We’ve got 2 months behind us. And as the saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun”.

I hope you’re in the groove with 4 weeks of exercise logged. This should equate to at least a dozen strength and cardio workouts. And I also hope that you’re still drinking the recommended amount of water every day? If you are, that’s excellent! If you’re not, the best time to start would be today. After all, what are you waiting for?

Remember, we are focusing on one new healthy habit per month for the following reasons:

1. To make it easy to focus on.
2. To give you time to make it your own habit.
3. To help you incorporate new habits over the coming months.

For month 3 we’re going to tone it down a little.

What?

You may be thinking, “But I thought we were here to work hard. I want to lose weight and get in great shape”. And you are correct. We are and you will. But stay with me because you’ll be able to accomplish this month’s habit with your eyes closed.

And that’s because our habit for Month 3 is SLEEP.

We will learn how getting the proper amount of rest will enable you to recharge your mental, physical, and emotional capacities so you can be your best and capable of doing more.

Do I have your interest? I hope so. You’re not gonna want to snooze through this one, so let’s get started.

Sleep is a major part of your health & wellness. In fact it’s the 3^rd pillar of health along with nutrition and exercise. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety”.

In an article, “Why Is Sleep Important”, they discuss how getting the right amount of sleep can help your memory, and improve learning ability, problem-solving, creativity, focus and decision-making skills. So it’s obvious that if you don’t get enough rest, your abilities in these areas would be negatively impacted.

They go on to describe how sleep plays such an important role in your physical health. And that ongoing sleep deficiency increases your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and even early death. I encourage you to read this brief article at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why.

So then this begs the question, “What happens when we sleep?”

Here’s what the National Sleep Foundation says:

“Sleep architecture follows a pattern of alternating REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep throughout a typical night in a cycle that repeats itself about every 90 minutes.”

They go on to illustrate the role each stage and state of sleep plays:

NREM (75% of night): As we begin to fall asleep, we enter NREM sleep, which is composed of stages 1-4

Stage 1

• Between being awake and falling asleep
• Light sleep

Stage 2

• Onset of sleep
• Becoming disengaged from surroundings
• Breathing and heart rate are regular
• Body temperature drops (so sleeping in a cool room is helpful)

Stages 3 and 4

• Deepest and most restorative sleep
• Blood pressure drops
• Breathing becomes slower
• Muscles are relaxed
• Blood supply to muscles increases
• Tissue growth and repair occurs
• Energy is restored
• Hormones are released, such as: Growth hormone, essential for growth and development, including muscle development

REM (25% of night): First occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep and recurs about every 90 minutes, getting longer later in the night

• Provides energy to brain and body
• Supports daytime performance
• Brain is active and dreams occur
• Eyes dart back and forth
• Body becomes immobile and relaxed, as muscles are turned off

In addition, levels of the hormone cortisol dip at bed time and increase over the night to promote alertness in morning.

Sleep helps us thrive by contributing to a healthy immune system, and can also balance our appetites by helping to regulate levels of the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which play a role in our feelings of hunger and fullness. So when we’re sleep deprived, we may feel the need to eat more, which can lead to weight gain.

The one-third of our lives that we spend sleeping, far from being “unproductive,” plays a direct role in how full, energetic and successful the other two-thirds of our lives can be.

If sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to complete all of the phases needed for muscle repair, memory consolidation and release of hormones regulating growth and appetite. Then we wake up less prepared to concentrate, make decisions, or engage fully.

It’s interesting to see what occurs during the various states and stages of sleep. But I think the last 3 paragraphs sum it up very well. (So scroll back up and re-read those last 3 paragraphs in bold)

The consensus from all of my research puts the recommended amount of sleep for adults between 7 to 9 hours per night.

Over the past few years since I’ve been focusing on getting at least 7 but preferably 8 hours of sleep every night, I can say with absolute certainty that getting enough sleep makes a big difference the next day in so many ways.

I hope you found this interesting. Next week we will try to put this into perspective by discussing what happens when you don’t get enough sleep. Until then, make sleep a priority and make sure that you are getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours per night.

If you schedule it, you have a much better chance of accomplishing it. And that may mean you have to go to bed a little earlier. But YOU are worth it, so take care of yourself and get some sleep!

Thank you for sharing your time with me. I’d love for you to let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Is the content valuable and helpful? Did anything resonate? Will you take action? What else would you like to see in future posts?

