TRAIN, DON’T STRAIN. EAT, DON’T DIET

Train, don’t strain. Eat, don’t diet

Drive your body gently. You’ll still get to your destination.

Are you trying to get some necessary exercise into your busy life?

Are you doing well with keeping everything moderate, balanced, and in perspective?

 If that’s you, keep up the excellent work!

However, when it comes to your exercise and nutrition, some of you might be driving your bodies like you needed to get somewhere yesterday.

Full speed ahead on killer workouts! Max effort each time! Add another hour of cardio!

Get hurt. Get sick. Feel fed up.

Cut calories down more! Weigh and measure everything!

Lose control. Feel even more fed up.

Ask yourself a simple question: 

What am I trying to do here?

• Get leaner?

• Get fitter?

• Add muscle?

• Get healthier?

• Have some fun along the way?

Do your actions truly match your goals?

If you’re crushing yourself in the gym, trotting for hours on the treadmill, and/or severely restricting/over-thinking your food intake… where has that got you in the long term?

Is stop-start, all or nothing getting you where you want to be?

The exercise fix

Strenuous exercise releases endorphins. Endorphins are those lovely chemicals that give us that feel-good feeling.

For most of us, this endorphin release helps us sail out of the gym on a high note. It’s a nice bonus.

But for some of us, endorphins become a “hit” that we seek. Pushing our bodies to the limit and working hard becomes our drug.

For some, exercise (along with cutting calories) makes us feel in control — of our bodies and our lives.

So, naturally, in both cases, we do more exercise. Or cut calories more. It seems logical, after all.

Except eventually… this approach stops working.

You’ll then start telling yourself.

“The harder I worked, the more pissed off I got.” 

“I’m doing everything and still not losing weight.”

More isn’t better. I think it’s worse.

Putting in consistently good effort — without going balls-to-the-wall — is a lot more sustainable in the long run.

You don’t need to train for 1-2 hours a day, try to go harder for shorter periods, and give yourself enough downtime to recover. 

Sure, you won’t burn 500-1000 calories a day anymore, but hows eating like a human being sound.

It’s so much easier to achieve a slight energy deficit when your body feels relaxed, fewer ‘balls to the wall’ style training all the time. And the increased intensity gives your body the stimulus to respond differently. Muscles stay and got stronger. Fat shrinks away.

A transformation starts from the mind. We are not competitors. No one cares how fast you ran or if you got a personal best on squats. You need to feel like ‘you can do that again’. That’s called training.

To be happier, content, and in control, or bring out your inner athlete is not about what you have done on the treadmill or what the scales say… but within.

The mind, not the body set limitations.

Free your mind (and your body will follow)

We’ve helped clients just like you change their bodies.

If hours of cardio and killing yourself in the gym worked, we’d make you do it. We’d be standing right behind you making a frowny face as you death-marched on the treadmill.

But that doesn’t work. So we don’t do it.

Now, pushing it to the max every so often is great. We encourage you to stretch your comfort zone and learn what you’re capable of.

But save the epic workouts for special occasions. Exercise should make us feel, look, and perform better — not leave us in a dizzy and sweaty mess on the floor each day.

Try to leave the gym feeling energised, not exhausted. And remember to do your warmups and mobility work!

Enjoy being physically active — and do fun stuff.

Live actively and healthily, instead of just reading and thinking about it.

Need help getting started? Jon Nardinochi Coaching training app workout plans and private coaching will help with accountability.