Working out without a defined plan or goal is a little like running a race without knowing where the finish line is. You could be putting in lots of effort, enough effort to actually win the race, but if you’re not heading in the right direction you’ll never see the true benefit of your effort.

Gotta set clear goals to get where you want to go

This is why a specific goal is the most important step to take before you start a workout program.

A lesson can be learned from high performance athletes here. They do very specific workouts in order to maximize their performance in a very specific event. Sprinters do everything they can to sprint faster. High jumpers just want to jump higher, speed skaters want to be faster speed skaters. Powerlifters focus all their energy on getting better at 3 specific lifts (bench press, squat, deadlift). Olympic style weight lifters focus on the two olympic lifts (clean & jerk, and the snatch).

All of these examples are performance based, they have nothing to do with building a specific ‘look’ of their body. Bodybuilders, figure and fitness models all train for a specific look, shape, and leanness to their body.

The difference between training for a look vs a performance outcome is the specific workout routine you follow, how far you take it and what you want your body to look like at the end of the day. If you expect to be a world class speed skater or swimmer you’re body will take on the distinct look of these styles of athletes (based on the training that is required to get there). Same thing goes for every other performance based training goal.

If you want to look like a figure or fitness model then your training should be aimed at building that specific look.

Cross training and borrowing workouts from all different styles is fine for overall fitness/health. But if you have a specific body shape/look goal in mind the more specific you are with your workouts the faster you will get to your goal.

Being clear about your goal at the beginning is the first and  most critical step to achieving that goal.

John

When you’re facing the challenge of changing your body, developing muscle and losing bodyfat you have likely accepted the idea that you must exert your will over your body. For example you have to lift weights to force your muscles to grow, and you have to consciously lower the number of calories you are eating in order to stimulate a fat loss.

We All need Social Support to get where we want to go

But there is another level to this and that is exerting your will over your environment. You may have tried to get in shape in the past but certain environmental cues are not helping you such as cookies that are always  in the cupboard, or places you frequently eat that are become difficult to navigate without overeating (such as coffee shops and restaurants).

An even bigger environmental factor is other people. They will invite you to eat with them, they might tease you and tell you you’re obsessive about weight loss or fitness, they might tell you their opinion of the ‘correct’ way to lose weight and point out that ‘you’re doing it all wrong’.

In all of these cases this is your environment pushing back against you and you must exert yourself against it to get where you want to go.

Modern western societies can be defined as “obesogenic environments” that pull you towards a sedentary lifestyle of overeating and minimal activity.

When you decide to take action and get in shape be prepared to exert yourself in the gym, but even more so, be prepared to exert yourself against the environment you’re living in. This is where social support can go a long way to helping you get in shape.

Making a change is hard enough on its own, but doing it alone makes it even tougher. Finding like minded people to support you is a big key to getting to your goal and not second guessing yourself the whole way.

Finding a support network is a way to help stack the deck more in your favor and build some momentum to get the change you want.

John

An interesting thread came up in the blog section of our Venus Index community forum. It was about the pursuit of a better looking body via exercise.

Your body is a work of art and you're the sculptor

One of the points brought up was about working out for improving the overall look of your body vs the look your body will develop as a side effect of playing a sport or doing physical activity that is not for the sole purpose of improving the look/shape of your body.

This was an interesting point to me because for at least some people there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between the concept of exercise, and activity and what it does to your body.

To be clear, everything you do from an activity/exercise stand point has an effect on the look of your body. The amount of food you choose to eat also has a big effect on the look of your body.

If you choose to ignore both items and let it just sorta happen to you then you will end up with a body shape and size that you didn’t necessarily consciously choose. This could turn out nicely for you but it could also go in a direction you’re not happy with at all.

Even if you take an active role in trying to form/shape your body if you choose to do an imbalanced workout you’ll end p with an imbalanced physique (picture a cycling with big legs and small upper body, or a swimmer or rower with disproportionately shaped shoulders or lats compared to the rest of their body)

Whether your like it or not, your body is a reflection of the physical activity you choose to partake in (or not partake in) and the amount of food you choose to eat.

