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#86 - Losing Belly Fat, Tips To Build More Muscle, & More
30 Plays3 months ago
It's a question-and-answer episode answering questions from you guys. Here are the 6 questions we'll discuss in this episode
- How to lose belly fat
- Ways to quickly get more protein in your diet
- What to do when you "fall off track"
- Tips to feel your muscle better and make better gains
- How much is too much when it comes to working out
- Best fitness items to invest in to workout at home
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Transcript
Introduction to The Fitish Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to The Fitish Project with your host Latham Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you
Listener Questions Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
and I. We got another episode coming at you this week, and it is time for another Q and&A from some questions from you guys. So in today's episode, I'm going to answer, I think, six questions. We're going to talk about how to lose belly fat, ah some high protein foods to help you get your protein in your day.
00:00:28
Speaker
How to feel a muscle better if you're like doing exercise and you're not really feeling the muscle very well. Some good home gym equipment to start with. What to do when you fall off track and how to get back on track. And then is there a thing as working out too much? Before we get into that, if you could take a few seconds to leave a review, if you have not done that, continue to get this out to more people, I would greatly appreciate that. But getting into question number one.
How to Lose Belly Fat Effectively
00:00:54
Speaker
So it says I'm losing weight, but I'm wondering how I can target my belly fat better.
00:00:59
Speaker
I get this question a ton and I think a lot of people end up carrying a lot of weight in their bellies. That's where we store fat and where you store fat is gonna be somewhat dependent on your genetics but I think a lot of people really dislike having that look of like a round belly and so a lot of people ask this question.
00:01:16
Speaker
And so the first thing you have to understand is that sometimes this belly fat is actually caused by more bloating. So you might have some belly fat, like it's very possible if you're overweight that you probably have some extra fat in your belly. But I think a lot of people also have a lot of bloating and things that makes their belly look even bigger than what it really is. And what I mean by that is like I've had certain clients that come to me and we work together for a couple months and the amount that their belly shrinks in the time that we start losing weight and focusing on diet and exercise and those things is insane. And a lot of that has to do with just the bloating and the water weight and the things that they're eating.
00:01:56
Speaker
that kind of cause them to be bloated. So if you're eating a lot of salt, if you're having a lot of carbs, if you're drinking alcohol on a regular basis, if you're just simply overeating, eating too many calories, eating a lot of processed foods and things like that, you're probably in a state where you're just bloated more often. And so that appearance of that bigger belly is more prevalent because I know for me, like if I go and I have Like I eat a ton of food, I eat a bunch of processed food or I go out to eat and I just eat a ton. Like the amount that I look different from one day to the next is pretty dramatic. Like I'll, one day I'll wake up and I'll kind of have some visible abs. And then the next day I wake up and they're completely gone. And that's not that I gained a bunch of fat overnight or anything like that. It's simply that my body's holding onto more water and I'm a little bit more bloated. So I think that's the first thing that I want to say about that. And with that being said, so like,
00:02:49
Speaker
taking out the bloating thing, like obviously we want to start to clean up our diet and focusing on whole foods and things like that, that's going to help with that, not overeating, that's going to help with all the bloating and things like that. But when it comes to actually targeting that belly fat, so if you do have some stored fat within your belly and you have some fat that you're looking to lose, the way that you lose that belly fat is no different than how you lose fat in any other way.
00:03:11
Speaker
And I know sometimes on social media, you'll see people like, hey, eat more of these foods to help burn belly fat or do these exercises to burn belly fat. And all that stuff is trash. It's not true. that's not how That's not how it works. That's not how fat loss works. Spot reducing is not really a thing. The only way that you can lose fat and target that belly fat is through a calorie deficit. So eating less food, consuming less calories over time.
