13 Things Fit People Do to Stay Fit
Somethings never change. I wrote this blog two years ago and while we have seen the emergence of “Intermitted Fasting” and “Keto Diets,” the rules in this blog still remains a staple for any fit person. Theses will be a staple for you too, if you want to change your body and stay fit for the rest of your life. With the new year being upon us and everyone wanting to get in shape, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this blog. No matter if you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or just be healthy, these 13 Rules will benefit you and are a must to maintain your fitness goals.
My goal is to try to get as many of you to obtain your fitness goals, so you will stay in the gym all year long. I am not shy about my store’s business plan. The more people who work out, the more likely they are to buy supplements. So, if I can keep you in the gym all year long, you will most likely buy supplements all year long. Everyone Wins in this scenario.
So, below are the 13 very simple and easy things that “Fit People” do on a regular basis. Because getting in shape is one thing…staying in that shape, is another thing. The list below is in no particular order, nor is one more important than the other.
1 – Drink at least a gallon of water
Water is essential for life and especially a fit life. Water plays SO many roles in the body. Our muscles are made of 70 percent water. The more water you drink, the less water your body will hold onto. That equals less weight. Plus, water has zero calories. Interesting fact, while water has zero calories, it takes calories for your body to digest water. Bam! You just sped up your metabolism.
2 – Get 6 to 8 hours of quality sleep
Sleep is so important to not just fit people, but to everyone. Studies have shown that people who get less than 8 hours of sleep each night on a consistent basis, have a shorter life span than those that do. Here is where sleep, plays a big role in a Fit person’s life. You don’t build muscle while you work out, you rip them up. That is the reason we get a “pump,” after working out. That is your body’s response to you tearing up the muscles. You build muscles while you sleep. Specifically, during stage three or REM sleep. That is when your growth hormones are at its peak repairing the body. That is why I said, quality sleep. Quality sleep, gets you into REM sleep for longer periods of time.
3 – They don’t rely on Cardio for burning fat
Every year, starting in January, you will see a lot of people who will hit the cardio machines to lose weight. Most of them have the idea of, “I will do cardio to lose the weight, then I will hit the weights to firm up.” That is one of the dumbest concepts that has ever been thought of when if comes to getting in shape and fit people know this. They rely on their diet and weight training, to do the bulk of their fat burning. Did you know that weight training can get your heartrate up higher than most cardio exercises? Did you know that the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is? Both of these are very true and you will achieve your fat loss goal much faster, focusing on diet, weight training, and then cardio. Not the other way around.
4 – They go to bed early
I know it seems boring, but fit people like to get a good night rest. They like to feel good and energized in the morning. Plus, at least when it comes to Monday through Friday, is staying up late ever really a good thing?
5 – They take a multi-vitamin, every day
I know, there is nothing sexy about vitamins, but they are very important and fit people know this. Most people look at vitamins as a why to prevent being sick. That is only a very small percentage of what a multi-vitamin does. Did you know that one of the main things that vitamin C, does is repair muscle tissue tears? What do you do when you lift weights….you tear up muscle tissue. B-Vitamins, play a huge role in the breakdown of amino acids, which you need to help recover from workouts. So, make sure you take a quality multi-vitamin each day, with a food meal.
6 – They never skip breakfast
It is not called the most important meal of the day for nothing. Not only does eating a breakfast give you energy in the morning, help you focus on the tasks you have to accomplish, but it plays a big role in your metabolism. Breakfast, literally means, “Break the fast.” In other words, breakfast, is the meal that breaks the fast of you not eating while you sleep. And for those that don’t know, you do burn calories while you sleep. So, if you are trying to build muscle, you need to feed those muscles in the morning. If you are trying to lose weight and are on a calorie restricted diet, you really need a good breakfast, so you will be able to have energy and function throughout the day.
7 – They primarily eat whole foods
Have every been told to try to stick to buying only what is on the outside aisle at a grocery store, to stay healthy? That’s because the majority of items in the inner aisle are junk food or made in a lab somewhere. Our bodies function so much better eating real whole foods. Whole Foods, typically require your body to use more calories to digest them as well. Plus, you will be able to absorb more of the nutrients from whole foods compared to the food that was created in a lab.
8 – They don’t count calories
Most fit people don’t count calories. They instead make sure that they are getting enough grams of fat, protein, and carbs instead. For those that don’t know, a calorie is NOT a calorie. Let me explain. A gram of protein equals 4 calories and gram of carbohydrate equals 4 calories. So, let’s say you have a piece of chicken (protein) that has 4 calories and a piece of chocolate cake (carb) that has 4 calories. Now, since they have the same number of calories, they should do the same thing in your body, right? WRONG! Protein, plays so many roles in your body that is extremely unlikely that your body will turn it into body fat. The carbohydrate however, is a different story. While carbs do play various roles in the body, it’s main function is fuel or energy. Our bodies will use up the minimum amount of carbs it needs to function throughout the day and store the rest. When it stores carbs, it will first store them in muscle, first. However, the rest will be stored in…you guessed it…fat cells.
9 – They never skip leg day
Fit people know the importance of leg day. Not only do you not want to look like a block on stilts, working out your legs so important to your overall body. Leg muscles are the largest muscles in the body. You want them as strong as they can be. (FYI – When I say strong, that does not mean big) Did you know that when you do lifts like squats, deadlifts, etc., it works out your entire body? Want six pack abs, a strong lower back, and strong knees? Do squats! When you do free weight squats, you are working much more than your legs. You are working your entire core muscles. (Abs, love handles, and lower back muscles) Your core muscles are your stabilizing muscles. When you do squats, deadlifts, power clings, your core muscles are flexed the entire movement. Plus, your heartrate will be through the roof. Talk about a fast track to fat loss and firm abs.
