Not So Smokin’? 10 Helping Hands for Bodybuilders to Quit Cigarettes

Posted on November 28th, 2011

Quitting smoking is definitely not an easy thing to do. There are people that say that cigarettes are as addictive as heroin, and while people that have come off heroin might beg to differ there is little doubt that quitting is hard! The social aspect of cigarette smoking and its prevalence among your daily activities is one thing that makes it especially hard. We know that smoking is wrecking our appetites, preventing us from absorbing all the nutrients we should be getting from our food and stunting the growth of our muscles despite all that work. Yet quite a few bodybuilders continue to smoke … because it feels good. Today’s post is for those who know they should stop, know they want to stop, but need some mental and physical support for the ordeal – 10 helping hands along the road to quitting cigarettes for bodybuilders.

1. Tune Into Your Body After Smoking
   After having a cigarette, we get that familiar rush of feel-good nicotine – but we also get many other effects that aren’t so pleasant. Tune into the racing heart, the yucky taste in your mouth, the feeling that your lungs are shrinking, to help give yourself the motivation to quit.
2. Try to Work Out After a Cigarette
   If you have trouble ‘feeling’ any negative consequences of smoking, have a cigarette in the middle of your workout to help sensitise you to the performance impacts it has.
3. Cut Down Your Dosage
   Reduce the physical effects that nicotine has on you and get ready for nicotine-free days by cutting down to a lower strength cigarette.
4. Chemical Support
   Smoking is not just a chemical addiction, but a social and psychological one too. Transitioning away from a smoking lifestyle while you also wean off the nicotine can make it all too hard – so support yourself with nicotine gum, patches, or those daggy inhalers.
5. Try Menthols
   If you dislike them, that is! Make cigarettes available, but only in a form you don’t really like to help break the habit. Works for me with chocolate!
6. Get a Book
   We often read bodybuilding blogs and books to help us visualise our routines and workouts, and to learn from others’ experiences. The same technique can help ready you to quit smoking.
7. Know the Effects of Smoking on Size Gains
   Just the knowledge of how smoking is affecting your gains in the gym for all the hard work you put in can help with motivation.
8. Reward Yourself
   This is simple classical conditioning – tell yourself that if you don’t have a cigarette for a certain amount of time, you’ll reward yourself. Spending the money that you would have spent on cigarettes on something else you want is a good start!
9. Relax
   Cigarettes are usually relaxing. Find a different way to relax – give yourself a massage or get a significant other to do it. Do some deep breathing. Listen to some music you love, or watch a movie you love.
10. Don’t Give In?
    For some people, not giving into temptation helps them successfully quit. Some people need a little puff to get them through a day. Do what works for you, but keep the goal of ACTUALLY quitting in mind.
11. Try Lots of Different Things
    There are almost as many supportive thoughts, strategies and ways for getting through the nicotine-withdrawal period as there are people who have done it. Try lots of different things – don’t just trust that what worked for someone else will work for you! If something doesn’t work, don’t let that defeat you … just move on to another strategy.

Tags: healthy, lifestyle, workouts
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Boomerbuilding Guide: Part 3

Posted on November 23rd, 2011

So far we’ve talked about all the boring background to bodybuilding for baby boomers … getting your health checks, setting up your body properly in terms of nutrition etc etc. If you were teenagers, no doubt you would have stopped listening long ago! Still, you’ve made it this far, and you’re about to be rewarded – today we’re talking about the fun part of bodybuilding … the actual training! We’ll explore some overall approaches to training for those in their middle age, as well as looking at some specific exercises. If you’ve only just joined us looking for advice on bodybuilding for baby boomers, just type ‘boomerbuilding’ into the blog search box and you’ll find the rest of the series.

Inspire Yourself

If you need inspiration or encouragement, check out the stories of Bill Pearl, Frank Zane, Chris Dickerson or Charles Atlas, all of whom reached their peaks after age 40 and kept training for decades after that. If you’re at all afflicted by doubts over whether you can do it … go inspire yourself first and come back with the right attitude!

