Nutrition is almost always the barrier to improving fitness levels or breaking through plateaus. Poor nutrition means poor fitness and improper nutrition for your fitness goal equates to no progress.
From a body composition standpoint (amount of fat and muscle), nutrition is 100% responsible for exercise induced changes. In other words if you are trying to lose body fat and you eat too many calories compared to the amount you burn, you will not lose fat and you’ll plateau. From a performance standpoint, not eating properly before an event or training, the person will not have the energy potential to perform best when compared to consuming the ideal amount and percentages of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. No one maximize their health, fitness or training/exercise outcomes by randomly eating, so keep in mind the information below.
Proper nutrition can for everyone:
• Maximize your health and functional longevity potential
• Be 100% responsible for controlling weight up or down including adding muscle – i.e. you can’t add muscle or grow if you don’t eat – and if you don’t eat right, growth and strength can’t be maximized
Proper nutrition can for athletes and exercisers:
• Maximize each event performance including optimizing mental focus by properly loading and reloading energy and fluids
• Enhance each training outcome because properly timed meals with the right nutrients will build more muscle and strength than “random eating”. In other words, your body will spend more time and energy building muscle rather than simply repairing the exercise damaged tissues – every workout should make you better, bigger, faster or stronger
• Contribute to an extended competitive lifespan. By maintaining proper nutrition the body receives a steady flow of the “right stuff”, which means less wear and tear thus a natural slowing of the athletic aging process
• Control athletic weight because diet is solely responsible for achieving ideal playing weight