The 5 Great Secrets to Achieving Your Fitness Goals

You may have been looking at some of the people with great physiques – muscular guys strutting around the beach or sexy ladies with all the right curves - and wonder in silence what their secret was. Of course we all know that many professional athletes and fitness models on the covers of magazines train constantly since they have no other job to worry about, work with the best coaches and nutritionists, often take performance enhancing drugs and have pictures taken by professional photographers in just the right lighting and makeup, with some additional Photoshop magic to make everything seem spotless.

However, there are plenty of regular people who look incredibly good and still manage to balance their work with family life or partying, and still manage to keep themselves in great shape. These people don’t have the time to exercise a couple of hours a day and don’t have the resources to hire the best coaches and dietitians, yet they must be doing something right because the results speak for themselves. Here are the five most important things that separate the strong and aesthetic fitness elite, from the regular Joes who can’t seem to progress for years.

Define your goals and find a program that works best for you

Gyms are packed with what people in the fitness industry like to call “new year’s resolution gym goers”. These are people who decide that they need to “get in shape” – an incredibly vague idea – and just stumble into the closest gym and sign up. Best case scenario they get on a cookie cutter workout program, make some progress initially and then quit after several months; worst case scenario they come to the gym a few times, aimlessly going from machine to machine, only to never be seen again. Don’t be that person. Do you want to get leaner and work on your endurance or do you want to put on some muscle and gain strength? Do you want to work on your mobility and explosiveness or do you want to focus on power-lifting? Make up your mind and find a good training program to get you where you want to be.

Put your entire mind, body and soul into your workout

You need to leave your worries at home. Once you step into the gym or in your training area at home the only thing on your mind should be your training session. You need to know what exercises you will be doing, how many sets and reps, before you even walk through the door. Then you just go right ahead, following your program and focus all your attention and energy on performing the exercise at hand. Feel your muscles contract, be aware of how your body is positioned, what leverages you are using and how the different muscles work together to perform the movement. If it’s too easy just increase the weight, push out more reps, run a bit faster, slow down or pause for a couple of seconds before lifting. It should always feel difficult and just barely manageable.

Learn how to cook your own healthy, but tasty meals

Healthy food can sometimes be bland and boring. Certain foods don’t really satiate your appetite and some just taste awful. It’s amazing what you can do with a bunch of spices if you understand which ingredients work well together. Learn to cook and you will always be able to create fun new meals using mostly healthy ingredients – you can even make some great desserts that are diet friendly if keep track of your calories and use the right ingredients.

Use a high-quality protein shake and a good pre-workout supplement

Sometimes you may not feel like going to the gym or you may be a hungry and lacking in certain nutrients due to the fact that you barely have enough time eat throughout the day. Using a whey protein shake allows you to get more protein quickly and it is incredibly convenient. There are also a lot of great pre-workout supplements out there that combine the scientifically proven ingredients like creatine, BCAA’s, caffeine, L-Arginine and Beta-alanine to give you a focus and performance boost that you need to go through a grueling workout, even after a long day at work. These supplements are a great way of optimizing your nutrition and keeping your body pumped and ready for an intense workout session (see point 2).

Make time for stretching, foam rolling and rest

Most people don’t pay adequate attention to mobility and recovery. A short 5-10 minute warm up on the elliptical and some dynamic stretching before a workout, followed by another 10 minutes of foam rolling and 10 minutes of static stretching afterwards is a great way to reduce recovery time and prevent injury. Getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night is also crucial for recovery. Treat your body well and let it rest if you want to see the best results.

There you have it. A few seemingly simple, yet incredibly potent pieces of advice that will help you achieve your fitness goals much faster and stay motivated to keep pushing forward.