Dial-In Your Morning Routine

Improving your lifestyle starts with a really solid morning routine. Today we will discuss ways you can improve your morning routine so that you are ready to attack the day. No more feeling groggy or tired - you deserve better than that! Elevate your energy, feel amazing and dominate the day. Below I will outline a number of habits you can create to set yourself up for a successful day, every day!  

Prepare the Night Before

Before you start your bedtime routine, start thinking about the next day. What will you wear? Put it out. What does your schedule look like? Map it out. Get in the right mindset and be prepared before you turn off the lights.

Hydrate

You sleep for 7-8 hours and you’ll wake up dehydrated. First thing you should do is hydrate! An easy go-to in our house is a homemade electrolyte drink. Take 16-24oz of room temp water and add 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon with 1/4 tsp Himalayan salt. Mix it up and drink it down. Great for hydration and gut health. Do this before eating or drinking anything else.

Sunlight

Ditch the sunglasses and get outside as close to sunrise as possible. Look towards the horizon of the rising sun (but not directly at it). This sets your internal clock for the day. Circadian rhythm plays a massive role in our overall health. Every living species on this earth follows the rhythm of the sunrise and sunset. Be in-tune with it and your biological self will thank you.

Get Charged

“Grounding” or “earthing” is a great way to charge your battery. Earths surface is a magnetic field - use it! Place your bare-feet on the surface and get charged! Not sold on this concept? Watch the documentary: “The Earthing Movie”.

Enhance your charge with a cold rinse! If you shower in the morning (and/or at night), finish with a cold rinse. Turn the dial ALL THE WAY to the coldest setting and rinse your entire body, face and hair. Start with 30 seconds and slowly increase the duration over time until you can handle 3-5 minutes regularly. TONS of benefits here, but what I like the most is how incredible I feel afterwards. 

Movement/Blood-flow

Wake up the system! If you go from sleeping all night to directly sitting in front of a computer/ipad/phone, your body will still be asleep. To have vitality, vigor and enthusiasm, you must move! Blood-flow from walking, running, hiking, biking, swimming, stretching, lifting, etc… will prime the system for the day ahead. This does not have to be your intense workout for the day, but move in some capacity for 10-15 minutes and you’ll feel awake and ready for the day.

Tip: go for a 10 minute walk at sunrise and kill two birds with one stone.

Consistency

Habits are created when done routinely. Your daily rhythm is important, so support that with consistency in everything you do. Wake up at the same time every morning and go through your morning rituals. Ex: Get dressed, drink you lemon/salt water, go for a walk at sunrise, kick your shoes and socks off and stand in your back yard for 10 minutes, then finish it off with a cold rinse. Boom - Have yourself a day!!

The ultimate goal is to set your future self up for success. Creating habits takes time! But, don’t get overwhelmed. Start with one, then move to the next until eventually you have mastered it. Consistency and sustainability are the two keys to creating habits that last. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of time. If you need help getting started, click the button below and we’ll be in touch.

Is your Battery Low?

We work in front of screens all day and relax in front of screens all night. We just move from one screen to the next day after day. We humans have not evolved as fast as technology has. We are not meant to sit indoors in front of screens and artificial light all day. It’s no wonder just about every new client we speak to complains of low energy levels. 

We need to think of ourselves as batteries. The higher the charge, the better we will function. The lower the charge, the more susceptible we are to stress, illness, disease and lethargy. So, how can we identify the things that drain our battery and what are the things we can do to charge our battery?

Things that typically DRAIN our battery:

• Artificial (indoor) lighting

• Anything with a screen

• Routers/WiFi/EMF (electro magnetic fields)

• Little/No movement

• Low density foods (processed)

• Little/No outdoor activity

• Dehydration

• Little/No sunlight

• Medications/Prescriptions

• Toxic relationships

Things that typically CHARGE our battery:

• Natural Sunlight

• Water - proper hydration

• Magnetism - energy from the earth bare-feet on the ground (aka grounding)

• Movement - blood flow

• Nature - outdoors

• Cold rinse - 1-2 minutes

• Breath-work/Meditation

• Consuming nutrient dense foods (non-processed, whole foods)

• Positive/Influential relationships

When you think of yourself as a battery, it will change your perception on your health. Our environment and how we spend our time doing what we do will dictate how we feel and our overall well-being. If you find that you typically spend most of your time in the “drained” state, it’s time to re-evaluate your environment. Do some things to counteract your time spent draining your battery with things that will charge it. Start to map out your days and prioritize time spent charging your battery. If you do that, you will feel an enormous difference in your mood, energy and vitality.

