By preparing yourself mentally as well as physically, you will give yourself an advantage when it comes to smashing your goals! There is

Here are some tips that will help you get set up for a workout.

#1 Set goals

Goal setting is crucial to motivation. If you have a goal set in your sights, you will also find it easy to stay accountable and stick to your nutrition.

✓ Consider getting a journal that you can record your sessions and progress in.

✓ Every few weeks evaluate your goals; when you reach your current short term goals, create new ones so that you can continue to work towards your long term goals.

#2 Have a plan

It’s important to have a plan in place that you can follow so that you get the most out of your time training. By not having a plan it will be very difficult to both track your progress and also adapt your training to it.

Mentally Motivate Yourself To Exercise

It is also difficult to make changes when necessary if you have not got a record of what you had been doing.

✓ If you follow a plan that you have prepared ahead, it is much easier to stay on track and motivated as you know what you need to do, even if you don’t feel like doing it!

#3 “Book in” workout time

By making your session’s part of your daily routine, you won’t have to mentally battle with yourself half as much to make your training sessions.

✓ It doesn’t take long to create a habit, and once it’s created you will find yourself much more motivated to train.

✓ Think of your gym session as you would a work meeting and make it your business to be there.

#4 Visualize the results you want to achieve

Visualization is a powerful tool, and while you may feel silly initially at the idea of it, visualization yourself reaching your goals is one of the strongest ways to motivate yourself mentally that is possible.

Mentally Motivate Yourself To Exercise

✓ Imagine yourself winning that trophy or fitting into that bikini you always wanted to wear and think about how good it will feel when you reach your goals. Suddenly, that gym session won’t seem like such a hardship after all!

#5 Focus on the benefits you will gain

There are way too many benefits to exercise to list them all here, but by thinking into just how much you have to gain from your training session, you will be even more inclined to put in that extra bit of effort even if you are not in the mood.

✓ Remember your goals and why you are exercising, but also think into the additional benefits it has to offer such as staying healthy and giving you more energy to complete your everyday tasks!

#6 Be aware of the negatives of not working out

Just like there are many positives to working out, there are many negatives to not exercising. By using negative reinforcement, you can really strengthen your motivation for training.

Mentally Motivate Yourself To Exercise

By mentally reinforcing the negative aspects of skipping the gym – for example, a lack of self-esteem or energy slumps – this you may want to train even harder to avoid these outcomes as you will be reminded that exercise is the best health insurance money can’t buy.

#7 Reward your consistency and dedication

Living a fit lifestyle comes with its own set of challenges. You will not always feel like going training, and there will be times where you have to make a change to your schedule to fit a session in.

This may involve getting up earlier in the mornings or training at a time that does not suit you.

✓ By being consistent with your training and nutrition you should recognize this as an achievement and something to be proud of!

Take Home Message

Staying motivated is key to your success at the gym. By preparing yourself mentally before training you will be in the right frame of mind to focus on your workout and get the most out of your time training.

Nothing worth achieving ever comes easy, it takes a lot of the hard work, sweat, blood and tears and starts in your head, not just your body! LOL!

So stand strong and remember “Greatness is within us all.” SO GET UP, GO OUT AND GET YOURS!

Your friend and Coach,

Crystal a.k.a Barbell Barbie. NY

References:

http://www.fitnessjunky.com.au/blog/winter-workout-motivation-stay-fit-all-year-round/

http://www.stack.com/a/workout-motivation-tips-for-more-productive-training-sessions-in-the-new-year

The post 7 WAYS TO STAY MOTIVATED YEAR ROUND appeared first on .

No matter how driven you are, if you stay in this game long enough, you’ll eventually run into a period where you just aren’t as motivated to go to war with the iron as you used to be. It could be many factors that contribute to this such as illness of cancer, heartache of a breakup, bills, worry of life, school, work, family.This can be the result of outside influences. Perhaps your social circle. Ok, well you get the point!!!

