Weathering the Storm
Happy Monday Evening,
I hope you all had an amazing week, but I am sure some of you did not. You may feel a little off your game and working to find your footing. For those of us struggling or slipping on our goals, remember that as long as the average of your hard work and dedication stays on an upward trajectory, you’re doing just fine. A couple days off from the gym, a bad event in your life, or a dip in your performance at work is not a reason to feel as if all is lost. A bad day, a bad week, a bad month, or even a bad year should never distract from all the progress you have made up to this moment. Weather the storm, calibrate and return to the path. Steps will be taken forward; steps will be taken back. At times that step back may feel like you’ve fallen into a well with seemingly no way out. There is always a way out, just keep showing up and remember these graphics…
With all that being said let’s get into the fun stuff…
Nutrition tip of the week: Cheat Meals
Have them. Have them often. Have that pizza, have that bowl of ice cream, have that unhealthy thing you owe so crave. I think a great rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule where 80% of the time you follow a relatively healthy diet and 20% you can go nuts. It makes you work harder and also enjoy life. On those days you take a step back and feel all is lost, have a food that comforts you. On those days you hit a major milestone and take a big step forward, reward yourself properly. This may not work for those who think they have to stay disciplined in order not let the slope get too slippery. However, I’ve personally found the 80/20 rule to be quite successful in my experience.
Esoteric Health Tip of the Week: Sleep Support
I’ll eventually do a whole post on sleep, but this is a couple tricks that fixed my sleep almost completely.
Things to try before bedtime:
Magnesium Glycinate: biggest needle mover for me, just try it and thank me later. Will post more in the future about this.
Zinc: clinically proven to help sleep quality (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5713303/)
Raw Honey and Pinch of Salt before bed: for those of us that wake up to pee the pinch of salt really helps. Honey also contains tryptophan (amino acid)—> helps body produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is then converted into melatonin, the hormone regulating sleep-wake cycles.
Have a kiwi before bed: similar mechanism discussed above
Paperback fiction novel before bed
No blue light/screens hour before
Don’t rely on melatonin supplements
Don’t be like me and fall asleep to tv when your mind is racing or scroll on your phone. Once in a while is fine but practice good sleep habits and you’ll notice the dramatic change in your sleep quality and ultimately your life. Quality sleep is the best drug on the planet.
Exercise AND Stretch of the week: Dead Hangs
One of the simpler exercises you can do. You just hang from a bar. Variations exist to change the difficulty level but at the basic level, a simple dead hang can provide you with a lot of benefits.
Benefits:
Posture: huge one, these have saved my poor posture
Grip/forearm strength
Good For the Shoulders and mobility—>injury prevention and recovery
Spinal Decompression: needed for most of us and prevents back injury
Lengthening Lats
Start slow with these. If you have serious back or shoulder issues proceed with caution but most will be just fine. Just a couple seconds a few times a week at the end of a workout is a great start and grow from there. Just find a bar and hang with straight arms while staying still and continuing to breath. Improvements in your posture will be noticed almost immediately.
Podcast of the week: Dr. Layne Norton: The Science of Eating for Health, Fat Loss & Lean Muscle
Huberman is great in small doses and is incredibly informative for those inclined to learn more in depth about health and wellness. Most will not enjoy as much as me but for those that do, just start fast forwarding when he gets too lost in the weeds. You may feel yourself blacking out as they get too scientific, but I’ve taken some great tidbits from some of his podcasts.
Monday Motivation:
“You either run the day or the day runs you” – Jim Rohn
Stay ahead of your day, prepare the night before. Set yourself up for success, map out what you have to do to make it a good day. And for the days that run you, do not let them run wild. Take them in stride as they come and Weather. That. Storm.
See you soon folks
Movimiento es Vida