If you are tired of feeling tired, but don’t know where to begin, meet with one of our professional coaches and we’ll get you started on the right track.

4 Steps to Mastering your Health

I was 30 years old when I had my first “ah-ha” moment when it came to my health. My first child was just a baby and as I bent down to give him a tub I could hardly put pressure on my knees. I was suffering from patella tendonitis. Years of competitive athletics followed by intensive training for CrossFit competitions resulted in physical pain that kept me from doing simple tasks, such as kneeling down. I knew something had to change…

That led me down a road of re-thinking my fitness, my lifestyle and what I wanted that to look like in the next 5, 10 and even 50 years. It forced me to re-evaluate my life and create some priorities and goals based on that. If I could go back to that time in my early 30’s, suffering from knee pain was probably just one of a number of symptoms that needed to be addressed. Movement, Hydration, Nourishment, Sleep, Rhythm and Stress are all area’s to be assessed. These are our BASIC LIFESTYLE GUIDELINES (BLG’S).

The practice I’d like to walk you through is exactly how we begin and monitor all of our new clients. We pinpoint the areas of highest priority and we put the systems in place to improve it. Here’s how it goes…

STEP 1: Self Evaluation

Rate yourself 1-5 in the following BLG’s:

5 = Extremely Consistent

4 = Mostly Consistent

3 = Somewhat Consistent

2 = Hardly Ever Consistent

1 = Never Consistent

Movement: Do you do some sort of intentional movement everyday? Lift weights, run, walk, hike, bike, swim, etc…

Rate (1-5):

Hydration: Do you drink 1/2 your BW in ounces of water everyday? Do you use salts/electrolytes to hydrate everyday?

Rate (1-5):

Nourishment: Do you eat mostly whole foods? Do you consume .7-.8 grams of protein per BW per day? Do you sit down, take your time and chew 30x’s per bite?

Rate (1-5):

Sleep: Do you sleep 7-8 hours every night? Do you fall asleep easily and stay asleep throughout the night? Do you keep phone and electronics out of the bedroom?

Rate (1-5):

Rhythm: Do you wake-up and go to sleep at the same time everyday? Do you eat and exercise at the same time everyday? Do you get morning sun exposure everyday?

Rate (1-5):

Stress: Does the majority of your stress come from one area in your life? Do you practice daily meditation or breath-work? Do you spend time in nature? Do you detach yourself from screens?

Rate (1-5):

Step 2: Prioritize

Now that you’ve performed the self evaluation, take a look back and see where you need to make the most improvements. Pinpoint one area you want to work on first. You cannot tackle all at once. Think about your lifestyle and what makes the most sense to you. The best way to do this is to create one habit at a time and allow yourself to be patient. Think of this as the “snowball” effect - one step at a time will lead you to lasting change.

Step 3: Create a Plan

You’ve identified your first area of focus and now it’s time to put the systems in place to conquer it. If for example sleep is the main area of focus, make sure you set yourself up for success. If you are not sure what it should entail, do some research or ask a professional for help. Feel free to reach out and I’ll help you devise a plan.

• EXAMPLE - Optimizing Sleep is all about the environment.

  • Our bedrooms should mimic a cave - dark and cool.

  • Absolutely no lights at all and about 62 degrees.

  • Leave your phones and electronics out of the bedroom as far away as possible.

  • Make sure your wireless router is as far away from the bedroom as well.

  • Put away screens at least 30 minutes before sleep.

  • Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

Those are just a few basics in terms of improving sleep. Of course with any situation, these can be personalized to the individuals needs. Once you’ve accomplished the habit of getting quality sleep, it’s now time to move to the next. For some it could take a few weeks and for others, longer, but it’s important to make sure you feel confident about the new habit you’ve created before moving on to the next. Set short-term goals for each habit and give yourself a time frame to accomplish each one. Then set a long-term goal to have accomplished all area’s. Maybe it’s a 12 month commitment to accomplish all. If you can stick to that, I guarantee you you’ll be a whole new person in just one year.

