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  • How to Create a Workout Plan for Beginners

    How to Create a Workout Plan for Beginners
    This post was originally published on my former health & wellness blog, positifity.com, which has since been discontinued. Because this post was still getting a lot of love on the internet, I decided to move it to my new website in hopes that it will continue to be beneficial to those who read it!

    “When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.”

    It may sound cheesy, but it’s true! If you show up to the gym day after day without a plan, you’re significantly less likely to achieve your fitness goals.

    To see the best possible results, you have to exercise with INTENTION.

    This requires having a plan in place specifically designed to continuously get you one step closer to the results that you want.

    But how do you create a plan when you can’t afford to purchase a fancy workout program or hire a personal trainer?

    Don’t worry girl, I gotchu! If you follow my step-by-step instructions, then by the end of this post you’ll have created a customized workout plan and be well on your way to crushing your fitness goals.

    LET’S GET STARTED, SHALL WE?

    What we’ll cover in this post

    Who is this post for?
    Step 1: Determine Your Goal
    Step 2: Determine How Much Time You (Realistically) Have To Work Out
    Step 3: Choose Your Workout Split and Get it On the Calendar
    Step 4: Plan Your Workouts
    Step 5: Evaluate Your Progress and Adapt Your Program

    Who is this post for?

    In this post we’ll be focusing on strength training. Strength training refers to the use of resistance to increase muscle endurance, size, and/or strength. This “resistance” can be achieved through the use of dumbbells, machines, barbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, etc.

    There’s a lot that goes into creating a comprehensive weightlifting program and to cover EVERYTHING I’d need to write a textbook. In this post we’ll stick to covering the basics of creating a workout plan that you can put into action immediately.

    Now – without further ado – it’s time to get planning!

    Step 1: Clarify Your Goal

    The first step in creating a workout plan is getting clear on the result you’re aiming for.

    Do you want to be more visibly muscular? Do you want to build as much strength as possible? Do you just want to tone up a bit? Are you focused on certain aesthetic goals or simply maintaining your health? Are there certain areas of your body that you’re more focused on developing than others?

    Take some time to figure out what exactly it is you want to achieve, as this will inform how you create your program.

    A word of caution: Make sure that your goal is realistic for you and your lifestyle.

    For example, striving to be bikini competitor lean year round is an unrealistic goal, dangerous to your health, and overall pretty dang miserable sounding – a life without donuts is no life for me!

    Remember that exercise should be a habit that you can sustain over the long-term, so it’s okay for your goals to change as you do.

    TAKE ACTION >>> Set aside some time to get clear on what you want. Writing down your goal and what it will mean to you to achieve it or creating a vision board (virtually or IRL) can be helpful!

    Step 2: Determine how much time you (realistically) HAVE TO WORK OUT

    Raise your hand if the following scenario sounds familiar:

    With the burst of motivation that comes with the decision to start working out, you commit to make it to the gym 6 or 7 days a week and then feel crappy about yourself when it doesn’t happen. Not good.

    I’ve sooooo been there 🙋🏻‍♀️

    A lot of us make the mistake of planning a workout program based on how much time we can dedicate to the gym given the best case scenario.

    Remember that life is messy – things have a tendency to not go as planned. Setting unrealistic expectations for yourself only sets you up for disappointment.

    That being said, you’re never going to “have” time to workout, you’re going to need to MAKE it.

    Taking all of your current commitments and priorities into consideration, it’s time to decide:

    • How many days per week will you work out? If you can determine the specific day(s) of the week even better.
    • What time will you work out? How long will you work out (i.e. do you have a hard stop at a certain time or can you leave the end time open?)

    I recommend aiming for a minimum of 3 days of training per week, but 4 – 6 will be more effective if your goal is to become more muscular.

    No matter what your schedule allows, any amount of exercise is better than none. Do what you can with the time that you have!

    TAKE ACTION >>> Take a look at your schedule and determine what open blocks of time you could potentially use to workout. If you can find a consistently available time block, even better.

    Step 3: Choose your workout split and get it on the calendar

    WHAT IS A WORKOUT SPLIT?

    A workout “split” refers to breaking up your training sessions by body region.

    Your split can go by days of the week (i.e. on Mondays I train legs, Tuesdays I train back, etc.) or be sequentially based, where you train in a specific cycle regardless of what day it is.

