How to Make Health and Fitness A Priority

This is one of those articles that can be great if you implement what you learn. If not, it'll just be another thing you read as you go about your day making no change to your life.

There's an intro for ya.

Last week, a friend emailed me and asked how I make health and fitness a priority in my life, and what they need to do to make it a priority for themselves.

But before I give you some advice, I'll say this:

There is no formula or step-by-step process in the entire universe that will force a change in your life. YOU have to want to make that change bad enough for yourself. If you do, you'll make it happen. If you don't, you won't. It's a simple as that. It's the brutal truth.

Be open and honest with yourself as you read this article and reflect.

#1: PLAN AHEAD

You can be on the greatest diet of all time and you can have the most effective workout program in the world, but it doesn't mean jack if you don't plan to make those things a consistent part of your life. You MUST plan ahead.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." - Ben Franklin

I like to think I am a hard worker, but I know for a fact that if I didn't take time to plan things ahead of time, they would never happen. No matter how hard you work and how determined you are, the same rule applies to you. I'm not sure what you use to plan and schedule your daily and weekly life, but whatever it is, I'm sure it helps you a ton. If you use that method to plan your meetings, work days, babysitter, appointments, and all the other crazy things you have going on in your life, why wouldn't you do the same for your health and fitness?

Put your workouts in your calendar NOW. Seriously, stop what you're doing and schedule your workouts for this week as well as the upcoming week. Do your workouts take an hour? Yes? Ok, awesome. Find an hour in your calendar, create an event, and title it "Gym Time" or "My Time" or "GO LIFT HEAVY STUFF".

"I don't have an open hour in my calendar."

Yes, you do. You just didn't look hard enough to find it. Go back and try again.

Once you're done planning and scheduling your workouts, take a look at your nutrition and ask yourself the following questions:

• Where do I succeed in my nutrition, and what do I need to do to continue that success?

• Where do I struggle, and what do I need to do to make sure those struggles are non-existent this week?

Whatever that looks like, plan it out.

For most people, the main struggle is eating healthy on a consistent basis while balancing a busy schedule. It's too easy to go out and grab fast food if you don't have anything ready at home, so make sure that doesn't happen. Do some meal prepping, and make some snacks for you to eat this week and the next, NOW. Seriously, do it now.

Put some meat in the crockpot, make a massive pot of rice, and cook up some greens that are easy for you to take on the go. That takes wayyy less time than you might think. Putting meat in the crockpot takes a couple of seconds, and the crockpot does all the work while you prep other things. Rice takes 10-2o minutes. Greens, about the same. All you need to make easy meals for the entire week is 3o minutes to an hour at the most. You have that time. Sit down and put it in your calendar, NOW.

I'm telling you, planning out the next 7-14 days is going to bring you GREAT success. You just need to do it. So sit down, think about where it's hardest for you to succeed, and schedule a game plan to make sure falling short doesn't happen.

#2: CREATE BEHAVIOR-BASED GOALS

If you've been paying attention to my content for a while, you know that I constantly talk about how important it is to know your why. Your why is the reason you're doing this. Your why tells you the importance and significance of making a change in your life. It is absolutely essential.

But what comes after the why?

Action.

Here's the thing, though. Action means nothing if there's no consistency, and the best way to build consistency is to create habits. The best way to create habits is through behavior-based goals.

Why ---> Behavior ---> Habit ---> Consistency ---> Success

It's easy for all of us to think about the outcome-based goals we want. We want to lose 5% body fat. We want to drop 20lbs. Whatever it is, we all have some sort of outcome-based goal. That's good and well, but those outcomes come from consistency that begins with behavior change. Think for a quick second on what your outcome-based goal is. Now, take that goal and break it down. Ask yourself: "If I want to achieve _______ in ____ months, what do I need to do?" If you need to train properly and eat according to your goals, your new goal is to train five days per week and eat healthy 80% of the time each day. This is just an example. It will change depending on the goal you have and what you need to do to get there. So, figure out what the process looks like, and make the behaviors in your process your new goals that you aim to achieve each day.

I have been absolutely horrible about prioritizing my mobility. I want to reach a new squat PR and improve my form, so my goal is to spend 15 minutes doing ankle mobility 3x per week. That's an example of a behavior-based goal.

Not only will behavior-based goals build consistency, but they'll also keep the big goal from feeling like this daunting, difficult, and completely out-of-reach achievement. You'll slowly begin focusing on the present, what you can do THIS day, and before you know it, you'll be at your outcome-based goal.