Training Schedule Design

In your 20s or 30s, you may have stuck to a 5- or 7-day roster for training. In and after your 40s, rest is essential for making gains, and overtraining is an ever present possibility. Keep your training cycle to a maximum of once per muscle group per 7 days, down to once per muscle group per 10 days. There’s a fine line between the pain needed for gains and overtraining, which is just pointless.

Work EVERY Muscle

Sarcopenia, or muscle wasting, afflicts every single human who makes it to old age and doesn’t actively work to combat it. It also affects every single muscle in your body … which means that unless you want to look like a bag of bones with enormous quads, pecs, delts, biceps and triceps hanging off you like tumors, you’re going to need to do a lot of work developing all the supporting muscles as well. You should even work on muscles like your pelvic floor, your face and your hands as part of your routine.

Recovery from Training

Don’t like the idea of sitting around waiting for your body to heal itself so that you can hit the weights again? Baby boomers can especially benefit from supercharged recovery sessions, using tools like:

• Alternating hot/cold showers/baths to help redistribute blood and nutrient flow
• Massage
• Yoga or another form of stretching
• Deep heat and anti-inflammatory topical gels

Cardio to Cap it Off

Cardiovascular training becomes increasingly important in older age. When you read a lot of bodybuilding forums, you’ll read a lot about how cardio is the antithesis of bodybuilding. It’s true that cardio exercise is catabolic, and usually used only for cutting fat in a standard younger person’s routine. However, heart health is crucial in your middle years and the only way to maintain it is through cardio. Bite the bullet, make slower gains … but know that you’ll be adding decades to your life.

Remember that the ultimate training goal for bodybuilders is to keep your body in good enough shape that you’ll be able to lift for the rest of your life. Take inspiration from just about every world-class bodybuilder – they almost invariably continue their lifestyle well into their 70s and 80s. Never take training risks, always stay in control, and always ensure your diet and bodybuilding supplement routine support what you’re trying to do in the gym. We’ve already talked about diet, so next time we’re going to look at the important supplements

Tags: baby boomers, recovery, supplements, training, workouts
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The Lab and Your Life: BioScience in October 2011

Posted on November 23rd, 2011

Much as the ‘knee bone’s connected to the leg bone’ song makes it seem like our bodies are simple, the reality is that they are pretty complex! Or perhaps it is our puny minds that have trouble understanding the systems our body works under … but that debate is for another day. Nevertheless, we try our best to decipher what’s going on at a chemical level, where our nutrition interacts with the exercises we do to produce the biggest muscle gains, fastest. Today we check out the newer pieces of the puzzle that science is putting into place, with October’s first instalment of ‘The Lab and Your Life’.

I Wanna Hold Your Hands … to Learn

A new study out of the University of Notre Dame indicates that when you are trying to learn something new, different pathways in your brain are used when you hold the object in your hands, compared to when you use your eyes alone.

When holding something in your hands, the learning occurs at a more intricate level of detail. When forced to use your eyes alone, it seems that you see the ‘forest’ more than the ‘trees’. The take-home message for bodybuilders? If you’re a beginner trying to sort out the overall details of your training routine, nutrition, etc, it may be more useful to read about it. When it comes to noticing and remembering details, though (such as learning a new exercise), best to just get in there and DO IT!

Exercise a Magic Pill for Migraines

Well, perhaps not magic … but a recent study at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden showed in a randomised controlled trial that exercise is just as effective at preventing migraines as are the current drugs prescribed. The exercise levels were 40 minutes, three times a week, and aerobic exercise was the ‘drug’ of choice. Interestingly, relaxation methods were just as effective as both exercise and topamirate. Naturally, drugs are still needed and used for treatment of migraines.

