A Couple of Gym Upgrades In October

It's October 27th 2020 as I write this and the studio has now officially been open 141 days with no issues and no outbreaks. Gyms have been unfairly demonized across the nation since March as it relates to this virus yet there are still no large outbreaks or cluster that have been traced back to a fitness facility in the states. I for one am being as cautious as I can to prevent myself or my clients from getting sick and I believe most business owners would be motivated to do the same.

In other news, I have added a few items to the studio over the past couple of weeks.

Five Lat Pulldown Attachments
These are already delivered and in use. One wide, two standard, and two narrow grip pulldown accessories. A few have neutral grips, two have supinated, and one is designed underhanded. This simply allows for more targetted exercise selection and a little less taxing our joints in the same exact angle.

Rogue Monster Plate Storage Pin for Belt Squat
I've tried to get these for a while but Rogue has been out of stock for months due to their dedication to PPE for Covid at their manufacturing facilities. I likely will not use this for storage but for extra stability & comfort while doing calf raises on the belt squat machine. I plan to upgrade a few pieces of equipment to the Rogue monster line and this will be compatible with everything I get in the future.

Touch Free Soap Dispenser
Since hand washing is now a requirement at the gym before and after each session I felt it was time to update the old one. This will provide one less "surface touch" for everyone and it looks cool. 

I have my eyes on some other upgrades but probably nothing super major this year since most of the equipment suppliers seem to not be running Black Friday promotions this year...We'll see.

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We Are Open Following COVID-19 Closure, Owners Statement On What Has Changed

               4/22/21 Update:  As of 4/1/21 Taylor Carpenter has received the 2nd dose of the vaccine, fully vaccinated. We are approaching almost a year of reopening the gym and so far there has been no spread among clients of COVID and I have personally not come down with COVID at any point. It has been very smooth since June 2020 and I'm still following all the same protocols listed below and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

                Taylor Carpenter Personal Training is open as of June 8th 2020. Speaking for the Governor and Attorney General of North Carolina, the Special Deputy Attorney General wrote a letter on June 5th 2020 to Mr. Chuck Kitchen (the attorney representing NC gyms Smith v. Cooper) stating that fitness facilities may open their indoor areas to serve any people prescribed or directed to use those facilities by a medical professional or health care professional as long as the indoor Mass Gathering limit is not exceeded.

                For purposes of this exception, “medical professionals” and “health care professionals” shall include licensed physicians, licensed physician’s assistants or nurse practitioners, licensed nurses, licensed chiropractors, licensed dieticians, licensed respiratory care therapists, licensed psychologists, licensed clinical mental health counselors, licensed occupational therapists, licensed physical therapists, licensed recreational therapists, and licensed massage therapists.

                Based on guidance from Mr. Kitchen, your right to privacy is recognized and respected by this facility. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, you will not be required to disclose any medical information or disability.

                I am writing this on July 16th 2020, and I’ve now been open for over a month with no issues. We are back to normal and inviting new customers. For the past 5+ years I’ve been the sole personal trainer and have only worked with one client at a time. In the age of COVID-19, this creates an extremely low risk environment when compared to more populated exercise options. I have a 1250 square foot studio and there are only two people max inside, myself and one client.

                My facility has always been extremely clean, and my Google reviews back that claim up. I have taken additional measures to go above and beyond since reopening to limit exposure for all.

  • Appointments have been adjusted to allow a 5 minute gap between clients. This allows for additional cleaning and ensures a staggering arrival of all clients. Your trainer will be the only individual you encounter.
  • The front door handle is sanitized between each customer.
  • The sink, bathroom door, light switch, etc are sanitized between each customer.
  • Well over 6 feet of distance is maintained throughout each class. Programming has always been designed safely so “failure” on any given exercise should not occur which minimizes the need for close proximity spotting.
  • Clients are required to wash hands before & after each session. The trainer does the same.
  • The sign in sheet has been converted from a paper process to digital in Google Drive.
  •  The trainer handles sanitizing all equipment before, during, and after usage. This ensures only one set of hands are touching the cleaning supplies and customers only need to touch equipment in use.
  • The front door is locked during all training sessions. This ensures no walk in traffic and maintains a max of two people in the gym at all times.
  • Two windows open during business hours to allow improved air circulation.
  • Fan mode occasionally turned on during business hours to also improve air circulation.
  • Closed shower
  • Kitchen use and bottled water no longer available. Bring your own water.
  • Towel service unavailable. Bring your own towel.
  • No guests allowed in lobby, no kids. All clients must come alone.
  • Discouraged (not banned) phone usage during training sessions to minimize germ exposure. Hand sanitizer is available in the lobby by front door.
  • Masks are not required since there will only be 2 people in 1250 square foot of space.

