Mastering the Modifiable Variables of Fitness: Exercise, Nutrition, and Recovery
How to Balance Exercise, Nutrition, and Recovery for Optimal Fitness Results
Fitness encompasses a wide array of meanings and practices, varying from person to person. However, certain fundamental aspects of fitness remain constant across different individuals. When we alter one component of our fitness routine, it necessitates adjustments in other areas to make sure we are achieving what we want to see. This interconnectedness means that a change in our exercise habits, whether increasing or decreasing activity levels, influences our nutritional and recovery needs. This is what we are going to explore today, as we need to ensure we are factoring in all variables of fitness that we can modify in order to get the desired results that we are looking for. This is what highlights the importance of understanding the idea that nothing changes if nothing changes.
Exercise: The Foundation of Fitness
Starting with the easiest variable of fitness to understand, when we make changes to our exercise it is very clear how this changes our fitness. Making changes with exercise can increase our fitness by increasing the aerobic base of movement, increasing our strength, increasing our flexibility, and so many different avenues to explore. This is why fitness is usually front and center for so many people, we move more, so we can move more. Very easy to understand how we can modify this variable of fitness. With that, I want to dive into another principle within exercise so we can understand how to modify this variable deeper within fitness. When we modify our exercise we want to have a purpose and follow the idea of the SAID principle. This principle states that your body specifically adapts to an imposed demand. What that means, is if you want a specific result from your body, you must train for your body to have that result. I have found this to be an area of confusion for many people outside of the fitness space especially with the plethora of influencers claiming to have an unorthodox method of getting to a specific goal. If you aren’t specifically doing the thing that you’re looking to get better at, you’re likely not going to get any better at the thing that you want to do. There is no getting around if you want to get better at running, we will need to run, if you want to get better at squatting, guess what, you’ll need to squat. We can’t beat the system because it is just how your body responds to the demands that are imposed on it.
Continuing with that idea, the imposed demands that we are looking at is usually getting outside of your comfort zone and getting further than what it is, the numbers may say one thing but if you’re able to go further than what it said, then maybe the numbers that you’re basing your training off of need to be evaluated to make sure they are still the right numbers. This is a place all too often we get caught in where we may see sets of 5 at 80-85% of your 1 rep max, this should be adequate to get you near failure, but if you are undershooting your max or that isn’t taking you close enough to failure then it isn’t really pushing you hard enough to get out of your comfort zone and push for those specific goals. This would mean that you’re training to maintain not to grow. There is a strong difference there, as you’re going to be disappointed if you think you’re training to grow but without the correct intensity, you end up maintaining, then you’re just left confused and frustrated. Understanding the SAID principle and how that dictates our exercise piece of fitness is important for coercing your body into getting to the place that you want it to be at.
Nutrition: Fueling Your Fitness Journey
The next piece of the puzzle for us to break down within fitness is making sure we understand the basics of nutrition. This is the next most obvious piece that people focus on when they are assessing their fitness, eat less and move more. Common advice that people follow as they start making changes to the variables of fitness. However, what isn’t usually thought about is the fact that nutrition is just fuel for your body. Making sure that you’re giving your body what it needs in order to perform the tasks that you need for your day-to-day. When we are looking at how this factors into a variable of fitness that we can control, we can increase our fuel intake, eat more food, to perform more tasks or harder tasks that have a higher energy demand, or we can take in a lower amount of fuel which will lower the overall ability of what we can accomplish for the day. This is where a lot of hang-ups happen, as there is no getting around the SAID principle. If you give your body more food and perform more tasks, your body will adapt to burning more calories in your day to day. If you give your body less fuel and try to perform the same tasks, it will find ways to reduce the overall expenditure causing the overall issues that we see prevalent in today’s society with so many people having disfunctional metabolisms. Often when people say this, it is likely they have just given their body the demand of operating on little fuel and it has adapted to the demand that is imposed upon it.
Now understanding that nutrition is just fuel for the overall goals of what we are trying to accomplish, you can see that it is a very easy variable to play with and how it directly correlates with your exercise demands. If you are doing more work with cardio, you need to make sure that you’re properly feeding your body so it can make those adaptations that you’re looking for. There is no beating this so if you’re feeling incredibly lethargic even though you’re doing a lot of exercise, this is a big sign that your body is telling you it doesn’t have near enough fuel. Not only does this correlate with the quantity of food but the quality of food as well. You can be intaking a good amount of food but if it isn’t filling or nutrient-dense then your body will be telling you that the fuel side of the equation still isn’t up to snuff and you need to improve on it. Changing your mind within this variable of fitness to think of it as fuel is going to be key to making changes that you want to be making.