00:03:35
Speaker
And so once you're doing that, once you're in a calorie deficit, you're going to start to lose body fat. But the thing about it is you don't really get to choose where you lose that body fat. A lot of that comes down to just genetics and the way that you hold on to fat within your body. Because if you look at different people, different people hold fat in different ways. Some people hold a ton of fat in their upper body or in their stomach area and they're like love handles, like on their back, things like that. And other people hold a ton of weight in their lower body. So their legs, their butt, their thighs. And so a lot of it just comes down to genetics. And when you start to lose fat, for a lot of people, especially men, they hold a lot more fat in their upper body. And so like when it comes to losing fat, they have to get their body fat down to a pretty low level to start to see more changes within losing that belly and maybe like seeing more definition in their stomach and abs and things like that. And for women, a lot of women hold more weight
00:04:26
Speaker
in their lower body. And so they maybe don't have as much fat in their upper body and their stomach area. And now that's not always true for everybody. Like I said, everybody's different and your genetics play a role in that. But understanding that like the only way to go about losing belly fat is just losing fat in general.
Achieving a Toned Appearance
00:04:42
Speaker
So if you don't need to do anything specific, there's no special remedies, there's no exercise, there's no foods, there's no like you know, sometimes I see like those belly wrap things that people will like post on Instagram, like none of that stuff is effective in reducing fat in your stomach area or any area for that matter. Like the only way to lose fat is through a calorie deficit. And so understanding that I think will help clear some of that stuff up. And then as you know that you just
00:05:08
Speaker
need to focus on losing fat, eating in a calorie deficit, exercising, and as you start to lower your overall body fat, you'll start to lose fat in those areas. Now, sometimes those areas are the last to go, which can be frustrating, but that's just kind of how things work. and i think Another point that I would make is that muscle mass also plays a pretty big role in how you look as you start to lose weight. So for example, you'll see certain people who have like they're a bigger person, they have a lot of muscle mass, and maybe they even have ah a little bit more fat mass, but like they'll have more definition like in their stomach area. Maybe you can see like the top row of their abs and things like that. And so having bigger muscles and having more muscle mass can actually play a role in how you look as well. So if you're somebody who you have a lot of fat, like you're you have a lot of
00:05:52
Speaker
adipose tissue in your body fat levels are really high like you may need to lose more fat in order to start seeing bigger differences like in your stomach area and in those problem areas where you hold a lot of fat because you don't have as much muscle mass versus somebody who has more muscle mass and maybe they do have a little bit of layer of fat over that so you can't quite see that but they don't have to lose as much fat in order to start looking more tone looking more lean looking more athletic so Understanding too that yes fat loss is important and like if you want to have an appearance of being more toned and losing your belly and and having less fat tissue on your body, that eating in a calorie deficit is important, but building muscle is also a big part of how you're going to look. So don't neglect strength training and eating a lot of protein in order to build that muscle so that you can not just lose fat, but as you lose the fat, you want to look the way that you want to look and understand that muscle plays a pretty big role in that.
Meeting Protein Goals
00:06:44
Speaker
And so with that being said, I mean, one of the most simple things that you can do just in regards to like eating less calories and eating more whole foods and just eating a better quality diet and helping you with not only just losing fat, but like the bloating thing.
00:06:58
Speaker
is to focus on the 80-20 rule. So 80% of the time you're focusing on your whole, minimally processed foods, your lean proteins, your fruits, your vegetables, your healthy fats, your complex carbs. And then 20% of the time, if you want to have some of that other stuff, some processed foods, some desserts, some things like that, then you can include that in your diet if you want to. But getting more towards those whole foods is always going to be a good thing when it comes to helping you with your body composition goals and looking the way that you want to look.
