What You Need to Know About Reaching Your Fitness Goals – Part 5
Nova Health Club • July 5, 2018
Nutrition is Paramount.
Your choice of food affects everything! Hands down, if you are not consistently following healthy nutritional habits you will struggle to reach your health and fitness goals.
In the previous four parts of this series, we learned that to reach your goals you need to first be healthy and to be healthy you need to limit stress, improve sleep and recovery, functional move better and most important, put as much effort as possible into nutrition. The food you choose to eat has a direct impact on these areas of health - stress, recovery and movement. Food can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. If you want to fight stress, improve recovery, move better and reach fitness goals then improving your eating habits is probably the best change you can make for your present body and future self.
Choose Food to Combat Stress. When you are under acute stress, your body releases specific hormones such as cortisol that help you combat the stress by regulating the amount of glucose in your blood (increased blood sugar levels). Because many people suffer from chronic stress, cortisol levels are always elevated and this leads to hunger response signals from the brain that often leads to overeating high carbohydrate or sugary foods. Stressed individuals have worse eating habits compared to those under less stress. As a result these overly stressed people put on unwanted body fat and because of the low nutrients levels from the low quality foods, they do not nourish the body the way it needs and along with becoming fatter, they can end up getting sick too. Being fat and sick is not what anyone wants! But we do it all the time to ourselves whether from ignorance, negligence or socioeconomic pressures.
If you suffer from chronic stress, be aware and take action by choosing super healthy, immune boosting foods! These foods will not only prevent weight gain but strengthen the very cells of your body that are being beaten up by your stress and poor food choices. Food is meant to nourish your body with nutrients, vitamins and minerals. When you are stressed, your body needs more of certain nutrients, vitamins and minerals and the food you eat will either provide this or it will not.
Stress busting foods rebuild and strengthen the body by providing nutrients such as B Vitamins, Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Magnesium. For example, B Vitamins can be found in dark leafy greens, eggs and whole grains. Omega 3 Fatty Acid rich foods include fish, flaxseeds and walnuts. Magnesium can be found in foods such as dark green leafy vegetables, cashews/almonds and legumes. These essentials are not found in the fast processed foods most of us choose to eat when looking for a quick meal to then get back to work with.
Furthermore, fortifying your already healthy diet with supplements to provide the above nutrients and vitamins should also be considered. Note that vitamin supplements in itself will not solve your nutrition deficiencies and should not be used to replace a bad diet. Supplements are just that - supplements - they are made to supplement what you are already doing well.
Improve recovery and move better with food. Exercise training is a stress on the body that breaks down muscle fibers and depletes energy reserves. Great training coaches and athletes know their workouts are not over until after their post-workout meal. After a workout, the average person does not consider their recovery meal and often neglects it entirely or can be seen at the coffee shop with a cappuccino and croissant. Working out serves a purpose beyond the 30-60 minutes of the workout so if you invest your time, money and hard effort into a workout why would you not serve the greater purpose by replenishing your body with a healthy post-workout recovery meal?
Neglecting to eat properly after and between workouts will not allow you to perform your best or get the most out of your future workouts. One of the main goals of working out is to put on muscle mass. Muscles that were exhausted from working out need the right amount of protein and carbohydrates in order for protein synthesis and muscle recovery to occur. Without these nutrients you risk losing muscle and increasing your body fat percentage - exactly what you are trying to avoid! A poor diet in between workouts will also zap your energy levels, affecting both for your daily activities and your next workout. When you recover from a workout with the right foods, your muscles and joints feel better, remain sore for less time and able you to move at their best during the day and at your next workout.
Food should also be used to help you recover from other stresses in your life outside of workouts. For example, when your immune system is weak with a physical illness, after experiencing even emotional stress or after a physical injury food can work in amazing ways that will help you to recover faster! All of these stressors require proper nutrition in order to aid recovery and get you back to feeling like yourself again. Lastly, sleep can also be improved with sound food choices. When you eat a diet high in vitamins and minerals, all the living cells in your body work better, the way they were designed to thereby allowing you to rest and sleep better at the end of your day.
