Aesthetics vs. performance is one of the most talked-about subjects in the exercise world.
It works like this, training for performance can cause some serious aesthetic results, but training for aesthetics will not necessarily provide someone with performance results.
In sports, it is not uncommon to judge everyone on the other team based on what they aesthetically look like before you play against them. It is also not unusual for the most shredded and jacked guy to be the worst, while the guy who looks overweight is one of the best.
If you look at many professional bodybuilders, they look great but would probably have trouble getting over a fence when running from a chihuahua. Compared to a professional CrossFitter who looks great and could not only run away from the chihuahua but jump multiple fences, swim across a pond, pull themselves up onto a ten-foot platform, rest and repeat.
It takes a lot less time to burn fat and lose weight doing CrossFit than a regular gym program. I have done both, and the amount of time it takes to see results from a bodybuilding program is not something I want to do. CrossFit is a more strenuous program, yes, but it takes way less time.
Now when it comes to CrossFit, it is possible not to be aesthetically perfect and be good. I consider myself to look fit or have an athletic build, but I certainly do not look like a professional CrossFitter. Yet, I am still one of the top ten fittest people in the greater Houston area, train once a day, and eat whatever I want. Aesthetics does not mean performance.
When I was training multiple times a day, my body looked different from it now. Being a little older, my body does not burn calories the way it did before, and that means I need to change something if I want to get back to having a six-pack and feeling good about the way I look again.
I proved that you could out-train a bad diet for a long time, but at some point, that comes to an end. So we are starting a pull-up challenge at the gym next week, and I am making it a point to start focusing on what I am doing outside of the gym to get my body looking the way I want it to.
I am going to start by doing a few simple things outside of my pull-up goals.
- I am going to count my calories. I will track all the food I take in to make sure that I am not overeating or undereating.
- I am going to count my macros. Essentially I am going to put a focus on what each one of my meals is composed of.
- I will shoot for 15,000 steps each day and close all my rings on my Apple Watch.
- I am going to get at least 30 minutes of exercise in a day.
- I am going to plan and time my meals each day.
I know that if I do these five things and my pull-up challenge work in six weeks, I will see some serious results. I will use Precision Nutrition’s calculator to figure out what my daily caloric intake should be and my macros for each day, and I am going to use MyFitnessPal to track these daily. On days that I cannot get a full class workout in because of scheduling, I will do our NCGO program or at least a part of it.
If you sign up for the pull-up challenge and want to do these five things with me, I will calculate your calories and macros and give you access to our NCGO workouts. Then, I will do a little clinic Saturday to talk about all of this and show you how to use MyFitnessPal, and I will add you to my group on MyFitnessPal so we can all keep each other accountable. So let’s get our bodies on a jump start for the summer together!
SIGN-UP FOR THE PULL-UP CHALLENGE HERE
INTERESTED ACCOUNTABILITY & SATURDAY CLINIC
Richard