Getting in shape usually gets made far more complicated than it needs to be.
People decide they need a new training split, a completely different diet, an early morning routine, 10,000 steps a day and a fridge full of food they don’t even like.
For the first week, they’re flying.
A few weeks later, half of it has been dropped and they’re wondering why they can never stick to anything.
You’ll get further by setting up a basic plan that fits your actual week and following it for long enough to see what needs adjusted.
Decide What Getting in Shape Means
“Getting in shape” is too vague on its own.
Are you trying to lose body fat, build muscle, improve your fitness or simply get back into a routine after doing very little for a while?
The answer changes the plan.
Someone trying to lose 10kg needs a different setup from someone who is already lean and wants to build their shoulders and chest. A complete beginner also doesn’t need the same training week as someone who has been lifting for five years.
Pick a main goal and stick with it for the next 12 weeks.
You can still improve other areas along the way, but trying to lose fat quickly, build loads of muscle and train for a half-marathon at the same time usually leaves the whole thing a mess.
Build the Plan Around Your Real Week
Look at the week you already have before deciding how often you’ll train.
If work is mental on Mondays and Wednesdays, putting your hardest sessions there probably isn’t a great idea. If weekends are busy with family or social plans, don’t build a routine that depends on you training every Saturday morning.
Choose days you can make work most weeks.
For some people, that will be four gym sessions. For others, two or three proper sessions will be enough to make plenty of progress.
Going too hard in January is covered in Why So Many People Quit the Gym by February. Put your sessions where they have the best chance of actually happening.
Follow a Proper Training Plan
Turning up is only one part of it. You also need to know what you’re doing when you get there.
Your plan should tell you:
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Which exercises you’re doing
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How many sets and reps to complete
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What weight you used last time
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What you’re trying to improve next
That doesn’t mean every session needs to be complicated.
A basic plan built around presses, rows, pulldowns, squats or leg presses, leg curls and a few smaller exercises can work very well. The exercises should suit your experience, equipment and any injuries you’re dealing with.
Record your working sets. If you lifted 30kg for 10 reps last week, that gives you something to work from instead of picking a random weight again.
I go further into that side of things in Why a Gym Plan Gets Better Results Than Guesswork.
Make Your Food Repeatable
A lot of people make their diet far too strict at the start.
They remove every food they enjoy, cook seven completely different meals and try to survive on foods they think a fit person is supposed to eat.
That gets old quickly.
Most of your meals can be fairly simple. Pick breakfasts and lunches you’re happy to repeat, then leave more variety for dinner.
Get a decent source of protein into each main meal. Keep fruit and vegetables in the day somewhere. If fat loss is the goal, your calorie intake still needs to be low enough for your weight to come down over time.
You can include meals out, snacks and some food you actually enjoy. They just have to fit into the wider week.
The plan has a much better chance when your normal food still looks like food you’d choose to eat.
Set an Activity Target That Makes Sense
Your activity outside the gym matters, especially when fat loss is the goal.
But jumping from 4,000 steps a day to 12,000 because somebody online said everyone needs 10,000 usually ends with sore feet and a step target being ignored by Thursday.
Start from what you currently do.
If you average around 4,000 steps, aim for 5,000 or 6,000 consistently before pushing it higher. A daily walk, parking slightly further away or moving more during breaks can make a decent difference across the week.
Cardio can be added as well, but it shouldn’t wreck your recovery or make your weight sessions feel awful.
Track Enough to Know What Is Happening
You don’t need to record every detail of your life.
Pick one or two measurements for the result and a couple for the work you’re putting in.
For fat loss, that could mean your weekly weight average and waist measurement. The behaviours could be completed gym sessions, average steps or how often you stayed close to your calorie target.
Review those over a few weeks.
If the result is moving and the plan feels manageable, keep going. Constantly changing things when they’re already working just messes with something that was doing its job.
If nothing has moved, look at what was actually completed before deciding the plan itself is broken.
What the First Month Could Look Like
A sensible first month might be:
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Three planned gym sessions each week
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A daily step target based on your current average
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A realistic calorie and protein target
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Two or three meals you can repeat without getting sick of them
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A weekly weight average or waist measurement
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One regular time each week to review how things went
That is enough to get moving.
You can add another session, increase your steps or tighten the food later if it is genuinely needed. Starting flat out from day one leaves you nowhere to go but backwards.
Set the week up, follow it and review what actually happened. Most people would get far better results from doing that for 12 weeks than trying to be perfect for 10 days.