    For example, in the past I’ve followed this 4-day sequence: Day 1 – shoulders/biceps/triceps, Day 2 – legs/glutes, Day 3 – back and core, Day 4 – active rest day (aka cardio). And then back to day 1 to start the cycle over again!

    HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST WORKOUT SPLIT FOR YOU

    Finding the right workout split for you is a process of trial-and-error, and is something that will most likely change throughout your fitness journey.

    Factors such as your current condition, training experience, goals, availability, and rest and recovery needs all play a vital role in determining your optimal training schedule.

    Let’s discuss some common training splits and who they are good for:

    1. FULL-BODY SPLIT
    When you first begin working out, you’ll most likely experience a pretty notable increase in strength right away.

    A lot of this is due to neuromuscular adaptation – which is the fancy way of saying the process of your brain and body learning how to work together to perform a particular movement. As the movement itself becomes more familiar and habitual, you free up cognitive resources and tend to get stronger at the movement as well.

    Because your muscles require less stimulus to see results initially, you won’t need to spend as much time per body part or lift as much weight as someone who has been at it for a while to see results.

    Instead you’ll want to focus on nailing your form and building muscular endurance, which lends itself well to a full-body workout split.

    This split may be a good fit for you if: you’re completely new to weightlifting, you have minimal days to dedicate to the gym, or your fitness goals are simply to remain healthy and able to perform activities of everyday living (without as much emphasis on muscle-building for aesthetics).

    2. UPPER-BODY / LOWER BODY SPLIT
    This is a step-up from the full-body split and allows you to increase the volume and intensity of your workouts without having to take as many rest days (because your upper body is able to “rest” on your lower body day, and vice versa).

    When I first began taking weightlifting seriously, this was the type of split that I used.

    It’s still great for building muscular endurance, but allows you to make greater strength gains by increasing the total volume of work per body part, as opposed to trying to hit everything in a full-body workout.

    This split may be a good fit for you if: You have a little bit of experience in the gym and are ready to step up your game, you’re new to the gym but are involved in athletic activity outside of the gym, or if you only have 4 days to commit to the gym per week.

    3. “BODYBUILDER” SPLIT(S)
    Don’t let the title intimidate you – a “Bodybuilder split” refers to a training program where each muscle group (or groups) has its own dedicated day in the gym.

    This is the type of split used by most body builders and people training with aesthetic goals as a top priority.

    As you begin lifting heavier weights, your muscles will likely need more time to recover both during your workout (between sets) and after your sessions (between workouts).

    Using a bodybuilder split, you’re able to really focus on lifting heavy and burning out your muscle(s) because they will have ample time to recover during the following days in which you focus on other muscle groups, as well as your rest day(s).

    This type of split also allows for the most specificity and customization towards your goals.

    For example, if you really want to focus on building your lower body, you might have one day dedicated to quads & calves, another day focused on glutes & hamstrings and a third lower-body day that focuses on all of the above but at a lower intensity, whereas you only hit shoulders/bis/tris all in one session, once per week.

    This split might be a good fit for you if: You have 4-6 days to dedicate to the gym per week, you have some experience in the gym and are ready to move from endurance to hypertrophy training (more on that later), you have specific physique goals (i.e. defining your shoulders, adding X cm to your glutes), and/or your primary focus is increasing muscle size/definition.

    Keep in mind, there are SO many training splits out there – this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. I encourage you to google around for more examples and experiment until you find what works best for you, your goals, and your lifestyle.

    HOW MANY REST DAYS SHOULD I TAKE?

    It’s while you REST – not while you’re actually exercising – that your muscles are able to strengthen and rebuild, so it’s essential not to discredit the importance of recovery time or skip it altogether.

    The amount of rest you need will largely come down to how you’re training and your level of fitness.

    For beginners on a full body split, you’ll generally want to allow 1 – 2 days between workouts for recovery.

    If you’re training 1-2 specific muscle groups per day (using a “bodybuilder” split), then you’ll want to allow 48 – 72 hours before training the same muscle group(s) again, but can train other muscles in the meantime (one of the main advantages of this type of workout split).

    Regardless of which split you choose, I recommend having 1 – 2 rest days built into your week.

    Taking a rest day doesn’t mean that you have to lie in bed watching Netflix all day or else risk losing your gains from overtraining.

    You can also take an “active” rest day, which involves doing an activity at a significantly reduced intensity from your normal workouts (i.e. going for a walk or doing yoga, rather than a heavy leg day).