00:07:23
Speaker
and also just keeping the bloating down and and having a more natural appearance, feeling better, having better energy, all those different things. Question number two. I'm struggling to get enough protein in my day. So I'm wondering if you have some suggestions on good protein sources. Yes. So meat and fish are going to be super high in protein. And so when we talk about meat, things like pork, ah chicken, beef, any of that kind of stuff, and then fish. So you have like, you know, salmon and ah shrimp and different seafood, tuna, things like that are all very high in protein. You have your,
00:07:57
Speaker
you have eggs and egg whites, you have your dairy stuff. So you have like milk and yogurt, cottage cheese, things like that. And then you have some vegetable sources that are also a little bit higher in protein. So things like beans and legumes and edamame, broccoli, those are some things that are higher in protein. And so when it comes to getting more protein, you just need to identify just sources of protein that you really like. So like, for example, I like chicken, I like beef, um I like turkey, I like eggs. And so those are just things, those are staples that I always have in my fridge. And one very, very simple thing that you can do is start to batch cook your protein. And what I mean by batch cook is that
00:08:35
Speaker
let's say on a Sunday night, let's say you wanna have some different chicken dishes throughout the first couple of days of the week. So you just go, you throw three, four pounds of chicken in your crock pot or you bake it or whatever, grill it. And then you have a ton of protein in your fridge to make for super easy meals. And so you always have it on hand. You're not having to spend extra time cooking it for every single meal. You don't have to think about what you're gonna make every single meal. And that way you just have it there. And so maybe on,
00:09:02
Speaker
Monday you have a chicken salad, maybe on Tuesday you have a chicken sandwich, maybe on ah Wednesday you have like some buffalo chicken, whatever. Like there's just tons of different options that you can make once you have your protein source picked out. And so doing that one to two times per week can help a ton in helping you hit your protein goals.
00:09:20
Speaker
And then the other thing that I would say is just to find some higher protein snacks that you really enjoy and keep those on hand all the time as well. So like for me, I really like Greek yogurt. I like cottage cheese. I like beef jerky. I like protein bars. I like protein shakes. So those are staples that I keep in my kitchen, keep in my fridge pretty much all the time. So that way if I am struggling, maybe to hit my protein goal or maybe I'm in a hurry, I'm on the run. Like I can just go grab a super quick snack that doesn't take a bunch of time to make.
00:09:48
Speaker
And that way I'm staying more full. I'm helping hit my protein goal so I can build muscle and all those good things that protein does for us. And I'm not struggling to get enough protein. So it takes a little bit of planning. It takes a little bit of prioritization, but once you start to get in these habits of doing these little things, hitting your protein goal does not seem very difficult. So like, I'll talk to some of my friends who are, have been in, you know, the fitness space and they've been working out and focusing on diet and building muscle and things like that. And they're like.
Improving Muscle Feel During Exercises
00:10:16
Speaker
I don't really understand how people struggle to hit their protein goals. And I have to explain to them, like, when we first started this, it was hard for us to like, you had to figure out what things you like and what things you didn't like what things had high protein, without getting a ton of extra calories, what snacks were good that you enjoyed that had higher protein. And so it takes a little bit of trial and error to figure out what things you really like.
00:10:36
Speaker
things that you want to keep within your diet. But once you do kind of figure out some of those things, then it's just a matter of just repeating those things because a lot of people who are successful when it comes to like weight loss and hitting their fitness goals and things like that, they don't have these super complex, elaborate like meal plans or anything like that. They eat a lot of the same foods, a lot of the same staple meals, and they just kind of rotate through them. And there's ways to change it up to make it so it's not boring. Like you can season them different ways, you can preparing them in different ways you can mix and match different combinations and so like it doesn't necessarily get boring if you're doing it in that way but just having a good idea of like okay this is a list of my high protein foods that I like these are a list of my high protein snacks that I like these are a list of high protein meals that I like and just having
00:11:19
Speaker
That knowledge is super helpful in helping you hit those goals. And we know that if you're hitting protein on a more consistent basis, again, you're going to be able to build muscle here. It's going to help with staying less hungry throughout the day. It's going to help with building strength and recovering and all those different things that we want to be striving for. ah Question number three. So I'm struggling to feel my muscles during certain exercises. Any tips on this? Yes. so The first thing that I would say is to make sure that you are picking good exercises for you and your body. And what I mean by that is like, we're all kind of shaped different ways. And we all also have different preferences on just things that we like and things that we don't like. So for example, I don't really ever do back squats anymore. When I was younger, and when I played football and things like that, like I did back squats all the time didn't, didn't like love them. But like, it was just something that was in our program. So I did them. But as I got older, they just didn't feel great on my back. I didn't like the way that
