Optimize Performance & Life

| MY WIFE THINKS I'M CRAZY BUT IT WORKS

Sleep Smarter book review — Is $16 worth radically improved sleep?

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I’ve been listening to Shawn Steveson’s podcast The Model Health Show for a few years now. He puts complex, researched-based health topics into easy to understand common folk lingo. And he keeps you engaged and laughing the entire time.

I just finished my advanced copy of his new book Sleep Smarter and the book reads just like his podcast. Before I knew it, I was half way through and had implemented several of the many sleep tips that he recommends – and feeling the difference!

I wrote a sleep hack post in 2013 in which I offered up various tips I had learned from his podcast. The book includes many of these hacks and much more.

I didn’t realize how bad my sleep quality was until I started implementing some of Shawn’s recommendations.

I literally went from falling asleep at the wheel on my morning commute to mornings being my most productive and energizing time of the day.

In Sleep Smarter, Shawn recommends several power tips at the end of each chapter — simple tactics that can be implemented right away. If you try just a fraction of the many power tips recommended, YOU WILL GET BETTER SLEEP, I promise. It’s an easy read with humor sprinkled throughout.

Shawn covers how important sleep is and everything you need to improve it, and it’s all based on the latest scientific research.

Best and most important of all, Shawn focuses on improving QUALITY, not necessarily increasing the quantity of sleep. Most of us get as much sleep as we can fit in, but it’s the quality of that sleep that counts. Shawn teaches us how to make the most of what sleep we CAN get. It’s a much more realistic approach.

The book even includes a 14-day sleep improvement plan.

Learn how to radically improve your sleep with Sleep Smarter -> SleepSmarterBook.com

Holy sh!t, did I just do that

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Named must your fear be before banish it you can.  – Yoda

This is not about CrossFit but let me start out with a story about it.

Why would anyone do CrossFit you ask…

We start CrossFit to lose weight or build muscle, to seek out an adrenaline rush, to feel stronger or build confidence.

But what we realize once we get into it is that those all just happen to be really great perks.

[Read more…]

Achieve your highest level of athletic performance every time with this routine

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CrossFit’s missing a vital component of fitness, especially if you want to achieve peak athletic performance.

I’ve been doing it for a little over a year and I love it. They have identified exactly what fitness should be for long-term health and functional movement. I’ve even got CrossFit Level 1 Certified.

During Level 1 training, they cover the basic movements, nutrition, and the entire method to their madness — interesting stuff for a fitness nerd like me.

But I was surprised that there was almost no talk about recovery, especially with the intensity of workouts that come with Crossfit.

As I dug into what a great fitness routine should have, I found four essential components. They are:

  1. Visualization
  2. Warm-up
  3. Workout of the Day (WOD)
  4. Recovery (more important than the WOD itself)

If you want to get the most out of your body and your workout while achieving the highest level of athletic performance and reducing the possibility of injury, all four components are crucial.

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Exercising in the Heat

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I’m looking forward to the hot weather, especially the hot workouts at my CrossFit (rightfully named The Hot Box).

A large body of sports science shows that heat acclimatization, or increased heat tolerance, through exposure to a controlled hot environment such as a sauna or a hot gym, can lead to heat acclimation (a series of adaptations that occur in response to heat stress).

Heat acclimation can allow athletes to perform better in high heat environments and increase their work output as well as:

To avoid any potential negative side effects, drink enough water that contains electrolytes and minerals. Adding a pinch of Himalayan salt is one of the best ways to added these minerals. Electrolytes will help your body absorb the water better and contradictory to popular belief, good quality salt like Himalayan salt is actually good for you, especially if you sweat a lot.  Himalayan salt contains over 84 different minerals and trace elements critical for health. Another option is to take an electrolyte supplement. Avoid any electrolyte supplements that contain sugar, especially sugary drinks like Gatorade.

Gut problems such as gastric distress can often result from athletes who exercise intensely in hot environments. This may be caused by the combination of stress and the simultaneous raising of your body’s core temperature, resulting in increased intestinal permeability (also called leaky gut), allowing toxins to leak into the bloodstream.

One research study revealed that taking colostrum may mitigate the negative effects of intestinal permeability and the potential for heat stroke. Colostrum, the fluid that a mother produces within the first 24 hours after giving birth, contains growth factors designed to strengthen the gut lining. This is crucial for a newborn mammal whose very permeable gut needs to toughen up fast. This is also why babies or children raised on soy milk – or anyone who has ever been on a bout of gut disrupting antibiotics – should undoubtedly be considering colostrum. This is the colostrum I use.

It’s recommended to take colostrum for two weeks prior to exercise — basically a “loading phase”  to prevent and heal intestinal permeability.

So get out in the heat every once and a while and become heat acclimated – you’ll get better cardiac output, increase your efficiency of cooling, improve your tolerance to hotter temperatures, and enhance overall endurance and performance. Just make sure to take the proper hydration precautions.

I Switched to an Old-School Percolator to Make Coffee

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Step away from the coffee maker (it’s not why you think)

percolator

I was waiting in line to use the microwave when my co-worker Uncle Butt put his food in. He left his Cuban in plastic Saran wrap. I said “What are you doing – do you have a death wish???” The next person in line put her food in which was stored in plastic.

WHAT!!!

I’ve eliminated most plastic that comes into contact with my food. Plastic cups, plates, Tupperware…all of it. Am I crazy? Everyone at work thinks I am.

Plastic, even BPA-free is potentially harmful, and can make you fat and infertile.

The chemicals in plastic leach into your food especially when the plastic is exposed to hot food/liquids, washed in the dishwasher (even if the plastic says “dishwasher safe”) or when  they get old. Fatty foods are particularly notorious for absorbing the leached chemicals.

Plastic is also photodegradable, meaning that plastic water bottle you’re drinking out of is probably leaching chemicals into the water every time it’s exposed to light. The older the water bottle, the more broken down the bottle becomes.

It’s not a risk I want to take, especially when it’s so easily avoidable.

Plastic is reactive whereas glass is inert – it doesn’t react with anything else.

I use glass Pyrex Tupperware to store my most of my food, I drink out of glasses and stainless steel canteens and I only eat off of ceramic plates.

One thing that constantly bugged me was my coffee maker. I had lots of plastic parts that were exposed to hot water. Even my Aeropress was made of plastic (which I still use on rare occasions just because it makes such good coffee!)

That lingering thought was always in the back of my mind – “how many chemicals are leaching into my coffee every morning and what’s it doing to my long-term health?”

I went on a search for an automatic coffee maker that didn’t have any plastic parts. This wasn’t easy. Every automatic coffee maker I found had plastic parts until I had a flash-back to growing up at my parent’s house.

My dad would wake us up every morning with his damn percolator. It was so loud as it chugged away at making the morning coffee.

But it was made out of all stainless steel – all of it!

I searched Amazon and ended up with this one.

Now I have peace of mind – but my co-workers still think I’m crazy.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to use coffee to get a jumpstart on your health and wellness journey, take my 21-Day Black Coffee Challenge.

And if you want to try my favorite coffee, checkout Purity Organic Coffee. It has the highest amount of antioxidants and is mold and toxin-free. Use code EVOLVEDNS for 10% off. I am an affiliate for Purity, so I earn a small commission if you purchase, but it is at no extra charge to you. Enjoy!

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