Balancing Nutrition and Fitness

Developing an exercise regimen and training your body and mind in the gym can act as a huge building block to your happiness and wellness, but without a sufficient diet, you’ll quickly encounter issues. These problems can include injury, fatigue, goals not being met and overall leave you feeling drained.

Luckily, if you follow the upcoming guidelines you will be able to prevent these roadblocks. 

Most Importantly 

Drink water! You’ve heard that a million times, but truthfully this is the most important and often neglected aspect. To keep nutrients and oxygen flowing through your cells, as well as to prevent unclear thinking, aim to drink a gallon of water a day. If you have a thirty two ounce water bottle that’s just four of those a day.

2nd…

No, matter who you are, eating a good breakfast everyday will be your best friend. A balanced breakfast containing fruits and or vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy will supply you with nutrients and vitamins necessary to carry you through your long and sometimes stressful days. It’s also important to emphasize fats rather than carbs for breakfast. Fat is stored energy which your body can use throughout the whole day.

3rd…

To maximize your physical improvement of course you’ve got to get lots of protein in your system to build up the broken down muscles. To maximize muscle maintenance it is recommended that you consume .7 grams of protein per lb. If you try that and it isn’t too difficult to maintain, move that up to 1 gram of protein per lb. To the best of your ability, spread this protein out throughout your day.

4th…

If you are training 4-7 times a week, your body is likely to need ample vitamin C to speed up the repair of the tiny tissue damage to your muscles that occurs when you workout. If you aren’t getting enough vitamin C through your diet alone, it is most definitely worth the time and money to go buy some vitamin C pills.

Other Tips 

It may be obvious to many of you, but eating carbs before a workout is vital in having the necessary amount of energy. Not only carbs, but specifically simple carbs will work best. Things like bananas, milk, etc…

If your interested in pre workout,

Pre workout, which mainly contains caffeine, beta alanine, and citrulline, can be a powerful tool. Many people fear starting to use it because many pre workouts contain 200-333mg of caffeine, which is definitely aggressive. But, it is very helpful, so taking half of a scoop is not against the rules!

After a workout,

After a workout, it’s a good idea to eat at least 20g of protein within two hours. If you can’t always get that amount of protein within two hours of an exercise, it’s ok. In that case, just make sure to eat a dinner with a sufficient amount of protein.

What Workout Split Should I Utilize?

With so many effective training splits possessing different strengths and weaknesses, it can be overwhelming to pick just one of them. Although developing the perfect split for yourself may take months, there are steps you can take right now to accelerate the process. 

What’s a split?

A workout split is simply a way of dividing your training sessions into different body regions.

Things to Consider (In Order of Importance)

    1. Weaknesses  – which of your muscle groups are lacking the most?

     2. Rest and recovery needs – what amount of rest will maximize your performance?

     3. Goals – are you prioritizing strength? Hypertrophy? A mixture of both?

     4. Experience – how long have you been training?

     5. Injuries – do you have any injuries that will be necessary to consider in altering your split?

Top Three Options

PPL (push pull legs)

Monday: push 

Tuesday: pull

Wednesday: legs 

Thursday: rest 

Friday: push 

Saturday: pull

Sunday: rest

• One rest day 

Full body

Monday: full body 

Tuesday: rest 

Wednesday: full body

Thursday: rest 

Friday: full body 

Saturday: rest 

Sunday: rest 

• Three rest days 

Arnold split 

Monday: chest/back 

Tuesday: shoulders/arms 

Wednesday: legs 

Thursday: chest/back 

Friday: shoulders/arms

Saturday: legs 

Sunday: rest

• One rest day 

Frequently Asked Questions

Starting to train without any prior knowledge can be intimidating and leave you feeling overwhelmed. The following questions can help give you the basic knowledge you need to begin your journey!

• What does “3×12” or “3 by 12” mean?

The first number refers to the amount of sets done and the second refers to the amount of reps done in each set.

• How do I gain weight

Take in more calories than you burn each day. (Caloric surplus)

• What is a cheap gym I could go to?

There are many options with many different offerings, but if money is a major factor, planet fitness charges only 10$ a month and has great equipment.

• What kind of shoes should I wear to the gym?

If you are training to run, of course wear running shoes. If you’re weight training then wear flat bottomed shoes with good support.

• How much time should I rest in between sets?

For strength focused exercises with low reps, take 2-5 minutes to maximize strength gains. For other movements, 45-90 seconds will be sufficient.

• How do I get stronger?

Perform movements using 3-8 reps.

• How do I get leaner?

Perform movements using 10-15 reps.

• How do I lose weight and burn fat?

Burn more calories than you intake and do that daily. (Caloric deficit)