Summer Fitness

We all look forward for Summer – where we can book our holidays, remove the stress of the working environment and sunbathe until the sun goes down. But we always create these resolutions that we don’t always follow through. We say, “I’ll start on Monday” – every Monday and it’s just a vicious cycle. 

We’ve teamed up with Maxi Nutrition, providers of protein shakes and other fitness essentials to find out the relationship between timing, impatience and self-sabotaging your entire plan when you’re trying to achieve that perfect beach body in time for the summer.

We just want to give you a little reminder that it’s all about lowering the overall body fat just so you can see the muscle underneath. All you need to do is create a daily calorie deficit and an exercise routine that you know you will stick to. Remember to be realistic with your aims, or you’ll be disappointed if you don’t get the outcome that you think you worked for.

Timing and Impatience

Don’t be fooled by the media and the mass advertisements that say you can “Get a six pack in 28 days” because it’s not realistic. Of course, some people can achieve this in a short amount of time – only if they don’t have much to lose in the first place and that they have plenty of time on their hands. 

You need to give yourself enough time to achieve what you set out and you’ll feel 100% better about the result you get. Professional bodybuilders usually give themselves a limit of 16 weeks to get into shape for holiday – this is beneficial because you’ll not bounce back with all the eating (and drinking) you do on holiday caused by crash dieting.

Being patient is important when you’re trying to cut down. You need to figure out your calorie goal in relation to your age, weight, height and activity levels. It will work magic in the time that you have. But if you decide that it’s taking too long and that you should cut out more calories, you can cause a lot of harm to your body and it will backfire in the long run. Let things carry out naturally and you’ll do just fine.

Self-control

This is far too common in the world of fitness. People sabotage themselves all the time and then they feel completely guilty about it and it affects them in all sorts of ways. It’s completely normal, you feel like a failure and you feel at your worst. You don’t want to miss out on what everybody else is doing, so you sacrifice your routine so that you can join in. Whether this being going out a few nights a week to drink with your friends, or having too many tubs of ice cream on an evening. You think you owe yourself because you’re doing extremely well in other aspects of your routine and this is when self-control comes into it.

What you should do is plan your calorie days around your training so that you remain on form throughout. Have a better mindset, focus, and you’ll be surprised with the outcome that you get.