A Better Physique and Better Health in 365 Days

A better physique and better health in 365 days? Heck yeah! In fact, you’ll notice results far sooner than that.

From the moment you start to exercise, your body begins a complex journey of breaking down, repairing and rebuilding. It’s not immediately noticeable. And sometimes the change feels a long time coming. But it’s happening. And if you continue to train consistently you’ll not only build a stronger, more resilient body, but a better looking physique, too.

The Process of Building a Better Physique and Health

First let’s be honest: your mom did a lot of the hard work. She built your body out of (next to) nothing. Cheers to moms. Dad jokes aside, the process of building a body and a better physique starts with your very first workout.

Day 1:

You probably feel breathless. Exhausted. Maybe a little out of place. Clumsier than you thought you might be. That’s because while body composition change is the goal you went in with, your brain, lungs, heart and hormones have some work to do as well.

First, if you haven’t worked out in a while your muscles have lost some strength and mass. Muscle is metabolically expensive material and your body is always looking for ways to spend less energy. This is natural and don’t worry, we’ll build it back! But this muscle loss is part of the reason the 1st workout feels so hard.

That difficulty also comes from the fact that workouts challenge your heart and lungs too. These are muscles and just like all muscles, they don’t work any harder than they’re forced to. So if it’s been a while since you’ve pumped up your heart rate, you’re going to feel it.

On top of that, exercise stimulates your central nervous system. Your brain is working hard to coordinate new movement and nerve patterns. Long-term this is great news for your mental health, focus, performance and learning capabilities. On Day 1, this is tiring news for your life.

Week 1:

After about a week, feelings of soreness and fatigue should dissipate and you’ll notice that you actually have more energy and you’re feeling more excited about working out. See, all of this stimulation has a mood-and-energy boosting affect on your hormones at a cellular level. Meaning this isn’t a fleeting response…this is the start of long-term goodness.

At this point, you’ve not had enough time to really build muscle to the point that you can see it. But, there is more blood flow to your muscles (due to increased use and the repair process), so you might happily see a little muscle pump in the mirror.

Ready to start your own fitness journey? Let’s connect! Pick a time that works for you and we’ll get down to business.

Month 1:

With a month of regular exercise under your belt you’ll likely notice improvements to your strength and fitness. 30 days isn’t a lot of time, but you’ll feel less fatigued during your workouts, you’ll be able to do a few more reps or lift a heavier weight, move a little bit faster or longer, and recovery more quickly.

Lifting Weights and ‘Newbie Gains”

Newbie Gains are a term used to describe the often rapid increase in strength and muscle mass that many newcomers to the lifting world experience in the first few months. There’s a couple of reasons this happens:

• Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) – aka the physiological process of producing muscle. There’s a spike in MPS for a lot of people at the start of their lifting journey. (This is the same response your body will always have post-workout, but as your body gets used to the stimulus of working out, the effects aren’t as dramatic).
  
• Hormonal response – new stimulus, new response. Hormones such as testosterone, human growth hormone and DHEA play a big role in your body’s ability to build and maintain lean muscle mass. Lifting promotes your body’s hormonal response and is particularly sensitive in the beginning months of lifting.

Year 1:

After a solid year of training, the pace at which your body changes will slow down but you’ll have accumulated a massive amount of positive change.

You’ll be stronger…able to lift more weight, for more reps. You’ll also have more endurance, both cardiovascular and muscular. You’ll likely be quicker, more agile, more flexible and have better posture even if those weren’t specific goals of yours.

There will also likely be a noticeable difference when you pull on your jeans and look in the mirror. Lifting weights regularly is the best way to build muscle and reduce body fat – the perfect 1-2 combo for a better physique.

You might notice that daily life has become easier. You’re taking the stairs without getting winded. Playing with kids or pets and actually enjoying it without getting tired. Maybe you’re able to sign up for that 5k, or go on that hike, or twist, turn and lift without worrying about the repercussions.

Most likely you’ll feel the impact on your mental health and happiness, too. Regular exercise has shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. You might feel sharper at work, or better able to focus on tasks at hand.

And you might not notice this yet, but for sure your training program has had other positive consequences: increased bone density, stronger lungs, a stronger heart, better hormonal balance, a reduced risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.

Absolute wins!