Fit Mag: “Consistency: key to getting into shape”

The top ten ways that people sabotage their fitness goals.

To have the best chance of getting a great body shape for yourself, you must practise consistency with training and consistency with eating a clean, balanced diet. Most people only manage a few days before they fall off the wagon, either missing that scheduled training session or they falter on food. Check out these 10 things that could be hindering you from getting into the shape that you want to be.

1. You kid yourself that you are eating a clean, balanced diet but you allow the cheats to kick in here.
2. You have been brainwashed by yo-yo diets and don’t feed yourself enough when you are training and become ravenous. If you want a toned, lean body you need to eat and train to support muscle growth, a vital part of getting in good shape.
3. You miss training sessions and think it doesn’t matter.
4. You have no idea of the carb or fat content you are consuming, thus having way too much at each meal and leaving your body storing the extra as body fat.
5. You don’t stick to the plan. You spend time researching and reading, thinking this will be the diet that will eventually work for you but you don’t get past day three.
6. You spend too long in the gym dossing and chatting when you could get the same strength training workout done in half the time with some bonus High Intensity Interval Training on the treadmill afterwards.
7. You treat yourself to goodies after a hard workout, consuming more calories than you have burned off. Remember the golden rule – you cannot out-train a bad diet!
8. You still think that low fat is the way to go and indulge in low-fat treats. Sticking to lean meats, vegetables, controlled amounts of healthy fats and fruit will work best.
9. You hop on the scales every morning. If you are training, hop on the scales a maximum of once a week, on the same day at the same time, so you are getting an accurate reading. Look to lose no more that 2lbs a week for sustainable weight loss and don’t get caught up on the scales. You may find not much weight coming down but if you are fitting into your clothes better, you’re winning. Hard work always pays off in the end.
10. You put too much pressure on yourself to give up everything and train seven days a week, which ends up quickly becoming unsustainable. You should cut out the bad things slowly and devise a training plan that you can stick to and that is achievable.
    15 minute fat burner

Jumping squat

This is one of my favourite exercises for legs, bringing in some plyometric movement with the jump. It’s a great way of surprising the muscles. Remember, the land from the jump should be light and not heavy and you don’t have to jump too high either.

1. tart with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your arms bent by your sides.
2. Bend at the hips and knees into a semi-squat position, leaning your torso slightly forward, then simply push off your feet, jump straight up in the air and land in a semi squat position.

Spiderman push-up

1. Start in the top position of a push-up with your arms straight.
2. Then bend your elbows and lower your body towards the floor while at the same time bending one knee and bringing it to your elbow, with your foot off the floor.
3. Push back up to the top position and repeat with opposite leg.

For the more advanced, try the crawling version of this.

Start with your fight knee at your elbow, immediately extend your right hand out to crawl then bring your left knee towards the left elbow and repeat the move.

Front bridge to T

1. Start by supporting your body off the floor in the top of a push-up, resting on your toes and hands with your arms straight, then simply raise one hand upwards towards the ceiling, rotating your body at the same time.
2. Look up at your hand and hold that position briefly, then lower yourself back to the floor and repeat the same movement on the opposite side.

Floor dips

1. Start by sitting on the floor, with your hands behind you, fingers pointing toward your feet and feet flat on the floor. Lift your hips off the ground so your weight is on your hands and on your feet.
2. Dip down towards the ground, bending at the elbows and return to start straight arm position. Your glutes should not touch the ground throughout this exercise.