I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. 

— Jimmy Dean.

This is my first blog post. I’m looking forward to interacting with my readers and answering any questions that you may have.

Working Out

No matter where you are with your fitness goals, there is always room to improve. Being informed, both on the mental and physical sides of working out, will lead you to the finish line of your fitness goals. My job is to help you cross the finish line. Here are some helpful tips and bits of information that will not only have you crossing the finish line but will have you creating new fitness goals for yourself.

• Mental Aspect of training- We’ve all been there…days we wake up not feeling like going to the gym, would rather sleep in and skip breakfast. Well how is this going to help us reach our goals? It’s not. Being strong mentally is a large part to success in all aspects of fitness. Whether it be waking up early and getting a solid workout in, meal-prepping before the busy week begins, or going to bed early enough to get adequate rest, we must be mentally strong.
  • Ways to become mentally strong
    • Be positive- never talk down on yourself, embrace adversity with open arms, surround yourself with positive & uplifting people.
    • Lessen media consumption- we often find ourselves being bogged down with social media, comparing ourselves to others who appear to have better lives than our own. Put a restriction on your social media consumption and get to work.
    • Sleep- Get an adequate amount of rest at night so you can be recharged in the morning, aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. Not only does this help you stay sharp mentally, it also allows your body enough time to recover.
• Physical aspect of training– With the physical side of training comes a variety of different goals. Whether you want to bulk, cut or maintain, there are important pieces of information to keep in mind.
  • Compound movements
    • Squats, deadlifts, rows, bench press, overhead press, pull-ups. These movements work more than one muscle group, help increase intensity in your workouts and burn more calories. These exercises are key to getting stronger.
  • Isolation movements
    • Targets specific muscles, beneficial with strengthening weaker parts of the body, can be incorporated into a super-set with compound movements.
  • Super-sets
    • Pair two exercises together (preferably a compound & isolation movement) and perform them back to back with no rest, helps increase intensity.
  • Drop-sets
    • Set at a lower weight after performing same exercise to failure, can help you accomplish more in a shorter time period, great for gaining muscle.
  • Rest-pause
    • Set that is broken down into smaller sets, with small rest periods between each of these sets Can help overcome plateaus.
  • Pyramid-sets
    • Amount of reps goes down as weight increases, start with higher reps to warm up.
    • Ex. 10 reps of 150 lbs, 8 reps of 160 lbs, 6 reps of 170 lbs, another important tool when looking to improve intensity in your workout.
  • Progressive overload
    • Gradually increasing the “load” of your workouts, whether that may be with the number of sets or an increase in weight. Vital for growing muscle and getting stronger, also beneficial to avoiding plateaus.
  • Cardio
    • When training for muscle gain, it is important to not overdue cardio. Use cardio as a tool, don’t prioritize it over resistance training.
• Dieting– Arguably the hardest part to do accurately and often holds many of us back from reaching our fitness goals. There are many key elements that people miss when following their diet such as: tracking calories, consistently hitting macros and eating nutrient dense food. Keep these helpful tips in mind when thinking about your diet.
  • Tracking calories
    • I recommend MyFitnessPal, as this app allows you to log all the food you eat, save meals, track your weight and create specific goals for yourself depending on your end goal.
    • Weighing and measuring what you eat will help ensure that you are logging your calories accurately.
  • Hitting Macros
    • Carbohydrates, protein and fats. Consuming the right amount of each is important when aiming to accomplish your goals. Aim for one gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight, ex. 150 grams of protein for a 150 lb person. Fats should be 0.4-0.6 times every pound of bodyweight, ex. 0.5 x 150 lbs = 75 g of fat. Fill in the remaining amount with carbohydrates. Adjust accordingly depending on whether you are bulking or cutting. A person cutting would consume less fat than someone who is bulking for example.
  • Supplements
    • The only supplements you should ever consider taking are Whey protein and a multivitamin. Whey protein is a useful supplement to ensure that you are consuming enough protein in your diet. A multivitamin is beneficial if you aren’t consuming enough fruits and vegetables in your diet.
    • Pre-workouts like C4 in my opinion are more harmful than useful, not to mention expensive. Pre-workouts are designed to give you energy utilizing various chemicals that the average joe hasn’t heard of. Save yourself $50 and stick to an apple and/or nuts as a pre-workout snack.
  • Food list- broken down by macros *Keep in mind to eat foods in their most nutrient dense form, ex. Baked potatoes vs. French fries, grilled chicken breast vs. fried chicken.
    • Carbohydrates– whole fruits, vegetables, rice, potatoes, wheat bread
    • Fats– Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, peanut butter, nuts, avocado, whole eggs
    • Proteins– Chicken breasts, ham, fish, eggs, nuts, Greek yogurt, milk, lean beef, turkey breasts
  • Activity Level
    • In order to know how much you should be eating, regardless of your fitness goals (cutting, maintaining, bulking), you need to know how many calories you are burning. You can gauge your daily level of activity based on your job and how often you exercise, but it is beneficial to have a concrete value.
      • You can determine your daily activity level by choosing a daily activity level multiplier from the helpful source How to Find Your Daily Calorie Need, https://diabetesstrong.com/how-to-find-your-daily-calorie-need/, courtesy of Christel Oerum.
        • This value will help you determine your daily caloric needs. From there you can either add or subtract calories depending on if you are bulking or cutting. For bulking I like to add 500 calories to ensure that I am eating enough but not overeating, which would lead to too much fat gain. For cutting I would subtract 200-300 to ensure that I am not losing muscle mass. Of course, experiment with these numbers and watch the scale so that you can adjust accordingly.

I hope that you will use these important fitness tips and incorporate them into your fit lifestyle.

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Have a good one,

Austin Jenkins