Training fundamentals

When you start working out and diving into the world of health and fitness it can be really overwhelming, there are a lot of things you CAN consider. Can is the optimal word here because the larger a task is the more you are likely to put it off (at least I know I am). No matter your current starting point or activity level, if you are looking to make changes and begin to optimize your health and fitness. Below are 3 things I would take time to consider, this does not mean you never need to go past these markers but it's easy to overcomplicate things which can be quite simple!

I have written a blog before on this all-or-nothing approach and I think as humans we like to be fully invested in something or it seems like you are not getting the most out of working out. For instance, if you train 1-2 times a week but have a poor quality diet so feel unmotivated to continue working out. This leads me to point number one, be realistic with your time, we all have different responsibilities and schedules so do not try and squeeze in 5 training sessions a week if that is going to use up a lot of your free time and exhaust you. Being realistic with your time not only allows you to set some real attainable goals but also creates consistency as you have not tried to overextend yourself each week. No one likes feeling like a failure and playing catch-up all the time so this will help you feel accomplished and create all those feel-good endorphins. 

The second point leads on from the first, nutrition and protein intake. Without time it is very difficult to prepare meals and put a small amount of thought into what you are putting into your body. Think of nutrition like this, the calories you put in will determine your weight, the macronutrients will determine how you look and the micronutrients will determine how you feel. Who doesn’t want to not only look great but feel great! Protein is the building block for recovery and muscle building in addition to keeping your body fuller for longer due to its digestion time. If we take this very minimalistic view of just looking at protein, the average person eats not nearly enough. For this reason, I would suggest supplementing each of your meals with at least 20-30g of protein, I would advise getting your protein from a variety of sources. This is going to help you recover quicker from your workouts and allow you to help curb that hunger that extra activity will create. 

Lastly, a tough one but do not hyperfixate on the physical! If you are coming home from each gym session looking at yourself in the mirror with self-critical thoughts this is a really harsh environment to grow and develop in. This can also be seen through hyper-fixating on the scales if your goal is weight loss or muscle building. More constructive markers to look at are performance, are you getting stronger each week. Intensity, are you pushing yourself when you are training? How long does it take you to recover from your training sessions, if you find you are taking a long time to recover, you can look at optimizing your nutrition and sleep. 

If you are unsure where to start, shoot me a message and we can look at getting you started and feeling organized.