Sleep

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,




This morning I am going to post about part of the "Fitness Holly Trinity." Okay so just to make sure everyone is clear on the trinity, it is:

1. Eating clean and dieting towards your development (eating the right foods for your activities)
2. Working-out / exercising
3. Recovery (sleep)

So todays post will be based on the importance of sleep and why we need it, to achieve our goals.


Sleeping is pretty much your body's rush hour, it is where all your muscles grow and develop as well when your body releases hormones. But most importantly, in my eyes, it is when we recover , so we can push ourselves harder the next day.


If you do not recover properly and then try to exercise, your performance will be considerably less than what it would be if you had a good night sleep before hand and were pumped and ready to give it your all. We have all been there when you are very short of energy and tired, despite this you know you have to stay committed to your goals so you exercise anyway and you cannot reach your normal performance. Well yes it is great you are staying focused and committed, even though you are pretty lifeless and it happens to us all you need to make sure in this scenario that you give 100% intensity. For example lets say you are totally flat and only have 50% of your normal energy; when you workout you use all of that 50% in your exercise- that way you are not wasting your time and you will still get results.




How to avoid this, well it is pretty simple; make sure you get plenty of sleep. You should aim for the minimum of 8 hours every night, this is to make sure that your body stays alert and ready for the whole day! I am not a good sleeper, I struggle to drop off, but I know I need a lot of sleep so I do a few simple things before hand.


Ways to improve your sleeping:

• Do not work-out in your bedroom. A bedroom should be for two thing sleep and sex, if you do too many things in there, your brain will forget to associate your bed with sleep and it will prepare you for working out (pumping you up ) rather than sleep (winding you down )
• Do not work out directly before you go to sleep, as I said exercising gets your adrenalin going and body pumped, so exercise at least an hour before you go to bed
• Remove all electricals (phone, pad, laptop etc.) from the room. Not only are they distractions they can as stimulate the brain, which keeps it alert.
• Keep the room dark. Light is another distraction and your brain associates it with day time; the time you are most active
• Stretch before you go to bed. Stretching helps relax the body and allows the muscles to go loose which also helps with recovery and movement. It helps avoid injuries, keeps the body flexible and relaxes the mind. I would recommend yoga or ti chi but if you do not do these don't worry stretching the old fashioned way works equally as well.

Thanks for reading, please check out the blog again soon; if you have any ideas/comments/questions feel free to contact me all your opinions are valid and are respected greatly; remember to plus one everything, share the blog with friends, follow, eat clean and work hard- peace!








Jason