Step 4. Refine

Even though you’ve created the habits and know exactly how to conquer them, it will never be perfect. There will always be room for improving so, make sure you stay on top of it. Block out some time for yourself every few months to schedule a check-in. Go through all your BLG’s and see how you are doing. Make modifications as needed and stay on top of each area the best you can. Your health is a lifelong journey - it will never end until it does. As long as you make it a priority you will enjoy a long, happy, and active life.

If you have any questions at all or need some help getting started, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

In Health,

Bobby Scott

Life and Goals

18 years ago today I was starting in left field in my first collegiate baseball game. Years of hard work had led me up to that point. There was a lot of excitement, nervousness and focus that day. I always loved February - it signified the beginning of our season in southern Florida. I remember in those moments thinking of all my high school buddies who went to school up north and I'd get a little chuckle thinking how lucky I was to play ball in February in the warm Florida sunshine.

Things didn't pan out exactly as I had dreamed with my baseball career, but I am blessed to have had the experience and most of all the lifelong friends I gained during those years.

This morning I dropped my two sons off to school. One cried because we were late while the other talked about the last time the Eagles played in the super bowl (beating the Pats), who the quarterbacks were and what the final score was (thanks for the reminder, bud). I came home to a dog who ate our succulents, kissed my wife and got to work for the day. Life has changed quite a bit in the past 18 years.

Time is the one constant. It will never stop and things will always change. It feels like yesterday stepping to the plate 18 years ago, but man, 18 years sounds like a long time. I was strong, fast, ready for the season - I had worked hard in the weight room that year, (despite drinking beer on a regular basis and not a whole lot of sleep) I was 22 years old and I was resilient. My goals then were to make the best of my baseball career. To be a starter on the team, to help us make the playoffs and potentially play at the next level. I trained for performance and my workouts reflected that. I went to GNC regularly and sometimes worked out two times a day. I threw down a ton of calories in the cafeteria three times a day and made late night runs to steak and shake a normal habit. I was probably 10% body fat, could sleep until noon and had what now seems like an unusual amount of energy.

I turned 40 this past October. My new years goals for 2023 is to read 12 books and meditate daily. Go's to show you how much life can change! I am now a dad, husband and business owner and my goals and life reflect that. Instead of performance based training plans, I now follow a very simple template of exercises each week. I exercise to increase energy, vitality and keep up with my boys. I move daily to promote longevity and sustainability for years to come. The intensity of my workouts match my function in life - to create balance and harmony for my own personal sake.

Reflection is a good way to appreciate where you've been, where you are today and where you want to go. I encourage you to take a moment to reflect and see how your goals have changed over time. What are you working on today? Tomorrow? This year? And where do you want to be in years to come? Has your training adapted to your life? What do your workouts look like today and how have they changed? I'd love to hear your answers and feedback. I hope this can spark a conversation about life, health, fitness and the balance that is desired to live long and happy lives. Please connect if you'd be willing to share your story - I'd enjoy that.

In Health,

Bobby Scott

(508) 364-6534

4 Benefits of Home Workouts

The 4 Benefits of Home Workouts

Curiosity arises thinking about home workouts during quarantine. Videos are all over the place on social media showing different exercises and methods to spice up your workouts as well as fitness equipment being sold for about a 200% markup (not saying everyone is doing that). 

The thing that comes to mind: Is everyone sticking to their programs and moving forward with their fitness journey?

You are in the same boat as just about everyone right now in trying to make the most out of these home workouts or maybe trying to add to your home gym collection.

When I was thinking of things to write about today the thought came to mind about the positives of that are coming out from these home workouts. In hopes that everyone is getting what they can done, let’s look at some positive takeaways while exercising at home. 

1.  No Excuses Allowed

Many people are at home a bit more than normal during this time, which gives a lot of opportunity to improve upon your fitness. There are a million and one excuses that can come into your head to skip a workout. 

Maybe you are late coming home from work or you are forced to go during busy times. Whatever the case may be, things come up and can interrupt your gym time. 

Now that you are home there should be fewer things that get in the way of you setting time aside to exercise each and every day. If you are able to keep a regular exercise routine you will be pleased to see some good results. 

