The Five Components of Fitness

At Slidell Athletic Club, we strive to help you achieve results.  Whether you want to reduce body fat, increase muscle mass, maintain your current level of fitness, or to improve your performance, you need to consider all five components of fitness when developing your personalized fitness program.

The 5 Components consist of food intake, cardio respiratory activity, food supplementation, resistance training and personal assistance. Most fitness programs only isolate one or two of those components.  At Slidell Athletic Club, we focus on all five.  The truth is, without all five components, the chances for long-term success are very slim.

Food Intake Eat Smart, Not Less

Weight loss and weight gain both rely on a very simple equation – calories in versus calories out.  You cannot lose weight or body fat unless you consume fewer calories than you expend.  Adjusting your food intake appropriately will assist you in creating the energy deficit needed to utilize the body’s fat stores.  You will find that the body will work against you to try to counteract this deficit in order to restore your body’s energy balance.  The body does this by adapting to the lowered food intake through reducing energy expenditure (by decreasing lean body mass) or forcing non-compliance (through hunger or cravings).  These biological survival tactics must be continually outmaneuvered if fat reduction is to continue.

Likewise to increase lean body mass (build muscle), the calories consumed need to be above the current level of calories you use for maintenance. These extra calories should be no more than the amount needed to build and sustain the increase in lean body mass generated by your exercise program.  Most weight loss or weight gain plateaus are caused because people are not consistent in eating the proper amount of calories to maintain body-fat reduction or increase their lean body mass.  The key is proper food intake to keep you feeling satisfied and energetic while moving towards your goals.

Cardio Respiratory Training Give Your Heart A Regular Beating

The goal of cardio respiratory training is to get as many large muscles as possible working hard and continuously, in order to burn the greatest amount of calories during and after exercise.  Because the body is able to adapt quickly to exercise it is crucial to alter your workload from time to time.  Slidell Athletic Club has an enormous number of options of programs and equipment that allow you to find your proper cardio zone and adapt your individualized fitness program as your fitness level changes.

You can increase the efficiency of your workouts by having our fitness professionals teach you the proper frequency, intensity, and type of cardio respiratory exercises you need to perform to achieve your fitness goals.  We will show you how to use more calories during exercise and teach you how to change-up your workload so you continue to burn extra calories throughout the day.

Food Supplementation Sometimes the Small Stuff Makes the Biggest Difference

Supplements provide the following benefits:

• They boost your nutrient intake without added calories.
• They assist with appetite control.
• They assist in maintaining and increasing lean body mass.
• They help maintain health during periods of extreme physical exertion and limited calories.

Our Nutrition Consultation and Fitness Assessment (both included in your membership) can help you find out exactly what you need to do to see the greatest results and to meet your goals.  You will discuss food preferences and fitness-program options with one of our fitness professionals.  The results and recommendations that are produced will be used to make up your fitness “prescription”, custom-tailored to you specifically.  Ask one of our personal trainers or check-in at the front desk for more information.

Resistance Training Redefine Yourself

Did you know the more muscle you have the more calories you burn?  For every one pound of fat that you replace with one pound of muscle, your body burns an additional 50 calories per day!  This change results in either faster weight loss or the ability to eat more without weigh gain.  Adding resistance training to any fitness program alters your body composition, improves daily activities, and improves performance.  The only catch is, after time, your body adapts to the workload due to performing repetitive exercises over time.  When your body adapts you reach a fitness “plateau.”  We can help you overcome this frustrating stage in your fitness training and take you to a higher level.

Our fitness professionals can design and help you execute an appropriate resistance training program that adapts as your fitness level changes.  We can constantly assess your workouts and make appropriate changes to ensure that you are continually making progress.  In addition, we make certain that you are executing the movements and using the equipment correctly to maximize your body’s potential and ensure safety.  Feel free to ask our personal trainers if you have any questions about your quest for fitness.

Personal Assistance Get With The Program

Statistics show that nearly 80% of all weight loss attempts fail within 90 days.  Did you know that by including the motivation, knowledge and direction provided by a professional personal trainer, you can turn that into an 85% chance of successfully completing your first full calendar year?  It is often difficult to jump into a new lifestyle without some outside motivation and assistance.  We will help you avoid fitness plateaus by monitoring the above components for you.  We can assess how your caloric intake needs to be altered; make needed changes in the type, intensity, duration, and frequency of your cardio respiratory program; boost nutrient intake in order to help you improve performance and maintain health; as well as change exercises and other variables in your resistance training program.  Our personal trainers will make sure you are correctly following your food plan, supplementation and exercise program to help you meet your specific goals.  We are here to ensure the 5 Components are working together for you to create the best results in the shortest amount of time.  If individual training is not right for you, we also have 72 regularly scheduled group exercise classes and dozens of small group fitness programs available.  Don’t go it alone!  Personal assistance will drastically improve your chances of success and the efficiency of your workout time.

For more information about the 5 components or with questions about any aspect of your quest for fitness, contact one of our personal trainers.  Just stop by the front desk or call 985-649-7357 to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our fitness professionals today!