Outside the realm of high level sports where there may be a total focus on improved performance, when people come to me for coaching / personal training, they are after one thing and one thing only.

They want to feel awesome about themselves.

You can put whatever spin on it you  like with regards to impressing girls on the beach, being able to be more active with your grandchildren or losing the love handles for your wedding, but it all boils down to the same thing. You want to get up everyday, like what looks back at you in the mirror, and bounce through the day kicking ass at whatever it is you do with your time!

The problem comes when, thanks to the dawn of almost unlimited access to information through the internet and the media, you have no idea which way to turn to find the solution that works for you. You will hear grand claims from every diet and training program provider that their program works for everyone.

The truth this, as you will soon find out, there is no ‘perfect diet’, there is no ‘ultimate muscle building program’ and there certainly is no way of knowing that it will DEFINITELY work for YOU. Obviously, if a fitness company can show REAL LIFE evidence of a wide range of clients getting the results you want dramatically increases your odds of success.

However, as detailed by Nasseem Nicholas Taleb in his book ‘The Black Swan’, you need to be very careful before jumping to conclusions about your own chances of success. As Taleb explains, us humans are very good at looking for reasons to prove why something worked after the event and believing we have a 100% complete, logical explanation for why something happened and can trace back along an exact series of events to ‘prove’ that the event (or in the case, the awesome results) were always going to happen – it couldn’t possibly fail.

In fact, much of it may be down to a myriad of factors which weren’t a logical process but a merging of lots of little successes – some logical and some down to the randomness that daily life throws at you. Sometimes you can follow ‘the plan’ and sometimes it will kick you in the nuts and you have to deal with it.

And this is where we see the phenomenon, I have labelled the Fitness Rubix Cube. Without understanding this concept, you will NEVER achieve the results you want because you won’t have the tool box to deal with the ‘Black Swans’ that life will dump on you from time to time. Failure or inability to react the right way and your fat loss program will rapidly flush down the drain!

I shouldn’t have to explain to you the concept of the Rubix Cube but for those whose memories of the most frustrating game in history, here’s a quick recap!

Your job is to get all the tiles of the same colour on one side of the cube. So all the whites together, all the blues together, all the reds together etc etc. You might get all the reds together but if you haven’t got the other 5 colours nailed…..YOU LOSE!

The concept is pretty simple. The process can leave you with your head in your hands as you ‘just can’t quite get it to work’.

The exact same problem applies to the masses when trying to mould that lean, muscular, energetic physique.

You often hear trainers saying that fitness programs have become too complicated. Whilst I agree in terms of everyone man and his dog trying to come up with increasingly stupid ways to sell things to vulnerable people trying to shed a few pounds, the truth is there is a lot more to getting the body you want than an exercise program and some healthy eating.

It truly is the Fitness Rubix Cube because every single individual must find the ideal way FOR THEM to have all the colours in their life aligned rather than the mish-mash we see today, largely due to stress levels, time pressures and an attitude of instant gratification.

Here are the six sides to the Fitness Rubix Cube. Each one could be broken down into a hundred more but this will show you why even if you complete one side of your Fitness Rubix Cube, if the others aren’t also complete…YOU LOSE! (Or at least you’re never quite happy with yourself and keep bouncing between different gyms, training programs, personal trainers and diets).

The important thing to remember is that, like the famous original game, no side is independent of the others but all six are part of a balancing act which is controlled by the individual concerned and their daily lifestyle. Mess up one, or fail to recognise it’s importance and you run the risk of bringing your transformation to a grinding halt.

RED SIDE: Muscle building

Every single person without fail, needs to add some lean muscle tissue or at least maintain what they have if they are already muscular if they want to improve their function, well being and physique.

There is no argument that if you want to lose body fat, you need to raise your metabolic rate for more than just 45 minutes of a spinning class. We want you roasting more calories ALL WEEK!

This means that you must be engaging in an intense resistance training program which is progressively more challenging each week in order to spark the anabolic processes which repair and rebuild your muscles bigger and stronger than before.

The degree to which this is necessary depends on how much muscle you have to start with, whether you are going for the ‘toned look’ (I hate that word but you’ll know what I mean), the ripped, cover model look, the bodybuilder look or you simply want to move better.

A skinny guy wanting a better body needs to be lifting moderate to heavy weights 4 times per week say with two days upper body focus and two days lower body focus.

A naturally muscular guy who struggles with the body fat side, still needs to lift weights but may do better with a three days per week, full body program with more metabolic conditioning work through circuit and interval training.

Both need resistance training but as individuals, the only way to create the red side is to find what works FOR THEM – not by following generic programs in Men’s Health.

Consider a professional footballer (soccer to your US guys!). If they need to shed some flab, they also need to engage in weight training but must consider the effects a hard session will have on their sport specific training requirements – not being able to walk during a skills session is not ideal for THEIR Fitness Rubix Cube.

Muscle building will not occur for any of our case studies above however, if the other sides of the cube are not in place in which case a greater focus may be needed on those first of all to build a better foundation.

By this, I mean that if the skinny guy is totally stressed out at work and doesn’t eat enough after training sessions, his Rubix Cube will remain a hash or random colours because his hormones are not set to ‘growth’ mode and he refuses to make the effort to eat enough of the right quality of food to fuel the growth.

BLUE SIDE: Fat loss

Unfortunately, fat loss training has become synonymous with ‘doing cardio’. Whilst engaging in high intensity physical activity which raises the heart rate is essential for fat loss and optimal health, it does not mean you need to be out pounding or plodding the pavements.

