With so many of us leaping onto the fitness bandwagon, it can very easy to become hurt by pushing ourselves past our limits. Mike Snader, Body Aware Specialist, at The BodyHoliday, discusses the importance of training your body at your own pace and not trying to run, before you can walk.
With so many of us leaping onto the fitness bandwagon, it can very easy to become hurt by pushing ourselves past our limits. Mike Snader, Body Aware Specialist, at The BodyHoliday, discusses the importance of training your body at your own pace and not trying to run, before you can walk.
With today's saturation of information on health, fitness, and nutrition related topics it's easy to become confused. There are many credible sources but others may have hidden agendas that are designed to do one thing. Separate you from your money. They target you with fancy ads and ripped physiques in order to persuade you to purchase their products. The following advice is universal and can help you take a more methodical approach to your fitness and nutrition.
First, stop looking for the latest and greatest. There is no magic fitness programme or one way that everyone should eat. In fact, many of the newest flashiest programs will leave you with disappointing results. Do you know why guys back in the day ran up hills, did sit-ups, worked in a ton of push-ups, and did countless pull-ups? Because they worked. These are basics that are time tested and will continue to be a major part of a solid fitness program. The same applies to food choices. Lean protein sources, fruits, and vegetables are always good options. Don't over complicate things.
The BodyHoliday'sBody Aware Specialist, Mike Snader, shares his thoughts about training at your own pace
Ask yourself this question. Am I getting ahead of myself? Are you attempting to run before you can even crawl? Are you concerned about how many milligrams of magnesium a food has when you don't even eat three consistent meals a day? It's easy to get caught up in the most trivial details. Maybe it's because you read an article about a professional athlete's diet or some celebrity’s fitness program. Keep in mind most of the time these are just generated to sell magazines or products and not actually what these people are doing. You would be surprised how basic most athlete and celebrity programmes are.
So are you in the crawling, walking, or running phase? See where you fit in and ask yourself the questions below.
Are you eating meals at a consistent time each day? Are you choosing good food sources? Are you eating a majority of unprocessed foods? Do you have a consistent exercise schedule? These things are the equivalent of crawling.
How many calories are you consuming daily? What is the breakdown of carbs, proteins, and fats? How are you breaking up your exercises during your training? These are the equivalent of walking.
When are you timing your food intake in relation to your exercise? In what methodical order are you completing your exercises? What type of intra-workout beverage are you having? What percentage of your one rep max are you using during your training? How many grams of carbs/protein are you using for your post workout nutrition? This is the equivalent of running.
It makes no sense to worry about your post workout nutrition if you can't even conform to a regular eating schedule. It makes no sense to worry about training with a specific percentage of your one rep max if you can't even be consistent with your exercise schedule and continue to miss frequent sessions.
Crawl before you walk and walk before you run. You can save yourself time and frustration by taking this approach as well as obtain better results. See if you can stick to the basics consistently for 4-6 weeks before moving on to a more technical version of your fitness and nutrition approach. And don't kid yourself. Just because you did well for a week doesn't mean you're ready to move on to the next phase. You need consistency and discipline for extended periods of time. Also, keep in mind the fundamentals are always there. They don't go away just because you added more nutritional restrictions or focused on a new exercise programme. Eat and train smart and good things will happen.
This is a guest blog post by Mike Snader, Body Aware Specialist at The BodyHoliday. If you would like to book a holiday at The BodyHoliday, enquire online here, talk to one of our Travel Specialists on 0203 397 8891 or email us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
