I had a couple of the usual emails today asking for advice. These two centred on the issue of quick results. This is one subject that probably annoys me more than any other in the area of body transformations. I would say this photo sums up my answer –

London-Personal-Trainer-Fast-Results-Fallacy

Here is how the conversation went –

Person : “Ben, I need some help. I need to lose weight really fast and tone my legs. I am going on holiday in 3 weeks

Me – “Any fat loss issue is exercise x nutrition x consistency…..this will do it…”

Person – “ok, but is there anything else I can do to speed up the process, for faster results?”

Me – “All fat loss happens in some form because of nutrition x exercise x consistency. There is no way around this”

Person – “ok, but what about for fast results?”

Me – “Fast results???….who cares about that??…the reality is 95-99% never achieve their goals..I would worry more about achieving your goal per se over any random/self set time scale. But yes,there is a a quicker resolution – be better at nutrition…better at exercise and be more consistent!!”

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I am sure I could have worded it more easily but I knew this person had already lost a good amount of fat from doing exactly what was needed (nutrition x exercise x consistency). I could have even jumped on the bandwagon and played along, I could have said  – “have a carrot a day because…..”, “do 15 of these exercises per day because”, “cut out ___ because”………

But i ain’t gonna sell the lie. The lie is that anyone who focuses on quick results gets real results.

I think the beast that is CT Fletcher can put it more bluntly than me (Warning – He Swears within the first 10 seconds)

As he says “Don’t look for the easy way out….earn it!”

You may not want to hear this but the truth is the truth. Amazing results do not come fast. A random time allocation of getting in shape by June 20th means nothing. IF you achieve your goals you have beaten the odds and should be beyond proud of your achievement.

Whether it takes you 3, 6 or 1 2 months longer than your randomly set goal date is irrelevant.

I know what you may be thinking – But what about specific goals, a certain achievements by a certain date – “1 stone by July 1st”

I say how about commitment to your goals, I’d prefer you use this mantra –

“I will get to my goals and not stop until I do, however long or hard this journey,may become”

Then if you want to get faster results you simply become more accurate in nutrition, do more accurate exercise sessions and raise the consistency level higher and higher. You may say but this is human nature to want the fast result. It may be, but it is ineffective, it is self defeating.

The irony is fast results are possible, but the process is not dramatic, it isn’t crazy and it isn’t different to what you have done already to produce results. If you are just starting out and have no process to fall back on which works then your goal is discovering this. Once known it is simply about putting in the work, not looking for cheap easy solutions.

Tuesday

After the previous fat stripping days I returned to muscle building nutrition nailing my goal nutrition numbers fairly accurately. Exercise wise I nailed the chest, half in the gym and half in the sun as it was such a lovely day.

Diet – Protein – 193g, Carbs – 383g, fat – 100g, calories – 3204   , % P:  24  C : 48%  F: 28%

Exercise – Weights – Chest

Weight – 73.7 kg                   Body fat – Didn’t take – Last measure 42.5mm*

Supplements – None

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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 7.5%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase i take it daily.

** All reference to people, their goals, their jobs and even when i met them are completely distorted from the actual person/event I am talking about…this keeps their privacy but they are based on real people with real stories.

Hyde Park – For Personal Training Hyde Park please  contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or for Hyde Park Personal Training