The Quick Brown 50 Year Old Jumps Over the Lazy Teenager

Exercise is the key to lifelong health and fitness … and a recent study out of Norway suggests that with the right amount and type of exercise, a 50 year old can be just as fit as somebody a full 30 YEARS younger! There might be a few more wrinkles, but if an upstart 20 year old picks an older guy in a bar fight, it’s your activity levels (not your age) that determine who’ll win.

Eat Well for Your Mini-Mes

Got a few little bodybuilders-to-be running around the house? A new study explored the complex relationship among junk food advertising, parental influence and food choices in children. It found that although parental influence is fairly small, it will make the difference even in the face of brightly coloured ads for some kids.

There really was too much happening in the world of exercise and nutrition underneath the microscope for just one episode of the Lab and Your Life this month, so stay tuned for the rest of the updates!

Tags: healthy, nutrition, science
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Look at MEEEE! The Muscles That Bodybuilders Forget

Posted on November 21st, 2011

Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? It tells us such obvious and universal facts as ‘We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time’, ‘We use 20% of our knowledge 80% of the time’, etc. Sometimes the 80/20 rule applies to bodybuilding, in that we work on 80% of our muscles … 80% of the time. The other 20% of our muscles might get some attention 20% of the time, but it is all too easy to fall into a routine again. Additionally, if you ignore certain supporting muscles while doing heavy workouts, you’ll be more injury prone. Today we look at some of the muscles that are probably on your 20% list, and some exercises that you can use to get a bit more balance in your ratios.

Back Muscles

Spend a lot of time looking in the mirror? Think you look pretty good? Turn around! Like the people who used to own my house and forgot to repaint the section of wall behind the door which was open when the painting was done (der), a surprising number of bodybuilders pay little attention to their back half, in keeping with the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ rule. If your heart drops a little when you turn around and look in the mirror, you need to:

• Do Swiss Ball Leg Curls for your hammies
• Do Overhand Pullups or Lat Pulldowns for your lats
• Do Bat Wings for your rhomboids – 3 sets of 8 reps per week

Face Muscles

You’ll forever look like a 97-pound weakling if your jaw doesn’t grow in proportion to your shoulders … and if you are sporting a computer programmer’s head on top of Franco Colombu’s neck, you ain’t getting’ no ladies! To help build your ‘top half’ in proportion to the rest of you:

• Work on your neck muscles, which indirectly works your facial muscles
• Use your fingers as resistance while you flex your facial muscles – push on your masseter muscle while tensing the jaw, do the same over your temples while pushing your temporalis muscle, etc.
• Watch your posture while sitting – this will spill over into your facial muscles also.
• Make sure you’re taking t-boosters. Testosterone precursors are essential for encouraging hypertrophy of the face muscles, which aren’t really designed to grow like crazy.

Forearms

Forearms are often neglected. They are actually quite prone to overtraining, especially if your work puts stress on them … which even desk jobs can. Make sure you incorporate exercises like the following to train up those forearms:

• Reverse curls
• Barbell wrist curls and the reverse version

Pelvic Floor Muscles

Did you know that 66% of elite female athletes suffer from stress incontinence? That’s a pretty dangerous percentage when you spend a lot of your time in skin tight leotards. However, male bodybuilders should be paying attention to the pelvic floor as well, to help improve back and core strength.

Your pelvic floor muscles are the ones you use to stop yourself weeing in mid-stream. To exercise the muscles:

• Do 20 reps of fast and light contractions
• Do 20 reps of medium strength contractions lasting about 5 seconds each
• Do as many reps as you can of deep contractions, lasting as long as possible.

Do this as many times a day as you can. Make sure you set a reminder somewhere – they’re too easy to forget.

You can add weights to improve your pelvic floor muscle strength … at least, if you’re a girl. Guys don’t have anywhere to, er, put the weight.

