3 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Progress
My last blog addressed nutrition and how that affects our performance and body composition. So we know that properly fueling and recovering through nutrition and supplements is something that can make or break performance and results. In today’s blog I want to touch on some other reasons why you may not be getting the results you want! Let’s dive in…..
Sleep.
Sleep is the king of all recovery, results and feeling our best. Without quality and the right quantity of sleep, it can be a never-ending struggle to achieve the results we want. Sleep is when cell turnover happens, when our bodies are able to regenerate, recover and how our hormones stay healthy.
Yes, we are all busy and most of us carry around a level of stress, but it’s not impossible to get quality sleep and it truly should be a major priority if your health is important to you! Maybe when you sleep, you sleep great but you just aren’t getting very many hours or maybe you’re in bed for a healthy amount of time, but you find yourself tossing and turning all night… either way, it’s time to improve your sleep health! A few ways to improve your sleep do this:
-Set clear boundaries around your bed/wake-up time. Consistency around these times are so important, we can train our bodies over time to know when it’s time to wind down and wake up! If we are wishy-washy with these times, our bodies will have a hard time adapting. Set alarms for these times, let your loved ones know these boundaries and ask for support! Even if it’s a challenge at first do your best to stick to it and it will slowly become second nature.
-Create a relaxing space to sleep in. Set yourself up for success! Blackout curtains/blinds, no cell phones in the bedroom- or if so make sure it’s silenced or on do not disturb, plugged in across the room. Keep work-related things out of your bedroom, keep a notebook next to your bed so if your to-do list is running through your head you can write it down and forget it. Relaxing essential oils like lavender and chamomile are great to help with sleep. Make sure that your room stays clean and tidy- clean space = clean mind =relaxation. Keep it at a comfortable temperature, create a space you feel totally relaxed in!
-Be conscious of what you consume. We’ve all done it- checked a work email or text right before bed and it’s something that gets your mind racing. Or maybe you’ve watched a show or movie that is action-packed and gets your heart rate up. Maybe it was a heavy conversation right before bed that kept you up all night. Maybe you got sucked into your phone playing a game or scrolling Tik Tok. Be super protective of your energy and where your mind is going right before you lay your head down. We’ve been trained to get sucked into the blue lights of our phone or tv and this is signaling to our brains that it’s still daytime! Instead, try shutting these things off 30-60 minutes -at least- before bed and read a book or taking a relaxing bath instead! Most things like texts and emails aren’t urgent and can wait until the morning! Create a ritual and be protective and intentional about where your energy is going in the last chunk of time before bed!
2. Stress.
This is a beast of a subject because there are so many forms of stress and places it comes from. Some stress is actually good for us! When we workout, we are putting stress on the body and it is a good thing (unless we overdo it), it’s breaking our body down just enough to build it back up and make it stronger! Some things in life cause stress but they are making us stronger, more resilient and teaching us lessons. However, there is a lot of stress in our lives that is self-induced, unnecessary and that we can actually manage and reduce if we really want to!
Stress raises the cortisol levels in our bodies. Some cortisol is great., we should have a natural rise and fall of cortisol throughout the day. However, if we are constantly stressed, this can leave us in a major cortisol spike all day long which keeps us in that “fight or flight” state constantly. This is not only exhausting but it makes it extremely hard for us to recover and can throw our hormones for a major loop. When this happens, the only thing our body is concerned about it staying safe, trying to conserve energy and survive the day which in turn can take a toll on our performance and body composition.
I know that some life stressors are out of our control, but a lot of the time we can control them and if we get real with ourselves there are a lot of ways we can reduce stress in our lives. Remember, we are the creator of our days and our lives, we can decrease our stress if we truly want to! Some ways to do this:
-Evaluate Priorities. Oftentimes we let a million little unnecessary things creep into our day, drain our energy and take away from what’s truly important. Create a list of hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly priorities. This can work wonders to help us see the big picture and eliminate things that might be stressing us out that we really shouldn’t even be focusing on!
-Reduce social media. Social media can be used for a lot of positive, but it can also be the opposite. It can lead us down a road of comparison & waste our time! If you feel like you’re always pressed for time and stressed that there’s not enough hours in the day, make sure you’re not getting sucked into the black hole of social media! It can cause stress that maybe we aren’t living a certain way, achieving certain things, don’t look a certain way etc.. go back to your priorities and make sure you’re focusing on your journey and what’s right for you!
-Find what TRULY de-stresses you. This can look different for everyone but a few ideas: meditation, journaling, a walk, a bath, a workout, a hike, yoga, time with friends, going to bed early, sleeping in, time in nature… ask yourself how you can find little moments in every day and throughout your weeks that will make you a happier, less stressed person and then DO that!
3. Ignoring Your Body’s Signals.
Our body speaks a language of it’s own and it’s a beautiful thing! If we choose to lean in and listen, it can work wonders for our progress. On the contrary, if we ignore it, it can lead us down a challenging road that we could have avoided all together had we just listened!
It’s easy to get wrapped in what we ‘should’ do every day, we are habitual creatures and sometimes we can get far too sucked into the habits we create, even if they don’t serve us. As women, what our bodies need throughout the month and how we feel can vary greatly depending on where we are in our cycle, being aware of what phase we’re in and what our body is saying is crucial. The same goes for how stressed we feel or how much sleep we’ve gotten.
Some examples of the ways our bodies speak to us and how to pivot:
-You’re feeling tired, wore down and the thought of “pushing hard” in a workout sounds near impossible. This is a great sign to take a rest day, get extra sleep, nourish your body & allow your body to recover.
-You’re sleeping restlessly. Sleep quality is our bodies trying to tell us something. Check your stressors & sleep habits first, make sure you’re recovering and if needed, get your hormones checked!
-Constant aches & pains in our joints. This shouldn’t be the norm! Take a good look at your nutrition (check out this blog), check in with yourself and see if you’re balancing your workouts with equal stretching and mobility work, make sure you’re sleeping well and see if you can add/subtract any activity or lack there of to help with this.
-Inflammation. If you are feeling puffy, bloated, or overall just inflamed- this is a clear sign your body either needs your to adjust your diet, your activity or your recovery!
These are just a few examples, our bodies talk to us all day long! Take little moments throughout your day to ask your body what it needs- even if you aren’t sure, try your best to start to lean into what it’s saying, take action and then see how you feel after. The more you do this the more confident you will get in how to listen and respond!
I am confident that if you focus on improving even just one of these areas you will notice huge benefits in your progress and body composition, if you do all 3, you will truly change the game for yourself! Start today by choosing 1 thing to start working on now!