As you can see, changing your nutritional habits is very important to reach your health and fitness goals but it can be one of the most challenging things to change because it takes more than just showing up to the workout or going to bed on time. Even when you know what you should be eating, doing so is much easier said than done. As humans, the food we eat is determined by our emotions, social interactions, media and financial status. To change your nutrition 180 degrees requires addressing all of these areas and doing this is very difficult as it sometimes will require a complete lifestyle overhaul. The good news is that it is possible and can be done over time. Just as it took years to become unhealthy or put on 25lbs, it can take years for massive lifestyle changes to occur. One step leads to the next…
That is why starting an exercise program is sometimes the best first step. Working out an extra three hours a week starts the healthy lifestyle change process and will lead to other positive changes in nutrition over time. Just don’t expect many performance and body fat reduction improvements from your exercise program if you are unaware of how to eat well or have been adapted to many years of a fast/processed food lifestyle. Furthermore, no matter how hard or how much you workout you can never out-train a bad diet.
Great lifestyle training coaches support people by educating, motivating and challenging people to make small progressive changes over time. By focusing on one positive nutritional change at a time, you can master it and then be ready for the next change. Some people attempt to make many changes all at once (all or nothing mentality) and sometimes succeed, however failure is more often the case for these people because they were not able to properly adapt the rest of their life and mindset with the changes all at once. If you are far in the deep end do not worry, it can be easy with one focal point at a time. For example, it could start by changing breakfast first. Then it could be packing your own healthy lunch, then it could be veggies at every meal then it could be changing to organic. Slowly but surely, you will adapt to a new eating plan that will make you healthier, less stressed, stronger, recover faster, move and perform better and get the results you deserve from your exercise program.
Default vs Future Thinking Here is a question we should all be asking ourselves more: "What would the future version of you be doing right now?" Not the current version who is tired, busy or overwhelmed. The future you who is leaner, stronger, more energized and showing up powerful in every area of life... The version of you that has the results you want. The Future Self Thinks Differently And they got there by making different choices than the easy ones our current self so often subscribes to. Your future self doesn't cancel a workout because sleep wasn't perfect. They don't skip exercise because they are tired or because something came up at work, a last minute social invitation appeared or there's a haircut to fit in And if something does get in the way, they reschedule to earlier, later or the next day. They don't put health at the bottom of the list and wait for the schedule to calm down. Because they figured out something most people never do - things never calm down. Life doesn't get less busy. It just finds new ways to fill every gap you leave open. Your future self made a decision at some point. They started prioritizing their health the same way they prioritize family and work. Not above everything else. Right next to the things that matter most. That one decision is what separates the people who get results from the people who stay stuck in the same cycle year after year. The Two Versions of You Here is the thing most people miss. There are always two versions of you competing in the decision making process. The current default version that is tired, reactive and looking for the easy way out. And the future version that is already living the life you want and making choices that reflect that. Every single day you are casting votes for one of those two versions. Every time you show up when it is hard you are not just getting a workout in. You are becoming your future self. Every time you cancel/skip/defer you are voting to stay exactly where you are. The identity shift doesn't happen when you reach your goal. It happens in the small decisions you make when nobody is watching and things are hard. The Question That Cuts Through Every Excuse Stop asking yourself how you feel about your workout today. Start asking yourself what the person you want to become would do today. That question cuts through every excuse because the answer is always the same. - they show up. Next time you are faced with a decision that interferes with your workout, take a moment and ask yourself two things. What does my default mode want me to do? And what would my future self do? The gap between those two answers is exactly where your results live. The Shift Starts With One Decision You don't need a perfect plan. You don't need the right time or the right conditions. You just need to start making decisions that your future self would be proud of. One session at a time. One choice at a time. That is how the identity shift happens. That is how the results follow. And if you want support making that shift - a coach and a team who hold you to the standard of your future self, not your current default - is exactly what we are here to do.