An elevated heart rate can also be significantly raised through intense metabolic circuit training.

Simple – let’s all jump on the bootcamp bandwagon and get the crap kicked out of us in a park by some Sargeant Major wannabe.

Not so fast.

Again, if your Rubix Cube has a green hormonal side which is in turmoil due to work stress, financial difficulty, relationship problems, environmental pollution, nutritional toxification etc etc, the WORST thing you can do is to hammer yourself further into the ground with training which, by its very nature and requirements, is a huge physical stress.

Doing the same circuit program or joining a bootcamp MAY work for you but may also make you more tired, increase your risk of injury and lead to a variety of illnesses because your adrenal glands are in tatters from reacting to stress all day long, and other hormones are either in overdrive or not being produced.

Your efforts in the gym will be unrewarding and actually make you feel worse!

GREEN SIDE: Hormones

Writing just a paragraph on hormones is somewhat disrespectful!

The truth is that if your hormones aren’t at least 90% in balance, you are unlikely to ever complete your Fitness Rubix Cube no matter how hard you try.

We mentioned your adrenal glands above. Adrenal fatigue can be seen in at least 80% or so of adults in the Western world due to the pressures of modern work and life. This can leave you unable to fire up the adrenaline needed for the hard training needed to get a great physique, unable to produce the sex hormones which not only make you feel great and give you your sex drive but also play a crucial role in muscle building.

Cortisol, another ’stress hormone’ is essential for mobilization and burning of fat stores for energy. If your adrenal glands cannot produce cortisol because they are just too overworked, you can kiss good by to burning off the love handles at your bootcamp!

(We will look at hormones in greater detail in later articles so keep coming back to find out more!)

WHITE SIDE: Energy levels

The Fitness Rubix Cube becomes even more entwined now!

It’s pretty obvious that if your energy levels suck, you won’t be able to train hard during your resistance sessions and metabolic circuits as mentioned above, your working day won’t be as productive as it could be and life will be pretty crap.

Muscle building (remember the ‘red side’) is also an energy intensive activity so if you don’t have the energy to get through a day sitting on your backside in an office, you certainly won’t have the energy for your body to rebuild and repair your muscles bigger and better than before.

We all have down time – that’s part of life. But if you find yourself hauling ass through every gym session and dreading the thought of looking at a dumbbell, other sides of YOUR Rubix Cube needs to addressed in order to align the white side that is your energy levels.

You can only force yourself to do something on the power of motivation for a short time before everything in your life comes crashing down and it takes weeks, if not months or even years, to recover fully.

YELLOW SIDE: Athleticism

Many people, ladies in particular, baulk at any discussion of ‘training like an athlete’ because they ‘just want to lose some body fat and tone up a bit’.

That’s great but you will never complete the red side of muscle building or green side of fat loss, if you are unable to improve the strength and power in your muscles or complete exercises through a full range of motion because your muscles are too tight and your joints have become so immobile you like a cardboard cut out trying to do squats!

Regular deep tissue massages, stretching exercises and joint mobility are essential if you want to be able to optimize the other colours of your Fitness Rubix Cube. Again, how much you need to pay attention to this area depends on you as an individual.

Just because your best friend has done yoga twice per week for 25 years and resembles a walking, talking rubber band, doesn’t mean you can ignore this area and shift your focus to the weight training like she might be able to.

You also need to consider your job (do you sit all day in a hunched position or drive a car lots), your age (a natural decline in movement quality naturally occurs with age so the older you get the more this side of your cube becomes critical) and the relaxation factor of stretching and breathing exercises (go back to your green and white sides, hormones and energy levels, to assess the importance of this area to YOU.)

ORANGE SIDE: Mental programming

I left this until last as it is probably the most neglected, yet most important area of any Fitness Rubix Cube.

Speak to any elite athlete or world champion and they will tell you how much of their success is down to the time spent on visualization and mental preparation for every single part of their sport from the moment they take that winning kick in the World Cup Final right down to mental preparing for every lift in the gym.

I recall a story (but the name escapes me) of a top basketball player who was famous for his conversion rate of free throws. When paid to appear an advert in which he was to miss, it took him TEN ATTEMPTS to miss!

His brain was so highly tuned through intense visualization and daily repetition of the images he wanted to see and the plays he wanted to replicate on the court, that he had to actively stop being succesful!

How far do you think you could take your results if you could harness that power for yourself, even if you are ‘only’ trying to drop 3 dress sizes.

If you cannot convince yourself and your subconscious brain that you are both deserving and capable of completing the physical transformation you desire, the other colours of your Rubix Cube will never become aligned as you will talk yourself out of success!

We all know the whining passion vampire in the office who spends all day complaining about life and saying how everything is against them and how they ‘can’t do this’ and ‘aren’t good enough to do that’.

Stay as far away from these people as possible because their negativity will literally infect you and you will start LOOKING for reasons why you can’t complete your Fitness Rubix Cube.

Again, this side of the cube varies between individuals according to past events in your life which may have knocked self-confidence or convinced you that success and happiness is something other people get, but I think most importantly, the people you surround themself with will determine your mental programming.

If you pay more attention to your energy levels and enthusiasm you will recall people who, just by being in the same room as them, gets you fired up and ready to take on the world.

Find more people like this and stick to them like glue.

Watch every side of your Fitness Rubix Cube come into alignment and your physical transformation take shape faster than you ever imagined!

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For personal consultations and forming your own individual Fitness Rubix Cube, please email jon@stormforcefitness.com or visit Storm Force Fitness

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