About me......32 years old. I was 6% in april as you can see in my pictures and 230 lbs. I was 15% just 4 months before that at 260. I have been in shape most of my life ranging from 12% to 8% through winter and summer but have always needed a few simple steps to get back if i have gotten out of the habit.

I have been a personal trainer for almost 10 years and have played sports and lifted most of my life.

Its really tough to get back into the routine or just getting into the routine in general. I started when i was 21 and went strong for 7 or 8 years before going back and fourth, and being a personal trainer, i always thought it would be easy to return to the gym if i had to take a month or so off. Being young and a trainer at the gym all the time i never thought about outside possibilities that could disrupt your training routine because it had never happened to me.

Last year, winter, i had taken many days off, eaten tons of crap and let myself go. I took before pictures of my self and kept a precise log of do's and donts about myself personally just in case i had fallen into this rut again. I had written down small things here and there to keep in point but nothing as detailed as this in terms of how i felt and what to expect personally. If you look at my before and after pictures i have posted, i went from being in the worst shape of my life to literally being in the best shape of my life, muscular and low body fat that is.

So here i sit, after achieving all that, back worse then before. I tore my ACL last april and let myself down/go after that. Now im back to the same situation but already a full week back and thanks to my documents it keeps me informed on what to look forward to, how i should feel, time to recovery and expected weight loss im back to my fitness self again and already down 5 lbs and miss the gym every day instead of putting it off. i wanted to share a few pointers, that i have always told my clients yet forget to do myself, with you guys.

The hardest thing is for those of you that have been going to the gym for years and the newbies that are 100% ready to rock, you feel the need to go all out the first week or 2 and eventually crash. If you let yourself into things slower you will find you dont fail as many times as i have over the years and it creates achievement and happiness instead of failure.

1. Just get back into the gym............. My workout regimen when i was in shape was being at the gym around 90 minutes 5 days a week and sports on the weekend. Well once i got out of this returning to the gym was that i had to commit that same amount of time and effort which in time will be true but for your first couple of weeks IS NOT TRUE. Just GET TO THE GYM. Maybe 6 sets and 5 to 10 mins of cardio. Literally in the gym for 15 to 30 minutes. I know it doesn't seem like much but it creates a want to return to the gym and in time your body will want you to do more reps, sets and cardio. Go often, you should be active EVERYDAY. I go into further detail in other topics i have on workout routines but thats another animal.

2. DIET.........The best way to see results is to take 1 to 2 weeks to adjust your diet and by the 3rd week be back on a strict plan. I was eating takeout and subs 3 to 5 times a week and you can adjust this to any crap your eating. I went to the grocery store and for week 1 i bought some fatty/carby foods with some good ones. This way i let myself down easy so to say. Week 2 was just a few fatty/carby foods then week 3 was completely strict. Very low glycemic carbs, good sources of protein and fat and very large amounts of water. like i said most of you will have the same mindset i did which was.......I can cut my diet no problem and try to do it all at once. With this mindset i failed 4 or 5 months before i tried something different.

3. WATER.......This is the last big/huge thing to curb your appetite and see results very quickly. Remember when your STARVING, not hungry, most of us tend to eat the wrong things. I put a solo cup near the sink in the kitchen to make sure before every meal i have 2 full glasses of water and take 5 to 10 minutes before i eat. If you can drink more water, great, or even allow more time between water and your meal this will help a lot. Water is used in many situations in the body, but what we're concerned about is excess water not just when were thirsty. Water helps curbs appetite, helps the body/skin recover faster, aids in metabolism of fat. There are many other great properties that water does in terms of bodybuilding and appetite suppressing, gulping down around a gallon a day, peeing clear, will keep you full and recovering faster and help keep skin,nails and hair looking better.

There are some other good things i have that i personally written down that apply to me but these 3 are really great starters to those of you veterans (me), and those of you thinking of just getting started into a new program. With your cardio and exercise.......remember im not saying that you should ever ("Take a day off") muscles need to rest thats true but just alternate groups. Exercise in any shape or form should be done every day to create a habit and new mindset/way of life.

bmon1