A brief post today, but something important to think about.
When starting out on your fitness journey, it’s very important to understand just how much every minute of the day factors into the results you get from the time spent in the gym.
Very often, especially for those just starting out and learning about health and exercise, it’s believed that the work starts and ends with the time spent in the gym exercising and working out.
While the time in the gym and what you do with it is important, you must realize that to truly get the most out of the work you put in during your workouts, everything else in your life must also be taken into account and calibrated to work synchronistically with your workouts.
For example, if you’re not sleeping enough, your workouts could suffer. Your motivation to get in the gym could start to wither away and when you’re in the gym, you may find that your strength isn’t what it should be. Your endurance and stamina may be lower than usual.
Your mood may suffer, too. I for one, find I am extremely cranky and irritable when I haven’t had a good night’s sleep.
Sleep and rest are so important… your recovery from workouts, your muscle growth, your hormonal health, your energy throughout the day… all depend on you getting good quality sleep. Don’t neglect that.
Your food intake. This also is so important in achieving your exercise and fitness goals. If you’re eating foods that aren’t on your plan, you’re deliberately fouling up your results and you need to really think about what it is you want to accomplish.
If you can’t stick with your eating plan, for whatever reason, you may want to reassess and seek some help either through with a nutritionist or a fitness coach who can help you come up with a plan that you’re more likely to stick with.
How much water you drink. There are different schools of thought on this, different experts recommend different amounts and I’ve heard anywhere from 64oz. a day to 4 gallons like Tom Brady of the Patriots says he drinks.
If you’re going to be away from home, away from the things that are part of your daily routine, it’s important to figure out ways to replicate your environment or make the most out of the environment you’ll be in so that you don’t self-sabotage and hinder your results and go off plan. I talked briefly about that here.
In closing, don’t forget that it’s not just the time in the gym. To truly transform and change yourself into the fittest, healthiest version of you, make sure you’re taking every activity, every food, every drink, every thought of your day into account. Every little bit counts, it all adds up, it all matters.
Until next time…
Always Activate. Get Going.
