As fitness is my passion I am thrilled when people ask me questions about it.

And I certainly get asked questions!!! Sometimes it’s via my many social media channels, from Facebook to LinkedIn to Instagram to Twitter to YouTube.

Sometimes it’s by text or WhatsApp or telephone or email.

And other times it’s in person; at the gym, on the school run or out and about. I get tons, and I truly welcome all of these interactions

Do you ever have questions about training, nutrition, fat loss, habits or motivation?

Do you struggle to find an answer from the vast contradictory info on google? If you do, you are not alone! 

Whether you are a fitness novice or have been smashing your workouts and diet for a long time, there will be something that happens at some point to trip you up or throw you off track!!

When the inevitable happens you will need advice and information that you can trust and rely on!

And who better to get that from than someone who tells it straight and has ‘been there and done that!”.

Below I have added many of the questions I am regularly asked, and my simple answers to these.

1) MUST I CUT OUT CARBOHYDRATES COMPLETELY TO GET RIPPED?

Nope – myth alert!

It seems that almost everyone thinks this!

Carbs are the main source of energy that your body uses.

Therefore, if you eat lots of carb high foods and don’t exercise/ are inactive you body will store this excess energy as fat.

Therefore having limited carbs can help if your goal is fat loss.

However, if you attempt a zero carb diet it will almost certainly fail. It usually results in fatigue, and eventually weight gain!

2) YOU ALWAYS GO ON ABOUT DRINKING WATER, BUT HOW MUCH SHOULD I HAVE?

Whilst there are many factors that can effect water intake such as exercise/intensity, body size, ambient temperature etc, I would recommend you aim to drink between 2 and 5 litres daily, building up to the upper amount!

You may be thinking that’s a lot of water, especially if you’re not in the water drinking habit.

However, it’s not that hard if you drink consistently throughout the day, and during workouts.

There are numerous positives of being hydrated rather than de-hydrated.

These include growth, repair, and metabolism benefits.

3) WHAT AMOUNT OF PROTEIN SHOULD I EAT TO BUILD MUSCLE?

In general I recommend aiming for 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

So, for example, if you weigh 189 pounds, aim to eat around 189 grams of protein per day.

And you don’t need this protein to come from supplements.

Great protein sources include lean white meats, lean beef, fish, eggs, nuts and there are also many vegan friendly options.

4) HOW MANY REPS AND SETS SHOULD I DO?

It all depends on your goal.

The most common goal is usually to build muscle, also called hypertrophy.

For this you should be doing 3-5 sets per exercise and 8 to 12 reps per set.

If you are looking for fat loss/endurance you would increase these and go lighter on the weights used.

If you are going for power/strength you would reduce these whilst increasing the weights used.

5) WHY IS MEAL PREPARATION A GREAT TACTIC?

By prepping you can better control your eating and ensure you are consuming right amount of calories and macro-nutrients to achieve your goal.

Most people struggle to do this and plan to cook their meals when it’s time to eat.
By doing this they react to the moment, which almost always ends in failure, too many calories, and weight gain!

Key tips to effective meal prep are:

– Purchase foods in bulk.

– Weigh your food to measure portion sizes.

– Prep a week of meals in one outing and store in the fridge or freezer.

6) HOW CAN I STAY MOTIVATED?

I always encourage my clients to remember their “why.”

That’s the reason they made a commitment to start working out, eating well and making improved lifestyle choices.

When your motivation starts to fade, which it will, go back to that.

You’re doing this to improve your health, live longer and better, supercharge your confidence, look amazing. Always remind yourself of your overall goal.

A great tip is to surround yourself with supportive people!

This can make a big difference.

That might be family, friends, your coach or a training partner who will hold you accountable!

7) WHY SHOULD I DO COMPOUND LIFTS?

If an exercise requires more than one muscle group to perform the movement it is considered a compound lift.

The most popular compound lifts are there are bench press, deadlift, squats, and overhead press.

These compound lifts damage more muscle fibres and stimulate hormones to promote muscle growth and repair than isolation exercises!

8) WHAT IF I FALL OFF MY PLAN?

It’s easy to procrastinate if you miss a couple of workouts or your diet goes off track.

Maybe you got ill, went on holiday or some other life/family event needed more of your time than training and dieting. It certainly happens!

The key is to not give up. Just accept whatever happened that got in the way of training and diet, and get right back on track. That’s it – end of story.

I really do love questions, so please do send me any you may have.

Ian David Worthington   |  Creator, Owner and Coach at GymWolfPT.com