How does he manage to build a hamburger empire, be a parent to two children, spend time with family and friends and at the same time find time for his training? Is the secret in the hamburgers? Is it by the bite of a juicy burger that we find the answers we all look for?

I meet up with one of our most regularly returning clients to get answers on how he manages to get everything together in his fast-paced and active everyday life.

It’s a sunny and nice summer day when I meet Lennart. As always, I am greeted by a smile and a warm “Yo Bro!”. I ask him what is up and we talk a little. “Everything is just fine here! I come from the gym and have just finished my morning workout”, he says. I can spot a ready-made food box from his gym bag that he probably will eat after the workout now. It makes me smile, everything is in order with him. Disciplined and always prepared. “Awesome! What workout did you do?”, I ask. “Back and biceps”, he replies and adds that it is his favorite muscle groups to train right now.

I know Lennart and know a lot about him, his lifestyle, goals and what he has going on. He is married and has two wonderful children and currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, but has his roots in Jakobstad, Finland. Lennart works as KAM (key account manager) at a large company in Sweden. He also runs two restaurants on the side. “I always have quite a lot of things going on”, he says and smiles. I laugh and say that I can imagine it when you run two restaurants “on the side”. It is motivating to see what you can do when you optimize your time and have that inner drive to follow your dreams. Fantastic!

To say the least, Lennart has some “iron in the fire”. As a Lennart’s coach and personal trainer, I have been able to take part in his lifestyle and have been talking a lot about diet and exercise with him. I have made the training and nutrition plans for Lennart and know that he has a good capacity finding time to get five workouts a week done at the gym. This is absolutely outstanding considering his usually fully booked schedule. It is interesting this drive he has and I ask him, once again, to tell me a bit more about his goals and why he is training. “I want to build a strong, good looking physique and develop. To feel good, to be healthy, energetic and alert is something that is has ofcourse a high priority too of why I exercise and focus on a good and healthy diet.”, he answers. As a parent of two children, it is a very strong “why” to focus on feeling good, being healthy, energetic and alert. He has his “whys” clear and it gives him a strong motivation and driving force to continue forward on the days that are heavier and he has no wind in the sails. I talk a lot about the importance of finding your “why” in my e-book “the little book for great results”. Lennart really understands the power of it.

Having a lot going on in their lives, jobs and everyday life is common for many. Running two companies at the same time when you work full time on another is perhaps not so common. How does he find time to exercise and put a great amount of focus on his health? I need to get answers and ask him these questions. “For me, it’s all about planning and discipline. You plan the food the day before when you know it will be a full schedule from morning to evening. It also saves me a lot of time not having to think about what and where to eat when I am prepared.”, he says. Lennart is clearly one of the clients who like to have structure and be prepared. Others like and work better when being more flexible. I really like how Lennart has found what works for him. We talk a little more about the diet and he mentions in the middle of the discussion “… being prepared with the diet also gives me energy and focus to be able to keep up at the level I need to be every day.” I keep the discussion going and ask him how he finds time to exercise. “I always try to work out as early in the day as possible, so that it actually happens and gets done. It may be early morning workouts before the work day begins or a workout during lunch. I feel like I have the endorphins and energy for the rest of the day if I train at these times”, he answers.

Many people go home after work, eat, pack the gym bag and then head to the gym to work out. It is so easy for them to end up there, at home on the couch, when they just were going to sit down for a little while to “rest a little” after dinner. This is a mistake that I see many do. I usually get clients started by packing the gym bag ready and bring it to work, get a meal in about 1.5-2h before they finish work and then directly aim the sight straight to the gym when they check out. It saves both time and the chance that the training really gets off increases significantly. You also often have time to train before the “gym rush” starts later in the evening when most people train. Getting into this routine has helped many. There is also always the solution to do as Lennart with training early in the morning or getting the workout done during a lunch break. The most important thing is that you get the workouts done, you have the energy needed to do them and feel that you do not need to stress unnecessarily to get it all together.