Why Your Brain Talks You Out Of The Gym Every Time There are days when my energy is low. I didn’t sleep well the night before and I'm deep in work, the timeline is tight and everything is pulling at me at once. In those moments the last thing I want to do is work out. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm scattered. Not feeling it at all. And my brain does what every human brain does in that moment - it looks for the easy way out. The easy way out is always the same - skip the workout. I tell myself I'll make up for it tomorrow or next week… Or when things calm down. But tomorrow and next week are never any different. I've been training consistently for 30 years and I still feel this at least once a week and I've learned to recognize what's actually happening in that moment so that I don’t self sabotage. The Two Voices We all have these moments and when it happens there are two voices in your head. The first voice is loud, justified and incredibly convincing. It tells you that you're too tired. That you deserve a break. That you've been working so hard and one missed workout won't matter. That you'll go tomorrow for sure. This is your default voice - the one wired for the path of least resistance. It has kept humans safe and comfortable for thousands of years but it is working against you big time! The second voice is quieter. Easier to ignore. It doesn't shout. It just says - go anyway. That voice is your future self. The version of you that is leaner, stronger, more energized and more capable. And the future version of you didn't get there by listening to the loud default voice. The future self got there by learning to hear the quiet one. Here's what most people don't realize. Every time you listen to the default voice you make it louder. Every time you listen to the quiet one you make it stronger. The workout you skip today isn't just a missed session. It's a vote for the version of you that stays stuck. Your Default Operating System We all have a default mode - a way of thinking and behaving that kicks in automatically when things get hard. If your health is not where you want it to be, your default operating system is a big part of the reason. It generates a thousand reasons why not to continue when things get challenging. Too tired. Too busy. Too stressed. Not the right time. After the holidays. When things calm down. Sound familiar? The default voice doesn't just keep you from working out. It keeps you exactly where you are - year after year - wondering why nothing ever changes. Most people don't fail because they are lazy. They fail because they never trained the most important muscle they have - their mind. Thoughts create feelings. Feelings create actions. Actions create results. Change the thought and you change everything. The Agreement I Made With Myself On the days I don't want to train I make a simple agreement with myself: if I go, I am permitted to put in less effort. That's it. I tell myself it is okay to go have a crappy workout. In doing that the pressure of having to perform at my best disappears completely. So I go with zero expectation and the mindset that anything is better than nothing. And almost every single time, after the warm-up, I'm in the groove. What felt like a terrible idea 20 minutes earlier ends up being exactly what I needed. The hardest part is always putting on my shoes and walking out the door. That's it. The shoes on is the whole battle. Hilarious isn't it? Newton had a law for this. A body at rest stays at rest. The inertia that keeps you on the couch, at your desk or stuck in your head is real. But a body in motion stays in motion too. The moment you take that first step the rest takes care of itself. The Days You Want To Skip Are The Most Important Here's a reframe that changed everything for me. The days and weeks that feel the most scattered and stressful are actually the most important times to show up. Not despite the stress - because of it. Exercise is one of the most powerful stress regulators your body has access to. The workout you want to cancel the most is almost always the one you need the most. So the next time your brain starts telling you to take a session off, recognize what's happening. That's the loud voice. The default voice. The one keeping you small. Your future self is the quiet voice on the other shoulder saying go anyway. Every time you listen to that quiet voice you are casting a vote for the person you are becoming. Show up tired. Show up stressed. Show up scattered. Just show up. A bad workout is always better than no workout. Always!!! You Don't Have To Figure This Out Alone One of the biggest reasons people keep listening to the loud default voice is because there is no one holding them accountable. When the only person expecting you to show up is yourself, the loud voice almost always wins. That's not a character flaw. That's just human nature. Having a coach and a team expecting you to walk through that door changes everything. It shifts the workout from a promise you made to yourself - which is easy to break - to a commitment you made to someone else. If you're ready to stop letting the loud voice win, let's talk. Book your free consultation by clicking the button below.
