What Is The Purpose Of Exercise And Diet?
I have to comment on a number of discussions and conversations I have had with many individuals and coaches in the past few months. There is a misconceived notion out there about the purpose of exercise and training and is often further confused by the practices of most individuals and health practitioners. Using exercise to create weight loss is a little like using a screwdriver as a hammer, it may work but it is the wrong tool to mange the job effectively.
First of all let’s establish one main point; exercise and training is different from activities. Walking, hiking, playing soccer with your kids or mowing the lawn are all activities. These are not substitutes for training and working out but they are essential to long-term health, not to mention how they can enrich your life. Activities are not likely to have a dramatic impact on your performance and immediate optimal health profile although they can play a significant part in your long-term health if you remain active all your life.
As humans we have been doing routine activities through work and play for as long as we have been on earth. It is what we are intended to do, not sit at a computer all day and on the couch in front of the TV all night.
That being said, we have also been “working out” for as long as we have been on earth. In the past working out was defined as any “Flight or Fight” event that required us to dig deep inside us physically and mentally to insure our survival. This could be a chase to catch prey that we needed to feed our family, escaping from being chased as prey, physical hand to hand combat for our life or for assets, as well as any extremely physical routine that taxed our central nervous system acutely affecting the chemistry of our bodies. So think sprinting rather than walking or jogging. Wrestling with a tiger or other human invader. Climbing a high tree to find fruits or vegetables or cutting down trees and dragging large logs to build a shelter.
As you know, in modern society we don’t have weekly “Fight or Flight” events anymore. This is what your workout or training should mimic. It should be very difficult but only performed 2-4 times a week for a short brief duration.
The rest of your waking hours should be concentrated on activities or movements that are less taxing to the central nervous system and or could be considered “active recovery”. Also, every day or every training session should not be a “Fight or Flight” experience. Mix it up. Pilates, Yoga and technique training are excellent ways to get in your exercise and stay healthy and fit. During your down time, you should not be sitting all day but you should be getting adequate rest and recovery between your “Fight or Flight” events. The older you get the more recovery you will likely require. Too much “Fight or Flight” training can lead to over-training problems
Now let’s examine the purpose of regular training. Working out is a poor way to control your weight but an excellent way to manage your human chemistry (hormones and neurotransmitters which affect weight, mood, energy…), reduce health risk markers and last but most importantly to increase the quality of life you will have until your last day on earth.
When you are working out regularly you should be feeling better, you should be leaner, more toned, stronger and better able to tackle the day to day duties of life. If you are not working out regularly you should not be gaining weight but maintaining weight levels. If you are gaining weight it is because of a combination of too few activities coupled with poor eating habits.
Training is not a good form of weight control as you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Weight management should be controlled through good diet. Nutrition is the key to normal weight maintenance. Exercise only helps make you leaner and more toned. I often hear “I exercise to eat how I want” but this is using exercise for the wrong purpose.
That being said, you should exercise and if you do you need to do it correctly with high intensity only a few times a week and a slightly slower pace in between. To further this concept recent research continues to support this premise:
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have shown that 30 minutes of daily training provide an equally effective loss of weight and body mass as 60 minutes. Their results have just been published in the American Journal of Physiology.
Exercise increases energy expenditure and will normally create a related increase in energy consumption. If you use it to control weight by trying to create an energy deficit, you are going to get hungry and have to go without food at some point. Likewise, when your training slows down or stops, your energy expenditures decrease but so should your energy consumption. If it doesn’t you gain weight. It isn’t the lack of training but the over-consumption of energy you don’t require that causes the weight gain.
Understanding the human chemistry and the effects exercise habits have on your chemistry are the things we teach you in the Clean-Eating program. Without this knowledge you won’t have the keys required to maintain good health in a simple and uncomplicated way. Instead you will be wondering why you gain weight and do what everyone else does… workout more and try chasing your tail in a never ending cycle that you cannot win.