Taking an active role in changing the look and shape of your body should be viewed as crafting a work of art rather than a shallow pursuit of vanity.

Working on your body to get it into it’s best shape is rooted in the same social and psychological desire to wear nice looking clothes, and to wash and style your hair, and to live in a clean house etc.

The only difference is buying clothes is easy, building a great looking body takes effort, but once you got the body you can make just about any outfit look good!

John

Many of the lifestyle and dietary problems the western world is faced with are because of a miserably sedentary lifestyle.

Unfortunately this is the direction north america is heading every day

The north american condition of doing almost no physical activity and eating an excess of calorie dense food is the reason so many people are overweight, chronically inflamed and dying prematurely from lifestyle disorders like CVD and diabetes.

Unless you have a highly active job and you live with very active people the proverbial deck is really stacked against you, and all of us.

All the fancy diet advice in the world is not going to compensate for this ‘obesogenic’ society. This is why we struggle with dieting, and force ourselves to go to the gym, and continually fall off the wagon and have to get back up again.

Before you even start thinking of messing around with macronutrient ratios, or reading about good and bad foods, maybe the first step is to start moving around more.

The common recommendations are also pathetically low. 30 mins of low intensity exercise (such as walking) 3-4 times per week was as little as people were being recommended for health improvements! This is more a statement of how sedentary people are and not about how much exercise we should be doing.

The sad part is many people can’t even get this little amount of exercise done on a regular basis.

A more realistic amount of activity is more along the line of 1-2 hours per day of mixed high and low intensity movement. That is only 7-14 hours of your entire week dedicated to movement…doesn’t sound like much, and for many people this commitment will be the difference between a shortened life with chronic complications of lifestyle disorders vs a longer vibrant life.

So before you even start thinking of tweaking your workout program for the exact ratio of sets and reps, or your diet for the exact ratio of macro nutrients and meal timing etc, the first step should be getting up to a real beneficial level of weekly activity.

If there was one habit worth developing the habit of daily movement would be it, and once you do this you’ll likely find that taking care of your diet will also become a much easier challenge to overcome.

John

Now that our office and gym is renovated, the holiday hours at the local gym can’t ruin my workouts for the week. It’s pretty nice to have the freedom to workout any time I want without having to work around the busy time at the gym, or holiday hours etc.

Consistency with your workout is the cornerstone of achieving real muscle growth, and getting the look and shape you desire.

Each Workout Adds to the Last

This got me thinking of how inconsistent most people really are with their workouts.

When I talk to people about working out, it seems rare to find an individual who has been working out seriously for more than a few years without a major layoff of some sort.

In some cases it’s a major injury, or some other physical ailment that has put them on the sidelines. But for the most part people just don’t stick with it, they’re just not consistent.

It’s more common to find people who workout for a year or two, then fall off the wagon for a year or two than it is to find someone who is dedicated and consistently going to the gym year in and year out with no major time off.

Part of this consistency is also a consistency with the style of the workout and the goal of the workout. Some people abandon muscle building for other forms of training like athletic training, or they get into running and the like.

In other words, being consistently inconsistent doesn't count!

These departures from muscle building are fine if you really want to explore those other styles of training.

But in the end, the more consistent you are with your training, and specifically moving towards a goal of building your best body the better your results will be.

It seems that there is at least some cumulative effect to training. In other words, the number of sets and reps you do each workout matter…and the number of workouts you do each week matter…and each month, but also each year.

If two people of the same general height and size set out to gain as much muscle as they can…10 years later the person with the better results is likely the person who simply was more consistent with getting their workouts done week after week, month after month, and year after year.

It really is a lifestyle and not a phase that you just go through at some point in your life.

This doesn’t mean it has to take over you life and become your identity, but rather it’s just a small part of what makes up what you are.