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May 5

COVID-19: The positive path to staying strong and healthy – Brig Newspaper

Long Term Weight Loss Comments Off on COVID-19: The positive path to staying strong and healthy – Brig Newspaper

The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures have meant that gyms in the country have shut down. We no longer have access to a large amount of equipment that we may use during our workouts.

But it doesnt mean you are out of options. Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle or maintain your weight, Ive been through all three.

So do you want to stay strong, healthy, and active during this pandemic? If so, I offer some advice in this article that will hopefully help you no matter where you are at.

Mental Health and Training Goals

Our mental health is really important when it comes to our study, work, and other activities. The worst thing you can do is to tell someone to get over it.

But the focus of this article is positive advice for anyone, regardless of how you might be feeling right now. Take this exchange from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who responded to a fan with depression, and in the process, effectively started a conversation about mental health.

Arnold was a famous bodybuilder who managed to sculpt an incredible physique. But Arnold has also been an inspiring figure to so many people.

I saw you pumping other people up, and I love it.

You can be in great shape and still be affected by mental health. I am sure there are people reading this who will greatly resonate.

My advice? Tell yourself, that no matter what is you want to do, or achieve, fight for it. Use quotes that motivate you, and think of whoever is special to you, as these can all be great motivators.

Persevere.

To train your mind to succeed, I always recommend having a goal in place. Do you want to lose weight or build muscle? If so, how much?

Give yourself a target to work towards. That way, you are more likely to stay on track with your progress.

I like to think of failure as a step to success. Failure isnt the end, and this is the mindset I have right now as one of my PhD research articles is in the process of being published: you wont get everything right first time.

Picture me at the ice rink during my first time skating. I was constantly falling over.

I got back up because I wanted to keep going. And every time I fell, I kept getting up.

You can too. And I hope the lyric: I get knocked down, but I get up again is another way that words can motivate you.

Nutrition

With McDonalds, Wetherspoons and other well-known eateries closed, theres never been a better time to make your own meals. There is so much choice, that often we dont know where to start.

But my absolute best advice I was told from a nutrition coach and which is echoed by Django to Remy in Disney Pixars Ratatouille:

Food is fuel for your gains. What matters is your energy balance.

Thats right. As proof, check out this guy who lost weight by training and eating McDonalds.

Energy from food is measured in calories. The energy you use is dictated by the laws of thermodynamics.

You could, (if you wanted to) lose weight by eating fast food or takeaways every day. But its probably not the healthiest way to do it.

Instead, have a training goal in mind and adjust your calorie intake accordingly. Dont know how many calories you need?

No problem. Just log everything you eat for a week, make sure to step on the scale every morning when you wake up, and check the number on the scale at the end of the 7 days.

Depending on your goal, if the number is slightly lower than the first day (weight loss) or higher (muscle building), then youre doing a great job. Monitor the food you eat, and try to have at least three meals a day.

Dont feel guilty if you eat something like a cake, ice cream, or your favourite pizza takeaway. In my opinion, food should not be thought of as the enemy.

Except trans fats. Dont eat those, thats literally all I recommend against.

These nasty unsaturated fatty acids are found in hydrogenated oils and lard, so it is important to keep this in mind especially if youre eating processed food. Any food label on a product that says: hydrogenated on it indicates trans fat and thus, I wouldnt recommend that product if you want to stay healthy.

I also dont like the word diet, but Ill explain why. To me a diet is a short-term period of food restriction. For example, the ketogenic diet restricts carbohydrates.

This should not be confused with being vegan. Actually, being vegan is a long-term lifestyle that you can stay consistent with and thats fantastic.

Theres a key difference between diet and lifestyle. And this advice works regardless if you eat meat, dairy, fish, gluten, or not.

It goes back to the Ratatouille quote. I dont recommend restricting your macronutrients.

Ill quickly touch on two more essentials. This article could get long otherwise.

The first is hydration: I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep hydrated. Water you waiting for?

If you dont like water because of the taste, dont worry. I like to flavour my water so I can keep drinking it.

Want something to laugh about? Check out this hilarious sketch from Limmy about water.

Finally, make sure no matter what your goal is, youre consuming enough protein, but how much? Heres the number one world hypertrophy expert Dr. Brad Schoenfield to tell you.

Depending on what your goal is, you can slightly increase or decrease this amount. The thing with protein is, if youre building muscle, then protein is the fuel (protein synthesis) to repair muscle fibres from a workout, and if youre losing weight, training and consuming protein will prevent that weight being lost as muscle.

You can even build muscle while losing fat (body recomposition) and it is also possible to build muscle while in a calorie deficit. In fact, thats mostly how Ive been doing it!

Training

The last part of this article will cover training advice. If youre at home and have dumbbells thats great. If not, do not worry!

Take an empty carton of milk or orange juice, or a glass bottle, anything you find in your home and fill it with water. That is now your resistance you can use in your training!

If you really want something versatile and super cheap, invest in a resistance band. They are great for so many of your exercises as well as stretching and mobility.

Check out Athlean-X on YouTube for creative ways to train at home. It is a great channel with lots of advice about exercising, stretching, eating, and even sleeping.

Have a training plan in mind. You dont need to waste money on fitness gurus who only want to sell you programs at ridiculous prices. Here is an example of a training program.

I have managed to build my body on the cheap, but I do recommend personal training if thats in your budget. However, at home you dont need to do anything expensive.

The most important advice about training? Have the willpower to do it.

Nike says: Just do it. Schwarzenegger says: Just do something.

Hard work always pays off if done consistently. Even if that is just two or three times a week for you, thats perfectly okay!

As a final note, I hope you look after yourself, listen to your body, stay connected with the people you care about, and remember, its okay to not be okay.

Youve got this.

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COVID-19: The positive path to staying strong and healthy - Brig Newspaper

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