Sometimes the reasons are internal. You’re frustrated with your lack of progress and seem to be getting injured constantly. Or maybe training is just starting to seem a little too much like work.

I’m sure when you first hit the weights your enthusiasm and desire were strong. I was no different. As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be big and strong. I remember as a child seeing some hot looking model on a Muscle and Fitness Hers Magazine and immediately thinking, “That’s how I want to look!”

By the time I was 16 years old I was training regularly with makeshift weights and doing anything that I thought would help me achieve my goals. I trained hard all year round throughout adolescence and high school, regardless of the sport I was playing.

While in the ROTC I’d even train while we were in the field by doing chin-ups from tree branches or push-ups with a loaded pack on my back, and invented many other ways to keep training under less than optimal conditions.

Even when I was going to School, working countless hours and raising a family at the same time, my motivation to train and compete never wavered. Beyond the issues of family life, beyond the pain of living in the ghetto, I was free when I trained.

Despite being as driven as I was, I eventually reached a place where the hunger suddenly wasn’t there. My goals didn’t seem as vital as they’d once been. Surprisingly, it happened at the least logical time.

It was just over four years ago when I experienced my first real lack of motivation and what I later realized was essentially psychological burnout. Oddly enough, I was coming off some great finishes and things couldn’t have looked better for me.

Yet in spite of all these factors, for the first time in my life I suddenly lost that deep desire to go to war with the iron. Fortunately, I was able to rekindle my desire. Here are the key strategies I used to keep the fires of motivation burning within me.

Focus On Your Goals
maintain-motivation
My goals have always driven me. On days I come home from work feeling exhausted and stressed, instead of crawling into bed I think about my goals and how rewarding it will be to achieve them. I know that if I continue to work hard that it’s only a matter of time before they’re realized. You were not born to mediocre. You have greatness inside of you and its your right to show it to the world.

I thrive on winning, and there’s no bigger high for me than celebrating a victory at a big competition or achieving a goal that’s been a long time coming. I live for those moments, and I know the only way they’re going to happen is if I work harder than everyone else trying to beat me. You have one life, one chance, one body. Make it Count!

Remember Your Critics

Next to my goals, my critics motivate me more than anything. There are few things in life as rewarding as proving a naysayer wrong. I’ve been told all my life that I’d fail. I have always been told your a mistake, Your too short, your too tall. Your too skinny, your too fat. Your too much of this and not enough of that. Early on, many important people in my life, like my coaches, teachers, and my peers would dismiss my aspirations; even my own friends and family members have mocked me at times.

Sometimes I’d hear about it through others or overhear someone else’s conversation, but often it was said to my face, as if my dreams were ridiculous and completely impossible. As painful as this was, it stirred a resolve deep within me.

I developed the mentality that if someone told me that I couldn’t do something, I was immediately determined to prove them wrong. Even now while I’m training, in between sets I’ll think about those that have said that I’d never achieve anything and then visualize doing exactly what they said couldn’t be done.

Surround Yourself with Like-minded People

Good training partners are invaluable. I’ve been fortunate enough to train and with some of the strongest girls around and many of these individuals have become my closest friends. We’ve pushed each other further than we thought possible – at times maybe even a bit too far – but there’s no doubt that training with a group of guys or girls like this can increase your odds of success ten-fold.

No matter how bad of a day you may be having, with the right group of girls or guys it’s nearly impossible to not give 100% every time you set foot in the gym.

We’d feed off each other’s energy and competitiveness, which often led to challenges within the group. Usually it was only for pride or bragging rights, but sometimes money would be thrown down on the gym floor to try to get each other to push even harder, especially when one of us might not have been having our best day.

The key was having guys within the group that not only wanted to succeed themselves, but also wanted the others to succeed just as bad or even more. While none of us ever wanted to lose a challenge, there was never any jealousy or back stabbing. We all supported one another 100% and were elated over each other’s success.

If a new guy came into the group and exhibited selfishness or looked for his own success at the expense of another’s, he was quickly given the boot, and over the years that happened more than once.

