23 Hours Per Day

I was in Rhode Island this summer for a seminar where I listened to the leaders of my industry discuss my profession for three days. It really was super cool - I learned tons of new things. But perhaps more importantly I was reminded of the significance of things I already knew, but maybe haven’t been reinforcing enough with all of you.

For example, one of the things we all know is there are three aspects to being lean, strong and healthy:

1. Efficient exercise.
2. Recovering from exercise (and your daily routine).
3. Nutrition.

And in spite of what many people think, number one is the LEAST important of the three.

Least important doesn’t mean unnecessary, because exercise is mandatory whether you like it or not. It’s just lower on the food chain than the other two. And its impact on your health related goals drops significantly if the other two are not addressed relentlessly.

Think about it: the hardest core of the hard core members in my facility get in here 4-5 times per week to workout. Average is about 2-3 times per week. So even the most dedicated client spend less than 3% of their time in our facility with supervised workouts – most are supervised about 1% of the time. (2 hours per week here = 166 hours per week elsewhere = .012%)

Now I’m not real good at math, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say the other 97-99% of the time during the week without the TR plays a pretty big factor in your success with regards to your fitness regimen. (On a side note, did you notice I wrote “regimen”, not “regiment”? Drives me insane when people say “regiment” when they mean “regimen”. ‘Hey Jon, can you put me on an exercise regiment?’ Uh, no, I’m not military personnel…thank you…) I digress.

So if you know for sure you’re exercising efficiently, and you’re not getting the results you like, you may be neglecting the other two aspects of your regimen: recovery and nutrition.

Don’t worry; today we have some advice for you to address the needs of the other 23 hours of the day as well as your exercise needs:

How to improve your recovery:

· Sleep: do your best to get it. I know you don’t have ultimate control over this but do your best.
· Tissue recovery: get a foam roller and use it.
· Stress: don’t have it. Stress affects you physically too. Make sure you’re not sweating the small stuff.

How to improve your nutrition:

· Drink water: a lot.
· Cut the crap: eat healthy foods.
· Don’t over eat: if you have one more calorie than your body needs it will be stored.
Probably in an unsightly place.
· Don’t under eat: if you’re exercising consistently your body has a lot of rebuilding and re-fueling to do. Make sure you eat soon after your workout and in small portions consistently throughout the day.

Remember, if you’re exercising efficiently that is awesome, you should be proud of yourself. But you need to remember there are another 23 hours or so per day that are going to affect whether or not you get results. Be efficient those 23 hours too!