00:12:17
Speaker
I would feel after I would do them, I would just always kind of feel kind of beat up and things like that. So like, I don't really do back squats anymore. So there's different exercises that I will pick in place of that, like do a lot of single leg type of stuff, Bulgarian split squats, single leg squats, I'll do some front squats, things like that where I can replace it. And because those feel better on my body, I enjoy ah enjoy those more and I get better results on those because I do enjoy them more and they don't beat me up as much. And so if you're always doing these exercises that just don't really feel good on your body,
00:12:46
Speaker
and you don't enjoy them, you're probably not going to see as good a progress if you are picking exercises that you did enjoy a little bit more and that did feel a little bit better for you. So that would be the first thing is to make sure that you're picking good exercises for you. And there's no one exercise that everybody has to do. Like people will say you have to do back squats or you have to do deadlifts or you have to do this or have to do that. And that's just not true. There's hundreds of different exercises that you can use. And depending on your goals and your preferences and things that you like,
00:13:12
Speaker
you can choose out of those exercises which is best going to help you hit your goal. So don't be afraid to try different exercises. Don't be afraid to try some new things and see what you like because finding those certain exercises that you really like is going to be really helpful in helping you make the most progress when it comes to building muscle, building strength, just exercising in general and feeling good when you're exercising. The second thing I would say is just to make sure that your technique and your form is on point.
00:13:38
Speaker
And so like a lot of people really struggle with good technique and it's something that it's a skill really like you training, strength training is a skill as you do it more, you get better at it. If you can think back to when you first got into the gym, you probably weren't very good. Like you tried certain exercises and they just felt weird. They felt awkward like You didn't really feel strong and maybe you were kind of shaky, your form was kind of off, but as you do it more and more, you get more reps and you get better at it. And so understanding that it's a skill and it's going to take some time, but you can always be focusing on really improving your form and your technique because that is something that is going to help when it comes to just like feeling the muscles, but also just making better progress. Because if your form is off.
00:14:16
Speaker
And you're not really targeting the muscles that you want to target. Well, then you're, you're getting some benefits out of it. But like for a lot of people, they have body composition goals or they have strength goals and they want to strengthen certain parts of their body or hit certain parts of their body. And if you're forming your technique is off, you're not really getting the maximum benefit that you could.
00:14:32
Speaker
for example, like there's different ways that you can just tweak certain exercises in order to hit certain muscles a little bit better. So for example, like let's say you're doing a lunge and you want to hit your glutes a little bit more because you're focused on growing your glutes. Well, if you lean forward with your torso, and you have a little bit more vertical shin, well, now you're going to hit your glutes a little bit more versus like if I really wanted to hit my quads hit the front of my leg a little bit more more than my glutes will now I could let my knee travel over my toe a little bit more. And now I'm getting a bigger stretch of my quads and keep my torso a little bit more upright. So now I'm getting more focused on a quad. So just something as subtle as that, just a little tweak like that can help to emphasize certain muscles that you want to hit. And so understanding that like, yes, there's certain exercises and like you're hitting muscles, but there's also little tweaks that you can make within each exercise in order to hit the muscles a little bit differently or hit them in a certain way.
00:15:24
Speaker
And there's tons and tons of videos out there. People make videos like this all the time about little ways that you can tweak certain things and improve exercises and things like that. So don't be afraid to you know branch out a little bit and learn some things so that you can have a little bit more success and and really hit the goals that you want to hit within your training. And then when it comes to just like general tips that I see a lot with people, especially who people who aren't maybe super experienced in the gym,
00:15:52
Speaker
The first thing I would say is just slow down. Just slow down on your exercises. Like really focus on that technique, on that form, on controlling the exercises. Because what a lot of people don't understand is like most of your gains that you're getting when you're doing the exercise comes from the eccentric portion of the exercise. And all that means that's just a fancy way to say like the lowering portion of an exercise. So if you think about a squat, it's when you're lowering down in a squat. If you think about a bench press, it's when you're lowering that bar to your chest.
