20 Helpful Tips To Ensure Success

1. Take beginning photos; a lot of times you don’t notice the gradual changes taking place, but when you look at photos of when you started you’ll be blown away.

2. Take measurements; your weight isn’t always the most important indicator of your actual transformation. Losing fat and retaining muscle is the key to getting ripped. Losing fat around your high fat areas (Ex: waist) is a better indicator.

3. Weigh yourself every two weeks; resist your urge to weigh daily, or ever weekly. A small weight loss doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made. Your body will go through several changes that can affect the weight on the scale.

4. Keep a workout journey to document your progress; Always right down the weight and reps you use each workout. Your goal from week to week is progress. Try to improve on something each week.

5. Drink at least 100 ounces of water daily; this is crucial and will help facilitate nutrient assimilation throughout your body, so please don’t neglect it.

6. Don’t skip meals; if you go too long without eating you will get “hangry” and start craving everything bad and unhealthy.

7. Don’t skip workouts; missing a workout here or there can lead to a snowball effect. Once you miss one it’s a lot easier to make excuses for missing others. Consistency is the magic solution
to getting ripped.

8. Get 7-10 hours of sleep each night; this is extremely important for optimizing your hormone levels.

9. Turn off electronics 1 hour before bed each night; electronic devises (phones, computers, tablets and televisions) can restrain the production of melatonin, keep your brain alert and wake you up. This has a direct affect on getting the recommended 7-10 hours of sleep each night.

10. Speak and think positive thoughts daily; your mind is a powerful tool. Tell yourself you can’t do something; well, you won’t be able to do it. Your mind believes what you tell it to believe. Believe you can achieve anything and you can. Continue to believe that you are about to get ripped, and you will!

11. Don’t keep unhealthy foods at home; we’re all human and we all struggle with this. If you keep temptations at home you’ll eventually give in. I understand some of you have kids (I have
3 so kids aren’t an excuse I’ll accept) and you can’t get rid of all temptations. You have to want this bad enough to resist the temptation and set a good example for your kids. Put it out there and tell them you aren’t going to eat something that will prevent you from achieving your goal, and show them you are in control. If you tell them you aren’t going to do something, but you do it any way, you are setting a bad example. You’re stronger than that!

12. Surround yourself with positive people; unfortunately, most people don’t want you to be better than them. If they don’t have it, they don’t want you to have it either. People will tell you, you’re too old to do that, or you spend too much time doing this, or you need to face the fact that you just don’t have the genetics to look the way you want to look. Bullshit! Prove them wrong! Don’t give them the satisfaction of proving them right. Separate yourself from the negativity and stay positive. If you can’t stay positive around them then don’t spend much time around them.

13. Don’t let negative people influence your goals; this goes with number 12 but I want to reiterate the importance of a positive mindset. It’s easy to listen to the negativity and start letting self doubt creep in, but be stronger than that! You are so much more capable than you realize, you just have to believe in yourself.

14. Stay humble; when you start getting leaner and more muscular you’ll start to get a lot of comments and people will want to know what you are doing. You will eventually become the guy people start asking for advice. Don’t become an ass and blow them off. Respect the questions and realize that was you not too long ago.

15. Always remember why you started; when you’re going through this journey you might have some setbacks or days you just decide you don’t want to do this anymore. First of all, this is normal. The mental aspect will be one of the harder aspects of this process. These are the times you need to look back on your goals and think about all the amazing benefits you are going to enjoy at the finish line. Again, don’t give other people the satisfaction of seeing you quite! You don’t want the, “I told you so’s”! Just keep pushing and continue the journey and you’ll accomplish something that no one can ever take away from you. (And you’ll also be a badass!)

16. Be patient and trust the process; it’s easy to get discouraged when you have weeks of not seeing change. Change is happening even when you can’t see it. There are so many processes going on in your body that you just have to give it time and realize things are happening and you are making internal transformations.

17. Don’t let self doubt derail you; don’t give in to the trying times. We all get faced with trials and tribulations and this is when you need to man up and realize you are not weak! Challenge yourself to persevere and push ahead and you will learn a lot about how strong you truly are.

18. Don’t compare yourself to others; we are not all created equal. Who cares! Not everyone is born to be a fitness model… not everyone is six foot three with broad shoulders and muscular limbs. The good news is, you can get ripped so be happy about that. A lot of fitness guys aren’t even ripped year round, nor do they look the way they look on magazine covers in person. Focus on you and making you your best possible version. You’ll be amazed at how awesome you will look.

19. Never grocery shop hungry; make sure you shop for your groceries after you’ve had a meal…otherwise you’ll want to consume everything in sight. Make a list of what you need to
prep your meals and don’t get anything that isn’t on the list.
20. Take time each day to give thanks for all you’ve been given! This to me is the most important. Regardless of who, or what you believe in…be thankful. As I mentioned, I’m a Christ follower and I love the Lord with all my heart. I pray every day for all I’ve been Blessed with and give thanks for all I have received.