The New Year is here! So now is the time to get in shape! Below is a simple step by step way to make sure you are ready to unveil a lean mean body in 12 weeks. Now when I say simple I don’t necessarily mean easy– for some people this will be a real physical and mental challenge.
7 days before you begin- Keep a food and exercise diary for 7 days to see what foods you eat and any exercise you complete so you have a clear picture of what needs to be changed after you have considered the information below. If your health has not been good schedule a medical check up to see what condition your body is in before you embark on any new eating plan or exercise regime.
Day 1, week 1:
Measure yourself so you know where you are at.
There are different ways to measure yourself- you can get photos taken, skin caliper test or a BMI device to determine muscle and body fat levels, take body measurements or weigh yourself. Other measures that can be just as important and motivating are health related ones like cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and an improved ability to do everyday tasks or even general perceptions of well-being like how you feel.
From here determine specific goals based on the measurement method you intend to use- if you use waist, hip and chest measurements as your measuring stick then set how many centimetres you want to lose. If it is using the scales set a realistic goal –Depending on the individual’s goals and starting points I have helped clients lose 6-15 kilos in this time with simple changes to their lifestyles.
Make a commitment for the next 12 weeks to make these dietary changes:
Cut out all junk and fast food.
Reduce or eliminate processed carbs like bread, pasta and breakfast cereal products.
Replace higher carb dairy products like normal milk and yoghurt for whey protein & cottage cheese
Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day.
Increase fruit and vegetables to make up for the reduction in grain based products. (For fibre /vitamins/minerals & calories).
Get some good fats in your diet from nuts, fish or fish/krill oil supplements.
If you are low in iron make sure you either: include some red meat in your diet a few times a week, take a supplement or make sure you have some foods that contain both iron and vitamin C as vitamin C improves the absorption of iron.
Ensure you get around 1.5-2 g of protein per kilo of bodyweight. Of all the research I have looked at and from personal experience this seems to be the amount that ensures you keep your appetite in check and meets your body’s needs for growth, recovery and repair from the exercise you will undertake.
Make a commitment for the next 12 weeks to do some form of resistance training:
Exercise, like diet can be a real challenge for some people, however, exercise is an integral part to the 12 week challenge.
There are many forms of exercise that can burn energy/calories – traditional aerobic conditioning like jogging, cycling and swimming (to name a few) can be a valuable way to improve your health. However, I personally think that weight training/resistance training is the best form of exercise to; lose fat, gain muscle, improve your posture, optimise flexibility, and improve overall health and conditioning.
So make sure you complete some form of resistance training at least 3 times per week.
If you are a newbie you could easily do 3 full body workouts like this;
Monday: Squat, Calf raise, Chin, Dip
Wednesday: Leg press, leg curl, Bench press, Db Row
Friday: Deadlift, Db press, Db Curl, Plank
Or an upper/lower split like this (my current routine- good for beginners through to advanced trainers): 3 sets of each exercise (Set 1 is 50% of work set 5-10 reps, Set 2 is 70% work set 5-10 reps and set 3 can be anywhere from 5-15 reps)
Upper A: Incline Bench, DB Row, and Omni DB shoulder row.
Day off
Lower A: Squat, Leg press, Leg press calf raise
2 days off
Upper B: Db shoulder press, Chins, Dips.
Day off
Lower B: Deadlift, leg curl, Plank
2 days off- then repeat
For more ideas on resistance training you can look at previous archived articles. If you want to do more training on top of the weights you can include interval training, flexibility workouts like yoga and pilates or low intensity cardio on 2 other days for 20-40 minutes to further augment the dietary changes mentioned above (As long as it doesn’t interfere with your ability to add weight or reps on a consistent basis in the resistance training regime).
So there you have it, your 12 week challenge begins now! Decide you want it – measure where you are at – set goals – change your eating habits- use resistance training and stay committed for 12 weeks and I promise you, not only will you look awesome, you will feel great and be the envy of your friends in 2016!