#3: YOU GOTTA WANT IT

This one is straight forward. If you want health and fitness to be a priority in your life, you gotta want it. If you do, you'll prioritize it. If you don't, you won't.

I can already hear the excuses I've heard over and over replaying in my head...

"I don't have any time for that."

"You don't understand, you're not a parent."

"My job is too demanding. I have too much on my plate."

STOP.

Just, STOP.

STOP lying to yourself, and take responsibility. It's perfectly fine if you don't want health and fitness to be a priority. But, it is NOT ok to tell yourself it is a top priority when you're not treating it as such.

If your health and fitness really means that much to you, you'll make it happen. You'll move things around, you'll cancel stuff. You'll find a gym that has a daycare for your kids and you'll pay extra for it. You'll wake up early. You'll ask your spouse to help you make time. You'll get a home gym.

It is plain and simple, people. You'll make it happen if you want it to. You won't if you don't. That's the brutal truth.

So, sit down and think through this.

Ask yourself: "Is health and fitness really my top priority?" If it's not, and you don't need it to be, then be at peace with that. It is absolutely not fair for you to tell yourself that it is your top priority and then treat it differently. If it IS your top priority, then make changes accordingly to treat it as such.

Be objective. Be honest. Be truthful.

THE TAKEAWAY

Making health and fitness a top priority comes down to what you want. The BEST thing you can do for yourself after reading this article is to sit down and figure out if you really do want this for yourself. If you do, plan ahead, and plan to execute your behavior-based goals.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.

3 Signs You're Sabotaging Your Training Program

When people ask me what I do (I hate that question) and I tell them I'm a fitness coach, their response is usually full of questions they've wanted answers to for such a long time. Some of the most common questions are:

"What is the best diet for fat loss?"

"What should I eat to build more muscle?"

"What supplements should I be taking?"

The list goes on and on.

Although I get questions regarding nearly every aspect of health and fitness, there is one area of fitness that I feel is extremely overlooked, and that area is training programs, or programming. There is a lot of thought that goes into nutrition, diets, and supplements, but not nearly enough when it comes to programming.

What I'd like to do today is go through three signs that you're sabotaging your training in order to give you an opportunity to reflect on your training program and figure out what you need to change.

Let's do this.

SIGN #1: NOT ENOUGH FREQUENCY

Adding frequency to your training routine is hands down one of the best things you can do to increase your strength, build muscle, and lose fat.

Here's why:

The reason we lift weights is to increase protein synthesis. Increased protein synthesis puts our body in an anabolic state, creating an environment where building muscle and losing body fat is much easier.

A majority of the natural population (people that don't use performance enhancing drugs) have protein synthesis that stays elevated for about 48-72 hours after a resistance training session. Once protein synthesis drops it goes all the way back down to baseline, if not, lower.  Because of this, it is best for most of us to train muscle groups more than once per week.

Those that are using performance enhancing drugs can have their protein synthesis stay elevated for far longer. Therefore, they can only train each muscle group once per week without having to worry about protein synthesis dropping.

Since most of these people are jacked and lean, we often go to them for training ideas. And that's where things go wrong.

Just because something works for someone else, that doesn't mean it works for you.

If you are a natural that wants to build muscle and/or burn fat, it is best for you to train body parts multiple times per week. It will be far more beneficial for you to have 3 full body workouts per week, than to train chest on Monday and wait a whole week to come back to it. Not only does this allow you to keep your protein synthesis elevated longer, but it also allows you to spread your volume out throughout the week, which has been shown to improve results. Whatever you're doing, take your volume and spread it out throughout the week.

Let's say you normally have 20 sets when you train your chest. Studies have shown that you will see more results from spreading those 2o sets throughout the week, than to do it all in one day. This obviously changes a lot based on how advanced you are, but here's the takeaway: Increase your training frequency by taking your current volume and spreading it throughout the week.

And with that, we move to number two.

SIGN #2: NO PROGRESSION IN TRAINING VOLUME

Based on all the studies we have available to us, we know that increases to training volume cause our bodies to change and improve.

Training volume is total poundage based on this simple equation: weights x sets x reps = total volume.

Therefore, there are many ways you can increase your training volume. You can increase the amount of weight you lift, the amount of sets you do, the amount of reps you do, or all of the above.

When thinking of how your body changes and adapts, think of a really steep and tall staircase. Imagine a staircase of walls, so to speak. Climbing up the wall in order to get to the flat platform represents your body changing and being challenged by a new stimulus (more volume). When you finally reach the top of the wall and get to the flat platform, your body has adapted, and it's ready for a new change. You can introduce a new change by adding weight, sets, or reps, whatever is best based on what you've been doing. When I say "best", what I mean is finding the sweet spot between having a challenging amount of volume and frequency in your routine, but still having the time and ability to recover for the next workout.

