Understanding Wellness in the Fitness Industry is summed up by the Wellness Triangle. It involves a 3 pronged attack or, better said: DEVELOPING & EXECUTING 3 PLANS!
TOP OF THE TRIANGLE:
Plan #1: MENTAL APPROACH:
This involve the Mental and Emotional tools to do what is required to achieve and maintain fitness. It includes knowing what you are required to do to meet your goals! It involves understanding your beliefs: which beliefs serve you and which beliefs do not. It involves a willingness to change those beliefs that do not serve you, the ones that are getting in the way!
Alvin Toffler said it best … “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot Read or Write, but those who cannot Learn, Unlearn, and Relearn”.
It involves getting social support and “buy-in” from some important friends and loved ones.
Take care of SOCIAL WELL BEING. Sometimes this involves building a new support group if you current support group does not understand and support your efforts … we call that surrounding yourself with “like-minded” people!
It involves using your mind to infuse positive thoughts and actions into your life that reinforce your efforts and goals.
Making sure you not only set goals, but set specific goals, with a deadline, and evaluation, building a new plan with corrections, and establishing and going after new goals! Critical to this is understanding what is working and what is not!
Consider two scales, both 0-10, one of importance and one of confidence. Understanding your commitment, 10 being extremely important combined with this established understanding of your confidence that you can do it on a scale of 0-10, 10 being extremely confident, and based on these results, getting assistance if you are less then a 9.
YOUR SUCCESS IS DETERMINED BY YOUR DECISIONS!
understand that your plans for change are made with you left brain or the logical side of your brain and your plans are executed by your right side of your brain or your emotional side. Logic builds a plan, but your feelings execute it. Safe guards must be put in place such as “I don’t eat that” or “I eat/exercise according to my goals” statements which are constantly and consistently reinforced with healthy lifestyle decisions.
GOOD EXERCISE AND NUTRITIONAL DECISIONS ARE A HABIT … LIKE A MUSCLE THEY REQUIRE WORK AND REINFORCEMENT TO DEVELOP AND BE STRONG!
BOTTOM LEFT OF THE TRIANGLE:
Plan #2: EXERCISE
In your Plan should be:
Aerobic –
Aerobic exercise (also known as cardio) is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy – generating process. It can be aimed at weight loss or cardio vascular fitness depending on your goals!
Anaerobic –
Anaerobic exercise is an exercise intense enough to trigger lactose formation. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass.
Flexibility –
Flexibility is defined as the range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely. It also refers to the mobility of your muscles, which allows for more movement around the joints.
Activity Specific Exercise-
Activity Specific Exercises are sport specific exercise aimed at increasing activity efficiency and your activity performance. This includes economy of force aimed at maximized output, reducing fatigue and unnecessary movements which can lead greater performance and reduction in the exercise related trauma.
BOTTOM RIGHT TRIANGLE:
Plan #3 NUTRITION
THIS IS THE MOST CRITICAL PLAN TO GET LASTING RESULTS:
Food is Fuel … How our performance is directly related to the QUALITY of our FOOD!!!
Your ability to perform is directly related to having quality amounts of the nutrients that our energy is made from and supporting the systems that make it. Having the proper amount carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats form high quality sources to support performance. Understanding that exercise is oxydative stress and having the essential nutrients that are required to repair and replenish your body.
Old School … YOU are what you EAT!
New School … YOU are what you ABSORB… it only works if your body can break it down and absorb it to use it! This requires a healthy digestive tract and systems functioning efficiently, that will not only get the good stuff in, but process the bad stuff out!
Understanding the relationship between FOOD & HEALTH!
We are required to eat what our body is made off! Crap in … Crap out! Are the building blocks of your body from quality nutrients or nutritional bankrupt foods? Do you really want the building blocks of your body to be fast, cheap, and easy?
Are you getting:
a proper ratio of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, & Fiber, the 60 Essential Micro Nutrients, the 11 Amino Acids, the 2 Essential Fatty Acids, the 13 Vitamins, the 21 Minerals, the 7 Enzymes, and the 6 Probiotics … that support Exercise and it’s recovery and your body staying Healthy!
Understand that the producers of our foods often put profits ahead of our health and performance. Do your best to insure you stay away from foods produced in a manner that robs use of nutrients or adds chemicals that endanger our health!
STAY AWAY FROM FOODS PRODUCED IN A WAY HARMFUL TO MY HEALTH!
I work diligently to set the highest standard for my foods: I work to say: No GMO, No Soy, Organic Only, No products treated with antibiotics, hormones, No farm raised, No large wild caught fish, Only free range poultry, No denatured whey products, No or very low sodium, avoid alcohol for the most part, No high fructose corn syrup, No Hydrated oils, saturated oils, no chemically enhanced food to preserve it, low caffeine, poorly processed food to increase it’s profitability, No Hidden high glycemic sugary foods, no artificial sweeteners, and I avoid doing business with food companies that do not honor my commitment!
VERY IMPORTANT:
As athletes, the use of Adaptogens or adaptogenic substances, compounds, & herbs that results in stabilization of physiological processes and promotion of homeostasis, an example being by decreased cellular sensitivity to stress.
MOST IMPORTANTLY ...
For women 80% effort for achieving and maintaining results lies within your nutritional Plan!
For men, because of higher testosterone levels, your goals determine where on the spectrum of importance nutrition is to succeeding. Achieving your goals if they are weight loss is 60% exercise 40% nutrition … But long term … Maintaining this loss is 80% nutrition 20% exercise due to injuries, complications of schedule (life gets in the way), and most often seasonally driven opportunity to do something you are passionate about!
Understand this … for both men/women, the bigger your goals are (pictured above, left to right), the bigger and more important part nutrition plays in both achieving them and maintaining them!
SUCCESS IN THE KITCHEN MAKES FOR SUCCESS ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE.
THE BIGGEST LESSON I LEARNED, DEVOTING MY LIFE TO THE FITNESS INDUSTRY AND HELPING OTHER ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS IS THIS … A ROCK SOLID NUTRITIONAL PLAN IS IMPORTANT FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS AND VITAL TO MAINTAINING SUCCESS AND I USE THE BEST! THIS WHEEL HAS ALREADY BEEN INVENTED … FIND OUR WHAT IT IS! 