By Virginia Bain, Personal Trainer & Nutritionist on Cyno
"If you want a fit athletic body you need to train and eat for one." This is a statement/comment I get from clients and friends a lot. There are many things at play here, first how long have you been “working out” what type of workout are you doing and what’s your nutrition like.
Let's break this down: What type of workout are you doing? If you are only doing cardio i.e running, elliptical, stair mill, spin classes etc... then you are not doing the type of training it takes to create a fit athletic looking body.
If you are doing classes, any class I don’t care if it is called a strength class, if its Zumba, body pump, F45, Orange Theory, boxing etc... if its circuit, it will not get you that fit athletic look. BUT, there’s people in the class, or the trainers look “fit”. Once you have a muscle base you can do anything and maintain it, and/or shed the extra fat to "reveal" it. BUT if you have not spent the years strength training in the past building muscle, and/or you’re not a past athlete then this type of training alone will not get you the fit athletic body you are looking for. It will help with endurance, functional movements, overall health but the purpose of this is to educate you on what will and will not get you the ‘athletic look’ so many are after.
What does get that look? Strength training for a length of time. Heavy lifting, year over year. Compound movements like barbell squats, Deadlifts, bench press, shoulder presses. Nutrition to support that training and build muscle. You can always add in classes, cardio etc... but if you really want to create an athletic fit body you need to spend the time to build it. You want to look like an athlete you need to train like one. And that’s a methodical and includes a progressive overload plan. Its phased training and nutrition, it's working out with a purpose, and doing what will get you results...not more, not less.
If you’re ready to take you fitness to the next level let me know!