Start thinking differently about the purpose of exercise and nutrition and use them in the way they were meant to be used to program your health properly and you will be rewarded with optimal weight management and increased vitality!
Pre-med LSU and post graduate at A.T. Still University.
His love of technology started right out of school. As a new hire for Arthur Andersen's Consulting group, the largest accounting and consulting firm in the world at that time, he led the first implementation of one of the very first IBM and Apple personal computers ever used in the business environment quickly becoming the world wide expert in analytical implementation of personal computers for business. Eventually moving on to a widely successful leveraged buy-out and then returning to Arthur Andersen and becoming a Partner in the Chicago office, he specialized in health, fitness, nutritional and food businesses managing some of the largest strategic food industry restructuring deals at the time. As COO of a successful Midwest Venture Capital firm, he was responsible for the operational management and success of over 25 investments over 5 years yielding returns in excess of 1000%.
He served on the board of many businesses in the health and nutrition sector as well as the educational and certification industries, including the board of Nutrisystems and one of the largest licensing and certifying bodies in the US. He returned to school to increase his scientific and technical knowledge and launch an investment company targeting startups in the health and fitness sectors. During this time he became interested in digital marketing technology and became a certified strategic partner with Infusionsoft, providing digital marketing consultation and operational management for many industries including the health, fitness and hospitality service sectors. Having custom developed some of the very first website to CRM integrations, he completed over 50 digital marketing projects and developed one of the first website membership systems providing targeted content to clients based on funnel tagging and online behaviors. Having incubated and exited several fitness concepts, he noted a need for better digital marketing and client management systems as well as analytical tools for health practitioners to use to chart a scientifically valid path to achieving their goals and objectives leading him to develop the Six Sigma Fitness™️ methodology and technology app.
He is a founding member of Six Sigma Fitness LLC (SSF), an online science and technology company with multiple distribution channels. SSF is a Cloud based SaaS health technology and educational platform for Athlete Management and sub-clinical Health, Wellness and Fitness evaluations for the Health and Fitness industry. It is a health practitioner educational resource that certifies practitioners in the SSF proprietary methods and business processes. Additionally, he has created proprietary scientific algorithms, custom CRMs and integrated technologies using API integrations and behavioral logic for marketing and conversion strategies in the health sector as part of the SSF technology stack. This platform and technology has been adapted and customized for both a small muti-location mobile technology retail organization as well and B to B telcom provider.
A wrestler in high school and for a brief time in college until realizing the challenges of studying and playing sports at a high level while constantly having to cut weight, he decided to coach and master the challenges of health and fitness through weightlifting and martial arts while pursuing careers in consulting and eventually the venture capital and private equity business specializing in food and nutrition industries.
He is a multiple blackbelt having studied martial arts for over 30 years including kickboxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, Krav Maga, Kenpo Karate, Kung Fu, Northern (Longfist) and Southern Shaolin (Hung Gar Tiger and Crane), Tai Chi, Qigong, Traditional Weapons and Chinese philosophical studies including Taoism, internal arts and energy systems from an Eastern medicine perspective.
He has had the good fortune to train with and or under the direct lineage of some of the greatest martial artists in the world including Master Ed Parker, Master Jinheng Li, Kru Pol and Master Eddie Cha.
He is also the author of the Six Sigma Fitness™ Scholar Warrior Program which brings together the Eastern and Western sciences as well as the training of both traditional strength and conditioning with martial arts programming.
He is currently the Research Physiologist with UltraFit Systems, Physiologist/Consultant to many professional athletes specializing in combat sports, weight cutting and physiological adaptation and performance. He authored and developed The Scholar Warrior Program for Six Sigma Fitness™ and The Six Sigma Fitness™ Methodology.
Past certifications include Six Sigma Fitness™ Certified Practitioner, Certified Personal Trainer (C.P.T.), CrossFit Level 1, Precision Nutrition, Poliquin Biosignature, Poliquin PICP, BioForce HRV, BioForce Certified Conditioning Coach adding to an extensive academic background.