00:16:20
Speaker
You think about an RDL, it's when you're lowering that bar towards your feet. So those are the lowering parts, the eccentric parts. And that's where a lot of the muscle gain is actually coming. And you want to make sure that you're really controlling that. And so that you're hitting the muscle and giving it a nice stimulus so that you can make the most gain. So just a general tip is just to slow down. And if you're thinking on like a tempo, like think of like the lowering portion, you want to do it in like two seconds or so, two to three seconds, and then you can explode up.
00:16:48
Speaker
and then you're lowering slow controlling the weight explode up that way that you have more of that tension on the muscle and you're making better gains over time. The next thing I would say is for a lot of people, and maybe this is more for men than it is for women, but just lighter weight to make sure that you can actually hit the correct form. Because yes, we want to be focusing on progressive overload and getting stronger and using more weight, doing more reps and all that stuff. But again, if your technique and your form is trash and you're not really hitting the muscles the way that we want to hit the muscles, well, you're not getting the maximum benefit. On the other end of that, like making sure I know women
00:17:24
Speaker
typically will use lighter weights and maybe not push it quite as much and men will do the opposite. They'll use too heavy of weights and they're maybe pushing it a little too much and not really hitting the the right form. So you want to kind of find that Goldilocks zone where like Your form is really on point, you're able to control the weight, but as you're doing your sets, you're really struggling. On it like a scale of intensity, you want to be like an eight or or nine. like You should be to a point when you're doing your sets, if you really want to focus on building muscle and having the most change within your body composition and the way that you look. You want to be leaving maybe like one to two reps in the tank on each set. so
00:17:58
Speaker
I get to rep number eight and I'm trying to get to rep 10 and I get to rep nine. It's super hard. I'm slowing down. I'm struggling. And then I get to rep 10 and I'm really, really struggling. I can barely get it up. That is what we would consider a good set. If you feel like you could do like four or five more reps at the end of each set, you're probably not pushing it hard enough and you're not going to see those changes that we need to see. Because in order to really grow muscle and to build strength,
00:18:23
Speaker
and really have the maximum benefits. You have to be pushing yourself because if you don't, your body doesn't want to change. It doesn't need to change for any reason unless you give it a reason to change and that you're struggling within your training, you're pushing it, you're really being intense about your training. So those are just some some simple tips. And then the last thing I would say too is like if you work out in a gym that has mirrors, use mirrors so you can watch yourself and watch your form and watch your technique or even just videoing yourself. Like you can learn a ton by just taking a video of yourself doing an exercise and then just checking out your form, seeing how you're doing. Also just seeing like if you're really pushing it enough, like there's times where I'll take myself doing an exercise and I'm like, man, that was really hard. And then I'll watch the set and I'll be like, okay, I could have probably done like four or five more in that set pretty easily. Or I could have made this little tweak that would have helped my my form be a little bit better. So don't be afraid to video yourself as well so that you can continue to tweak certain things and make better progress as you work through your program.
Essential Home Gym Equipment
00:19:22
Speaker
Question number four, I think it is. With Black Friday coming up, I'm thinking about grabbing some home gym equipment so I can do more workouts at home. Any suggestions on things to start with? Yes. So obviously I work out at home. I have a home gym and I've had one and I've worked out in my home gym for I think close to four years now. And so like, there's probably three things that I would start with. The very first thing that I would probably start with is adjustable dumbbells. And when it comes to home gym equipment, things that you want to think about is you want to pick things that have a lot of variety. So things that you can do a lot of different exercises with, but also don't take up a ton of space. And I think adjustable dumbbells have to be at the top of the list when it comes to those two qualities. And speaking from my experience with working out in my own home gym in the last three, four years, like my adjustable dumbbells are the things that I use the absolute most. Like I use them more than anything else in my entire gym.
