Fitness in humans is defined as the condition of being physically fit and healthy. While in biology,
fitness is defined as an organisms ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment. Today
we will discuss a couple of small changes you can make that will radically improve your general level
of fitness, but also fine tune you for greater performance on the pitch.
First and foremost, replace all liquid calories with water. Fun fact, over 65% of the human body is
made up of water. But more importantly, muscle cells are made up of 75% water. The more water
you drink, the more muscle you will build, period. Sports drinks are nothing more than sugar water
that will add unnecessary calories to your diet, along with juices and soda. Don’t make your body
work any harder than it has to by needing to extract the calories and sugar from the water it actually
needs to function, keep it just H2O. The average American consumes around 25% of their daily
calories through liquids, don’t make this mistake, save those calories for yummy food and stick to
water.
Second tip is double your protein intake. If you take one protein shake a day, drink a second. One
serving of chicken at Chiptole? Ask for a second. Eating protein at lunch? Make sure to eat protein at
dinner as well. Protein is the building blocks for muscle and lean body tissue in the body. The more
protein you consume, the more amino acids you will have in your blood stream to help build more
muscle. More muscle makes you perform better in every aspect of physical life, as well as helps keep
you full for longer, so you end up eating less of the less helpful stuff. 80% of how you look and
perform is based off your diet, not how you train, so a simple way to drastically improve yours is to
double your protein intake, without increasing your current daily caloric intake. AKA, eat the same
amount of food that you are currently eating, just double your protein. Within a week you will notice
small changes to your physique and musculature, as well as a giant up take in your energy levels.
Third tip is adapt a basic stretching routine. Doesn’t have to be no crazy hour long yoga class, or
something that attempts to bend you into a pretzel. But a quick fifteen minute routine done every
day will change your life in ways few other habits can parallel. The majority of humanity now spends a
considerable amount of time in 90 degree seated positions that our spines simply weren’t designed
for. Lower back, glutes, hamstring, and ankle tightness is so common across the Western world, that
being limber is almost considered a super power. The grand majority of minor injuries like back pulls
and sore shoulders, to the bulk of serious injuries like ACL tears can be attributed to muscle tightness.
The muscles of our body, especially our back sides, tend to be severely under developed. So apply and
strain at an uncomfortable angle? Quick visit to pain city. What can we do to combat this? Stretch!
You can Youtube or Google some quick stretch routines that hit all of the major muscle groups, the
quads, the hamstrings, the glutes, lats, chest, shoulders, and hips. Hold a couple of seconds in each
stretch, and gradually push yourself into deeper stretches and longer holds. Stretch right when you
get out of bed, and again before you jump back into it. Getting flexible will go a very long way into
preventing not only injuries on the field and the gym, but future visits to the doctor as well.
Fourth tip is walk one hour each and every day. I can sit here and list a never ending benefit list to
why you should incorporate this walk into your life, but I will keep it short and sweet. This daily one
hour walk will do more for your physical, mental, and even spiritual health than any personal trainer
will ever achieve. Not only will you guarantee yourself at least an additional 300 extra calories burnt
from your day, you will build muscle in your legs that will allow you to move faster, for longer. Get
used to walking quickly over an hour and see how much easier jogging for 20 minutes becomes.
Beyond that, where jogging is an easy activity to get hurt from over training or use, it is nearly
impossible to get exhausted from walking. This allows you to do it every day without any concern of
soreness or pain. Put on a pair of comfortable sneakers, turn on some great tunes, and walk one hour
every single day.
Fifth, No sleep = no party. At least when it comes to achieving your fitness goals. From tanking your
energy levels to releasing the wrong hormones that make you hangry and lazy, make it a habit to get
at least six hours of quality sleep a night. You can not and will not be able to perform close to 100% if
you can not regular good sleep. There are many things you can do to improve your sleep if you suffer
from insomnia like limiting screen time two hours before bed, keeping your room under 70 degrees
and as dark as possible, keeping a strict bed time no matter the day of the week, getting more
sunlight during the day to activate the pineal gland, and if all else fails, trying eating two kiwis an hour
before bed, it usually does wonders.
And last but not least, keep it simple in the gym and in training. Eighty percent of your results in
training will come from just twenty percent of the exercises your perform. It is far better to get great
at three movements in the gym that target your full body, than fifty exercises for each body part.
Choose bigger bang for your buck exercises such as barbell back squats, bench press, bent over rows,
and hip thrusts than 16 variations of flys and curls. You don’t need interval training if a 10 minute jog
leaves you exhausted. There are times and places for complexity, but it is rarely found in the training
room. Get really good at the basics and be shocked at how far that will take you in your physique,
health, and performance on the field.