Consistency is king and staying consistent with your fitness will be a game changer for your overall health and wellness. 

Looking at this from a month view, maybe you plan to go to the gym 3 days a week, but every few weeks you have to miss a day. Let’s say last month you got 10 workouts in.

Now, the excuses have subsided and you are getting 5 sessions in a week. 20 sessions over a month period and you just doubled your exercise capacity from the month prior. 

This increase in exercise capacity leads us to the next point - frequency.

2.  Frequency 

For the most part people do not have a fully stocked gym in their house. Granted there are ways to supercharge a home workout with minimal equipment, but in most cases people are not able to load exercises as much as they could at a gym. 

So, if we can’t load as much as normal, what is another great option? Add some volume and frequency. 

Due to this higher frequency and less loading, your are able to recover faster and allow you to hit each body part more frequently throughout the week without overtraining. 

For most people this is the more ideal option for their exercise routines. Less damage done to each body part and more frequency per body part is a safe way to add more volume to your workouts without injury. 

What I have seen from the people I train is that some of the best results on programs are ones that focus on frequency such as full body workouts. This could allow a person to hit each body part 3-4 times a week instead of focusing on 1 or 2 muscle groups each workout. 

3.  Creativity and Originality 

As I stated above, although it is possible to cause greater muscular damage without weights, most people are not doing so with their home workouts. 

The modification of intensity is something that must be done to create effective programs. Many other things go into effective programs such as rest, sets/rep schemes, progressive overload, and exercise selection. 

All things considered, you have to get a little creative to come up with effective home workout programs that involve minimal equipment. 

This new creativity will get you out of your normal exercise routines, which is a good thing! We all tend to fall into ruts of training where we gravitate towards the things we like. 

Originality is something our bodies need to adapt and change. We need new stimulus in order to improve upon weaknesses and better ourselves in the process. 

One thing I have incorporated much more into my own program is isometric training (pausing, or static contraction). Isometrics are something that I had no problem skipping when the gyms were open. For one, I suck at them and two they are abysmal. 

I am taking this time to get better at this type of training and seeing great results in the process. My ankles and knees are feeling more stable and my low back is enjoying the strength and stability it has been causing to repent all the sitting throughout the day.

4.  Work on Yourself 

I mentioned above about improving weaknesses. This is a great focus to have during your home workouts. 

Work on the areas that you need improvement upon. 

You may have a weak core and need to stabilize those muscles. 

You may feel instability in one of your knees when doing single leg exercises. This is the perfect time to address this issue and add stability to that knee so when the gyms do open back up you are better than when they closed.

Some people have pain and need to work on stretching, mobility, connection, and activation. These are things that can be done any time throughout the day. 

If you address these things in short spurts throughout the day, you are able to create good recruitment patterns within your body and reverse the problems that may arise.

If you ask anyone who works at a desk all day how they feel when they get up and move during their day it is always a night and day difference in how much better and more productive their day is. Now you can make these short bouts of movement targeted and more beneficial to your overall health. 

We are all together in trying to better ourselves each and every day. Let’s make sure we are all looking at the good things that can come from our current situation and keep striving to make this situation even better moving forward. 

- Coach Jeff

Staying Motivated Through Tough Times

How To Stay Motivated

There are a million and one ways to get prepared for exercise. The one you choose will have a lasting effect on how you approach exercise, or anything for that matter, in the future. 

I used to love to get my motivation ramped up before a workout. Take all the pre-workout I could find, listen to some blaring music before I walk out the door in attempts to hit every goal I’ve ever had in one single day at the gym. This may be unrealistic but it’s worth a shot.

For some people watching some speeches on YouTube can motivate them enough, for others taking stimulants may do the trick.

Many times I will see the motivational trainer who will be calling their clients before the workout to motivate them to get to their session. This seems like a lot of work to be honest, but it’s all about that motivation!

How long can you keep that up, calling your clients each and every session to get them motivated enough to drag themselves to see you? How many days in a row will you be able to get as motivated as you were the day or two before? There is a progression with motivation and people are looking for that inspiration they felt that one time where they had the best workout of their life.

THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN

Let’s focus on fitness today although this topic has carryover to many other areas. 

