What is the best way to get fit? Let’s take it a little further and ask what’s the best strategy for staying healthy? And one more, how can we be well? The short answer to each one of these questions is I don’t know, definitively! If fitness is considered as our ability to do physical work, then there are certainly some methods that appear to work. If being healthy is the absence of disease then we can certainly identify some behaviours to avoid. When it comes to wellness across physical, social and emotional domains then things can be come a little grey. After all, everyone is built differently. In short, we don’t know everything about fitness, health and wellness. So where does that leave us if we want to get fit?
Don’t believe everything that you read
A recent paper published by John Ioannidis titled ‘Why Most Published Research Findings are False‘ and cited in the this months CrossFit Journal, highlight several short comings of scientific process. In turn, these short comings lead many scientific study claims to be false. Therefore, we cannot believe everything that we read when it comes to scientific research in sports conditioning. However, when it comes to business of Get Fit let’s be honest, we seem to love a band wagon to hop aboard. Ioannidis highlights several factors as to why we should view some studies with skepticism. It seems that the number of studies analysing the same problem, the size of the study, the number of variables that influence results and an obsession with achieving a certain confidence level (P = 0.05) lead to some erroneous conclusions.
This is new though. By its very nature, scientists constantly question the world we live in. It does however mean that we need to ‘take things with a pinch of salt’ when it comes to our training, nutrition and lifestyle. Pun intended! Our fitness industry loves a new craze. The new best way to get fit, lose weight, feel great. Gain a celebrity endorsement or a decent social media campaign and it can become the latest phenomenon. As highly experienced personal trainers in Ascot we’ve seen many fads come and go in our industry. It isn’t all a loss cause though and some of the answers aren’t hard to find.
How to get fit amongst the scientific noise
The one advantage that we have is the length of our existence and our range of experiences. The human body for years has relied upon it’s physical dexterity, prowess and superior cognitive powers compared to other living species. Our bodies are designed to move and can adapt to physical stress. Hence our fascination with health and fitness. There are certainly many aspects of get fit that have been consistently shown to improve fitness over the years. Backed up by numerous scientific studies these have led to several well known principles of training. Therefore, we know the basics of getting fit. We also know that everyone is unique. For this reason there is always going to be a little bit of trial and error when working with athletes and clients to get them fit for purpose.
Stick to sound scientific principles of training, that are supported by the training community at large. In other words, if it seems to have stood the test of time for many other individuals then it’s worth considering. Experiment with different strategies that may work for you. Treat new fads or poorly researched methods with some scepticism. It’s healthy!
NK Fitness are Ascot’s Premier personal training provider. We offer bespoke, mobile fitness training tailored to your needs. No fads.