To be build an effective exercise lifestyle you need to balance 3 things – Eating, exercise and recovery. Ideal world – we are training A LOT, eating A LOT (of the right things) and recovering A LOT. But obviously in reality there are a myriad of things life can throw at us that can affect this, so hopefully this short general guide can help you balance your exercise lifestyle and keep you making progress. Eating – basically we'll be thinking of overall calorie intake – it being the biggest factor in energy, body composition etc. Training – we'll lump together training intensity, frequency and volume into one for the interests of simplicity and refer to it in more general terms. Recovery – we'll focus predominately on the amount of sleep you get on a regular basis
Eat, Train, Recovery Equations (Which one fits you)
High calorie intake + very active lifestyle + sleep well = you should make good progress in your fitness goals
Low calorie intake + very active lifestyle + sleep well = you may run into issues of overtraining/fatigue which would require an increase of calories/decrease in exercise
High calorie intake + inactive lifestyle + sleep well = your weight will increase and fitness will decrease over time
Low calorie intake + inactive lifestyle + sleep well = your fitness levels will decrease over time but weight should be relatively steady
High calorie intake + very active lifestyle + insufficient sleep = you may find issues with recovery if calories are insufficient
Low calorie intake + very active lifestyle + insufficient sleep = you will suffer heavily from fatigue/overtraining and feel burnt out
High calorie intake + inactive lifestyle + insufficient sleep = you will experience weight gain and decreased fitness over time
Low calorie intake + inactive lifestyle + insufficient sleep = your weight should stay relatively steady but fitness will decrease over time
High calorie intake = eating above maintenance calories for a sedentary individual<
Low calorie intake = eating below maintenance calories for a sedentary individual
Very active lifestyle = exercising 30-60mins+ almost every day and/or have physically demanding job
Inactive lifestyle = rarely exercise and/or have sedentary job
Sleep well – 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep
Pick your combination and adjust accordingly,
Andrew