SS Fitness

Are you doing enough? This is a big question when it comes to fitness, especially when I talk to my clients, who wonder if they are doing everything they need to do.

This completely depends on your goals. Are your goals to look like a bodybuilder or to live a healthy life? Are your goals to just be able to move around well and get up off the floor? Whatever your goals are will determine how much you need to do.

I typically work with people in the general population whose goals are to maintain their bodies, stay healthy, and be fit. They’re not necessarily trying to compete in a competition or run an Iron Man. Usually, they just want to stay healthy, build a little muscle, and maintain themselves for as long as possible.

How can you know what to do if you’re a beginner who wants to go into competing eventually? Or if you wish to sustain your body as it is and work towards being a healthier you?

I recommend focusing on a couple of basic components that you should really focus on if you’re trying to be “healthier.”

And it’s going to sound redundant. I’m sure you’ve heard much of this stuff before, but it all boils down to your sleep, resistance training, cardiovascular health, and hydration.

For sleep, you should aim to get around 6 to 8 hours if you’re a guy and about 8 to 10 hours if you are a girl. Some people will need more sleep, and others may need less, but getting into that range of sleep will help you see many significant improvements. I struggle to get enough sleep because I want to be up later, or it just takes so much time. But suppose you can hone in on your sleep and find a routine that works for you. In that case, you will have many benefits, such as being more awake, having higher energy levels, better muscle recovery, and more efficient body processes.

I always tell my clients that resistance training is beneficial for everyone, whether they’re beginners, older people, or young people. Everyone should aim for two to three days of resistance training a week for at least 45 minutes. This will help promote muscle growth, increase metabolic rate, make them stronger, and help with different types of muscular imbalances. It also improves balance and helps prevent the onset of osteoporosis as they age.

Next, it’s related to your cardiovascular health. The American Heart Association recommends 70 to 120 minutes a week of moderate to intense exercise. I recommend my clients go to the higher end of that scale, but sometimes it’s impossible. Aim for about 8000 to 10,000 steps a day as a great starting point if you’re trying to move more and improve your non-exercise activity thermogenesis, a significant portion of the calories you burn throughout your whole day.

You don’t necessarily have to go to a gym. If you are into working out, that’s awesome. But for some people, that’s not a priority on their list. Just by dedicating two days to focus on resistance training and then the rest of the week just making sure that you’re getting your steps in and you’re moving and not being super passive, you are still going to see those health benefits without having to dedicate yourself only to working out for two hours a day if that is not feasible for you right now. We all are at different places in our lives, and what you have time for and what you have time for may be different.

What’s important is finding something that works for you and allows you to take care of yourself and the things that are important to you for as long as possible. Prioritizing your health is essential, and it can easily get misconstrued. People may say, “Oh, you’re being vain, or you’re being selfish.” When you feel better and healthier, you can go out and help others. If you are holding yourself back from improving, then you will not be able to make the impact that you know you can.

Now, nutrition. This is a highly debated topic because there are so many different aspects that you can go into. It’s very hard to know exactly what’s going to work for you. I 100% recommend talking to a nutrition coach, a dietitian, or your doctor, especially if you have some sort of thyroid issue, eating problem, or gut issues. I know that was a lot of random things, but focusing on being healthy with these components can help you to be a little bit happier, and we’re confident it will help you to take on your days in the best way possible.

If you have any questions always free, feel free to reach out. Prioritize your health so that you can be the healthiest version. Both mentally, physically, and spiritually.