Burning out before creating sustainable habits

The biggest issue we face when trying to reach goals in terms of muscle gain, mobility issues or fitness targets. Is that we burn out before we create a sustainable habit.

Did you know you grow muscle when you sleep?

Sleep enhances our muscle recovery through protein synthesis and human growth hormone release, you will need a minimum of 7 hours of sleep to reap these benefits. I myself have been guilty in the past for saying “No im all good i only need 5-6 hours sleep” as i was most likely in a manic state due to lack of sleep haha, life gets hard I feel you.

However, your body always catches you in the end if you don’t look after it. Food, Sleep, Water intake and working out are our essentials as we all know. But what about joy, laughter, happiness and being calm and content to tackle everyday challenges we seem to run away from when we are running low on energy.

Everybody can be put into a state of fight or flight just from pressure from work, relationships, someone beeping their horn at you because its a green light to go.

What if skipping the fundamentals is doing a disfavour to “your gains bro?”

Well when we talk about energy expenditure and how our bodies run on fuel to survive, we also need enough sleep to recover and it’s kind of like a computer that needs to shut down, cool down and process all the data received in the time it was running.

You: Chris, why so many different analogies and shit talking?

Me: Hold on, i’m getting to the punch line…

Its time to change your perspective, its time to write down a fundamental list of non negotiables you should do to reap results for your hard work and to take care of your body and mind.

The Whats, Whys and Hows:

Whys is Sleep Important?

Having enough sleep will aid in your bodies response to your hard work your putting in the gym, less sleep than 7 hours will not give your body enough time to go through its maintenance phase in the body and will be like trying to burn a candle that’s already burnt out. Remember sleep is when the body releases growth hormones and starts protein synthesis to repair and rebuild. Your hair, skin, nails and organs are made from proteins, it not just about building guns its about letting your body function and become stronger for longer.

Water Intake, Whats the Point?

We all know the point of water, we are made up of 60-70% of it and im horrible at getting enough some days, but when i do, i feel my best and function with clarity. It helps with an endless amount of things – like keeping you alive for starters! Answer me this. what happens if you lose too much water and become too dehydrated?

Deloading Training, Whats That?

Every 4 weeks you’ll need to decrease the amount of pressure you put your body under so your body can essentially catch up with the metabolic stress it has been put under, Think lighter weights, shorter runs, more stretching. You can repeat a cycle of 3 weeks progressive overload with small increments of progress but on the 4th week ease off to let your body recover.

Nutrition You Say?

You are what you eat, eat a lot and you’ll be a lot bigger, dont eat enough and you won’t recover propery and lose weight too fast. Tricky right! Try find out your daily BMR and Follow that for a bit. Increase and decrease as you go but don’t under eat or your recovery will go out the window. Want to learn more? ask me or use a friend of mine called google. only read referenced articles with facts to back up statements.

Breathing and Reflection Time?

Take time each day to have 30-60 minutes of a walk outside to check in with yourself not just physically but mentally as well to be aware of where you are and to make adjustments if you need to. For example if you feel low on energy, take note and eat a little more and be a little kinder to yourself. Your mental state will effect your physical state. exhausted and tired? Your possible running on fight or flight nervous system which produces more cortisol in the body and pumps adrenaline in return using more energy. This could be due to lack of sleep, stress or over training.

How we look after ourselves will define how close we get to achieving our goals. if you want to drink, than drink but don’t excessively drink, if you want to train than don’t over train, if you feel tired that go to bed earlier to feel and be more productive the next day.

What we do in the present moment defines who we are the next day. start your day with a smile and good intentions while taking positive action and you start the next day on a positive note and a little closer to your goal.

We make things harder than they need to be as people and if we just enjoy the process of small steps, we will find ourself with a big outcome.