Getting exercise and eating right are about more than just looking your best. They help improve your health and become a more balanced person.
The key to building muscle and getting strong is having a solid plan in place. It has to be one you can follow - not a fitness or diet plan that is so intense and restrictive that it becomes impossible to stick to.
This is the same approach you should be following with skincare for men and men’s grooming. A relatively simple routine can yield amazing results - if you stick to it.
Use these tips to get strong with a few essential lifts and a balanced diet. It will take time and patience to develop the body you want. But every workout is worth it.
Lifts
First, you need a set of core exercises that you do every week. You can determine how you want to incorporate them in your fitness routine, but they can’t be skipped. These are the essentials:
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Romanian Deadlifts
- Pull Ups
- Incline Bench Presses
- Shoulder Presses
- Seated Calves
- Dips
Determine Reps, Sets, and Frequency
What personal fitness goal have you set? Do you want to build lean muscle? Go for high rep ranges - in most cases 8-12 reps is ideal with a 30 second rest in between each. Aim for 3 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise.
Don’t hit the gym without a plan in place. You need to focus on each body part once a week. Design your routine to start with a big, compound movement - like a squat or deadlift. Then follow up with isolation lifts during the rest of the session.
You don’t need to spend more than 45 minutes per session. More than that and you’ll see diminished results since you’ll be running low on energy. Keep your workouts short and sweet at a maximum of 45 minutes.
Nutrition
Build a nutritional plan around the three macro nutrients your body needs - proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Keep the majority of your meals high in protein and fats with minimal carbs. And most of those carbs should be coming from fresh vegetables.
Proteins - Lean cuts of meat, poultry, and fish are ideal sources of protein. You can also boost your intake with whey protein shakes.
Fats - Focus on getting omega-3 fish oils in your diet along with nuts, coconut oil, and olive oil.
Carbohydrates - Choose clean, healthy sources of carbs such as fresh vegetables, sweet potatoes, rice, and oatmeal. Always opt for whole grains.
Balancing these macro nutrients is essential to good health. Imbalances can lead to excessive weight gain - bad news if you’re trying to stay healthy and get strong. Use these general rule when crafting your daily meal plan:
Don’t go on an overly restrictive diet if you’re going to be lifting regularly. You need all the energy you can get - just make sure it’s in balanced levels of macro nutrients. In general, aim to consume about 200 calories daily in excess of what your body would need to maintain your current weight.
Making a Routine
For the best results, apply these tips and create your own daily fitness and nutrition routine. Remember, don’t make some outrageous plan for hitting the gym everyday and totally revamping your diet if you know it will be impossible to stick to.
Just like your skincare for men routine yields the best results with time, your fitness routine will gradually help you make improvements in your health and appearance. After you make it part of your regular routine, you’ll wonder how you ever managed before.
