5 things we wish we knew sooner in our fitness journeys
Hindsight is 20/20 but we are hoping this post will save you some time and headaches. With over a decade of experience in the fitness/coaching industries we have tried and tested almost everything there is out there. These are the top 5 things we wish we knew when starting our fitness journeys…
Sleep is more important than training
Water is the best pre-workout
Overtraining is real
Cardio is optional
Food is fuel
Ok now that we got that let’s break these down even more…
1. Sleep is MORE important than training
While training is very important skipping out on sleep to wake up early and train is suboptimal. Sleep is how you recharge the battery of your body. Poor sleep effects you so much you’re better off getting some extra Zzz's and going to the gym later. If we could go back and do it again we would skip the early mornings and late nights to get those 8 hours.
If you’re looking for more information on how to get better quality sleep check out this blog post.
2. Water is the best pre-workout
Muscles are 70% water and while caffeine is a well studied and effective supplement it does come with a drawback… and that drawback is in the form of dehydration and you CAN NOT build muscle in a dehydrated state. So whats the solution? Drink 1 liter of water in addition to your pre-workout beverage if you choose to use one before you head to the gym.
3. Overtraining is real
It’s easy to become overeager when motivation strikes. Sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs when it comes to training. Training just like medicine is dose dependent and taking too much medicine can create the opposite of its desired effect. Training tolerance must be built over time. If you can’t sleep night, not recovering as quickly or hitting plateaus you might be overtraining.
4. Cardio is optional
At the beginning of our journey we were killing ourselves with cardio but just not seeing the results in the mirror. If your goal is fat loss or body recomposition then resistance training is far superior to any other training modality. Cardio should be used to supplement your resistance training. The more muscle you are able to put on, the more calories your body will burn at work and at rest, win/win!!
5. Food is fuel
In order for the emotional attachment to be removed from food one must disconnect from overly stimulating food choices. Donuts, cookies, chips and other snacks are loaded with calories but provide little to no nutritional benefit. The better you eat, the better you perform in the gym. At the end of the day your body is a machine and like you wouldn’t put sludge in your car’s gas tank, your body thrives on nutritious whole foods so make those the majority of your diet and you will not only look better but you will also feel so much better.
We hope you can learn from our mistakes and save yourself some time on your fitness journey.
-Gene & Gaby