The easiest way to add volume and create an environment where your body must change is by adding sets or reps. If you're challenging yourself properly, changing reps and sets should cause you to naturally adjust your weight properly. Most studies tell us that our bodies take 2-4 weeks to adapt to a new stimulus. Therefore, adding sets, reps, or both every 4 weeks or so would be extremely beneficial.

I'll give you a quick example.

Right now, I'm currently performing 3-5 sets of 3-6 reps on my strength days, and 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps on my muscle building days. The next time I need to add volume to my training routine, I'll add a set to my strength days, and bump my rep range to 10-12 reps on muscle building days. Both of those additions will increase my overall weekly volume, causing my body to change in a positive way.

At this point, you know that training frequency and volume are two of the most important things to manipulate in order to see results. Increasing your training volume and spreading that increase in volume throughout the week will spark a great change, but what if you don't even know what you're currently doing?

SIGN #3: YOU'RE NOT TRACKING

Everyone knows about tracking food intake, but no one seems to care about tracking a training program. Tracking your weights, sets, and reps is just as important as tracking your protein, carbs, and fats.

Based on what you've read up to this point, you know that increasing your training volume and spreading it out throughout the week with more frequency is one of the best things you can do for your goals. But, how good is that information if you don't know what you're currently doing?

Just like most things in health and fitness, figuring out the best way to track your programming and make proper adjustments will take some trial and error.

There are a few pieces of advice I can give when it comes to tracking your training.

First off, start somewhere. I'm guessing you have some sort of usual rhythm or routine you're in. Start with what you know, and take notes. Whether it's on your phone, in your notebook, or through your online coach, record your usual workouts. Write down your exercises, how may sets you do, how many reps you do in each set, and how much weight you use for those reps. From there, figure out where you'd like to add volume based on your goals.

Second, identify your weak points. Weak points can be areas of your body that are underdeveloped, as well as movements that are not utilized enough. Let's say you have shoulders that are rolled forward from your desk job. Adding volume to your back muscles can help you improve your posture by awakening and strengthening those muscle fibers. Maybe you have a strong squat but your bench is weak. Increase your volume and frequency by practicing your bench press three times per week as opposed to once per week. There are so many things you can do to change your body, and identifying weak points is a great start.

Third, have a vision. Does your dream body need more bicep and tricep work in order to make your arms stand out? Do you dream of having a 400-pound squat? Well, it's time to create a path for that to happen by adding volume and increasing frequency in your training routine. Tracking and adjusting your training program is great, but it's potential isn't fully utilized until you have a vision of what you want to achieve.

Whatever changes you make to your routine, track them. Take notes and make observations on how your body changes. You'll learn more about your body than you ever have before, and you'll save yourself years of fooling around because you took some time to figure out what causes your body to make the change you desire.

THE TAKEAWAY

There are three signs that will tell you you're sabotaging your training, and three solutions to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Sign #1: Not Enough Frequency - You're training everything once per week.

Solution #1: Improve your results by training body parts and movements multiple times per week.

Sign #2: No Progression in Training Volume - You've been doing the same amount of volume for over 4 weeks

Solution #2: Once you begin to see your body adapt to the routine you've been doing, add some volume by increasing weights, sets, and reps. Switch up some exercises if you'd like.

Sign#3: No Tracking - You're not tracking your workouts

Solution #3: Track your workouts, and identify what changes lead to the best results. Learn more about your body and what's best for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.

5 Tips for Easier Fat Loss

Do a Google search for "how to lose fat." I dare you.

You will find thousands upon thousands of different sources, with tons of different answers. If you took the time to compare and contrast all of those different answers, you'd find tons of similarities, and tons of differences. The problem is...

Since you have other important things to do, I'd like to make your life a bit easier. Below is a list of 5 things you should be doing to lose fat easier. If you turn these items into habits, the fat will stay off easier, too.

LIFT WEIGHTS

Lifting weights is going to be one of the best things you can do for your health and fitness no matter what your goal is. I don't care if your goal is fat loss, muscle building, or getting out of your car without groaning. You should be lifting weights.