WHY MOTIVATION IS THE WRONG PATH

Motivation is not sustainable. You cannot have peak level motivation and performance every single time you go to the gym. I know that would be awesome if we could, but it is just not realistic. 

This is something I like to drill into my client’s minds - WE HAVE TO BE REALISTIC. 

Realistic with our fitness goals, realistic with our nutrition goals, and realistic with our commitments. 

This is not easy to tell someone on a motivational high. I would have someone contact me or come talk to me who has been off and on with their fitness for 3-5 years and is now looking for a trainer. They are feeling motivation at this specific time, so they would like a full meal plan, 5 days a week training, and peak-level results in 5-7 business days. 

Yeah, not going to happen.

The truth of the matter is that this person feels so driven at this exact moment that they feel they can accomplish anything. The problem arises in a week where this drive isn’t there anymore. Now what? Do you still go to the gym 5 days a week and follow your nutrition to a tee? No, this person will wait until they feel that motivation again, but until that point they will be disconnected from their fitness goals. 

THE RIGHT PATH 

There are a few parts to this and we have touched on one of these parts prior. 

FIRST STEP: Have the self-belief that you can and you will achieve what you have set out to accomplish.

Having this self-belief will keep your consistency with all aspects of fitness because you have the confidence in yourself. What would you rather rely on confidence or motivation?

This is an easy choice for me due to the fact that confidence is something that is earned, learned, and once found will always be there. Motivation on the other hand is driven through outside stimuli that are inconsistent in everyday life.  

SECOND STEP: Be realistic with yourself. 

This is the topic we touched on earlier. 

When I say, “be realistic” I am not trying to prevent or discourage someone to shoot for the stars I am saying let’s start assembling the rocket before takeoff. 

Have big goals on the top of your list but make sure we make and tackle the small goals all along the way. 

This is why with all my clients I focus on the little things that are achievable and we both know that they will get done. 

We both know this because that person has the self-belief to be able to complete their realistic goals. 

Using this instead of motivation is the key to long-term success. It will change your outlook on health and fitness and make the journey something you enjoy and not something that you need outside motivation to get up and do. 

I reiterate the idea of focusing on the small goals but we also have to look at the big picture and that is consistency.

Consistency is king when it comes to a healthy lifestyle, you don’t need to be perfect just make sure you are ON more than you are OFF and things will be moving in a positive direction.

- Coach Jeff

Goal Setting

When it comes to setting goals, there is so much more that goes into it than just saying what it is that you want to achieve. There needs to be deep thought, truth, and commitment and in order to have all these things. There needs to be the reasons behind it all. What is the driving force? The “Why” - something that is emotionally strong enough for you to hold on to it when times get tough, because they will. You must know that truth in terms of your starting point. Where do you currently sit and realistically how long will it take you to get there? And finally, how committed are you? What are you willing to do to get there? Do you understand the sacrifices that may need to be taken? These are conversations that must be had with your coach so that both of you are aligned with your goals and expectations to achieve them.

Here, at OPEX South Shore we meet with our new clients up front before any training starts to have these conversations, set clear expectations, and map out a plan. We then meet with each client on a monthly basis to check-in, make sure the steps are being taken to work towards these goals and discuss what needs to be done to continue working towards them.

Here are a few of the basics when talking about Realistic Goal Setting:

1. Your “Why”

   Saying what it is that you hope to achieve is one thing, but knowing “why” takes it to another level. There must be that emotional attachment to your goal(s) to make it something that gives it power and meaning. Throughout the course of your fitness journey, you will inevitably go through some tough moments of possibly feeling lost or discouraged, but, holding onto that “why” behind it all will give you the resiliency to keep pushing forward. Give some deep thought as to “why” you are embarking on this fitness journey, what you want to get out of it and use it as your driving force to keep moving forwards. The beauty is that each persons “why” can be different - it is a personal reason that comes from somewhere deep with emotion and meaning. At OPEX South Shore, your “why” is discussed in your first session before any training starts because, in fitness, some things are more important than just lifting weights. Know your “why” and use it!

