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Erika Martin

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July 11, 2022

Is Exercise Your Salt and Pepper?

How does exercise fit into your life? Or better yet, how do you value your exercise as part of your fitness regime? What about nutrition? How about sleep? Sunlight? Are you getting enough water during your day? How much time do you spend sitting? What about time spent on your social media platforms or streaming services? How many steps are you taking a day? Obviously exercise is important and should be built into your life in a routine way, but should not be relied upon as the soul pillar of fitness to keep you healthy. Exercise should be seen as a way to enhance our lives, not the only thing keeping us alive. We need exercise to maintain and build strength, we want exercise to maintain bone density, to help manage hormones to help us sleep, to help us maintain a healthy weight, along with maintaining or improving heart health, and the list goes on and on.However, what are you doing between training sessions? Your 1 hour in the gym will not make up for 23 hours or poor decisions. That 1 hour in the gym should enhance those decisions. For example, you want to build muscle, so you start attempting to lift heavier, but you neglect your protein intake and your sleep habits. If you do not eat enough protein, you will not be able to rebuild those muscles and if you're not receiving the quality sleep you need, then you will not be able to recover, hindering your ability to go heavy the next day. Another example could be weight loss. You have the desire to lose weight, maybe it’s 5 pounds, maybe it’s 50 pounds, doesn’t matter, if you want to lose weight, you have to be in a caloric deficit, so do not rely on that 1 hour of exercise to make up for putting yourself in a caloric surplus during the other 23 hours. The 23 hours outside the gym make a greater impact on your life than the 1 hour you spend in the gym. The gym is important, but the gym is there to enhance the other 23 hours and the decisions made in those 23 hours can make or break your goals that you have set for yourself in the gym. Exercise is the salt and pepper to your entree which is your overall fitness and health. It is there to enhance, not to be the main star of the meal. - Coach Erika

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