We all do it at some point during the year. We look at ourselves and make the decision that we need to make a change. A change to become a healthier version of ourselves. Normally this coincides with being ready for our summer holidays or those New Year resolutions. But how often do those intentions pass us by without actually achieving what we set out. Then at the same time, the following year we have those same intentions.
This becomes a repeating cycle for so many people over and over again but why? The key to this question involves two parts:
- Our intention to achieve that goal
- Were your goals actually realistic?
All too often the goals we set ourselves are unrealistic and require more intention than we realised. There is nothing wrong with setting short, medium and long-term goals. We actively encourage this and believe they are vital to achieving anything.
Make healthier choices
The best intention you can set is one that you can stick to, especially when it comes to your own health. At Elevate, we believe everyone’s long-term goal should be to make healthy lifestyle choices that are sustainable. This creates a lasting lifestyle change, FOR LIFE, not just a few months of the year.
Being physically active and mindfully aware should be habits that stick with us for our whole entire life. The process changes over time, but the goal never changes, TO BE A BETTER VERSION OF YOU!
Your 4 key pillars to a healthy lifestyle
We see that there are 4 key pillars to achieving a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep and Breath.
Exercise
There are many forms of exercise and to a point, any form of movement is better for you than not moving at all. But strength training has to be a fundamental part of everyone’s training. Maintaining your strength as you age can offset a large amount of age-related physical decline.
Then, ensure you’re keeping that ticker strong by making it work hard with HIIT-style training and longer endurance cardiovascular training. Lastly, take some time to stretch and move well in all ranges of movement that your body will allow.
Nutrition
Nutrition can be a rabbit hole as there is so much conflicting information out there and no one way suits everyone. However, that being said, your body is a biological machine and no different than any other machine. It always runs on better fuel. So fuel your body with lots of fresh colourful foods and avoid as much processed foods as you can.
Sleep
Sleep is your primary opportunity for your body to recover, but to many of us do not prioritise this fundamental need.
8 hours a night has always been the sort after goal but not many of us achieve this. Build a bedtime routine where you avoid all screens for at least 30-60 minutes before bed. The blue light that is emitted from all screens stimulates the body as if it is daylight, which then reduces or at least slows down the release of melatonin.
Another great thing to do before bed is to write down anything that’s going on in your head (things to do, worries, whatever it is, dump it out). We all have busy stressful lives and this helps settle the mind without it all flying around.
Lastly, avoid any food or drink (particularly alcohol as this can affect the amount of REM sleep) 90 -120 minutes before your ideal going to sleep time.
Breath
Becoming more aware of your breathing and in particular relearning how to breathe better through your nose has countless benefits, from reducing resting heart rate, lowered circulating stress hormones, improved lung and cardiovascular function and much more. Breathing well is a lost art that we are only really starting to rediscover.
Have a chat with us
In this article, we are only just brushing the surface of these subjects but if you’d like to learn more please come and speak to us and please set the intention to make a change for life.
If you’re interested in PT then feel free to send us an email to info@elevatefitnessuk.com and we can set you on the road to reaching your goals. Or why not try one of our fantastic classes and work out with a community of like-minded people:
