Legendary bodybuilding trainer Vince, "The Iron Guru" Gironda was famous for saying, "Bodybuilding is 80% nutrition!" But is this really true or is it just another fitness and bodybuilding myth? Which is really more important, nutrition or training?

This IS an interesting question and I think there is a definite answer. Firstly I'd say you can't separate nutrition and training. The two work together synergistically. Regardless of your goals: gaining muscle, losing fat, conditioning, whatever -you will get less than-optimal or even non-existent results without paying attention paid to both. All these goals require three main key areas - weight training, cardio training and nutrition - take any of these parts away and it could cause a slowdown to your goals.

Nutrition and training are both important, but at certain stages of your training progress, I think placing more attention on one component over the other can make big improvements. For example if you're a beginner and you don't know much about nutrition, then mastering nutrition is far more important than training and should become your number one priority. This is because improving a poor diet can create rapid fat loss and muscle building progress if you know how to work it.

For example, if you've been skipping meals and only eating 2 times per day, jumping your meal frequency up to 5 or 6 smaller meals a day will transform your physique very rapidly. If you're still eating lots of processed fats and refined sugars, cutting them out and replacing them with good fats like the omega threes found in fish and unrefined foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains will make an enormous and noticeable difference in your physique very quickly.

If your diet is low in protein, simply adding a complete protein food like chicken breast, fish or egg whites at each meal will muscle you up fast. No matter how hard you train or what type of training routine you're on, it's all in vain if you don't provide yourself with the right nutritional support. In beginners (or in advanced trainees who are still eating poorly), these changes in diet are more likely to result in great improvements than a change in training. The muscular and nervous systems of a beginner are unaccustomed to exercise. Therefore, just about any training program can cause muscle growth and strength development to occur because it's all a "shock" to the untrained body.

You can almost always find ways to tweak your nutrition to higher and higher levels, but once you've mastered all the nutritional basics, then further improvements in your diet don't have as great of an impact as those initial important changes. Eating more than six meals will have minimal effect. Eating more protein won't help. Once you're eating low fat, going to zero fat won't help more - it will probably hurt. If you're eating a wide variety of foods and taking a good multi vitamin/mineral, then more supplements probably wont help much either. If you're already eating natural complex carbs and lean proteins every three hours, there's not too much more you can do other than continue to be consistent day after day.

At this point, as an intermediate or advanced athlete who has the nutrition in place, changes in your training become much more important.  Except for the changes that need to be made between an "off season" muscle growth diet and a "precontest" cutting diet, the diet won't and can't change much - it will remain fairly constant. But you can continue to pump up the intensity of your training and improve the efficiency of your workouts almost without limit. In fact, the more advanced you become, the more crucial training progression and variation becomes because the well-trained body adapts so quickly.

So, to answer the question, while nutrition is ALWAYS critically important, it's more important to emphasize for the beginner (or the person whose diet is still a "mess"), while training is more important for the advanced person. It's not that nutrition ever ceases to be important, the point is, further improvements in nutrition won't have as much impact once you already have all the fundamentals in place.

Once you've mastered nutrition, then it's all about keeping that nutrition consistent and progressively increasing the efficiency and intensity of your workouts, and mastering the art of planned workout variation, which is also known as "periodization." The bottom line: There's a saying among strength coaches and personal trainers... "You can't out-train a lousy diet!" If your nutrition program is your weakest area, either because you're just starting out or you simply don't have the nutritional knowledge you know you need to get results. Lisa, GoFigure

Bits and pieces of article sourced from: leehayward.com, kcfitness.com

What's your resolution this year? Maybe you want to lose weight, to live healthier, quit smoking, compete in that fun run you've always talked about or even give bodybuilding a go.

Look Inside. Whatever your resolution is, you need to prepare yourself mentally and physically so that you can achieve it. You need to look deep inside yourself to ask yourself "is it worth it?". If you are not prepared to make the changes necessary to  achieve your goal then there is no point bothering with a resolution as your self esteem will only suffer as a result of your failure to commit to it.

One Thing at a Time. You're not Superman or Wonder Woman (yet). So you want to quit smoking, lose weight and be healthy this year? If you're currently out of shape then the above resolutions is going to be very stressful to achieve if you tackle them all at once. Choose one goal first and make a deliberate attempt to stick to it. Choose which is the most important for you to achieve and take action to do it. You can always add more to your list once you have got your first resolution under control.

Write it down. There's no point keeping your resolution in your head. You need to transform your idea into action by writing it down. This will make your resolution real. It doesn't have to be a long essay, just a few sentences which will be the impetus for your action. However, it does have to be specific, realistic, achievable

Want to lose weight? Make a Plan. Once you have a resolution you need to take the steps that will make it happen. For example, your resolution is perhaps losing weight. Losing weight is just the outcome so you need to write down what you are prepared to do to lose it, this may include:

1) I will do at least 5, half hour cardio sessions each week

2) I will do more regular weight training workouts

3) I will consciously eat more protein throughout the day

4) I'll cut down on junk food and takeaways

5) I'll listen to my Personal Trainer!!

Competitive Bodybuilding? Here's the Plan. Alternatively, you may want to choose a more challenging resolution such as competing in a Bodybuilding Contest. Ofcourse competitive bodybuilding is going to prove a very hard task both physical and mentally as it requires total commitment.

Bodybuilding is a good goal because it give you a time frame to work in, and if you already enjoy working out then a contest will give you an added incentive to train harder.

The steps you may take to achieve your bodybuilding goals are:

1) I WANT to compete!

2) I will have to go on a diet and will have to stick to my diet

3) I will make myself accountable to somebody for my diet and training

4) I will get in contact with other competitors for moral support

5) I will only train with someone else once a week to keep my spirits up 

6) I will listen to my Personal Trainer!!

As you can see, resolutions don't have to be ground breaking statements. Just practical steps you need to achieve your ultimate goal of weight loss or competition. Once you have written your resolutions, your chances of achieving your goal will greatly increase.

I will reveal my 2008 New Years Resolution and Challenge on 8 January 08!!
Lisa