It’s autumn down here in the Great Down Under, which means my allergies are spinning out of control. Every fall and spring, you can set your calendar to it.
Nothing like Alabama pine pollen, but it’s not great fun.
I’ve been sneezing my head off for two weeks.
The sneezing I can handle. What makes it rough is the lethargy. For whatever reasons, when my immune system kicks in with seasonal allergies I feel like I’m coming down with a light cold.
It’s had me with a dead battery, going down for afternoon naps for the last week even with an early bed-time.
Lucky for me that being tired, exhausted, and wore slap-out is what creates gains. I’m expecting a whole new level of extra muscle and less fat from all this fatigue.
…Wait, no, that isn’t right.
Getting tired doesn’t make you look better. Fatigue doesn’t add muscle, reduce fat, or do a single blessed thing to improve body composition.
Fatigue is the enemy of positive fitness gains, whether that is size, strength, speed, or leanness.
Getting tired is an unwanted side-effect of results-producing exercise and eating habits.
We want less fatigue, as little as possible, while sending the growth signal with training and diet.
Well.
With that thought handy, why in the heck do so many people assume that getting wore slap-out in the gym and starving themselves from tasty life-giving foods gives you the keys to the Kingdom of Jakt?
If it’s just a matter of getting yourself exhausted, that’s easy. Any idiot can breath hard, sweat, and get tired. (You can insert your own sassy dig here.) Starving yourself is trivial.
Fatigue is not the goal. Fatigue is riding shotgun without asking.
What you want is a positive signal for change and growth.
They are not the same thing.
Right now I’ve got a precious few spaces for 1:1 coaching opening up at the end of March.
If you’re over 40, working out and keeping to a diet but not seeing any progress (or fat and aches are getting worse…) then you might be who I’m looking to help.
I work with clients to stop beating yourself up, cut out the extra junk in your eating and exercise that keeps you stalled, and fix you up good so you can get that flab off, feel better, and look better.
If you’re interested in working with me for a tune-up, send me a message and I’ll send over the details.
Matt Perryman