While most people would think that getting ripped is all about diet and physical training, it’s often a case of overcoming various mental hurdles to achieve your desired physique, and if you’ve been trying to get ripped for a while now, today, we’re going to share three of the most common mental hurdles that you’ll need to overcome to build your desired physique in the future.
1. Disregard the First Week
Whatever happens on the first week of your getting ripped plan, try to ignore your results as far as fat loss and calorie intake. In the first week of a new diet and workout plan, you’ll likely drop a lot more weight than you will in the later weeks. Our bodies naturally carry a lot of water weight and glycogen, which is easily lost during the first weeks of a new diet. Some people find that they lose between 5 to 6 pounds in just the first week, but you can’t expect these results every week.
After your first week:
- Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t see such quick results moving forward. Although you will hopefully see some progression week after week, you may only lose a couple of pounds instead of a more significant amount.
- Don’t make adjustments too early on, or you may hinder your progress.
- While we know it can be highly addictive to see a considerable weight loss on the scales, try not to beat yourself up for your future progress based on your initial achievements.
2. Looking Worse During Some Stages of Getting Ripped
One of the most challenging parts of your journey towards getting ripped is feeling like you look worse than when you started. If you aim to become lean and muscular, you’ll likely need to overcome the mental hurdles of the flat and fat stage. When you notice your body is getting smaller, you can soon feel demotivated, which may throw you off track with your diet and good habits.
There’s usually a stage in your program where you will find that you aren’t getting more defined. If you feel like your t-shirts look baggy and you have less muscle definition, don’t worry, as this happens to almost everyone. Keep pushing through these mental hurdles, and at some point, you’ll find that your body starts to transform to your ideal physique. Trusting the process is an essential part of the journey, and this is something to keep in mind during those most challenging days when you feel like giving up. When you give up too early in the process, you’ll never reach your desired physique. This is why so many men and women don’t manage to get ripped, but by knowing this is one of the mental hurdles you’ll need to overcome, it will be easier to push through this stage.
3. Losing Strength on Lifts
Lifting sessions should always be used alongside dieting when working towards getting ripped. One of the biggest mental hurdles is the feeling of losing strength on some of your lifts. It’s important to remember that this shouldn’t be your main tool for fat loss, although it’s an essential part of your journey.
If you feel like you are losing muscle, this lack of strength has nothing to do with that. In fact, it’s usually caused by a reduction in passive stability, as when you lose some of the fat around your joints while dieting, they can become more unstable. People often notice this around their shoulders, so if you’ve found your bench press and incline press have gone down, this is likely why. As long as your other exercises stay the same or get better, don’t worry about your big pressing movements. You haven’t lost any muscle, which is purely a case of losing some stability during weight loss. We understand that this can be one of the toughest mental hurdles to overcome, but don’t let it stop you from working towards getting ripped.
Getting ripped is something that many of us aspire to, but it takes a lot of hard work and grit to overcome the mental hurdles that will be presented to everyone on their journey. By keeping these potential hurdles in mind, you’ll know not to panic if they happen during your program, and you’ll be able to keep pushing through to work towards your end goal. Getting ripped is an incredible challenge for men and women, but you’ll find you are much better equipped to keep progressing week after week by accepting that you will have ups and downs on your journey.
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