3 simple steps to start progress...

So here is my first ever blog, and today I am going to talk about the 3 simple things to do to see progress in the gym.

Nowadays there are so many things that people are recommending to do and buy to get you results in the gym. They are trying to sell you the magic pill to success, well I am sorry to burst your bubble but these are all pointless unless you can do the basic things right. Fitness and nutrition is simple, yet we love to overcomplicate it. If you are just starting in the gym, or someone who has been training and exercising for a long time but just isn't seeing results, here are my 3 steps that you need to have in place in order to get the ball rolling with progress and seeing results:

1. Nutrition - We have all heard the saying 'Abs are made in the kitchen' and that is true. Nutrition is the base for any training program, you can't expect to eat burgers, chocolate and drink loads of fizzy drinks and complain why you aren't seeing results in the gym. We need to have a well balanced diet consisting of fresh quality foods (no processed), quality high protein source and eating a rainbow (range of fruit and vegetables) Calorie intake must also be watched, in order to lose weight we must be in a calorie deficit and what that means is we eat less calories than we burn each day. Try and have frequent feeds and eat every 3/4 hours to support growth and repair of muscles.

2. Training - When it comes to training, I recommend trying a range of different training methods to see what suits you best and what you enjoy, there is no point trying to do a training method with you do not enjoy as you will not be motived to go to the gym. Find a training method that is specific to helping you with your goals, for example if you wanted get stronger and put on size there is no point you going to the gym and only doing spin classes. Consistency is also key with training, its hard finding the motivation to go early in the morning or after a long day at work so my advice would be find a training partner or join a class, that way you can be accountable to someone else and you don't have to train alone. Try and train 4/5 times a week if possible, we don't need to spend hours at the gym, we can get so much done in around 45/60 mins so just make sure your training is high intensity and purposeful and you will get enough work done.

3. Recovery - This is the step which so many people don't take any notice of, recovery is so important when it comes to health and fitness. The 2 main bits of recovery are sleep and over-training, so many people don't get enough sleep to let the body recover and so many people over-train the body and ultimately hit a wall and either injure themselves or lose interest. You can have the best diet and training program in the world, but if you do not get enough sleep your body will fail to adapt, sleep is important as it restores brain function and alertness in preparation for intense training sessions. Sleep also enhances muscular recovery through protein synthesis and human growth hormone release. If you are getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night your time to physical exhaustion drops by 30%, lactic acid builds up quicker and the ability of your lungs to expire carbon dioxide an inhale oxygen decreases. Over-training is such a common occurrence as well, I see so many people coming to the gym twice a day doing these long workouts and multiple workouts when it is unnecessary. You are not a professional athlete, your body isn't able to handle the stress of multiple training sessions and you are doing your body more harm than good. There is a popular saying 'Be impressed with intensity, not volume', and there is so much truth to that saying, you will see so much more benefit and progress by going to the gym and hitting it hard at 100% for an hour than going in twice a day and working at 60/70%.

So there we have it, these are my 3 simple steps to follow to start seeing progress in the gym. Start with the basics, make them a routine and go from there.

JD