BH:
1) What’s your backstory?
After graduation, I remember feeling a little lost. I had moved into the city after living in a small town, and was really unhappy with myself and my appearance. My life and relationship at the time were toxic, so I decided to start spending some of my time making myself happy and doing something that made me feel accomplished, proud and happier from the inside out.
2) what’s what started to build your motivation to keep pushing this once you started?
At first, results. I remember seeing results from my efforts, diet and exercise wise, as well as mentally. The results were addictive and after loosing 50 lbs I was motivated to see what else fitness could do for me after. I felt small and shapeless and was very motivated and inspired to see how strong I could become and how I could shape and sculpt the body of my dreams. This creAted a mindset and desire within myself to constantly push and strive to be better. And has pushed to other areas of my life and brought me to where I will be today!
3) how do you keep the discipline required? What are certain barometers you keep that tell you whether you’re moving in a good direction in your discipline or not?
I can be a very disorganized, scattered and lazy person if I let myself be. I have diligently worked on building strategies and a mindset to help me stay on track and disciplined. During a body building show prep my most important thing was building an unbreakable routine. When you are pushing your body to its extremes you need to run as affectingly and as efficiently as possible. There is no such this as motivation at that point, you have to almost think of it as work, you won’t always want to do it but you do it because you have to. During my prep I have regular check ins with my coach, where we assessed more than just weight to measure progress but body fat, measurements and progress pictures. In my off season and every day life I focus on creating lists in My weekly planner of monthly tasks, weekly tasks and daily tasks that help me get closer to my goals, having this in writing as one of the first things I see every day works for me! It’s easy for me to see what I’ve accomplished and what I haven’t for my week, month, etc. To maintain a healthy relationship with my body and with myself, I focus primarily on strength, habit or physical ability based goals, as I find this creates a better mental relationship with yourself than chasing a number that is forever changing due to natural causes. k think this is a great way for a beginner to start working towards a big fitness goal. Taking a big goal and breaking it down into small achievable tasks.
4) what’s the mentality you encourage other gym goers to have?
Basically what I said above, creating and building healthier habits, that will have a bi product of weight loss or gain or what ever your goal may be. For example, implementing 10 minuets of something new into your routine, drinking more water or changing your eating habits to something sustainable for you it can make a huge difference! My other biggest belief is it matters a lot more how you lift the weight then how much weight you are lifting. This is something bodybuilding and hypertrophy training really taught me. Be willing to lower the weight and experiment, find something comfortable, adjust your pace or try and maintain tension. There’s so much you can do to make things different or interesting
5) What do you do when you have a day where you don’t want to go to the gym?
I have built myself to be a creature of habit, so for me it’s second nature to get out of bed and start going to the gym after 8 years. I remember more when I started out and getting more serious in the gym it was a huge stress and anxiety relief. I also have made a point to find friends with similar goals and interests to go with on bad days, sometimes a really good workout mix or a really motivating podcast will always get me going. The fact is you have to know that you always end up having a better day after having a good work out and once you’re doing something creating a physical change always creates a mental change of state!
6) What are nutrition barometers you keep? What do you suggest to others based on them?
The thing with nutrition and you really have to find what works for you and that sounds silly and you’re going to hear it 1 million times over but it’s the truth you do you have to start with limitations but you have to be excited to do it you can’t torture yourself or else you’re not going to head here and that’s just going to not help with your overall motivation is you won’t be working towards your goals easily
7) I’ve found there’s very often hacks we find when we do something often. What are your most impactful gym hacks?
Honestly, no hacks, just hard work and eat better, real results take time, dedication and consistency. The more you do and the harder you work, and the more focused you are the better.
8) What supplements do you recommend and types of food to include in ones diet?
Water. Water, water. I can’t stress how important water is for your body and how not enough people drink as much water as they should. When it comes to supplements I have a less is more approach, they are “supplements” which means supplemental. The only supplement that I use daily is BCAA’s while training to promote muscle synthesis and preserve lean muscle. Sometimes I will have a protein shake after my workout, but with my weight I find it quite easy to hit my protein intake with just food alone. In the past I have used pre workout, and periodically I still do, I don’t recommend using it daily due to the high amounts of caffeine and stimulants but it’s good for a boost now and again! I recommend looking into the ingredients of your supplements before buying and go with natural and or pharmaceutical grade product!
Further than that I think the most important thing is ensuring that you are actually eating enough food for your body and your physical activity level. There are tones of free resources out there that can help you do things like calculate macros etc. I recommend even if you only do it for a short time, Hiring dietitian or a coach. It’s an investment in yourself and can really be an eye opener. There’s a reason most coaches have coaches.
Moshe’s Key Takeways:
1) Drink water
2) Hard work is the hack
3) take your goal or vision and break it down into small achievable tasks
4) Build yourself into a creature of habit. Create the healthy habits that lead to fulfilling your goals almost to the point you fulfill them by route.
5) BCAAs.
6) Protein intake is achievable with proper food intake depending on weight and goals.