People are always saying ‘life is there to be enjoyed’ or ‘live it up’ or whatever the marketers want us to believe this time. But what does that really mean? Does it mean consuming nothing but carrot sticks and lettuce leaves and never having another glass of champagne? It could to some, hey they will look fantastic but gee for me that’s a boring existence. Could ‘enjoy life’ mean eating KFC and pizza every night washing it down with 6 beers and a coke? For some maybe, but again for me I would prefer not to have a heart attack at 29.
Today’s post is all about finding the right balance for you. Understand that your balance will be different to my balance, different to your friends balance and different to your training buddies balance. But that is OK, its all OK there is no right and wrong, it’s your balance. You also have to be realistic here and understand that you will get out what you put in. If having amazing six pack abs and the shapeliest of shapely triceps is important to you then I wouldn’t recommend having any alcohol at all. If you are happy with a flat stomach and some triceps that show you have been training, then knock yourself out have a glass of wine.
The problem comes here when those two lines get blurred and your expectation becomes cloudy. If having six pack abs is important to you but you are still having pasta every night and 4 glasses of wine, you will be wondering why your not getting the results you desire, you will probably become frustrated and then stop training altogether. Without realizing of course that it’s not the exercises fault, it’s not the gyms fault, it’s not even the fault of the fact that you are really good at lunch and get breakfast every day. The fault lies in the fact you have no balance between what you want out of your life and what you are putting into it.
Balance people balance. You have to find YOUR balance.
When you find your balance you will find it easy to stick to your training and your healthy nutrition plan, as you know what you want out of both things. You won’t argue with yourself if you have a little too many carbs at lunch one day or beat yourself up when your trainings not working as you know what your expectations are from each of these things. And if you want to change either the way you look or the way you feel then you know you have to modify something or become stricter on something.
You might wonder what my balance is given that I am a personal trainer after all, clearly I will be necking protein shakes and consuming carrots like its no bodies business right? Couldn’t be any further from the truth. My balance is that you should aim to;
– be strong (I do resistance training at least 3 times a week)
– be cardiovascularly fit (I do cardiovascular training 2 times a week)
– ensure your diet contains adequate levels of essential vitamins and minerals (I ensure that I have a protein source and vegetables at every lunch and every dinner at least 5 days of the week)
– Have down time for your head(I try to allocate 2 minutes a day to meditate)
– Have down time for your body (I do Yoga once a week)
– Have down time for your taste buds (I abide a fairly strict healthy diet during the week, but I do on occasion – maybe once a week have a different eating day. By this I mean not as strict as every other day just to change it up a little.
Though I am a personal trainer, and do preach about the importance of being healthy I also preach the importance of being normal. I am not captain Macho pants, with a voice like Schwarzenegger and biceps to match. I am not a super marathon fit triathalete guy either; I am just a fit guy who looks after himself, 173 centimeters tall and 64kg. But I make choices which improve my health and wellbeing each and every day because that makes me feel good. But I also like to indulge myself with some of life’s finer things as doing this makes me feel good to. And I am OK with that as I have found my happy medium, I know what I want, I have balance. My question is…. Have YOU?
This week your homework is to throw yourself on life’s imaginary scales to see how your balance is.
Good luck.
Andrew Zagami