Lifestyle Changes

Small increases in fitness and health, no matter how small, can be hugely beneficial. With the correct progression, you will become more balanced as a person, energy levels will increase, and you will be less tired. Your tolerance for achieving more is increased, reducing stress and pressures such as being able to deal with the extra strains of managing time for life, family, and work. 

Your body will look stronger and balanced becoming leaner and more efficient. You will become more resilient to injury, illness and be capable of dealing with high stress more effectively. Brain functioning will increase to allow you to problem solve and think more rationally. You will start to better understand the needs of your body have a balanced lifestyle with routine sleep, better diet, less alcohol and be able to manage bad stress better.  

We believe fitness is the answer or part of the answer to most things. If you are suffering from injury, illness, feel overwhelmed by stress or anxiety then fitness progressed correctly can have a huge positive impact on your mental and physical health and all-round well-being.   

Smoking 

There are many dangers to smoking. But exercising is a great way to help you on your journey to stop smoking once and for all. Ex-smokers will also reap huge benefits from exercise. Oxygen concentration will be increased, enabling your body to recover quicker and more effectively. Resilience and recovery to illnesses will increase together with your immune system. Having better oxygenated blood will increase energy levels and help in the removal of waste products from the body. Your blood will become less thick and flow more easily, balancing hormones and blood pressure. Your respiratory system will become healthier and more effective as lung capacity increases.  

Drugs 

This will have a very negative effect on your ability to have balance across all levels in your body, everything that is gained from exercise can be halted or held back with the taking of non-prescription drugs.  

Alcohol 

This is a very common way many of us try to reduce stress and unwind. However, alcohol is not good for your body when taken in excess. Drinking alcohol can negatively affect your emotions, mental state and physical ability to progress as you could in a healthier and fitter lifestyle. Ultimately it is a poison to our body and will restrict any progress.   

Sleep 

The average person that is training requires anywhere between 7-9 hours of quality sleep. Quality sleep means that you are engaging in a pattern or routine that allows the body to fall into REM sleep and is not interrupted throughout the pattern too much. Our bodies react well to sleep patterns. This means going to bed at a certain time each night and waking at a specific time in the morning. There are many factors that can affect sleep such as alcohol, smoking, drugs, caffeine and food intake before sleep. It you are training hard; you will find that this has an effect on your central nervous system and is very taxing at all levels requiring more quality sleep. There are a number of sleep monitoring systems, some of which are built into a range of smart watches that can be worn throughout the night such as Garmin sports watches. This monitoring can then show you where your sleep patterns need to be able to perform efficiently. It can help you with your management of loading and better understand your basal rates such as resting heart rate and how it is affected when you are over training, ill or mentally stressed.  

Medical issues and conditions  

It is always advisable to consult your doctor if you feel you want to engage in something new like getting fit. Before you jump in at the deep end it might be worth consulting your GP to check you are fully fit to start training. If your doctor suggests not carrying out any exercise, then it’s certainly suggested to get a second opinion because ruling out exercise in a person’s life is a huge decision. There are many forms of exercise and it’s all about finding a progressive balance to ensure that you are making yourself healthier in a positive fashion that works for you.  

End Goal 

We all want to be healthier, most of us don’t know where to start! Progression is key. Taking the first step of becoming healthier and fitter by becoming a member with Elite Out door fitness can change your life. Once you have a support network and a place to learn and understand what you are doing, why and when to do something is extremely important in the beginning stages of your journey. You will quickly realise that engaging in the basic of getting fitter progressively will naturally allow you to eat healthier, sleep better and reduce any negativity in your life.  It’s a natural process and will make you a more rounded, balanced and resilient individual.  


About

Nick has a background in Physical Training Instruction within the Armed forces, Nutrition and Sports Science. He has coached in CrossFit, strength and conditioning, fell and cross country running, swimming and cycling.
See more from Nick Grainge

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