5 Tips How You Will Get in Shape (in 2019)

The time has come again. New year, afresh new year’s resolutions.

Who hasn’t made them at least once in their life? In all probability most of you, like myself.

We all know that most of the time they don’t work out as initially planned. It’s hard to go to the gym 3 times per week. It’s hard to eat healthily. It’s hard to find time for your peers. It’s hard to achieve your goals.

We all know this struggle. Certainly, it’s tough, it takes a lot of commitment to succeed.

But who said it would be easy?

If it would not be demanding then everybody would look as they want to look. Everybody would be in the best health conditions. Everybody would fulfill their dreams.

Life is not always easy. I know that would be convenient. Getting all things done without any challenge. But even such a state most likely would get boring after a while.

Mark Manson once said:

“90 % of your plans are going to fail no matter what you do. Get used to it.”

This is actually so true. Plans almost never work out as intended. That’s normal. Get used to it.

If you want to have a good grade, you have to study for it. No matter what. At least the average, excluding the natural geniuses among us.

If you want to look good naked, you have to work for that. There is no way around. There is no easy answer, no sorcery, no panacea.

It just takes hours of hard, dedicated and passionate work. Sweat, tears, and blood.

Nobody said it will be easy. And that is why the average person quits.

Do you want to be just average? I don’t think so.

It’s hard but honestly, if you work for it, you will get where you want to be.

Why this year? Why now?

Counterquestion, if not now, then when?

No excuses. You’ll start right now. You’ve been hiding for too long, it’s time to make the change now.

Thus, with this article, I want to help You to get in shape this year.

The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.

I am not a master, not even close. Far away from that. But I am trying every day to get better and make one more step in the right direction.

Just look at the word class leaders out there. Regardless of whether in business, high-performance, sport or overall happiness. Neither of them got there by accident. Success is not a coincidence.

What do I want to say with that?

It’s not about how often we fall. It’s about how often we get up and move on.

Whatever you want to achieve in your life, be consistent.

Don’t overestimate what you can accomplish in one day but don’t underestimate what you can accomplish in one month/year.

Be consistent

Consistency is the key.

Going to the gym once does not change anything. Going there twice neither.

The same is true for the opposite. Eating ice cream once does not make you fat. Eating a pizza or drinking a beer every now and then neither.

But sitting on the couch every night eating ice cream and drinking a beer certainly does in the long term.

You have to be consistent with what you do.

The more often you do certain things, the better you get doing them.

Turn the things you want to accomplish in your habits. A study shows that the best way to form a habit is by being consistent.

If you take the first step today and stick to it, you can certainly accomplish results that will appeal to others in 90 days.

This article is all about principles that will leave you latitude. So that you can find a way in which you can, if you want, stay a lifetime.

We focus on long-term success rather than short-term. It’s important that you feel good with what you’re doing.

Feeling good about change is more important to us than short-term crash diets based on anxiety and prohibition.

As it is with all important and lasting decisions in life, in the end, you make the call.

But why would you waste your enormous potential? We only have this one life. We only have this one body.

Of course, you do not have to turn around if you’re not feeling ready yet.

Everybody is welcome here. We want to help you to get the most out of your life.

But don’t panic. I don’t schedule or determine what you have to eat, how you should plan your day or any other related things.

I am just here to help you get going. Providing you with principles that actually work for myself and many other people.

I also eat pizza, burgers or drink a beer, that’s needless to say. It’s not about how much you eat today. It’s about how much you eat throughout the whole week.

Eventually, the calorie balance counts. With that in mind, we reached one, if not the most crucial aspect of this article.

It’s all about the right balance.

Respect for all people who strictly adhere to their diet and daily planning, but that’s not the way how I want to live my life.

Of course, you should eat healthily, get your things done and be most importantly consistent. Nevertheless, for me, it just reflects a certain quality of living to take time for yourself and drop everything around you every so often.

If I feel like eating a pizza and drinking a beer while watching the Champions League with my peers, you know what? I eat pizza and drink beer.

That’s just human. Enjoy your life, don’t be too hard on yourself.

But such things should only occur every now and then. Healthy nutrition is your foundation whereupon everything is based and you can adjust gradually.

I want You to find the way that works best for you.

Consistency is the key.

Set intention, focus and start acting today!

Win the mental game

Why do 99% of diets fail?

First of all, it’s not due to sweets;)

Unfortunately, the things most people connect with “diets” or “nutrition plans” is stomachache.

Stress, despair, and helplessness. How to endure?

The fitness industry is full of black-and-white thought patterns.

Many diets overwhelm people with depressing perfectionism.

Between the lines, you can read invisible scripts like:

“Those who do not eat 100% healthy, live unhealthily”.

“Those who do not 100% comply with their diet plan will never progress.”

“Either you pull through this training programme perfectly, or you can stop right away.”

If you only get one thing out of this article, then please, delete such dogmas out of your mind.

Many people think that you cannot live up to your cravings and still look good.

You have to train permanently to be healthy, fit and look attractive.

Apparently, you definitely have to train, eat healthily and be consistent with that. But again, that doesn’t mean relinquishing on other things that you attribute value and love to.

