You Need A Body Transformation Plan

Why You Need A Body Transformation Plan?

At this point, you have set your goals and you now know your why you now need a body transformation plan.

A body transformation plan will have everything you need to successfully change your body. A body transformation plan will usually consist of:

• A mindset plan – creating positive habits, identifying and eliminating unhealthy habits, finding your motivators and creating goals, among others.
• A training plan – with workout routines, days, sets, reps, rest and weights 
• A nutrition plan – a guide, method or what to eat and calories and macros to stick to 
• A progression process – as you get the better the plan needs to adjust and change to stay challenging and keep pushing you in order to achieve results
• A structure that is easy to follow – a good plan will have everything laid out for you in a way that is easy to follow and systematic 

One of the biggest factors stopping the average gym goer achieving results is not having a structured plan, not tracking as they go and not continuously adding progressive overload as they progress.

A good plan will be a blueprint to achieving results. It will have everything laid out for you in a way that is easy to follow and allows you to easily track as you go.

Consider: 
Your goal – the destination,
Your why – the reason you are starting the journey and why you will complete it
Your plan – is the roadmap that will keep you on the right path. 

How Do You Create A Successful Body Transformation Plan?

There are so many elements to a good plan and so many ways in which a bad plan can literally result in a lot of wasted time and money.

If body transformation is something you are serious about achieving (and it should be if you start) then a good plan is worth investing in as it will almost guarantee results and speed up the process exponentially.

I say “almost guarantee” because you could have the best plan in the world but unless you put in the time, the effort and follow it exactly as it is laid out nothing is guaranteed.

Unless you know what you are doing and are extremely experienced I highly recommend enlisting the help of a personal trainer or a coach and getting a successful plan created specifically for you. 

Identifying Weaknesses & Limiting Factors

When getting a plan created you need to be up front and honest about your weaknesses and any limiting factors you have i.e injuries, bad health, mobility, time restraints etc.

This is not about making excuses!

A good plan will be made around your circumstances to make it as easy for you to follow but there is a minimum standard that you need to commit to, to ensure results.

The more information you can give to the person creating your plan the more specific they can make it. Everyone is different and so to should be each plan.

We are not always aware of physical limitations until we start using and pushing our bodies and if you have none that is awesome.
Working with a coach or a trainer will help to highlight any that exist. 
Whenever you identify a limitation that will have an effect on your training and plan work on eliminating that limitation as soon as you can.

A good coach will always conduct an inept consultation before creating your plan.

Trust The Plan!

Just as each client is different and brings new challenges, every coach and trainer is different and has different methods, styles and ideas.

Just as with everything in life you need to do your due diligence and research, and investigate who will be the best and most specific trainer for you. There are a lot of trainers out there some are great, some are not so good and some just won’t be right for you. Take the time to find the right one.

As a beginner to the gym or body transformation there will be elements of the plan that you may not think you can do, it may seem hard/challenging and your mind will even fight it at times but you need to put 100% trust and faith in to the plan and the trainer who created it.

Just as you are starting this journey for a reason, you choose that trainer for a reason and the plan is made for you!
Your trainer has a vision and a route for your body transformation he is always going to be two steps ahead of what you are currently working on so trust in the process and put in the work.

How Long Should A Body Transformation Plan Be?

There are many different types of plans some with set time frames, some with varied, tailor-made plans and set plans. 

Set plans or stand-alone plans are one size fits all plans that have a set time frame which usually range from 6 – 12 weeks. These plans if followed correctly can reap great results. 

These types of programs are cheaper then coaching/tailored programs and on completion, if you still haven’t reached your long-term goal you can then purchase another one. 

Tailored programs are custom built to you, as they are made specifically for you they will adapt and change as you do. These programs usually get results a lot quicker. 

Tailor-made programs are more expensive and usually priced to time frames so again the norm is 6 – 12 week programs. 

To answer the question “how long should a body transformation be?” there is no one answer. The time it takes to transform your body is going to be different from person to person. There are a lot of variables.

A good coach will have a good idea of how long it will take someone to transform on their programs, based on the clients starting point.

I recommend getting a program/plan made to get you to your goal. 

• Create your goal, know your why 
• Find the trainer you want, attend a consultation (online or face to face) 
• Tell your trainer your goal and explain your starting place + stats 
• Your trainer can advise you on a time scale and create a plan to get you to your goal

Track As You Go

As previously mentioned a good plan will be created to make it as easy for you to follow as possible but also enable you to track each element as you go.

