How to become lean or ripped is the end goal for many individuals, especially younger guys just getting into the gym. They see several people online that they may follow or know someone in their life who has the physique they want and then embark on their way to achieve this goal. But soon after they start, 80% of people quit. And the reason for this is because they have bought into the reasonings of thinking it will be a lot easier than they actually know it is and so they get discouraged and quit. They EXPECTED a certain result by a certain time they deemed reasonable for whatever reason when they have little to no experience of working out at all. The worst thing you can ever do is go into anything you do and be selfish to think you deserve something by a certain time. You’re the one who’s new to this. So, it's important to know a few things that can and might help to not only get lean but to even keep you from getting discouraged from stopping because of an unrealistic expectation you set for yourself. Get rid of your expectations. I don’t care if you see ads that say this person got ripped by his time or this person got abs in this amount of time etc. Don’t pay attention to those. That’s the first mistake you’re going to make. Stop setting expectations for yourself in an area you know nothing about. A lot of those ads or pictures of things you hear from people can or will be exaggerated or lies. The other thing is everyone is built differently. Some people are genetically pre-dispositioned to have abs, or bigger arms, or be fatter, or have more strength. Someone also might lose weight faster than you or be more athletically gifted than you or maybe they might find it harder to lose weight than you. Do you get where I’m going with this? Everyone is different. Yes, there are certain guidelines that you can follow which can push you in the right direction but don’t get hung up on the fact that you should get those exact same results too. It might take you longer or even shorter. You may (and most of the time this is true) even be doing things wrong at the start that could be detrimental to your success. So stop putting expectations on yourself so much. Define a goal sure and work towards it but if you don’t achieve it when you want to then you just might be setting yourself up for the unrealistic disappointment that you shouldn’t ever have cared for anyway. Nutrition is the main factor. If you don’t even bother to eat properly then don’t get upset when you can’t lose the weight or put on muscle. Nutrition is the key factor to everything regarding weight loss and building muscle. And I’m not talking about starving yourself to lose weight or bulking up like crazy to gain muscle. Because both of those methods are stupid and are a waste of time and put you in a position to just rebound. They don’t work. I’m talking about learning and understanding the foods you are putting in your body and getting on a proper eating regimen. If you are a beginner and need to lose weight, then have low dense calorie foods. If you are already slim but you want to lean out further and build more muscle then you have to really make sure you are on a regimented eating plan, three meals a day, and are getting your protein intake daily. You can’t build muscle if you don’t intake protein and intake the right calories. The other thing is you don’t have to wrap your head around it too much either. Start off with something easy to follow. You don’t have to get everything exactly down to the wire perfectly. You don’t need to count your calories that much either. Look at your eating regimen now and say what bad foods can I take out and replace now that will help me with weight loss to become leaner. If you are wanting to build muscle tissue, then what can I add to help further my muscle-building capabilities. It doesn’t have to be rocket science as you will still get results. If the human body required everyone to be exact and on point with how many calories, we intake every day, then no one would be in shape. Don’t overthink it but start to think and act in the direction you want to move. Whether you’re gaining or losing weight Cardio is your friend. The number of posts I see of influencers and ads saying that “look at my clients who lost this weight and didn’t even do a single amount of cardio blah blah blah” is ridiculous. Can you lose weight without doing cardio? Yes, you can. Is it harder or takes longer? Yes. But why would you want to not put in an exercise that could not only be more effective at dropping calories than weightlifting but also strengthen your heart and lungs? Because you're lazy? Terrible reasoning. But you know, that’s exactly why a lot of those ads and coaches say that. Because they know it's true and is possible to happen but they also understand it's what people want to hear. They know a lot of people are lazy when it comes to cardio, so they also use that as a selling point to buy their courses. I’m not saying all of them are like that. Some are legitimate, I’m sure because as I said it's possible. But to me, it's senseless to not add it in when it has great added benefits for you. And if you are overweight then you should especially be getting onto a program that adds cardio to what you can handle of course. Cardio can also be done in many ways and factors not just running. It's about getting your heart rate elevated past a certain point to allow you to start dropping fat and calories at a higher and faster rate. I also have another blog on my website that explains the difference between people needing to lose a lot of weight and someone who is already thinner and wanting to build muscle. So, add in cardio as it's only beneficial for you. Mind to muscle connection. I still don’t know why people think this doesn’t exist and or is a farce of some kind. It simply exists because when you use any part of your body to operate you are firing off neurons that get sent to that area in the muscle to activate and move. Whether that walking or doing a bicep curl, the same rules apply. The difference is when you are exercising it's being used to contract a muscle to tear the fibers and build muscle tissue over time. And the more you do this and focus on how to perform an exercise the more connection you get, hence the term mind-to-muscle connection. It’s a simple as that. That’s why I always stress in my videos and articles that you need to get good at the technique of the exercise and focusing and executing it properly. Over time the more you do this, the more you will be able to control the contraction and tear the fibers more to create more growth over time. Some people understand this sooner than others and find it easier to apply. This can only depend on the body part to as some people find it easier to fire off contraction for one body part versus another. Regardless of it takes time, just like anything else in life, to learn. And the more you do it and focus on it, the better you become at it. Stop giving up. You also have to be consistent and stop giving up. You can’t keep yo-yo-ing around and expect to get results or be mad that you don’t have them. Find the time and stay consistent. Whether you have kids or a high-impact job, income issues, or the infamous no-time excuse, you need to find it. In one week, there are 168 hours and on a general aspect, we sleep 56 hours which is 8 hours a day. That leaves you with 112. And I get it, you have work, possibly kids, other projects going on that take up your time, circumstances happen that you didn’t expect, I understand that. But it doesn’t take much to dedicate 3 hours AT THE VERY LEAST 3 hours to working out a week, along with eating healthy to your health and fitness. In a week I’m sure you can find the time for that. You just need to get back to your schedule, look at it and rearrange it and see where you can fit it in. If you want to seriously see results, then you need to take this seriously. Otherwise, don’t complain. Final Thoughts How to become lean takes some work but like anything else in your life, that work is done daily for you to see results down the road. It takes time and a consistent scheduled effort to see the results. And so, if you implement these suggestions then it will help you on the way to staying lean. But you also need to realize something that you might not expect. They also might not be enough, because there are no simple 10 rules to because successful at anything. There are guidelines or things to follow and that can surely help but that doesn’t mean it will be the exact answers you’re looking for. It's about the repeated process of taking action mentally and physically every day. Sometimes we need to do things we don’t like or want to do to better our lives. But from experience, those times we don’t want to do something are always an indicator that that is what you need to do to excel foreword. Because if you don’t, then you’re just going to be kicking yourself later dealing with the consequences of not having completed that thing you didn’t want to do in the first place. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist. This is all from the experience I have gained through myself and through schooling I have taken from a health and fitness course. Through my videos, I share my personal and educational experience that I have acquired over the past years of training individuals through fitness and nutrition. As always, I strive to help as much as I can by bringing you fitness education through means of all my social media platforms. My passion for fitness guides me to give people the help they need in whatever way I can. If you have been able to find the information I release helpful then I’m happy I was able to serve you. Don’t forget to check me out on my other social media handles for the latest and best advice for fitness. - YouTube: AtoZbodyfitness - Instagram: AtoZbodyfitness - Twitter: AtoZbodyfitness - Facebook: AtoZbodyfitness - Tumblr: AtoZbodyfitness - Tik Tok: AtoZbodyfitness Action – Consistency - Growth
