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Win the morning, win the day!
It is believed that the first 30 minutes after waking up can be crucial to the success of your day. Research indicates that winning the first set in a tennis match can improve the chances of winning the entire match by up to 85%, even for top players like Rafa, Roger, and Novak. Therefore, to increase your chances of overcoming any challenges that may come your way, here are ten tips to help you start your day on the right foot.
⏰ Respond immediately to your alarm!
That sound triggers an immediate shift to vertical. No snooze, no checking emails or news, three, two one, up!
🛏️ Make your bed!
Your day-starting mindset is tidy, organised, and measured. And, if you do have a s%^t day, you’re coming home to a tidy cosy bed.
🚰 Glass of water – and a tinsey dash of bicarb soda.
Outside air! water (and minerals) are next on your survival life – not food, or coffee! Throw down a small cup of alkalised water.
🫀 Get moving!
Cranking out a dose of dopamine, serotonin and endorphins arm you for the likely negativity to come. While a bike ride on the beach (see below) isn’t always possible, a 4-minute body-weight strength session is typically practical for most – CLICK HERE.
Correctly clicking your lego set of a spine into place drives up confidence. Stand tall, shoulders back and down, and position your head like a balanced golf ball on a tee. Oh, please try walking on grass with bare feet, for the ultimate electron, destressing immune boosting kickstarter! No joke, this works!
🚿 Shower with a cold-blasting finish!
Righto, you’ll hate me at the time, but the 5 second cold (only) body shock injects a mega boost of feel-good hormones for the day. Believe me, you’ll feel charged right through the morning. Oh, and seems to thermoregulate your ‘optimum’ temperature for the day as well.
🍓 Clean lite food.
Avoid GIT complications. Consider choices like oats, fruit & natural yogurt, which drive up nutrients without the metabolic stress. Or, don’t eat all.
☕ Coffee, and maybe mind-boosting supps.
Caffeine isn’t for everyone, but it is for me! Undoubtedly, with the inclusion of Lions Mane extract and Gingko Biloba, my mind increases sharpness for the first session of play.
🌞 Glance at the sun (permitting) without sunglasses.
A short mega burst of vitamin D amps your feel-good serotonin signally game time!
♭ Feel good tunes.
All it takes is a catchy chorus to fire you up! Now is not the time for calming sounds. "The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground".
📲 Text a quick g’day to someone you have not been in contact with for a while.
Flick through your contacts, find an uncomplicated long-time-no-see friend, flick em a ‘g’day, and feel instantly good about yourself!
You’re away! let's get ready to rumble!
More than often, your winning start is the momentum dose to win your day.
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I’m not training today,
my HRV score is too low!
Now that I have a mounting number of kms on the clock, my favourite training tool is my HRV testing unit.
What is HRV? HRV is simply a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. This variation is controlled by a primitive part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It works behind the scenes, automatically regulating our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion among other key tasks. The ANS is subdivided into two large components: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the fight-or-flight mechanism and the relaxation response.
The part of your brain called the hypothalamus is always processing information. It receives signals from the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which tells the rest of your body to either stimulate or relax different functions. These signals are triggered by various events, from a bad night's sleep, training over and above your current fitness tolerance, poor dietary choices or a difficult conversation with your boss to good news like Manly winning, a fitting workout, fulfilling sleep, or enjoying a healthy lunch. Normally, our body can handle all kinds of stimuli and maintain a balance. However, persistent stress, poor sleep, an unhealthy diet, dysfunctional relationships, isolation or solitude, and lack of exercise can disrupt this balance and cause your fight-or-flight response to go into overdrive.
Testing HRV.
It's usually analyzed by doctors with an electrocardiogram in their office, but there are now apps and wearable monitors that can do something similar. While my garmin sports watch offers HRV via chest strap, I find my stand-alone and non-invasive Elite HRV unit to be more reliable.