It’s about good balance.

Why is our mind so important?

“You are what you eat” applies equally to our mind.

Your mind is not different from your body. You are what you feed your mind.

Don’t get me wrong, it is okay to watch a movie or play games. It is good to take breaks.

But if we’re honest we easily get caught wasting our time watching useless and pointless things.

Everything starts in your mind. Every morning, it’s dark and cold outside. I don’t want to get up.

A lot of chores already waiting for you at work. I don’t want to go.

Laying on the couch watching Netflix and eating pizza tends to be more tempting than working out in the gym. That’s for sure.

As you can see, everything starts with your mindset. Thus, if you can win the mental game, you are in charge. You decide which mood you start into the day every morning.

Here’s a tough and thought-provoking quote from Dave Pelzer:

“You can be a victim of cancer or a survivor of cancer. It’s a mindset.”

This might sound harsh to some of you, but it’s actually so true. You can be whoever you want to be. You’re in charge of your fortune.

Of course, everybody has different preconditions, capabilities, and means, but what matters, in the end, is how you handle your life.

Win the mental game, win your life. Do what you love, do what you want to do. Be consistent, be vigorous.

It takes a lot of time, patience, endurance and commitment, but trust me, it’s worth it.

You have absolute control over one thing and that’s your thoughts.

If you want to more about how our mindset affects our behaviour, click here.

Keep a balanced diet

I think we all know that a healthy diet benefits our body, performance and overall health condition.

Whether your goal is to feel better, lose weight or be more productive. Becoming a competitive athlete, taking care of your family or building muscles. Doesn’t matter what, a healthy diet is required for everything in life.

You may survive without paying a lot of attention to it, but it definitely enhances your performance in whatever you do.

There is tons of scientific research about diets but still, not everything discovered yet. Eating consciously prevents diseases, strengthens your bones and boosts your memory.

“Abs are made in the kitchen”.

“You are what you eat”.

Most of you have heard these sayings at least once. And it’s simply true.

Fitness enthusiasts and gurus attribute about 70% of your success to nutrition. Whereas only 30% seem to be caused by regular exercise.

Apparently, this underlines that we need to pay more attention to our diet to get in shape. That’s for sure, there is no way around.

I am not a chef and probably I never will. But that’s totally fine. You don’t need to be a Jamie Oliver to eat healthily and have a balanced diet.

If you’re interested in fast and easy made high protein breakfast meals check out my latest article here.

Cooking can be easy. Most people make it tougher than it actually is. You don’t have to be fancy to eat healthily.

There are endless easy, fast made and healthy meal recipes out there that take you only about 10 minutes.

“I don’t have time to cook healthy”.

“I don’t have money to buy healthy food”.

Who haven’t heard these two sentences? But I mean we’re humans. We always have something to complain about, so no surprise at all.

Actually, it is complete nonsense.

Scrolling up and down on Facebook, swiping on Tinder or watching YouTube. That’s where a lot of people spend even hours daily.

Sitting or laying on the couch. Playing videogames, choose your vice.

Everybody has time to cook. It’s about prioritizing what is most important for you.

Is your diet less important than watching blunt tv shows? If that applies to you, I’m fine with that. That’s eventually your choice.

We all have the same 24 hours every day. It is up to you what you make out of them.

As already mentioned earlier, you don’t have to live 100% strict to your nutritional plan. I don’t want that either.

I have a couple of tips that helped me to keep a balanced diet which still gives me latitude for other “unhealthy” food or stuff that I want to eat.

Make routine meals

If you have already planned your breakfast and/or lunch every evening before the next day, you save time thinking about what to eat and more importantly it is less tempting to dine out with your peers or get some fast food.

For example, every morning, I eat oats with fruits, nuts, and whey. That’s it.

Simple. Fast. Healthy.

There is no right or wrong about nutrition. You have to find out what works best for you. I can only speak for my personal experience and how it worked for me.

Just as there is no golden rule for a “healthy diet“.

Another tip that can help you to stay on track is:

Start prepping your meals

Especially, people who have difficulties during lunch break to keep it healthy and get easily tempted by their colleagues to dine out, this can be a game changer.

If you start preparing your breakfast/lunch for the next day in advance, you don’t have to spend time thinking about what and when to eat.

Furthermore, you know precisely what’s in your meal. You prepared it. You cooked it.

You know precisely all the ingredients and nutritional facts. This helps you to stay on track.

If you want to read further on this topic, check out my article about why meal prep is important here.

It is not essential to be 100% strict every day. If you want to enjoy dinner with your family at night, certainly do it!

I am the last who would say something different. But these tips help you to create more freedom in your diet.

If you start your day with planned meals, you already ate healthily, know precisely what’s in it and you can feel satisfied at the end of the day. But most importantly, you can allow yourself to deviate from your nutrition plan at night.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should exaggerate every evening and eat pizza, burgers, and chips. You can do that once in a while if you feel like. That’s the good thing about a balanced diet.

If you start your day the right way, you can even permit yourself to appreciate and enjoy.

Eventually, there are no such things as “the perfect nutrition“.

