You’ll find some people who say that nutrition is more important than training. Then there are others who think the opposite who will argue that training is the most important. The answer to the debate is that nutrition and training are both vital: they depend on each other. I’ll go so far as to say that a balance must exist between cardio, strength training, and nutrition.

To neglect one in favor of the other is going to leave your body and your efforts off balance. Of course, if your knowledge in one area is deficient, you have to pay close attention to it.

For example if you are still eating processed foods, you’ve got to take care of that problem. But still, you need to work to make sure your nutrition is constantly improving while you’re getting the most out of your strength and aerobic workouts. You will get better results from a better diet and from better exercise.

Generally speaking, however, beginners will get the most benefit from addressing nutrition. But then again, beginners will profit from training too: see what I mean?

For those who have been around for a while, they have mastered nutrition and have learned advanced training principles. If you need to make a call on whether diet or exercise is more important to a healthy lifestyle, we’d have to listen to some experts who’ve been in the business for a very long time. While they emphasize a balance between the two, most will come down on the side of nutrition.

One strength coach says that an advanced weight trainer might use up to 300 exercise variations to adapt to a routine within a couple weeks.

Nutrition on the other hand takes a lot longer to take hold in a lifestyle, so if attention to it lapses, it could take months to recover.

So while diet and training are both important, the most essential is nutrition.