achieve in your exercises," says Lee Boyce, C.P.T. "Your muscles will do more work for repetition, and will result in you breaking more tissue at the end of training."
8. Don't go too heavy
Wondering how to get the most out of weight lifting? "Use a weight that will cause you to fail on the set between the 30-40 second mark," says Duffy. Time under tension makes the muscle grow. "If you fail within 20 seconds, you know the weight was too heavy."
9. Carefully consider cardio
If your goal is to get big, then go back to your cardiovascular workouts, says LaCerte: Chances are, you're burning too many calories. So what should you do if you still want to do some cardio? LaCerte says that "a light jog a few days a week for 20 minutes is adequate." If you're aiming to burn fat, of course, then focus on getting enough protein every day (usually one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight), while keeping your overall calorie intake low.
10. Choose supplements wisely
Some trainers and lifters believe that supplements can play a key role in increasing muscle gains. If you subscribe to that theory, chances are you're already taking protein supplements, but what else? Creatine, for example, "appears to be the most effective supplement for increasing strength and size," says Trink. To increase its performance, you can also try mint. Cardiello explains that the scent "alters the perception of how hard you are working," making it appear "less strenuous, slower, and easier to complete."
11. Prepare for endurance training
When it comes to endurance training, you need to be hydrated and make sure you eat well, because this form of training is naturally very demanding on your body. You should do a good mix of cardio and strength training. And to increase your aerobic capacity, you should use high-intensity interval training or HIIT. You're likely to sweat buckets and burn a lot of calories, so be prepared.
12. Heart rate monitor
If you already have a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker, now is a good time to get started. If not, you may want to go out and buy one or learn how to do it yourself. "Don't just train for a period of time and quit," says Duffy. "You have to bring in the intensity and a fitness tracker can help you get an idea of how hard your heart is working."
13. Endurance exhaust
To promote your endurance training, you must fully exert yourself. "You go for muscle exhaustion, so don't forget to completely exhaust the muscles," says Boyce. How can you do that? Boyce suggests that you 'get good at the body weights: pullups, chinups, pushups, inverted rows, and (and) squats. If you master these movements for high repetitions, your muscles are well conditioned. '
14. Consider reducing rest time
It is always tempting to take a break while exercising, but LaCerte recommends that you take 30-45 second rest times between sets as this will increase your overall stamina. If you are doing strength training, lift moderately to heavy weight and keep your rep range between 8 and 15 reps. When running, combine low-intensity cardio and steady-state with sprinting. "
15. Learn how to fight fatigue
Fatigue may be your biggest enemy in endurance training, but there are some ways to combat it. First, drink beet juice, which is packed with healthy nitrates that can improve your cardiovascular function. "Beets can even increase stamina by 16%, and it helps your muscles to produce more energy, more efficiently, making exercise less tiring," says Boyce. Another way to improve your performance is to carefully select your music. "When people listen to favorable music, their arteries enlarge by 26 percent," says Boyce.
16. Understand the basics of strength training
If you want to build strength, you need to set goals and be patient. When you start out, it's important to be consistent and stick to your plan. Don't get distracted when you're at the gym. Stay focused on the task at hand. When you leave the gym, make sure you get enough rest and track your progress. If you remain determined, your goals can be achieved.
17. Find your motivation
Motivation is central. Some good ways to stay motivated while you work out: count down, not up, when doing reps. Another trick: "Look at your dominant hand as you push up," explains Cardiello - it "automatically includes positive reinforcement" because the dominant hand moves weight more easily and quickly.
18. Focus carefully on the way
With strength training you will put a lot of effort into your body, so it is important to maintain the correct shape. By maintaining the right shape, "you're guaranteed to activate the muscle groups you want to train and, most importantly, stay healthy and injury-free," says Trink. "The man who can stay healthy can train more and progress more in the long term."
19. Note the little things
Ever notice how some seemingly insignificant things can make a difference? Strength training is no different. When you do strength training, you should "pay attention to the little things, because you're only as strong as your weakest link," Boyce says. "If you notice a deficiency, treat it with your program."
20. Change helps
If you want to progress, sometimes you have to change things. "Make sure your body never adjusts to what comes next," explains LaCerte. Once that happens, you may notice a decrease in strength gain results. To avoid this possibility, "change how heavy you are lifting, your exercise rate, your number of repetitions / sets, or what time you are lifting," he says.
21. Understand the basics of fat loss.
Forget counting calories and start thinking of food as fuel for your body. Getting six pack abs is generally a function of fat loss, not muscle blur, and fat burning comes down to one simple equation: calories burned calories. That means going beyond calories and studying your macronutrient intake (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) to understand how much you consume in proportion to the amount you burn during a workout.
22. Take photographic evidence
Can't scale move? You may increase muscle mass and lose body fat, and that means your change in net weight appears to be "stable" even as you go. Take weekly pictures: front, back, and (and) side shots from the same angle, same lighting, same clothing. " That way, you will see changes over time, even if it doesn't seem like it.
23. Understand how to use carbohydrates
Tell us: carbohydrates are not the enemy. Unless you have an extreme diet plan like the keto diet, carbohydrates are an essential source of energy for your body. With that said, you need to pay close attention to how you consume those carbs, because eating too many carbs, or eating carbs at the wrong time, can cause your body to store excess energy in the form of fat. Here's how to eat carbohydrates for more muscle and less fat.
24. Attack your lower body to burn fat
To flatten your belly, "go below the navel," says Cardiello. "In a Syracuse University study, people burned more calories the day after doing less resistance training than after training the upper body, simply because the legs have more mass." This is our overview of lower body workouts in Men's Fitness.
25. Hydrate well
One factor that is often overlooked and that Trink emphasizes is 'making sure your gastrointestinal tract is healthy, because that's how it absorbs all of its nutrients.' Do this by consuming vitamins, fiber, minerals, a probiotic, and water. Cardiello suggests drinking ice cold water first thing in the morning, adding: "Your metabolism will naturally increase to 24% for 24 minutes." LaCerte recommends that you "drink at least one liter of water a day."
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