How is biohacking fitness changing how we exercise?
Three-hour workouts and lengthy jogs are losing their allure. The high-impact training can, and often does, lead to injury. Today, you can stay healthy and transform your body with a small dose of highly effective exercise called “biohacking .”Biohacking is a term that simply means “tricking” your body into responding to low-impact, short workouts with results previously only accomplished with lengthy, high-impact exercises.
This means the individual recovering from surgery, working to become stronger despite injury limitations, and those seeking results faster that simulate pro athlete fitness regimes all benefit. The exercise industry is moving towards more frequent, short bursts of effort.
Rapid Strength & Muscle Building
Modern hacks are making long workouts all but obsolete. You can build muscle and strength in 12 minutes a week! Next-generation fitness tools like ARX, CAR.O.L, and Vasper promise evidence-based results in even less time.
Hacking High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT training is fast growing in popularity. The term HIIT means you can “hit” every muscle group in four minutes and burn fat twice as effectively as low-intensity exercise. This training gets results safely for those navigating pain, injury, and aging. HIIT variations with rest in between sets produce results that have medical-based and mainstream training, making the change.
Yoga & Alternative Movement
Our American Exercise Science is embracing what many cultures have known for centuries. Intentional movement and stretching relieve our body from standing, sitting, and lying down. Qigong, Tai Chi, and yoga all realign and benefit the body, mind, and spirit. All three distribute bodily pressure to areas that rarely receive it and employ the practice of breath work.
Individualized Nutrition
No two people are made alike. Therefore, it stands to reason that each individual’s nutrition should be customized to their body. Nutritional science now allows us to determine which foods uniquely benefit your biology. Restrictive fad diet plans are out, and hyper-customization is in. Evidence illustrates that no single diet works for everyone.
Roger Williams’ 1998 book Biochemical Individuality explored how enzyme counts, blood composition, metabolism, hormones, and reactions to compounds like alcohol, nicotine, and food preservatives differ from person to person. His experiments showed a 50 times difference between individuals on the low and high end for various biomarkers.
There are countless ways to personalize your approach to biohacking and optimal performance. Starting with a consultation to determine your best nutrition and fitness regime with an experienced practitioner is a good start. Micronutrient and macronutrient testing enables your provider to tailor your food intake to your genes, epigenetics, preferences, habits, hormones, microbiome, microviome, and more.
Bright McConnell, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in preventative medicine at FitMed Partners. To schedule a consultation, call 843-284-5200.