Making A Fitness Plan For The New Year

Note – This post is a little longer than usual, but organized to be easy to read for you. Simply navigate using the headings based on your interests. 

 

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Before we start, I want to say that I admire you.

You’re here because you somewhat understand the importance of health in your life but more importantly you realize that if anything is to change, it’s up to you. 

That’s a lesson so many of us still have a long while to learn, so for that I admire you.

I as a writer, understand the power of New Year’s because of how easy it is to plan change in your life now that a “fresh start” has come.

And because of that, I’ll do my very best to answer any questions you might have regarding a fitness plan in an enjoyable, easy to read article.

In the hopes that you’ll be successful and read more in the future.

 

HOW TO AVOID FAILURE WITH YOUR PLAN

Whatever plan you have, whether it be to get fit or get better grades, knowing how to avoid failure is more important than learning how to succeed.

Although we’re always taught that failure is a good thing because we learn from it…let’s be honest, how many “New Year New Me” plans have you put on hold?

You wouldn’t be here if you haven’t. So then in some sense, the most important message in this post won’t necessarily be how to start being fit, but how to avoid failure.

In lieu of that, here’s my advice:

Take. Baby. Steps.

Take it from someone who has been successful with their New Year’s plans. I once had a plan to be more conscious about my health, now I’m trying to inspire you. 

The reason I was successful was because I didn’t jump head first into the water.

As much as you want to instantly change your health and life, taking such a huge step as opposed to calculated smaller steps will only lead to guaranteed failure.

Trust me, I want to believe that you’re capable of changing your life completely overnight, but we have to be realistic here…we’re not robots. 

And because of that, we need to take things slow.

If your goal is to get better grades, my advice would be to focus on 3 of your classes instead of 5. I understand that time is ticking in the semester (I’m a student too), but it’s a good investment in the long run.

Same goes with getting fit. Don’t expect to instantly start living like a world-class athlete overnight when today you were eating chips on the couch. It takes time but taking smaller steps will definitely get you further. 

Now, onto the real reason you’re here.

 

THE QUICKEST WAY TO SUCCESS: TRACKING MACROS

I’ll spare you the pep talk that losing weight is a marathon not a sprint and instead I’ll recommend the easiest way I know of for quick success in fitness.

Tracking Macronutrients (Macros).

First, what are Macros? Macros are proteins, carbs and fats. That’s it! And tracking them simply means counting how many you eat daily and aiming to hit a goal.

For example, my daily goal is 200 grams of protein. So I’ll eat all types of protein-rich foods such as a eggs, chicken or protein shakes to hit that goal. Same thing goes for carbs and fats, I have a goal I work towards everyday.

Here are some great healthy choices for each macro just to give you an idea:

• Protein: eggs, chicken, ground beef, yogurt, milk, fish, protein shakes etc.
• Carbs: rice, potatoes, oatmeal, quinoa, bananas etc.
• Fats: avocados, nuts, eggs, fish, cheese, olive oil, yogurt etc.

Lots of them overlap which is amazingly efficient!

What’s also amazing is that you don’t have to figure your own macros out.

They’re calculated for you!

There are calculators online that do the work for you by asking for certain information and adjusting the macros based on your goal. Here’s a link to one: macro calculator

Since I really want you to succeed, I’ll do mine with you guys:

• Gender: Male
• Age: 21
• Weight: 200 (pounds)
• Height: 6 feet 0 inches
• Exercise Level: Moderate (Work and Gym)
• Your Primary Goal: Gain

Daily Macros:

• Total Calories: 3052
• Total Protein: 198.4 grams (200 grams)
• Total Carbs: 358.9 grams (360 grams)
• Total Fats: 79.4 (80 grams)

 – Small Notes – 

Keep in mind, these are my personal macros. As a bodybuilder, my macros are much higher than that of someone looking to lose weight or maintain their current mass.

I like this macro calculator (out of the 100’s online) because there is an option for zero exercise in the exercise level. Which is perfect because that was my recommendation!

So now that you have the calculator, give it a try! Fair warning however, it might be a lot compared to what you eat daily so start small and work your way up.

