There are two aspects to our anxiety. There's cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety.
Cognitive is the mental part of anxiety; our thoughts, nervousness, dread, apprehension, worry etc.
Somatic deals with the physical side of anxiety. This is the increased breathing, muscle tension, sweating that comes along with anxiety.
Yesterday I went over some breathing exercises to help calm the mind and calm the body. Another great technique to use is called progressive relaxation. This involves tensing and then relaxing parts of your body, progressing through the whole body.
You can start by lying down flat on the floor (or couch or bed) and tensing your legs as hard as you can for 5 seconds. After 5 seconds, relax. Feeling the tension leave your legs as you breathe calmly. You can repeat thos a seconf time if you wish.
Next, tense your stomach for 5 seconds...then relax, feeling the tension leave. Repeat for all areas of your body; your arms, face, hands. Just tense up--hold--release.
While theis will leave your body feeling relaxed, it will also help calm your mind. When you feel calm then you shift your energy. Instead of feeling out of control, your energy shifts to to a more empowering mindset.
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We are living in a time of great stress at the moment. While we cannot always control the outside world and what is going on around us, we are in control of our thoughts, emotions and how we deal with the situations we find ourselves in.
Sometimes, what is going on around us makes us feel like we have no control. But there are things you CAN do to control your outlook and your anxiety.
So… How do we “stay positive”, especially during challenging times?
For one, understand that life is always going to have positive and negatives, happy and sad, good and bad; and that it is always going to be changing.
Next, create the positive emotions you want to feel!
Understand that YOU are the person who generates your emotions by what you think.
Sure, it may be hard to feel excited or cheerful during stressful times, but you can tap into some other emotions - even if just for a few minutes here and there throughout the day.
Ever hear the saying, "We are what we think"?
This means that your life is dictated largely by your thoughts. And that your thoughts create your emotions.
Affirmations are a proven way to rewire our brains. Try these:
“Today, I am content and calm.”
“I am blessed with so many talents that I will use today.”
“My body is healthy, my mind is strong, and my soul is content.”
“My thoughts are filled with gratitude and thankfulness today.”
During stressful times, repeat these (or make up your own) affirmations so that you can change you thoughts and build emotions the make you feel
*Strong
*Proud
*Cheerful
*Calm
*Joy
*Grateful
While creating a positive attitude and outlook in our minds, there are techniques we can use to physically calm our bodies as well.
One of the most common and successful techniques is breath control.
To practice breath control--
- Fill the lower area of your lungs by pushing the diaphragm down
- Fill the middle area of your lungs, expand the chest, and raise the rib cage
- Fill the upper area of the lungs through a slightly raised chest and shoulders
- Hold for a few seconds and exhale, reversing the steps and returning to the initial state
Pratice thos regularly but don't get too worried about doing it perfectly at the start. Slowing down breathing and slow down anxious thoughts.
I know that there are probably some people that have been displaced because of gym closures. As we go through a stressful time, it's more important than ever to make sure we all take time each day for ourselves. The more time we can commit to ourselves, the stronger we can be for our families and friends in need.
I have a couple spots open for online training---FREE for the next 30 days! No catch.
-A workout program is delivered to you via my app---you do the workout at home
-Interact and chat with some other folks training with me for motivation. We often post our meal pictures to see who we can make jelous
-We work on habit coaching too. Work on making simple things a habit (like practicing good nutritional habits and even sleep habits)
-There are many more features and you get it all for free for the next 30 days. No pressure after the 30 days. I won't try to sell you anything...nothing. I'm just trying to help where I can
If after 30 days things are still up in the air and the gyms are closed then continue to hang out with us and train online for free.
If you are interested then email me at darcyfit1@gmail.com Don't select the "contact me" button in the upper right. When you do that, I get your message but I can't reply or see your email address
So again, if you are interested then email me at darcyfit1@gmail.com and I'll fill you in on the next steps. Hope I can help a few of you!!
Darcy
Diamonds are forged by applying great pressure
Every diffcult thing you have gone through has led you to this moment.
This is not a time to sit in fear
This is the time to stand up and say I got this
Replace fear with strength
Replace fear with positivity
Replace fear with trust. Trust that you are strong enough to get through the toughest times.
Replace fear with the diamond that has been forging inside you with every trial and every challenge.
You were made for this moment
You Have A Decision To Make
You will have to decide...Will You or Won’t You?
Either you WILL stop letting negative thoughts affect who you are now… or you won’t
Either you WILL stop listening to that inner voice that’s telling you that you are too weak… or you won’t
Either you WILL realize there is something greater on the other side of effort… Or you won’t
Either you WILL say “enough is enough”… Or you won’t
Either you WILL decide that today is the day you finally say “I’m going to start fighting back” Or you won’t
Either you WILL decide to be the light in the world because that’s what is inside you; that’s what you were meant to do… Or you won’t
Choose WILL over won’t
#youaregoodenough #dreambelieve
Ok, so I admit that I’m a reality show junkie. On a recent episode of Big Brother Canada, they had a challenge where 4 contestants had to hold up a weight by holding onto one end of a rope while the weight was suspended at the other end. The contestants included two muscular males and two smaller-but still seemingly fit-females.
