You are what you eat...and drink...and sleep (part 1)
Believe it or not, one of the biggest mistakes made in fitness training DOES NOT happen in the weight room. Most often, the critical errors happen when there’s not a weight, treadmill or basketball to be found. What we do outside of our workout routines is equally important (and arguably more important) if we desire to have consistent physical improvement.
You must have a complete workout routine that challenges your muscles and cardio fitness. Along with this, your nutritional and rest patterns have to fully support your workout routine.
What literally happens when you pump iron…
The process of building muscle, increasing cardio fitness and even teaching your muscles to do certain things is an amazing process. Our muscles and lungs are built for physical performance. They are designed and capable to exert large amounts of energy in order to accomplish a task.
The key to improving physical health is to consistently push the limits of the body’s current ability. You must consistently “go for the gusto”.
When we exercise, the muscle fibers are literally strained and torn in a controlled manner. Evidence of this are the typical feelings of soreness and stiffness that come after a really good weight lifting or cardio workout. This soreness is the body’s initial response to the strains/tears it has recently experienced.
The amazing thing is how the muscles recover. When a muscle is strained/torn from a workout, the body immediately goes to work to repair and heal the affected muscles. Our bodies recover the muscle back to its original state AND grow the muscle as a proactive effort to protect it from future strains/tears. As a result, this muscle recovery /growth makes the muscle bigger, stronger, faster, more enduring, etc.
