Adam Rosante is the founder of The People’s Bootcamp, and he’s a rising star on the training and fitness circuit. The mantra for his approach is: “Eat Clean, Train Dirty, Live Hard.” His method entails using your own bodyweight as resistance and completely submitting your body to intense training sessions that builds lean muscle and nurtures self-confidence. He created the People’s Bootcamp in New York in 2012, and his legion of celebrity and regular everyday clients continues to grow by the day.
We reached out to Adam, and asked him to share some simple and straightforward tips for staying fit and active during the winter months – the period when most men tend to let themselves go until summer comes around again. Read and take notes below:
“Muscles aren’t built in the gym. It’s during the rest periods that your body repairs itself,”
1. Have a Plan
There’s a difference between having an intention and having a plan. In fitness, and in life, you want the latter. Ideally, you’ll workout 5 days per week in the following format: 3 days on; 1 day off; 2 days on; 1 day off. It’s enough to keep you fit as a fiddle without overwhelming you. Pick a number of days per week that you can stick to and then take it out of your head on put it into your phone, wall calendar, etc. Schedule and stick to it. Remember, real men follow through with their obligations.
2. Create a Challenge
A goal gives us a clear marker to work towards. My clients find a lot of success with this. Say, establishing an 8-week challenge. Take photos of yourself on Day 1, then again halfway through and again on the final day. That mid-way point will give you the motivation you need to keep going. And when you see those finish day photos, you’ll finally understand what I mean when I say that summer bodies are built in the winter.
3. Do it in the Morning
There are a million confusing and seemingly conflicting reasons to work out at different times of the day. Here’s the very simple case for a.m. workouts: it gets it out of the way. You know as well as I that as the day goes on and the light diminishes, the excuses for skipping your workout pile up. Knocking it out first thing sidesteps that problem. It also raises your metabolism, allowing your body to burn significantly more calories throughout the day. Two for one!
4. Drink Up
Chances are you’re walking around in a state of mild dehydration. Particularly problematic in the winter when the texture of your skin already resembles a croc-skin purse. The culprit? Not enough water. You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces each day. Go grab yourself a reusable glass bottle, fill it up first thing in the morning and several times more throughout the day. And please, if you have one, lose the soda habit. It’s not a good look on a man of style.
5. Eat 5x per Day
The colder months make us want to gorge ourselves on heavy comfort food. Eating clean, unprocessed meals 5 times per day keeps your metabolism humming along and increases your odds of standing tall in the face of temptation. Keep your belly full of lean and green foods and you’ll show those bar fries that you’ve the restraint of a Jedi master.
6. Get Out of the Saddle
Most of us spend a majority of our day sitting in front of a computer. It wreaks havoc on our posture and, in the winter months, doesn’t do much to help us break out of our inertia. Set an hourly repeating calendar reminder to get up from your desk, stretch and go for a walk. Added bonus? That extra face-time around the office may just lead to a great new project.
7. Go Outside and Play
It’s so easy to spend the first quarter of the New Year tucked in on the couch watching movies, drinking dark beer and hiding from the elements. But bundle up, grab some friends and head into the great outdoors. Whether that’s sledding in the Park or venturing out of town for a weekend of skiing and snow mobiling, you’ll watch your social bonds tighten and waistline shrink.
8. Sleep Like a Baby
Want to know an often overlooked secret? Muscles aren’t built in the gym. That’s right. When you’re working out, you’re actually tearing muscle down, not building it up. It’s during the rest periods that your body repairs itself, growing stronger. And the biggest gains happen while you sleep. So wind down an hour before bed (no TV, phones, etc.), tuck in to a cool, dark bedroom and drift off for 7-8 hours of quality sleep.
For more information about joining Adam Rosante’s fitness tribe, visit:
– Follow him on Twitter/Instagram: @adamrosante
