The Big 3 Barriers of Fitness & Nutrition
Overcoming a lack of time, energy and not knowing what to do
It’s great to be back writing this newsletter - I’ve got a few ready to go and looking forward to sharing them over the coming weeks.
My current training routine is heavily weighted towards running. During the writing break, I started training for a half-marathon in July. Unfortunately, a torn calf and then getting sick put that event on ice, but I got back into it and am now halfway through prep for a run in October.
The training requires a high volume of low-intensity running. This means I’m running five days a week, much higher than ever before.
The low-intensity running is a challenge in itself. I’m accustomed to running as fast as possible for the target distance and then trying to beat that time each week. This program uses heart rate targets to guide training and speed.
While it’s a lot of running, it’s also much more enjoyable when running slower and not feeling on the verge of collapse during the entire run. It will be interesting to compare performance at the end of this program compared to previous runs with my ad-hoc training method.
Resistance training is on the back-burner for now - I’m just sneaking in a couple of sessions to maintain some form of strength and remain familiar with the techniques.
Enough about me - let’s get into this week’s article.
The Big 3 Barriers of Fitness & Nutrition
Using the 3 F’s to manage energy balance is a simple concept, but it’s not always easy to implement. Life gets busy, emotions run high, and things generally get in the way of our best intentions to improve fitness and nutrition.Â
I surveyed my email list back in 2013 to find out what the biggest barriers to fitness and nutrition were. The results were clear: time, energy, and not knowing what to do. There are others, but these were the most common and have frequently come up in conservations with clients ever since.
Understanding barriers and developing strategies to overcome them is critical to building an adhereable fitness and nutrition plan. Adherence drives progression, so we need to take time to consider barriers and how to overcome them. Here are a few ideas on the big three.
1. Lack of Time
A lack of time is the most common barrier to improving fitness and nutrition. It takes time to prepare, travel and complete training sessions, just as it does to buy and prepare food.Â
Telling people to make fitness and nutrition priority number one is rarely a good way to get clients on board. Instead, we need to move it up the list but ensure the strategies we develop don’t get in the way of the big rocks (family, work, etc).
Frequency and duration are the key variables of time. Let’s say you want to do 90-minutes of moderately vigorous exercise each week. You could do either 3 x 30-minute sessions or 6 x 15-minute sessions. Don’t even think about what is a better form of training (it doesn’t matter) just focus on what fits into your routine.
Some people like shorter sessions more frequently because they are over quicker and generally flexible. Other people prefer less frequent training, especially when they need to travel or shower afterwards.
Once people begin to see progress or enjoy the training sessions, it becomes much easier to make it a higher priority. I’ve had clients go from rarely training to it becoming a non-negotiable of their routine because they feel better on days they train (independent of performance and body composition changes).
When it comes to nutrition, the application is slightly different. Making a good nutrition choice at a supermarket or restaurant doesn’t take any longer than average or bad choices. However, taking time to prepare meals or knowing which choices to make can help you avoid having to make those decisions at all.
Preparing meals in bulk is one way to make this happen, but some people find it boring and repetitive. The quickest option is to cook more food at dinner and take this for lunch the next day. Combine this with knowing a few suitable options at nearby restaurants and cafes, and you’ve got a good starting point.Â
2. Lack of Energy
I promise that exercise will improve your day-to-day energy levels, but you have to get started to see these benefits for yourself. Finding the energy or motivation to exercise before this point is challenging.
Setting a time to exercise is great, and I highly recommend it. However, I think having a plan for the session is more important, as this becomes something tangible that you can complete.
It doesn’t have to be a tailored training program developed by an Exercise Scientist. It can be three bodyweight exercises at home and then a 15-minute jog around the block.
Aside from caffeine (for some people) there is no magical fix for energy and motivation to exercise. You just have to slog out the first few programs before you start to see the benefits and then it will become easier.
On the nutrition side, the biggest challenge is making smart choices when tired. These are the days you want to give into takeaway.
If you make good choices at the supermarket, you’re in a much better position to eat well during the tough nights of the week. But that’s pretty obvious…
What’s undervalued is having healthier options for when you do order in. Spend ten-minutes working out a few healthier options that you can get, such as poke bowls and stir fry, and order them next time you don’t want to cook yourself but keep the diet on track.
Takeaway is often viewed as a treat, but this means people feel the need to make the most of it and treat themselves when they get it. This is fine if it’s once a week or fortnight, but if you’re picking up or ordering in more frequently, it’s good to have a healthy option.
If you find tiredness is consistently an issue, consider using meal kits or professional meal prep. It tastes better than most of us can cook and has built-in variety.Â
While they seem expensive compared to going and buying the ingredients yourself, consider whether that is the true alternative - or is the reality you’re making some meals and then getting food in on others?
If that is the case, spending $200 on a meal kit for the family dinners is more cost-effective than buying $125 of groceries and $150 on takeaway.
3. Not Knowing What To Do
Most people think research is the best way to overcome this barrier. Most of the time, it’s not. Reading up on ten different ways to manage your fitness and nutrition isn’t going to help you - it will just confuse you.
Plus, if you pick one of the ten when it doesn’t work, it’s easy to write it off and tell yourself the next one will.
Instead of learning more about different strategies, take a week to learn about your current routine. Track your food and fluid intake alongside physical activity for seven days to see what you can do.
You’ll probably identify some easy diet wins, such as cutting snacks, changing your breakfast or trying two healthier dinners each week. Tracking is a great way to work out your real diet, not the one you aspire to adhere to. Getting clarity on this can make a big difference.
On the fitness side, think about what you want to be able to do. Longer term, it’s recommended to do resistance training twice per week and hit the physical activity targets. But for now, think about what training you might like to try your hand at and start there.
It might be signing up for a trial or using your existing membership at the gym, trying a pilates class or getting on the bike a few times per week. Don’t worry about being perfect, just get started.
You will improve your fitness and technique by getting out and starting.
In the first six weeks of resistance training, most of the strength gains come from neuromuscular adaptations - which is essentially your brain getting better at firing muscles for the movements you are doing.
The same goes for earlier cardiovascular adaptions. Your body isn’t making massive adaptations to the training stimulus - it’s just becoming more effective at using what it has.Â
You can worry about loading and optimisation later on.
Wrap Up
A lack of time, energy, and not knowing what to do are three big barriers to improving fitness and nutrition. You can use these strategies to try and overcome them one at a time.
Some of them feed into the others. You might order a meal kit for a week or two, and then you find you’ve got more time to exercise, and now you’ve two of the 3 F’s working for you.
Getting started and putting these into practice is the key. Take 5 minutes today to work out where you want to begin and prepare yourself for tomorrow, or Monday, whenever you decide to commence.
Q&AÂ
If there is anything fitness and nutrition related that you are trying to get your head around, post it below or reply to this email and it will go straight to my inbox. All questions are posted without names unless you specify otherwise.