Exercise and Nutrition...one won’t work without the other

As a personal trainer I often find a lot of the marketed materials that are around for health and fitness. I get bombarded with questions from friends, family, clients and social media contacts, asking about either exercise or nutrition.

More often than not the question will be based upon the general scenario that an article or piece of advice has been put in to practice and not been effective. The question is usually why or what can be done to make it work. Here is where I go back and place emphasis on the fact that the question is about exercise OR nutrition.

One OR the other. The truth is one won’t be effective without the other.

Scenario 1: You take a fitness regime from Men’s Health or Zest, it looks spanking and is probably a pretty good workout, it guarantees results in 4 weeks. 4 weeks down the line you don’t really see or feel much difference.  

Scenario 2: You take a nutrition plan from Men’s Health or Zest, it looks great, tasty, nutritious, so surely the pounds will melt away like it says. 4 weeks down the line you don’t really see or feel much difference.

Conclusion: 4 weeks of either scenario 1 or 2 not working and you decide to scrap it and go back to the way you were. What a waste of time!

In the fitness industry there is masses of information about exercise and nutrition. Don’t get me wrong it is all in its’ own way right, but there is a gap in the education that people are receiving about how to live a healthy lifestyle. There are so many quick fix diets and exercise programmes being advertised, that people’s vision of a healthy lifestyle is either leaning towards diet or exercise.

The truth is that you can’t have an entirely healthy lifestyle if you are only focusing on one without the other. You will never see the true benefits of those hours in the gym if during your workout you are consuming a high glucose drink and then go home and have a meal that doesn’t have a balance of carbohydrate, protein and essential fats. You won’t see the true potential of all those painful hours poured over food labels and calorie counter books if you aren’t exercising to burn fat and build muscle.

Another truth is, that if you have a healthy balance of both, neither should be painful. If your diet is good 80% of the time and you exercise then that 20% is counteracted. If you only exercise for 30 minutes a few times a week but you have a fantastic diet then it is balanced out. Neither of them need hours of blood and tears put into the calorie burn and count because a healthy lifestyle is about finding a balance.

So the next time you spend three hours in the gym and restrict you calorie count to 1200 calories a day, remember that your body needs adequate nutrition to help see the benefits of all that exercise, and a low calorie diet is not the answer. Or you reduce your calorie intake and don’t exercise, remember that despite being slim, you can’t be toned and fit without building muscle through exercise.

One won’t work without the other.