On the importance of nutrition

Body by Bull
IFFB PRO Jari Mentula talks about training and the importance of nutrition.

The importance of nutrition

“If you want to develop to your absolute maximum, nutrition matters enormously.”

Today it’s easy to find guidance, and if you bother to search even a little, you’ll actually find quite high-quality “options” online. The internet and specialist magazines are full of information.

Almost everyone who trains regularly at the gym also knows exactly how they should eat. People know the criteria, at the very least, so why do so few actually eat by these truths? On many people’s fridge door you can even find a nutrition plan printed in tiny font … and yet it isn’t followed.

If you want to develop to your absolute maximum, nutrition matters enormously. The more you train, the more important nutrition becomes. Not to mention dieting. Why should you expect any progress if you neglect your nutrition? Why get angry that nothing is happening when your nutrition is in a terrible state? So why don’t people stick to their nutrition plan?

I’ve often wondered why this is so hard… if you’re ready to train hard every week, wouldn’t it make sense to pull yourself together, so to speak, and improve? Self-discipline, dedication and willpower are the three things you need, and after that the rest is easy to handle.

Many people have completely the wrong idea about food, and it affects their results. I see food as building material/fuel, not as a pleasure. Once you adopt that way of thinking, sticking to a nutrition plan becomes easier too.

In that respect I’ve never had any trouble… I’ve always wanted to progress quickly and to do everything right. No compromise! (ed. – in Estonian: Kompromissideta!). I’ve been eating according to a high-quality nutrition plan for years. At times I have indeed been on the heavy side, but that too happened according to plan, while following my diet. For my last diet I wanted to start from a high body mass, that is, to begin the diet from a different starting point than usual. The diet worked, but I’ll never do it again, because such a large weight loss wasn’t sensible. Still, I wanted to try it.

One standout group is the amateurs who compete in this sport and manage to keep their diet in check… even without any snacking or slipping up. The body gets thoroughly thrown off when foods and rhythms simply change completely. Of course, after the competitions, once they get that far, they eat backstage more than the law allows. And they keep eating like that until it no longer matters whether they’re in worse shape than before they started the diet. That’s one thing I don’t understand about many people, but you don’t have to understand everything.

Then there’s a group of people who read and fish for knowledge everywhere, until in the end they have more information than they need. We consume every possible and impossible amino acid and superfood with great precision, but when the weekend has joyfully arrived, there are no limits and alcohol is abused, that is, people have a good time. That isn’t wrong, but afterwards it’s pointless to cry, “Why isn’t my body developing?!”

Most recently I wrote a little about training, and now about nutrition. One fact is that when these things are in place, our body develops. Of course rest matters too, and a great deal. If pangs of guilt arise again over a lack of progress, let’s ask whether the fault might lie in ourselves. Are the training programme and the nutrition plan properly in place? Generally you find the answer easily and quickly if you’re honest with yourself… after that there are no more questions, as long as everything is done right!