Fill out the new client application to get started

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FREE COV19 Workout Templates + Online Training

The Ballantyne personal training studio has temporarily been closed since the end of day March 25th due to COV19. The hope is I will be able to open April 30th or May 1st when the shelter in place order hsa been lifted. 

In the meanwhile, I have created a free bodyweight at home training template for anyone to use if they would like. It can be found at http://bit.ly/taylorcarpentercov19freeworkouts

I generally believe in progressive overload when it comes to weight training. Continuously improve your strength and conditioning over a long period of time. If you can lift 100lbs this week, then lift 105lbs next week. Those same progressions aren't as compatible in a home with no equipment vs in a well equipped personal training studio. So we do the best with what we can, increase cardio, increase volume, ignore rep count and more or less go with the rate of perceived exertion. 

If you would like to pursue online training, I am accepting clients there. It is ideal that you have a decent amount of equipment at home to work with but if not, I'm being a little more flexible during COV19.

Online training with me is customized towards the individual, I dewsign workouts based on what you have and what you need. Workouts are presented in a Excel spreadsheet and you check in following each session with your results. I will then update the spreadsheet for the next workout and answer any questions you may have. It's recommended you've been training for a year or two at least and feel confident with the movements and terms on your own. 

My Statement Regarding The Coronavirus

             I feel it’s important to make a statement regarding the recent events surrounding the coronavirus as it relates to my facility.   As of this email, Mecklenburg County has banned gatherings of 50 or more people, and the federal government has recommended gatherings of no more than 10 people.  

                What makes my service unique is I only perform 1 on 1 personal training meaning there is never more than two people here at a given time (myself included).  While this is designed to provide a one of a kind service with undivided attention, it also creates a very clean, safe, and sanitized environment compared to other high traffic facilities.

                Cleanliness is not a new response to this pandemic but something that has been a top priority since my opening. Being the sole owner and trainer, I am responsible for every aspect of the facility including the cleanliness.

                A home gym environment is likely to be your safest choice at any point in time but my studio would be a close 2nd. As far as I know I am the only studio in Charlotte NC that operates with a sole trainer and a single client at any given time, other local smaller fitness studios will run multiple trainers and clients simultaneously.

                Current clients have been told it will now be mandatory to wash hands before and after each session to help ease concerns.

                I feel confident your risk is minimized in such a small isolated 1 on 1 facility compared to your traditional large membership gyms that have hundreds of people in and out daily with the responsibility of cleaning and sanitizing after themselves. I will continue to maintain a clean, safe, and sanitized facility as I’ve set out to do from day one but wanted to describe how the business operates as gym concerns have grown by day due to the coronavirus.

Improving your own fitness is an evolutionary process

               All of your accomplished goals will be a result of long term sustainability and adherence.  Opposed to setting a goal weight or establishing the perfect poundage to bench press, most should be adding structure to benefit their health or fitness intent.  Everyone has room to improve at any and everything they do.  Assuming you’ve reached your peak is leaving untapped potential.

               A workout program is irrelevant if you do not dedicate consistent time to implement it. Just as most work 9 to 5, you should probably carve out a training window on specific days and times that establish a routine. The same can be said for your diet and meal preparations. If you leave these tasks to whenever you get around to them, they’ll likely be skipped more often than you would like.

               I’ve been strength training for almost two decades. I’m immensely smarter today than I was when I began. Some of this has been through study and some has been through trial and error by simply making my life and routine more efficient, more structured.  I can provide clients with advice and helpful brainstorming but ultimately each individual will have to be the guinea pig and identify the routine that keeps them locked in the best. What has historically worked to perfection for me may be overwhelming or painstakingly boring for you. It also may be exactly what you need. To this day, I still look for ways to tweak every diet I do, every strength training cycle I do.