If you know someone that can benefit from this content, I’d be eternally grateful if you would share this with them. And if you like what you see, you can SUBSCRIBE for automatic updates, LIKE US on Facebook, and spread the word about www.thin2win.net with your friends, family and social circles.

My goal as we wrap up Habit # 2 is for you to see the value of exercise and to actually, well, be exercising. Learning about it is important. But taking action is paramount!

In this final post before we move on to Habit # 3, I would like to address a common problem that everyone faces from time to time. If you are a fitness veteran, then you will be able to relate. If you’re new to exercise, or you’re trying to get started again after many years off, the root of your problem is a little different. And we’ll address that at the end of this post.

So what’s the problem? One word… M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N.

You know, when you just don’t feel like going to the gym. And you look for reasons to justify why you shouldn’t. Sometimes it may even turn into a negotiation. If you can even call it that because you’re the one arguing both sides.

For the veterans in the group, motivation issues can be caused by reaching a plateau where your results taper off, and then lack of interest follows. Boredom can set in from doing the same exercises and routines over an extended period of time. You could be tired. Or if you’ve ever come back after an illness or injury, you know how difficult it can be to get started again.

Here are some suggestions. You can mix up your routine, get an exercise buddy, hire a trainer for a few sessions, or set shorter term mini goals to see results faster. Or you can just stay home. Yea, that’s right. Take the day off. Once in a while is okay. It could be your body giving you a signal that it needs a break. But that’s once in a while; not 2 to 3 times a week.

If you’re new to exercise and you’re finding it tough to get started, it could be due to a number of things which can include:

• Laziness.
• A weak goal.
• Lack of interest.
• Lack of confidence.
• Fear of the unknown.
• Insert your reason.

Here’s where a strong “why” comes to your aid. Forget about willpower. To overcome the inactivity, you need reasons why you want to and why you should – exercise. Or you can show up and take a page out of Nike’s playbook and “Just Do It!”.

Putting motivation aside for a minute. If you do not exercise or haven’t in years, we need to talk. I’m not here to pick on you. And I am certainly not here to judge. But I am here to help you recognize the necessity and the value of exercise. And to get you to take action.

So I’m about to get direct to make my point, in as respectful a way as I possibly can. While there is no guarantee that exercise will help you live a longer more enjoyable life, there is plenty of evidence and medical data that shows it helps. In fact, exercise has been proven to provide numerous benefits. We discussed some of them 2 weeks ago. You can link back here.

But in this post I am not going to focus on the benefits again. I’d prefer to look at it from the ‘other side’ to see if I can entice you to reconsider exercise. There’s a lot of proof out there from people that don’t exercise and make bad food choices. After years of abuse and neglect, you’ll find many of them in hospitals and cemeteries. Hey, I told you I was gonna get direct.

By continuing to not exercise, you run the risk of:

• Gaining weight (and getting fat).
• Being depressed and unhappy.
• Having a stroke or heart attack.
• Developing type 2 diabetes.
• Dying early.
• Enough said?

This is not a scare tactic. But feel free to use it as one if it gets you to start moving. We have one body and one life. It’s a gift that we should cherish and take very seriously.

Next week we will tone it down a little as we launch our 3rd Habit. If you’re working hard and feeling stressed, you’ll appreciate next month’s habit. In the meantime, get some exercise and keep drinking plenty of water.

Thank you for sharing your time with me. I’d love for you to let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Is the content valuable and helpful? Did anything resonate? Will you take action? What else would you like to see in future posts?

If you know someone that can benefit from this content, I’d be eternally grateful if you would share this with them. And if you like what you see, you can SUBSCRIBE for automatic updates, LIKE US on Facebook, and spread the word about www.thin2win.net with your friends, family and social circles.

Does this describe you? You have some muscle soreness that hurts so good. You’re drinking a lot of water and racking up extra steps as a result of the extra trips to the bathroom. And yet you’re still coming back for more. I commend you on your interest and determination!

You can work through the soreness with another strength training session, which will help to kill the pain. Or incorporate this week’s exercise into your next workout. How about some cardio? That’s right. It’s no surprise that cardio is our 2nd type of exercise.

And since this week is all about cardio training, let’s start by getting clear about what cardio is. Cardio and aerobic exercise are the same thing. Both achieve the same results that include improved fitness by increasing your oxygen intake and heart rate.