When we introduce something to our body, it sends a signal telling our body to adapt. If you perform endurance running, your body will receive a signal telling it to adapt by improving its energy efficiency (your metabolism will slow down). If you perform mobility and stretching consistently, your body will receive a signal telling it to adapt my improving the muscles' ability to lengthen and create stability in those lengthened positions. The same concept applies for resistance training. When you lift weights, you send a signal to your body telling it to gain strength and build muscle. As a result, you will become stronger, and carry more lean tissue. This is beneficial for fat loss for one major reason. Resistance training promotes a faster metabolism, as well as muscle building. Muscle takes a lot of energy to maintain, so your metabolism will increase as a result of your increased muscle mass as well. In short, you'll build a fast metabolism, and as you know, fat loss is much easier with a faster metabolism.

Before I move on, I want to clarify something. When I say building muscle, I specifically mean adding ANY amount of lean muscle to your body. This applies for women wanting to increase tone and definition, as well as men wanting to get jacked. Any sort of increase in lean tissue (even if it's a small increase) will lead to a faster metabolism. You'll also look great, too. So that's nice.

TRACK YOUR FOOD

Tracking your food intake is something I believe EVERYONE should do. It is the best way you can get an extremely good idea of how food affects your internal health as well as fat loss. Tracking gives you an opportunity to know what and how much you're currently intaking, and also allows you to see what tweaks you need to make in order to lose more fat. We've been trained to mindlessly eat since we were kids. You'll be astonished by what you discover when you finally decide to keep a log of your food.

Here's the thing. Fat loss and finances are similar in many ways. If you want to know how to save money, you're going to want to track your spending and create a budget in order to save more money. Similarly, if you want to lose fat, you're going to want to track your eating and create a "budget" in order to burn more energy than you consume in a day. In both scenarios, playing the guessing game is dangerous and will most likely put you in a bigger hole than you're in now. Take responsibility, get determined, and take note of what you do so you can make accurate and beneficial changes.

BOOST YOUR METABOLISM

I briefly discussed this before, but I'll go over it in more detail.

In the context of modern life, speeding up your metabolism is one of the best things you can do. It will make getting lean and staying lean much easier. Why? For starters, we are more sedentary than ever. In addition, food is more readily available than ever before. Simply put, we are moving less and eating more. So, having a faster metabolism will make it easier for you to burn more calories without sacrificing your lifestyle.

Two things you can do to boost your metabolism include eating more food and performing resistance training. If you do things the right way, you'll see your body's ability to burn through calories increase like crazy. While performing your resistance training program, slowly add volume to your workouts once your body begins to adapt. Increases in volume have been proven to enhance strength and muscle mass, which are going to help your metabolism. You can add volume to your training by adding weight, sets, reps, or a combination of the three. While tracking your nutrition, make sure you're eating enough protein, carbs, and fat for your desired outcome. The goal is to maintain your current weight week after week as you eat more food and add volume to your training.

STAY CONSISTENT

This one is simple. If you're consistent, you'll see positive change. If you're inconsistent, you won't. It is better to be 90% consistent consistently than to be 100% consistent inconsistently. Don't stress too much about the BEST workout ever. Don't stress too much about the BEST nutrition protocol ever. Instead, focus on eating well 80% of the time, and getting all your workouts in. Even if that's too much, find ONE simple change in your training and ONE simple change in your nutrition that you can be consistent with. Once those changes have turned into habits, build from there.

HAVE YOUR EYES SET ON THE LONG TERM

Can you lose 20 pounds in two weeks? Yup. But you don't want to go down that road. Short-term, get fit quick routes will lead you to hole that will take years and years to dig yourself out of. If you want to build a lean body and be able to easily maintain it down the road, have your eyes set on the long term. If you want that kind of change, you need to accept the fact that you are going to make a lifestyle change. Lifestyle changes are no joke, and they take time. Once you have your long term goal and you've accepted the fact that you're making a lifestyle change, break things down a bit. Make daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Also, it may be a good idea to create behavior-based short-term goals for your outcome-based goals. Let's say your outcome-based goal is losing 50 pounds of body fat in a healthy way over the course of the next 2 years. Your behavior-based goals can be things like getting all your workouts in, meeting your macronutrient goals each day, and getting your body composition tested every month. Whatever you choose to do, create some behavior change. Outcome-based goals are achieved far more often when there are detailed behavior-based goals to go along with them.

THE TAKEAWAY

If you want to lose fat and keep it off, make sure you implement these five things into your life.

1. Lift weights

2. Track your food

3. Boost your metabolism

4. Stay consistent

5. Have your eyes set on the long term

If you do these things (even on a small scale) and slowly build, you will see great change in your health and fitness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.