We all know that smart work pays off better than hard work. What if we told you that there is a smarter way to improve overall fitness and maintain a healthy lifestyle?
But first, what is your idea of fitness?
I’ll say it’s a state of overall wellbeing. Be it mental, physical, spiritual, or anything else, for that matter. There is so much more to improve overall fitness than just diet and exercise, it’s a lifestyle!
Lifestyle? Too much, is it? We understand the pain of having the same thought, “How can I make myself fit and healthy?” million times a day and not being able to work on it.
But where do we find the time to maintain health and improve overall fitness between the daily hustle? What if I told you, you don’t have to? All you need to do is find some time for yourself.
Improve Overall Fitness
Here are a few tips that can easily blend into your life, leading you to healthy living and to improve overall fitness –
- Fat-Burning Walk
- Hot & Cold Shower
- Sauna Treatment
- Massage
Fat-Burning Walk
When in doubt, declutter!
There is nothing more relieving than decluttering; be it mind, house or body.
While we have been focusing on multiple ways to clean our belongings, brain, house, don’t you think that we need it for our cells, too? Yes, I am talking about our body cells.
Heard of Cellular Autophagy?
Autophagy = self-devouring
Cellular autophagy
It is the process when your body preys on itself when you are fasting. Don’t worry, our bodies are smarter than we think. They only destroy and recycle the damaged cell bits and proteins, so that new and healthy versions can be built. So, simply said, it declutters itself for the good!
Want to make the most out of Cellular Autophagy?
Here is how:
Morning Walks*
Wondering about the asterisk? Well, the morning walk has a few conditions that need to be fulfilled.
It will only be beneficial after a night of fasting; that is, spending the night without eating. (Yes, as tempting as midnight snacking is, you need to keep your hands off those extra calories for good.)
Morning walks after fasting are extremely beneficial. They support your weight, longevity as well as mood. And you thought fitness was all about heavy exercises and a strict diet! It’s as simple as including walks in your daily routine.
How to practice?
Start with a small 5-minute walk every morning after the fast. Gradually increase the duration of your walk each day with an aim to reach 35 minutes of walk. Generally, 30 to 45 minutes’ walk is considered to be the ideal walking duration.
Hot & Cold Shower
Fact check: Did you know that cold shower can affect your metabolism? Doesn’t that explain all the appetite increase during winters?
In a study of human responses to immersion into water of different temperatures, young men were immersed up to their necks in cold water having various temperatures “ 32°C (89° F), 20°C (68°F), and 14°C (57°F) ” for an hour.
Afterwards, various biomarkers were measured.
The results? Under the cold conditions, the young men’s resting metabolism increased by 93% in the water having 68°F temperature and by 350% in the water having 57°F temperature. Under the warm condition, though, no metabolic change was observed.
Did you ever think that a small thing such as showering could help you stay fit?
So…
How to practice a fit lifestyle through showers?
Take a 5-minute cold-hot shower twice a day.
Method:
Do 10 repetitions of showering with:
– cold water for 20 seconds
– hot water for 10 seconds
If 20 seconds of cold shower is too much for you, then start with 20 seconds of hot shower followed by 10 seconds of cold shower. Then slowly progress into 20 seconds cold shower and 10 seconds hot shower.
Rotate your body to target your lymph nodes: the goal is to expose each area of your body to the heat and the cold.
Practice this therapy at least once a day, ideally twice a day (morning and evening). When you start with cold water, there might be a temptation to intake a sharp breath; try to control it and not go too crazy. By doing so, you’ll train your nervous system to become more resilient to stress.
And it just doesn’t stop with weight loss. There is so much more to it!
Benefits of a hot-cold shower:
- Conversion of adipose tissue into brown fat.
- Creation of more mitochondria.
- Enhancement of nitric oxide production (which increases cardiovascular
efficiency, and blood flow). - Increase of metabolism
You can also do the hot/cold therapy outside of a shower; if you live in a cold place, go for a nice cold walk, and then go into a sauna/spa and spend 10-15 minutes there. There is no strict rule on how to perform this therapy as long as you expose your body to hot/cold contrast style formats.
Practice these simple fitness tips often so that they become a part of your new lifestyle quicker.
Ooh, and there’s relaxing plus fat burning, could it be any better?
Sauna Treatment to Improve Overall Fitness
In order to benefit the most from forms of training that work on our strength to muscle mass ratio, such as slow training therapy, heat therapies saunas (not longer than 30 minutes) are strongly advised. It can help you avail the benefits of post-exercise heat therapy. Just in case you use a steam room instead, make sure that the water used is filtered. If not, opt for a dry sauna or an infrared sauna.
Leave the sauna and cool your body as soon as possible if you become uncomfortable, dizzy or light-headed during this heat therapy. Once you are cool, you can get back into the sauna or terminate your heat therapy for that day.
Complete this heat therapy once a week, after Strength to Muscle Mass Ratio’s trainings, for maximum health benefits.
Just in case I forgot to mention it before, these fitness tips are not just fun to practice but also super effective!
Massage to Improve Overall Fitness
Deep tissue work, through a massage, effectively helps you heal from sore tissues due to intense workout.
Despite the fact that the foam roller is an amazing and effective alternative to massages, a good massage therapist not only can provide a stronger pressure on those spots that are difficult to reach in depth, but can also provide amazing mental and physical relaxation that works very well with, and enhances, physical recovery 🙂
It is suggested that you look for a deep tissue and sports massage therapist who can provide you with the most appropriate treatment: you do not want to go for a soft massage that only helps you with relaxation, but not with full body tissue recovery.
This not only helps you recover from muscle cross-linking and fascial adhesions, but also improves the alignment and symmetry of your body.
An ideal recovery massage should last for a minimum of 60 minutes, and go up to a maximum of 120 minutes (ideally, 60 – 90 minutes).
Remember to ask your friends for a good massage therapist, or look online for therapists with good reviews.
In case you cannot get a massage, you can then either take a hot bath or perform a lighter foam rolling session to relax and heal your tired muscles.
Conclusion
Did you ever think that the way to fitness success could be just relaxing? But, above all, do you know the best thing about these tips?
They give you the time to detach from the world and focus on yourself. Isn’t that really important for survival? Here is a blog I’ve written on Rules Of Our Mind, to help you better understand how the brain functions and how to conquer it.
I hope these methods will help you as much as they have helped me 🙂
Do you practice any other methods to improve overall fitness? Let me know below.
Please, feel free to leave a message below, if you have any questions or feedback 🙂
Alessandro Cipullo
Consciousness Explorer
Wellness Seeker
