Results in the gym

Simon Gama

How frustrating when you want to make improvements in your body only to find that the deck is stacked against you! 

How can you develop great abdominal muscles (abs), a learner look or bigger arms when your time to train gets cut back because of work, school or family commitments? What about trying to get the right nutrition when you’re on the road or can’t seem to find the time for anything more than a quick bite?

You’re darn right it’s frustrating! Sometimes I get so mad I could spit. Then you get new information of muscle and fitness, look at the best physiques in the world and think “I don’t have time to train like a pro, that’s all guys do”. Like someone just dangled a carrot in front of your face. I feel that way all of the times.

The bad news is I know I will never look like a professional bodybuilder. Half the good news is that that’s not my goal. However, I learn something new every day from the techniques the professionals use that can help me maximise my gains with the minimum amount of time I have. I suspect I can relate to that. The other half of the news is that success really is in the palm of hand. You have the tools, you only have to use them effectively.

With so little time, you’re forced to make efficient use of it. A training programme with three 30 to 45-minute workout per week, hitting each body part once every seven days, can be enough to reach many of your goals, if those sessions are all business and concentrated effort. 

To get the most out of your training time, take a few minutes to map out a game plan in writing so you have a monthly programme with certain sets, reps and exercises aimed at individual goals. With this overview you can slightly alter your programme each month to keep your body stimulated, honing in on what works and what doesn’t. If you have been doing the same exercises with the same weights and reps for months and have stopped making progress you need to change some of the elements.

As you consider your training programme for the following month and how to reach them, you can add new techniques to your plan. Perhaps abs are not rock hard as you want them, you notice new ways to work, include some of ab exercises in your programme and try them for a month. 

Then when you assess your programme come month end, decide what worked and what didn’t, what elements to keep, to modify and eliminate. These quick monthly assessment planning sessions allow you to integrate in an organised manner new information that you hear and read. They let you chart your course.

You need to do the same with your nutrition, working out a programme for your  “regularly irregular” schedule. Write down an approximately how many grams of protein and carbs and how many calories you want to take in. Then break that down into menu including meals, whatever else you might consume. Develop a list and build an inventors of nutritious foods that are quick and can be even eaten on the road. That list should include any vitamin, minerals or other nutritional supplement. With planning, eating right is possible despite hectic schedules. 

This missing link in the entire process is your attitude, especially the balance to your lifestyle. I know 2 brothers (about the same genetics) who train together three times a week. They are both extremely busy. Both work too much and have families. The similarities end there. They are like yin and yang. One is the positive one and gets great results, the other is complaining, almost bitter about training and life in general. That brother hasn’t found balance in his life between work, worry, family, training and happiness. 

I asked him what single message he wants to send out, he told me, “You keep a balance in your life. A balance between your career, your family, your training, your diet and spiritual side. That spiritual side can guide you through it all.”

In the big picture of life, learn to love every workout. Each one is short and they are so few. Each day a new opportunity. That outlook helps open your mind to new information and keeps you growing both inside and out. —Additional information from online sources.