Recovery: The Key to Sustainable Progress
The last huge variable of fitness, which is always the last one to be discussed if ever, is going to be recovery. Many people focus on diet and exercise, which is fantastic, but it isn’t just diet and exercise that equals results. We need to make sure we are recovering, giving our bodies the space to repair and grow, a large majority of this happens during sleep. However, sleep isn’t the only aspect of recovery that we need to assess. It is the overall idea of fatigue, recovery is just the idea of clearing out fatigue that has been accrued. Sleep helps limit the accrual of fatigue throughout a training phase or dieting phase, but it still accrues, so it is all the different recovery tactics like yoga, meditation, stress reduction activities, etc. Anything that helps you manage your fatigue will fall into this category. This is the final factor in fitness that we can control. As you can see, if you change your diet and exercise routine but only get six hours of sleep each night, you will accumulate excessive fatigue and have little to no way to clear it thus leaving you exhausted and unable to push yourself past your current comfort level in order to advance. If you keep at this zone without giving your body the chance to clear that fatigue then you’re just going to be putting in the work for limited or no results leaving you frustrated and confused again.
This piece is just as important as all of the others, this is why most training plans should have planned deload periods or periods of reduced weight, or a dieting break put in there to get to the place that you want to get to. It gives you the chance to have that breather, and let your body take the chance to clear out fatigue so you can get out of your comfort zone again. Remember recovery is just fatigue management, so if you can put off maxing out how much fatigue you’re able to handle then you’re going to be able to push outside of your comfort zone even further thus growing more, but when you’re maxed out then you’re unable to push outside of it to make any progress even if the other variables are put in place correctly.
Putting It All Together: Your Path to Success
Now that we have discussed all three of the variables of fitness that we can modify, it is time for us to put them all together and how to make a bit more sense of it all. When I say it is the three variables of fitness, as it is a combination of all 3 of these variables in order to see the results that get put out. When one of these variables changes, they all need to change in response. When you look at your exercise which we can think of as the fatigue accruer, you need to make sure that you are giving your body the correct fuel to get to your goal, and then make sure that you are keeping the amount of fatigue as low as possible so you can continue and sustain that level of progress for as long as possible. This is why no variable is more important than the other is because they all build off of one another. If you’re increasing your ability to keep fatigue away, that means that you can take on more fatigue, and will need to compensate accordingly with your diet. If you lower your food intake or decrease the fuel, you’ll need to make sure that you’re increasing your recovery demand and not accruing as much fatigue with exercise as a response. It is a sliding scale between the three and a careful balancing act. It doesn’t need to be complicated, all the factors just need to be thought of, especially if you find yourself in a place where you may be confused and frustrated with your efforts in fitness. Whether it is growing muscle and gaining size, or losing fat, all 3 of these variables are the ones that you have control over and as one changes, they all need to change accordingly.
In summary, achieving your fitness goals requires a delicate balance between three variables that we can control, exercise, nutrition, and recovery. Each of these elements is deeply interconnected, and changes in one area necessitate adjustments in the others. When you increase your exercise intensity, your nutritional needs and recovery requirements also rise to support this heightened activity. Conversely, reducing your food intake or not allowing sufficient recovery can hinder your progress and lead to frustration.
Understanding the SAID principle is crucial, it emphasizes that your body adapts specifically to the type of demand placed on it. Therefore, your training must be targeted and purposeful to achieve specific results. Nutrition should be viewed as fuel for your body, ensuring it gets the right quantity and quality of food to meet the demands of your workouts. Lastly, recovery is essential for managing fatigue and allowing your body to repair and grow.
Balancing these variables effectively means acknowledging their interplay and adjusting each one in response to changes in the others. By doing so, you can optimize your fitness journey, prevent setbacks, and achieve the results you desire. Remember, in fitness, as in life, nothing changes if nothing changes.
I am excited to begin building a community to connect people with similar interests, making the fitness journey easier and more enjoyable for everyone. If you're interested, have any questions, or need personalized guidance, don't hesitate to reach out to me at sidneyabartlett@gmail.com.
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Until next time, let's keep pushing toward our goals together!
Sidney Bartlett, CSCS