Exercising vs. Training Are you an athlete training for an event or are you exercising to increase longevity with health and wellness goals? Sometimes the two do not intertwine. People are often misled by triathletes leading “healthy” lifestyles, exercising and eating bananas 24/7. However, in order to reach lofty training goals athletes make decisions that fuel performance in favor of those that increase health and wellness. Compare and contrast the qualities of an exerciser vs. athlete and find out which you resonate with. Then make sure your exercise program lines up with that.
Athlete
Workouts are sometimes mundane and repetitive in order to achieve progression
You fuel your training with empty carbohydrates and recover with sugar and protein to ensure that your body is ready to perform for the next sessions at optimum capacity
You have a wide variety of paces, your warmup like the tortoise but crush intervals like a hare.
You are focused and concerned with how fast, strong and efficient you are
You are willing to attend to the minor details to make sure you are getting better: stress management, foam rolling, stretching, massage etc.
You have no problem taking a rest day, and sometimes even look forward to it!
Exerciser
Workouts are constantly changing, high degree of variability and diversity in order to keep the body guessing
You don’t even think about what you eat before or after a workout
You run one pace, all runs are the same effort and speed
You couldn’t care less how fast you are just that you look good in your clothes and burn some calories
Working out is your stress management
You refuse to take an “off” or “recovery” day, every day the intensity is the same regardless of how you feel

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