I don’t care, how many pull ups you do, how many push ups you can squeeze out, how many mason twists you can muster or how much iron you can push. If your not paying at least as much attention to your diet as your workout routine, your totally missing the whole point. Doing killer workouts and eating poorly, is akin to owning a Ferrari, and pouring a pound of sugar down the gas line. It simply won’t work. At least not as effectively as it should. Not eating properly before a workout, means you won’t be able to push as hard or perform as well during your workout. Not eating and drinking the right stuff after your workout, means your body doesn’t get the necessary nutrients, vitamins and supplements it needs to recover.
I know, I’ve tried it both ways. Just this past summer, I did the most intensive and well laid out fitness routine of my life. I did it for three months, and I followed the instructions to a “T”. That included the nutrition guide that went along with it. Now I must confess, that I’m not saint and there were a few days during the three months, when I deviated. Social life and pressures being what they are, sometimes tend to intrude and you give in to the temptation. About a month into the routine, I had a couple of beers with family who were visiting from far away, and I hadn’t seen for a while. Which was great at the time, but really surprised me the next day. I barely made it through a workout, I had been killing for weeks.
I learned quite quickly, it doesn’t take much to throw the body off. The extra carbs (beer is load with crappy sugar carbs), I put into my body at a time when my diet had been very low in carbohydrates had an immediate effect on my performance. The other cool thing I learned from doing that fitness program, was how habit forming our diets become. In both a good and bad sense. Even though I finished the program five months ago, I still follow a lot of what the nutrition guide laid out for me. I continue to eat low fat proteins, good carbs, fruits, vegtables, supplements, and take vitamins every day. Many of those bad food choices are no longer even a temptation for me. Potato chips and salty snacks which were hard for me to resist in the past, really have little appeal to me anymore.
It feels good to be healthy, and all you need is the desire to make a change and a little determination to see it through.