To my wife’s surprise, the two males were the first to be eliminated because they couldn’t hold up the weight any longer. I explained that muscular size doesn’t really have much to do with this particular challenge but rather the person with the best muscular endurance will be best suited to win. Of course, woman power being what it is, there was a female winner.
Your body will adapt differently depending on the type of training you do. Want muscular endurance? There’s a routine for that. Want big arms? There’s a routine for that. Want to build incredible strength? Well, there’s a routine for that too. And all routines will be very different.
If you look at the people pictured below, which one is the most atheltic? Answer-all of them! Each of these world-class athletes train very differently in order to get the results they need to do their specific sport. For instance, Tracey Bowers has a more muscular body and must train for explosive power in order to excel at the triple jump. Cheryl Haworth, an Olympic weightlifter, on the other hand must train for maximum strength.
So, getting back to our Big Brother challenge—the one where muscular endurance was required to win and not big biceps. What kind of training would be best suited to build that type of outcome?
A muscular endurance routine would concentrate on building a strong core, adapting your muscles to be able to exert force for longer periods of time and building up strong supporting structures like ligaments and tendons.
For the resistance part of the program, you would want to use lighter weights and use a rep range of 12-20. Not only that, there is a nuance to the way you should lift the weights. Instead of just lifting the weights up-down-up at a continuous pace, you want to slow down the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift using a count of 4/2/1
Take the biceps curl as an example. You would curl the weight up for a count of 1; hold the weight at the top of the contraction for a second or 2; then lower the weight to a count of 4. Trust me, even though you are using light weight, this will be challenging.
Want to build muscular endurance so you can be the next Big Brother champ? Try out the following total-body routine over the course of 4 weeks, increasing the reps and sets as the weeks go on. You can download it right here:
https://blog.ideafit.com/files/user_upload/2488530.pdf
Ok, so I admit that I’m a reality show junkie. On a recent episode of Big Brother Canada, they had a challenge where 4 contestants had to hold up a weight by holding onto one end of a rope while the weight was suspended at the other end. The contestants included two muscular males and two smaller-but still seemingly fit-females.
To my wife’s surprise, the two males were the first to be eliminated because they couldn’t hold up the weight any longer. I explained that muscular size doesn’t really have much to do with this particular challenge but rather the person with the best muscular endurance will be best suited to win. Of course, woman power being what it is, there was a female winner.
Your body will adapt differently depending on the type of training you do. Want muscular endurance? There’s a routine for that. Want big arms? There’s a routine for that. Want to build incredible strength? Well, there’s a routine for that too. And all routines will be very different.
If you look at the people pictured below, which one is the most atheltic? Answer-all of them! Each of these world-class athletes train very differently in order to get the results they need to do their specific sport. For instance, Tracey Bowers has a more muscular body and must train for explosive power in order to excel at the triple jump. Cheryl Haworth, an Olympic weightlifter, on the other hand must train for maximum strength.
So, getting back to our Big Brother challenge—the one where muscular endurance was required to win and not big biceps. What kind of training would be best suited to build that type of outcome?
A muscular endurance routine would concentrate on building a strong core, adapting your muscles to be able to exert force for longer periods of time and building up strong supporting structures like ligaments and tendons.
For the resistance part of the program, you would want to use lighter weights and use a rep range of 12-20. Not only that, there is a nuance to the way you should lift the weights. Instead of just lifting the weights up-down-up at a continuous pace, you want to slow down the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift using a count of 4/2/1
Take the biceps curl as an example. You would curl the weight up for a count of 1; hold the weight at the top of the contraction for a second or 2; then lower the weight to a count of 4. Trust me, even though you are using light weight, this will be challenging.
Want to build muscular endurance so you can be the next Big Brother champ? Try out the following total-body routine over the course of 4 weeks, increasing the reps and sets as the weeks go on. You can download it right here:
https://blog.ideafit.com/files/user_upload/2488530.pdf
They will produce very different results---thanks to Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) This is a principle that states your body will adapt very specifically to the exercise you put it through.
More on this tomorrow. We'll take a look at how to train for specific results.
- People are not great at eyeballing calories.
- Food labels can have a % of error.
- Cooking and preparing foods can alter the calories and nutrients.
- Energy burned through digestion varies depending on macronutrients. For instance, you burn more calories processing protein than you do carbohydrates.
- The body burns calories in various ways and every person differs.
- It is hard to accurately know how many calories we burn when we exercise.
- Different forms of exercise have different calorie-burning effects.
- Basal metabolic rate: the energy used just by being alive (and doing nothing)
- Thermal effect of food: calories used to chew, swallow, churn the stomach, make the acid in the stomach, make the enzymes, etc. You know…digesting your food.
- Physical activity: exercise
- Movement: everyday non-exercise activities like tapping your foot, walking to the washroom, getting up to turn on the radio, brushing your teeth, typing. This is also known as NEAT or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (we’ll just call it NEAT ‘cause it’s easier)
Facebook www.facebook.com/getfitwithdarcy
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heartsinvegas/ @heartsinvegas
Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/getfitwithdarcy
On the web https://darcyfit.wixsite.com/dream
Email darcyfit1@gmail.com
