GQ: What other activities or exercises would you recommend to supplement a BODYTEC regime? And how can these help?
Gerry: While we highly recommend that a person supplements his or her BODYTEC strength training with other activities, the type of exercise depends on the individual goals of a client. Somebody wanting to increase his or her muscle mass would receive a different recommendation than somebody wanting to lose weight.
In general, we advise all our clients to do extra cardio training and also here, depending on the individual training goals, would recommend either and extensive interval training (running, swimming, cycling or rowing) of moderate intensity or an intensive interval training based on a set of varying bodyweight exercises, shuttle runs and activities to facilitate significant changes of heart rate and oxygen consumption.
GQ: What supplements could a person take to improve his or her experience? Exactly how will these help?
Gerry: Most people should focus on a wholesome and balanced diet, rather than taking supplements. In general, a diet should provide all the nutrients needed for our body. Unless you are a high-performance athlete that uses his or her body’s resources constantly for training activities, or unless you have a specific nutritional deficiency, nutritional supplements are generally not necessary. If you want take the most out of your strength training workout – no matter if you lift weights in the gym or do strength training at BODYTEC– all you need is to follow a wholesome diet.
Research on pre and post-training food intake has found that we have a 3-4 hour window before and after training, in which our nutrition intake is important for the training effect. That means, within this window period we should provide our body the necessary ‘fuel’ for training and recovery, which should consist of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins – something we find in many whole-grain foods, legumes, nuts and specific juice-blends.
GQ: So are there any foods to avoid to maximise the benefits of a BODYTEC regime?
Gerry: The list of foods we should all be avoiding is endless, but could generally be summarised under ‘processed foods’, as these mostly provide little macro-and micronutrients such as minerals, proteins and vitamins. When we do intense strength training, such as EMS training with BODYTEC, our bodies need these nutritional components – proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins – in order to function effectively in the training itself and to recover from the training afterwards.
Most ‘processed foods’ such as bread, baked goods and pastries, heavy starch-based meals, junk food and dairy-based foods should therefore be avoided, as they do not provide the ‘right fuel’ for our body’s recovery engine after the training.
Of course, from a psychological perspective, when a person attempts to change their nutrition it’s usually an attempt to change behavioral patterns, rather than their opinions or attitudes about eating. Behaviour is known to be one of the most difficult areas of change. While it is vital to improve our diets to avoid health problems and deficits later in life, the change needs to come from a base psychological point perspective, rather than just an attempt to increase the benefits of a BODYTEC regime. For this I would recommend doing some reading on nutrition and the harmful effects of poor diet.
GQ: Fair enough, but surely changing the volume and frequency of meals can have a positive influence. How often should we be eating?
Gerry: Every person has a different metabolism, which depends on age, weight, gender, genetics etc. There is no universal answer for every person. However, a general recommendation would be to have about 5 meals of moderate size, spread throughout the day. Within these 5 meals you should cover most macro and micronutrients needed to support the demands of your chosen activity (i.e. training days might differ to days where you sit in the office).
