You may not realize this but fitness has a lot of similarities to your car, and in particular to car maintenance.
That's essentially what good nutrition and exercise programs are - maintenance on your body.
Similarity #1: Warm up
When you plop into your car in the winter, most of us know that it's not good for your car to turn the key and peel out of the parking lot a hot second later - or in this case a cold second later. Some of us even go as far as turning on the car while you finish your breakfast so it's nice and toasty when you get in. Our bodies work the same way. They aren't ready to take off until they have a proper warm up. Especially if you are going to do high-intensity or high-velocity sports, you want to be sure you have a nice sweat going before you really hammer on the proverbial gas.
The Point: Take at least 5 minutes before each workout to warm up properly. You should be sweating and/or breathing hard for the final minute of your warm up. If you are preparing for an hour long sporting event, you should be sweating or breathing hard for a solid 5 minutes and extend your warm up to 10 minutes.
Similarity #2: Gas Tank
We all know you won't make much progress on your day-long road trip starting with an empty tank, right? What do most of you do - you fill up your tank before taking off. The same holds true with your body. One of the best health moves you can do is fill up that "gas tank," or stomach, with a quality breakfast. Further, you'll want to be sure you end your day with your biological tank nearly on tempy. Once in a regular rythm, your body knows you'll fuel up in the morning and you won't be busy storing fat while you sleep.
The Point: Breakfast is crucial to a successful, highly energized day. Focus on getting high octane fuel (see next similarity) in your body in the AM.
Similarity #3: Fuel.
High performance cars required high-octane, or high-performance, fuel - right? High performance fuel for cars is essentially better quality (or better grade) fuel. Well, high-performance bodies also require high performance fuel (please refrain from drinking gasoline), simply another way of saying high performance food. What is high performance food? It's high quality, healthy food.
The Point: A hot, sexy, high-performance body requires high performance food, so step up your nutrition and you'll see it in your results.
Similarity #4: Horsepower.
The more horsepower or "muscle" a car has, the more speed and power it has, right? In addition, ultra-fast cars tend to have the leanest, sexiest shaped bodies. The same holds true for our bodies. The more muscle you have, the more power you can generate, thus making you faster. If your body has more muscle mass, you are likely to be leaner, and hence more "aerodynamic" and sexy. Who doesn't want that?
The Point: Man or woman, make sure you have weight lifting as part of your consistent exercise routine to have a sleek sexy frame.
Similarity #5: Spark plugs
Whether you are a car-buff or not, spark plugs serve as a catalyst to ignite the fuel (high performance fuel, right?) so you can get that power and performance out of your car. Without spark plugs, you cannot unlock the energy held inside the fuel. Vitamins are essentially the spark plugs of nutrition. Without proper vitamins, your body cannot unlock and take advantage of the energy that food provides (they serve many other functions as well). A lack of sufficient vitamins in your diet will dampen your ability to have lots of energy and hurt your performance in the gym or on the field.
The Point: Eat vitamins, silly.
Similarity #6: Oil
You need oil in your car and you need oil in your body. Whether car oil or extra virgin olive oil, neither are healthy to sit back and drink, but olive oil (and other healthy oils) should be a staple in your diet. Oil in a car coats various moving parts to ensure they don't wear down as quickly. Shockingly, oil and healthy fats have a very similar role in your body. Oils and fats are used to line your vital organs and perform other important functions, so if you're committed to a healthy diet, give yourself a gut check (pun intended) and make sure you're not leaving out healthy fat - it's essential to good skin, hair, and overall health.
The Point: Just as you make sure your car is properly oiled; get some extra virgin olive oil or safflower oil in your diet on a near daily basis.
Similarity #7: Driving
Car enthusiasts know that it's good for a car, and its engine, to get a good workout in every now and again. If you leave a car "cooped" up in the garage for years, chances are it's not going to run well when you let it out. If you keep yourself cooped up on the couch, the same thing happens - you'll struggle to run.
The Point: Cars and people are meant to move. Make sure you have a healthy dose of exercise in your body or you'll be "back-firing" sooner or later and struggling to get up to speed.
So the next time you take your car in for routine maintenance, think to yourself, am I doing enough maintenance on my body? If not, and you need help getting started, LeanDream is the perfect solution for you. LeanDream provides high-quality custom workouts complete with exercise videos, instructions, and more.
About the Author: Alan Zimmerer is a Certified Personal Trainer with over 8 years of experience in athletics, personal training, nutrition, and workout design. Alan is the Founder of LeanDream, a company centered around providing high-quality affordable custom workouts.
Comments
Great article, Alan! I like it a lot. Thanks for sharing.
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