Hello and welcome to this week’s blog, still about modifications but this time it is not just about modifications to your workouts that I will talk about – it is modifications to your lifestyle.
The biggest barrier to getting stronger, fitter, healthier, and suffering less injuries, and recovering from workouts faster, is SLEEP.
You can modify up and down all you want with your weights and your speed and whatever else you are trying to achieve, but if you don’t sleep and recover well, you will struggle.
There is a place for everything in your health and fitness journey, and sleep should take the biggest place of all. If you don’t sleep well, for whatever reason, put everything else aside for a short time and focus on getting good habits in place to allow good sleep.
Next up is nutrition and hydration. Yep. The second most important modification to your workouts is what food you eat and what fluid you drink. I don’t need to go into detail here about it, there are plenty of resources out there. I will say that it is not a standard 2 litres of water for everyone as we are all different sizes and move different amounts, but you do need to drink regularly and is normal to urinate several times a day, and that your urine should be a pale yellow colour.
As for food, start your modifications journey here if your sleep and hydration are spot on. Modify a binge snack to include protein, and take a look at your lunches and dinners to check that they are nutritionally dense, and that you are eating an appropriate amount for your activity levels. If you need detailed help with this, please do speak with a nutritional therapist, or registered dietician.
Modifications To Your Lifestyle
Next on the list for recovering and being healthy, is hot or cold therapy, along with compression, active recovery and stretching. You might not be in pain and won’t necessarily need the hot or cold therapy, or compression, but everyone needs active recovery and stretching.
Active recovery is about moving regularly in between your workouts, rather than just sitting down all the time.
Last up is sports massage. Coming from a sports massage therapist, you might think it is strange for me to say that this is the last thing you should do – but really, you are intelligent and capable of modifying all the things I’ve talked about by yourself before you need my help.
If you aren’t sure what to tackle first, because most things are just right for you, I am happy to have an honest conversation to help you understand what to tackle first and how, and massage can go a long way to get you out of pain so that you can focus properly on those other things.
Thank you for taking time to read this week’s blog – Modifications To Your Lifestyle. I hope that you found some of this information helpful on your health and fitness journey. If you would like further advice, or are struggling with a pain and you don’t quite know what to do, come and see me. You can use my Booking Link or check out my website for a little further information at www.astralfitness.co.uk
Newsflash – Jen is starting with me from July 4th and her diary is now open! Check it out and book in using the links above.
See you soon!
Chloe