    TAKE ACTION >>> Decide on your training split and put in on the calendar. Keep in mind that you may have to experiment and tweak this as you progress, and that’s okay. Don’t stick to something just because it makes sense on paper or is what your favorite athlete does – listen to your body.

    Step 4: Plan Your Individual Workouts

    Now that you’ve clarified your goal, figured out how much time you have to dedicate to the gym, and chosen your workout split, it’s time to program your actual workouts.

    WHAT EXERCISES SHOULD I DO? WHERE CAN I FIND EXERCISE IDEAS?

    At the beginning of your fitness journey it’s most important to focus on learning proper form, increasing stabilization and building muscular endurance.

    You may want to begin with bodyweight exercises and/or machines as you learn basic movements and build some base-level strength.

    As you progress, you’ll likely want to shift your focus to free weight exercises which engage your core, challenge your balance and stabilization, and more closely mimic activities of everyday life.

    Try to to find a few trainers, athletes, or fitness influencers with a similar body shape to you and look at their workout routines.

    There are SO many free resources out there these days to find exercise ideas!

    My go-to resources include:

    • Bodybuilding.com
    • YouTube: Some of my favorite fitness gals are Stephanie Buttermore, Whitney Simmons, and Heidi Somers.
    • Instagram: Katy Hearn, Cristina Capron, Hannah Oeberg, and Whitney Simmons (again 👑)

    My favorite resource for workout planning at the moment is Katy Hearn’s AWESOME workout generator app (this would’ve been SO helpful when I was first starting out!).

    For only $5 a month, you select if you’re working out at home or in the gym, as well as the muscle group you want to train and voilà!

    The app generates a complete workout for you, including an instructional video to guide you through each exercise.

    Keep in mind, the app doesn’t know anything about you or your fitness levels. Be sure to assess if its recommendations are safe given your current condition.

    **ADD STRONG APP HERE***

    HOW MANY REPS/SETS SHOULD I COMPLETE?

    How many reps and sets you should complete largely comes down to your fitness goals.

    If you’re focusing on muscular endurance, you’ll want to aim for 1-3 sets of 15 to 20 reps of each exercise. This is a good rep/set range for beginners.

    If you’re focusing on increasing muscle size, you’ll want to stay in the 8 – 12 rep range and complete 3 – 5 sets of each exercise. This is a good rep/set range if you have some experience in the gym, can perform exercises with proper form, and are looking to become more muscular.

    If your ultimate goal is to maximize strength, you’ll want to aim for 4 – 6 sets of 1 – 6 reps of each exercise. This rep/set range is best for experienced lifters who are looking to become as strong as possible (be sure not to confuse muscle strength with muscle size). Depending on your fitness goals, you may never train in this rep/set range, but if you do it’s crucial to make sure that your form is on point first.

    You should feel free to mix it up! Just because you’re focused on hypertrophy training (increasing muscle size), doesn’t mean that you can’t throw in a few sets of higher reps to burn out your muscles at the end of a workout.

    *However you will want to be careful about trying to lift too much weight for your current fitness level (i.e. going for your 1 rep max when you’ve just started endurance training and learning proper form), as this can lead to injury.*

    HOW LONG SHOULD I REST BETWEEN SETS?

    If training for endurance: 30 – 60 seconds

    If training for size (hypertrophy): 1 – 2 minutes

    If training for strength : 3 – 5 minutes

    HOW DO I KNOW WHEN TO BUMP UP THE WEIGHT I’M USING?

    Humans are adaptive creatures – Our muscles need a reason to grow or else they won’t.

    This means as you progress, you’ll need to continually increase the challenge placed on them.

    Most often this is achieved by increasing the amount of weight you’re lifting.

    How do you know when it’s time to up the weight?

    When training, the last rep of each set – whether you’re aiming for 20 reps or 6 reps total – should be very difficult. You should be on the brink of muscle failure – the point at which you can’t complete another rep with proper form.

    For example, if your goal is to increase muscle size, and you’re aiming for 10 reps of a given exercise – if after that 10th rep, you feel like you could’ve cranked out an 11th, then your weight is too light. Try increasing it by 5 – 10% the next time.

    Similarly, if by the time you get to that 11th rep, your form is completely awful and you’re swinging weights, using momentum to get the job done, your weight is too heavy and should be reduced.

    DOES IT MATTER WHAT ORDER I DO MY EXERCISES IN?

    In short – Yes.

    If you’re a beginner doing full-body, machine-based workouts 3 days per week, order is not going to be a huge concern for you.