Tags: exercise, training, workouts
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Bodybuilding With Plantar Fasciitis

Posted on November 21st, 2011

Plantar fasciitis is a very difficult condition to live with, let alone thrive or be active with … and is unfortunately very common across the world. In Australia, most cases of plantar fasciitis are caused by long periods of standing up or by obesity. However, high-BMI but healthy populations like bodybuilders are unfortunately susceptible to the debilitating pain of plantar fasciitis. Here’s our guide to keeping up your bodybuilding routine with this condition.

Upper Body, Back and Core Work

You’ll feel sluggish, slothful and probably more than a little depressed if you let plantar fasciitis completely keep you from bodybuilding. Choose exercises which don’t require weight bearing on your feet – there are plenty.

• Bench presses
• Pullups
• Abs exercises
• Seated arm and chest exercises
• Swiss ball leg curls for your hammies

You can probably think of a hundred more – feel free to add them in the comments!

Experiment With Your Footwear

Footwear was shown by Rajput and Abboud (2004, in ‘Common ignorance, major problem: the role of footwear in plantar fasciitis) to be a significant factor in the development of some cases of plantar fasciitis. Experiment with more supportive shoes as well as orthotics not just for bodybuilding, but for your everyday activities as well. If pain develops during the day from poorly fitting shoes, it will spill over into bodybuilding.

Bodybuilding Supplements for Plantar Fasciitis

Both glucosamine and fish oil have anti-inflammatory effects for many people, and can help stop you from overusing non-steriodal anti inflammatories like Nurofen. Make them a regular part of your bodybuilding supplement routine.

Consider Keeping Your Weight Down

If your doctor (and YOU) think that your weight might be contributing to your plantar fasciitis, consider angling more towards the physique end of bodybuilding that the hypertrophy end. You don’t need to be massive to look awesome or to feel great. In fact, if weight loss means you can live with a little less pain, you’ll feel better when you AREN’T the bigger man.

Know Your Treatment Options

Medical treatment of the underlying condition is obviously the best way to get back to a normal bodybuilding routine. You have probably investigated many of these options in conjunction with your doctor anyway … but if you see something that you haven’t tried on the list, make sure you ask about giving it a go.

• Calf and plantar muscle stretching routines
• Physiotherapy
• Orthotics (either off the shelf or custom made), which don’t necessarily reduce pain but have been shown to improve functionality
• Night splints, which keep your foot in a slight state of dorsiflexion to maintain flexibility in the plantar fascia
• Corticosteroid injections (not a long term solution)
• Surgery to ablate the fibrous tissue which builds on the fascia

Tags: healing, healthy, injuries, plantar fasciitis, recovery
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More of the Lab and Your Life: Bioscience in October 2011

Posted on November 16th, 2011

Metaphors come to life in either dream or horror-story fashion … mustard building muscles in a ‘delicious’ bodybuilding alliteration … and some dietary supplements actually decreasing health and increasing the risk of death? The Lab and Your Life this month has discovered some fascinating little molecules of information in the science world that relate to your bodybuilding life.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness … In Our Minds

A study conducted at the University of Michigan by Norbert Schwarz and Spike Lee (no, not that Spike Lee    ), found that physical cleansing helps to alleviate mental unease in a range of situations … perhaps revealing the effect of a whole range of metaphors upon our brains! People who used antibacterial hand soap after remembering something that caused them guilt were less likely to volunteer to do something nice to make up for their wrong doing. In a related study, people used moist towelettes to ‘wipe away their doubt’ over their choice of one of two similar jams. The point being? Your mind is highly susceptible to suggestions and metaphors of all sorts. You don’t need to be Anthony Robbins to feel good about yourself … but you do need to do what it takes to feel positive about yourself and the world at large.

Lack of B12 Leads to Major Shrinkage

Ha ha, I had you running for the mushrooms then, didn’t I?! Well, a new study has found that while B12 doesn’t contribute to the locker-room or cold pool type of shrinkage, it can lead to loss of neurons and cognitive decline. Markers of B12 status such as homocysteine could predict later cognitive function decline – although levels of B12 itself were less useful. Keep guzzling those fungi – they have practically no fat and all complex carbs like fibre.

