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ATTAINING OPTIMAL WELLNESS IS POSSIBLE! HERE IS HOW!What is the most important component when your goal is attaining optimal wellness? When taking on the challenge of improving your health and fitness levels, there are three major components that must be monitored: NUTRITION RESISTANCE TRAINING CARDIOVASCULAR/RESPIRATORY TRAINING Now this may surprise you, but the answer to the question is simple and clear, you must begin with proper NUTRITION. Here is the reason why. If you eat properly for your genetic and environmental make-up, you not only can keep disease at bay but you can also begin the process of disease reversal. Before I work with anyone as a Lifestyle and Wellness Coach, I always require an initial session that goes over proper nutrition. Why? Because it would be total folly to leave out the most important factor in attaining optimal wellness. Following a proper nutritional program is by far the most difficult of the three components because it is 24-7-365 endeavor, but the benefits can be truly remarkable. To follow the basics of a properly created nutritional program you must focus on these three variables first: QUALITY OF THE FOOD FREQUENCY OF THE MEALS AND SNACKS THE COMBINATION OF MACRO-NUTRIENTS Then and ONLY then, when you have mastered these three variables do you begin to really focus on portion size and caloric consumption. If you begin to eat foods with an increased nutritional value (quality), more often (frequency), and combine them properly (macro-nutrient combination), not only will your health improve, but a by-product of proper nutrition will be an improved physique and/or fitness level. If nutrition is the most important part of improving my health and fitness levels, why do most people focus on Cardiovascular/Respiratory training instead? THE CARDIOVASCULAR/RESPIRATORY TRAINING CHALLENGECardiovascular/Respiratory (CVR) training is by far the easiest of the three components to follow (plus, most people love a good daily dose of endorphins), but unfortunately it is also, by far, the least beneficial. I teach my clients to focus on their nutritional and resistance training programs first, then, and only then, to add the CVR training. The reasons are numerous, but what everybody should understand is this, if you are not eating properly AND adding muscle with resistance training, CVR training can be detrimental to your health and fitness levels. Not only do intense CVR training programs lead to over-training and injuries, they just don’t work for the long run because such training regimes can destroy your metabolism and hormone levels. Additionally, a properly performed resistance training program is going to give you plenty of CVR work, with the benefit of adding muscle (improved metabolism), with little risk of injury. Attaining optimal wellness is more than possible for most anyone.
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