Shredding Fat For Summer
Believe it or not, summer is almost here! This is the time where everyone wants to prep for the beaches, pool parties and summer fun to come. How is this summer body achieved though? Rigorous hours in the gym? Starvation diets? Copious amounts of self-tanning products?!… No way!
The real way to begin prepping for your summer body, isn’t to make massive changes to your workout or nutrition plans, but to make small steps that build upon each other to get you to the summer body you want.
Like I always say, “fitness is about balance”. Your goals must be realistic along with your commitment to those goals. If you know that eating nothing but chicken and rice every day isn’t going to be realistic, then don’t waste your time trying to make it your main diet. Instead, take what you are currently eating and refine those meals into something better. Maybe find a way to increase the protein of your lunch or decrease the carbs in your dinner. Small changes like this can have a huge impact on your body and greatly increase your self-confidence when it comes to maintaining proper nutrition.
The same rules apply to your workouts. Don’t try and kill yourself in the gym or go from 3 days a week to 6 days a week of exercise. Instead, try increasing the number of reps that you are doing within your current routines. Try decreasing the rest that you take in between your exercises. These simple changes will increase the difficulty of your workouts and provide the extra calorie burn that you are looking for to help bring out that summer body.
When you combine these small changes to your nutrition and exercise, the effects can be great! I don’t just mean physically either. Small changes add up to big results mentally too. These tools can help you maintain your program and feel more confident in yourself and your abilities on the days where you may slip up a bit. The “all or nothing” approach to exercise and nutrition generally ends up at the “nothing” phase more times than not. It’s too restrictive and too intense to be maintained for your entire life. Let’s face it, we all want to eat pizza or have a drink every now and then. Continue to make small, meaningful changes to your programs and that summer body will be locked in in no time!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Novick
Owner, CPT, CCES, CFNS, CETS
