You may not be an up and coming star in the bodybuilding world, and you may have no ambition whatsoever to step onstage any time soon. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t busting ass in the gym everyday to achieve a physique you can be proud of and want to show off during the warmer months.
Fully developed, chiseled muscles come from hard work, clean eating and proper supplementation that you committed yourself to for many weeks and months. If you are like many gym goers out there, you took advantage of the winter months to stay covered up while you worked fiercely towards getting yourself a hard body that would be considered stage worthy at any contest. Now that the summer is upon us, it’s time to show off the fruits of your labors; but how can you maintain this well deserved physique you’ve cultivated when this same body baring season brings many social opportunities and obligations that could interfere with your goals? Easy, simply follow the ten tips outlined below to set yourself up for physique saving, fun in the sun.
Tip #1: Stay true to yourself and your goals
Temptation is the evil that has had many succumb to giving into their urges to eat, drink and behave outside of the norm. Yes variety is the spice of life, but being firm in what your goals are and knowing when enough is enough, will give you an advantage the next day when you are heading back to the gym feeling great, well rested and primed for continued muscle gains and fat loss. Don’t be afraid to share your goals with those you socialize with because once put out there, it’s usually well received and you get respect versus constant torment.
Tip #2: Bring food with you
Heading over to a friend’s place for a barbecue is probably one of the best parts about summer. Grilling all those delicious, fat laden foods is what most people look forward to the most. There’s no shame in bringing food with you to a cookout and unless you’ve spoken to the person on the grill, how else would you know what is on the menu. Rather than taking the chance of insulting your host by turning down their food and not eating at all, or eating food that’s not on your diet to be polite, simply bring some food with you and offer to cook it yourself. Nine times out of ten it will not be a problem and then you can enjoy eating with everyone else guilt free.
Tip #3: I’ll have another . . . water please
Along with eating food off the grill, having a social drink is a summer season favorite in any back yard. Alcohol has no place in the bodybuilding world, and drinking too much will leave you dehydrated and feeling less than your best the next day. Your training will be off and you may as well just stay out of the gym if you’ve indulged too much. Stick with water or at the very least a diet soda. If you’re confident enough you’ll realize you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone, but if it gets annoying, just say you’re driving and that will usually end things.
Tip #4: Use it as a cheat day
If you know ahead of time you’ll be attending a social event where food and drink will be plenty, plan out your week so that the day of the event falls on your scheduled cheat day. This way, you can eat whatever is on the grill, sip on the sugary drinks and not feel guilty about it at all. You’re simply taking advantage of a situation that allows you to fulfill your social obligations all the while jump starting your metabolism for continued gains.
Tip #5: Know when to call it a night
Summer parties on the patio can go well into the early hours of the morning, so knowing when to go home to get your sleep is of the utmost important. Interfering with your regular sleeping patterns can throw off your metabolism, interrupt the production of growth hormone, cause you to feel drowsy and less than motivated to hit the gym the next day and more importantly throw off your food schedule. If you always have your first meal of the day around seven in the morning, and you sleep in until 9, that’s two hours your body is starving and eating away at your hard-earned muscle.
Tip #6: Throw in some extra cardio
Sixteen minutes of Max-OT Cardio is all you need to keep body fat levels in check. If you think you’ve given into temptation one too many times and your abs aren’t as deep as they used to be, throw in an extra session of cardio. It won’t take too much more time out of your day but the results will be profound. Don’t think of this as a safety net so that you can cheat on your diet all the time, but think of it as a great place to start to get yourself back on track.
Tip #7: Re-evaluate your social group
Chances are if your friends are the same people you see at the gym all the time, your goals won’t be too different from one another so maintaining your program shouldn’t be a challenge at all. If you find that the group you spend your leisure time with has no interest in the physique world at all, you’ll probably be pounded with question after question about what you are doing and why you aren’t partaking in the activities that everyone else is. If you find yourself in this last position, take a look at who you are with, what’s important to you and who you want to surround yourself with for continued support.
Tip #8: Supplement with Dymetadrine Xtreme
Standing alone atop of the fat burner market, Dymetadrine Xtreme is the high performance, thermogenic intensifier anyone serious about staying lean is supplementing with. If you have had the odd hot dog here and there, when it comes time to burning off those unwanted calories, this product will help you tremendously in that pursuit with the added bonus of giving you a pick me up the next morning after staying out too late the night before.
Tip #9: Supplement with Urso-X
One of AST Sports Science’s newest products, Urso-X has been scientifically shown to increase lean muscle mass and significantly decrease body fat. This sounds like the perfect formula for the summer season to me. Supplementing with this product all summer long will ensure all your efforts in and out of the gym will be rewarded and your physique will stay in check.
Tip #10: Visit the AST Sports Science Website
All the up to date science and innovation pertaining to bodybuilding, nutrition, training and supplementation can be found here. Prior to heading out to enjoy the summer nights, stop by and check out what’s new with AST. There’s a good chance you’ll read an article there, very similar to this one, and your plans for the night may just change for the better. Your body will thank you, the gains will keep rolling in and you’ll save your physique from an onslaught of empty calories and lack of sleep. You might even learn a little something too.
It’s understandable that you want to have a good time during the summer and indulge during your vacation. Don’t sacrifice all that you’ve worked for just for the sake of a good time for a few hours. It took more than a few hours to achieve all that you’ve achieved, but unfortunately all it takes is a few fun-filled hours to do some real damage to your physique. Keep your priorities in check, share your goals with your social group and be smart. A little preparation on your part can go a long way and you can enjoy eating and drinking with everyone else if you just plan ahead a little bit. Stay in shape and enjoy what you’ve worked hard for during the winter months all summer long.
