People come to the gym after they are no longer satisfied with their reflection in the mirror, their well-being has deteriorated or their stamina has decreased. But fitness can give you so much more.
Inquiries about health and aesthetics, in fact, are just triggers to help people understand that fitness and a healthy lifestyle are as necessary as sedentary activities, like chatting or playing at an online casino. Globally, this is what the entire fitness field is associated with in the public consciousness – wellness and beauty. However, each person has individual needs that come from our deepest values, views and attitudes toward the world. That’s why fitness classes can provide more than just a portion of physical activity that can make us healthy and beautiful.
People come to fitness for personal development, recognition, socialization, and a feeling of belonging to a community of energetic people who are constantly moving forward. Perhaps moving forward is the essence of fitness, both literally and figuratively. As we train, we perform mechanical movements that support all the metabolic processes in the body, just as we are moving toward improving the quality of our lives.
Table of Contents
How It Works
Aesthetics and health, as needs, are entry points for personal development within the concept of human wholeness. The need for health is the concern for physical well-being and the desire to give more resources to your body to be energetic, alert, and to realize all ideas and ideas.
The need for aesthetics is primarily the desire to look great, and a great appearance is associated with confidence, success in life, and the ability to be effective and productive. That is, the need for health can be characterized as a manifestation of the physical dimension of life, and the need for aesthetics as an emotional dimension.
These dimensions are closely interconnected, as is everything in our bodies and in life in general. By working on ourselves to improve our well-being, we end up with a beautiful, healthy body and thereby affect the emotional component, closing the need for aesthetics. As well as initially striving for external beauty and desire to change our figure and proportions, in the process of training we get a healthy, functional body.
At the same time, as we go through the various stages of the training process, we understand that the route to the desired goal is a set of simple steps, built into a coherent chain of algorithms. This connects our rational component.
Starting fitness classes based on any need, we are on the path of change, which will inevitably lead to the fact that all areas of our life will develop, transform and move to a qualitatively new level.
Moving on to Technique
To get results in fitness, consider three main components – nutrition, training, and recovery.
Of course, there are different approaches and strategies for solving a particular problem – nutrition schemes, training programs. And you can choose any options, as long as they are comfortable for you and lead to the desired goal. Just for the correct, environmentally friendly choice of actions for you, it’s worth a little bit to understand the essence of each component and its impact on the result.
Let’s start with nutrition. Without going into debates about the mysterious macronutrient ratios, let’s try to clarify the basic concepts that will help us adjust our diets. In general, nutrition issues are dealt with by separate sciences – dietetics, nutrition science, trophology, nutritional hygiene and others. However, it’s worth turning to specialists in such fields when there are health problems (perhaps not even related to food intake).
Nutrition: No Hunger
So, in the context of results in fitness we will be interested in such a concept as energy balance – the difference between what was consumed with food, and what the body used in the process of life. Besides physical activity, it includes the energy spent to maintain the performance of all systems – cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, etc. We will be interested in the difference in calories between what is eaten and what is spent.
And then the following principle applies: the body gains weight if the caloric intake exceeds the expenditure – this is called a surplus diet, and reduces otherwise – a deficit diet. It is important to note: effective and safe reduction of the fat component will occur at a deficit of 10-20% of the intake. If you reduce your caloric intake by a higher percentage, an adaptation mode may kick in, which will block weight loss. Conventionally speaking, the body will go into “energy saving” mode, which may also have a negative impact on health.
In the case of weight loss, it’s worth mentioning the feeling of hunger. Ideally there should be no hunger. Hunger is a signal to our nervous system about possible stress, which will, in particular, block weight loss. It’s important to feel satiated all the time, because this will determine how comfortable we will be with the caloric deficit.
From here, let’s move smoothly to the question of what foods to consume. If you don’t have any abnormalities or health problems, it isn’t critical how you will gain the required caloric intake. It is just worth noting: the “cleaner” your diet, the more smoothly your body will work and the faster you will reach your goal.
Most “unhealthy” foods tend to be rapidly digestible. For this reason, they will only contribute to the feeling of hunger. In this case, it’s still worth building up the diet in such a way as to avoid strong emotional stress due to sharp and significant restrictions.
Recovery: The Importance of Sleep
Our life consumes an enormous amount of internal resources. Not to mention the fact that our schedule also includes the training process. That is why high quality recovery is so important, to be effective, energetic, less stressed and resistant to various negative factors.
Sleep will be a key component here. On the one hand, it’s as accessible to each of us as possible. On the other hand, it’s often a component of life that is not given the attention it deserves.
But the quality of sleep will depend not only on energy, vigor and well-being during the day, but also on the psycho-emotional state. Numerous studies have shown that it’s necessary to maintain the duration of sleep in the range of 8-9 hours on a daily basis. Bedtime and wake-up time are also important – ideally they should be about the same from day to day. This will allow the body to adapt to the regimen, which in turn will improve the quality of sleep.
It’s recommended not to eat later than 4-5 hours before bedtime. You can take a bath or take a short walk 30-60 minutes before going to bed. Following these recommendations will also improve your recovery.
As you can see, a comprehensive approach is essential to achieving fitness goals. Any goal can be achieved when you have the resources to do everything you need to do. It’s unnecessary to try to grasp the immensity. Obviously, it’s human nature to want everything at once, but it’s important to choose the rhythm that will work for you at the moment.