Fitness Training or Food - Which is Most important?

We all know that training and nutrition are both crucial to a healthy and balanced diet. But is one just a little bit more important than the other?

Here’s what you need to know about how working out and what you eat affects your body.

Training

For keeping your mind sharp and decreasing your risk of heart disease, training is essential. Aerobic exercise will help you to maintain (and improve) your physique, alleviate stress, lower cholesterol and increase your blood flow.  Aerobic exercise will also help to improve your stamina, meaning your body becomes more efficient and uses less energy for the same amount of work. As you increase your fitness levels, you will find your heart and breathing rate return to resting levels much sooner after undertaking strenuous activity.

When it comes to weight loss, you need to ensure you’re burning more calories than you’re taking in. Partnered with a healthy diet plan, you need to make sure you’re getting enough physical activity in to burn a sufficient amount of calories. A proper training regimen will ensure you’re maintaining a healthy weight and is a crucial element in changing the shape and size of your muscles.

Nutrition

If you’re new to the fitness sphere, then mastering your nutrition is extremely important. A poor diet will interfere with your training regimen, and changing what you feed your muscles can create rapid leaps in fat loss and muscle building. If, for example, you’re used to eating lots of processed foods and refined sugars or skipping meals and you implement a nutrition plan high in protein, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, your physique will very quickly transform.

As the nervous and muscular systems of beginners are unaccustomed to exercise, just about any training program can cause muscle growth and strength development to occur. For maximum results however, good nutrition is paramount.

When you lift weights, there is an increase in both protein synthesis and protein breakdown. Essentially what this means is that your muscles are in a constant state of protein turnover. The only way muscle growth can occur is if synthesis exceeds breakdown – or in other words, if you’re building more muscle than you’re breaking down. While training is essential for muscle breakdown, you need to ensure you’re refuelling with the proper foods to repair and re-build your muscles.

The Verdict?

Ultimately, you can’t out-train a bad diet. Good nutrition is the foundation element you need to improve your training sessions and improve the quality of your workout.

Similarly, you will not be toning or increasing your muscle size without the addition of a regular training regimen, comprised of weights and cardio.

For more information on training and nutrition, read up on what you need to know when planning a bodybuilding diet, or what you need to eat to build lean muscle.

Combine the best of training and nutrition with the Australian Institute of Personal Trainers. Call 1300 616 180 today.