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[theweeklyryz-blog]

For the New Years “resolutioners”

First of all happy new year to everyone, I hope everyone is taking a step towards their goals. This is a brief message to everyone who’s deciding to be healthy or starting working out as part of their New Year’s resolution.

You’ve taken the first step

This is for the people who are entering the gym for the first time, all I have to say to you guys is congratulations, you’ve taken the first step, you’ve decided to change your life, you’ve decided you want to be active, now wake up everyday and make the same choice, don’t waiver, you won’t regret it, I may not know you but welcome, you’ll do great things, things you’ll be proud of if you stick to your goal.

Don’t quit

It’s very easy to quit, when you start doing the work in the gym it’ll be very uncomfortable and every fibre of your being will tell you to stop, don’t, if you can train your mind to not listen to that feeling, if you can stick to it until you see results, you’ll become addicted to the product of your hard work, so you’ll keep working, don’t stop, no one is saying it’s going to be easy but it’s going to be worth it.

And that’s it, brief and simple for the start of 2020, I want you to remember 2 things if you forget everything else on this post just remember these 2 important phrases ... 1) pain is temporary, quitting is forever and 2) a quote that has stuck to me from the day it came out of my friend’s mouth (Hi Graeme 💪🏽) “ The gym doesn’t give you what you want it gives you what you deserve”.

So take your steps, no matter how little as long as you’re heading for your goals, make 2020 your year.

Since everybody loves baby yoda, I will leave you with my favourite scene from ‘The mandalorian’ 😂

Ps. It’s all jokes 😂✨

[theweeklyryz-blog]

It’s okay to eat that food on Christmas

It’s holiday season and I know that we’re getting closer and closer to the days where we’ll consistently be stuffing our faces - well I know that I’ll be stuffing my face on Christmas Day, today I’m typing this short post to tell you that it’s okay... it’s okay to take that well deserved break and it’s okay to enjoy Christmas with your family and give you stomach a well deserved workout lol and here’s why:

You deserve the mental break

For those you are focused on their diets and training programs, it can sometimes be taxing and mentally draining, especially during the times where it seems like you’re not reaching your set goals, during these times a mental break can be good for you, so use this festive season as an opportunity to give your mind a well deserved break, reset, and you’ll see how much good it’ll do for you when you get back into the swing of things.

It won’t kill you to eat the food that’s out on the table

Most of the time people are scared of - or refrain from, eating all the delicious food the family cooks over Christmas, well I’m here to tell you that I’ve never seen someone derail their long-term, consistent work in the gym in one day. For those who are still scared and are iffy about the number of calories they eat per day, plan ahead:

- calculate the number of weekly calories you’re supposed to eat

- make Christmas Day the day you eat the most calories,

- distribute the rest for the other days

and stuff your face!

You can lose the weight you gained, you can get your body back to where it was, but you can never get back the time you lost missing out on moments with your family.

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all enjoy it. 🌲

[theweeklyryz-blog]

The most uncommonly common gym misconceptions

I know you’re probably thinking.. “here comes another blog telling us the same thing every other health and fitness blog talks about” or maybe you aren’t, and I’m wrong - I’m not really a mind reader am I? (Well not that I’m aware of), anyways, we’re going off topic, What if I told you that there are misconceptions about the gym that happen almost everyday that no one is really actually talking about? (Or maybe misconceptions that only a few are aware of).

I bet you’re all thinking “well this guy is about to feed me the biggest load of nonsense the gym has to offer” ( wow! I sure do talk a lot about what people are thinking for someone who knows nothing about what people are thinking lol), the fact that you’ve read this far means you have some sort of interest in what the blog post has to offer, so buckle up (or get extremely comfortable in your chair, couch or bed) and let’s get to what you’ve all been waiting for.

The gym world is full of the “gym bros” - as everyone likes to call them, the poor guys suffering from ILS (Invisible Lat Syndrome) and many other fascinating characters. Those looking into our world from the outside, those who are hesitant as well as those who just started their journey with us “gym folk” have some preconceived notions (assumptions) about what happens in the gym, so we’re going address those in this post starting with..

You can cheat as long as you don’t get caught

The funny thing about the gym is that it always finds a way to catch the cheaters - rep shavers, diet cheaters etc.

“Getting caught” in the gym (or the life of fitness) doesn’t always mean getting caught in the traditional sense, if you cheat your diet you won’t get the results you want, if you don’t follow the strength program your coach gives you or skip days or shave reps you won’t get as strong as you should be at the end of that program - your coach catches you at the end and you extend the time it takes to reach your goals.

Even in Crossfit, if you shave reps in the WODs during the year when it comes to annual competitions like the Open or any other friendly contest in your box you won’t do as well as you thought (or as well as those who worked hard to meet the tough standard).

The fact of the matter is, while you cheat there’s a high chance no one will see it but when it comes time for the results of the work, the gym and fitness has their own ways of showing whether you cheated or not

You don’t need to work hard to get results

Um.. yeah I wasn’t really sure if I should have addressed this topic without anyone “work smarter not harder” ambassadors shoving that phrase down my throat but YOLO right? Just read my nonsense and decide whether I’m right or wrong after.

Nowadays, if you search the internet about hard work in the gym you’ll get a lot of articles and blogs addressing the “work smarter, not harder” phrase, there is some truth to this phrase though, the misconception is how people see (perceive) it.

I see it as being smarter with the choices you make in the gym not eliminating the hard work factor needed to get result - before you exit the post 🙄 look at this horrible example of a back workout:

Lat pull down 3 x 8

Cable row 3 x 8

Hammer strength pull down 3 x 12

Hammer strength row 3 x 12

Straight-arm pulldown 3 x 12- 15

Dumbbell row 3 x 10

all of the above are mostly accessory movements that mostly work the same muscles, it’s a lot of unnecessary work, this is where the ‘work smarter’ phrase should shine, instead of spending 2 hours on unnecessary work pick compound movements that work all of those muscles groups then some accessory work to improve the growth of lacking muscle groups, an example:

Deadlift 5x5

Dumbbell row 4x8

Lat pulldown 3 x 12

Cable row 3 x 10

This kind of workout would take a lot less time but you’d still hit all the muscle groups you’d need to hit but you’d still need to WORK HARD to improve these movements and get the results you’d want, for me, I believe in Working harder and smarter, they go hand in hand.

Gym memberships guarantee results

No. Just... no, I don’t know how many people I’ve seen walk into the gym I work at, point at the fittest looking guy and tell us the want to look like him and a ridiculous time frame.

You could work out once a week and eat like you work out 5 times a week and look worse off than you did before you started - yes, yes you could look like a thick loaf of bread if you don’t train right or eat accordingly. If a membership was enough to get results, if it were that easy, everyone would join the gym.

My friend once said to me, “the gym doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you deserve” and this statement will always stand, no matter what excuse anyone comes up with, you will be rewarded accordingly for the work you put into the gym.

For those of you who have struggled this far lol, thank you 🙏🏽 , this is my first blog post and hope it was atleast semi-decent. I will be posting weekly - well I will try my best, don’t hold me to it lol.

Ps. This is my opinion, our opinions can differ and that’s okay, my opinions aren’t facts they’re just thoughts I wanted to share.

Follow me on Instagram if you want to DM me or take part in polls for what my next post should be about

@sean_maduna or @ryzsouthafrica

Until next week ✌🏽