Who You Callin a Homobrassinolide?

A research report published in the FASEB Journal recently found that homobrassinolides, found in mustard plants among others, has an effect similar to anabolic steroids although with minimal side effects. Look for more natural drugs containing brassinosteroids in the future – but in the meantime, grow some mustard of your own in the yard and use the greens in stir fries etc, as well as using the processed spread.

Supplements INCREASE Risk of Death?

Calm down, bodybuilding supplements in general are great! However, older women who take multivitamins, folic acid, iron and copper may be at greater risk of all-cause mortality. However, calcium supplements were associated with lowered total mortality. This could be due to the ‘more is better’ attitude that is unfortunately promoted by many supplement manufacturers. In terms of vitamins and minerals, get them from food where possible.

So … shower to make yourself feel better,  guzzle the fungi but don’t OD on the multivitamins, and grow your own mustard for a legal and quite healthy testosterone booster and anabolic stir fry!

Tags: healthy, nutrition, science, testosterone
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Ooooo, Yeah … 8 Tricks for Instant Pain Relief

Posted on November 16th, 2011

No pain, no gain. We know that one – you have probably repeated it to yourself a million times in the gym as you squeeze out that last cheat rep. However, contrary to popular belief, we aren’t really designed to endure pain. Pain is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong. After an afternoon spent on the couch or in bed though, you probably feel like saying to your body “Shut the hell up … I get the point already! I won’t do that again! I promise I’ll use proper form next time!” .

Still, every type of pain is different and needs to be handled differently. Today we check out a heap of neat tricks for instant alleviation of pain.

1. Alleviate … Heartburn
   Control your portion size, and chew sugar free gum for about 30 minutes after you’ve eaten to generate enough saliva to push your food back down into the stomach.
2. Alleviate … Carpal Tunnel
   Use a wrist splint while typing, driving, sleeping, or doing whatever activity compresses the nerve in your wrist.
3. Alleviate … Plantar Fasciitis Pain
   Plantar fasciitis usually develops if you spend long periods on your feet, if you’re carrying a lot of weight (even if that weight is muscle), or if you do a lot of running or jumping. Get rid of the pain by getting off your feet, and help keep it away with a combination of foot splints for night wear, stretching the calf, and never running uphill.
4. Alleviate … Sunburn Pain
   If you’ve overcooked yourself, first hop into a cool bath. If the burn is localised, keep iceblocks on hand wrapped in a moist towelette to ease the pain. At night, apply plenty of aloe vera – straight from the plant is fine.
5. Alleviate … Tendinitis
   If your tendons are inflamed from overuse, start by icing them. Relieve the pain long term by varying your workout, as well as incorporating bodybuilding supplements that support inflammation relief like glucosamine, fish oil and BCAAs.
6. Alleviate … Low Back Pain
   Prevention is the best cure in this case. Always use correct form and maintain good posture. Make sure you stretch out your hammies, so they don’t pull at your lower back and cause stress. And DON’T take days off work to lie on the couch unless your pain is caused by an acute injury.
7. Alleviate … Throat Pain
   If you have a sore throat caused by a cold or flu, gargle with either mouthwash or salt water to help relieve that raw and swollen feeling.
8. Alleviate … Any General Body Pain
   Alternating hot- and cold-baths are fantastic for instant (though only short term) relief of most pains throughout the body that aren’t caused by something serious. They’ll help with stomach ache, period pain, muscle pain caused by overtraining, headache and joint pain. Often the relief is only long enough for you to get to sleep, though.

Of course, paracetamol and ibuprofen are an easy and very fast fix for many types of pain too. You can take these two drugs together, as they have different mechanisms of action. So if your pain is severe, have two paracetamols and two ibuprofens, then call your doctor if it persists. You know the drill!