    However, if you’re training for hypertrophy or strength you’re going to want to begin with your heaviest lifts.

    Do your most difficult, compound exercises (multi-joint movements that work several muscles at a time like barbell squats or deadlifts) at the beginning of your workout when you have the most energy and work your way to the least difficult, isolation exercises (single joint exercises working only one muscle group like quad extensions or laying hamstring curls) to burn out your muscles as you begin to fatigue.

    TAKE ACTION >>> Now that you’ve chosen your split and selected some exercises to try, plan one week of workouts. I recommend using the Strong App*** Can also use someone else’s app to make it as easy as possible for yourself.

    Step 5: EVALUATE YOUR PROGRESS AND ADAPT YOUR PROGRAM

    RECORD

    When it comes to getting “fit” the first metric most people turn to as a gauge of progress is their weight.

    However, scale weight is not all that helpful for judging your progress in a resistance-based training program.

    This is because it doesn’t take into account body composition.

    Because muscle is more dense than fat, you could lose body fat and gain muscle but end up weighing more than you originally did.

    You see the issue?

    Here are some ideas of what to track instead:

    • Keep an exercise log where you record the exercises you completed, how many sets/reps of each, and what weight you used so that you can see your progress over time. (Be sure to download my free workout planner!)
    • Take progress photos. Try to keep the photos as consistent as possible (same pose(s), location, lighting, time of day, etc.)
    • Record your measurements. Use a flexible tape measure to measure your chest, waist, hips, thighs, arms and/or any other body part of concern to track increases or decreases in size.

    REFLECT + EVALUATE

    Using the information you gathered in the last step, set aside some time every 4-8 weeks to reflect on your progress.

    Ask yourself:

    • What does the objective data show? (i.e. your exercise log + measurements)
    • What have you been doing well?
    • In what areas can you improve?
    • Do you need to challenge yourself more? Do you need to make more time for recovery?
    • Are there factors outside of your resistance training program that are hindering your results and need to be addressed (i.e. diet, stress, hormonal imbalances)?
    • How do you feel? Don’t forget that not all progress is physical – making exercise a habit transforms other areas of your life as well. In what ways can you see it making an impact in your life?

    ADAPT

    Now that you can see how you’re progressing and you’ve taken some time to reflect on it, revisit your workout plan and adjust it accordingly.

    Weight training is a continuous process of growth, so your workout plan will need to continually evolve as you do.

    TAKE ACTION >>> ADD WORDS LOL. Other thoughts – maybe add a quick blurb on do I need to warm up, how should I warm up, etc. or leave out altogether.

    Now I Want to Hear From You!

    Congrats 🎉 If you’ve followed these steps, you should now have your own customized workout program and are on your way to crushing your fitness goals 🙌🏻 You go girl!

    What other questions do you have about creating your own workout plan? Let me know in the comments below.

    Happy planning!

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  • Make it happen

    20 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Believe In Yourself

    20 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Believe in Yourself
    This post was originally published on my former health & wellness blog, positifity.com, which has since been discontinued. Because this post was still getting a lot of love on the internet, I decided to move it to my new website in hopes that it will continue to be beneficial to those who read it!

    One of the biggest secrets to success is an unwavering belief in yourself, your worth, and your abilities. However, we all have those days when we could use an extra boost of self-confidence.

    In those moments, I hope these 20 quotes will help you remember what a capable, worthy, and unique being you truly are!

