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You May Be Fit, But Are You Healthy?

Written by Rebecca Smith on .

At the time of writing, we are on day 4 of the London 2012 Olympics.  4 medals could be described as a slow start for Team GB, but I’m sure we are saving the best, ready to take the world by storm and show all those doubters that we really can do it.  Personally, I’ve been glued to the TV at any opportunity and cannot fail to be impressed and indeed I’m in awe of some of the talent on display.  A fantastic ride by Lizzie Armitstead into 2nd place and the historic bronze medal won by our men’s gymnastics team (and the commentators enthusiasm), nearly had me weeping patriotically into my coffee.

 

And so it got me thinking about my topic for this week’s blog.  A recent article in CAM magazine, by a chiropractor, nutritionist and coach to elite athletes, detailed that in his experience  “many people strive for better health but neglect their fitness, while others – athletes in particular- become fit but unhealthy”.  This made me think about the clients that I work with and especially those who have a keen interest in fitness.  My experience is that these clients have good knowledge with regard to the type of exercise they need, how often to partake in it and even the amount of calories they burn and how high they get their heart rate.  But they have very little knowledge in the correct diet and nutritional supplements that they may need to support the exercise that they do and to become healthy as well as fit.

The dedicated “fitness fanatic” can be found in all walks of life and in my experience, often will do anything to maintain their fitness.  I can think of clients who have injured themselves, or who are stressed and wired, or who are suffering from chronic fatigue that insist on pushing themselves as they feel that they must exercise.  In these cases, they are almost certainly doing far more harm than good.

I’m not just talking about the hard core exercisers needing to address their health, but anyone who has decided, quite rightly, to partake in regular exercise.  Your needs will be different than those who don’t exercise and unless those needs are met, expect to find that the initial “glow” you felt on starting your regime, soon fades and you start wondering why you took up exercise in the firstplace.

Fitness is the ability to perform physical activity and health is a state where all of the body’s systems are working in optimal balance.  Now, Team GB will have access to a wide variety of professionals who are helping them on all levels, mentally and physically to perform at their highest levels.  Let’s be realistic here and understand that most of us that regularly exercise don’t have that luxury!  But at Newport Complementary Health Clinic, we have programmes in place to help you address your needs in this area.

Michael, as an Osteomyologist works with the whole musculo-skeletal system to address problems or injuries that have been caused by exercise or that prevent you from exercising.  The amount of clients that have regular pain but just live with it, astounds me.  You can be free of that pain!

I work with Kinesiology to address your nutritional needs in gaining a balance between fitness and health, utilising amongst others, specialist sports performance supplements.  These provide an  “all round nutritional programme based on 3 simple but highly effective steps, prepare, perform and protect to support your body healthily and energetically, however big or small your sporting challenge”.

To be healthy and fit needs a holistic approach, so let’s not forget the power of the mind here either.  Why not use Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming on offer here at the clinic, to address your sports performance or the steps that you need to take to bring some balance back into your life.  All the support you need is here, under one roof.

So all that’s left to say is…………..Go Team GB, show the world you can do it, we believe in you.