Tags: healing, healthy, workouts
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9 More Neat Body Hacks!

Posted on November 14th, 2011

In the last post we were exploring body hacks – neat little tricks you can do with your body to achieve things you normally wouldn’t or solve a problem without drugs. However, we just found too many of them to fit all in one post, so here is the continued list. Enjoy!

1. Ditch the Dizziness
   If you’ve lost your sense of position (through alcohol or getting up too quickly), put your hand on something stable. This provides tactile input to help your brain figure out where in space and time you are, and works better than putting a foot on the floor because your hand is more densely populated with nerve endings, and sensory information from the hand occupies far more space in the brain.
2. Solve a Problem, Improve Your Memory
   Memory consolidation occurs during sleep, so it can help to look at material you need to remember right before bed. Alternatively, think about what you learnt during the day while you’re going to sleep.
3. Cure Hiccups
   Everyone’s got a home remedy – some work for some people, others work for others, so try as many as you can. Either breathe into a paper bag, hold your breath, hold a mouthful of water and swallow with your head upside down, eat something, let a sugar cube dissolve on your tongue, or plugging your ears with your thumbs, your nose with your index fingers, and picking up a glass of water to drink it with your remaining fingers.
4. Make Yourself Sneeze
   Got that annoying almost-sneeze feeling? Look into a bright light to bring it on and get it over with.
5. Prevent and Treat Hangovers
   Before you go to bed after a night of drinking, take a multivitamin bodybuilding supplements, or a B-complex with folic acid, along with a big drink of water. When you wake up, get some McDonalds and Gatorade into you – protein, salt, electrolytes and fat are all needed to replenish your stores.
6. Remember Something You Read Better
   Instead of ploughing through your reading word by word, look through fit first to find out how the information is organised. This gives you a more organised framework from which to retrieve your memories later.
7. Improve Your Vision
   Make a ‘telescope’ with your hand to cut out unnecessary visual information, focus light on your macula and give you better vision, especially for far objects.
8. Avoid a Stitch
   When running ’stitches’ can be caused by exhaling as your right foot hits the ground, making the weight of your liver pull on your diaphragm. Exhale as your left foot hits the ground instead.
9. Find Your Car
   Hold your car key remote control against your head if you are too far away to make it beep. Yes, this actually increases the signal range! Effects on long term brain function not yet known … .

Your body can do a tonne of amazing stuff … not the least of which is what bodybuilders do every day, hitting the gym to build muscle and pushing through pain barriers. Congratulate yourself – you’ve already mastered one of the ultimate body hacks!

Tags: healthy, nutrition, recovery
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4 Top Rated Tricep Exercises

Posted on November 14th, 2011

When you’re in the mood to feel the burn, your triceps are the place to go! They’re more widely exercised among bodybuilders than the general public of course, but triceps are still thought of as the biceps’ poor cousin … and often neglected. Sob, sob! Yet there is an enormous range of exercises that can be used to top up your triceps – today we check out how to do 4 of the highest rated triceps exercises.

Triceps Dips

This triceps exercise is not quite as tasty as the other type of dip, but fantastic in the gym nevertheless! You need nothing apart from your own bodyweight, and while you’re working your triceps you’ll get an additional burn in your chest and shoulders.

• Start in the middle of your bars and push yourself up til your arms are nearly locked.
• Lower yourself slowly, keeping your torso upright and your elbow close to your sides.
• When you’ve reached a 90 degree angle between your upper and lower arm bones, exhale and push back up to the starting position.

Triceps Extension on the Decline EZ Bar

This isolation exercise will test your resolve as well as your triceps strength.

• Hop onto your decline bench, face up.
• Have a spotter help you get the barbell off the rack, to protect your rotator cuff.
• Grip your barbell at a width slightly less than shoulder width, and hold it upright with your elbows locked.
• Inhaling and keeping your upper arms still, slowly lower the bar towards your head.
• Exhale while lifting the bar back to the starting position.