00:20:16
Speaker
And so that I would say is a really, really good investment because if you get a set of good adjustable dumbbells, you can get a ton of just quality exercises, quality workouts in with just that. Like if that was the only piece of equipment that you bought, you could train at home and you could make tons and tons of gains, get stronger, ah move better, all those different things that we want to happen have happen when we're working out. so Adjustable dumbbells would probably be number one on the list. I personally have what are called Power Blocks and that's a pretty popular brand, but there's tons of different brands out there as far as adjustable dumbbells. so And there's a lot of reviews and different things like that um where you can find and compare different things. Garage Gym Reviews is one that I've used a ton. It's a website and they have tons of different, just articles and YouTube videos and things about things to look out for, comparing different products. And so like, if you are thinking about buying something,
00:21:07
Speaker
for your, your home in creating a home gym. Like that is definitely a resource that I would use. I always check them out whenever I was buying like new things for my home gym. The second thing I would say, like, if you want to buy something after adjustable dumbbells, I would probably buy an adjustable bench because that just adds a little bit more variety as far as things that you can do when it comes to using your dumbbell. So now you can do different bench presses at different angles. You can do different rows, uh, lots of different things that you can do once you have that adjustable bench as well.
00:21:36
Speaker
And then the third thing that I would say is probably like some rings or like a TRX strap or even like a pull-up bar. If you can do pull-ups, that way you can just do more pulling exercises because you can do some pulling exercises, some back exercises with adjustable dumbbells. ah You can do rows and all different types of stuff like that. But as far as like pull-ups and things like that, like you need some rings or a TRX or a pull-up bar. And so with like rings or a TRX, it also just adds a ton of different exercises that you can throw within your program.
00:22:06
Speaker
With a pull-up bar, I like the pull-up bar a lot because pull-ups are probably one of my favorite back exercise, if not my favorite back exercise. But if you can't do pull-ups like right now, then maybe a pull-up bar isn't the best option. But if you can't do pull-ups, I would say probably go with rings or a TRX. If you can do pull-ups, I'd probably go with a pull-up bar first and then maybe add some rings or something like that later.
00:22:26
Speaker
And those aren't super expensive either. Like you can get a pair of rings. I think I got mine for like 50 bucks. So not too expensive and adds a ton of variety to your gym. So those are the three things that I would start with. If I was like starting all over again, and I just wanted to kind of get some home gym equipment where I could get a really solid workout in, I would focus, I would get some adjustable dumbbells. I would get an adjustable bench and I would get like some rings or a TRX strap or a pull bar. Question number five, I think we've got a couple more left.
Staying on Track After Setbacks
00:22:52
Speaker
I do well for a while, but I struggle with getting back on track when I fall off. Any tips? Yeah, so this is a conversation that I have with clients of mine quite often, and I think probably the biggest thing is that people just overthink it. They think that it has to be this big thing about how to get back on track, and they just blow it up more in their mind than what it really is. like Because the fact of the matter is, like One workout, one meal, even one day like isn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. It's not going to like set you way back. It's not going to hurt all your progress. You're not going to lose all your gains or anything like that. It's just a matter of what you decide to do after that one single choice. like After that missed workout, do you let that turn into a whole week of workouts or do you get back on track the next day? After that,
00:23:37
Speaker
one meal where you ate too much and and maybe you didn't want to go over your calories, but you did, like do you let that turn into a whole week or two weeks of just saying, screw it? Or do you just get back on track within your next meal? Or even one day, maybe you had an off day and you just didn't work out, you didn't eat well, like those sorts of things happen. like Especially if you were somebody who was treating this as a lifestyle, like that's going to be a regular part of this whole thing. like You're going to have days like that.