Injured? Here's Why You Should Keep Training Injuries happen to all of us at some point. Maybe it happens during a workout. Maybe it's moving a heavy piece of furniture at home. Maybe it's just waking up one morning and something doesn't feel right. Whatever the cause, the moment something hurts most people do the same thing - they stop. Rest. Recover. Wait until they feel better. I understand why it feels like the safe and logical thing to do. But after 25 years of coaching I can tell you that stopping completely is almost never the right answer. The Doctor's Advice - And Why It's Incomplete When something hurts, most doctors will tell you to rest and stop working out. I get why they say it - they don't want you making things worse and they are being cautious. But here is what most doctors don't factor in: there is a difference between resting an injured area and stopping all movement entirely. Your doctor is not trained in how to work around injuries during exercise. That is a completely different skill set - one that coaches who have studied kinesiology, anatomy and biomechanics spend years developing. Knowing how the body responds to training under stress or injury is exactly what we do. And the answer is almost never to stop moving completely. The Choice Most People Don't Realize They're Making When you get injured you actually have two options. Most people only see one. Option A is to protect the injured area and keep the rest of your body strong. Option B is to protect the injured area and let the rest of your body get weaker at the same time. When you look at it that way the answer is obvious. And yet most people still choose Option B without even realizing it. I learned this firsthand years ago when I dislocated my shoulder. For about six months I couldn't do any serious upper body training at all. So I kept showing up with the exact same consistency and focused entirely on legs. My legs became super strong during that period. Meanwhile someone who stops going completely doesn't just lose upper body strength - they lose strength everywhere. The injury heals either way. But only one person comes back stronger. Be Solution Oriented - Not Problem Oriented Two people with the exact same injury can have two completely different outcomes based on mindset alone. The solution oriented person works around the injury and keeps moving in a modified way. The person with a limiting mindset stops everything, fixates on the problem and waits. The only bad workout is the one that didn't happen. That is not just a motivational line - it is the difference between people who get results and people who don't. Think Like an Athlete Have you ever heard of a professional athlete cancelling all of their training because of an injury? Never. When a professional athlete gets injured their training becomes modified - not cancelled. They focus on three things: rest, rehabilitation and maintenance. By continuing to train the right way they recover faster and come back stronger. You don't have to be a professional athlete to think this way. This is just how the body works - for everyone. 3 Parts to Fixing Injuries 1) Rest Strategic rest - not complete rest. Avoid the activities that aggravate the injury but keep everything else moving. If you tore a hamstring from sprinting, stop sprinting - but don't stop training entirely. 2) Rehabilitation Specific exercises that promote blood flow and healing to the injured area. A torn hamstring still needs gentle activation to heal faster - not complete shutdown. This is where having a qualified coach makes all the difference. 3) Maintenance While the injured area is healing, the rest of your body still needs attention. There is no reason to lose the strength and fitness you have worked hard to build just because one area is compromised. Common Injuries and What You Can Still Do Shoulder or arm injury? Focus on legs, core and rehabilitation work for the injured area. Back injury? Deep core work, supported upper body exercises and mobility - there is more available than most people think. Knee or leg injury? Upper body work, hip hinging movements and rehabilitation exercises that don't load the joint directly. Twisted ankle? Upper body, core and stretching. More options than you'd expect. The only time to completely stop training is if you are fully incapacitated. For almost every other injury there is a path forward. You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone Knowing how to modify training around an injury takes experience and knowledge. If you are injured right now and not sure what you can or can't do - that is exactly the kind of problem we solve every day. You don't have to wait until you feel 100% to reach out. In fact the sooner you do the better your outcome will be.
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