(Athletic Studio founder & head trainer Gordon writing the programs and working with worldwide E-Commerce fitness program BodyBoss.)
Many people are on a hamster wheel when it comes to their nutrition and training. They want results from losing weight, seeing themsleves get fitter and stronger, having more energy, be able to recover from injuries they’ve had for years or have their dream body that they’ve always been working towards.
It’s frustrating when you’ve been on this wheel for a while. It’s even worse when you have more responsibilities. The time you had planned on spending towards going to the gym so you could reclaim your best shape and get shredded are now being taken over by early morning business emails, work meetings, preparing the kids for school or laying in bed because of the fact your energy is so zapped from crazy hours giving everyone else your energy and not having enough time looking after your own.
It’s a bit of a catch 22 and the reason why people fall into this dilemma where it feels like it’s a fight to get out of bed every morning is that they don’t have a laser focused and targeted nutrition and training plan that’s specific for their unique body, goals and lifestyle.
They do what works for everyone else and not for them.
They follow a trend and look external; the new fad diet such as Keto, IIFYM or Intermittent Fasting, the latest group class or magazine workout. They might get fit for 1-2 weeks but after that they’re still very much playing a guessing game. Never certain that the weight is going to shift and wondering why one day they’re feeling on point and the next day they’re not even though they’re eating healthy and exercising regularly.
If you’re putting in that much effort and not seeing result it’s normal to feel frustrated, give up, be bitter and say that the health and fitness thing isn’t for you.
There is a better way.
The alternative you want is your best health, mentally and physically, on demand.
- Wake up with MOJO and energy ready to go
- Physical fitness and strength so you can win at any sport or game
- Body confidence so you can rock the clothes you want when you want
- Knowledge to know how you can keep your best body and health forever
Life is better when you’re on point.
How to do that? You start by looking within.
This is the 7-Step Model that works everytime to get someone in their best shape.
We use this exact over-arching system to get our clients in tip-top shape and transform so they can look after their nutrition and training on their own. Never having to worry about why their energy and body isn’t performing they way they want it to. They become absolute beasts inside and outside of the gym and demographically they range from busy business owners, mums, dads, time poor professionals working in the CBD and basically anyone who enjoys fitness and is looking to excel when they’ve plateud.
The 7-Step Model that works EVERYTIME for ANYONE:
- Total Assessment
- Your Unique Dynamic Nutrition
- Laser Focused Supplementation
- Your First Targeted Training Plan
- Re Assessment For New Information
- Your New Targeted Plan
- Rinse & Repeat
Step 1: Total Assessment
To look within is simply knowing where you’re at. You can know just enough or you choose to know more. I personally find that the more you know about yourself the more laser focused you can get with your nutrition, training and supplements to start getting results.
You know where you’re aiming and you know where you’re firing.
Get started with these assessments:
It seems like a lot but seriously, it will take no more than 1 hour to do the physical assessments and it’s a matter of booking one-off appointments for the others such as Blood Test if you need it. Food log and Braverman Test you can do at your home right now. The more precise and clearer your plan it will give your more certainty and belief that you’re going to get amazing results moving forward especially when you know how to fix those issues, which is what we’re going to get more into.
In the following steps I’m going to give you more information with your nutrition and training, the different types of methods and plans that fit for where you’re at which will make your action steps more precise.
Step 2: Your Unique Dynamic Nutrition
Where most people go wrong with nutrition is that they’re looking for a fixed solution when nutrition should always be dynamic, meaning as your body, lifestyle and goals change so will your nutrition to fit that current scenario.
When you’re a baby you feed on breast milk, when you grow you start having baby food and more real solid foods. You don’t stay on breast milk forever because your body adapts, changes and requires something new. This is similar to getting into your best shape or reclaiming your best health.
E.g. If you’re new to losing weight, getting your body in top top shape, you’re over 20% body-fat and a mesomorph body-type a low carb approach is certainly going to work well for you in the beginning as your body isn’t use to not having so much carbs and hidden sweeteners and sugars. However as you progress, body-fat% comes down and you’re leaner, fitter and stronger that type of nutrition is not going to work well for you at all because your brain and body will need more carbs to function better and train harder.
Your ability to process calories, nutrients and carbs has become more efficient.
You need to eat more.
This is why the one-size fits all model doesn’t work.
What we’re going to do here is set up your initial nutrition and give you the information you need to make the correct dynamic changes you need to make after Step 6 so you’re always moving forward, feeling great and getting results.
The first step to nutrition is knowing your numbers, and what I mean by numbers is knowing your overall calories to begin with.
The measurement tool you decide to use here doesn’t matter; what’s most important is that you’re consistently using the same approach to calculate your calories each time. If you use the same model such as the Katch-McArdel model that means your variables are going to be the same. You’re get a more acurate reading of what’s working and what’s not.
The second step is determining your first macronutrient split between Protein, Carbs and Fats.
