The New Year brings a lot of ‘Get Ripped Quick’ plans, focussed on creating a ‘new you’ in a short amount of time. It is ALWAYS a good idea to reevaluate and find motivation where you can – the New Year is perfect for that. But forget the bootcamps and transformations – there’s a much, much more effective way to train.
You know the drill: we spend the holidays drinking, eating and partying, then resolve in the New Year to get fit, drop a few pounds and look good for the beach holiday in summer. We fall short of our goal and after summer slowly forget about anything health and fitness related until New Year rolls around again.
The cycle continues and you feel you’re starting even further away from where you want to get to every year that passes by.
This is training for the short term.
There’s a better way.
How would it feel if you never had to go through this cycle again? To know that you’re already at your goal, and even when you let things slide during the holidays you know it’s only a few steps to get you back to where you want to be. And more importantly, you know, for sure, what those steps are.
This is what happens when you train for the long term.
You’ve probably seen those ads that promise 6 pack or a beach-ready physique in the next 12 weeks. They’re often backed up with the before and after photos to demonstrate the results too. The thing they don’t tell you is that these pictures are the minority – those individuals who can survive intense training injury-free, 100% adherence to a strict new diet and have the genetics to change their physique fast.
They don’t show you the majority who can’t make it through, and where they are 6 months after the program finishes, which for many may be in a worse condition than before they started.
What’s the alternative?
So what does training for the long term look and feel like? First off, unlike transformation or bootcamp programs, we start with where you’re actually at and progress from there. If you haven’t exercised in a while this might involve beginning with some bodyweight exercises and changing some basic but strategic nutritional habits.