7 Effective Hacks for Achieving Your 2019 New Year Fitness Goals

How to achieve your New Year Fitness Goals in 2019 - toronto personal training

Statistics show that 95% of people have already given up on their new resolutions by the second week. Change is most definitely not an easy task, but with enough drive it is definitely a winnable battle. To help you avoid being just another new year statistics, I’ve outlined seven effective hacks to help you achieve your 2019 new year fitness goals.

 

How to Achieve your New Year Fitness Goals


1.Take a photo of yourself Day One

Assuming you’ve got a promising workout and nutrition program ready to go, take a photo of you Day 1 and put it on your mirror.

That’s who you’ll never be again.

Print out another photo of your goal body that you’re striving to accomplish by the end of your training phase and put it on the mirror beside your Day 1 photo.

This will signal your subconscious mind to focus on your goal and strengthen your desire to achieve it. 

 

2. Write down your goals

Write down your goal for the day, first thing in the morning.

This will immediately shift your mind to prioritize what’s important and decrease unnecessary non-sense distractions from your day like browsing Instagram or surfing the web looking at shoes for 2 hours.

There’s just something about writing goals down on paper that makes it real and sets the mind in gear to find ways to accomplish it.

 

3. Practice visualization

Visualize your goal every night before bed.

Either in your bed when you close your eyes before sleeping or a warm bath prior to sleeping.

Take 5 minutes, block everything else out and simply focus on what you’re aiming to achieve.

Visualize it as the first person being there and having it accomplished already.

How will you feel when you complete your workout program and reach your goal?

What will your body look like when you accomplish your new year fitness goals?

How will your clothes fit?

How will you feel looking in the mirror?

The subconscious mind does not know the difference between reality and imagination.

Visualization is the equivalent to commanding your mind to find ways to achieve your desires faster.

 

4. Find a partner

Partner up with a friend towards a common goal.

Not only will it make it more fun by hanging out with a friend, but it will help you both stay the course when motivation happens to be low.

Motivation is a temporary feeling.

Sometimes we feel super motivated and could lift a car up with our bare hands, other days we just wanna lay low at home doing nothing.

If you’re on your own, the possibility of you justifying it to yourself and skipping that workout is higher than when you know your friend is relying on you to show up.

Some days you’ll be the one motivated, other days he/she will help you get past your temporary barrier and keep at it.

If you don’t have a friend like this, consider hiring a knowledgeable personal trainer or coach to keep you accountable and help guide you along the way.

 

5. Take progress pictures

Take progress photos.

This is extremely helpful, yet majority of people fail to do it.

Maybe you don’t want to see your current body, or are scared of not having “progressed”.

Whatever the case may be, throw it out of the window and simply do it.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised after a few weeks of consistency, of the progress you have made.

Not only will this throw new, fresh wood into your fire so-to speak, but it will strengthen your belief towards achieving your goal.

Something will shift in you when you see your hard work is actually paying off.

It is difficult to gauge the differences and physical changes from simply looking in the mirror because you see yourself every single day.

When you put Day 1 and present photo side by side, the differences will be evident.

 

6. Place your attention on what you want

Focus on the results, not the “work”.

If you concentrate on the work instead of the results, the journey will seem too great to ever reach it.

This makes your subconscious mind believe that the goal is bigger than you.

This is far from the truth.

Instead, focus on the goal — how great it will make you feel, the positive influence you’ll have on those around you, how much fun going out in public places and shopping for new clothes will be. The amount of joy you’ll have looking in the mirror  and how you’ll actually enjoy taking photos instead of shying away from it. Lastly, how much better and stronger you’ll become as a person.

When you put it this way, the work doesn’t seem so bad now does it?

Your body is as capable as your mind is.

Focus on the positives and the body will follow your mind’s orders like a faithful servant to a king.

 

7. Protect your goals

Facebook doesn’t need to know about it, Jenna from the local grocery store doesn’t need to know about it, uncle Luke and his snotty girlfriend don’t need to know about it.

Create a positive energy around yourself and your goals and protect it.

What I mean by that is, especially at first your goal and belief is still fragile in its early form.

Many people will share their opinion aka insecure projections on how, why and what you should do.

That negative energy can diminish your inner fire, possibly discourage you on a bad day and essentially get you off track.

Energy is contagious.

It is your sole responsibility to avoid that from happening by keeping to yourself and focus on what’s important: positive belief + daily action.

Very few people if any will understand and actually support you in your journey, especially at first.

When you do achieve your goal, then many will say “I always knew you could do this”or “Great job, I’m not surprised you actually did what you said you would”, although at first they’d be the first ones who’d tell you how hard it is and you’ll probably quit second week just like they had.

This is simply human nature.