The macronutrient split you work out will be a % of the total calories you worked out based on the formula model you chose.
E.g. my total calories is 3000 to maintain my weight.
I want to lose weight so I’ll start at 10% under that – 2700.
Based on my goals and body-type my macronutrient split is going to be 30%P, 40%C and 30%F.
My numbers are:
P: 810 Calories / 202g P in Macronutrient Weight (810 divided by 4)
C: 1080 Calories / 270g C in Macronutrient Weight (1080 divided by 4)
F: 810 Calories / 90g F in Macronutrient Weight (810 divided by 9)
Protein and Carbs have 4 calories per gram of macronutrient weight and Fats contain 9 calories per gram.
What you decide here is not going to be set in stone forever. You might start at 20-30% carbs but as your fitness levels increase and your body-fat drops you might be leaning more towards the 50-60% carb split for the majority of your daily intake.
That’s a good place to be.
The third step to nutrition is knowing what type of method is going to best suit your body-type, history, lifestyle and goals. From personal experience and in the trenches experience getting results naturally for clients (key word naturally) here’s what I know:
How you can dynamically implement this for yourself is.
Months 1 & 2: Paleo and Low Carbs to reduce inflammation and body-fat
Months 3 & 4: Moderate or Carb Cycling to support your training and still shred
Months 5 & 6: Depletion & Re-Feed days because you’re going to Bali in July
That’s why when someone asks me about nutrition we can’t give a blanket answer or suggest a blanket approach. It depends on a lot of factors which range from where you’re currently at physically, your goals and your lifestyle.
You really have to do what’s best for you.
Step 3: Laser Focused Supplementation
Where people go wrong here with supplementation is that they’re looking for the one magic pill that’s going to transform their body over-night. Unfortunately our body doesn’t work that way. They go after the fat burners which contain high amounts of caffeine and stimulants which further raises cortisol and stress levels so they gain more weight. Not to mention because they become so reliant on stimulants they’re super anxious and can’t sleep all the time. They also opt for once a day protein shakes and juice cleanses which de-stabilises their blood sugar which compounds there problems even more. They might feel great after the first day but after that it’s a total fight again will-power which they’re never going to win because the body natural needs foods and calories to survive.
If you’re experiencing the above you need to get off the hamster wheel.
It’s dangerous for your health.
The supplements that do speed-up results are the ones that stimulate your body to be healthier, more energised and more nourished slowly. We’re talking about supplements that support your vitamin and mineral intake, hydration and will decrease your rate of all cause mortality…
Death.
When you supplement to support your overall health your bodily functions improve to work faster and harder which speeds up recovery, fat loss and performance indicators. By not over stimulating yourself with caffeine and fat burners your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest system) can properly digest your food and help your body to recover. By having adequate amounts and proper absorption of vitamins and minerals your everyday biochemical reactions such as thinking, moving and running are going to perform better and be more efficient.
Tacky fat burners can be icing on the cake at the right time and place.
Think of yourself as a tradesman with a tool-belt, if you use all the tools (fad diets, supplements and fancy training programs), all your tools are going to get wear and tear really fast; none of them will end up working.
Use the right tool at the right time hit the nail with a hammer, not the whole tool-belt.
Here’s our supplement go-to list first:
Similar to the Total Assessments peice you don’t need to take them all. I do recommend starting out with 3-4 general health specific supplements that are pharmacuitical grade quality (basically don’t go to Coles or Safeway to get your supplements go to an actual health supplement store). I would also recommend you take these health specific supplements for life. Supplements such as your Multi Vitamin, Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin D and Fish Oil most people especially if they’re not on top of their nutrition are going to be defficient in these areas.
In today’s modern society we have 4 main stressors:
- Inflammation (Poor nutrition, training, toxins)
- Circadium Ryhthyms (Irregular sleep/wake cycle)
- Percieved Stress (Work, family, tasks)
- Blood Sugar Management (Nutrition quality/frequency)
Unless you’re single, living in Ubud waking up to sunshine and 30 degree weather everyday, teaching Yoga and preaching about save the planet and meditation, my educated guess is that you’re going to be experiencing all of the 4 main stressors at some point everyday. That’s going to deplete your energy, vitmamin and mineral stores.
That’s why I say in today’s modern society you do have to supplement smart.
The way you laser focus this for you is making it specific towards your body-type, goal, health status and personality type. You want the biggest bang for your buck so for e.g. if you go and get a blood test and you come back with low Magnesium, Zinc and Vitamin D you would obviously supplement with them to bring those levels back up to optimal.
If I know that I’m an A-Type personality, do lots of training throughout the week and find it hard to wind down in the evening I would supplement with BCAA’s during and post training, have more magnesium at night, valerian root and also GABA to help me wind down so I can recover faster and keep on performaning better to get more results.
