More Than Exercise

You’ve probably heard the different methods of lifting weights.  Use light weights and high reps to cut, and low reps with heavy weight to bulk. While there may be a little truth in this, it doesn’t really work like that.  The biggest thing when it comes to bulking or cutting is food.  Food is such a huge part of any kind of workout.  There’s no one exercise that is going to get you shredded if you are eating whatever you want.

Likewise, lifting huge weights with low reps is only going to bulk you so much.  You want a six pack?  Sure crunches, planks, and other ab workouts are needed, but even more important is eating clean and eating the right amount.  If you continue to eat crap while working out you will see small results.

And diet is the hardest part.  You go to the gym and are done in an hour or so, but diet is something you have to work on every part of the day every day.

You have to consciously think about everything you put in your mouth.  Sounds hard right?  Well yes it is.  But who said being fit was easy?

Now I’m not saying exercise by itself is bad, I know a lot of people who don’t follow any strict diets, and workout and stay in shape. But there is a limit to how in shape they are.  Because exercise alone can only take your body to a certain level.

So where do you start with food?  Well first get an app or go online and calculate how many calories you need for what your goal is.   Myfitnesspal is a great one for this, it also allows you to keep track of everything you eat, which you have to do.

Once you know how many calories you should be eating now it’s time to get them from healthy sources.  Hitting your calorie limit by just eating snickers bars all day isn’t going to do the trick.

Eat clean meat, lots of fish, turkey, or chicken.  Limit red meat to like once a week or less.  Cut out soda, diet soda included (that is worse than regular).  Cut out white carbs, and instead go for whole wheat and whole grain.  Stay away from too much juice.  Drink at minimum a half gallon of water a day.  Get plenty of green veggies.  Protein powder in almond milk is a great snack if you are trying to drop weight, put it in regular milk if you are trying to gain.  Start thinking differently about food, it’s not just about how it tastes, but how is it fueling your body?

You’ve probably heard the different methods of lifting weights.  Use light weights and high reps to cut, and low reps with heavy weight to bulk. While there may be a little truth in this, it doesn’t really work like that.  The biggest thing when it comes to bulking or cutting is food.  Food is such a huge part of any kind of workout.  There’s no one exercise that is going to get you shredded if you are eating whatever you want.

Likewise, lifting huge weights with low reps is only going to bulk you so much.  You want a six pack?  Sure crunches, planks, and other ab workouts are needed, but even more important is eating clean and eating the right amount.  If you continue to eat crap while working out you will see small results.

And diet is the hardest part.  You go to the gym and are done in an hour or so, but diet is something you have to work on every part of the day every day.

You have to consciously think about everything you put in your mouth.  Sounds hard right?  Well yes it is.  But who said being fit was easy?

Now I’m not saying exercise by itself is bad, I know a lot of people who don’t follow any strict diets, and workout and stay in shape. But there is a limit to how in shape they are.  Because exercise alone can only take your body to a certain level.

So where do you start with food?  Well first get an app or go online and calculate how many calories you need for what your goal is.   Myfitnesspal is a great one for this, it also allows you to keep track of everything you eat, which you have to do.

Once you know how many calories you should be eating now it’s time to get them from healthy sources.  Hitting your calorie limit by just eating snickers bars all day isn’t going to do the trick.

Eat clean meat, lots of fish, turkey, or chicken.  Limit red meat to like once a week or less.  Cut out soda, diet soda included (that is worse than regular).  Cut out white carbs, and instead go for whole wheat and whole grain.  Stay away from too much juice.  Drink at minimum a half gallon of water a day.  Get plenty of green veggies.  Protein powder in almond milk is a great snack if you are trying to drop weight, put it in regular milk if you are trying to gain.  Start thinking differently about food, it’s not just about how it tastes, but how is it fueling your body?