BH:
1) What’s your backstory? How did you get into fitness?
I started out doing a whole lot of jobs that I hated after I finished high school with no real direction at all. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew that I was capable of a whole lot more than what I was doing. I started as a personal trainer when I realised I loved training and seeing visual results myself, but also the way it made me feel to be constantly progressing was addictive and i wanted to share that feeling with as many people as possible. So logically the first step was to do my certifications as a personal trainer and then start training people in a gym, which I did. it wasn’t long though before I got the taste for helping others achieve their own goals and start seeing their bodies progress and I knew then that I was made to help people on the right path towards achieving their ultimate potential. This is when I knew I needed to target people from all over the globe who wanted help, so I made zacsmithfitness.com. A platform where I can custom design programs for people of all shapes, sizes, gender and exercise history and work via correspondence to help them achieve what they never thought possible. Since then I have relaunched my website six times and rebranded twice, helping over 10,000 people achieve their goals and feel more confident about how they look.
2) What advice do you give to people who struggle going to the gym and being consistent?
We all start somewhere and even the industry leaders in fitness sometime have really inspiring backstories about how and why they started their journey. Maybe you are both not so dissimilar… You need to adopt a can do mentality and set goals. Small goals AND big goals to make sure your held accountable but also to make sure the small goals get hit, therefore increasing your chances of achieving the big goals as you feel great when you hit a milestone and makes you hungry for more.
3) What’s your mentality on fitness and what do you recommend to other people in their mentality?
I adopted a can do attitude early on in the piece and still to this day always attack any given situation with a positive attitude.
4) Do you measure your food intake? What barometers do you set for yourself and what formulas can people apply for their own fitness goals?
I used to track everything that I put in my mouth and I did so for a reason as I was competing and every little bit counts. In reality and for the most part now, I am very open when it comes to what I eat but just restrict my portion sizes and frequency of eating junk. Its more healthy for me to do it this way and I have a very good/healthy relationship with food now as I dont binge nor do I crave!
5) How do you get yourself to the gym during the days you don’t want to go?
I watch Youtube videos! If you guys want to watch something that I created for you for this exact application, search Zac Smith 2017 LIFE MOTIVATION on Youtube and watch my 7 min motivational vid. This helps me get in the right head space and remember why I started, to help you guys!
6) What supplements do you recommend and why?
I recommend the basics to begin. A greens supplement and multivitamin to cleanse and detoxify first and then a Whey Protein Isolate immediately post workout to replenish your muscles. Once you get a little more advanced you can add things like a pre workout supplement to the regiment to increase focus and prolong workouts, also increasing intensity.
7) What are some key hacks in fitness that you’ve found made huge differences for you?
Slow and controlled repetitions, time under tension is important! Make sure you are recovering properly. 6-8 hours of quallity rest every day on a good mattress and also, most importantly, CONSISTENCY!
Moshe’s Key Takeaways:
1) We all start somewhere. Zac has a highly motivational before and after picture showing how he started very skinny and lanky and built towards where he is today. People often get discouraged when they see where people are and think they could never get there. The key is to start. Start with where you are. They also started there. Consistency and hard work and growing bit by bit over time will get you where you aim.
2) adopt a can do attitude.
3) Watch motivational videos.
4) Detox, then whey protein isolate, then preworkout drink.
5) slow and controlled reps, consistency, 6 to 8 hours of sleep.
6) When you know you are capable of doing a lot more and your situation doesn’t show it, don’t stop believing it. Keep working.
7) Match small goals with big goals. Big goals motivate following through on the small goals.