There are so many things that may stop you from achieving your goals - but the biggest is having that “all or nothing attitude”. Being either fully committed to your routine or being completely off. Let’s dive deeper into this mindset today and figure out ways to get out of this never ending loop.

Today we will be discussing on something very important and relevant in today’s world, something that has been affecting a large number of people across the globe, specially the younger ones or the ones in their teens. It is the image you have in mind of yourself that you want to achieve when embarking on this health journey. It is the will to look a certain way, a will to look perfect, just like somebody you may follow or idolise on a social media platform. Today, we will discuss what’s realistic and what’s not. Also, something termed - body dysmorphia. 

So far we have covered basics of exercise, nutrition and recovery. None of the three is more important than the other, and it is imperative to balance out all three in order to see progress, and improve your overall health and longevity. After explaining the importance of recovery in the last episode, it is a good segway to talk about Circadian Rhythm and Sleep. Understanding your circadian rhythm and sleep patterns is super important, specially when sufficient recovery is starting to become a luxury for most of us. It is more about taking incremental steps and keep progressing with whatever you can do in your circumstances. If you don’t have more than 6 hours to sleep, you can still try to improve the quality of sleep you get in those 6 hours. Simple steps that we talk about in the episode can help you improve on that quality and enable to you be ready for the slog again next morning.

Stress management and recovery are crucial for promoting muscle growth and in general, for longevity and wellbeing. By managing stress and promoting recovery, we can help ensure that our muscles have the necessary resources and most importantly time, to repair and grow. Incorporating strategies like sufficient sleep, nutrition, foam rolling, meditation, and massage, and practicing practical tips like scheduling rest days, practicing active recovery, taking breaks throughout the day, staying hydrated go a long way in stress management.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mortality due to Cardiovascular disease accounted for 31% of all deaths worldwide in 2019. This translates to approximately 18 million deaths per year. So, in today’s episode, let’s talk specifically about cardiovascular health which is more important today than anytime in the history of human civilisation.

VO2max chart by gender and age - https://www.firstbeat.com/en/blog/whats-a-good-vo2max-for-me-fitness-age-men-and-women/  

Today I talk about how to create your own strength training plan. If you follow these principles, I promise you will see results. Muscle growth is not something you can notice by looking at yourself every day. Take pictures at least weekly and gradually you will start seeing the difference when you compare two photos. You will also know that you are on the right track if you see your strength increasing. Strength increases only when you build more muscles. Keep a track of your progress. Note down your workouts and how much you lifted during every session and I promise you will see a difference.

Some resources you can use -

Athlean X - https://athleanx.com/articles/best-beginner-full-body-workout 

Fit Father Project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPfCllaAhHc&list=PLoipqKp9gFEq_tBOSlS25B2PkT9AZthXH 

Strength training, also known as resistance training or weight training, involves working your muscles against an external force, such as weights, bands, or even your body weight. Many people assume that strength training is only for bodybuilders, or athletes, but in reality, it is an important form of exercise for people of all ages and fitness levels. So if you don’t just want to live longer, but live longer with a better quality of life, you need to incorporate strength training in your routine. There is no way around it. No other exercise can replace the role strength training plays - not cycling, not running, not walking - and no other sport.

Let me explain why, in fact let me give you 5 compelling reasons.

Exercise and movement, along with nutrition and recovery, complete the triangle of a healthy lifestyle. We talked about the importance of knowing our food, and understanding the nutrition part of it in the last episode. We also talked about how important it is to understand what makes up our food and how food corresponds to our energy in. When we talk about exercise, there are agin some myths to start with that need to be dispelled before getting into more details. Let’s start with this one - What picture comes to your mind when I say the term exercise - For some, it might be lifting weights, for some, it might be doing pushups, for some it might be running, or cycling, or swimming, while for others it might be too much of an effort, which is maybe appealing at all.

In the last episode we broke down food and nutrition - how they are not the same and understood what our food is made of - that is the macro and the micro nutrients. The macro nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins and fats while the micro nutrients are vitamins and minerals. We also understood the importance of each one of these components and, at a very high level, how much energy each one of the macro nutrients hold. We also agreed that we would incorporate more of unprocessed foods than processed foods in our daily diet.

This is the part 2 in the topic, and we will try to get a little deeper into the calorie balance and how to calculate it. Unless we know that, it is really difficult to say, with confidence, if you are eating more than you are burning, or less.

Remember why we are doing this? If we eat more energy than we burn, we gain weight, and if we burn more energy than we eat, we lose weight.

Legion TDEE Calculator - https://legionathletics.com/tools/tdee-calculator/

Myfitnesspal app - https://www.myfitnesspal.com/ 

In this episode, I talk about what is nutrition. What is our food made up of and how does it provide energy or get stored as body fat. I also talk about why it is important to have a good relationship with food and how that would impact our long term health.
I will break this topic into two parts - basics of nutrition and how to calculate how much food you need. Here is the first part for you.