Get into BEAST Mode

January is all about BEAST Mode – not just the awesome Pre-workout from Beast Sports, but living the B.E.A.S.T. – M.O.D.E. life both in and out of the GYM!  Whether you’re using the new  year to start prepping for a contest, lose weight, or just get a little healthier – applying these principles and using BEAST MODE for your workouts will definitely help you reach your goals. Bring your heart Eating Clean Avoiding Alcohol Sleeping Training Smart Move more weight Own the IRON Dominate cardio Envy no-one! Bring your Heart – If you’ve been working out for any length of time, you know that your HEART has to be in it.  If you just waltz into the gym, don’t put in your max effort and sort of bounce around from exercise to exercise based on what sounds good that day, you’re not doing everything you can to help you succeed!  You’ve got to bring your HEART with you to the gym. Eating Clean – Eating clean is such a HUGE part of reaching your health and fitness goals.  We can’t talk about it enough.  If you only eat crap, you’re results will tend to be crap.  You all know I’m a huge advocate of moderation – so have yourself a cheat day every week, but don’t expect to eat fast food twice a day and look like Arnold – it won’t happen. Avoiding Alcohol – This sort of goes without saying, but the carbs in alcohol are wasted calories.  My best bit of advice here if you’re a social drinker – save it for your cheat day or have the occasional glass of wine at night.  Don’t down a bottle of wine and wonder why your workout the next morning sucked. Sleeping – A HUGE piece of the puzzle here, and you’ve probably heard it your whole life: “Get a good night’s rest”.  Without giving your body the proper time to recover from strenuous workouts, you’re cheating your results and could risk injury.  Your muscles, tendons and joints rely on your nightly sleep to recover, repair and grow! Training Smart – Do yourself a favor and leave your EGO at home.  You’ve got to train smart.  This applies to everything from weight lifting to cardio.  Don’t throw around 110lb dumbbells and if you’re not conditioned for it, don’t run at 12mph on the treadmill.  You’ll be less prone to injury and you’ll get faster results.  Train smarter, not harder! Move more weight – Having just talked about Training smart, you’ve still got to move more weight to get results.  If you do the same thing day in, day out, week in, week out, your body will adapt and results will cease.  Start small, add 5lbs a week to your lifts and see how you feel. Before you know it, you’ll be BIG.STRONG.FIT.HEALTHY Own the Iron – I’m not talking about going into the gym like a Neanderthal, but you’ve got to own the Iron instead of letting it own you.  If you reach “failure” on a set, you haven’t failed – you just owned the IRON.  It might sound silly, but you’ve got to have the attitude that you’re the boss, not the weights. Dominate Cardio – Don’t go half effort with cardio unless you want half results.  You’ve got to push it a bit.  You shouldn’t hop on an elliptical, turn on the TV and barely move.  You need to sweat when you’re getting your cardio on!  The treadmill and stairmill are perfect for interval cardio.  Pick something that gets your heart really moving.  It’ll make you more fit and make your heart stronger (remember it’s a muscle) too! Envy No One – This has to kill so many people’s results.  Don’t envy the person next to you who’s been running for an hour at a 6:00 mile pace.  Don’t be jealous of the guy flat dumbbell benching 120lb dumbbells.  They didn’t get where they are by feeling down about themselves, wishing they were like the person next to them.  Do your thing – don’t worry about what other people are doing!