On Monday we talked about Nutrition and getting the right foods, in the right amounts into our body to help us recover from tough workouts and the demands of life.

Today it’s about SLEEP for your recovery.

Why Sleep is important?

Here are10 reasons for sleep and the list could go on for quite some time.

1. Lowers Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
2. Reduces Stress
3. Reduces Inflammation
4. Improves Short Term and Long Term Memory
5. Improves Weight Loss
6. Musculoskeletal Growth and Repair
7. Improves Mood
8. Improves Endocrine Balance
9. Improves Neurological Performance
10. Improves Immune System Function

If you would like more science behind this or more information you can check the links at the end of this article and they will have more in-depth information about sleep. My focus here today is to give you an action plan of how you can start getting more sleep today!

How Much Do You Need?

Average Joe’s Between 7-8 Hours

Athlete’s and High Performers 8-10 Hours

-Require more sleep due to more physical stress or mental stress

Tiffany

What’s My Plan of Attack?

“if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Just like with nutrition you have to have a plan in place with sleep to make it happen…then you have to stick to that plan.

SO HERE IS OUR ACTION PLAN:

Step 1-What time do you have to go to bed and wake up?

Lets say we have to be up by 6am so we have time to get the kids ready, get ready for work, prepare some breakfast, etc.

If we start with the bare minimum sleep needed then we would need to be asleep by 11pm and that would give us 7 hours of sleep.

Alright that’s the easy part.

Step 2-Sleep Needs Preparation.

If you life is a war zone before heading to bed, chances are you will not be able to fall right to sleep.

We want to begin getting ready for bed A FULL HOUR before we plan to be asleep.

So in our example above at 10pm (one hour before being asleep) we want:

To start turning off our Phones, Tablets, TVs and begin to lower the lighting to have a more relaxed environment.

Find something calming to do to fill in that dead space between work/life and sleep.

This could be things like enjoying a conversation with a family member, reading a book, prayer, or meditation. Customize this time to whatever it is that brings you back down and relaxes you before bed.

Lastly, leave the bedroom for sleep and sleep alone. Your bedroom should be dark (the darker the better), on the cooler side, and free of any distractions.

Sleep is an important function to our lives and if you can get on the right end of 7 hours you will be happier and healthier well into your 90s!

Sleeping for Performance

Sleep and Body Composition

The Definitive Guide to Sleep

4 Ways to Sleep Like A Champion

Workout of the Day

AMRAP 20

500m Row

15s L-Sit

10 Strict Pull Ups

The CrossFit program is amazing and it requires a lot of your body. So recovery plays a big role in getting our body back to where it needs to be so we can train the next day and God willing for many years to come.

In this 3 part series on recovery we are going to cover the 3 most important ways to speed up recovery and keep us happy, healthy, and fit well into our 90s!

Tylor

First up in this series is…NUTRITION (No surprise huh?!)

The food that we eat can either build us up and closer to our goals or they tear us down and slow recovery.

Think of food as our building block for everything physical that we do here and in life.

So what do we do with nutrition to speed up recovery?

Step 1 we have to start getting the right foods on our plate.

Meats-fish, chicken, turkey, beef, etc

Vegetables-broccoli, asparagus, onions, tomatoes, spinach, kale, etc.

Fruits-apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, etc

Healthy Starches-sweet potato, brown rice, potato, roots, carrots, etc

Nuts and Seeds-almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, etc

What these foods do is provide your body with the proper micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that produce enzymes, hormones, and much more for growth and development.

Without these micronutrients our cells and organs cannot operate at their fullest potential. And we need them operating to their fullest because each day our body gives it all it has through our work day, workouts, and time at home.

Greg D.

Step 2 we need to eat the right amount of food for our goals.

This can range greatly depending on what you want or need but here is a good way to look at it.

General Health and Fitness-Eye/Hand Method

Elite Fitness-Zone Diet, and Counting Your Macros comes in.

If you are here for your general fitness (which is 99% of us) then we can use the Eye/Hand Method to get us the right amount of food to fuel us through our day.

Everyone must eat

3 Meals Per Day

1 Palm of Protein

2 Handfuls Vegetables

1 Handful Fruit/Starch

1 Closed Fist Nuts or 1 Thumb Oil

If you are looking to dial it in more and increase recovery because you want to operate at your fullest each day or you want to be an elite athlete, then you are looking more down the road of Zone Diet or Count Your Macros.

Those two options dial everything in down to the exact gram of protein, carbohydrates, and fat that you need to get your body back to where you want it to be so you can bring everything you have to tomorrows workout, board meeting, and spending time with family and friends.

In part 2 we will be covering sleep as the next step to recovery. Sleep is an essential part of your recovery each day and many, many people across America and depriving themselves of this important part of life.

Workout of the Day

3-3-3-3-3

Shoulder Press

Each and every one of us has a reason for why we come to CrossFit Saved each day…

Some its to lose weight, others to see how far you can take your body in performance, and probably most importantly, increase fitness so that we can be happy and healthy into our 90s.

Marie

In our quest to get the results that we want it is easy to find ourselves in a rut.

Here is the reason I think it happens and what you can do about it.

To reach a desired result you have to first have the knowledge of how to achieve that result and set realistic goals on how you are going to achieve it.

If it is too lose 20lbs…what diet am I going to follow? How many days a week am I going to train my body with exercise?

If you don’t have the right knowledge your answers to those questions will not lead you in the direction that you want to go.

So first and foremost having accurate knowledge is needed to get you to build the right action steps to get you your desired result.

Once you have the right information its now time to make a plan on how you are going to execute.

This is where the magic happens. This is where people lose 100lbs. this is where people make it passed the CrossFit Open and get invited to Regionals.

ACTION, EXECUTION, these are what get people what they want.

This is why we set goals. WE SET GOALS SO WE CAN TAKE ACTION!

Morgan

So as we head into the weekend stick to the plan YOU set.

The weekend is one of the toughest times for people when they are trying to achieve weight loss goals and performance goals.

It is too easy on the weekend to let every thing slip….to undue everything we just accomplished Monday through Friday.

If you planned for only one cheat meal during the weekend but have been having 3…ONLY HAVE ONE!

If your weight loss has slowed…TRY HAVING NO CHEAT MEALS THIS WEEKEND!

If you need help setting up a plan…Come talk to us. Its what we love to do. We love helping people become the best versions of themselves.

And a lot of times its just about getting the right knowledge into peoples hands so they can put together an action plan that will give them the results they have always wanted!

Have a great weekend!

Jonathan

Workout of the Day

Partner Workout

5 Rounds Each For Time

20/15 Calorie Bike

15 Russian Kettlebell Swings

30s Hollow Hold

Alternate Rounds