00:24:02
Speaker
that's going to happen. But what you do after that is what makes the biggest amount of difference. So like if you're letting that turn into I just say screw it for a couple weeks or even a month, like then you're going to have a lot more issues than if you just get back on track. And I think that's where a lot of people really struggle because they have this perfection mindset and then they mess up or they fall off and they think, well, if I can't be perfect, I'm not going to do anything. And that's really, really bad way to approach fitness and just a bad way to approach life in general. The goal is not to be perfect. The goal is to be consistent and you can be consistent without being perfect. Like there's going to be times where you fall off. There's going to be times where you eat too much. There's going to be times where you miss a workout and that's fine. It's all about just getting back on track.
00:24:43
Speaker
and really cutting down the amount of time in between those times where you do fall off track. Because if you do that, you're going to be able to be successful. You're going to make great progress. You're going to feel better. You're going to be able to build muscle and lose fat and and all those things that we try to accomplish. But if you're letting that turn into weeks of just taking time off, taking workouts off, ah letting your food choices just kind of just go crazy, like, well, then you're always going to struggle because you're never going to be able to make solid progress and when you're not making solid progress, it's really hard to stay motivated and it's really hard to stay with it. It's much easier to get that momentum and keep that momentum going than it is to just stop and start and stop and start, fall off and start again and fall off and start again. So get out of the mindset of trying to be perfect and just understand that if you can get back on track, there's not a lot, there's not, it's not really that big of a deal. Like you just have to get back to it, stop overthinking it and just make the next choice the better choice. Last question.
Understanding Overtraining Risks
00:25:41
Speaker
I've recently gotten into working out again and I've been working out a ton. Is there such a thing as working out too much? So yes, there is a certain thing as working out too much, but I don't think a lot of people are anywhere close to that just as far as like a physical standpoint. So it's possible, it's very possible to like over train and really start to see negative effects if you are exercising too often. But I think most people are very, very far away from that. But some things that you do need to think about is like,
00:26:08
Speaker
If you're starting a fitness journey, like for example, like you're, you know, maybe you're just brand new or you like you fell off for a long time and now you're getting back into it. A lot of people have this idea like, I'm going to work out five, six days a week. I'm going to get into it. It's going to be awesome. But like that doesn't work very well for a lot of people because they take on too much too soon. And that ends in like either getting burnt out with it. Maybe they end up with some sort of like overuse injury or they just can't stick to it. And it just like they fall off. And since they can't be perfect,
00:26:37
Speaker
they just think, well, I'm not going to do anything. Like they think since I can't work out five, six days a week, like what's the point? And so before you even get into it, just understanding like the mindset that you go into this with, I think is really, really important because I'd rather have somebody be consistent three days per week with their workouts, then be consistent for two weeks working out six days per week, but then they fall off for an entire week or they fall off for a couple of weeks because they did too much and they feel burnt out and they can't keep it up. And they're just like struggling. So then they're getting in that cycle again of like they're starting and they're stopping there.
00:27:12
Speaker
getting on track and then they're falling off. You're going to make way better progress if you work out consistently three times per week than if you work out five to six days per week, but you're always falling off. There's a week out of the month where you don't do anything or there's multiple weeks where like you're injured because you're doing too much. And so before you get into it, just think about what you can do that's realistic. Like don't think about what you can do on your absolute best day. Like when everything is perfect, when There's no issues going on when you're not stressed, when you're not busy, which is what most people do. Think about what you can do when things are difficult. Like when you are kind of stressed out, when you are busy at work, like when things aren't that easy, when you do have other obligations and things going on, like can you commit to three times per week? Because again, that's going to be a lot better than trying to say, I need to work out four or five times per week. And if I don't do that, then I feel like a failure.
00:28:00
Speaker
And so start less and then you can always build on it. It's a lot easier to start smaller and build on it than it is to start too high and then have to pull back because you, let's say you want to work out, you say, I want to work out five, six days a week. Well, maybe you are getting three, four workouts in per week consistently, but now you don't feel great about that because your goal that you set was five or six days per week. When in reality, if you're working out three to four days per week, you can make really good progress doing that. And you're working out.
