Are you scared of even trying to lose fat and built muscle, because you think it will consume all your time? It doesn’t have to be like that. Fitness lifestyle is for bodybuilders, you don’t have to be like them. It’s a myth that you can’t built a great looking body without six high protein meals a day and three doing strength training in the gym hours every day seven times a week. You can look like a fitness model and still enjoy your life in its fullest way.

First let’s get clear on the whole fitness training lifestyle and what obsession with working out even is. If you sometimes watch TV or surf the internet, which you probably do, you should have a good idea what I’m talking about, but let’s look at it anyway.

Here are is a list of things you would be doing if you were obsessed with strength training:

• Spending hours planning your strength training workouts
• Working out every day and sometimes even twice a day
• Not going out, to parties and socializing, because it would mess up your strength training workout schedule
• Never skipping any of your workout sessions in the whole year
• Tend to focus more on training and lifting more weight than on building an attractive body and then actually using this better looking body in social interactions
• Thinking that strength training is the single one most important thing in your life
• Working as personal trainer (Of course not all the trainers are fitness freaks and gym rats)
• Lacking passion for activities other than strength training
• Not being able to take week off the gym, because you are afraid of losing muscles
• Wherever you travel you have to go the gym, because you can’t miss a single workout
• Getting angry when you can’t train
• Taking some drugs or having a drug abuse history (steroids, testosterone, growth hormone etc.)
• Participating in powerlifting or bodybuilding competitions

Well this was just a short list, but I think you got the idea. Now take a piece of paper, read it one more time and make a tally each time you recognize something you are doing. If you find having more than 10 of them you may have developed some serious obsession with fitness. Maybe it’s time to stop for, think for a while and find a way to balance your life.

Find Balance between Strength Training and Your Life

Consistency is a key here, however you don’t need to be obsessed with working out.

Here are the steps for building a masculine body while living your life:

1. Find a Quality Workout Plan

Find the one that is designed to build you an attractive body. This is critical; it cannot be focused on conditioning and physical look at once. You will get nothing of both, you either want to run fast and be strong at wrestling or whatever or look better than any other guy on the beach or in the club. It’s your choice, but choose wisely.

Once you have that goal, pick the workout that will help you achieve that goal and move to the next step.

2. Be Consistent with the Workout & Follow it Exactly as it’s Written

Lots of people make the mistake of not doing what is written in the plan. If you lack training experience and you have zero knowledge in this area and you know that this workout is good then why would you change it? It doesn’t matter if you like those exercises or not, do them anyway and judge by results later on.

3. Take a Break

This is where the different between your balanced life and fitness lifestyle is. You can take week or two after you finish your workout plan (strength training workout plans are usually designed for 3-4 months). Also, you can just focus on maintenance for some time, especially if you have lot of travelling or work projects, don’t let your gym overtake your life.

Don’t become a gym rat, rather follow the plan above. Get a good workout that will bring results you desire, follow it as it is written. Meaning going to the gym consistently and doing what you are supposed to do. After you are finished with this plan, take some time off to relax and focus just on maintenance for some time and take care of other things in your life.

Conclusion

Let’s say you have decided not to live like a bodybuilder, but you want to build some serious amount of muscles, what are your choices?

I think that the best thing you can do is to split the year in several chunks of time. Decide on when you want to put more focus on your body and when you want to focus on traveling, work, socializing and just maintain your body.