A feel good body and mind is always what I strive for. I love to not only practice it but also give back and help others get more in tune with their body so they in turn, can feel great also.
I’ve been on this wellness Journey for about 10 years now. As you can imagine, there are many lessons learned along the way. When it comes to our bodies, we can either ignore the feedback we receive until it becomes something more serious, or we can make little adjustments along the way to ensure those little things don’t turn into big things. Here are some examples that have drastically impacted my quality of my life.
These issues and resolutions have not only helped me grow in the gym, but they’re helped me feel better for life mentally and physically:
Nervous system wrecked!!! – Too many days in a row at the gym along with too many sets to failure. I remember for years I would do 3-6 days in a row at the gym without a rest day in between. On top of that, 75% of my sets during my workout were trained to failure. Yes, i stayed very lean year round because of the vast amount of calories being burned. BUT, I experienced lots of highs and lows with energy. My nervous system recovery was all over the place. Mid day crashes, crashed sex drive, brain fog. All signs that my body was not recovering properly. I ignored these signs because I was programmed to think “grow or die, kill yourself in the gym.” So i made it a priority to leave the gym completely exhausted like I just got in a street brawl. Resolution: Today, I take rest days as needed. Rest days doesn’t mean lay on the couch. It could mean that i do walking, yoga or low nervous system stress activity to give my body a chance to heal. I lift hard 2-3 days in a row at most. Sometimes even 1 day followed by a rest day after. I listen to my body. On top of that, I only do 1 set to failure per exercise at the gym. This has allowed me to stay ahead with recovery and still give my body the response it needs to grow.
Blood sugar levels all over the place causing excess tightness, inflammation, and poor sleep/recovery. I used to eat like a maniac every single day. I thought this was the best way to grow. Sure it worked decently, but the consequences caught up to me over time. I noticed energy crashes, sluggish feelings, and when we started measuring blood sugar with a device, we noticed I was sitting on the higher end of the spectrum. Resolution: Keeping 3-4 sessions of cardio for 15-25 mins after my lifting sessions + Lowering my carbs significantly on my rest days. This made a big impact. We not only are using energy better while keeping that cardio in the mix, but lowering the carbs on my low activity days reflected on the blood sugar measurements. I notice that full body tightness, brain fog, and somewhat of a inconsistent sleep quality all started to balance out lots better. eat for the demands of your life, and keep cardio in the routine all year long. Easy. The body is meant to move. Keep it active.
Resting heart rate and sense of calm fluctuating and causing excess stress and overwhelming feelings. In the past 10 years, the amount of information, how fast we receive it, and how many distractions there are, have all gone up. This excess stimulation exhausts us mentally which then leads to lots of fluctuation in energy. Resolution: Implementing a meditation/breath practice once per day, going on social media strategically, and taking time away from the cell phone/technology. programming the body to breath slowly and enforce a practice of presence through meditation for 4 years now has brought on mental benefits every single day of my life. Its allowed me to stay more task focused, to approach things intentionally, and to really remain present which has increased quality of life. Coincidentally, overall stress levels stay pretty low and that “feel good flow state” remains more active more frequently.
Early Morning and Pre-bedtime routines. Years ago I used to stay hard charging all the way up till bedtime. Task focused and working right until the moment I was brushing my teeth and jumping into bed. I noticed sometimes it was hard to sleep, or I would not feel rested in the morning. Or i would feel like the day flew by right before my eyes. Humans today are more productive then they’ve ever been. More routine and scheduled and trending toward filling their schedules completely. This sounds admirable, but at what cost to our mental and physical health? Things really do catch up to us. Resolution: I found that when i intentionally allow time for calm to start the day and to end the day, I’m able to carry that feel good sense of calm with me at all times. I notice the heart rate staying lower. I notice my overall mood is better. These routines of calm could be as simple as sitting still and reading. Stretching. Drawling. Playing music. Taking a long hot shower. Playing with your animals. Whatever it is that brings you a sense of calm and enjoyment. Making a little time for these things to start and end the day completely gets our mind in the right place. We operate lower stress and just recover and feel better for life. I personally like to take espom salt baths sometimes, dim the lights, light a candle, turn the temperature in my place down a bit, use my massage gun and just sit in some stillness.. journal.. little bit of netflix. depends. Either way, its special to allow for these little activities of self love.
All 4 of these situations are things that I had to bring constant awareness to which helped me develop some routines that i could discipline myself to which lead to better recovery and better mental and physical health. I’m programmed at this point to really listen to my body. to not be afraid to take an extra day off the gym. To think a little bit more into what the demands of my body are depending on how I’m training. It sounds so simple. Give the body what it needs. It takes time through implementing new practices consistently. Thats the key. Consistently. You are able to develop results that you can do something with when you put it to play CONSISTENTLY.
A balance of standing and sitting. Keeping mobility practices in your routine. Finding moments of calm. Controlling yourself with eating. Working hard in the gym but taking enough rest days. Staying in tune with your breathing and bringing focus to it when situations get stressful. Sitting with an upright posture. Taking breaks from your cell phone. keeping your head up and engaging with other humans. Sleep schedule consistency.
The list goes on. Develop data through consistency. No one can absolutely tell you what Is meant for you. What you can do is try something for a period of time, and make adjustments according to how you feel.
THE_HUMAN_EXPERIMENT1993 