What! Get off my butt and train?

It is the beginning of a new year…into the 3^rd week already and many people are already failing on grand new years resolutions made.

I boldly make this statement: “There is no bigger gift you can give yourself than by making a serious lifestyle change.”

But I have to give up watching tv, sitting on the couch and eat my favorite crisps, drinking with the guys, partying, eating my favorite pudding everyday…and I am waaay to fat and old to start with such stuff…that is only for the youngsters, in any case I don’t really want to look muscly!

Let’s take a tour…

This is me when I “followed” the typical above lifestyle.

 

Now this is me after making a serious lifestyle change. (granted a few years later…)

 

 

I am 48 now…and I look and feel the best in my whole life…and also very healthy.

If I did not make this change…imagine how bad I would have look now…

 

My goal with this post is to help some of you realize your dream of a total new you are very close and very much possible.

 

First, let’s get down to the basics.

 

What benefits does such a lifestyle change have (to name just a few):

1)       Better self image.

2)       Better self control

3)       Learning to eat healthy.

4)       Lower cholesterol

5)       Significant lower blood pressure.

6)       Sharper brain function.

7)       More energy.

8)       Stronger bone structure.

9)       Healthier heart, kidneys and liver – longer lifespan.

10)    Younger looking skin.

11)    Better sexual ability

12)    People start noticing and envy you.

13)    Dramatic decreased change of getting diabetes or similar conditions.

14)    New lust for life.

…alas for the bald heads…the hair does not grow back no matter how big a lifestyle change you make. Some things are just inevitable. Accept it, it makes life easier.

 

What do I have to give up:

1)       Smoking!

2)       Regular drinking (The odd – one or two glasses a wine per week is fine).

3)       Late nights

4)       Fast Food

5)       About 90 minutes per day (be that early morning, over lunch or evening)

 

What is it gonna cost me:

1)       Basic exercise clothing.

2)       Gym bag, towel, etc…

3)       Gym membership (I am on Discovery Vitality so it cost me R80 ($8) per month.

 

Now, look again at those 2 pictures. This is real and there are MANY other cases where people made similar changes, maybe even better!

Your biggest hurdle you will face is to break out of your comfort zone. You have trained yourself very well to be entrenched in that zone and that zone is mighty nice…but that is what is gonna be your biggest thing to overcome.

First week is fine…but then the mind and body start realizing it is not in its comfort zone anymore and the cravings start to get back into that comfort zone again.

 

You will have to decide if you are going to be a slave to this mind controlling mechanism your whole life or not. You have the power to overcome…believe me u have. But no-one is going to grab it on your behalf – YOU MUST!

 

Be the BEST you can be…rise above the rest…make yourself proud in yourself…make yourself someone u like inside and out when you look in that mirror. Make your wife and kids proud of you.

 

How can I stick to this new mindset?

1)       First you must focus your mind and entrench the new you in your mind. Visualize yourself and where you want to be. Visualize yourself training and eating right. Get yourself determined…no-one and nothing must be able to sway that determination.

2)       Take small steps!!! Climbing a ladder step by step and you will get to the top, leap and you will most probably fall very hard! So control that eagerness with wisdom.

 

How do I take these small manageable steps?

That must be done on three levels: training, diet and addressing your spirituality.

 

Training: You cannot start training from the first day like a guy who has been doing it regularly for the past 5 years. For example: You cannot use my program at my level and think it is going to work for you. It is a far to great a leap, you will burn and fall and loose that determination.

You will have to break such a plan down into very small manageable portions. If you are very unfit you must spend something like 10 min at gym for 4 days (2 days on one day off and 2 days on again) in the first week. Week two you make it 15 minutes. Week three 20 minutes.

The 3^rd week is usually a week that the body start realizing something is going on, so for the 4^th week keep it at 20 minutes for 4 days per week. Then the 5^th week up it to 25 minutes, and so on until you reach a 50 minute workout. Be in touch with your body…if you feel the pace is to quick keep the time pinned down for 2 weeks at a time instead of increasing it.

Just make sure you get a overall body workout during each session: legs, upper body (arms, shoulders, back, abs) as well as a little cardio (treadmill, etc…) When you reached the 50 minute mark, start doing some good homework as to the type of programs (mine might be a good starting point) out there and how to start splitting the days up between the different muscle groups. Then you can start moving to the next level. By then your body and mind would have broken the comfort zone mold and you are well on your way.

 

Diet is and always will be your most important part of any lifestyle change. You cannot get muscle to grow if you do not feed them correctly.

With a diet you can make bigger leaps that the small steps required for training. However, rather take a step by step approach to get to your desired eating plan. A too big change might just through the whole body off balance and give you serious headaches, constipation, low energy, etc…

Introduce weekly a change in the diet to get to your target diet within a maximum of 2 month period.

When you reached that target diet, you can start focusing on the finer detail, like supplements, etc…

This is a lifestyle change so this will be how you will eat from now on…you can still cheat, but ONCE a week.

 

Spirituality – Make this the opportunity to become a better person inside and out. It is well know that I am a follower of Christ. You have to choose your own path. But get your life sorted in the face of God. Get Him part of everything you do. Cut out the wrong things from your life. It is one hell (excuse the pun!) of a feeling when you can look in that mirror and you like the person you see…inside and out.

I do believe this should be a critical part in your transformation process. I’ve been there and changing this aspect makes it soooo much easier!

 

What! You say you don’t want too look too “muscly”! Really?

Look at my after pic and truly tell me you think I look worse than my before picture. Here I am quite direct…I believe a man was created to be a muscled creature…leave the nice flowing shapes to the women. We are supposed to be strong, muscled creatures to lead and protect our families. Feel free to differ from me…

 

I am but one of MANY other guys who made such a transformation. I did it by a choice I made and I followed a certain process to get to the goal. I am still on my way, but never ever do I want to turn back again. Life is too precious to WASTE!

 

Here is a short video I did on some key aspects of growing muscle fast:

 

 

Contact me anytime if you need some encouragement or pointers –

ScoobyMuscle (Gert Louw)