“All movement is not progress, just as all motion is not forward.”What? But this is Corps FITNESS. Of course, exercise matters for maintaining good muscle tone, bone density, and heart health. Exercise is good for our sense of accomplishment and goal-achievement, working out satisfies our social need to be part of a group, learning and mastering new exercises is good for our brain...and sometimes it’s a relief just to go to the gym and go ape-sh&t for an hour. Sure, exercise in many ways matters.
But, it does not matter in weight loss and weight management. Really, at all. Why? Because people exercise because they can’t manage their eating (I workout to eat all I want). Or people use eating as a reward for a hard day’s workout (Ok, I ran 6 miles, I deserve dessert!). Much research points to exercise not mattering. And exercise actually leads to an “even steven” position; in many cases, it leads to weight gain. For more on this “compensation” idea, read here.
The battle for our body...the composition we want, the look we want, the weight we want isn’t won in the 1-2 hours/day we workout. It’s won ALL the other hours of the day – the 22-23 hours we’re NOT working out. Sure, work out and stay moving...but stay intensely disciplined the rest of the day...Remember (yes, a New Year’s Resolution is a-comin’)...we can have excuses or results, not both.
“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” –Alfred Montapert
5 comments:
Well said and very true. It wasn't until I became disciplined in taking two or three days off a week while paying strict attention to what I put in my body that I really began to lose the weight, 30+lbs. I have been able to keep it off so far by maintaining that approach. Overtraining is a really bad thing, I used to be on the bike 7 days a week, when I cut it back to 3 or 4 I was able to perform at a much higher level, I had my two best finishes in mtn bike races by taking that approach. Without the proper nutrition your body cannot perform at it's best, fact! Anyway, that is my experience, strength and hope for the day, maybe it will help someone else, it does work!
Has a mentor of mine once said...."You can have what you want, or the reasons why not!"......
Good stuff Matt D and John. Want to add though, be sure to eat to your goals. When I first started working out again I did the eat less and eat better approach and it worked great. Then after several months I wanted to gain some strength and muscle but just could not seem to do it. Finally figured out I was not eating enough! Still has to be the right food (can't just eat junk food) but it definatly helped.
Plus I know when I have not been eating the right things. I feel like crap when I am trying to push through a CF workout. Makes a HUGE difference.
Diet is vy important but I think exercise is MOST important. Why? Because, when you are working out regularly, The habit's effects are so positive and far reaching while being virtually effortless aside from the actual commitment to fitness. What I mean is, exercising regularly, by default cultivates a state of mind conducive to keeping a healthy diet. it's a strange phenomenon and I don't know of there has been any studies to back it up. But when I am exercising regularly, I crave healthier foods.
I also feel that the exercise you do once a day benefits you physically as well as mentally, for the rest of the day. it's easier to take stairs, your joints are lubricated, everything just works better.
I agree with this post 100%. At the most basic level, working out and bodyweight have nothing to do with one another. It's the calories going IN that will always determine where you are on the continuum of under / overweight.
Great posts and comments for the Holiday season. Thanks for ruining my Christmas and the millions of cookies that I would have destroyed. Oh well. Here's to hero week!!!
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