               Towards the beginning of 2020 I switched my weekday workouts to weeknight workouts. I have a odd sleep schedule and would notice lethargy and procrastination on Tuesday and Thursday when I train during the day.  In order to provide a little more rest for a more intense workout I shifted my training time to the evenings following a few hours of sleep.  With this transition, I was also required to shift how I prep my meals a bit so I’m not staying up to all hours of the night playing catch up. I have noticed a boost in my performance, recoverability, and intensity while exercising but it does leave me rushed and crammed for time late at night getting ready for bed and the early 415am wakeup call I have. There is a tradeoff here but I can and will explore ways to be more efficient with my post workout meal late at night, there is always room to improve every aspect. Over the next few months that is what I’ll be working to iron out before I do another weight loss cycle.  It’s a process, and until I live it a little day to day I won’t know how it’ll turn out. I make adjustments, commit to them, and assess the result. This cannot be done without consistency.

               As I’ve developed a respectable amount of strength, I’ve discovered it’ll take my knees a little longer to recover from a intense squat day. First few years of my training I could probably squat every day or at least every other day. Now that I’m lifting a few hundred pounds more on a regular basis, it’s usually 3 full days before my legs and knees feel fully fresh again. This again, is a evolutionary process in my training. I’ve designed my own training to account for this extra recovery time so I can try as intense as ever without running into chronic fatigue or constant joint irritability. This is something each individual will have to assess within themselves and it’ll likely be a ever changing process. Your exercise selection, duration, load, volume, etc will dictate how well you can recover. Typically as we get older in our training years we get stronger and our capacity for greater volumes improves. The tradeoff here is normally going to require more of a recovery window to avoid too much accumulated fatigue.

               The main point of this post is that success here is a long term plan.  If you want to lose 30lbs in a month you’re likely going to fail in the short and long term. If you expect a trainer will teach you 20 years of knowledge in 120 minutes of time per month then you have unreasonable expectations. It’s a long process. Grade school takes 8 hours a day for 12 years of your life to get some basic common knowledge, learning in general is a very slow evolving process.   If you have a sound strategy and create sustainable structure that encourages slow steady progressions along the board then you’re probably going to do well.

RP Diet App vs RP Diet Template vs MyFitnessPal (Discount Code)

Renaissance Periodization Diet App

Available for Android and Iphone. Use code "TC10" and you'll receive your first 6 months at the discount price of $9.99 vs normal price of $14.99. This is a monthly recurring subscription.

If you opt in to their two week free trial it will invalidate this offer. You can choose between the two week free trial or the 6 month discount, cannot have both. 

RP Diet App vs RP Diet Templates vs MyFitnessPal

Difference between RP and MFP is RP tells you more or less what, how much, and at what time to eat. MFP allows you to track food within a daily budget, you're making the choices and not being told or suggested what to do. If you already have the RP diet templates, they're perfectly fine and you don't need the diet app. Assuming you adhere, templates are golden for what you want to accomplish. What makes the app different than the templates...

  • RP likens the comparison of the app vs templates to the gps vs a roadmap
  • you must check in with each meal, phone provides a notification
  • the algorithms update your diet weekly, no guessing when to progress along in your diet, you're told. You're asked to weigh-in 2 or 3 times weekly. You may override their recommendation but probably not the best idea
  • weight loss, muscle gain, and maintenance are all 3 options within the app. The templates you must choose weight loss or muscle gain
  • more extensive food database compared to templates
  • barcode scanner
  • will ask for feedback when adjusting your diet (do you feel you're eating enough, too little, just right, etc) to ultimately aid in adherence
  • You may filter food for certain diet restrictions: dairy free, gluten free, grain free, low fodmap, ovo-lacto vegetarian, paleo, and vegan
  • more features overall but i want to refrain from making an exhausting list...

What Would You Recommend?

I've always referred RP over MFP but one is free (MFP) and one is not. In my history of training clients I feel overall RP yields better adherence and better results. You get a solid recommendation of lean proteins, high fiber vegetables, and more satiating food. I'm not a fan of "portion control" because eating small amounts of savory food will inevitably increase your cravings.

Comparing the RP templates vs the RP app. I've used the calculations from RP's diet book for about 3 years and the 4 years prior I used the templates. I very recently started testing out the app. The automation of the diet in the app is the biggest benefit to me, saving me the time of writing out math calculations every few weeks.

