One: Get The Best Tools Available.
You want to make the most progress that you can, in the least amount of time. You also want to do so with the least amount of effort, because that means that you’re using the best methods available. You wouldn’t, for instance, grab ten pound weights and pump them for two hours to build biceps. You’d reach for a more effective way to exercise.
This approach needs to be carried into every area of your fitness journey.
Get serious. Focus on what you need and get it. Don’t worry about being self-centered. Think of yourself and what YOU need to get the results you want.
Two: Use The Right Supplements.
There are great, safe, natural supplements that can help you build muscle, cut fat, improve endurance and recovery, and overall make your workout much more pleasant.
But there’s also an entire ocean of crap supplements that do absolutely nothing at all except fill the wallets of suppliers.
What you need is someone to cut through the crap and give you the straight dope on what works and what doesn’t.
To that end, I suggest you take a look at my Supplement Guide. In it I list products that have worked for me. I’ve done this because there’s so much crap information out there from people who toss around studies and hearsay but don’t carefully test it on themselves. Some supplements work really well, some are just okay, and some don’t do squat. Well, I’ve ONLY listed supplements that have had a notable impact on my fitness journey. There are other supplements that I take that aren’t as obviously effective. But I’ve left them off the list because I want to give you only the best stuff, the tip of the iceberg.
Three: Diet.
You can’t build muscle if you’re gonna eat crap. Shoveling in ice cream, soda, cookies, potato chips, and pizza are great ways to sabotage your goals.
If you want to look lean, sexy, and athletic, than you’re gonna have to eat the right way.
Personally I’ve cut sugar, almost all carbs, and nearly all the fat out of my diet. I live on meat mostly, and nutritional supplements. This gives my muscles the protein that they’re crying for, and it also keeps the fat off. You see, the body can’t turn excess protein into body fat, so it doesn’t get stored away. I pile away three pounds of meat per day without gaining an ounce, because that just the beautiful way the human body works.[1]
Another advantage of eating a low carb diet is that it puts the body into ketosis, which means that the body is using fat (ketones) as a fuel source instead of sugar. Many people find this gives them more even energy throughout the day, nixing the telltale peaks and valleys of the typical American diet.
You don’t have to eat carnivore like me. But I urge you to rethink your diet. At least ditch the Standard American Diet, which is appropriately shortened to SAD, because that’s what it is.
Four: Motivation.
Why are you working out? Why do you want to get lean and muscled? Is it for your girlfriend? Do you need more muscle for your job (like fire or police officers need)?
Whatever it is, nail it down. Define it and remind yourself daily why you need to do this.
Why do this?
Because there are gonna be days where you’re spent, and that workout routine of yours is staring you in the face, telling you you can’t handle it. And yet, you’re gonna have to grapple with it. You’ve got to keep consistent and get the job done. It’s those days that you’ve got to know why you’re doing this.
At first this probably won’t matter. This is especially true if you haven’t had a workout regimen for a long time. The simple excitement of a new program will keep you going for a while. That’s simple human nature.
But as the weeks wear on, you’re gonna need something more than newness to get you out of bed and into your gym. You’re gonna need something distinct that moves you.
Find what it is and fight for it, every day in that gym of yours. Earn it. Deserve it.
Five: Track Your Progress.
Take pictures of yourself in the mirror each week, and post about it on social media. Brag about it. Tell others about your progress. Track your bodyfat and brag about that, too.
Get public, and use it as accountability.
You get two advantages from this: you get support to keep moving on. But you also get backpressure not to ease off. You don’t want to tell other people what you’re doing and then cave, so you’ll try harder to keep up your program. It will help to keep you in the game when things get tough.
[1]Jaquish, page 156