How many hours do you spend a week in the gym working out? Five? More? Less? What if there was a way to improve your physique without having to spend MORE time in the gym? Well, there actually is. It's just that far too many people only see the benefits that can be yielded while in the gym, and not so much on the benefits you can achieve outside of the gym. Even greater, the things mentioned below to improve your physique can also help improve your workouts when you ARE in the gym.
Consider implementing the strategies below to improve your physique that does not involve physically exercising in a gym.
Note: You don't need to implement each of these at the same time nor try all the various ways listed. The key is to find what works for you and start implementing it. Would making all of these changes give you the BEST results possible? Sure. If you're thinking about implementing them all into your daily routine, start with one or two, and gradually add more as those other behaviors become second nature.
Create a Solid Plan (And Write It Down)
The first way to improve your physique is to come up with a plan of action on how you’re going to build muscle or lose weight (whatever goal you have, individually). They say “you don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been,” and by having a plan in place, you can track your progress and see if you're making the necessary improvements to get closer to your goal.
The most important part of this strategy is to physically write down your plan. Figure out how many workouts you’re going to have each week, what your reps and sets will look like, and what type of timeframe you are looking at to hold yourself accountable.
Focus More on Your Nutrition
If you don’t have your nutrition in line with your goals, don’t expect to improve your physique. It’s that simple. You can’t out-train a poor diet. The things you put into your body should reflect the goal(s) you’re trying to achieve.
That means, if weight loss is your goal, eating out at McDonald’s three times a week isn’t going to help you get closer to your goal. You’re going to want to focus on eating as lean and clean as possible – regardless of your goal. Lean sources of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. Stay away from sugar and try to consume as many whole food items as possible so you can stay away from all of the processed junk that is out there disguised as “health food.”
Get Better Quality Sleep Each Night
Your body needs time to rest and recover. Nutrition, which was mentioned above, is one key element and proper rest is the other. Those two combined can help you fast-track your results.
Getting better quality sleep each night can help you improve your physique by providing your body adequate time to repair and build the muscle fibers you tore down in the gym. This can allow them to come back bigger and stronger.
Strive for a minimum of seven quality hours of sleep per night. Now, this does not mean lying in bed for an hour scrolling through social media, and counting that as sleep since you're lying in bed. In fact, the best thing you can do is to turn off all electronics in your bedroom, so they don't become a distraction. After all, there's nothing important going on at 2am that you'd need to check your social media feed.
Make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and cool which is optimal for helping you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Something else you can utilize to aid in improving the quality of your sleep is through the use of melatonin. NutraBio Melatonin helps you adjust your body’s internal clock and can help control sleep patterns to reduce insomnia and aid in allowing you to fall asleep quicker. If you want to wake up feeling refreshed the next morning, add NutraBio Melatonin to your nighttime supplement regimen.
Reduce Your Stress Levels
Easier said than done, right? We all have extremely high stress levels and it’s because, well, life is stressful. We have stress from workouts, stress from work or school, stress from relationships, stress from kids, stress from (fill in the blank).
The key to reducing your stress levels is to find out what helps you relax. If you want to improve your physique, you’re absolutely going to need to better manage your stress levels. Stress causes the release of a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol can cause you to become hungry and cause your body to store additional body fat.
Whether it’s sitting in a quiet room reading a book or simply focusing on your breathing or meditation, find the time to do it every day. Maybe you have a better time unwinding and destressing with some relaxing music? If so, put on some relaxing tunes and your favorite headphones and drown out the world for a solid 15-30 minutes.
Get Up and Move Throughout the Day
Unfortunately, those who are in school or work in an office setting may find that majority of their day is spent sitting at a desk. You sit there and listen to lectures or type away on your laptop to get your work done. One of the ways to improve your physique is to simply get up and move more throughout the day.
Moving more not only burns excess calories, but it also helps with circulation and allowing blood to more easily move throughout your body. This more easily allows oxygenated blood into the muscles while also carrying and transporting key nutrients to those muscles to continue working on the recovery of those torn down muscle fibers.
Take short breaks throughout the day where you go get a refill of water, grab a cup of coffee from the break room, or simply get up and stretch in your office or cubicle. You may find when you move more throughout the day, you’re more creative and efficient – which also makes you more productive and better able to get things done.
Drink MORE (Water)
Your body is made up of mostly water. So, it should come as no surprise that drinking adequate amounts of water throughout the day is extremely important. Not only that, but water can help clear up your skin while also allowing your body and organs to flush out toxins that could be detrimental to your health and physique.
The best way to ensure you are drinking more throughout the day is to carry a water bottle with you everywhere you go. When you drink the last sip, go fill up your water bottle again, or grab a new one from the refrigerator.
Ensuring you drink more water throughout the day can definitely help improve your physique – not to mention eliminating some of those empty calories you may be consuming when reaching for a soda, tea, juice, or energy drink.
Improve Your Posture
Want to instantly improve your physique (or at least how it is presented to others)? Stand tall and work on improving your posture. Standing straight up with your shoulders back and chest out can give you a more lean and muscular appearance. When you slouch, it can create pouches and rolls around the midsection that makes you look overweight as well as making you look smaller when your shoulders are hunched forward.
Push those shoulders back and it will give off the appearance that you are bigger and wider – ultimately, helping you look more muscular. Standing straight and tall will help give the illusion of a tighter and smaller midsection as well as making you appear taller which can elongate your body and help with a “leaning” effect visually.