Unfortunately, our lives have lead us to different places and today we’re spread all over the country, but we all stay in touch and continue to support and motivate each other.

When All Else Fails – Take a Break
Motivated
No matter how bad-ass or hardcore you might think you are, the possibility of burnout still exists. I learned this the hard way. While many top competitive lifters would schedule breaks after big meets, I was always the type of guy that was back in the gym a day or two after a competition, no matter how beat up I felt. I saw any amount of time off as a wasted opportunity for progress.

Yet despite that level of drive, I reached a point after more than two and a half decades of training and over ten years of frequent competitions where I suddenly experienced a lack of motivation. While there were a number of factors in play, I realize that my penchant for pushing myself at a relentless pace led to an inevitable psychological burnout.

I was in the middle of preparing for a big meet when this feeling of apathy began to creep up within me. It started slowly but grew steadily, and soon my training was uninspired and lacked the usual intensity.

Shockingly, my training cycle was still going well, so I decided to compete as planned, but with the lack of desire and focus, I was called high on all three squat attempts and I bombed out of the meet.

The worst part about failing to get a single lift was that afterward it didn’t even bother me. Instead of feeling immense disappointment and immediately resolving to do better, I experienced a sense of relief as if a great burden had been lifted from me.

Never having experienced this before, I saw it as a clear indication that it was time to walk away from the sport I’d been passionate about for so long. While my decision was rash and probably extreme given the situation, it seemed perfectly logical to me at the time.

I soon realized that all I really needed was a break. Along with my recent success had come an increased level of expectations and pressure. Without having allowed myself any type of break, it was only a matter of time before I started to feel overwhelmed and my desire faded. As simple as it sounds, it was a revelation for me.

However, it only took three weeks of not setting foot in a gym or picking up a weight. I woke up one morning and my desire for lifting had returned and in spades. I couldn’t wait to chalk up my hands and get back under a heavy bar. I immediately threw on my training clothes, ran to the gym, loaded up the bar and picked up right where I’d left off less than a month before.

Motivation, Discipline, Commitment, Strong Habits Get you to where you need to be.
The road to success is hard and lonely guys. You have one life, So make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Your friend and Coach,

Crystal aka Barbell Barbie. NY

References:
https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-stay-motivated
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/after-work-gym-motivation
http://www.mensfitness.com/training/5-ways-to-get-motivated

The post How to Stay Motivated appeared first on .

The food you eat provide you the energy necessary to perform your workout properly. But good nutrition plays also a big role in muscle toning and recovery after a workout.

This nutrition plan will contain all the meals necessary to get your dream body or at least move you in the right direction!

Calories Are What Matters The Most In A Nutrition Plan

Whether you want to get toned, lose fat or maintain your weight, nutrition will play a big role during this process! Your nutrition is what fuels your body with food, which is measured in calories.

You caloric consumption will determine what kind of body you will obtain:

Get Toned: Toning your muscles means; building lean muscle mass progressively without getting too much fat. In order to do so, you will have to eat more calories than you burn, often called: caloric surplus. If you increase your calories too quickly, your body will store fat. This why it’s important to do it progressively, so you can track your progress and avoid looking bulky.

Maintain Weight: This is when you burn as many calories as you consume, often called: calorie maintenance. Knowing the caloric intake you need in order to maintain your weight is the starting point. From there, you can determine how you would have to eat in order to tone your body or lose fat. Use this calorie calculator!
Lose Fat: If you want to lose fat, you will have to burn more calories than you consume, often called: caloric deficit. It’s when your body uses fat stores for energy, which leads to weight loss. Be aware, the body can also use muscle tissue; which is bad. This is why you must lose fat progressively, if you’re doing it too quickly you will kill your health and most certainly give up.
Explanations Of Macronutrients Ratio

Macronutrients are nutrients that our body needs in large amount: Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat. It’s important to define the right macronutrient ratio according to your fitness goal; whether you want to tone your body or lose fat.

