Health and fitness are two concepts of being that are often placed next to one another but pertain to two different states all together. Sure, Physical fitness often ties in with health and wellbeing but in some circumstances, they can become completely divorced of one another. A major contributor in this uncoupling is doing too much, be that via intensity, frequency or by under fuelling and undervaluing rest. In some cases, individuals can be guilty of all the above and end up frustrated that their monumental efforts are not leading to monumental results, in fact they’re likely not progressing at all and in many cases will actually be going backwards. 

Most forms of exercise place a stress upon the body. It’s the bodies response to this stress that facilitates progress however the bodies capacity to tolerate this stress and optimally recover is limited and this capacity will differ from person to person. The problem is that this fatigue compounds over time and the individual will not immediately be aware that they are pushing too hard until they arrive at a point when the fatigue is so compounded it manifests as a crash or injury. We often hear ‘less is more’ being the optimal way to approach training however this can be a difficult concept to implement as there is also such a thing as too little. What’s key is to find the ‘sweet spot’ known as the Goldilocks zone where the training stimulus is balanced with the bodies capability to recover. As this is different across all individuals some experimentation must take place with the goal to be to elicit the greatest amount of progress through the least possible amount of stimulus. With this approach, the stimulus can be increased accordingly as the work capacity of the individual improves.

A common trap many fall into that can also cause health to deteriorate with the presence of exercise is not fuelling the body adequately. This is most often seen when the primary goal is to lose body fat. While a calorie deficit is key in this endeavour and in many cases losing excess fat is conducive to good health, too great of a deficit or losing too much body fat will cause all kinds of problems. Creating a calorie deficit is in essence a form of starvation and while the body can cope just fine with a lesser number of calories than it needs to maintain, creating too large a gap will send a very loud signal for the body to pair down muscle tissue (as this is costly to maintain) and spike cortisol levels creating a very stressful internal environment. Again we return to the idea of a Goldilocks zone with calorie restriction which will differ from person to person and once again will take a period of trial and error to establish. The goal in this scenario would be to see a reduction in weight of 0.5 to 2 lbs weekly and if possible track other metrics such as body fat percentage to ensure mainly body fat is being reduced.



The key to any successful fitness endeavour and the sure-fire way to ensure fitness and health stay coupled is to go at your own pace, don’t get so caught up with what others are doing and don’t compare your results to those of others. Comparing yourself to others makes you bitter, comparing yourself to yourself makes you better. Aim to beat your own previous best with the end goal to be the best possible version of your self but also don’t be so hard on yourself if you fall short provided you learn from this shortcoming. Learning to enjoy the journey and not just the destination is one of the best ways to find a maintainable pace.