You’re one step closer to that body you want!

 

SECOND STEP: EXERCISING

You’ll most likely choose the easier route and start with eating healthier (which I personally recommend) but for those that chose exercising, here are my tips.

I DO NOT recommend buying a gym membership.

If you’re completely oblivious to different types of workouts or exercises, you’ll have no idea what you’re doing, you’ll lose money and you’ll quit sooner.

Instead, I recommend sticking to the exercises you’re already familiar with.

Yes, the same ones you did in 5th grade gym class:

• Pushups
• Situps
• Squats
• Lunges

These are in my opinion, THE best exercises. Even professional athletes will never skip these regardless of how familiar they are with gym equipment.

They don’t skip them for the same reason you should start with them: they work, they can be done anywhere and they target the most muscles!

Which works perfectly for my plan to keep you away from gyms. 

But how many of each should you do and for how long? Well, now it gets tricky.

As much as I want to tell you to do exactly 10 pushups and 20 lunges, I cannot target every person reading this because your experience levels are all different.

But I’ll give you a basic start from which you can add or subtract depending if it’s too easy or difficult:

• 20 pushups
• 20 situps
• 30 lunges
• 30 squats
• 30-second plank
• 40 jumping jacks

That’s it! Just a very basic plan to get the ball rolling.

Always remember: it’s not about how many reps or sets you do but the effort. Tune the workout overtime to push yourself, that’s how you’ll get results!

I want you to get a taste of this lifestyle and for that I need it to be as convenient as possible in the beginning. Eventually after some time, your curiosity will kick in and…

…you’ll be fit in no time!

 

CONCERNING THOSE THAT WANT TO GAIN MUSCLE

Every macro calculator will have 3 options:

1. Gain weight (bodybuilding)
2. Lose weight
3. Maintain (keep your figure)

For maintaining your current figure and losing weight, simply sticking to macros will bring you results, that’s the beauty of it.

For bodybuilding however, just eating won’t bring you results. You must count your macros and train consistently to see the results you’re looking for. So for the sake of simplicity, I won’t go into too much detail.

But if you are interested in bodybuilding, I’ll link some articles that I’ve written in the past that are all beginner friendly and will give you a great place to start.

Articles:

• The Two Types Of Exercises You Definitely Need In Your Workouts
• The Most Efficient Way To Workout
• The Most Important Exercise You’re Doing Wrong

 

 

CONCERNING THOSE THAT WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT

Like I mentioned before, you can see results by just eating healthy.

Food is the basis for everything in your life, not just fitness. Just for starters, it can determine your mood, emotions, stress levels etc.

Perfecting how much you eat and the quality of the food you eat, will give you a great head start if you truly want to change your life. 

That being said:

Eating and training will obviously give you results faster. If you truly believe you can work a little harder and do so consistently, then by all means incorporate some training.

Not too much of course. Once a week as a start will work just fine.

You can either attempt the workout I suggested above or go for a long walk.

It’s completely your choice!

If you start with baby steps, you’ll always see success. 

 

CONCERNING THOSE THAT WANT TO KEEP THEIR FIGURE

You’ve got it the easiest out of all of us…well, a little easier.

Keep in mind that how you look on the outside is no indicator of how you look inside.

Meaning, being happy with how you look on the outside doesn’t mean you should drop everything and not care about anything in this article.

However, if you are satisfied with the way you look and you feel like you’re healthy based on checkups and how you feel, I recommend the following:

1. Continue tracking macros like the rest of us, using healthy food options
2. Do something active 2-3 times a week.

This is plenty to keep the body you love and will definitely improve it a little.

 

CONCLUSION

Clicking on this article came with two choices.

You can choose to ignore the stomachaches you get from time to time or the judgmental eyes you feel on you every time you go somewhere public…

…Or you can choose to take advantage of not only your health but your life, for which I’ve given you the tools.

Stop putting New Year’s on hold and take a small step to a greater victory.

Join us in changing your life by becoming healthier and more fit.

Happy New Year and Good Luck!

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