The Fitness Mantra.

Fitness is a lifestyle choice. Training  is fundamental to fitness / a fit body.

Training your body and mind go hand in hand , for now we will focus on the process of training the body. 

Training the body follows a life cycle. 

Plan - Stress - Recover - Repeat.

Plan your training :  Understand where you are and form an idea of where you want to be.

Do a bit of research on how people have done it before you. 

List out the stuff that works for you , what doesn't and what might with a slightly “ fitter ” version of you and begin charting out a programme. 

Your programme can be anything from a scribble on a piece of paper to a smartphone app or an extremely detailed “custom” Excel sheet with data from a range of sensors to quantify your training.

My personal recommendation is to start with what you have and not think of how you imagine your perfect training session to be.  I started out by getting a cycle and riding for a 20- 30 min session before my morning classes, back when i was a student. This was nearly 3 years ago.

Stressing your body : I like to think of our body as an amazing piece of engineering.  It evolves to stress or more precisely it evolves to better handle the stress it experience. . People take this phenomenon way too lightly. It is the basis to all Training plans. 

Stress is different for different people. Not everyone reacts the same way to the exact same stress. 

For example - when some people lift a dumbbell of a certain weight ,  some put on some muscle mass, some gain more strength in that muscle ,some others cause irreparable damage to the muscle itself.

Let your body Recover :  This part of the process is another cycle in itself and demands a number of articles in order to convey the best practices.  Everyone recovers at their own pace and the best way for ‘ you ’  to recover is a secret that's revealed only one carefully listens for the settle cues that their body is giving them and acts on them.

That being said , it's possible to recover quickly when you get into a routine and you understand what works and doesn't through trial and error.   or we can just pick up pointers and assimilate them into our routine one by one till you are satisfied with your recovery pace. 

Above all else the best tip to recover is to not over stress in the first place.  

Repeat the cycle : There will  come a time when you need to over stress yourself or your body to achieve the end result you are looking for. At that time it's best to let you body recover fully even if it means that you need to scrap you plan and design a new one based on the current level you are in.

At this point you need to repeat this cycle with a more personalised touch and end up with a more efficient programme to get the results you wanted for you body.