When one decides to elevate their life, it will shine down on other’s missed opportunities. Naturally, this will make some people negative, bitter and ugly.

 


 

Primal Breed is committed to providing you effective personal training in Toronto, helping you lose unwanted weight permanently and build lean muscle for life.

8 Simple & Effective Ways to Optimize Sleep

8 simple & effective ways to optimize sleep

Sleep is one of the most important aspect for fat loss, building muscle and overall health. Yet, the majority of us are seriously overlooking sleep.

The most common side effects are brain fog, low productivity, weight gain, hard time losing fat or building muscle and constantly tired.

Sleep is so crucial that even if your diet and training is spot on, but you sleep less than 6 hours per night, the results will be minimal.

Sleep is absolutely vital for making the most out of your efforts in the gym & kitchen and there is no substitute for it.

Let’s take a look at these eight simple & effective ways to optimize sleep.

 

1. Make it a priority

Like all the other important things in life that we know we should be doing, unless consciously prioritized and scheduled, will be pushed to the side or generally overlooked.

Getting distracted scrolling your social media feed or browsing the web can easily skip on a couple of hours that could’ve been put towards quality deep sleep.

A few hours of sleep lost here and there compound over time to bring about negative consequences such as decreased energy, less productivity, dark circles under the eyes and accelerated aging.

 

2. Understand the benefits (& consequences) of sleep 

Consistent, quality deep sleep is the number one ingredient for good health. Whether you are simply looking to be more productive with your work, reach a fitness goal or both, sleep is a key component for your success.

7-9 hours of sleep per day:

  • Reduces stress levels (cortisol)
  • Promotes fat loss and muscle growth
  • Repairs and restores cells in the body
  • Provides adequate energy to conquer your daily tasks without the need for 14 espressos
  • Reduces need for cravings and sugary foods
  • Maintains a healthy body, mind and spirit

The list of benefits goes on and on.

Sleeping 6 hours or less daily, over time will result in the opposite effects such as:

  • weight gain (fat deposits around stomach, thighs, lower back and chest)
  • increased cortisol
  • lack of energy
  • mood swings
  • increased need for cravings
  • overall bad health

 

3. Set up a routine

The primal way to get good sleep is to follow the circadian rhythm. Wake up with the sun and go to sleep shortly after it sets.

Creating a routine where you go to sleep and wake up around the same time is ideal for optimizing health and energy.

Our bodies love familiarity (homeostatis) and will adapt very well to a set schedule.

 

4. Make your bedroom clean and welcoming

Fresh bed sheets, clean room, closed blinds, cool room temperature and as dark as possible.

One of the main triggers for insomnia is high body temperature.

Making your room cool and lightless will create the perfect environment for a good night’s rest.

 

5. Take a salt bath an hour before bed 

Personally, I love taking a salt bath pre-bed especially during the cold Canadian winter months.

It helps me calm and relaxed, helping me fall asleep like a baby.

The combination is especially great for muscle recovery after an intense workout.

It’s a great way to end a long day and allow the adrenal glands to calm down and the mind to become free.

 

6. Take magnesium 

Similar to the bath but in supplement form, magnesium helps with over 300 different processes in the body.

Primarily, it helps your muscles relax, providing a nice and calm feeling, improving the quality of sleep.

 

7. Minimize stimulants 

If you’re a stimulant junkie and must have them, avoid taking them past 3:00 pm.

Allow a good 5-7 hours for the stimulant to clear your system for it’s bed time to avoid any possible disruption.

I know some people that can chug a coffee and pass out no problem, but for most of us, stimulants will definitely affect the quality and duration of sleep.

If you dare to eliminate stimulants (that includes coffee) and sleep well each night, you’ll see your natural come back in full effect.

 

8. Relax your mind 60-90 min prior to bed time

Avoiding distractions close to bed time is key for getting a good night’s rest.

Allow your mind to relax and settle down prior to going to bed to ease falling asleep.

Even the term “falling” refers to your mind shutting off.

Being in front of a TV, computer or phone right before bed will make it more difficult and take longer to fall into deep sleep.

Instead simply take a little time to yourself and relax (e.g. read a book, write in your journal, etc.).

 


 

Primal Breed is committed to providing you effective personal training in Toronto, helping you lose unwanted weight permanently and build lean muscle for life.

3 Effective Cues for Building a Big, Muscular Back

How to get a big, muscular back fast - Toronto personal training

In a world where most bro’s just hit chest and biceps, an impressive back is not too common. Since you can’t see your own back, most guys just don’t train it as hard as the visible muscle groups. However, there’s no denying that a well-developed, muscular back takes your physique to a next level. Since I’ve struggled to build my back for years, I’m gonna share the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way to help you build a big, muscular back.

 

The common path

Throughout my lifting journey I’ve listened to the majority of people giving advice.

