A Fitness and Nutrition Balancing Act
Written by Mike Cheliak on December 8, 2009 – 3:46 pm -Have you ever felt as if you were running in circles when it comes to your fitness goals and routines? Most of us have wrestled with different programs, theories and methodologies only to find we tend to migrate back to our comfort zone.
Endurance athletes will opt for lighter routines, more long steady cardio and a more goal oriented training regimen (IE…getting ready for a big race).
Lifters (meatheads as I love to be referred to) are different. Athletes who lift as a primary means of fitness are fairly diverse. Strength, stamina, size, muscularity, lean body mass, power…the list goes on. Training cycles for people who lift vary from leaning out to bulking up…from adding size to increasing strength.
The one common denominator in any fitness regimen is your nutrition. There are thousands of different schools of thought about nutrition and more programs, diets and scientific principals than there are days in a decade.
The key to success in any case is finding your balance. Your equilibrium in fitness and nutrition is different from anyone else. Your metabolism, genetic inclinations, ability to process certain foods, adaptability, size, sex and many other factors will all come to play when it pertains to your balance.
I am very intolerant of processed carbs (pasta, bread, boxed or bagged stuff…). My balance is found by limiting carbs to fibrous veggies and a small amount of starchy veggies (potatoes, yams…). I function much better on a Primal diet which is comprised largely of unprocessed foods. I am also a short, thick and strong body type bordering on Endomorphic. I am inclined to Fast Twitch (Sprint, power) as opposed to Slow Twitch (Endurance). My balance is found by eating a diet of fruit, veggies and meat with very little coming from any processed carbs at all. I maintain somewhere between 50-150 grams of carbs per day depending on which state I am in (bulk or lean).
I have a friend who would waste away to nothing if she didn’t have bread, pasta, rice and other grains to supplement. She is an extreme Ectomorph and an endurance athlete. She can run for days but needs to constantly reefed and jack up on carbs just to maintain her slight frame. She really needs to have calorie dense foods like breads and high starch grains to ensure she is giving her system enough calories to function.
Whichever route you need to take, it HAS to be a route that works for you. There are no cookie cutter solutions when it comes to fitness and nutrition. Fighting your genetic inclination is like swimming upstream. You are constantly battling the route your body wants to take. The trick is to find the path that yields you the best results.
You need to put in the effort in your workouts, you need to control and adapt your eating to provide you with the best results and you need to commit to your method once you have figured it out. You don’t need to do this alone. Find a good resource to help you build a good fitness routine and then find someone who understands the dynamics of nutrition.
All of the mainstream solutions for nutrition are all but useless. They provide a means to an end but don’t tell you that once it ends, you go back to square one. That’s why they make so much money…repeat business!
In happiness and health as always!
Mike C.
Posted in Mike's Posts | No Comments »
