2 best ways to part with your fitness goals

For many people, just being fit is not enough. Creating great obsessive goals and chasing them for everyone you stand for is an eternal part of fitness travel, and in the era of separation (and over-exchange), it is more front and center than ever. And why not? There is something incredibly exciting to see how far you can advance your potential – to work out a very specific goal, keep your blinkers and ignore what everyone else is doing in their own workouts while you focus on yours.

But what do you do when the goal … is no longer the goal?

Maybe you finally nailed this craving with two or three weights, saw these presses in the mirror, or this is a physique show or a Spartan race. Big! Lucky you. Or maybe you didn’t, and you just feel wounded / exhausted / in need of change. How did you say goodbye to this chapter, which meant so much to you, or did you even have to?

Of course, you can just do 180, switch to something completely different and leave your old chapter behind you. A lot of people do! But you do not have to. Here are two potentially best ways to solve this common dilemma with a strong world-class woman and an elite personal trainer.

Method 1: think in seasons

Rachel Pyron has been competing in Strongwoman since 2011, but a few years before she was a competitive bodybuilder. Over time, diet, preparation, great preparation for a single subjective judgment began to exhaust her, and she realized that she wanted change. She wanted to feel strong!

The changes, of course, paid off, since in 2018 she was called America's most powerful woman. But initially she struggled with the realization that entering into a fight with Strongman probably meant giving up the ultra-thin body she was used to.

“It was not easy to switch my mindset from the world of bodybuilding and direct all my attention to appearance and physique for strength and performance,” says Byron. “When I started the strongman, it was clear that trisets and quick burn sessions with large volumes should have changed. And the biggest changes, of course, were less diet and more attention to strengthening strength. ”

On the other hand, she also knew that her muscular base was part of what helped her to succeed in a strong man in the first place, and that purely hypertrophic work could take its rightful place in her training.

Takeaway Food: Pyron gets the best of both worlds, thinking in terms of seasons. During the year when she takes part in competitions, she pays much more attention to the skills and physical preparation that determine her sport. Then, in the offseason, she includes much lighter bodybuilding workouts in her weekly schedule and puts a strong person at something close to a “service regimen”. Thus, she gets to let her joints break down, maintain her muscular base, and avoid the feeling of beating all the time. Plus, as soon as the competitive season comes, she will be glad to return.

You do not have to be a competitor to benefit from this approach. You can simply alternate training styles in specific “blocks”, focusing on the size of the muscular part of the year, breaking away from another part of the year and pursuing specific strengths or sports goals for the third part of the year. This is exactly the approach that PhD Jim Stoppani recommends in his video “Jim Stoppani Training Program Guide.” He advises making a Shortcut to Size, then a Shortcut to Shred, then a Shortcut to Strength. This allows you to experience the unique benefits of each learning style again and again.

Method 2: Train with Accent, Not Exclusivity

Many trainers and instructors strictly adhere to certain teaching styles and programming methods with which they live and die. They are a weightlifting trainer, a powerlifting trainer, a weightlifting trainer, … you name it. Nick Tumminello is not such a coach.

He started training almost 22 years ago, when he was 18 years old, and since then he owned his own gym and worked with a variety of athletes when he wrote many articles and books about training. And the main part of his lasting strength is that he did not align with any particular learning style. He takes what he can from all of them, and puts his own turn into what he is studying.

“The way I look at this is that, if I can use the analogy, the fact that people argue against each other makes no sense to me because they all offer different nutritional values ​​if you look at them as products, "says Tumminello." We agree that tomatoes are good for health, and we agree that some other vegetable or fruit is good, but no one will ever agree that if you you will only eat strawberries, you will have all the necessary nutrients. nutrients that tomatoes can provide. The same thing with learning styles. "

Tumminello believes that each learning style is actually complementary, not contradictory. For an ordinary athlete or girl, there is nothing wrong with having multiple goals. When it comes to reaching out to customers, he offers us to simply evaluate what is most important to us and understand that there will be advantages in other areas.

“Obviously, goals will determine which one style can best suit the situation. Most people also have secondary goals, and it is here that other styles appear. It’s just how much of the set is typed, ”he explains,

Takeaway Food: Struggle with balance? Here's how you can power the Tumminello dials:

1. Beware of coaches or other people preaching only one school of thought or programming style. Not that they were wrong, but it’s easy to forget your own goals when you listen to too many voices. Ultimately, you can give up many other important training principles that have been proven to work in the long run by simply switching to fitness trends that will eventually disappear.
2. Make sure that the training schedule, the time that you train during the week, and the types of exercises that you choose will be realistic for you. If you do not like it, then you are unlikely to stick to it.
3. Do not let anyone set their goals for you! Take the time to really think about what you want and to honestly sit with the trainer. Ask: “What is the most important of all my goals? What is behind this? ”This may change over time, so do it regularly.
4. Look for ways to organize and prioritize goals, not eliminate them. You have the opportunity to be round! Completely discarding training styles or exercises that you like and that you will benefit from will not do you any good.

“There is no reason why you need to do only one thing. Find out what your priorities are among multidimensional programs, and from there just balance the volume. Find the best way to do this and stay consistent. whatever it is, this is your top priority throughout the week, ”says Tumminello. “The more you do something, the more likely you are to achieve your goal. Obviously, this is the top point, but it is individual. You achieve what you pay attention to. Emphasizing one thing does not mean that you neglect everything else. ”

Want to see how this approach looks in action? Then try the Tumminello True Muscle program: 9 weeks before elite fitness. It balances muscle strength and work with first-class mobility and training, providing you with a comprehensive approach that you can use as a model for anything that comes next!