This is the Best Time to get in the Best Shape of Your Life

Whenever it comes to fitness, you usually see a mad dash to the sign-up desks of every gym in May and June. Most people want to get that ?summer bod? to strut around the nearest poolside in July and August.

While I admire those vain attempts at carving out a hot summer bod, in my experience, a much better season for body sculpting is the early fall. Yup. That?s right. I?m talking about right now.

Think about it: you have clear benchmarks for your goals: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. At each holiday, you?ll be spending time with people who know you well, and who will notice your body?s change.

Moreover, in all my years ?in the game,? I?ve always found the late autumn to be the time ripest for hookups and casual encounters. Something about the cooler weather seems to give women a reason to find someone warm to snuggle up next to.

Do it now

On top of that, it?s also a great time to avoid common ?diet distractions? that derail most fitness plans. It?s not too hot to take a run outside, yet it?s not too cold either. There?s more time to get well-needed rest (a very important, yet often overlooked, element of any fitness plan).

And plus: all those other fools who burned themselves out trying to get fit for the summer are now at home, licking their wounds and inhaling bags of potato chips, which will keep your local gym pretty vacant for the next few months.

So take a moment and imagine how good you?ll feel meeting up with your old friends the night before Thanksgiving showing off the pant sizes you dropped over the past few months.

Now, surely, there are plenty of pudgy readers who are shaking their head and whining, ?Easier said than done.? I completely understand that flavor of frustration. Remember: I, too, was once overweight and certainly have limited willpower when it comes to implementing a fitness plan.

Yet, I did it. And so can you.

First off, you?re going to need at least an hour a day of exercise. And you don?t get to pick hour; that hour must pick you. In other words, you need to pencil in an hour where the only thing you CAN do is workout.

For example, when I was in the best shape of my adult life, I?d workout during my lunch hour at work. I purposely bought a membership to an overpriced gym that was in the building of my office job. Like clockwork, every day at 12:30, I?d make sure I got my money?s worth from my gym investment by getting in a vigorous workout.

In high school and college I had track practice every afternoon. I purposely scheduled all my classes and activities to coordinate around my workout times.

Likewise, you shouldn?t simply ?workout when you feel like it? or even when you have some free time. You should create a schedule around your workouts so that, like clockwork, you know exactly what you need to do, and when you need to do it.

Though, don?t become a Nazi with discipline?especially during the early weeks. It takes a few weeks to really implement a habit, and often if you try to do much, too soon, you?ll burn out at best, and injure yourself at worst. So make sure not to put too much pressure on yourself, or fret over every calorie that goes down your throat.

While you can (and will) make significant changes to your body in a short time by adopting a fitness strategy, you want to set yourself up for a lifetime of fitness. Therefore, don?t try to overhaul every aspect of your diet, sleep schedule, and exercise routine overnight.

Build on things slowly and you?ll reach your goals sooner rather than going manic and risking not reaching your goals at all.

Finally, to keep yourself motivated, create a fitness vision board. If you don?t know what that is, it?s a collage of pictures of your ideal body. Don?t just post pictures of half naked dudes. Instead, think of the bigger picture: what EFFECTS will your new body have on the world. How will women respond to you? How will your friends respond? How you feel each morning you wake up? How will look in your clothes?

Find pictures that evoke those emotions and capture that on your vision board. Then make sure to look at your vision board 5 minutes each morning, and 5 minutes each evening (best times are before and after bed). If you?re constantly reminded of what you?re striving for, you?ll keep yourself focused and motivated.

But remember: right now is the time! Imagine your life just a few months from now, and how different it will be, if you simply implement these simple changes!