Standing Triceps Extension

Another isolation exercise like the one above, this triceps exercise does not require a decline bench.

• With your feet shoulder-width apart, hold the top weight of a dumbbell in both hands. Your palms should be facing upwards.
• Keep your elbows in while you fully extend your arms over your head.
• Lower your forearms to let the weight go down behind your head. Don’t let your elbows go past a 90-degree angle with the floor.
• Lift the dumbbell to get back to starting position.

Triceps Pushdown With V-Bar

Wait til the high pulley machine is free, then work this triceps exercise in:

• Attach the V-bar to your high pulley
• Using an overhand grip at shoulder width, maintain the bar so that your wrists are slightly higher than your elbows.
• Bring the bar down to touch the front of your thighs
• Hold for a second, then bring up very slowly

If you’re stuck at home or travelling , the standard triceps dip can be performed without the help of weights, and using various implements like furniture which can be found with a keen eye for bodybuilding. Feel the burn, love the burn, and see the results on the backs of your arms!

Tags: bodybuilding, Build muscle, exercise, training, workouts
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All in the Mind: The Psychological Phases of Fitness

Posted on November 11th, 2011

Our foremost scientists, sociologists and other studiers of human beings in general have been slowly putting together the evidence that there is no separation of our mind and body. We have a mind (what some people like to call a ’spirit’), only because we have a body. In every thing we do, our mind and body function in synergy to achieve goals … including in fitness routines, of course! We often look at the physical side of getting fit, so today we flip the coin and look at the psychological phases of starting a fitness regime.

The Contemplative Phase

Before we can decide to become fit, get built, aim for anabolism, or whatever, we need to recognise that there is something less-than-ideal about our current situation. The perception phase can be motivated by either positive or negative thoughts.

For example, you might watch ‘Pumping Iron’ at a mate’s place and be inspired by the old school bodybuilders, their dedication, innovation and sheer size! You might know that you already love getting into the zone, and want to make it part of your routine. Or, you might be tired of your mates picking on your for being skinny, chicks telling you that you’re ‘cute’ and ruffling your hair, etc.

The Preparation Phase

In this phase, you identify solutions to your less-than-ideal state. Should you just hire a woman who won’t ruffle your hair? Should you find insults with a little more zing to pick on your mates? Or should you get fitter, bigger, musclier, stronger … and solve a whole range of issues?

You also physically prepare for your fitness routine. You go to your doctor and get checked out for underlying medical conditions, you buy a good pair of gym shoes, you see a personal trainer and set up a routine.

The Action or Trying Phase

This is the phase where you put your preparation into action. You lace up the gym shoes, grab your written exercise plan, hop in the car and head out to the gym.

At this stage in your routine, you’re still working things out. Preparations to deal with unexpected aspects of your new fitness routine will be crucial – what do you do if you injure yourself? What do you do if your new gym shoes start to hurt? What do you do if you hit a plateau in size gains?

You’ll also need to give yourself plenty of encouragement to continue. Set a goal and offer yourself a reward for reaching that goal … then reward yourself when you make it. If you don’t consistently remind yourself of the inbuilt rewards of your new lifestyle, there is a real risk of relapse into couch potato-dom.

The Maintenance Phase

In the maintenance phase, you’ll be working to make your new fitness routines into a habit … something that you’ll actually want to do, and will feel worse if you don’t do.

In this phase you’ll make longer term changes … like seeing your friends for a game of park soccer instead of for dinner at a fatty restaurant, like encouraging change in your family’s habits so that they support your own, etc.

There is still a chance of relapse to your old lazy ways in this stage, so keep up the rewards. Maintain your systems for supporting yourself as well, such as taking bodybuilding supplements to help with muscle gain.

Tags: healthy, motivation, training
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