What we find works best is keeping people balanced and not swaying too far yin or too far yang. People who haven’t been training for a long time generally need to be doing more exercise. People who are doing alot of training and not seeing results need to be doing less or more efficient training. More doesn’t mean necessariy better.
You might alternate between modes during the day but overall you want to incorporate some balance so you don’t burn out or become a total hippie.
Step 4: Your First Targeted Training Plan
Once you’ve nailed down your nutrition and supplementation you can now nail down your first targeted training plan. I say first because similar to nutrition your training should also be dynamic. Your body adapts to a training regimen every 4-6 weeks and sometimes even shorter if you’ve been training for a while.
Your training plan should take into consideration your “split” how many days you can train during the week, your goal for the first 4-6 weeks and your current nutrition.
Now with group classes they can be great if you’re getting started but they’re not going to specific. Nutrition wise as most classed have kettlebells, sleds, DB’s and BB’s in group setting it is going to be less glycogen (carb) depleting if you had your own total control over your training. In the long run your fitness, strength and metabolism will always be greater if you can take an individually specific approach as there’s no ceiling to your potential.
You can always push yourself harder.
Here’s an example of periodised training models for results:
So now that you’ve put together your nutrition, supplements and training for the first 4-6 weeks there’s no excuses why you can’t get results. Your first month you can easily get results everything is specifically tailored to you.
Step 5: Re-Assessment For New Information
How frequent you choose to re-assess your body is completely dependant on you. Health re-assessments such as Blood Tests, Strength Testing and Stool Testing can be done when required every 3,6, or 12 months. Others such as losing weight, body-fat% and increasing Lean Muscle Mass I recommend measuring every 2-3 weeks and at the very minimum at the end of each training phase. The reason why is that it usually takes 2-3 weeks for your body to start processing your new nutrition model and you can then make the necessary changes that you need to.
E.g. for weight loss, fat loss & training performance.
Week 1 – 80kg @ Current nutrition
Week 3 – 78kg @ New nutrition and training regimen
At the end of week 3 you can decide to either keep your nutrition the same and get similar results or experiment with increasing your food slightly by 200-300 calories to see if you still drop weight. Ultimately you want to do the least amount possible to improve your body composition a general rule of thumb is the lower your body-fat% and the harder you can train the more likely it is that you’ll be able to get away with more.
Other bits of information you can receive from Re-Assessing:
- Improved energy levels on number of calories (finding your sweet spot)
- Maintenance calories (when you go under this number you begin to lose weight)
- What macro-nutrient split works and doesn’t work
- That you can actually get away with eating more and potentially training less
Step 6: Your NEW Targeted Plan
After your first targeted plan and after doing your first re-assessment on body-composition, strength or health depending on what your goals are you can make a new plan based on where you’re currently at now, what you want to achieve and where you want to go.
For e.g. If your first goal was to lose initial weight and you lost some your next goal might be to maintain your current shape, improve your metabolism so that you can eat more and get fitter and stronger for life.
How you can approach is through a number of ways:
- You can change your rep scheme and exercises to get stronger or fitter (See step 4)
- You can slowly increase your calories and track your body composition each week
- You can use the extra food to train harder and get stronger
- You can see how much you can get away with to find your sweet spot (Pizza, wine)
- You can decide to train less and eat less as you’re at your ideal body
- You can experiment with your nutrition and training on sport
There are endless ways you can take it.
The only thing you need to know is that your body will adapt to whatever you’re doing every 4-6 weeks. The best thing is to always train it outside of it’s comfort zone so you’re conditioning it and producing important energy hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline every now and again. You would also structure in period of rest so you’re not over producing these hormones.
If you stick to one thing forever you’ll be de-conditioned and feel sluggish all the time.
Step 7: Rinse and Repeat
Keep thinking ahead because once you hit one goal your body will have changed from it’s fitness, strength, ability to handle more or less calories and macronutrient split. Your pattern should be this; implement nutrition, train, re-assess, implement nutrition, train, re-assess, on and on.
You don’t always need to be changing you nutrition either.
To keep things really simple if you want to keep your nutrition the same, alternate between Higher Rep Fat Loss focused training and Low Rep Strength training every 4-6 weeks. Higher rep phases will burn through more glycogen, produce more lactic acid and help imrpove your fitness and body composition while a following lower rep phase will give your body a rest from the lactic acid training and will help replenish you glycogen stores so you don’t get overly stressed from training.
I’ve done a video on this called training in waves to get results in stressful times.
This stuff works:
I know, it’s a lot to take in.
People assume it’s easy to get results when it’s not especially in this day in age where there’s a lot more stress from work and life. As you can see there’s a lot more attention to detail that goes on behind the scenes to finding out what works best for you. A lot of if is not being afrad to experiment a little and giving yourself a 2-3 week testing phase to see what work, if it doesn’t you can then make changes.
However from experience and getting people results the notes and steps above work.
Be dynamic, give it a go.
Book in a Personal Training consultation today.
Gordon