What does it really take to change the way you look and feel? The short answer is a bit of basic knowledge and consistent hard work. We recently featured a few, of the many, Jefit members who have had great success using our strength planning & training app. They have gained that knowledge and have developed that focused work ethic. They understand what it takes to change their body, above and beyond weight loss. You can read about their success and body transformations here and here.
Eating Healthy Always Makes a Big Impact
Hopefully, some of the following health and fitness advice will also help you during your own fitness journey and transformation. As we continually hear from our members, there has to be a strong focus and buy-in with all things nutrition to be successful. Makes sense right? Exercise will expend only so many calories. In order to experience a reduction in body fat, as an example, you’ll need a combination of exercise and healthy eating. Here are some additional tips for you to try under the heading of healthy eating.
- Monitor your daily added sugar. The goal is to eat no more than 25 grams a day (100 calories) for females while males should eat <38 grams a day (150 calories) of added sugar. This tip is extremely important.
- Eat more fiber rich foods. Aim for at least 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day for women, while men should shoot for 30 to 38 grams a day.
- Drink plenty of water during the day and with each meal. Reduce water intake following dinner, though, if you’re getting up to use the bathroom during the hours you should be sleeping.
- Get in the habit of reading food labels if you don’t already.
- When you go food shopping, avoid the middle isles, shop the periphery of the store.
- Having trouble dropping weight? do your research into the benefits of intermittent fasting for a period of time and give yourself an “eating window.”
- Eliminate the extra liquid calories that most people end up drinking each day. Alcohol is one thing but the average American consumes more than 450 calories a day from fruit juices, sports drinks etc. Want to get lean? Avoid the added sugar and eliminate these types of drinks and cut out (or reduce) alcohol intake. Drink more H2O instead.
- Implement the 5-a-day for better health plan when it comes to fruit and vegetable consumption. Recommended by the CDC, research has been positive for those who eat 5 servings a day of fruits and vegetables. This is typically broken down to three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits each day. It has been estimated that 35 percent or more of cancer deaths may be attributable to unhealthful diet.
Experiment with Different Types of Exercise
Try and test out different types of exercise programs. When you find something or a combination of a few things that work, stick with it and progress slowly over time (i.e. frequency, duration etc.). Have you ever tried a Tabata workout or a HIIT session?
- Make sure that at least ten percent of your daily workout really challenges you. You can also try this over the course of the week. Ten percent of the total time your working out your pushing to failure.
- Body transformation happens because individuals stay consistent with their strength training workouts, cardio sessions or HIIT, etc.
- Make sure you use progressive overload with the majority of your strength training sessions
- Use compound movements in your strength training sessions.
- Always remember it’s not the quantity so much but the quality of each workout that really matters. Are you pushing each set after your warmed-up? Are you really overloading your muscle enough in a given set with the appropriate amount of time under tension?
Get Plenty of Sleep and Recover Well Between Workouts
It becomes very difficult if you’re not getting an optimal amount of sleep each night. When you have a few nights where you’re burning the candle at both ends, you”ll go into sleep debt. When that happens its very difficult to keep the body in an anabolic (building) state. You eventually enter more of a catabolic state and building muscle mass will simply not happen.
- Rollout using a foam roller on a regular basis especially pre/post workout. There is nothing better for loosening up tight, restrictive connective tissue (fascia).
- Have a therapeutic massage periodically.
- Have you ever tried myofascial release? It does wonders, for a body that is not aligned and as a result, not moving the way it’s meant to.
- Do you have a tight low back from strength training or after you do leg day? put two tennis balls in an athletic sock and tie a knot in it. You can roll that up/down the back. Better yet, take it in the car with you and use it when driving around. It’s like having an extra pair of hands that is working on massaging the back.
- One of the best recovery methods between workouts on the off days is to take a yoga class. Many people lift on M-W-F and do yoga on Tue-Thur. Saturday can be a long outdoor cardio day (i.e. hike, bike ride etc.) while Sunday is a rest day and repeat it again the following week.
Final Thoughts
This posts came together as a result of what we saw many were trying in the Jefit community. In addition, we looked at what went well for those featured in body transformation stories, found here and here. Give a few of them a try and let us know what works or doesn’t work for you as it relates to your own fitness journey. For those looking for more help on the nutritional side of things, check out PT Pioneer’s curated list of the best nutrition coaching certification programs.
Stay Strong Together
Millions of members have had great success transforming their bodies using the Jefit app. The app is an advanced customizable workout planner, training log, that can track data and share workouts with friends. Take advantage of Jefit’s huge exercise database for your strength workouts. Visit our members-only Facebook group. Connect with like-minded people, share tips, and advice to help get closer to reaching your fitness goals. Stay strong with Jefit.
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