Here is an excerpt from the new Men’s Health Training Guide90 Day Transformation Challenge: Arms 。 IN ONE BOOK, YOU’LL GET ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED – INFORMATION, NUTRITIONAL GUIDE, AND EXERCISES – TO GET YOUR ARMS IN JUST 3 MONTHS.
Making plans is one thing. Executing that plan to the end is a whole different task. We’ve all created workout routines, nutritional advice, or cardio routines in the hope that they will keep us on track to becoming the person we want to be. Finding a plan isn’t the part where people have trouble: it’s the follow-up, sticking to the plan every day.
I get it! Most people start new projects with good intentions, but life gets in the way. Running late to work projects, sick kids, feeling overwhelmed or any number of monkey wrenches can derail plans and sometimes you never get back on track. This is the pain point that keeps many people from making the changes they set out to do in the first place.
Fortunately, that’s all in the past. Here are the top tips and tricks I recommend to my clients to help them go from well-intentioned to well-equipped!
1. Choose small goals, or milestones, and achieve along the way
We all have goals we want to achieve. But all too often we look at the goal and feel like it’s almost insurmountable—too big to achieve. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard clients say “I’ll never make it” before we started working together. The sad thing is we tell ourselves so much we actually start to believe it.
Instead of trying to conquer the world of health and fitness in one grand move, start with small victories. Small victories build momentum and your confidence, giving you the ability to achieve truly great things.
Say, for example, that you want to do a pull-up. You can’t just grab the barbell, stick with it every day, and eventually pull yourself up — that’s too demanding on your body. Instead, use progressions: start with grip strength, then work on your back strength, move to assisted pulls, and eventually you’ll complete a full pull-up. Deconstruct the movement into its component parts, then proceed in very deliberate steps, attacking it one step at a time until you master it.
This solution is the same. Building muscular arms takes some time. But don’t feel overwhelmed: take a deep breath and trust the process.
How we address this in our program: Most people abandon their plans because they don’t see results fast enough; their idea of progress is too ambitious for the time they allot it. In this program, you’ll notice that we change variables one at a time. We’ll add sets to the exercise, reduce the rest interval, or make changes to the exercise. This means that goals for volume, conditioning, or progress all happen in small increments.
2. Make the plan work for you
Don’t try to get used to inserting square pegs into round holes. There are various programs, methods, progress, etc. of exercise programs. There are endless variations and types. Honestly, there’s more than one way to get it done!
Find the right fit for your abilities, the time you have and your Schedule planning is important. In fact, this is the key. I find that people realize this. In fact, one of the most common questions I get is, “What’s the ideal exercise program?”
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this question with a list of dates and times, or precisely timed deadlift minutes.
90-Day Transformation Challenge: Weapons
90-Day Transformation Challenge: Weapons
A recent study compared Participants who resistance-trained six days a week had less muscle hypertrophy (or growth) than those who worked out three days a week. They found that when the volumes were equal, the results were similar.
this should tell you what? When it comes to exercising, you can’t apply the “more is better” mentality that might apply to other areas of your life. The more exercise, the better.
I should be in the morning Workout or evening workout? Work out when you have the most time and energy. Should I do cardio first or lift weights first? Do it in the order you are most likely to finish. How much weight should I lift? Maintain proper form as much as possible. Embrace working where it suitsyou.
How we solved this in the program: Creating this program won’t take your entire day.
challenges are short enough to squeeze in on rest days, and the base workout – plan 4 days a week of challenge combinations only takes about 45 to 60 minutes to complete. It’s flexible so you can do it at your preferred time of day – no need to quit your job or take time off to attend!
3. Build solid long-term behavior
It’s not just about sticking to a 90-day plan, it’s about creating an environment where you can continue to thrive past this point. The goal is to consciously make fitness and health your top priority.
Most people are on a diet plan or exercise routine, and in short, those plans are exhausting. You may have had short-term results. But did they last? Most of the time, they don’t. That’s because the program isn’t addressing the root of the problem, which is your everyday behavior.
With this plan, a specific behavioral goal is emphasized each week to help ensure this 90-day plan becomes a lifetime adventure.
How we solve this in our plan: Every week, you’ll get habit goals to work towards. These are long-term qualities that complement your fitness to support your body’s needs. As with my first tip, these will be small mile markers. At the end of the 90 days, focusing on one at a time will put you in a different mindset. You can see a completely different you in just three months.
4. Create enough variety to keep it interesting
Álvaro Medina Jurado
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There is a sweet spot for diversity in programming. If you do too much of the same thing over and over, it can become a very boring pursuit with diminishing returns. But if you change things every time, you’ll create a moving target and it will be nearly impossible to see any real hypertrophy or physique changes.
A recent study on exercise variation and its effects on hypertrophy and strength gains found that both redundancy (repetitions) and excessive variation interfere with strength and hypertrophy. After reviewing the current study, the researchers suggest that “exercise changes could be focused on including exercises that share movement patterns similar to primary exercise and induce prime mover muscle hypertrophy while reducing joint stress.”
what does that mean? For best results, you’ll need just the right amount of variation to address complementary muscles, slight changes in exercise demands, and more favorable positions for continued strength and hypertrophy.
How we address this in our program: In the long run, your exercise Small changes in approach can make a big difference. Even minor tweaks like hand position can change the muscle focus of biceps and triceps exercises, creating enough variation to Keep your workouts fresh and effective. Plus, we’ve included movement techniques like tempo changes, rest changes, and increased volume to further challenge the muscles.
5. Don’t beat yourself up
You will have days where you feel amazing – like a superhero – and days You feel completely mortal, or worse. it happens. And, let’s be honest, this is part of the reason why some people start to lose interest and even drop out of their programs.
Always remember: if you fall off a wagon, you can climb back up. If you’ve missed a workout or two, or just had a bad day at the gym, that doesn’t mean you should ditch your entire plan. You can resume it from where you left off or earlier. Reset and get back to what you wanted to accomplish. Whether you’re missing a workout, neglecting your meal plan for dinner, or not getting the sleep you need, don’t blame yourself. Just reset and reboot. How do we fix this in the program: life happens. Committing to the 90-day challenge is the first step, but I also understand that life can change quickly, or that some parts of this plan may be more difficult than you initially thought. If at the end of a session you find yourself feeling particularly tired or burned out, you can always start over from the previous session. The goal is to do this within a timeframe that makes sense to you.
David O’Tay, CSCS
David Otey, CSCS is a fitness writer, strength coach and Men’s Health Advisory Board Member in New York City, specializing in strength and hypertrophy programs and athletic performance. For more information on Otey, visit www.oteyfitness.com.
what does that mean? For best results, you’ll need just the right amount of variation to address complementary muscles, slight changes in exercise demands, and more favorable positions for continued strength and hypertrophy.
David Otey, CSCS is a fitness writer, strength coach and Men’s Health Advisory Board Member in New York City, specializing in strength and hypertrophy programs and athletic performance. For more information on Otey, visit www.oteyfitness.com.