I don't think you can go wrong with either of the 3. MFP requires a more hands on approach and a relatively firm understanding of basic nutrition and dieting to be successful. The RP diet app takes the most guess work away from the user. I would say the RP diet app allows more user flexibility than the template but both should yield similar results if adherence is high.

So far I'd probably pick the app over the templates but I like technology, I like everything being organized and easily accessible on my phone. The templates you can print out and place somewhere in your kitchen. 

 

 

Should You Be Training for Strength or Hypertrophy?

 

When people come to me, 99% of the time they’re running in circles. There may be a goal in sight but no efficient plan to get there. The training is often conflicting with the individuals’ end game.  I’m referring to general population clients who are usually looking to lose weight, build muscle, get stronger, improve endurance, and/or feel better overall. These are 5 extremely common goals. A great way to not accomplish any of the 5 would be to intentionally keep yourself crippling sore all the time so you can “feel” you’re great workout. This is a detrimental path that won’t last long term. It will prevent you from exercising as hard and often as you could if programmed better.

I’m going to eliminate to groups of people whom this article may not apply to as much. Athletes, we may get more specific than basic strength vs hypertrophy. Speed, agility, technique, explosiveness, and coordination may need to be prioritized at different times of the season higher than strength and muscle building. I’ll also eliminate those who strictly want to have fun, feel better, and move more for health. I don’t want to say programming structure isn’t important for them but it’s not priority number one, adherence is. If a routine resembling a collage makes you happy, then that’s fine. Just remember it’s not most efficient for strength or body composition.

I will define strength as being able to lift heavier weights at lower reps and hypertrophy training as the method of increasing your overall workout capacity or training volume.  Lifting heavy weight is how you get stronger, exercising with greater volumes will boost your ability to gain or retain muscle (depending on your calorie intake). That’s as simple as it gets. If your greatest goal in life is to see shredded abs then strength training is not the ideal way to get there. Plenty of powerlifters have shredded abs but that is more correlation than causation.  An efficient strength client or athlete will likely be eating in a surplus and getting plenty of recovery, training with lower volumes, two variables that are not in the handbook for becoming shredded. Flip side, a strength athlete trying to get as strong as possible will never reach their potential if eating in a calorie deficit to discover their abs. Recovery will be hampered throughout their training cycle, their desire to train will decrease from lack of food, and energy stores will remain depleted all the time, all of which is a recipe for failure.

Goals should be prioritized. Do you want to gain weight or lose weight? You cannot add muscle efficiently while eating to lose body tissue! If you want to tighten up your stomach, lean out your arms, but you don’t want to get “too big”…PICK ONE. The likelihood that any general population client beginner will immediately get “too big” is probably impossible. Adding muscle is not a cake walk, and adding a tremendous amount of it in a short period without drugs I feel confident is not going to be an issue to deal with. Either way, both goals would be most efficient with hypertrophy style training. When losing weight you would be trying to maintain muscle and minimize atrophy, when gaining weight you would be trying to add muscle tissue. To repeat, You cannot add muscle efficiently while eating to lose body tissue!

Do you feel weak all the time? Carrying groceries get you out of breath? You cannot maximize your strength potential in a calorie deficit! If your primary goal is to get stronger you need to eat adequate food. If you have no gas (calories) in the tank and start training for strength, it’s another recipe for failure.  Sure, you can get stronger but you’ll get there at a much slower pace than you otherwise would if your nutrition and exercise aligned. A calorie surplus is not required but a minimum maintenance level of intake would be recommended. If you try to get freakishly strong and discover your abs simultaneously, you’ll likely not get too close to either goal, frustrate yourself and quit until you build up your desire to begin again for the hundredth time.

Most people tend to opt for max results with minimal effort due to the various higher priorities in life that get in the way. This marketing has blurred expectations for the general population. Reality is, the stronger the effort (intelligent effort), the better the results.  If you want to maximize your strength, your training should align with that specific goal. If you want to maximize your look, your training should align with that specific goal. If you want the best of both worlds then you’ll need to logically accept there will be a trade off towards reaching your max potential in a single endeavor. You may improve in both modalities but not as much as if one had your driving focus exclusively.