2. Truth

   Now that we’ve established your goals and why they are important to you, it is time to be realistic. It is important to know where you currently sit and that is why we have an extensive assessment process. Finding out what your starting point is will give us a realistic view of what to expect in terms of when those goals will be met. Our BMW assessment process of Body, Move and Work will give us a clear understanding of current body composition, strength levels, and aerobic capacity. If your goal is to look better naked, then it’s important to see what your body comp numbers are. If you want to gain strength, we need to evaluate some baseline strength tests and if you want to run a marathon, how developed is your cardiovascular system? All of these testings will give us the “truth” we need to sit down, review and map out a plan that makes sense.

3. Commitment

   We’ve discussed your “why” and found out your starting point, so now with a realistic view, we need to find out how committed you are. There is no right or wrong on the level of commitment you are willing to give but again, to set realistic expectations it is important to know what you are willing to do. What are you willing to sacrifice? If your goal is to lose 50 pounds in 6 months, are you willing to give up your social drinking on the weekends? If you want to run a marathon in a year and have never run before and live a busy lifestyle, are you willing to wake up at 5am every morning to get your running/workouts in? If your answer is “YES, absolutely”, than great! If your answer is no, then we’ll just have to figure out what it is that you are willing to do and then reevaluate to set some realistic expectations.

By discussing all of this with your coach and checking in every month, it will keep both of you aligned together and on the same page which is so important. This is a huge part of why we believe a personalized approach works so well.

If you’d like to discuss your personal goals with us and see what a fitness plan would look like for you, than click below to book a FREE consultation.

Sleep: Where it all Begins

If there was one thing that could have the biggest impact on the quality of your day, either positive or negative, what would be your answer? I know for me and for many people the answer would be: sleep.

Sleep will impact your: energy levels, mood, food cravings, workout quality, brain function, blood sugar levels, and much more. But, the most important impact it will have is on your Rhythm!

Circadian Rhythm is our internal clock based on the rise and fall of the sun and moon. It’s how we operate on a daily basis determined by our wake and sleep cycles as well as other factors. It is the universal rhythm of the earth that impacts every living organism. It is imperative that we find some balance within our own circadian rhythm so that we can function to our very best abilities.

3 Tips to Optimize Circadian Rhythm and Improve your Sleep

#1. Go to bed and wake up the same time every day. Whether you sleep 7, 8 or 9 hours per night (optimal range), see if you can make it a habit of routinely going to bed the same time every night and waking up the same time every morning. You’re mind and body will like this daily rhythm.

#2. Get plenty of sunlight during the day and avoid blue light at night. As the sun rises in the morning, so should we. Additionally if we can get outside in the morning or afternoon, this will help set our internal clock for the day. Allow as much sunlight to come in through your eyes (no sunglasses) and on your skin as you can. This is even more important for us living in the Northeast this time of year as the days are getting shorter.

At night time as the sun is setting, we should start to shut down. Unwind our minds and bodies and avoid blue light at least 2-3 hours prior to bedtime. Blue light comes off of anything with a screen and tricks our bodies into thinking it’s still daylight. If you are using your phone, computer, tablet or watching TV, throw on some blue light blocking glasses to avoid the blue light at night and allow your sleep hormone, melatonin to set in so that you can get a restful nights sleep.

#3. Eat your meals at the same time every day. Just like the rhythm of your sleep, you should try and time your meals to be consumed at the same time every day. Dedicate a 30-45 min block of time where you can schedule each of your meals for the day and be consistent with eating those meals on a regular basis. If you eat 3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), maybe it would look something like this:

8am: Breakfast

1pm: Lunch

6pm: Dinner

Again, to reiterate, as human organisms, we crave rhythm and anything we can do to create rhythm on a daily basis with consistency will help us in improving our sleep which will also have a trickle down effect in all areas of our life.

Click HERE to learn more about how to optimize your health with our Basic Lifestyle Guide.

Interested in seeing what a personalized plan would look like for you? Schedule a free consultation with an OPEX South Shore coach.

Wellness & Stress Management Part 2

Last week we went over why it was so important to look at the big picture when trying to live optimally and manage stress. It’s not just one area of your life that you need to manage, it’s the entire system that has to be in balance in order to work, play and feel at your best. In the last post, we talked about the importance of Water and Circadian Rhythm/Sleep Patterns. Today, I will complete the picture with how important Nutrition/Digestion and Exercise are.
 

