This short twitter screenshot about taking action did extremely well on my instagram feed.
Personally I think it’s because people don’t get told this enough. And it can be easy to fall into the ” I haven’t got good genetics so whats the point” or “I’ve just always been like this ” “or I’m too old for this” trap.
I believe a post. About taking action no matter your genetic endowment is a message that doesn’t get emphasised enough.
Because it gets you to look at yourself in a different light and it gives you the chance to take responsibility for your fitness and health.
Because anyone can take action. And the really good natural physiques that look great like Eugene sandows for instance. Take a long time to build. Take a look at the picture below.
Have you heard of the 10,000 hour rule. This rule comes to the conclusion that with enough conscious effort you can develop mastery in any skill.
And it doesn’t exclude average people with average genetics. The 10,000 rule works for everyone. As long as you take action.
So in this post I’m going to breakdown 3 ways that absolutely everyone can use. To improve their health and fitness. As long as they take action.
These 3 things I’m going to talk about work no matter if your 20 or 70 years old, whether you have average genetics or good genetics, or whether your currently well out of shape or not. These 3 things dont discriminate they work for absolutely everyone!
Take Action Step 1. Progressive Overload
No matter your genetics, age or circumstances you can get stronger and build muscle. It’s a scientific phenomenon. You lift heavy weights/do a challenging bodyweight workout, get some good nutrition, rest and recover and next time you hit the weights/ try and get more reps you are stronger.
This is the definition of progressive overload.
To give you an example of progressive overload with push-ups. you do 20 push-ups one workout and next workout you do 21/22 you’ve now got stronger and build muscle. It’s easy as that.
And for a beginner strength workout just click on my free 3 day workout below.
A practical tip for implementing progressive overload into your fitness routine would be just one single bodyweight workout consisting of push-ups, bodyweight squats, and inverted rows.
If you can do this workout at least once per week and get stronger progressive overload will be occurring.
Take Action Step 2. Use Energy Balance
Energy balance is, in simple terms calories in vs calories out. But depending on your goals you will either be in a negative energy balance, neutral energy balance, or a positive energy balance.
A negative energy balance is a calorie deficit and it will help you towards your fat loss goals, a neutral energy balance will help towards maintaining your weight and maintaining your progress ( maintenance is actually progress because your not reverting back to a worse state. Especially if you’ve been lifting and working on your fitness for a few years and just want to maintain it now) a positive energy balance will help towards muscle building goals and will help especially if you’re severely underweight. A positive energy balance is a calorie surplus and is where you eat more calories than you burn.
The law of energy balance works for everyone no matter your genetics, weight, body type or any of these factors. You just need to pick your goal and take action. And adjust your specific energy balance to what your goals are.
If your unsure about which goal you need to focus on look at the body fat percentages below.
Body Fat Examples
If your at 20-25% body fat for a male then you should probably lose fat and go in a negative energy balance/ calorie deficit until you get to 10-12% body fat. And if your a female at 30-35% body fat it makes sense to lose fat until you get to 20-22% body fat.
Once you get to the low end of these body fat ranges or if your already at or lower than 10-12% for a male and 20-22% for a female then I’d advise you to modify your calories and macronutrients so that your either in a neutral energy balance (maintenance calories) or go in a slight calorie surplus positive energy balance.
As far as the calorie deficit goes for losing fat you want to be in a 20-25% calorie deficit. Look at my free fat loss ebook to work this out.
And for your calorie surplus you want to be in a 10-15% calorie surplus.
The reason for this is because it puts you in an anabolic state (building and repairing muscle) rather than a catabolic state ( use muscle for energy and lose muscle mass) which can happen in a calorie deficit if you take it to far.
So pick your goal and continue towards it until you reach it.
Step 3. Effort And Hard Work Over Good Genetics And Talent
So in the first few tips we’ve dialled down two extremely important building blocks to actualise your health and fitness goals. Progressive overload and energy balance. If you get these two right and pair it with this tip your on the road to long lasting success.
So this last tip is hard work and effort. No matter who you are you can put in some effort, hard work and consistency.
You want to develop that growth mindset. This mindset basically means that you believe In your ability to achieve your goals, and that with enough hard work you can reach your goals.
The fixed mindset on the other hand is when people feel like victims, unable to respond and let life pass them by and believe because they’ve always been one way they can’t go on to achieve other things.
Growth And Fixed Mindset Examples
For example a fixed mindset person would think “I’m overweight I’ve always been overweight and I always will”
A growth minded person would believe ” Yes I’m overweight now but with hard work perseverance and being in a calorie deficit over time I know I can get fit and healthy”
Can you see the difference. Which one do you think was more likely to succeed in reaching their goals?
If you picked the growth minded person then correct.
And this mindset works for everything.
Such as:
learning a new skill
Getting stronger
Losing fat
everything
Develop a growth mindset and you’ll be happy that you did.
https://www.edglossary.org/growth-mindset/
As Marcus Aurelius said in meditations ” strength, perseverance, self- control in both areas: the mark of a soul in readiness, indomintable”
Use strength, perseverance and self control to get one step closer to your fitness goals.
Everyday!
Thanks for reading!
To watch a video I made on this topic click the link below.
henrypaget.com 