This Is Why Exercise Selection Matters, Reduce Your Risk of Injury

There are a variety of reasons why the exercises you choose to do matter and you shouldn’t go into the gym without a plan. As your experience grows with anything you should become better and more efficient, weight training is no different. Adherence is a large factor with anything fitness related but as you become more advanced and conquering goals becomes prioritized exercise selection is a variable that can provide a great boost towards your accomplishments.

In general, when training a muscle we want to feel what we’re working on. I’m referring more so to feeling the muscle during your actual training sets. Contraction, stretch, blood pump are all sensations you should notice during your workout. Creating an overabundance of soreness is counterproductive but more times than not you should sense a small soreness in the area you are attempting to target the following 24-36 hours or so. I guarantee that will be felt more than likely if you are properly targeting the muscles acutely during your training sessions.

Majority of the time I will perform good mornings in the low bar position with a duffalo bar opposed to the high bar position or utilizing a safety squat bar. I can get a much better “feel” in the hamstrings in a low bar position vs high bar. The safety squat bar I use places the weight too high on my neck where it’s difficult to get the same depth effectively, for me. I also get a much better feel using a lifting belt on this exercise.

I have two bone spurs in my right shoulder along with overall deterioration and calcium buildup from playing baseball. It generally does not bother me but is more prone to flare up. Performing these with a normal bar would probably torch my shoulder over a long training cycle combined with benching and overhead pressing. By utilizing the duffalo bar opposed to a traditional straight bar I’m reducing some of the overall stress on my shoulder during an exercise that isn’t designed for shoulder stress.

The combination of my choices will allow my shoulder to stay in relative recovery mode on a leg day. Exercise selection matters and will play a large role in your longevity as a lifter. What exercises do you feel the most and which movements keep you injury free? Those are usually going to be the best ones for you. This will not require you to exclusively choose these exercises but you may want to bias your selections over the year 60% to 70% for reduced injury risk and efficiency improvements!

This is one example on one day, to maximize your potential. You can and should be making educated decisions on every exercise you opt to perform.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Low Bar good mornings with the duffalo bar. I can get a much better "feel" in the hamstrings in a low bar position vs high bar. I can also get a much better feel in my hamstrings with a belt vs without a belt. Performing these with a normal bar would probably torch my shoulder (2 bone spurs) over a long training cycle combined with benching and overhead pressing. This exercise selection allows my shoulder to stay in relative recovery mode on a leg day. Exercise selection matters and will play a large role in your longevity as a lifter. What exercises do you feel the most and which movements keep you injury free? Those are usually gonna be the best ones for you.

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Should You Workout While You're Sick?

Should you be working out when your sick? I routinely get this question.

The answer depends on how sick you are and what exactly it is you're dealing with. Additionally, are you the type to manufacture excuses to not workout? Have you been falling off the wagon a lot lately? If the last two questions describe you then maybe you need to get out there and train anyway.

Long term, a personal trainers objective is to prevent burnout for a client. Weights can be redundant and boring, slow progressions aren't always the biggest motivator in the world but slow and steady is typically the way to go. If you're nursing a cold then taking a small break to get fully recovered is more times than not your best bet. 

If a month has gone by and you have zero momentum in your training or diet, I may recommend that its better to get that started regardless of feeling a little under the weather. Positive momentum is important, and you need to keep accumulating small victories, if you've been accumulating small losses with regularily it's time to reverse the trend. 

You must be honest with yourself, and not create an uncessary excuse because you're not feeling 100%. Fatigue hits people more often than anything, thats probably not a time to skip your training but reassess your diet, sleep, rest, stress, and overall recovery methods.

Obviously, if you're clamy, puking, running a fever then you're best bet is to stay at home or go see the doc.

New T-Bar Row Equipment Arrives at Studio

The newest piece of equipment has arrived at my Charlotte NC personal training studio. This is a T-Bar Row from Rogue fitness to train the mid and upper back area. For years I've been using landmines and various attachments but this serves as a nice upgrade.

Charlotte NC Personal Training T-Bar Row

The description from Rogue...

"This fully assembled, no-nonsense machine gives you all the benefits of a neutral-grip T-bar row without the need of a barbell, landmine unit, or other accessories. Compatible with most styles of steel and rubber plates, the Rogue T-Bar Row features a 1.88” diameter post with more than a foot of useable length. After loading a desired weight, athletes can establish their proper foot placement on the machine’s 10x20” diamond tread footplates and choose from either the wide or narrow set of easy-grip, knurled handles.