10 – They eat five to six meals a day
Fit people eat more than just about anyone you know. Fit people love food. They just eat to fuel their bodies, not to fuel their cravings. When I say they eat five to six meals a day, I don’t necessarily mean a, “Knife and fork meal.” A meal for a fit person could be a handful of raw almonds and a red apple. They do all eat every few hours, to keep their metabolism running high. Let me explain. Imagine your metabolism is like a fire in a fire place. You want to keep that fire going, just like you want to keep your metabolism going strong. So, to keep that fire going in your fire place, would you put one huge log on it a day? No, it would die out. That is what happens to your metabolism, when you skip breakfast, lunch, and have a big dinner. Would you put tiny sticks on it a few times a day? No, again it would go out. Same thing with your metabolism. Just snacking here or there throughout the day, your metabolism will go out because you are not giving it enough fuel. To keep that fire going, you would put a medium size log on it every two to three hours. That is the same concept with your metabolism.
11 – Their supplement stables are a multi-vitamin, EFAs, and protein
I already told you about the importance of a multi-vitamin, to a fit person above, so I will skip that explanation here. EFAs or Essential Fatty Acids, are very important to fit people daily. EFAs, are good fats. (Omega 3, 6, 9, fish oil, flax seed oil, CLA, etc.) These fats are very important to a person’s overall health. They play major roles in your eye sight, hair, skin, nails, joints, etc. They also, help you with fat loss. Yes, it takes fat to burn body fat! Protein, is another supplement that a fit person never stops taking. Protein, is the one nutrient that you cannot live without. Regardless of what you hear in the media and on certain websites, you can live for long periods of time without carbohydrates. There are entire civilizations that have done this. However, you can’t live very long without protein. Now, it is true that you can get all of your protein through your foods and you should. However, if you are lifting weights, you need to take a whey based or another fast digesting protein shake within an hour of weight training for proper recovery. There is not a food that we know of that gets digested quick enough to take advantage of the post workout, “Anabolic window.” (That is the pump you get from lifting weights.) Most fit people only take protein on the days they lift, right after their workouts. However, if you have a busy life style and can’t stop to eat real food every few hours, this is were a protein powder can really help your diet out. A fit person never stops taking a multi-vitamin, EFAs, and a protein shake.
12 – They change up their diets and workouts every four weeks
This is a tough one to grasp because we are all creatures of habit. When you start to workout, your body will make adjustments to adapt to your new workout and diet. This adjustment time typically takes about 3 to 4 weeks. After that, your body will go on, “cruise control,”. That is the worst thing that can happen, and this is the biggest killer to New Year Resolutions. Let’s look at what is about to happen to most people who start a new year resolution to get in shape.
– Week One – They start working out and their body will resist like crazy. “Aches and pains,” will happen during this period. Your body will start adjusting to your new diet and your digestive system will start to make changes that you are not accustom to.
– Week Two – This is similar to week one with more muscle soreness.
– Week Three – Your body is almost done adjusting to your new diet and workout. This week is much easier than week one and two.
– Week Four – Your body has adjusted. The workouts are much easier, and you are not as sore, if you are getting sore at all from your workouts. This equal, “cruise control.”
Now, is the time to change up both your diet and workouts. I am not referring to a drastic change. It could be as simple as going from using the bar for bench press to using dumbbells for bench press. Going from the elliptical to the treadmill or stepper. Replacing the wheat toast with your breakfast with oatmeal. According to Max Fairchild, Former Brand Manager and Formulator at Nutrex Research, “When it comes to training and really all aspects of life, listen to your body. You may be tired, weaker, or have less focus. This could be a myriad of things including over training. Know that you may like pushing yourself in the gym, but there are periods where you need to pull back on training a bit. It is better to take two steps forward and 1 back, than trying to push yourself too much at once and get injured.”
13 – They plan out/cook/prep their meals for the week on one day
A fit person is just as busy, if not busier than the normal person. They know that they will fail on their diet, if they have to come home and make a meal or if they have to go grab something on the go at a fast food place. So, they plan out their meals for an entire week, go to the grocery store and buy all of the food they will need, and on one day they cook/prepare/portion it all. They then put the food in Tupperware and put it in the fridge. That why, when they wake up in the morning, there is nothing to prepare. They just grab the food and head off to work. When it is time to eat, they just put the food in the microwave (if it needs to be heated up) and eat. Simple as that. I promise you that you will fail on your diet, if you don’t do this. What is that old saying, “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”
In Conclusion
I hope that you found this blog both informative as well as easy to understand. That was my goal as I was writing it up. If you have any questions regarding this blog, any of our other blog posts, or if we can help you in any other way, please stop by the store or send us a private message on Facebook – @Discount Sport Nutrition – Denton.
***Consult your doctor or healthcare professional before you start any diet or exercise program. This blog is strictly information to help you with your fitness goals. It is not intended to override your healthcare professional’s recommendation. ***
Mark Miller
Discount Sport Nutrition – Denton
2215 S. Loop 288, Ste 320
Denton, TX 76205
940-243-8990
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