In short words, this ratio will depend on:

Your Fitness Goal: If you want to burn fat, you won’t have the same macronutrient ratio that someone who wants to tone up.

Your Body Type: Some people tend to gain more weight than other. They should consume less carbohydrates and fats than the ones having a hard time toning up.

Your Gender: Women are generally more efficient at burning fat and would often consume less carbohydrates than men.

Macronutrients Ratio According To Your Fitness Goals

During this women’s nutrition plan we will define a general macronutrient ratio for each fitness goal: toning, burning fat and maintaining weight. Like said earlier, we all have different body types, so it will be your job to slightly change this ratio if your body doesn’t respond to it.
The macronutrient ratios are:

Muscle Toning: Carbohydrate 40% – Protein 40% – Fat 20%
Maintain Weight: Carbohydrate 35% – Protein 35% – Fat 30%
Burn Fat: Carbohydrate 30% – Protein 40% – Fat 30%

There Is Good Fat In This Nutrition Plan

“I want to lose fat, shouldn’t I avoid eating fat?”. This is good question, in fact there is several type of fats. Some are bad and others are required by your body. I recommend you to read this article: good fat versus bad fat.

Eating Healthy Is Not The Key Factor To Good Nutrition

“Eat fruits, vegetables and drink water and everything will be all right”. This is what you read in magazines or on the internet. However, that sentence is not completely true. These days, eating healthy means consuming foods low in fat and high in micronutrients; vitamins and minerals.

Indeed foods with vitamins make you have a better health. However, you can eat all the healthy food of the world, but if you don’t hit your daily macronutrient; you won’t get the results you want. Does it make sense?
In short words; calories are calories. If you want to achieve your fitness goals you will have to first worry about your macronutrients, whether it’s with “healthy food” or not. It’s pure science!

The More Often You Eat, The Better You Will Feel

We all know that person that tried every diet that exists on earth and always give up because it’s too hard. Nowadays, diets are all about food restrictions so you feel guilty if you eat one more rice grain than indicated. But again, what is really important there is your ability to hit your daily macronutrient.
Whether you want to lose some weight or tone your body, we will aim for 3 main meals and 1-2 snacks. However, if you can attain your calories in less meals, feel free to do it.
Why? Because eating every 3-4 hours will allow you to never feel hungry, which will help you to stop craving junk food.

This women’s nutrition plan will be an example, so you can organize it according to your schedule. It’s very important to eat something between your main meals and once again hit your macronutrients!

Daily Calorie Intake For Women

You calorie intake depends on your age, height, gender and how often you exercise weekly. I recommend you to try a calorie calculator. Click on this link and try it for yourself! http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

For a healthy woman with a balanced diet, who is moderately active it’s recommended to eat between 1800 and 2200 calories. We will start with these numbers.

Converting Percentage To Grams
It’s very easy to calcule how many grams you should have for each macronutrient.
First you need to know how many calories contain each macronutrient :

Carbohydrate: 4 Calories per gram
Protein: 4 Calories per gram
Fats: 9 Calories per gram
Then, let’s take 2200 calories as an example and our macronutrient ratio for maintaining weight:

35% Carbohydrate -> 2200 x 0.35 / 4 = 192.5g
35% Protein -> 2200 x 0.35 / 4 = 192.5g
30% Fat -> 2200 x 0.3 / 9 = 73.3g

Cheat Meals And Women’s Nutrition Plan
You can reward yourself with one cheat meal per week, where you won’t count your calories at all; yes you deserve it!

Women’s Nutrition Plan To Maintain Weight
This women’s nutrition plan will be the basis for the other ones, so take notes. Just a few changes will be made in order to hit your macronutrients.
Download the women’s nutrition plan!

