On body design VS losing weight.
I never in my life set a goal to lose weight.
Even when I put on 10 kg as an exchange student on my first trip to US.
I knew I wanted to see my abs again. I knew I wanted my butt to become perfect shape and firm as a rock. I knew I wanted to see my thigh and calf muscles again flexing while walking. I knew what I wanted to look like exactly.
I measured progress in the mirror once a week or so. I measured results with my clothes. I never once stepped on the scale.
I see people in the gym all the time trying to lose weight. Some people are bigger, some are smaller. Some have more fat, some have less. Either way, as long as you are healthy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any body shape.
What I see rarely — beautiful proportional physiques.
Hourglass-like physiques for women.
Upside down triangle for men.
Women try to get rid of stomach fat doing millions of crunches.
Guys work on their arms all day long like it’s the only body part anyone will ever see, the only body part they will ever use.
The work finishes in the gym or aerobics class an everyone goes on living life, thinking they are on the way to their dream physique.
Rarely anyone gets there.
ONE.
You have many body parts and muscles that shape your body. You need to work on all of them to have well-rounded physique. If you want to change the shape or size of a particular body part — thin waist, smaller (or bigger) and firmer butt, bigger shoulders and back, 6-pack, super-hero like physique — it’s all possible and it comes from SPECIFIC weight work on the body part you are shaping.
TWO.
Everyone needs whole body workouts of different kinds to make sure ALL the muscles, tendons and ligaments, bones, all body structures getting the load too, to support the development of your body, injury-free and balanced.
THREE.
A LOT of results depend on your lifestyle — what you do the rest of the day outside of the gym. There is no single workout that satisfies all your movement needs. Just like there is no single food that satisfies all of your nutrition needs.
You posture, movement nutrition — how you move and how much you move during the day, define your progress, just as much as your workouts do. Actually more. It’s hard to say, but there are studies showing that people moving throughout the day, even without any exercises in the gym or doing any fitness routines, stay leaner and healthier than 1-hour-a-day-workouts-inactive-the-rest-of-the-day group. The best is combination of both worlds. Workout and move the rest of the day — stand, walk, stretch, sit, stand up again, play, jump, fool around.
FOUR.
Nutrition is a big thing — without it forget about any quality long-lasting changes. You won’t see them unless you train like a pro athlete. Every day. And don’t care about long-term health.
FIVE.
Mindset.
Do you even believe you can change into what you imagine?
Are you ready to work on it when it’s hard, you are not in the mood, it’s a holiday season or birthday parties, and everyone couldn’t care less about your body transformation eating cakes and candies every day?
Do you really have what it takes? Do you?
Don’t fool yourself. If it was easy everyone would have it. It does require work. The more progress you need to do, the more amazing results you want — the more work you’ll need to put in. And no, it’s not a straight-line journey. And yes, you will screw up. Do you have what it takes to get up again and continue? Till you get there? Without any loss of enthusiasm? How important is your goal to you? Why? As long as it’s important to you — the rest doesn’t matter. If
HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO YOU = HOW HARD YOU ARE READY TO WORK FOR IT
equation works for the goal you have, go after it. Time doesn’t matter.
As long as you are moving towards, no matter how fast or slow, it’s worth it.
Although setting deadlines insures that you actually working on the goal and serious about it, not just love the idea of dreaming about the fact. Deadlines ground us in reality.
Life took a lot from me to show me what was important and what was pure entertainment and waste of time — people, dreams, goals, values, promises, things.
Life is simple.
Abundance of choice and opportunities makes it necessary to know yourself.
Golden formula for true body transformation. NOT weight loss.
MINDSET (goals, visions, mental toughness and readiness for work and hard choices aka sacrifices)
+
SCULPTING (specific exercises to sculpt the body parts exactly as you see them — that’s what body building is all about, not about bulk of muscles)
+
GENERAL FITNESS (correct body posture, daily movement nutrition, structural exercises for balanced and healthy body development)
+
NUTRITION (food that supports and improves your body and life goals, supports your energy levels)
+
REST (sleep, recovery, relaxation)
=
YOUR PERFECT BODY
And that’s why most people will never get to their perfect physique. Not in a healthy sustainable way at least.
But maybe you don’t need to and being healthy is enough?
Avoiding unnecessary goals saves energy and prevents stress.
You don’t get healthy and stay healthy.
HEALTH is a DAILY PRACTICE. One bite at a time.
Daily Bite of Health
