It takes more than cherries to fuel a workout.
A few weeks ago, while traveling, I got an email from 24 Hour Fitness: in honor of my first six months of membership, they would offer me a free session with a personal trainer. Needless to say, between travel and deadlines, I haven’t yet gotten around to redeeming that.
On Monday, I went to the gym and spent some time browsing the profiles of the various trainers that I could choose from, then wandered around and watched some of them in action. While there were some who were clearly not a fit, I found a couple that might fit the bill. I debated going up and talking to one of them, but first I had to decide what I actually wanted a trainer for. Did I just want a trainer to bust me out of my rut of familiar workouts, or was I looking for something in particular, something that a trainer could really guide me through? What was I really looking for?
That’s when I realized that maybe what I needed wasn’t a trainer at all, but a sports nutritionist. Team in Training started on Saturday, so it’s not like I don’t have a plan and schedule to stick to. Would I benefit more from a carefully crafted workout, or an educated analysis of how to better fuel my workouts?
I casually tweeted this observation. Can you imagine my surprise, then, when I got multiple tweet replies and a half dozen emails from sports nutritionists asking what I needed?
The answer, of course, is that I don’t know what I need. I eat well enough — mostly real food, not processed, packaged foods or meal replacement bars — but I’m looking for new ways to build lean muscle and fuel some pretty intense long runs without too much reliance on meat, which I don’t particularly enjoy. I don’t want to give up pizza or a burger on the weekend, and I’m not interested in obsessing over calories any more than I’m interested in climbing on a scale.
So what does that mean in terms of finding the right sports nutritionist? I’m not entirely sure that I know.
Has anyone out there used a sports nutritionist? How did they help you? Was it a sustainable change that you could incorporate into your life for the long haul?
Tags: food as fuel, personal trainer, sports nutrition, sports nutritionist
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