Fist things first; The magic 4: training

Get it done B*tch!

Go to the gym, work out, and see results!

When you want to become fit, you have to work for it! The fist step is: find a gym that suits you! I used to train at one of the large commercial trainings centres. Training there was fine, although during peak times is was vey busy and it was like doing the chair dance with others! The equipment was sufficient for me to train every body part and there were plenty of cardio machines. During my search for a coach I came across a local fitness centre, about 10 minutes biking from my house. This training enter has a no-nonsense attitude and had way more unique equipment than at the commercial gym. It felt good to work out there.  That’s where you can find me now, almost every day!

The second step is: go to the gym! When you find the gym that suits you and where you feel good at, you should go there! I personally go to the gym almost 6 days a week. I do weight training 3 times a week and cardio 3 times a week as well. When it is good wheatear I love to do my cardio sessions outside though. Find your own motivation to go to the gym, get inspiration and get it done! It might also help to go to the gym with a training partner. This person should be as motivated as you though, so you could go to the gym together and support each other.

Here you see the typical difference between a marathon
athletes and a sprinter. The sprinter has visible more
muscle development. Training type matters!

The third step is: match your training schedule with your goals! I love the classic example of sprinters and marathon runners. Both sports are amazing and require dedication and commitment. However, the looks of both athletes differ greatly. Marathon runners are very slim and showing few muscles, while sprinters are shredded with muscle development. This example shows how different trainings affect your body differently. Important is to balance weights training and cardio.

Weight training

Like I mentioned I do weight training 3 times a week. I do a full body workout; this means I work all muscle groups during my workout. Another option is to do different body parts on different days. For example, 1 day leg day, 1 day back and triceps, 1 day chest and shoulders. When working out, choose to do the larger muscles (quads, chest, back, shoulders, hamstrings) first, and that one or more smaller muscles (triceps, bicep, calves, forearms, traps). This is recommended because it is mostly the exhausted smaller muscles holding you back doing exercises.

Cardio

I try to keep my cardio and weight trainings separate. If you don’t have the time or opportunity to do that, you can also choose to do your cardio workout after you weight training. It is better to do this afterwards, so you can use your power at the start of the workout for your weight training. For cardio, you could do anything, like running, biking, cross trainer etc.  I perform a short and steady high intensity cardio workout 2 times a week. I prefer the bicycle because it is less destructive for the joints. The other time I like to do sprints outside. Near my house there is a 100 meter training track where I like to go run with friends. This is an interval training (high intensity for 10-60seconds and moderate intensity 30-60seconds). I usually try to keep my cardio sessions short and intense for about 20-30 min (excluding warming up and cooling down). 

Set your goals, plan your trainings, and get it done B*tch! 

First things first; the magic 4: Mental

Mental health and motivation is priority

If something is very important to keep you going, it is mental health! In this case, with mental health I mean general well-being, feeling good, and being motivated to reach your goals. It sound very obvious, but we are not always standing still by the fact that your well-being effects everything you do in life. For one moment, try to stand still what drives you in life. What makes you who you are, and what do you want to become in the future? What is your goal? When defining your goal, try to make your goal SMART: make it specific, make sure you can measure your progression, and specifically: make it realistic. Nothing is more demotivating that setting goals you will never be able to reach. In my case my goal is to participate in a body-fitness competition. Then the question remains how to complete the journey and reach the goal?

Start diggin'

This is my challenge. What is yours?

The first step is to find out what really motivates you to achieve your goals. Try to dig deep and reason solid, so that the reasons are very clear for you and you can fall back on these reasons during moments when you are less motivated. For example, if you goal is to loose weight there could be several reasons for this. The reason: 'because it is pretty', probably won't help to motivate you during hard times. Therefore you should try to find more deep motivators. For example, my reasons to participate in a fitness competition are to find out what my body is capable of and how disciplined I can work on myself. I am eager to find out the maximum results I can get with training and clean eating. My aim is to get as fit as possible in a natural way. I like to challenge myself. Find out what really motivates you. 