Nutrition

To start, we need to think about what happens when we eat certain foods. What were we, as humans, meant to consume? Around the end of WWII, we saw an enormous growth in manufacturing of items in our country, including the food industry. Things were becoming mass produced and the food companies jumped on board. “How can we make more food, faster and cheaper”? The answer was to create shortcuts. Create foods that didn’t have “real” ingredients because it was cheaper that way. Fast forward to today and what have we seen? We’ve seen a huge increase in fat gain and many new “modern day” diseases. We have to look at food and what is in it as a huge part of the problem.

So, what can we do to make sure we stay healthy, fit and reduce stress within our bodies? We need to start by eating REAL foods. Vegetables that come from our soil, fruit that grows on trees, animals that roam the land, swim in the sea and fly through the air. We want to consume highly nutritious foods so that we can function to the best of our abilities.

We can all probably agree that protein is good for us. It helps aid in recovery and promotes lean muscle mass which increases metabolism and burns fat. All good things! Try and stick to clean sources or protein. Local is best and then organic. Eat wild game, fish, and poultry.

Fats come with some confusion. For a while there ALL fat were considered bad due to unknowledgeable and powerful voices. Unfortunate for us, as just about the entire food industry started making fat free/low fat versions of everything. This just made us even more unhealthy as those foods were sucking out nutritious fat and injecting fillers and chemicals. We became even more sick and overweight. I think we are finally coming around to see that there is a lot of good that comes from many sources of fat. For healthy fats, stick to the OMEGA 3’s like fish, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, grass fed butter, nut butters, etc… And AVOID these types of fats: OMEGA 6’s like hydrogenated oils (canola oil, palm oil, safflower oil). These oils are in almost everything packaged or canned so look at ingredient list when purchasing.

Carbohydrates (sugar) can really affect your digestive health in a negative way. The carbs that come from anything that is not natural, things that are packaged will most likely have added, processed sugar. This creates inflammation in your gut which creates stress. This is just another way stress can impact your body. For carbs, focus on veggies and some fruit for a healthy balance.
 

Digestion

Stress comes in many ways, and if you are not taking care of your gut and not breaking down your food and/or eating the right foods then your gut will become inflamed which will cause stress and increased fat gain. First, you must really focus on the breakdown of your food. That starts in the process of actually preparing and cooking your meals. Your digestion starts with saliva in your mouth from just smelling the foods (think Thanksgiving food prep and watering mouths as you smell the delicious foods cooking). That’s where it begins and it’s a great start so prepare and cook your meals as often as possible. Next, you want to make sure when you actual go to eat your meal that you chew and CHEW and CHEW a lot. Chew 30-40 times per bite to really breakdown your foods before it enters your gut. This is huge for the health of your digestion and gut. How many of you actually chew 30-40 times per bite? Not many. And finally, put yourself in an environment that is quiet and relaxed. Eating should be enjoyable with family and friends or a peaceful setting. Try to avoid high stressful environments when eating – no TV, or phone. Put those away and be aware and be in the moment when you eat and enjoy!
 

Exercise

The biggest thing with exercise is we want it to enhance your life. We don’t want exercise to be another stressor. In order to do this, we need to take each individual at their own starting point and progressing them with a customized workout plan. This is why we believe each person requires their own plan. This way we can insure that you are not overdoing it or creating additional stress in your life and that we can align all other factors of your life into your workouts so that you find the perfect balance.

Move daily for blood flow. Very important to move blood through your body. Ways to do this are to lift weights, walk, run, hike, swim, bike, etc… or a combination of these is a great prescription for managing stress. The benefits of this is to elevate endorphins which give you that “high” after a good training session which will also help calm the nervous system and leave you feeling full of vigor! It’s important to have a consistent approach with exercise and to seek some guidance for where to start and how to progress. You really want to avoid pushing too hard with too much intensity which could add extra stress and a breakdown of your body and nervous system over time. Most training sessions should fall in the 70% range of overall effort. This will leave you feeling energized after a workout, not tired or deflated.
 

How We Can Help

OPEX South Shore is a gym that provides not only a complete fitness plan but also nutrition and life coaching on an individual basis. We want to know what you are made of, where your strengths and weaknesses are and align all of this with what your own unique goals are.

Step 1. Consultation – a conversation around your background, where you currently sit, your goals and why those goals are important to you. We believe for long term growth of our clients there needs to be a solid foundational relationship built between client and coach and this is the perfect start for that relationship to begin and grow.

