Enhancing Performance and Health Outcomes with Optimal Exercise and Nutrition Programming

Abstract

Exercise and nutrition, when used as a mode to improve health outcomes is well-researched and accepted by researchers and clinicians, alike. Numerous health organizations have developed general recommendations such as physical activity and exercise to inform the public how to improve health outcomes. More often than not, these guidelines are vague and do not suggest how to achieve optimal health via exercise and nutrition. These guidelines also fail to consider physiological and psychological variability for patients and individuals aiming to follow such guidelines. For example, current recommendations include exercise intensities based on low, moderate, and vigorous activity and many people may not understand the physiological cost of such exercise intensities. Presently, accessible consumer-grade technology allows for accurate measurements of relative heart rate, exercise time, distance, and estimated caloric expenditure which is presumed easy for any person to understand. Therefore, creating guidelines that target specific and measurable variables, such as relative heart rate may be more advantageous for individualized health optimization.