    “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm Forbes
    “Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm Forbes
    “You are under no obligation to be the same person you were a year, a month, or even 15 minutes ago. You have the right to grow. No apologies.”
    “You are under no obligation to be the same person you were a year, a month, or even 15 minutes ago. You have the right to grow. No apologies.”
    “Don’t mess around with the energy you let into your life. Choose places, people and conversations wisely. They become you.”
    “Don’t mess around with the energy you let into your life. Choose places, people and conversations wisely. They become you.”
    “Being aware of a single shortcoming within yourself is far more useful than being aware of a thousand in someone else.” – Dalai Lama
    “Being aware of a single shortcoming within yourself is far more useful than being aware of a thousand in someone else.” – Dalai Lama
    “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine… and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson
    “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine… and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson
    “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
    “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
    “Don’t downgrade your dreams to match your reality. Upgrade your belief to match your vision.”
    “Don’t downgrade your dreams to match your reality. Upgrade your belief to match your vision.”
    “Care about what other people think and you’ll always be their prisoner.” – Lao Tzu
    “Care about what other people think and you’ll always be their prisoner.” – Lao Tzu
    “You can do anything but not everything.”
    “You can do anything but not everything.”
    “Excuses are born out of fear. Eliminate your fear and there will be no excuses.”
    “Excuses are born out of fear. Eliminate your fear and there will be no excuses.”
    “The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out who you are. Seek to determine what you want to be.” – Neal Donald Walsch
    “The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out who you are. Seek to determine what you want to be.” – Neal Donald Walsch
    “Do not become small for someone who refuses to grow.”
    “Do not become small for someone who refuses to grow.”
    “Accept no one’s definition of your life… define yourself.”
    “Accept no one’s definition of your life… define yourself.”
    “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
    “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
    “Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.”
    “Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.”
    “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
    “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
    “If you lose someone but find yourself, you won.”
    “If you lose someone but find yourself, you won.”
    “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
    “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
    “If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.” – Robert Schuller
    “If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.” – Robert Schuller
    “There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin
    “There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin

    Now I Want to Hear From You!

    Which quote was your favorite? What are your go-to quotes when you need a little confidence boost? Let me know in the comments below!

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  • 14 Motivational Quotes For When You Just Don’t Feel Like Working Out

    Motivational Quotes for when you don't feel like working out
    This post was originally published on my former health & wellness blog, positifity.com, which has since been discontinued. Because this post was still getting a lot of love on the internet, I decided to move it to my new website in hopes that it will continue to be beneficial to those who read it!

    It happens to the best of us – no matter how committed you are to your health and success, there’ll always be those days that you just don’t feel like working out or taking the necessary steps towards another important goal in your life.

    These 14 quotes will help re-ignite your fire. Save them for times when your willpower is running low or share them with someone who could use an extra boost!

    Push Yourself Because Nobody Elise if going to do it for you
    “Push yourself. Because nobody else is going to do it for you.”
    You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
    “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
    You don't have to be extreme, just consistent.
    “You don’t have to be extreme, just consistent.”
    Growth is Painful. Change is Painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you don't belong.
    “Growth is Painful. Change is Painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you don’t belong.”
    Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
    “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
    Good things take time
    “Good things take time.”
    Don't give up what you want most for what you want now

    “Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now.”

    "You can't expect to succeed if you only put in work on the days that you feel like it."

    “You can’t expect to succeed if you only put in work on the days that you feel like it.”

    If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you.
    “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.”
    Success is neither magical nor mysterious. success if the natural consequence of good habits.
    “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. success if the natural consequence of good habits.”
    Strive for progress, not perfection

    “Strive for progress, not perfection.”

    Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. - Earl Nightingale

    “Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
    – Earl Nightingale

    If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up.
    “If you’re tired of starting over, stop giving up.”
    Continuous improvement is Better than delayed perfection.
    “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection” – Mark Twain

    Now I Want to Hear From You!

    What are your go-to quotes when you need an extra motivational boost? Share them with us in the comments below!

    READ MORE

  • Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Fitness Journey

    14 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Fitness Journey

    Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Fitness Journey
    This post was originally published on my former health & wellness blog, positifity.com, which has since been discontinued. Because this post was still getting a lot of love on the internet, I decided to move it to my new website in hopes that it will continue to be beneficial to those who read it!

    Making a commitment to get fit can be completely overwhelming! With so much conflicting information out there, where do you even start?

    Over the past 4 years, I’ve learned a lot through trial and error, and what I didn’t know cost me a lot of time, money, and unintentional self-sabotage. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.

    That’s why today I’m sharing “14 Things I Wish I Knew When I Began My Fitness Journey”, in hopes that it will help you as you begin yours!

    1. PROPER FORM IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU’RE LIFTING

    If there’s one thing I could tell my young weightlifting self, it would be to swallow my pride and focus more on nailing my form than on the number of plates on my barbell. When you use more weight than you can properly handle you 1) set yourself up for injury (a lesson I learned the hard way) and 2) actually sabotage your gains, in many cases. When the muscle you’re targeting is too weak to lift the load it’s bearing, a phenomenon called “synergistic dominance” occurs, in which secondary muscles will compensate to allow you to complete the movement. This can lead to ineffectively strengthening the target muscle and overtaxing the muscles picking up the slack.