Step 2. Three Part Assessment: BODY, MOVE, WORK

• Session 1. Body fat analysis on the InBody machine: what are you made of?

• Session 2. Movement Analysis for proper mechanics, strength testing, proper alignment and joint mobility and balance.

• Session 3. Aerobic/Cardiovascular testing and comparison between Anaerobic and Aerobic systems.

Step 3. You receive your comprehensive, customized plan and execute that plan at our facility or at the convenience of your own gym if we are not in traveling distance.

Step 4. Monthly consultations are consistent once every month and are ongoing. These consults are to check in, re-test or go over food logs, lifestyle changes, etc…

Please reach out to us for a free consultation and learn more about how we can help you!

Wellness and Stress Management

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I recently gave a presentation on this topic to a local accounting firm just south of Boston. I really enjoyed engaging with the participants there who all seemed very interested and had many questions. To start with how to incorporate overall health and wellness to managing stress, you have to look at the big picture. So many things can cause stress: lack of sleep, relationships, work, bad eating habits, poor digestion, over exercising, not exercising, and the list goes on. Because I received such wonderful feedback I wanted to share some of the main points here so everyone can get an idea on where a starting point is for overall wellness and how it can help manage day to day stressors.

For today’s blog post, I’d like to go over the first two topics: Water and Circadian Rhythm/Sleep. Stay tuned for next week as I will finish up with the topics of: Nutrition/Digestion and Exercise.

Basic Rules to Live by to Help Manage Stress

Water

Water is ESSENTIAL – you need to consume ½ your bodyweight in ounces at MINIMUM. Do you drink that much? How much do you drink? Good to know these things so you can figure out how much more you need to drink and plan for it. For those that are active and sweat – you need to consume even more. We are made of about 55-65% Water!

Quality of water is important – start with the cleanest source:

1. Natural Spring Water – constant flow = higher charge. Think of yourself as a battery and the water is the charge – the higher the charge the better the battery runs. Water that is flowing holds a more positive charge than water that is sitting still. So, the natural spring water is a great choice to hold that higher charge.

2. Glass Bottled Water – always try to drink from glass, not plastic. Plastic, especially if heated can release many toxic chemicals harmful to our health. Glass is a much better choice and is more environmentally friendly.

3. Bottled Water – Essentia, Fuji, Smart Water are some good choices as they hold an optimal PH level. Essentia has a PH of 9.5.

Electrolytes

If you are physically active, try to consume electrolytes daily. Electrolytes essentially are salts and they carry an electrical charge to aid in muscle contractions. Coconut Water is an excellent natural source of electrolytes (Harmless Harvest my favorite). Also, Nuun Electrolyte Tablets are easy and a good source to get some quick electrolytes after a workout.

Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Patterns

Circadian Rhythm defined: A 24 hour cycle of all living beings on earth that is determined by the rise of the sun.

Balance is essential in managing stress and there is no better balance than the balance of the earth. Circadian rhythm has many influences on the human body including: sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, body temperature and other important bodily functions. Not being in touch with the rhythm on the earth can have many negative side effects including various sleep disorders and insomnia. It is very important to be in touch with the rhythm of the earth’s cycle – rise with the sun and go to bed with the moon. An excellent daily practice is to get morning sun exposure not only on your skin but more importantly through your eyes (so leave the sunglasses at home) – go for a walk, hike, run outside or just spend about 10 minutes outside first thing every morning as close to sunrise as possible. This will set your clock for the day.

Optimizing sleep patterns will have a huge impact on recovery and relieving stress – one of the best things you can do! Tips for optimizing consistent sleep:

• Get early morning sun exposure.

• Avoid technology after sun goes down. Blue light (all screens) will trick your body into thinking it’s still daytime which will mess with melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep and wake cycles.

• If you have to use technology after sunset, you can wear blue light blocking glasses or use a filter to block blue light from your eyes. Also, red light or amber light is a GOOD color for tapping into melatonin and creates the opposite affect that blue light does. It is very relaxing and will allow you to fall into a deeper sleep. Build a fire or have a candle near-by before bedtime.

Continue reading to Part 2: Nutrition/Digestion and Exercise