As I am sure you will agree the words ‘Ferrari’ and ‘Prius’ are rarely used together in the same sentence, at least in a positive way:
‘That f****** Prius just reversed into my Ferrari’
‘What on earth is that Prius doing in the Ferrari lane’
‘For a laugh let’s race my Ferrari at the lights against that Prius’
You get my drift….
When we think of a Ferrari we think sleek lines, ultimate performance and an adrenaline fuelled experience.
When we think of a Prius we think reliability, practicality, economy and the environment.
We spend thousands of pounds a year on ‘Ultimate Ferrari Experiences’ and red letter days. It’s curious that you don’t see many people queuing up for ‘The Ultimate Prius Experience’.
Think back to when you were a kid. What car did you dream of driving when you were older?
Many boys will look back at their youth and remember pushing a matchbox sports car or monster truck around the floor irritating every adult in a quarter mile radius with their rendition of a supercharged engine. Many little girls I am sure would agree that Barbie and Ken certainly would not be seen dead in anything less than a drop top convertible sport.
Well it’s not just sleek super tuned cars that catch our attention as human beings.
What do we want when we look in the mirror, or go and watch sport or head to the beach? Kind of sounds a bit like how we think of a Ferrari right? We want sleek lines, ultimate performance and everybody turning their heads and going ‘wow, I wish I could be like that’.
Very few of us look at the overweight individual and think ‘all that stored fat is just his way of conserving energy’ or ‘that guy lives practically, he lives off a real world diet, none of this diet nonsense, I want to be more like that’, as perhaps we would when we think about the words we used to describe a Prius.
Perhaps we are that overweight individual…
Where is this all going?
This is where it gets interesting…
What is the dark side of owning a Ferrari?
- So expensive to run that you can only use it on weekends
- Incredibly priced insurance
- Regular visits to the petrol station
- Inflated road tax
- The fear of parking it anywhere except a safe
You see when it comes to the body there are no downsides to looking like a Ferrari nor performing like one. Many people would state that your bodyfat levels determine your health. If you are holding fat, you are not at your peak of wellness. How many people do you know who complain about having a six pack, a ‘wicked butt’ or crossing the 100m line in less than 10 seconds? Not many.
What does it take to get this Ferrari look though? Well actually it involves many of the words that we used to describe the Prius originally.
- Consistent energy production
- Intelligent fueling
- Reliability
- Consistency
You see the reason I chose the Prius as my example in particular was for its unique hybrid fueling system, where it can utilise electricity for low intensity driving and switch to using fuel when the driving requires it.
You will hear many nutritionists and fitness professionals claim that nutrition can account for up to 80% of the results you will achieve, and no matter what your training is like, it is near impossible to out train a bad diet. As a rule of thumb this is pretty accurate.
Give me fuel, give me fire…give me that which I desire
And this is what gets me onto the topic of fuel. Most of us have issues with food. I’m not talking about anorexia or anything extreme. I am talking about the fact that most of us Britons use food as a reward or for comfort, often ignoring the blatant effects it has on our everyday living. Not many of us think about it simply as a source of fuel….
Think back to the Ferrari. You fill it up with premium (swanky) fuel. You drive 5 miles down the road, flooring it a bit because you can. Uh oh, tank empty…car go to sleep now….zzzzzzzz
Now think of your average day. You fill your body with quick fix energy (sugar, carbohydrates, caffeine), your performance increases and you become more alert. 30 minutes later, uh oh energy utilised, tank empty….time to go to sleep now….zzzzzz
Sound familiar?
Then we look at the Prius. Ok so we perhaps can’t floor it and get the same excitement as with the Ferrari, but for the first 30 miles we were running on electricity comfortably, smoothly and reliably. No blips, just convenient, consistent driving. What you would expect.
Well this is how your nutrition should make you feel, you should always be able to rely on the fact that you have that energy to get through a day. Most of us are not athletes requiring bursts of performance every few hours and do not need the amount of carbohydrates we prescribe ourselves. Even though many of us know this fact, the majority still struggle to manage our insulin levels correctly to give us those comfortable, smooth and consistent concentration and energy levels on a daily basis.
Ofcourse when it comes to training, this insulin optimising diet(fuel) that we are giving ourselves may leave us a little lack lustre, but like the Prius when it comes time to perform, such as joining a motorway it switches the fuel system. Think of this as putting your carbohydrates around your workouts to optimise performance or the switching of your body’s fuel systems. You are giving your body what it needs when it needs it. Once trained you can return back to normal. General nutrition as well as optimised workout nutrition are key factors in body composition management.
You see nutrition is a huge factor in how we look, feel and perform and many of us ignore this on a daily basis, continuing through slumps of energy, poor performance and useless concentration. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Sometimes you need to forget all the flashyness and just move back to basics. Yes it may be a little ‘Prius’ Esque compared to the latest, greatest ‘Ferrari’ fad diet, but when it comes to the body, to look like a Ferrari sometimes you just need to live a little more like a Prius.
Scott Marsh
Personal Trainer Beaconsfield