Motivators

Next to find internal motivation, there is so much motivation to find elsewhere. My main motivator is the mirror. I love te see changes in my body and the pay-off for all the hard work. Also, several persons around me can give me motivation to achieve my goal. Start sharing your goals with people around you and share updates about achievements helps a lot. Next to that, I personally get a lot of motivation from being in the gym and surround myself with people with similar goals. When looking around me and seeing how others are working and making process, I always try to learn and grow from them. Besides these motivators, I am always looking for new sources of information, motivation and inspiration on the Internet. I usually hit the 'follow' button for any FB sites or blogs that are interesting to follow for fitness of food related information. I try to get involved in online discussion about topics that interest me. Several of my fav's websites are FitnessRx for Women and Muscle and fitness. Also Youtube you can be overwhelmed with motivational video clips. This is one of my favourites: 

To sum up:

1. Set your goals
2. Start digging and find out your drivers of the goals
3. Find motivation inside yourself, and external motivators
4. Get it done, B*tch!

First things first; the magic 4: Food

When you want to see real results in your  body, you always need to keep in mind the magic 4! 

1: Food, 2: Training, 3: Rest, and 4:Mental health. I will start telling you more about these magic 4 during my following posts. Lets's start with number one! Food! I love food!

Food is the basis for your energy. When eating right you can have enough energy for the full day and for a hardcore training, without feeling hungry or starving yourself. Like I said, I love food, I love to eat, and so I do! It is important to know what you are eating, what the ingredients and nutritients are. Take a look at the labels on the products, the nutritional values and the ingredients. Try to avoid products with many ingredients, these are often less healthy, and avoid E-numbers where possible. Like many say: Knowledge is power. That also the case with food. 

Macronutrients

The important components in your food to take an extra look at are the macronutients: protein (muscle building), carbs (short term energy), and fat (long term energy and vitality). The composition of the macronutrients should be balanced according to your needs of that day. When building muscle, intake of proteins should be high (I take in many proteins every day). When having a hard workout that day, you want to take in more carbs than on a rest day because you use more energy. 

I get get proteins mostly from shakes, chicken filet, red meat and eggs. When taking in carbs I limit myself to complex carbs; these take longer to digest and will not give me a sugar-dip after consuming. I usually begin my mornings with oatmeal, left to soak overnight with non-fat curd in the fridge. Then before and ofter my weight training I eat sweet potato, brown rice or spelt bread. Fat's I consume by eating nuts (mostly almonds), avocado, and fat fish like salmon. 

Calories

Next to the macronutrients, I keep an eye on the calories I consume. This enables me to make the right proportions of food I eat at each moment of the day. The rule for calories is simple: If you want to loose weight, take in less calories then you use; if you want to gain weight, take in more calories than you use that day. It requires trial and error and see what works for you. 

Eating moments

I eat 6 - 8x a day, so I need to make sure each meal is the right size in order not to over eat. The reason I eat so many times per day is because it keeps my digestion high, so I burn more during the day. Sometimes it is difficult to eat so often because of constraints you face during your daily life. You are ate work, at school, at a client, and people look at you; are you eating, AGAIN? Just try to plan you eating moments right and always have something to eat with your. I prefer to prepare all my food for the week at monday evening and store it in the fridge. I'm always prepared. 

Cheat day

One of my favourites: 1x a week it is cheat day. On this day I can have a 'treat'  for myself. This keeps me motivated to really stick to my diet during the week and than, on Sunday, I can have a nice cheatmeal. I like pizza, apple pie, om my mom's made cookies! I usually try to stick with once cheatmeal, and not a full cheat day, because I still have some work on my body. Love this day!

So.. That were some basics about food and you gained some insight how I deal with you. I hope it helps and please share your thoughts and experiences! There is so much more about food and there definitely will be more posts about this topic! This was it for now, have a healthy day!!