The entire T-Bar Row machine creates just a 76" x 39.75" footprint, and includes 0.625" laser cut holes for band work as well as holes for bolting the unit to the floor (not required). The inclusion of high-end pillow block bearings ensures a uniquely smooth rotation point, eliminating unwanted side-to-side movements of the arm assembly so you get a consistent, straight return on every pull.

The T-Bar Row movement itself targets every major muscle group in the back, while also working the shoulders and biceps. Despite its considerable benefits, this movement sometimes gets overlooked simply due to the inconvenience of setting up a row station. This machine eliminates that problem."

4 Highly Recommended Fitness Apps From A Personal Trainer

There are so many apps available today for everything imaginable that it’s hard to narrow down and you will need to play with a few to really get what you want. Over the years there have only been a few that have been staples for me.

                MyFitnessPal

                I don’t believe there is a comparable food tracker on the market. This one has been around as long as I can remember and their food database has expanded immensely to include accurate restaurant data along with many foreign dishes. The ease of use has improved with barcode scanners and I log my bodyweight with this as well. Endless weight tracking applications but since this is multifaceted I’ve never had a urge to switch.

                For weight loss or muscle gain, self monitoring your dietary intake is really a must. Can you be successful without it? Sure…but that’s really not the best plan for success.

                FitNotes

                This is a workout logging app. I’ve used this for 5 years now maybe? The one downside for iOS users is that it’s only a Android app and being an Android user I haven’t been able to test any Iphone apps.

                FitNotes will track your total workout volume, the amount that you lift, and you can share directly to social media. I personally use it more for personal record tracking. You can keep a history of all your best lifts whether it’s your 1 rep max or 25 rep max and keep note of the date it was accomplished. Since I downloaded this, I have used it in literally every single workout and likely will continue until my last training session.

                Spotify

                I’m sure everyone knows about this. Apple Music, Prime Music, I’m sure they’re all good. Every time I train I listen to music and I listen to it now. Spotify is cheap and I think everyone magically gets stronger with their favorite music.

                GoWOD

                I’m somewhat new to the world of stretching. Many studies have documented a decrease in strength directly after static stretching so I’ve admittedly had a bias against it. I was dealing with a lingering hip issue and decided to implement a short stretching protocol and my end range of motion on specific movements became less restricted and more comfortable. Placebo or not, I’ve felt a difference since implementing some very specific stretches into my routine.

                I went with GoWOD after playing with a few apps. They have a free version and a pay version, I utilized their trial and stuck with the original routines it had provided. The app itself is regularly updated with new demos to keep things from falling stale. You can prioritize and look up specific areas of the body to address, I think it’s a great app and will keep referring back to it as I go on in my training career.

                *Honorable Mention – Renaissance Periodization Diet App

                I have not used this app because it does not yet support split shift, night shift schedules so I cannot include it directly with my app recommendations. My assumption is that it’s great because its simply the natural evolution from the RP Diet Templates that I have used and highly recommend.

                Unlike MyFitnessPal where you log your own food, the RP Diet App is advertised as a “diet coach” which will essentially tell you what and when to eat along with providing some check ins and adherence monitoring. Updates are rolled out regularly. Whenever they release the split shift update, I will likely play around with it and inform people of my thoughts.

You're Setting The Wrong Goals

You want to lose fat, build muscle, get stronger, run faster, excel in sports, run a 10k, improve sleep, reduce stress, feel better, master time management, and be the best you that you’ve ever been. You’re thinking this can be done in a few months…

FAIL

We all want these things but being a logical adult, we cannot have all these things, at least not immediately. Over a span of years, sacrifice, and “lifestyle change” you may progressively improve in all of these areas. Your determination, self accountability, and willingness to change will dictate your success.

Most goals above have different paths towards accomplishment. Losing fat requires a caloric deficit and building muscle requires a surplus, opposing directions. Planning to do these simultaneously in a short period of time is like a dog chasing its tail. Prioritize what you want the most and push the antagonistic goal aside for a while. This entry is not for programming a plan (you can submit a new client application for that) but its managing expectations for yourself.