HRV Results.HRV is typically scored out of 100. A low HRV (<50) means the body is in a "fight-or-flight" mode, while a high HRV (60>) means it's more relaxed. This information can be useful to see how stress affects your body and if you're physically fit. You can also get feedback on your lifestyle and how it affects your HRV. For example, activities like mindfulness, meditation, sleep, and exercise can improve your HRV. If you like numbers like me, this could be a way to track how your body reacts to different situations.
Why is HVR more important with aging athleticism?As we get older, even if we are in good health, it takes more time for our bodies to recover from physical exertion. Moreover, our ability to withstand high-intensity workouts tends to decrease. This means we may easily push ourselves beyond our healthy limits. Unfortunately, crossing these limits often leads to injury or upper respiratory illness. It took me, and my ego, nearly a decade to truly understand this fact.
I’ve tested myself 3000> times – the data has helped shape my zones.
My HRV Zones and response.
HRV Score …/100
My Response.
60>
Train with no guarding for higher-intensity exercise.
59 -50
Train as normal, but be cautious of excessively high intensity. Furthermore, if I do train over the red line, be sure to recover smartly; eating alkaline, clean food, priortising sleep, and breathwork.
49-40
Avoid higher intensity, and lower my default aerobic zone by 10 beats.
39-35
Never harder than a super easy walking intensity, and avoid resistance training.
34>
No training today. Prioritise all recovery strategies.
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A calorie isn't a calorie,
and your hunger knows it!
My approach to losing body fat is fundamentally based on two principles: consuming fewer calories than one burns (leaving a deficit) and avoiding all simple sugars, both refined and natural.
However...
The most important thing to consider when it comes to calories is how they affect our appetite. For instance, a cheeseburger and a 300g jar of olives both provide around 300 calories. However, a cheeseburger can be eaten quickly, leaving one unsatisfied and craving something sweet to drink. In addition to the subtle sugar content, this type of food is usually loaded with additives that encourage further eating (meaning, spending cash). As a result, one's appetite will typically demand more and excessive calories over the next 24 hours.
On the other hand, it's almost impossible for most people to consume 20% of the jar of olives in one sitting. Moreover, olives, which are a healthy source of fat, usually satisfy the appetite for hours. With their natural, healthy salt content, most people are inclined to drink water during and after eating them. This water also helps to sustain satiation.
It's not helpful to ask someone with a large appetite to simply eat less. We know that eating half a cheeseburger will likely lead to unforgiving hunger shortly afterwards. That's why I prefer recommending clean whole foods, particularly protein and lots of veggies, leaving portioning to the individual and their appetite. Almost always, suitable portions naturally play out after a week or two.
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Damn it, it's that decision again!
What am I going to have for dinner?
Right then, tonight we're enjoying a delicious Thai Beef Salad!
Duck into the supermarket and pick up the following;
🥩 A red-cut choice: I’m grabbing a beef steak cut of sirloin.
🥬 Green leaf: baby spinach leaves, fresh coriander & mint.
🍅 Munchies: red onion, shallots, baby tomatos, & cucumber.
🥜 Must have’s: rock salt, peanuts, and a thai salad dressing (Yeah OK, it’s far better to whip up your own, taking out the sugar, additives and preservatives, but, hey, lets just get this done!).
Panfry your beef in butter, garlic and salt. Chop up your salad and portion to your liking. Bring together with a 'dash' of Thai salad dressing. Boom!
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Voted: The most relaxing song ever!
Studies have shown that music can have a positive effect on our emotional and physical health, improving our mood, self-expression, and self-esteem. In collaboration with sound therapists, the Manchester band Marconi Union created a song called 'Weightless' that incorporates scientifically proven elements to provide the ultimate relaxation track.
Research conducted by the British Academy of Sound Therapy found that this eight-minute song can reduce blood pressure, slow heart rate, and decrease cortisol (the stress hormone) at an unprecedented rate. They say, listening to this song is a blissful experience.
Now, while I respond better to feel-good and destressing tracks like; ACDC’s Thunderstruck, Zeppelin’s Rock’n’Roll and Yello’s The Race, I'll let you be the judge!