By Amy King
We live in times where fitness has become a massive trend and paradoxically, fewer people consider it important, giving way to other things to get on top of their priority list.
The collective paradigm about health, nutrition, and fitness has been skewed towards an obsession with weight, social media followings, guilt inducing ‘shoulds’ or “body positivity”.
Which leads to many of us getting lost in a vicious cycle of non-sustainable physical, nutritional and mental habits.
And while getting fit and starting a “diet” is just a “Someday” goal for many people, the reality is we are designed to be lean and fit.
Humans as a species have been on this planet for at least 200,000 years and for the most part, it has been a survival game.
It has only been the last 30 years that we’ve had easy access to such an abundance of foods, which can even be delivered to your doorstep!
So, you see where this is going, right?
We are way beyond our natural human patterns of movement and nutrition, working sedentary jobs and eating heavily-processed, nutrient-poor foods.
What we now call exercise is simply the movement humans were designed to undertake daily.
Your HEALTH determines your performance in every other aspect of your life.
When you think about it, many people get to the point where neglecting their body becomes habitual, rather than by choice.
This usually leads to an overall decrease in the quality of life, where they feel mentally and physically exhausted just a couple of hours into the day.
As this happens, it gets harder to focus and perform well on your other activities…
It’s also a joy sucker… I mean have you ever gotten to that point where the thought of even spending time with loved ones feels overwhelming and tiring… and you get irritable with them when they want to spend time with you?
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way.
This is where physical, nutritional, and mental practices come into play.
By now you should know that the best thing you can do to improve your performance in every aspect of life, is to keep your body & mind healthy.
Fortunately, the physical part of it is really simple - Using your body’s active components (training / exercise) and fueling for performance & recovery (food).
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As mentioned previously, the modern-day lifestyle imposes on us an environment where EVERYTHING we need is available via a simple swipe on our smartphones.
The question is, are you going to go to the gym or the pub?
Are you going to go to the grocery store or the burger joint?
Making better choices consistently that nurture all the various functions of the body, will ultimately set you up for a clear vision and good performance in all aspects of life.
The trick is to create a plan that you can adhere to and bring into your older years, to live a healthy and fulfilling life.
Whether you're looking to improve your lifestyle habits, take your athletic performance or overall performance to the next level I'm here to help.
As an experienced fitness, nutrition & performance coach I work with you to optimise all area of your health & well-being.
To see how I can support your journey, why not connect with me over a virtual coffee?
Now that we have you entertaining the idea that taking care of your body is the least and easiest thing you can, and want to do, let’s us then consider simple, sustainable actions you can take right now towards that.
1. Bring diversity in your nutrition
There are countless fad diets that detract and overwhelm those of us who are trying to set up a concrete nutrition plan.
Should you do keto, paleo, low-carb or intermittent fasting?
The short answer is - Use whatever you can stick to in the long term.
But when building out your nutrition plan, consider this:
>> A balanced approach to nutrition is the best way to go, as each and every macro and micro nutrient has its own purpose in your physiology.
>> Eat some meat, some fish, grains, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, nuts and any other whole foods you may have in the local store.
>> Remember that the different colors of food simply show the different nutrients available in that food.
In this case, the more colorful your plate is, the better.
Enjoy food not only as a functional component of your health & recovery plan, but also a form of enjoyment and art.
2.Include endurance, strength & functional training
Your body is a complex biological machine that has a musculoskeletal system, used to move in the environment in a variety of ways.
As we mentioned in the beginning of this article, the modern-day lifestyle robs us of most movements which we would otherwise do.
This is a good reason, to use as many functions of your body as possible.
Contrary to popular belief, your “fitness” is not just about going to the gym and lifting weights.
It is much more than that.
Your body can run, swim, climb, crawl, jump, pull, push, stretch and so on…
When you think about it - Each of those movements engages a different set of active components (muscles).
The more of those components you frequently engage in challenging training sessions, the better your overall development will be.
It also keeps it interesting and can protect against injury. The trick is to work out the ones you enjoy the most and can easily incorporate into your regime.
Even athletes train in different modalities to support their primary physical properties required for their sport.
Dorian Yates, 7 times Mr Olympia, does yoga and Kobe Bryant (and Michael Jordan) trained in the gym 2-3 times a day on top of their basketball training.
3. Take care of your recovery
Whether you are doing light cardio or grueling strength training, leaving a window for recovery before the next session is always a good idea.
It is this exact recovery window that allows the trained muscles/functions to reach the state of supercompensation.
Supercompensation is essentially the point during recovery, at which the exercised muscles/functions have a higher working capacity than they did prior to the training bout.
This is what progress actually is - Your body preparing for bigger challenges!
We all have a natural tendency towards progress and adaptation… and by tapping into this we also increase our physical and mental resilience.
Here are some of the best ways to optimize your recovery:
● Get 0.8-2g of protein per kilo of bodyweight
● Consume enough healthy fats (at least 30% of your daily caloric intake for a balanced diet)
● Consume the right amount of carbohydrates for your training needs
● Hydrate yourself well (Avoid excessive thirst)
● Sleep 6-8 hours a night
● Let each muscle group rest ~72 hrs between strength training sessions
● Rest at least 24 hours between prolonged aerobic (cardio) sessions
● Get frequent deep tissue massages and or allied health treatments
4. Breathe more!
Besides robbing us of movement, the modern-day lifestyle often instills passive stress into the mind.
If your mind is stressed, so is the body and we all know that chronic stress has long-term side effects that manifest in many aspects of our lives.
This is where breathing exercises come into play.
Now, breathing is normally an autonomous function... until the moment you think of it.
And this is actually good!
Consciously controlling your breathing pattern can have massive benefits on your autonomous nervous system (ANS) right away.
Just 5-10 deep, slow inhales and exhales can instantly act as a powerful signal for the body.
That exact signal tells the ANS that it is time to relax and recover, thus allowing many glands in the body to secrete health-nurturing substances.
The step-by-step breathing practice we have for you below, can be used daily to manage any type of stress and bring harmony back to the heart & brain.
Breathing practice
This is essentially a meditation practice which has powerful effects even when done for a couple of minutes per day.
The main goal is to focus on your heart & lungs and induce a powerful self-regulation signal.
If any intrusive thoughts come to your mind, don’t follow and multiply them, just let them go and return your attention to the heart and lungs.
Doing regular physical/training activity, eating well and practicing mindfulness can be reframed as minimum standards or essential tools rather than someday “goals”.
Training and nutrition are key enables to help you set yourself up for better performance in any other aspect of your life.
Modern-day cities provide everything you need for a complete biological optimization, right at your fingertips. But the catch is that they also make it easy for you to create a full-on biological disaster.
The question is, which route are you gonna go?
Choice is yours, make the rest of your life the best of your life.
Amy King is the founder of AKE Fitness & Nutrition. When she’s not serving her clients, she is pursuing her corporate career in mining, bodybuilding and spending time with loved ones. She calls Perth, Western Australia home.
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