Training for Energy, Not Just the Flex

Energy gained versus energy expended, and I’m not talking about calories.

One of the core tenets of fitness, something that almost anyone who works on their health knows, is the golden rule of calories in versus calories out which is by definition, energy in versus energy out. If you consume more energy than you burn, you’ll put on weight. If you do the opposite, the opposite happens.

But what I’m talking about here is physical and mental energy. This side of fitness doesn’t get discussed nearly enough.

One of the most important things I get from my training is energy. It sounds strange, I know. Training usually gives me energy, and when I’m done, I often feel a kind of renewed vitality. But this only works if you don’t overdo it and if you have the right attitude. As I get older, I’ve noticed that it’s easier for fitness to tire me out than to give me the energy I want from it.

That’s why I usually do leg day on Sundays. Sunday is a day with fewer responsibilities and less work. This allows me to push as hard as I want if I choose to and more often than not, I do. If I were to do the same leg session on a regular weekday, first of all, I wouldn’t have the time. Secondly, it would burn me out for the rest of the day.

Fitness is a tool meant to help you live better and stronger. But it becomes counterproductive if it has the opposite effect, if it disables you from doing everything else properly.

The key is balance.

Pushing yourself, but only up to the point before you exhaust yourself.

For many years, I was able to train hard even for a few hours per session. But as I’ve gotten older, and as life has become busier, the energy cost of training hits me harder. After a good leg day, for example, I can find myself barely able to function. I’ve even had to decrease my training volume because of it.

It’s important to return to the positive effects and benefits that fitness is meant to bring into your life. Fitness is important, really important, but it’s still just one element of life. It should feed into the other parts of your life and give you more energy, not take away from them.

I’m not a fitness professional, athlete, or influencer. I have other responsibilities that need my time and energy. For me, the goal is simple: I train for more energy, for more life, and for a better life.