Day 43 - Totally Tuesday!

Tuesday, Tuesday...

 I "Heart" Tuesdays at the moment. I get to train, participate in organised physical training, play team sports and if I'm really lucky - I get to Zen myself out with a healthy Bikram Yoga sesh!

Well, today I had a great day. An even better one when you know you need to pay back a deficit from the day before - as you know I had to work and my training suffered (Boo!). I always pay my debts.... Or is that the Lannisters? Game of Thrones overload, perhaps!

Important Rest Time

I'm learning the hard way, as I'm a bit of a slow starter with resting, that rest is just as important as the training we are doing. I'm starting to see that for me, rest and zen time are essentially my mind and body having a workout....albeit without the sweat. Its like a recuperation workout and its nearing time to go get into that session.... I'll just write this post, and drink my yummy Casein Protein shake first. The shake can then start to give my muscles nutrients as I rest and set my digestive system to work. I sleep much better knowing that my sleeping body is getting heaps of good amino acids delivered over a slower duration to help improve recovery, L-theanine to help relax me, plus a large injection of calcium to support my bones! Awesome, but the key here is that my sleep is starting to be just as important as the training is - Oh My! That lovely wife of mine will be pleased with this! I'm doing well too - last night I managed nearly 6 hours of sleep time...which is a vast improvement!

There has been a great deal of research into sleep and weight loss. I even read a very interesting article that suggested training in the early evening to improve rest. It suggested this because it is a good trigger for the body to prepare for sleep. In brief, we raise the body's temperature whilst training, and the subsequent temperature drop is what 'triggers' this, so if you ever wondered why it takes ages to fall asleep at night when you're too warm...that is why!

Is this you?

Personally, when I sleep best its usually naked, or on top of the covers (even in winter) and sometimes both combined! :) Sleep is a good idea for people who are training, trying to lose weight, or to just be a bit healthier, since sleep restriction leads to an increase in a hormone called ghrelin, which is attributed to stimulating appetite. This alone may explain why during these past 6 weeks I've been even hungrier than before - Extra training, plus sleep restriction is not a good combo! This has become very apparent to me whilst sitting in class, since the start of this journey. My lack of sleep makes my appetite soar (I try to ignore that and stick to my regime), but I guess this builds as I further exhaust myself during the day. This leads to my excess tiredness causing a serious case of the snack-monster! This could be something to watch out for. If you're not careful, you too, could be reaching for the coffee and donuts at 3pm because you didn't sleep well the night before....think about that the next time you're making your stand-easy brew or popping to get some more munchies to gorge on just to stay awake...I know I will be. 

 

At least until we get our sleep habits improving, we should carry some healthy snack options to make sure we don't detract from the good work we are doing the rest of the time! 

Sleep, rest and Zen Time appear to be very important, don't you think? An interesting observation that led to a little research may have uncovered something about why I get so "hungry" when I'm tired...I'll definitely be monitoring my sleep and eating behaviours much more closely in future.

Super Shoulders

My usual start to the day being a big shoulders set, focussing again on primarily using compound exercises to develop a strong core. I worked bloody hard, lots of barbell work today. I pushed some extra sets onto each exercise, keeping the weight hard enough to sustain it. Feel the burn...the yummy burn that tells you you're working hard! I finished with some hefty cable work to really isolate the muscles, whilst keeping the core engaged - really enjoying pushing myself now! I finished with some abdominal work; farmers walks, overhead holds, hanging knees up crunches, leg raises, oblique training and crunches.

Cardio & Abs Circuit

This guy is cray-cray, I hear you say...Ahem... Well, this morning's PT offering is my favourite circuit - Abs and Cardio. Today, I partnered up with Pon-Goh the ex-Army dude who is in my class. He has a strong training ethic and works hard, so I naturally wanted to partner him! The circuit involved cardio such as: skipping, ladder sprints, sprint starts, spinning, toyota jumps, grid sprints, mattress sprints. The abs worked everything...which made me feel the familiar burn of hard work! Love it.

Footie & Yoga 

After a full day of class, Mr Dutchie had organised the weekly footsall (indoor football) game at the gym. Mr Sos and I were to play for 30 minutes, as a warm up then leave so we could get to Mornington to catch some Zen at Bikram Yoga, Meeting our other yogi, Holmie, there.

When I returned from Yoga I received a picture text from Winnie, and it made me laugh... You see, I quite often fart in the yoga room, and its normally due to my straining as I work hard to bend, stretch and...well, normally during "wind removing posture" funnily enough...still I thought I'd end with something light hearted... Goodnight.

Love my wife!