There has been a huge shift in the industry and especially how women approach training. More and more women who come in to train with us start lifting weights and see that they are getting stronger, they feel great and they love it. That is one trend which Fast Twitch Training has always stood behind and will continue to do so. Fitness standards have changed completely. Instead of women feeling like they are held hostage to doing cardio on a machine with the thought that this is the only way to lose weight, or stay lean, women can now feel empowered through strength training by lifting weights with much better results than cardio could ever do.
The other interesting thing that I am finding is that women are not as focused on what their bodies look like but they are more focused on how they feel. The results of building strength and gaining muscle is looking good and being strong, inside and out. The days of having the goal to be “skinny” is fading and the new goal of being stronger is the new “in thing”.
This is not so say that looking good does not matter, because for most all of us it does. We not only want to be strong, we want to look strong. After all, where is all the glory if you don’t look good in those fancy new clothes you just bought, right? This is where nutrition comes in. And just like getting in the right mindset as a female to push heavier weight, there has to be a mindset to eat the right way too.
As years go by, we get further away from the mindset of eating lettuce and drinking water to stay lean is the way to go. We actually need to eat to live and eat to be healthy. However, that can still be a huge mental barrier for women to get over. At Fast Twitch Training I find this to be one of the most difficult things to get women to accept. On one hand, they love doing deadlifts, squatting strong weight, and just overall pushing their limits. There inevitably comes this point with our female clients when they tell me how fatigued they are all the time. They have drastically adjusted their workout mentality but not their nutritional mentality. For most women, the answer is you have to eat MORE. Eat substantial foods, eat before your workout and eat after your workout and make sure you eat throughout the day. When you are hungry, your muscles need to heal and in order to do that they have to be fed. Once you start doing this you will see changes in your body, you become leaner, tighter and stronger. The way you see your body is that you are strong and healthy and awesome! Nutrition is key and so important and as hard as you work out you need that same tenacity with caloric intake.
I think the issue with “dieting” is that it creates this all out fail or succeed effort which is not sustainable. Women especially tend to go to extremes with diets that are almost impossible to stick to for a lifetime of worrying about gluten or bread, cake or steak. Gone are the days of eating clean all week and then having a “cheat day”. It becomes too hard to balance at that point. Eating healthy, well balanced meals is key. Instead, look at how many macronutrients your body needs based on the performance goals you desire. Then, you can eat whatever you want. So in essence if your body required a certain amount of calories in a day, and a specific amount of carbs vs protiens vs fat, go ahead and eat it in any form you want. Eat of course what fuels you best, but don’t worry if a bowl of ice cream slips into it, or steak and eggs for breakfast. You will know when you reached your caloric intake for the day and exactly what amount of each category to eat.
Fitness is all about making sure it is approachable and sustainable. That is the fitness world we are growing into and it is a much healthier one from which fitness came from.