There are literally thousands of different fitness plans out there. Some guarantee crazy results with little to no effort while others are time tested and approved. What’s the difference between these two types of plans? What differentiates a road to success from a road to failure? It isn’t a secret what works and what doesn’t. If you step back and take a thoughtful look at which programs actually produce results you may notice that they all contain some of the same components.
The following are what I consider to be the 5 essential components for a successful fitness regimen. If you don’t have each of these components established in your regular fitness plan, chances are you will eventually fail.
Diet – Probably the most important and obvious part of a successful fitness plan is a proper diet. However, you’d be surprised by how many people think they can successfully lose weight without taking this into consideration. What you put into your body has a direct correlation to the results you want to see in your body.
To create a diet that is suitable to meet your fitness goals, it is first necessary to assess what your ultimate goal really is. Realistically, it is impossible to create a “one size fits all” diet plan for everyone. However here are a few general guidelines:
-If you are trying to drop some body fat, begin by consuming 500 less calories a day than you normally would. Eat more fresh fruits and veggies and lean sources of protein like fish or grilled chicken. Avoid high calorie beverages and sweets.
-If your goal is to gain muscle mass, your diet needs to include much more protein and fat. Avoiding sodas and sweets is still a good idea, as these empty calories provide nothing nutritional for your body.
Cardio – Regular cardiovascular exercise is essential. Cardio describes any type of exercise that increases the work of the heart and lungs. The health benefits of cardio are many, but in a regular fitness plan it is the key to burning fat. Jogging, cycling, swimming, jump rope are all excellent activities that are successful at elevating your heart rate and burning some serious calories. Aim for an elevated heartrate 60%-80% of your max for 20-30 minutes a day. This will improve your endurance abilities drastically and is an easy way to burn fat.
Strength Training – While cardio will help your heart, lungs, and endurance, strength training will build you some nice lean muscle that will continually aid in burning fat from your body. Building muscle will help you perform better in whatever exercises you attempt and will prevent future injury. Strength training will help you will look better, feel better and is a great complement to cardio when trying to burn calories.
If you are looking for good place to start, check GymJunkies.com and StrongLifts.com for loads of amazing resources for both beginners and experts.
Consistency – If there is no consistency in your diet and workout attempts then your efforts will be in vain. I’m not saying that you can never slip up, but the times when you don’t live up to your goals should be the exceptions, not the rule. Losing weight or building muscle is an exercise in endurance and determination. You aren’t going to get there in a week and it won’t come without consistently making sound decisions. I’m sorry to have to break it to you. This is just the way the game works.
Accountability – I believe that accountability is the most overlooked factor in most people’s fitness plans today. Unless you have the ability to move mountains by sheer force of will, you may find fitness to sometimes be struggle. Believe it or not, some people just don’t eat right and exercise naturally. It is something that most of us have to work on a lot. There are going to be times when even the most determined of us fail or want to quit altogether. This is why it is important to have accountability systems in place; to push us forward when we’d rather just give up.
I’ve probably mentioned this a hundred times by now, but keeping a daily food log is an excellent way at keeping track of what you eat and measuring your progress along the way. Knowing that you are going to have to record that entire pound of bacon you just ate, might be a deterrent from eating it in the first place.
If you work better in a team, seek out the assistance of a fitness partner who will help you along the way. Tell them your goals and ask them to check up on you often to see how you are doing. Never underestimate the power of an encouraging teammate to help people make changes in their lives.
(photo by fireflythegreat)
