A seemingly simple question, right? But as we’ve learned over the last few weeks, through the implementation of the brand new quick start guides from Precision Nutrition’s Pro Coach, many people grossly overestimate just how physically active they truly are…
But before we go there, let’s go back a little.
What is Pn’s Pro Coach?
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with Precision Nutrition (Pn), we’ll start there. Pn is a leader- arguably THE leader- in nutrition education. They provide:
- coaching to individuals, through a one-year mentorship
- coaching to coaches, through a level 1 certification that covers the science, as well as the coaching side of nutrition
- coaching to coaches, through a level 2 certification that is an incredibly in depth one-year long mentor-ship, diving incredibly deep into coaching
- A software solution to coaches, Pn Pro Coach, to deliver a consistent education and accountability solution for their clients/members over the course of an entire year
Through Pro Coach, our members are provided with a daily lesson, a simple, yet highly impactful, biweekly habit, periodic workshops, and the option to take part in biweekly progress tracking.
All of this is 100% online, so our members can take part from anywhere!
BSP NOVA coach, Todd Bumgardner, and I are Pn Certified. When Pn offered Pro Coach earlier this year, we were all over it. To say it’s been going great would be a massive understatement. It’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made to provide an amazingly positive impact on our members.
Okay… back to why we are here.
How Physically Active Are You?
Just a few weeks ago, Pn’s Pro Coach unrolled “quick start guides” into the program. Upon starting the program, everyone does an intake questionnaire. That information has historically been used by your coach to thoroughly understand your goals, background, and other information, to better coach and communicate with you, guiding the direction of your approach with Pro Coach over the course of the year.
Now, that information is ALSO used to generate a custom “quick start guide.” These guides are perfect for those members that want a little more info up front, and then go deeper into it over the course of the year. And, they’ve been great for that.
But there is one glaring issue that we’ve run into…
Many of our members have had a hard time understanding the different types of physical activity.
Do we know EVERYTHING about our members? Nope. But do we have a pretty good idea of how active they outside of their time with us? You bet your a…….
I know that this gentleman gets out on his bike a few times a week, he hits the weights a little bit, doesn’t go real hard at intense conditioning right now, and unfortunately hasn’t been getting a whole lot of movement in outside of his planned training. According to his intake questionnaire, he estimates he’s working out somewhere between 3-5 hours a week, with only a little movement otherwise. Based on what we know, this activity level seems pretty spot on to me.
This one looks a little different, doesn’t it? I know that this gentleman works at a desk most of the day, trains with us 3 days per week, and plays lacrosse in an adult league. He estimates that he’s getting a minimum of 11 hours of training in per week, plus another 6+ hours of general movement. On the high end, he may be estimating as much as 14 hours of training and that 6+ hours of general movement. That’s somewhere between 17-20 hours a week of movement.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this is very possible. He’s got three young boys that play every sport known to man, so he’s definitely out moving a lot throughout the week. BUT, I know what he does in the gym.
An average session at BSP NOVA, once you subtract time spent warming up and conditioning, is probably about 25-30 minutes of resistance training. At three days a week, this would put his resistance training time at an hour and a half, max.
Our intense conditioning is always very short in duration, up to 10 minutes a session, so that could only be 30 minutes max per week.
We do very little aerobic style training with him in the gym, because I know, taking lacrosse into account, he gets a good bit outside of the gym.
Looking at the sport of lacrosse, I would say that the majority of the time is spent in the aerobic range (jogging), with occasional intense conditioning (sprinting, intense periods of play). A game is somewhere between 50-60 minutes in duration, so we couldn’t really add more than an hour or two TOTAL, depending on how many games/practices he takes part in a week.
Then, we have time spent running around with the kids (low intensity, or general movement). He probably hit that one pretty spot on.
How active is he, really?
If I was sitting down filling out his intake form with him, it would probably look more like this:
- Aerobic or Cardio Type Training- 2-3 hours (even this might be an overestimation)
- Resistance Type Training- 1-2 hours
- Intense Conditioning- 1-2 hours
- Low-Intensity Movement- I’ll stay with his 6+
Why does this matter?
Many people eat based on how active they perceive themselves to be. With regards to Pro Coach and the quick start guides. They’re attempting to give solid advice on what to eat, how much to eat, and other nutritional guidelines based on what members are filling out. If you get it right, GREAT! If not, this could be a bit frustrating up front.
The portion section of the quick start guide looks like this, and it’s individualized for everyone:
Realistically it all gets worked out when we get to core habits of Precision Nutrition’s Pro Coach, but filling out the intake form correctly, up front, will save a lot of confusion, and you’ll get a kick-ass, usable guide!
You can check out more about portion control in our recent post “The Best Nutrition Habit, Ever.”
So, if and when you decide to join us for training and/or nutrition help, let’s make sure we talk through your physical activity levels before knocking out your intake forms. Creating this understanding up front will only make your results that much more seamless.
We can’t wait to get started with you!!
Ready to check out the brand new Beyond Strength Performance NOVA facility, in Dulles, VA??
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