00:28:28
Speaker
way more than the average person. And, but since you're not hitting that five, six days per week, you think you're not doing enough. You don't feel like you're making as much progress as you could. And then you just don't feel great about it mentally. So again, start smaller and then kind of work your way up. The other thing that I would say too, is like, as you're kind of getting into this, like just paying attention to your body to know if you are doing too much is a really easy way to know. So like, obviously if you're just getting back into this, like you're going to be sore. You're going to struggle a little bit. It's going to be tough, but pay attention to like,
00:28:58
Speaker
how sore you are, just like your joints, your muscles, your tendons, if you mentally are like wanting to train. So like, let's say you've been into this for multiple months at a time and you're just like kind of feeling a little bit run down and you're not really like knowing like where to go from here. Maybe you should take some time off, things like that. Like if your body's super sore, your energy levels are down. You don't really mentally want to go into the gym and train. Maybe your workouts are getting worse. Like you're not lifting as heavy of weights. You're not able to do the things that you were doing before.
00:29:27
Speaker
Then it could be time for a deload. It could be time to take maybe some, a couple of days off, maybe take a week off to let the body recoup, let you recoup mentally so that you're excited to get back in the gym.
00:29:37
Speaker
But I think for a lot of people, and in my experience, just the average person, they have a lot of deloads or time off from the gym just naturally built into their schedule. So like people will have to take time off or maybe they have a sick kid and they have to miss some workouts or they have different obligations that come up that don't let them work out or maybe they miss workouts for, or they go on vacation or things like that. So those types of people don't really need to build in deloads per se. But if you're somebody who's like extremely consistent and you're always working out and you start to notice that your body's just feeling kind of beat down and you need to take some time off from training, then that could be a good time to take a deal of it. So for example, like for me, like I work out pretty consistently. I don't really have weeks where like I'll miss workouts because I really enjoy getting my workouts in. And just from like a mental standpoint, I feel like I need those to just like stay sane and and have good mental health and things like that. So I always make it a priority, no matter how busy I am, no matter what things I have going on to get my four workouts in per week.
00:30:35
Speaker
And so over time, like there are times like eight to 12 weeks after I've been really consistently hitting it hard, maybe, you know, working out in the gym, hitting the weights, running, things like that, where my body is just starting to get kind of run down and I can feel it in my joints. I can feel it in my energy levels. I can feel it in just my mental fortitude and wanting to like push through and like wanting to get in the gym and work out. And when I start to feel that, I know that it's time to pull back because one thing that I've learned is that If you don't listen to your body, your body is going to force you to listen to it. so like When you're not listening to those signals of like, hey, you need to take some time off, your body is going to force you to sit down, whether it's through an injury, whether it's through getting sick or something like that, your body is going to force you to take some time off. so
00:31:17
Speaker
Just start to get more in tune with with where you're at. But at the same time, like I said, just understanding too, like if you are getting back into this, like you're going to have some of those things at the beginning and you kind of have to push through those things. But as you get going, as you get more comfortable with listening to your body and paying attention to what your body is trying to tell you and how you feel and things like that, you can make better assessments as to what your body actually needs.
Conclusion and Invitation for Questions
00:31:39
Speaker
And so with that being said, that is the final question. If you want me to answer one of your questions in the future, you can always just send me a message on Instagram.
00:31:47
Speaker
um I always like these episodes just because I get to expand a little bit on some of these questions. And these are, a lot of times these are questions that I'll get multiple times. So then I try to take it to the podcast and answer because I know if multiple people have this question, there's probably even more people out there that also have this similar question. And so if you do have a question, send it to me and then I can either just discuss it with you or if it's something that's super popular, I'll bring it to the podcast and I'll talk about it and expand on it a little bit and hopefully help some people with that.
00:32:14
Speaker
With that being said, I do have some one-on-one coaching spots available. If you're somebody who has weight loss goals and I know the new year is coming up, that's always a popular time for people to focus on their health and things like that. But if you want to make sure that you're getting in before the new year rolls around and make sure you can secure a spot, you can always check out the link in the show notes and we can have a conversation to see if you're a good fit for the program. But with that being said, I appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.