Fitness blog: Hard work is starting to pay off!

Committing to fitness and nutrition programmes has never been easy. It probably never will be. Making excuses, on the other hand, is much easier to do.

The embryonic stages of any project will always have you questioning its validity. It's a natural response if, like me, you don't have any foresight and fail to foresee the finished article.

It takes time to adjust to a change in lifestyle, especially when there isn't a visible reward early on, and so perseverance is key.

For me it's all been about finding a balance; developing a formula to juggle family, work, training and meal preparation.

It can be quite taxing, with other commitments at the forefront of many peoples' lifestyles, but you'll soon tailor a plan that best suits your needs.

Small sacrifices can make big changes as I've found out, even though I haven't completely adhered to the diet plan that was drawn out for me by personal trainer Evan Parker.

However, if you train hard, eat well and work as close to the plan as possible you will reap the rewards.

"I choose a high protein, high fat and low carb diet because I simply believe this is the best method," said Evan. "I rely on fats for my main energy source and I feel much better than when I eat carbs.

"I'm one of those types of people (endomorph) that can gain fat quite quickly and it is also evident that I am insulin sensitive. By changing my diet and the clients I have to this form, we have achieved incredible fat loss results and also increased our strength in the gym.

"Fats also increase dopamine (concentration hormone) therefore things like daily tasks, exercise and general mood are all improved."

Evan added: "I have tried and tested many different types of training routines throughout the years and also tried many types of training splits.

"I am currently working hard and very impressed with my own version of Neil Hills' Y3T training method.

"In this method you do a nine-week strength training programme where you do one week of heavy lifts (seven reps), one week of hypertrophy (12-15 reps) and one week of endurance (anything from 30-100 reps per set).

"My training methods complement my diet in many ways. I feel that due to the rep ranges and workouts changing every week I always have new goals to achieve and I never get bored of my training.

"My muscle fibres get sufficient rest before I try and break my own personal best in lifts and then in the endurance week I don't have to focus on lifting such heavy loads so I concentrate on form. Most importantly this week decreases my chances of injury."