Fitness: A Three Legged Stool

We’re all fitness experts.  Of course we are.  You can go up to anyone on the street, anyone at all, and they will tell you how to lose weight, get in shape, and build muscle.  They’ll tell you that you need to go to the gym more, you need to exercise, and you need to be active!  Or you’ll have people tell you just watch what you eat, cut calories, or don’t eat that!  Now take a step back and look at who you asked.  Are they in shape?  Odds are…no.  Maybe we don’t know everything about fitness after all.  Or, maybe we just don’t know that there is more to it than just Diet and Exercise.

There is one more aspect that must be considered.  Fitness is a three legged stool: Diet, Exercise, and REST.  If any one component of this is off then the whole stool will topple over.

You need to consider your diet. Diet as in: what you eat, not the act of restricting yourself or whatever else you associate with the word diet. For the most part it is watching what you eat that can make all of the difference.  Without cutting calories, as long as you are putting food that is good for you in your body you should start seeing a noticeable difference.  Food that is good for you means including, healthy proteins (Eggs, Fish, etc.), healthy fats (Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Avocados, etc.), healthy Carbohydrates (Oatmeal, Quinoa, Potatoes, Beans, etc.), and tons of fruits and vegetables for your vitamins and minerals in your DIET.  And a good rule of thumb is: DON’T BUY ANYTHING PROCESSED, get the raw versions of all of the above foods.  Ok, so now that you have an idea of what you should be eating, this doesn’t mean you can just disregard calories because this food is “healthy.”  The premise of fat storage is calories in and calories out.  If the calories in is less than the calories out, you’ll be in a calorie deficit (weight loss).  If the calories in is more than the calories out, you’ll be in a calorie surplus (weight gain).  There are plenty of good calorie counters out there (myfitnesspal) that will tell you what your daily caloric requirements are and break it down into what your macro nutrients (Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Fats) should be.  No, contrary to popular belief, eating all the protein you can is not beneficial for you.

In regards to exercise, keep your workout sessions INTENSE and Challenging.  Intense means that you are keeping rest in between sets short (Less than 2 minutes).   Challenging means that you are using a heavy enough weight that will allow you to properly perform each rep of each set with difficulty.    

Lastly rest, the most overlooked aspect of the whole picture.  If you’re not resting you’re not improving.  Give each muscle group at least 24–48 hours to recover before performing heavy lifting sessions (Sorry fellas, can’t work arms everyday).  Couple this with around 7 - 9 hours of sleep EVERY night and you’ve got yourself a very firm foundation to fitness!

That’s it, follow these three rules. Remember, that if any one leg of this three legged stool is missing or weak, the whole thing will topple over.  We hope the best for you!

We are advocates of your goals!

-Brian