Hopefully you’re good at your job, you may even be an expert in your field. At the very least you should be significantly better at what you do than the general population. Maybe you had a childhood interest, you interned, went to college, and now have 10 years of experience working daily leading to your expertise. If you’ve never ran a proper fat loss diet, you have elementary knowledge (or less) on the subject, and that’s fine. With this level of experience expecting 6 pack abs in 60 days is ridiculous. This goal is doomed for failure from day 1. Anyone can have a successful diet, lose 0.5%-1% bodyweight per week for 12 weeks, take a little break, learn from your first diet, repeat and improve.

Abs, a 315lb bench press, and a 500lb deadlift are relatively common goals among men. I hear these coming from those who haven’t touched a weight for 15 years since high school and people who’ve been training consistently for 10 years. These two individuals are in completely different places in not only life but their conditioning and physical capabilities as well. Micro progression is what they both need. Get stronger, improve your technique, dial in your diet and sleeping, then add 5-10lbs every week to the bar. You’ll be hitting new personal records all the time and eventually reach some of these more lofty goals through a steady long term approach.

I have one final consideration for setting short and long term goals. Who do you want to be, a celebrity, a body builder, a fitness model, a social media person? You’re doing it wrong if those are your aspirations. You should be shooting for an improved version of yourself. There are infinite variables to break down between yourself and another individual. Whatever another person may be willing to dedicate or sacrifice to look the way they do may not be a desire or an option for you. There are exceptions to every rule but generally people at an elite level of anything are not on top by accident. It’s hard work, dedication, and prioritizing what it takes to make them better than everyone else at a very specific thing. That prioritization likely comes at a tradeoff with other aspects of their life and that is something you have to consider when creating your own goals. You will not get elite results without elite effort, get out what you put in.

Eat More Fiber

I've noticed a common trend among many which is a strong lack in FIBER intake. 

  • Women should target for 25g/day of FIBER
  • Men should target for 38g/day of FIBER

The average american intake is 15g/day of FIBER due to the large amount of processed food in our diets and strong lack of veggies, whole grains, and fruits.

Benefits of a high fiber diet include

  • High satiation factor (feeling of fullness to prevent overeating)
  • Control hunger
  • Normalize bowel movements
  • Maintain bowel health
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Controls blood sugar
  • High fiber foods generally contain fewer calories compared to the same volume of low fiber foods
  • High fiber foods generally richer with vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients

The #1 most common excuse I hear for anything is "I don't have the time" whether diet or workout related. Choose an apple or a pear, both contain about 5g of fiber and nothing could be quicker or easier to eat, you can take it with you. You can consume while walking, talking, driving, camping, etc...If you don't believe you like apples test the variety at Harris Teeter. Envy, pink lady, gala, braeburn, fuji, etc. They probably have 15 different choices at least. Two apples a day and you've knocked out 30-40% of your daily intake and only utilized about 160 calories to do so. 1 Medium apple generally equals about 80 calories.

Easy Fiber Options

  • 1 cup raspberries = 8g fiber
  • 1 cup whole wheat spaghetti = 6g fiber
  • 1 cup oatmeal = 4g fiber
  • 1 cup split peas = 16g fiber
  • 1 cup lentils = 16g fiber
  • 1 cup black beans = 15g fiber
  • 1 serving almonds = 4g fiber
  • 1 cup broccoli = 5g fiber
  • 1 cup sweet corn = 4g fiber
  • 1 slice whole wheat bread = 2g fiber
  • 1 slice DOUBLE FIBER whole wheat bread = 4g fiber
  • fiber one bars (more processed than ideal) = 9g fiber
  • NOTE. Test out high fiber/low sugar cereals until you find one to your liking

Needless to say, most stuff I just listed is either quick and easy or possible to make in bulk (ex. broccoli, make a large bag and snack on rest of week....mix in with your chicken/steak/fish/etc).

Track fiber with MyFitnessPal and reach your goal of 25g (women)/38g (men). 8pm rolls around and you're 10g short on your fiber goal for the day. Make a choice to pick a couple high fiber food options for dinner/late night snack. That's what this invaluable tool is there for. 

Slowly increase fiber to the optimal intake to prevent cramping as your body will require a few weeks to adjust, but get to increasing!