Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

There have been many areas in my life in which I’ve been pretty reckless, yet I’ve often been meticulous in planning my training routines. Savings and a broad, diverse assets portfolio would have been more useful, but they do little to improve your bench press.
I’d always pick a goal or target of some kind 3 to 6 months ahead, then work back to the beginning. No matter whether it was to add weight to a best lift, or to add over an inch to my arms, I’d always plan ahead. Since October I’ve been more than just a little bit over-excited about my training, I haven’t given an organised plan much thought. I knew I just had to bench, had to squat and had to do chin-ups. One thing I have done throughout though, is to instinctively start with a weight that I knew was well within my capabilities. I know I will be using a much heavier weight in 6-8 weeks time, or as of late, to be lifting a weight for much higher reps.
I’ll be starting a new cycle on Monday and will spend the next few days working out what I’ll be doing for the next 6-8 weeks. I normally plan a longer cycle but will be joining a new gym at the end of March, I will also be doing the odd workout at home again. I’ll be using the next couple of months to readjust my body to cope with the big lifts, which will be done anything up to 3 times a week, or a variation thereof.

There are ample opportunities to burn out if you progress things too rapidly. The very fact that I’ll be adding a few more plyometric exercises will provide more than enough to keep me stimulated, even during the comparatively easy weeks.

I also need to plan my meals more thoroughly, today’s lunch served as a useful reminder that I need to be more organised. Ever since my wife and I have lived together we’ve planned our meals for a week, not for fitness purposes but simply to save money. This is now becoming increasingly essential given the runaway food inflation.
Today was a rare oversight, all there was to eat was a tub of houmous and a couple of carrots. I’m now anxiously waiting for tonight’s dinner which I know from our menu planner is going to be sausages. The worst that was ever really going to happen to me today, was that I’d feel a little hungry this afternoon; very in fact. But were I under doctor’s orders to lose weight, the sight of a barren fridge could see me reaching for the simplex carbs to satiate my hunger. In my case it would have been a Chinese takeaway, or a trip to the chippy.
Friends who were elite athletes would always carry food around with them, they’d know that if their calorific intake dropped below a critical level they’d suffer. Others who were dieting for a bodybuilding show had fridges full of cooked turkey breasts ready for that particular day’s meals.
If you are having to deviate off course from your diet several times a week, you’re going to struggle to accomplish any goals you’ve set for yourself. An ideal first step in weight loss, or weight gain for that matter, is to make a meal plan and stick with it. Weighing-out individual servings to more accurately count calories is the next progression, so too is the addition of supplements. In many cases, this may not even be necessary. Meal planning may just be all you need to overcome a sticking point. Just make sure that you at least remember to buy everything on your shopping list.