The 5 pillars of Fitness
- Mar 1
- 4 min read
Fitness is such a vague term. If you mention the word ‘fitness’, the subsequent conversation proceeds to have so many pathways that you start to get confused on what fitness is. In trying to break down the terminology and the confusion, I asked ACE Corporate Fitness Personal Trainer, Alex Rico, to break it down and he came up with the ‘5 Pillars of Fitness’. The 5 Pillars will become the foundation for your fitness journey to see true success in your goals.
Pillar 1; Steps
Steps become your first pillar to your health goals. They become widely recognised as being the best low intensity way to burn fat and improve cardiovascular health. The general advice has been that you have to complete 10000 steps a day to burn fat and improve health. Though the medical community has supported this, this target was from a Japanese marketing campaign from the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games. Scientists from Harvard University have now backed that 4000 steps a day lowers risk of mortality and cardiovascular disease.
People find getting a high base amount of steps difficult to achieve, but that's where as PT’s we need to start to promote the benefits of Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT is every calorie you burn without doing a traditional exercise, for example, calories burned when cleaning the house, looking after a pet, pacing round the kitchen organizing dinner, chasing children to bed on time, etc. Once you begin to engage with and understand the calories you burn through just living your day-to-day tasks, they become the base of your calorie burn and expenditure to your fitness goals. Once you see your 10 minute daily walk becoming a bonus to this, you have a more positive approach to your journey.
Pillar 2; Nutrition
Nutrition is fuel. Nutrition is key.
Nutrition isn't just calorie cutting, it is the fuel you need to complete a marathon, it is the energy you need to prevent illnesses, it is the nutrients you require for your body to recover. Yes, if your goal is to lose weight, then a calorie deficit is required for you to lose weight, but first you need to know what you are eating. The main part of pillar 2, is calorie counting. There are many apps out there which count calories, and the main part is to find out how many calories you are taking on, and the macronutrient percentages you are taking on in what you are eating.
Not every calorie is the same and shouldn't be treated as so they are. You can eat 1000 calories of salad and they will act differently to 1000 calories of barbecue. By tracking the calories, you will start to see the difference, and how they act in relation to your body and its essential processes. One ‘bad’ meal will make a great difference to your nutrition, but by tracking this, you will see and understand its minimal impact.
Pillar 3; Sleep and Stress
Cortisol is your ‘stress’ hormone. Every time you get stressed, your body produces adrenaline that increases your cortisol levels. This impacts your body's metabolism, increases blood pressure, and increases inflammation. Due to the impact on your metabolism, this makes stress a huge barrier to your fitness goals. There are many ways to regulate your cortisol levels to reduce the impact of stress, the main two being exercise and laughing! Both exercise and laughing produces endorphins, which are your happy hormones as they suppress cortisol. In turn, the lower cortisol levels allow your body to have higher quality sleep, which is when your body completes its adaptations made from nutrition and exercise. Managing stress and cortisol becomes the third pillar for you to achieve your fitness goals.
Pillar 4; Workouts
After you’ve built steps into your daily routine, and we’re tracking all our NEAT calories, the next pillar is your strength and mobility workouts. After all the previous mentioned benefits to exercise; resistance training promotes tissue growth to make your bones stronger, and increased stability prevents impact injuries from falls. Increased mobility in turn means more elasticity to your muscles to prevent injury from strains and sprains. We shouldn’t fear strength training for the fear of looking too bulky; if this was easy to achieve, every teenage boy in the country would achieve it! The benefits of simple resistance training have huge rewards as well as less chance of injury.
Pillar 5; Mindset
Be positive. Positivity in your mindset is our final pillar for achieving your fitness goals. Of course, it makes the journey seem less challenging, but it is easy to forget that positivity attracts. People are naturally drawn to positivity, and to achieve goals, you will need the support of your family and friends. Having this support will make it easier to fit in your fitness journey with social demands. On top of this, more positive people show more mental resilience, motivation and focus in the pursuit of their goals. This flexibility in your mind will be necessary to achieve your goals.
I hope that breaking down fitness into 5 pillars makes it easier to focus on what you need to achieve. Through improving one of these 5 pillars, it will lead you to happiness and better wellbeing for you and your family. It also reduces the chance of confusion at a magnitude of fitness terminology that you end up not starting your journey. Finally, now you’ve finished reading this blog, remember that it’s just words; the next step you need is action. Action always beats motivation.
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