“I want a fitness plan that actually works!”
It’s happened to you many times.
- You try to begin working out.
- You want to get serious about your diet.
- You want to go all the way.
- You just don’t know where to start.
- You get intimidated and give up.
It sucks. You make excuses. You accept that you’re always going to look the same for the rest of your life. You get no progress. You don’t see any results.
It’s time for this to finally change.
- What if you just want to be happy?
- How are you supposed to train five days a week when you have a busy job?
- What if you hate your local gym?
You need a fitness plan that works for YOU and nobody else.
Okay, so how can I finally find a fitness plan that works?
There are all sorts of fitness routines out there that are supposed to give you “guaranteed” results. As we all know by now, there are no guarantees in life. People change, plans flop, feelings change, and motivation fades.
I want to work on creating a fitness plan with you that you can actually stick to.
A buddy once told me that he’s going to start some new 5-day split training routine. He was going to train every single day Monday through Friday. That caught me off guard. Why? Not because of how challenging that is. Because a few quick questions came to mind.
How many times did you train last week? What about last month? What have your training habits been in the past?
That’s all I could think about. It’s like me saying that I’m never going to drink again. That’s not going to happen. I enjoy going out too much to stop forever. I can cutback or limit myself. But never stop altogether.
You have to be realistic. I live in the real world. You can’t lie to yourself. This isn’t some utopian society.
The first key to sticking to a fitness routine is to be realistic with your schedule/personal habits.
You can find the answers, by going through the following questions…
What’s your schedule?
This will likely determine everything about your fitness routine. Do you have a busy social life? Do you work long hours? If you’re schedule is already packed, you’re being unrealistic by telling yourself that you’re going to train 5 days a week. That just wont happen. You might have to resort to working out from home 3 times a week.
If you’re not ready for any commitment, you can start off by a quick workout every morning before you shower.
You need to look at your schedule, your real schedule, not what you want your schedule to be, when planning a fitness routine.
[Must read: How-to always be fuelled up!]
How often do you want to train?
How often do you really want to train? Really?
You shouldn’t let some arbitrary fitness plan dictate how many times you workout in any given week. It all depends on how many times you actually want to train and get into motion. 3 days of weights is ideal for me. Anything else is bonus. If I wake up early or can’t sleep one night, then I add the swings in.
The other key to finding a fitness plan that you can stick to is accountability.
How are you going to hold yourself accountable to your goals?
Public accountability is key. You can use Facebook apps, social media apps, or any other fitness-related program to help you stick to your training.
A few examples of public accountability for sticking to your fitness plan are:
- Sharing a Google doc/Fitocracy or any other app for your buddies to track your workouts. When you give people access to your training logs, you’re forced to train. Your buddies will pick up if you’re not updating the file. Hopefully they harass you for being a little bitch.
- Holding a public challenge for everyone to see. Everyone loves a little challenge. Especially if you put something on the line. What will you put on the line? I’ve bet a free dinner before with buddies. A public declaration also helps.
- Sending a buddy a pic of your horrible physique, with the promise that if you don’t maintain your gym commitments, they can post the picture for the world to see.
- Join a class. Most gyms offer all sorts of classes. I found that by joining classes, you’re forced to train. You know that after being consistent, you’ll make friends and the trainer will get to know you. This will mean that you can’t miss a class. If you do miss a class, you’ll get called out and you’ll let your new friends down.
Where do kettlebell swings come into play?
You can perform kettlebell swings from anywhere because the world is your gym.
That’s why I love to swing. You can do these at any time of any day, at any place. You can exchange any barbell workout with bells.
If you incorporate kettlebell swings into your training program, you don’t have any excuses.
You can’t use any of the following excuses:
- I didn’t have time to go to the gym.
- My shorts weren’t washed.
- It was too cold outside.
- The gym parking lot was packed (I used this before).
- The gym looked too intimidating (yup — also used this one as well).
Kettlebell swings can be done in the morning before work, right before you eat dinner, or at night time as you wind the day down. If you don’t want to worry about finding the right machine or waiting in long lines for certain equipment at the gym, you can grab yourself a kettlebell and swing away.
That’s how you can find a fitness plan that works for you. You can also just throw all of these rules out the window and do whatever the hell you want. It’s your life. I’m here to make it more exciting.