What to do when you’ve got nothing left!!

I don’t know about you but I start each and every week with the best intentions of exercising, eating right and getting adequate rest.  By Wednesday I feel like I am under water, skipping the gym, eating on the go and staying up late just to fit it all in.  I work 50 + hours a week and am a single mother, so I happen to be an extreme case (and a super hero) and I have had a lot of practice with this shit.

Some weeks are better than others.  Some weeks it just doesn’t work out to work out. Usually, if I am sacrificing my fitness routine I am doing it in the name of rest.  The trouble with this is that it is all too easy to let it all go.  So I have been working on strategies on how to keep the momentum going and keep the body and mind moving when you feel that you literally have nothing left!

Here are three real life tips to help keep you feeling good and stay on top of your shit.

1.     Keep moving. You don’t have to spend an hour in the gym to get a little bit of a workout in!  Here are a couple links to quick body weight workouts you can do just about anywhere:

http://artofmanliness.com/2013/02/28/mornin-bodyweight-workout/

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/at-home-workouts-0

Don’t be afraid to break up the work out if you have to due to time restraints, a little often is better than none at all!! Even if you just did a set of 20 squats and 20 pushups 2-4 times in the day it would be awesome.

2.     Take Care.  Your body moves you through life, and it’s the only one you’ve got this time around! During times of life where you are under extreme pressure or have a lot of stressful things going on be careful what you do with your body, these stresses do manifest physically.  Even though the tendency might be to eat a cheeseburger and a pint of coffee ice cream (I have never done this, or maybe I have) these mindless practices are not going to help you.  Poor nutrition and/or alcohol consumption will hinder your ability to cope with stress.  When the going gets tough, get tough on your diet, it’s tricky but makes a world of difference.

3.     Nurture your soul.  Addressing the body physically helps us have the strength to deal with what life throws at us but what do we do with the stress as it accumulates? How do let it all go?  I chose to meditate and exercise.  Everyone is different but we all need a way to decompress and alleviate stress.  So whatever your pressure release valve is make sure to turn it every day or else you may find yourself sick!

Here is a fantastic article that talks more in depth about the physiological effects of stress. http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/march7/sapolskysr-030707.html

Keep up the good work well.fitters <3

Carry on in health,

Teah

get fit~breathe deep~love your life

Cheeseburgers Happen...

And so do red wine and late night snacks of cheese and salami in good company.  These are not practices that I advocate to any one of my clients, but, this is real life and it happens to the best of us. In a perfect world we would be eating on kale salads and lean proteins, this is not a perfect world. Cheeseburgers happen.

How do we recover from said cheeseburgers crisis?!?

Being a frequent victim of the cheeseburger crisis I have a few survival tips for my fellow Well.Fitters.

• Never ever-ever beat yourself up. It is counterproductive, hurtful to your psyche, and a total waste of brain energy.  

• Time it right. Always aim to indulge in sweets and carbs right after a solid exercise.  After a workout your body is able to more efficiently metabolize glucose, which means you get to cheat and it will even help you recover from your workout!

• HIIT* it hard the morning after. If you have really blown it with the diet, add in a metabolism boosting HIIT session to your workout. I like to do this with the jump rope.  I usually do 4 minutes of 20 second speed rope intervals, 10 seconds rest.  This is an anaerobic work out that has shown to increase resting metabolism rate for the 24 hours following the workout. 

For more info on timing your nutrient intake and optimizing fat loss click here

*HIIT=high intensity interval training.  Not familiar? Google that shit.