Creating ‘Bespoke’ Through ‘Biofeedback.’
You may be wondering what it is, why it’s important and what the ’ does it have to do with you?
All relevant questions I may add!
The purpose of this short article is to help explain what it is & why it’s something I focus on throughout my coaching programmes.
For a truly successful transformation ‘THAT LASTS’, we need to look at ourselves as what we truly are, ‘Individual’. Yes, we have many characteristics that are similar and we react to many things in much the same way, but at the same time we also react to many other things in our own unique manner too.
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Hunger
- Sex Drive
- Mood
- Strength
- Sleep etc
All areas that I’ve seen a vast range of different responses to methods I’ve used. All of which feed back into the knowledge database.
What is Biofeedback?
I’ve taken the term ‘Biofeedback’ from its psychology base, a subject I’ve studied in detail over the years. The text book definition would say something like
“Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to improve their health by using signals from their own bodies. Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain movement in paralysed muscles. Psychologists use it to help tense and anxious clients learn to relax.”
So as you can see, it’s very much about identifying your own body’s ‘feedback’ on what you’re doing to it and therefore help you ‘tailor’ things.
Let’s take nutritional protocols as an example of how we use biofeedback to alter things beyond what some people perceive to be optimal.
When designing and adjusting nutrition for someone, I like to look a factors way beyond the standard “Are you losing Weight.”
In this instance, weight measurements and weekly photographs are the bare minimum I expect, and yes they are important.
But so are an array of other elements.
Hunger levels, length and quality of sleep, sex drive, mood and capacity to work (both in and out the gym) are also things we need to look at.
There’s little point being shredded with a 6-pack if you can barely get out of bed in the morning and your mood is best described as ‘a$$hole’…
Where Does Biofeedback Come In?
First we need to look at what your actually hoping to achieve.
This sounds simple, but it’s not quite as straight forward as you think.
Many people ‘Want’ to have this or do that, but they’re not willing to make the adjustments to get them. I’d argue that means it’s not really what you want, more you like the idea of, but that’s a different topic for a different article.
Once we’ve established what you want, we need to look at where you’re at, what your baselines are and which then allows us to create the ‘path of least resistance’ to get it.
Baselines are vitally important and I ask all clients to complete a little homework at the beginning to allow us to see what foundation we’re working from.
When you have all this information recorded, we can start on the training and in this case nutrition to be adopted, monitoring levels at given intervals.
For my clients, this usually takes place about every 7-10 days.
As I mentioned above though, this is more than just how much you weigh on the scales, we look at the ‘biofeedback’ information that is gathered daily.
I like clients to ‘journal’ things, regardless how brief, preferably at the start and end of each day. If you’re waking up exhausted from poor quality sleep and you finish the day hungry and lethargic, adjustments need to be made.
Questions like;
Were you able to stick to the plan? If not, why not?
What was your level of hunger? Was this an increase or decrease?
How much sleep are you getting each night? How do you feel on waking?
How was your sleep quality? Was it better or worse than before?
How was your performance in the gym? Is the strength going up? The stamina?
Have you noticed a change in your sex drive?
What about your mood throughout the day?
All relevant and all require the client to take a moment and ‘listen’ to what the body is telling them.
So why do we monitor these things?
HUNGER
Hunger is a vital indicator of metabolic activity.
If hunger is low, we need to look at a few things, including your calorific intake, whether you are in a deficit, the quality of the foods you’re eating and what types.
SLEEP
I could write an article all on its own about how important sleep is, oh wait I have! Check it out HERE. Most, if not all of you will know how important I feel sleep is to every area of ourselves we wish to develop.
Changes in sleep are good indicators of a variety of things, stress, hunger, recovery status even hydration levels.
Poor sleep quality can also be indicative of poor nutrient timing. Intense exercise provides a significant response from the sympathetic nervous system, so less than optimal recovering can directly affect sleep quality
PERFORMANCE
It can be all too easy to lay a lack of gym strength or endurance on a lack of calories, but this is not always the case and it’s vital that we look at the bigger picture.
Was this a one-off bad session or have you been gradually weaker?
It’s important to utilise your own self-awareness and consider that it may be just a case of pushing through, before the plateau ends and your progression continues again.
STRESS
Stress is another subject that can quite easily have its own article (it’s in the pipeline), however it’s important to recognise that high levels of it can not only be identified, but also alleviated through your own self-awareness of the signs your body gives you.
So you’re waking up anxious and in a place of scarcity, meaning you start your day off on the back foot. Not ideal. You struggle to get to sleep at night, lying there for what seems hours before you finally nod off, all because of the ‘internal chatter’ going on in your head.
This takes us back to the points I made about sleep and its effect on your performance.
Now you see how everything is linked in to one another and how important each element is.
If you want to know more on how we utilise your Biofeedback to create rapid results, then click the link below to find out more!