    2. STOP OBSESSING OVER SUPPLEMENTS

    In your quest for fitness info, you’re bound to be bombarded by influencers and marketers telling you about all of the health products you just HAVE to have.

    There’s a lot of shadiness and pseudo-science in the supplement industry.

    If you’re just starting out, don’t spend hours banging your head against a wall trying to figure out which supplements to take.

    While they can definitely enhance your performance and results, the most important thing BY FAR is getting your diet and training right.

    Before buying any supplement, I recommend that you look it up on Examine.com to see what scientific research has to say on its efficacy.

    3. LIFTING WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU BULKY

    If you’re afraid that lifting is going to make you look too “masculine”, trust me, you’re not going to get there by accident.

    You won’t go to the gym for a week or two and then suddenly wake up one morning looking like the Hulk.

    Putting on that kind of muscle mass takes a lot of intention and effort over a long period of time.

    I personally love the look of defined muscles, but if that’s not your jam – all you have to do is stop progressing the amount of weight you’re using once you’re satisfied with your physique or reduce training frequency for that particular muscle group.

    4. YOU’RE GOING TO FEEL AWKWARD AF ABOUT CERTAIN EXERCISES… DO THEM ANYWAY!

    Lookin’ at you hip thrusts 👀

    Doing any unfamiliar exercise for the first time might make you feel awkward or silly. Add to that those booty-building moves that look overtly sexual (*cough cough* hip abductors) and you might be tempted to skip them altogether.

    BUT the only way to get past the discomfort is to push through it. Confidence comes from action not thought.

    Accept that you’re going to feel awkward and do it anyway. It DOES get better. And your #gainz will thank you for it.

    5. HIP THRUSTS ARE THE SH!T

    Seriously… If you’re trying to build a booty, this is the move fam!

    If you listen to traditional bro science, everyone preaches squats and deadlifts as the go-to lower body moves, and while they’re both great movements in their own right, neither comes close to activating the glutes as well as the hip thrust.

    Brett Contreras, “The Glute Guy”, has published tons of research-backed information on this on his website.

    If one of your fitness goals includes building the perfect posterior, I highly recommend you check him out!

    6. MANY “HEALTH” FOODS AREN’T ALL THAT HEALTHY…

    At the beginning of my fitness journey I decided I needed to clean up my eating, and so I used to survive on things like Special K brownies, Pop Chips, Lean Cuisines, and the insta-famous (at the time) Walden Farm’s 0-calorie syrup. Not exactly the diet of champions…

    Many of the health benefits touted on the boxes of these foods were nothing more than clever marketing. While there were definitely less calories in these items than their alternatives, I was still eating a TON of processed foods.

    Thank god I finally learned that there’s a lot more to healthy eating than calories/macros.

    How your food is produced is also REALLY important.

    Now I try to stick to mostly whole, non-processed foods (ADD SAYING ABOUT HOW TO KNOW IF SOMETHING HAS BEEN PROCESSED).

    7. REST DAYS ARE NOT LAZY. REST DAYS ARE ESSENTIAL.

    When I first started taking weightlifting seriously, I prided myself on the fact that I was team #nodayzoff.

    I seemed to have this fear that if I missed one day, I’d somehow completely fall off the rails and lose all my progress.

    Be better than me plz 🙏

    If you’re pushing yourself hard, rest days are ESSENTIAL for your muscles to repair and rebuild.

    Going to the gym became so ingrained in my daily routine that it was hard for me not to go. If this sounds like you, I recommend taking “active” rest days, where you do light cardio, yoga, or something minimally taxing on your body so you can still get some movement in while giving yourself a chance to recover.

    8. SCALE WEIGHT IS NOT A GOOD INDICATOR OF PROGRESS IN A RESISTANCE-TRAINING PROGRAM.

    If you’re starting a cardio-based workout program with the primary goal of weight-loss then the scale can be a useful tool to monitor your progress.

    However, if you’re implementing a resistance training program, it’s not going to do much for you.

    Since muscle is more dense than fat, you may be making tremendous strides forward, but see a larger number on the scale.

    The number on the scale doesn’t take into account body composition or differentiate between lean mass (muscle) and fat mass.

    Keeping an exercise log that allows you to observe strength gains over time, taking progress photos and recording weekly measurements are much more effective ways to track your progress for this type of training program.

    9. MAKE SURE YOU’RE EATING ENOUGH FOOD…

    There seems to be this myth floating around that in order to get fit you have to adopt a super restrictive diet.

