Why is my exercise routine not working or “That one Thing”

Hello, friends.

I have received the article below by e-mail at work from one of colleagues.

The article was written by Kirk Ream who is a physical trainer/instructor at Transformations, Training and Fitness (TTF) and essentially it reflects most of the things I believe in when it comes to healthier life style. Kirk’s “Fit4Service” vision focuses on proper balance of 4 areas:  P = Physical, I = Intellectual, E = Emotional and S = Spiritual.

So, are your P.I.E.S.’s balanced?  Read this great article and find out!

“Hello,

Earlier this week, we started an email series called “That One Thing”. If you missed the introduction, you can check it out here

Do you remember the movie “The Sound of Music?” My sister used to make me watch it all the time. Secretly, I enjoyed it (Let’s keep that between us). I can also sing or quote the whole movie (Let’s also keep that between us). One of the songs in the musical had the lyrics, “Let’s start from from the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start”

With that in mind, that’s exactly what we are going to do today. Let’s take a look at the first letter of PIES

P stands for physical health. It’s the most focused and talked about letter in the fitness world. Physical fitness is a billion dollar industry (But yet, the number of unhealthy people continue to climb. Interesting isn’t it?). We are constantly and consistently bombarded with how to lose weight, how to get in shape, how to look our best at the beach, how to do this and that. Unfortunately there are literally thousands of books and programs all with their own idea on how to get us in the best shape of our lives. How do we know what to follow and believe?

*Brief side note – Yes I am part of the industry. Yes I own a gym. Yes, we have our own beliefs about fitness, most if not all are completely counter-cultural to the tradtional fitness movement.

When you boil it down, becoming physically fit is about doing 3 things well.

• 1. Moving – Exercise, ideally using movements that help the body move better, thus building strength, power, mobility, flexibility and endurance.)
• 2. Nutrition – Eating the right things to fuel the body to perform at it’s highest level throughout the day
• 3. Rest and Recovery – This involves not only getting enough sleep but allowing the body to regenerate and refuel itself so that it can give it’s maximum effort when called upon. Interestingly, it is during rest and recovery when the body grows stronger, burns more fat etc. (not during the workouts like many people believe). Also interesting to note that proper rest and recovery is the most ignored part of the equation.

Most times we fall into several groups of people when it comes to becoming physically fit.

• 1. We love to workout but hate eating well. We try to outwork a bad diet. (Which is impossible by the way) We workout for hours each day just to burn a few calories and to make us feel like we are doing the right thing. Not coincidentally, we completely ignore rest and recovery and usually become frustrated at our lack of progress.
• 2. We eat very well but don’t like to exercise. Nutrition and making proper food choices comes easily to us. We almost always make the right food choices but can rarely find time to exercises. We don’t like it. It’s hard and intimidating. Usually this group of people enjoys a healthy weight but may suffer from other health issues such as osteoporosis, poor posture and low strength levels due to their dislike of exercise.
• 3. We are far too busy and overwhelmed to try to become physically fit. We don’t know who to believe so we aren’t going to do anything. Most likely we have tried and failed many times at this fitness thing. Interestingly, although it may appear we excel at rest and recovery, we are actually too busy to enjoy that as well.
• 4. We try to do everything all the time. We jump from workout plan to workout plan. We try this diet and that. We read and try every book that comes on the market because certainly it is the magic pill we’ve been looking for. We overwhelm ourselves with questions like, Should I eat this or that? Is fruit bad or good? How many carbs should I have in my postworkout shake? Should I be lifting more weights? How many calories did I burn today? Although these are all great questions and points to consider, constantly thinking this way usually leads us down the road to frustration, fatigue and unfortunately failure.

So what’s the answer? What’s that 1 thing? Focus on this word:

BALANCE

Our goal in becoming physcially fit is to become balanced. We must exercise enough to stimulate, not annihilate our muscles. We must eat well and properly to fuel our bodies to complete each days’ tasks to the best of our ability. We must embrace and live out the rest and recovery our body needs.

If you are anything like me, you probably read the above paragraph and thought to yourself, “Sounds good. Now tell me how much exercise and rest to get? How much should I eat? What do I need to do to be balanced? ”

For the next few days focus on your personal balance. Take notice to the amount of time you spend working out in relation to your eating and resting habits. Are you balancing your efforts in each category? Are you overdoing the exercise and neglecting the rest? Are you eating well but not working out? Take an honest look at yourself and make note which group you are neglecting.

There will be a time to look at deeper questions concerning our “P” but for now make Balance “that one thing.” Understanding the importance of balance will go a long way in helping us achieving a proper perspective on physical fitness.

Have a great day!

Kirk.”

Stay fit and enjoy the beautiful Friday!