This is straight from Wikipedia and according to the site, aerobic exercise (also known as cardio) is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process.

Aerobic literally means “relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen” and refers to the use of oxygen to adequately meet energy demands during exercise via aerobic metabolism. Generally, light-to-moderate intensity activities that are sufficiently supported by aerobic metabolism can be performed for extended periods of time.

When practiced in this way, examples of cardiovascular/aerobic exercise are medium to long distance running/jogging, swimming, cycling, and walking, according to the first extensive research on aerobic exercise, conducted in the 1960s on over 5,000 U.S. Air Force personnel by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper.

We need to get the heart pumping, the blood flowing, the lungs breathing, and the sweat dripping. I can’t admit to loving my intense cardio sessions while I am at the beginning or even halfway through. But when it’s over I feel great. And it’s that feeling combined with a sense of accomplishment and the long term results that keep me coming back for more.

Based on experience, I firmly believe that intensity matters with exercise. Once your doctor approves you for exercise and you’ve spent a few months building up your strength and endurance, it’s time to add intensity to your strength and cardio training sessions. As your intensity level increases, the length of time you need to spend exercising decreases. I’d rather spend 30 minutes at a high intensity level than 60 minutes at a lower one. Wouldn’t you?

I personally strive for 2 cardio sessions every week and 3 strength. It used to be 3 to 4 cardio session but I was burning too many calories, so I backed off. I also incorporate cardio training into my strength training sessions. I do this with a heart-pounding 15 minute warm-up before lifting. Or 10 to 20 minutes of rope. Sometimes I’ll squeeze in a few sets of hitting the heavy bag.

And by incorporating “super-sets”, I include cardio in my strength sessions. Super-sets are a way to maximize time by performing 2 or more different exercises without rest in between. For example, one super-set could consist of a set of bench presses, bar curls, dumbbell fly’s, and reverse curls without rest in between. You rest when you’re done with those 4 different exercises. Then you do it again a couple more times.

The alternative would be one set of bench presses and rest. A second set of bench presses and rest. A third set of bench presses and rest. Next, a set of bar curls and rest… A lot of resting and not a lot of moving. Although we introduced strength training last week, the point here is to illustrate how super-setting can add cardio to your strength training sessions by keeping your heart rate up. In my book that’s another form of intensity.

Zumba has become a popular cardio routine for the ladies. I can’t comment on the benefits of Zumba because I have never participated in a class. From what I’ve seen, I’m not convinced that you’re going to burn a lot of calories. But here’s the deal. If it’s fun and gets you moving a couple times a week, then it’s definitely a good thing to include in your workouts. As long as it’s not the only thing you do. Add a couple strength training sessions and other forms of cardio to the mix.

Spin on the other hand will burn a lot of calories. As long as you change your speeds and resistance, and go at it with intensity, you’ll have an invigorating, heart-pumping session that leaves you drenched and satisfied. It’s a great leg workout too.

My go to cardio workout is the Octane elliptical. The “interval” option mixes 2 minutes of more resistance (higher intensity) with 2 minutes of less resistance (lower intensity). The reduced resistance gives you time to catch your breath and bring your heart rate down a couple ticks before it’s time to kick it up again. It’s a great workout that burns 700 to 800 calories per session when you go for it.

I’d like to re-emphasize a point I made last week. You should seriously consider hiring a personal trainer. Especially if you are new to the gym. Even if it’s only for a few sessions. Or at a minimum, ask the gym staff for assistance and recommendations. These men and women are trained professionals who can help you identify the right exercises based on your fitness level and goals. You will learn how to do new exercises and execute proper form.

Wrapping up, I found this fact interesting and wanted to share: 1kg of muscle burns 50 extra calories a day, whereas 1kg of fat burns just 3 calories a day. More proof that lean muscle is your friend.

Here are a couple of resources: (just need to ignore the sidebar ads)

• http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/heart/prevention/exercise/best-type-of-aerobic-exercise
• http://www.wikihow.com/Exercise

Thank you for sharing your time with me. I’d love for you to let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Is the content valuable and helpful? Did anything resonate? Will you take action? What else would you like to see in future posts?

If you know someone that can benefit from this content, I’d be eternally grateful if you would share this with them. And if you like what you see, you can SUBSCRIBE for automatic updates, LIKE US on Facebook, and spread the word about www.thin2win.net with your friends, family and social circles.