Because a fit lifestyle requires more than exercise and diet.
The Telegraph has published an interesting series of interviews recently with men and women that have changed their lifestyle, diet and exercise routines to positive outcomes.
This is an interesting series of articles for me, as it allows for a realistic evaluation of how such changes can impact lives for the better and the kind of changes that have a measurable impact on people with busy, demanding lives.
Nino Mingoia, 57, a construction project manager who lives in West London, outlined how he changed his life in middle age as part of this series. Mingoia outlines in his Telegraph interview how he was becoming lethargic as he got older.
"I would go running or mountain biking, Mingoia states in the article, “but not that often, and always felt exhausted after a long session. I wanted to be fitter but didn’t have the motivation to do it on my own."
Then he decided to engage the support of a personal trainer to both inspire and support him as he changed his lifestyle. At that point, Mingoia’s weight had crept up to 69kg (10st 12lbs), which was not great for a 1.6m or 5’3” man such as himself.
"I knew that if I wanted to get super fit," Mingoia says, "I’d have to join a gym and commit to a proper programme. Once there, a trainer put me on a strict diet and exercise plan and straight away I could see why I hadn’t been seeing any benefits from my previous haphazard approach – I needed consistency to see results."
Although Mingoia's diet was pretty good (he has a Mediterranean background), he also consumed too much sugar and bread and other quick-release carbohydrates. "I’d typically have cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and pick at crisps and biscuits throughout the day. I usually had a healthy homemade dinner, but would eat a huge portion, and still snack afterwards with a dessert or cheese."
Mingoia’s trainer helped him change this diet so that it was higher in proteins derived from fish and chicken, and lower in sugars and unhealthy fats. Moving forward, Mingoia focused on small, manageable changes, such as a mid-morning snack of natural Greek yoghurt with berries and started training twice a week with his PT, then on his own, using a resistance and strength training plan.
Mingoia talks in the piece about the benefits of working with his PT in this way.
"He taught me to take it slowly: you see so many men, especially, throwing weights around and doing it as fast as possible, but it doesn’t give you as much benefit as concentrating and doing them slowly, which helps you put on more muscle.
"After 16 weeks, I had lost 11kg and around 10 per cent body fat, down from 20 per cent body fat. Friends and family have been stunned by the physical transformation, but for me, the huge gains have been in how I feel: I’ve got so much more energy and feel like I’ve become a human dynamo."
In addition to focusing on his diet and exercise, Mingoia also pays attention to the amount and quality of sleep he gets and he uses a fitness (Strava) app to monitor and motivate his fitness lifestyle.
"Of course, my overall fitness has improved to no end," Mingoia says in conclusion about how his life changed as a result of the above.
As a personal trainer myself, it is interesting and encouraging to read such accounts about how lives can be turned around by following a fitness lifestyle. But, I think what is more interesting from Mingoia’s story is the focus in it on a balanced approach to such a lifestyle that involves diet, exercise and other lifestyle changes (in this case, paying attention to the valuable role that quality sleep plays in fitness).
Sometimes clients come to me asking for selective advice or training to improve one area of their (physical) lives. This is fine, of course, though in the medium and long term, I think it is always the case that focusing on balance and how we live our lives is more productive to achieving results and the rewards that go with them.
Julien