Guess what? Most of it is just a regurgitation of the next guy’s beliefs.

When it comes to back training especially, “hard” and “heavy” is the most common recommendations you’ll hear.

Well, that has left me with sore joints, slightly damaged lower back and sub-par back development.

In addition, I started to believe that “genetically” I’m just not meant to have a big, muscular back. What a load of crap.

The truth is that I was focusing on the wrong cues.

 

Internal focus of control

So it was time to switch things up completely.

I stopped focusing on external factors such as the ‘best exercises’ or how much weight I’m lifting.  

Instead I started focusing on what’s going on internally.

“Am I feeling the muscle stretch and contract?”

“Which muscle is actually initiating the movement?”

I started focusing on making sure my back muscles are actually doing most of the lifting – fully stretching and contracting hard.

If I wasn’t feeling my back working during an exercise I’d just pick another that I would,  not getting attached to a specific movement just because it’s said to be “king of mass”.

It wasn’t until I started focusing on precise exercise execution that I started to see lagging body parts come up.

 

Here’s what made a great difference for me:

 

Lighten the weight.

Biggest mistake I see people make (myself included) is lift weights that are simply too heavy.

If hypertrophy is your goal then isolating and feeling the muscle at work becomes priority.

Lightening the weight allows you to create a better mind-muscle connection with the muscles you are targeting by being able to control the weight and “choose” which muscle you want to use to do so.

Just because your deadlift increased or you dumbbell row heavier, doesn’t mean your back is actually growing unless your execution remains precise.

Heavy weights with poor execution will hypertrophy your ego more than anything else.

 

Use precise execution.

Exercise execution is the most important factor when it comes to building muscle. Even more so for your naturally smaller and weaker body parts.

Simply going through the motion of a row will not sufficiently stimulate your mid back for optimal growth.

My rule is “If you can’t feel your muscle doing the work, fix your execution first“.

There’s no good motive to keep increasing the load and intensity if your execution is poor.

Poor execution means the muscles you are trying to target during the movement are not active or just barely.

More weight will just break the form down further, increasing stress on joints and teaching your brain the wrong movement patterns that will become harder to fix down the line.

It’s important to initiate the exercise with the working muscle from the start. The muscle that you initiate the movement with will end up doing the majority of the work throughout the set.

As your ability to activate and use a muscle on demand increases, your gains will skyrocket.

If you cannot feel your back muscles working during the exercise, either switch to a different exercise or lighten the load and spend some time learning the correct execution.

 

Use unilateral exercises. 

Unilateral exercises are fantastic for activating or targeting lagging body parts.

For example:

If you begin doing heavy barbell rows, your most dominant muscle groups will take over.

In addition, if performed unconsciously – meaning you’re letting the weight lead your body, instead of vice versa – your body will find the most efficient way to perform the task.

That means involving some legs, lower back, momentum and other external mechanical advantages leaving you with maybe a 20-30% actual mid-back/lat muscle fiber activation.

Truth is you will never get a big, muscular back doing it this way. And no, adding more weight will not help.

Instead, if you perform some light unilateral exercises such as the one arm cable row or dead-stop row first, you’ll be able to activate the weaker back muscles such as a mid-traps, rhomboids and perhaps lats.

This will help create stronger brain neuro-pathways to those muscles, so they’ll play a bigger part in a heavier compound lift.

I like to perform these exercises first to “wake my mid traps up” before I move on to the barbell exercises and “keep them awake” for the rest of the workout.

Note* I am not recommending going light to build your back. Use the heaviest load you can manage while maintaining proper exercise execution. If you stop feeling your back muscles working or begin swinging and using sloppy form, the weight is too heavy.  

 

Final Words

I can guarantee you that your ability to activate and use your strong body parts is high.

In turn, your ability to activate and control your lagging body parts is poor. This is not a coincidence.

Genetics are not the reason why your back is not growing. It’s because you’re not actually stimulating the back muscle fibers sufficiently to make them grow.

best exercises for a bigger more muscular back - toronto personal training

I used to be so attached to deadlifting and the thought of lightening the weight or substitute a different exercise altogether was horrifying. I’ve been working diligently at it for a long time and giving up my devoted investment was difficult.

However, I’ve seen most of my back growth afterwards, once I’ve implemented these points above.

how to build a big, muscular back - toronto personal training how to build a big, muscular back - toronto personal training

Getting attached to a specific lift or a certain amount of weight (anything external) can and will limit your progress potential immensely. It is extremely important to have an internal point of reference guiding your decisions.

It’s the only way to learn how your own body truly functions  as well as figure out which exercises work best for you through mastering execution first. 

 


 

Primal Breed is committed to providing you effective personal training in Toronto, helping you lose unwanted weight permanently and build lean muscle for life.