Tracking is a must when it comes to nutrition and training and you can consider some of the worksheets offered on this site as mindset tracking.

Workout Tracking 
There are a few variables in a workout that need to be tracked per session

• Weight used
• Reps
• Sets
• Time depending on exercise

By tracking as you go you remain aware of your performance, you can see at a glance your last figures so you know what your bar is for each workout.
“Bar – Raising The Bar methodology meaning your base level or starting level” 

Nutrition Tracking 
Raising The Bar uses and recommends calorie and macro tracking.

The best and quickest way to get your nutrition on point and achieve your goals is by being aware of what you eat and being accountable to yourself and your trainer for what you eat and the only way to do this is to track what you eat 

By not tracking what you eat you are eating blind, you have no idea of how many calories you are eating or how much of that is carbs, protein or fats and this matters. 

To lose weight and burn fat you need to be in a calorie deficit and to gain weight and add muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus how do you know if you are or not and how do you make sure you are by tracking what you consume

The one other method is a set meal plan where all the numbers are worked out and calculated for you. This sounds great but I have tried this method and through experience no longer offer this as a service for the following reasons.

1. You are being told what you can and can’t eat 
2. For it to work you need to follow it as it is laid out which means eating certain amounts at certain times 
3. It gives you no self-accountability over what you eat
4. It dosn’t help you to make changes naturally 
5. Even if you can follow it 100% as soon as the plan has finished 99% of people will go back to their old eating habits because they haven’t made changes gradually, haven’t learnt the mistakes they have been making and still don’t understand about macros and the importance of quantities as its all been done for them.

What Type Of Fitness Plan Should You Follow

Due to the number of plans and trainers out there these days it has never been so easy to find a fitness plan to follow but this can also lead to a lot of confusion as you may be wondering which one is right for you.

I would urge again that you research and investigate the right trainer for you. 

The right trainer will create the best plan for you based on you and what you are looking for. I believe it is more important to find the right trainer and trust that they will create the best plan for you.

But what should you look for when making your decision: 

• They are familiar with the outcome you are looking for – What I mean by this is if your goal is to lose and burn fat then a trainer that specialises in power-lifting wouldn’t be the best fit. Likewise if your goal was to learn a martial art you wouldn’t go to a weightlifting gym 
• Find out what they expect from you before you commit – Some trainers may expect more than others, make sure you can commit to what they expect before you start. 
• Look at the results they are getting – If the results that they are achieving, look like the goal you are trying to achieve then they are probably a good fit.
• You see eye to eye – This is more so if you are working face to face. Most trainers will offer a consultation, this is a chance for you to get to meet your trainer before you start. There are people we all meet in life that we just don’t get on with, I am not saying you have to become best pals with your trainer but if you are working face to face on a one to one basis you at least need to feel comfortable around them

As You Change So Does Your Plan

As you follow and progress on your plan your body, mindset and habits will start to change, as you change your plan needs to change and adapt as you do.

As you get fitter, stronger, bigger, smaller and your lifestyle changes your body composition, strength, fitness and energy will all improve and in order to keep stimulating results and keep progressing the bar needs to be raised as you go.

A good set plan will have progressions built in at certain points but there is where specific and coaching plans really shine, your trainer or coach can progress and adapt the plan as he or she sees this changes occurring.

My one to one clients often say to me (when I am increasing the weight) “how am I sposed to get better when you keep making it harder” but the reason I am adding weight is because they have already progressed they are stronger then they were before and as a result progression needs to occur.

A lot of people that train and set out to change there bodies themselves will often have great results at the start but then hit a plateau and results start to slow if not stop completely.
This plateau is often caused by not changing the stimulus/introducing progressive overload, they are continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result even though their body has changed in the progress.

Ways To Progress a Fitness Plan

Different variables exist and should be changed as you progress on your plan.

The type of plan and your individual goals will affect when and how aggressively you change these variables or even which variable you change, which I will go into more detail in future posts.

For now, as a basic rule of thumb these variables should be adapted as soon they need to be for example as you get stronger weight should go up, as you get fitter distance, speed, intensity or time should be increased.

Different variables that will exist in your plan are: 

• Weight
• Time
• Training Intensity 
• Distance 
• Calories (including macro splits)
• Number or reps 
• Number of sets

If you need help or advice even if you are not training with Raising The Bar please contact us with all your questions