Nutrition Facts

Carbohydrate: 35%
Protein: 35%
Fat: 30%
Calories: 2200 calories
Meal 1 – Breakfast (470 calories)

250ml Skimmed Milk (1 glass)
1 Large Banana
20g Oats
32g Peanut Butter (2 Tablespoons)
Snack 1 – Morning (350 calories)

40g Almonds
1 Apple
Meal 2 – Lunch (500 calories)

60g White Basmati Rice
100g Carrots
200g Broccoli
1 Chicken Fillet
Snack 2 – Pre-workout (250 calories)

250ml Skimmed Milk (1 glass)
1 Apple
1 Scoop Whey Protein (25g)
Snack 3 – Post-Workout (250 calories)

0.5 Large Banana
2 Scoops Whey Protein (50g)
Meal 3 – Dinner (380 calories)

200g Green Beans
1 Salmon Fillet Frozen
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Women’s Nutrition Plan To Get Toned
The women’s nutrition plan to get toned will use the same organization as the maintenance one. However, we will make a caloric surplus with a few changes in the meals.
Download the women’s nutrition plan!

Nutrition Facts

Carbohydrate: 40%
Protein: 40%
Fat: 20%
Calories: 2500 calories
What food has been added or removed from the maintenance nutrition plan?

Meal 1 – Breakfast

16g Peanut Butter (1 Tablespoon) instead of 32g
1 Scoop Whey Protein (25g)
Snack 1 – Morning

20g Almonds instead of 40g
250g Greek Yoghurt 0%
Meal 2 – Lunch

200g Carrots instead of 100g
Snack 2 – Pre-workout

375ml Skimmed Milk (1,5 glass) instead of 250ml
Snack 3 – Post-workout

250ml Skimmed Milk (1 glass)
1 Large Banana instead of 0.5
Meal 3 – Dinner

100g Carrots
1,5 Salmon Fillet Frozen instead of 1
Women’s Nutrition Plan To Lose Fat
The women’s nutrition plan for losing fat will use the same structure as the maintenance one. However, we will make a caloric deficit with a few changes in the meals.
Download the women’s nutrition plan!

Nutrition Facts

Carbohydrate: 30%
Protein: 40%
Fat: 30%
Calories: 1950 calories
What food has been added or removed from the maintenance nutrition plan?

Meal 1 – Breakfast

Oats removed instead of 20g
48g Peanut Butter (3 Tablespoons) instead of 32g
1 Apple instead of 1 large banana
Snack 1 – Morning

20 Almonds instead of 40g
1 Apple Removed
1 Scoop Whey Protein (25g)
Meal 2 – Lunch

White Basmatic Rice removed instead of 60g
300g Broccoli instead of 200g
200g Carrots instead of 100g
Meal 3 – Dinner

100g Carrots
0.5 Tablespoon Olive Oil instead of 1
You Can Download Each Women’s Nutrition Plan
Get Toned
Maintain Weight
Lose Fat

In Conclusion

This women’s nutrition plan will help you get toned and lose fat, but remember this should be used as an example of how you structure your meals. We all have different bodies, it’s important to listen to it.

Let’s summarize what we’ve just learned:

Nutrition is key to obtain the body you want!
Change your daily calorie intake according to your fitness goals.
Watch your macro nutrient ratio and listen to your body.
Calories are calories. Care less about whether it is healthy or not and hit your macronutrients.
Indeed, eating healthy is good for your body, but if you’re on a cheap diet you can’t always go healthy.
This women’s nutrition plan is an example, change it to what you can afford.
Take time to prepare your meal plan according to your schedule.

Lift Heavy Stuff, eat balanced meals and have a attitude of gratitude! We are all truly blessed and are able to choose what goes in our body and mind. This is your year my friend! Hold Nothing Back! Never Stop and Never Settle, for Greatness is with us all!

Your friend and coach,

Crystal aka Barbell Barbie. NY

References:

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/weight_loss_diet_plans/diet_meal_plans/7_day_diet_meal_plan_to_lose_weight_1200_calories
http://www.gymaholic.co/articles/nutrition/59/women-nutrition-plan-toning-and-lose-fat

The post Women’s Nutrition Plan To Get Toned And Lose Fat appeared first on .