    Not only is this unsustainable, but it can also be dangerous and keep you from seeing the progress that you want to make.

    Building muscle requires consuming more calories than you burn.

    If you’ve cleaned up your eating and your diet consists primarily of plants and lean poultry, then you may have to consume a larger quantity of food than you’re used to to hit your macro goals (You’ll never hear me complain about having to eat more).

    10. … BUT ALSO REALIZE THAT “BULKING” DOESN’T REQUIRE AS MANY EXTRA CALORIES AS YOU MIGHT THINK.

    Building muscle requires being in a caloric surplus, but some people take this as an invitation to eat all the thingz.

    If you’re eating because you’re hungry and you want to, then go for it!

    But if you think that you need to consume excessive amounts of calories to put on some muscle, well… that’s just not true.

    The ideal calorie number for increasing muscle mass is between 250 – 500 calories above your maintenance levels.

    “Maintenance levels” simply refers to the amount of calories you use to complete the activities of one day. You can calculate your TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, using THIS calculator.

    11. A LONGER WORKOUT DOESN’T EQUAL A BETTER WORKOUT

    When I first got seriously into weightlifting, I’d be in the gym 2 hours a day, 7 days a week… not wise, my friends.

    In fact, training this way can actually cause you to LOSE muscle mass.

    This is because as you train the level of cortisol – a stress hormone that helps regulate metabolism and energy – in your body begins to rise, signaling to your body to break down muscle protein as a source of energy.

    When exactly this begins to occur depends on the intensity of your workout, but if your weight training is regularly taking 2+ hours, then you are likely a) not training hard enough or b) overtraining and inadvertently causing a loss of muscle tissue. No bueno.

    For most people hypertrophy training (the fancy pants way of saying training with the goal of becoming more muscular), the sweet spot of training hard enough to see maximum results without overdoing it is a 60-90 minute workout.

    12. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION

    While training you shouldn’t just be going through the motions, only focused on cranking out a certain number or reps or thinking about what you need to buy at the grocery afterwards.

    All movement begins with a signal sent by your brain telling your muscles to contract.

    Many studies show that focused concentration on the muscle you’re targeting results in greater neural activation.

    Improving the communication between your brain and body allows for a better quality muscle contraction and ultimately a better quality workout.

    So with each rep that you complete, be sure that you’re really focusing on moving the weight with the muscle you intend to and feeling that contraction.

    **ADD PRO TIP ABOUT TOUCHING THE MUSCLE TO HELP WITH ACTIVATION***

    For more info on how to build your mind-muscle connection and why it matters, I recommend checking out this article on T-Nation.

    Arnold Schwarzenegger swears by the mind-muscle connection (and science proves it), so if that’s not compelling enough, I don’t know what is!

    13. SOMETIMES THE BEST WAY TO INCREASE STRENGTH ISN’T ADDING MORE WEIGHT

    The most obvious way to “progress” in the gym is to continually increase the amount of weight you’re using as you become stronger.

    However, it’s important not to forget that there are other ways to make an exercise more challenging.

    To switch things up, I sometimes like to take down the weight a bit and focus on completing the exercise, particularly the eccentric (or lowering) phase, nice and slooooow. This maximizes the time that the muscle is under tension allowing for greater growth.

    Drop sets are another secret weapon I wish I would’ve incorporated from the start.

    With drop sets you essentially use a challenging weight to complete an exercise as usual, but when you reach failure or your target number of reps, instead of stopping, you reduce the weight and immediately continue lifting until you reach failure at that weight, continuing the process until your muscles are completely tapped out.

    14. BE CAREFUL WHO YOU FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA

    When I first got into fitness I – naturally 🙄 – turned to Instagram for workout ideas and advice.

    While I think it can be a great tool, as I began to learn more through my own experience, looking at what research has to say, and getting my certifications, it became more and more apparent how many influencers were out there, both knowingly and unknowingly, giving bad workout advice or pushing ineffective or unhealthy products (Example A – when I purchased and suffered through wearing not one, but TWO waist trainers because all of the fitness gurus were raving about them *facepalm*).

    Make sure that the people you are following have your best interest in mind and are qualified to be giving you advice.

    Also be sure to conduct your own research before buying any products or trying exercises that look cool on the ‘gram but could be potentially dangerous.

    Now I Want to Hear From You!

    What do you wish you would’ve known when you started your fitness journey? If you’re just starting out, what is your biggest source of confusion? Let me know in the comments below!

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