Drop Fat and Build Muscle For Men: 3 Things Stopping Your Results

Drop Fat and Build Muscle For Men…your results are getting stopped in their tracks…lets get you back on track

You know the results that you want – drop fat and build muscle. When you take your shirt off you want to have the type of body you can be proud of.

Not be the dude that your mates right off for having a gut.

You know that you can stay on track…at the beginning and then it seems that any blowout equals a complete right off to your plan and results you were aiming for.

The rigid approach is the only one you know, however this always leaves you feeling like you are missing out hanging with your mates and that the whole is just too restrictive.

The whole thing can be hard and frustrating constantly trying to juggle training, nutrition, lifestyle and work.

There is a solution though – lets have a look at the top 3 things stopping you get results – and then solve them

1.SICK OF EATING LIKE A RABBIT WITH F**K ALL FOOD

Alot of the plans that I see men use either have them eating not enough food or eating meals that are just really boring. This can be due to taking out all the carbs or making portion sizes that are just too small. Everything is about sustainability and performance and not eating enough or dropping carbs is not going to get you there.

These type of modifications to your diet can leave you feeling restriced and even worse can provide more pressure to blowout. When you tell someone that they can’t do something how often will that be the thing that they want to do most. For you diet if I say they you CAN’T have any beer, icecream or chocolate for some reason that is all you will want.

The Solution: A Flexible Dieting Approach / Real World Dieting (#lylemcdonald)

A flexible dieting approach is the idea that you are looking to create an environment where you can hit things 90% of the time and be ok with that. You are able to implement foods that you like within your diet in moderation and now and again.

Expanding on this idea is a term that I first heard from Lyle McDonald and that is the concept of “Real Dieting”. With the Real Dieting approach you will count calories, weigh and measure food and pay attention to macronutrient intakes. As Lyle Mcdonald mentions with this approach you will have control over your diet, be aware of your food intake and also be able to troubleshoot when fat loss or muscle gain has stalled.

Long-term this provides you with solutions to the eternal problem of “How can I have my cake and eat it too if I want to be shredded?”

2.TRYING TO TRAIN LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE IN YOUR 20’s AND AT YOUR PHYSICAL PEAK

Everything changes and so should your training as you mature like a fine wine as you get older – or like some people slowly start to have things that you could do before and can’t do now.

A bit of rookie error is jumping into your training like you are in your 20’s again and not listening to your body or even worse just doing the same routines for years and years.

Firstly not listening to your body and giving it what it needs rather than what it wants is a recipe for disaster. Staying on top of mobility and listening to pain are the ways that you can keep ahead of age and have your body performing for the long-term.

Secondly  doing the same routine for years and years must be boring as hell for one and also that is the definition of insanity. Like most men I assume that you weight train to look and feel better even if it is for yourself, your partner , your kids or so your mates don’t give you shit. The only way that you are going to achieve this is to drop fat and build muscle and your training must progressively improve over time. Something you can’t do if the same routine is all you do.

The Solution: Programming Your Weight Training and Having Intention

Intention is everything and if you start to have this with your training your results will start happening.

The best way to have intention with training is by following a program that progresses over time and is supported by a clear goal.

Fat loss and building muscle don’t just happen by accident and that is why planning what you are going to do and how you are going to achieve it becomes number one. Your program can be though of as a map – a map to get you to gainz town.

In gainz town there are certain exercises that you are going to do to build up your body – chest, back, arms and legs. The program will provide you sets and reps when you are in gainz town that will make sure that you get the most out of your visit.

From week to week your program will make sure that you get a little bit more done each time you are in gainz town as the journey there is an interesting one. Interesting because it doesn’t end it just progressively imposes demands on your body that it has to adapt to.

That is the essence of why you can train and not get any results – don’t impose demands on your body that are harder over time and you can guarantee that their will be no progress. Hence to get results programming your weight training over time and having intention is key.

3.SLIDING BACK INTO BAD HABITS – THE VICIOUS CYCLE

Everything that we do is a habit and routine – the good things for our health, performance and body composition and event the bad things.

You start a new workout routine and you are super psyched as who doesn’t become excited when you are doing something that makes you feel good, destresses you and can improve how you look with your shirt off.

As the days wear on and the weeks wear on though may find things popping up that are breaking your new habit. It can important things from having to take care of your kid or a work emergenecy all the way to forgetting your gym gear and even not feeling like it.

At one stage you would never miss a session now you are slowly getting out of the habit.

Before you know it you work out so infrequently now that your hopes of breaking the cycle and keeping to training are over – This can happen over months or weeks.

SOLUTION: The Power of Habit

Welcome to an idea that will change how you view the habits. You want to make and the habits you want to keep on doing.

For a habit to become ingrained there must be three parts

1. Cue – Something that prompts you to do the habit
2. Routine – The habit you are doing
3. Reward – The benefit or gain from doing the habit

For you to be successful in keeping a new habit. There are three areas that must be ticked off – lets apply it to the habit of going to the gym

1. Cue – Your gym bag packed and ready in the car. You see this either when you wake up early to train or in the car when you finish work. It tweaks you brain to remind you of your usual routine
2. Routine – The action you take – going to the gym and training
3. Reward – While I train I get a good chance to catch up on podcasts. It is a reward while I train that adds to other benefits I will gain from the training session itself. Sometimes having a more instant reward can help.

James went through the same thing and we helped him drop fat and build muscle

Our personal training client James came to us with the exact same problems that we described.

1. Wasn’t eating enough food in general and definitely not enough protein > Change #1 Explained the important of protein and set a plan to be able to eat for performance
2. No plan or structure to his weight training and battling constant back pain > Change #2 Actually assessed his body and planned a structured program that addressed these issues and allowed him to train towards his to drop fat and build muscle
3. Had trouble hitting all his weight sessions and staying motivated to push himself > Change #3 Understood what type of programming he needed to do to stay engaged, discovered what his intention was with training. We use this to create structure and habits to days he would weight train to make sure he hit sessions. Therefore he was able to stay motivated and create a habit.

We know that there are a few things from stopping you get the results you want

Where to next?

Don’t worry

We got your back

At Fortitude Performance all we want to do is give you the education and direction to get life-changing results.

I do think that life-changing results happen when you are full of confidence. This is from being in the best shape of your life.