MATT_THE_TRAINER
MY PHILOSOPHY:
Fitness and Health is a Personal Responsibility.
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PRINCIPLES: Simple Overview
When trying to increase performance, strength, muscle size and shape, and decrease unwanted body fat, we have to train with Intensity. Put simply, perform the right exercises with high intensity and correct form and you will begin to create a physiological stimulus to induce improvement. Without mastering this factor, improvement beyond a certain point is impossible.
However, this is only half the story. The other half, and the most vital, is the side of the Diet. All fitness results, good or bad are the direct result of training intensity level and diet quality level. So, if we desire the best results from our training, the diet must be addressed fully. Many people fail to construct optimal diets while pursuing their fitness goals, and therefore fail to achieve and maintain the results they want. The diet is our most powerful tool when trying to get the most from our training.
SUMMARY:
High Intensity exercise with proper form induces potential for improvement. High quality diet is vital for fulfilling that potential.
"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
- BRUCE LEE
PRINCIPLES: Training
As mentioned above, Intensity will be the focus of our training if we wish to improve. Intense workouts challenge the body's nervous system and force it to adapt to greater amounts of stimulation, as well as induce muscular adaptations and fat burn. However, finding the right amount of Intensity can be a challenge in itself.
When we embark on our fitness journey it's paramount that we understand where we are starting from, as only then can we move in the right direction. If we don't do this, then it's more than likely that we will end up going in circles or even going backwards. We therefore have to assess our 'current status'. This means analysing the actions we have taken in the past and accepting that those actions have resulted in our condition. Once we are honest about our current status, it allows us to make vital changes where we might have unknowingly withheld them.
On the subject of Intensity, we can accept our current level of Intensity (coupled with training methods and diet) has resulted in our current body composition and/or performance. We can then make a change to increase it appropriately. Very often people will get to a level of Intensity they are comfortable with, then stay there and never increase it - and then wonder why they never improve beyond a certain point.
No matter if you are an experienced trainee or completely new to working out, it is extremely useful to accept your current status. Having experience tells you that your actions have resulted in who you are and how your physique looks and performs. Having no experience at all tells you the exact same thing, except you will have a much more open outlook about exercise, as your mind won't be clouded by all the bad information out there, and you won't have to try and convince yourself that you're right!
Having a training philosophy is important, especially if you think you can be easily pursuaded by all the 'experts' out there who are trying to sell you bogus information. Your own philosophy is what keeps you grounded into what actually works instead of what 'might' work or what's worked for one other person. But you must be open to change your philosophy if you simply haven't achieved the results you want.
Everyone is different. People have different metabolisms, have different body types, and different things they are good and bad at. It all makes a difference to the structure of a successful training program. However, the one thing that is always consistent no matter what, with any person who is successful at improving performance, muscle mass and body composition is that without exception they all train with high Intensity!
SUMMARY:
Make Intensity your top priority when training to make sure you challenge your nervous system and induce adaptations.
Be completely honest with your 'current status' so you can keep moving forward instead of withholding change.
PRINCIPLES: Nutrition
To be successful in our training we must address our diet. Like in the subject of training, we have to accept that our current status is largely due to our current diet. If we don't optimise our diets to match our training we will never improve beyond a certain point.
The body needs nutrients from food to support hundreds of bodily processes going on all the time. Most people do not even eat correctly to support their bodies without exercise let alone recovering from rigorous training. Today's government guidelines of healthy eating do not provide enough of the right foods, and cannot be used as a guide to fuel Intense activity.
Everything we eat must have purpose when we desire results from our training. When and what we eat is vital, and there are so many useful things we can manipulate and improve in our bodies when we understand what nutrients we need.
When we think of the nutrients the body needs we think of 2 types of nutrient. Macro Nutrients and Micro Nutrients. Macro Nutrients are large and Micro Nutrients are small. The Macro-Nutrients are Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate. The Micro-Nutrients include Vitamins and Minerals.
These nutrients form a huge spectrum of essential nutrients and non-essential nutrients. What this means is that some nutrients are essential to include in our diet for survival and some are not. Many people do not know that Carbohydrates are non-essential nutrients. 1st World People all over the globe eat many carbohydrates on a daily basis, not knowing that they are non-essential to their health.
Looking at the history of the human diet, pre-civilisation, we see many wild animals, nuts, seeds and fruits forming our diet. Humans are Omnivorous, meaning that we can gain some form of sustenance from almost any food. However, our systems work best when given the staple choices mentioned above.
The fact that will differ strongly against a 'modern' diet is there are no grains, starch or high processed foods mentioned, we are simply not adapted to eat them. Modern farming has made access to grains, starch and processed foods easy, cheap and plentiful. As an easy source of food, people have become accustomed to including them heavily in their day to day diets. The real cause of chronic digestive and health problems is the ingestion of these foods and to fully optimise one's diet, reducing them is the first step to improvement.
SUMMARY:
Addressing the diet is vitally important if you wish to get results from your training. Not doing so will prevent improvement beyond a certain point.
Protein and Fat are the only essential Macro-Nutrients, Carbohydrates play a much smaller role in maintaining or gaining optimal health.