Twenty years ago, I started my career in the fitness industry, but exercise was already an integral part of my life for long before that. I’ve been exposed to a great deal of formal and informal learning over the years, including advice, tips, tricks, methods, methodologies and multiple schools of thought about anything and everything to do with nutrition and fitness.
But the greatest advice I ever got, and retained long-term, was from the mouths of experienced, knowledgeable and hands-on trainers and coaches, most of it early on or prior to my fitness career. Sometimes you hear something and it just clicks. Here are some of the words of wisdom that have been incredibly useful throughout my personal fitness development and my professional training and coaching career.
“Lean and green”
One of the first pieces of advice I ever got from Coach Dan Potts, in answer to my question of how to lean out (lose fat and gain muscle). This is the abbreviated version of “Lean protein and green vegetables.” Born and raised vegetarian, eating protein was never at the forefront of my fitness goals. I ate healthy, yes, but I was limited in my muscular gains by a lack of protein. This was early on in my career, and the first time I truly understood the importance of targeted eating to achieve certain fitness goals. This was before counting macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) became a widespread practice. I have advised clients, and revisited it myself again and again—making nutrient-dense but lower-calorie lean protein and (mostly) green vegetables the foundation of an eating plan to return to a leaner body composition.
“Fitness is like the stock market”
At the beginning of my career, I was working out hard and starting to burn out because I wasn’t allowing enough time to for my body (and mind) to recover. I thought that if I backed off in any aspect of my regimen it would mean that I wasn’t trying hard enough. (I didn’t yet truly understand how crucial rest and recovery are to a successful exercise program and regardless, I wasn’t about to apply that to myself.) This advice came from one of my first mentors in the fitness industry. She reminded me that when you invest in the stock market, you may see the value of your investment rise and fall. But as long as you stay in, you’re likely to come out ahead. Her excellent point was that I didn’t need to constantly work out hard to get the long-term benefits of working out. Mixing up different intensities, taking days off and doing lighter weight with higher reps and vice versa would allow my body to recover while still staying active. For the most part, I’ve stayed in the “market” ever since.
