Spoiler: it involves food.
Some of you may think we’re utterly mad for even suggesting that you hit the gym on a Saturday morning, but hear us out. Lots of people are a little (or a lot) rough from the almost inevitable Friday night drinks, therefore the gym is dead. This means that you have the freedom to do whatever you like, use whatever machines you want to and stay for as long as you wish without getting fed up of the hoards of people eyeing up the leg press that you want to hop on next. Plus, you have the rest of the morning to go home and make a super indulgent post-gym breakfast. We spoke to Bio-Synergy Athlete, Marvin Ambrosius about how we can boost the time we spend in the gym and thrive from our work outs.
As a personal trainer and fitness instructor, Ambrosius, 39, has worked with professional athletes and so has learned a lot about getting the right nutrition tailored to your goal, whatever that may be. “Your nutrition compliments the field of sport you’re in. For example, someone who is a pro footballer wouldn’t have the same nutrition as a heavyweight boxer. A heavy weight boxer would need a higher source of protein, fats and more calories than a pro footballer.” He explained that a persons age, height, and weight will all play a significant part of enhancing the correct amounts of carbohydrates, fats and protein for every individual. If our end goal is to slim down and build muscle, we’d have to adhere to a diet suitable to support that.
What we eat has everything to do with the result that we get. If we’re not channelling our diet towards what we’re aiming for, we won’t reach our goal. Ambrosius suggested that tracking what we eat can really help when starting out a new plan. For example if our aim is to be healthier and are hoping to lose a bit of weight in the process, then tracking what we’re putting in our mouths can help start our journeys. Making sure we have the right amount of carbs, fats, fibres, sugars, and proteins and cutting down on processed foods is a great place to start. Likewise, if our aim is to build muscle, we’d be tracking what we consume in a different way as we’d be upping protein portions rather than balancing our diet out.
Food is evidently important when we workout, but we don’t have to eat before you exercise. Some people prefer to do fasted workouts, especially if they’re hitting the gym in the early hours of the morning. There are in fact advantages of working out on an empty stomach, Ambrosius explained to us. “Each individual has a day planned and the only way fasting can work is by making it work for you. There are some great benefits, you increase you water intake and allow your food to really digest more easily and you can keep you can regulate your calorie intake.” So, if you don’t have time to eat before you head to that 7am spin class, don’t worry, just make sure you eat a good meal afterwards.
Another important (probably the most important) factor in terms of making the most of the exercise we do and the effort that we put into it, is the amount of quality sleep that we get. “Sleep is the most important part of benefiting from exercise. Your body goes into homeostasis when sleeping and that’s when your muscles repair the most, so if you’re not sleeping your muscles can’t repair. 8 hours sleep is hard to come by, but it will speed up the process to getting the body you want.” Well, you don’t need to tell us twice to get an early night! *Praying we wake up with abs*
We now know that while exercise is important, the way we support that exercise with our nutrition and rest is even more influential to maintaining our progress and meeting our targets. We asked Ambrosius what his workout looks like. “I focus on mastering your body weight and building your cardiovascular all at the same time. It’s important to work all muscle groups to get good overall fitness. I start with one of my Fit in 5-minute workouts and depending on how much time I have I will do between 4-6 workouts 4 times a week. I recommend everyone to build their fitness and have a realistic approach. Using the Fit in 5 L1VE pad is a great way to start.”
Remember, eat well, sleep well, workout well. Humour us, head to the gym this fine Saturday morning and let us know how it was in the comments. Enjoy your workouts and make sure you’re providing your body with enough nutrients so that you don’t over-tire yourself or cause any injuries.
Feature image: Stocksy via Women’s Health Mag
