Results require work outside of the gym…
In todays blog we want to touch base on why areas outside of the gym are just as important as inside in order to get results. There are many benefits to personal training such as having a support system, someone to keep you accountable, track your workouts, and give you advice on areas such as nutrition. Over the years we’ve helped a lot of people get results and keep them by adopting a balanced lifestyle but the thing to consider is focusing on areas outside of the gym is key to success. How well we are sleeping, stress levels, nutrition, alcohol intake, et. are all areas that can limit the results we see even with consistency inside the gym. Below we will dive into each area a little more in depth to give you a better idea of where to focus when you’re not getting your workouts in, let’s do it!
First of all the main area that comes to mind is nutrition because in todays ultra processed world its hard to find quality options to fuel our body and keep it running optimally. Especially now that covid has subsided we are all back to running around like crazy which means often times making sporadic decisions when it comes to our nutrition. When eating on the run such as in the airport or in a gas station its hard to find quality products that aren’t fried, processed, etc. This is why it’s super important to plan ahead and ensure we have good food available. Even if we aren’t on the run we should look to plan our meals out each week, even if we get off track a day we still had more consistency then if we would’ve shot from the hip. When preparing your meals think about making every thing from scratch by shopping the perimeter of the grocery store. Avoid things that come from a can, box, or frozen section as 9/10 they will have ingredients that are bad for us. Focus on getting protein in each meal to help repair and heal your muscles from strength training but also to keep us satiated (feeling fuller long) to avoid overeating. Lastly make sure we aren’t underrating as well as not getting enough calories can slow down our metabolism over time.
The next point to touch base on is our sleep because sleep is way more important than people realize. In our society we often times praise people who are burning the candle at both ends but for the body and brain to function properly we need regular sleep. It’s no secret today that we are all overstimulated through our phones and tv but the important thing is to be able to unplug. This helps us to destress and improve the quality of our sleep. Over the years I have found it helpful to not take my phone to bed and read each night as a way to wind down improving sleep quality. This is a great and easy place for us all to start working on improving and will help a lot of other things fall in place.
One of the last points to make when it comes to working on things outside of the gym is alcohol intake. It’s no secret that our society has normalized alcohol consumption and it is served everywhere and socially acceptable at most events. It’s even now at movie theaters and other places it never was before. While it’s ok to enjoy an occasional cocktail we want to avoid making this a regular habit. The empty calories that come from alcohol are bad but often times its everything that comes with it such as messing up our sleep, making us eat late night food, and making us too hungover to get our activity in the next day. Over the years the clients who have focused on limiting their alcohol intake have seen the best results, had more energy, and eventually decided it was just going to be an occasional thing once they started looking and feeling better!
To conclude all the points above its important to understand when starting an exercise program that its not only going to require you to focus on the gym but a lot of other things outside of the gym. Personal training is a great way to learn about lifting and how to exercise but if we really want to see results the things outside of the gym have to fall in line with our exercise regiment. If you’re looking for accountability and direction then look no further than FGF!