That’s completely individual. You need to find out what suits you the best. Try out different things and make adjustments gradually.

Keep in mind, be consistent but don’t be too strict either.

Exercise regularly

The fourth cornerstone concerns physical workout.

There is no particular chronological order or value ascribed to each tip. They are all important.

Whether you want to build muscles, become stronger or just want to look better, these all have one thing in common.

It’s not a recent breakthrough that you need to exercise to build muscles. You need to put a lot of effort into the gym if you want to get your dream body.

That’s the sad truth.

Now some of you might say: “I don’t have time to go to the gym”.

Fine, then don’t do it. You need to clear up your mind about what is most important to you. If you value other things above being fit, healthy and looking good,

If that’s the case, I respect that. Nothing wrong with that. But think about it, make yourself clear about what you really want to achieve in your life.

But once again, we all have the same 24 hours every day!

“You don’t find the time. You make it”.

It is important to prioritize the things that you assign most value to.

Exercising regularly not only benefits you with bigger muscles and a more attractive look. Studies show that regular exercise has a significant impact on our brain, memory and overall health.

Furthermore, physical activity contributes to the primary and secondary prevention of several chronic diseases. The biggest differences are noted when people who do not exercise regularly start doing physical activities.

How often should you train?

I have contributed a whole article about the optimal volume for hypertrophy. If you would like to go more in depth about it, click here.

But to shortly recap, here are some important things to consider.

There is no way around weight training. Whether you do a full-body workout, upper/lower or push/pull/legssplit, depends on your goals and time that you want to dedicate to it.

In general, most fitness enthusiasts rely on exercising each muscle twice per week. This could be accomplished by working out two times full-body. But only two workouts each week definitely leave you with unexploited potential.

Equally, working with upper/lower body split works fine for a lot of athletes. Two upper and two lower body workouts per week result in 4 overloading workouts and can lead to proper muscle growth.

To get more in-depth about the basics of getting started with fitness and how to build muscles check out our complete free guide here.

At the end of the day, there is no perfect training programme. Just as it is with your diet, nobody can predict how your body responds to all the different parameters.

Use our volume and muscle building guide as a starting point and adapt it to your body bit by bit.

Surround yourself with the right people

Lastly, it matters with whom you are in contact.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. – Jim Rohn

It might not only be true for these five people but goes on even further. Friends of your friends. Friends of your friends’ friends. People that we haven’t met yet.

Scientific research has proven this to be true. Studies show that if your friends smoke, you are 61% more likely to smoke, too. If some of your friends are obese, you are 45% more likely to become obese, too.

Your friends are your future. All people you surround yourself with influence how you behave, act and feel.

There is actually a nice quote from Abraham Lincoln that we can link to this last cornerstone.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”

Whenever you have a certain task on hand, it’s almost always the better choice to invest time into the tools that you need to fulfill the task.

Whether your goal is to look better and build some muscles, just seeking a happier life or achieving your dreams. What should you do?

Got it?

The people we surround ourselves with exerting the biggest influence on our behavior, attitudes, and results.

Darren Hardys brings it down to the point:

“According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McGlelland of Havard, [the people you habitually associate with] determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”

If you want to become a more successful person in whatever field of life, seek for people who are successful in that certain field. Connect with them, learn from them and interact with them.

If you want to be happier, look out for people who live a happy life. What different things do they practice? What’s their secret? Do they have certain habits?

Of course, we’re born with our family and I would never exchange them. I love my family. I owe my life to them, everything.

I don’t want to say it’s not possible to become successful without other people. That’s not true. It just makes it easier, more delightful and fun.

You don’t necessarily need such people around you, but always remember every person who’s on top now started as a beginner as well.

But in some cases, you need to think about who lifts you up and who drags you down. It can be friends or family.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not prompting anybody to separate from someone else, but sometimes it is necessary. Even a deep talk can work wonders.

Once again, at the end of the day, you make the call.

Conclusion

Let’s recap How You Will Get in Shape (in 2019).

Be consistent!

No one is born a master.

Consistency is the key.

You don’t get fat eating unhealthy once. Neither do you get fit working out once.

Be consistent with what you’re doing and you will get where you want to be.

Win the mental game!

Everything starts in our mind. If you’re in charge of your mind, you decide how you start into the day. How you feel about certain things and what is important to you.

If you win the mental game, you’ll notice that your potential is endless.

Keep a balanced diet!

There is no perfect diet. You don’t need to be 100% strict to your nutritional plan every day either.

It’s about keeping a balanced diet. Every so often it is necessary to allow yourself something that you love. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Exercise regularly!

There is no way around your dream body without actually working on your body.

Whether you train 1,2 or 5 times per week. That depends on your goals and how much time you want to dedicate to it.

Surround yourself with the right people!

The people in our immediate environment influence us the most. Success and failure depend to a certain degree on their impact.

Think about where you are now and where you want to be. Maybe you need to make some changes in your surrounding. Some people lift us up whereas others drag us down.

I hope this article inspired you to start right now! Work for your dream body or whatever you want to achieve. You can do it!

What is your key to get in shape?

Share your experience with us in the comments below!

Thanks for reading, guys.

Claas