Breath Retention

Posted on July 9, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

One of my favorite things about health and fitness is that it’s so much more than physical. Through resistance training and proper nutrition, you’re able to fine-tune your body how you want physically, but the mental, emotional, and sometimes spiritual areas of your life often get elevated at the same time. You’re physically pushing yourself, which makes you mentally stronger and seek out ways to continue improving in other areas of your life. Understanding that getting better in one area affects many others is a trickle effect that has me obsessed. Obsessed with pushing myself in the gym and out, and it’s what led me to my most recent challenge/obse

ssion – Breath Retention Exercise.

If you follow along, you may have seen me post random screenshots of numbers/bar graphs illustrating random times between 1:35-3:00. These are the durations of each round of breath retention exercise I have been doing. Several people I follow on Twitter had been boasting about the benefits of this practice and enough was finally enough. Entering June, I decided to take on the challenge to perform 5 rounds of breath retention every day and I must say, not only has it been one of the best challenges I’ve taken on, but it has also been one of the toughest to tackle!

Following the practices of the Ice Man – Wim Hof – I decided to challenge my body and my mind to see what all the fuss was about with this whole “breath retention” practice.

For those unfamiliar, Breath Retention is the practice of performing a number of continuous deep breaths in/out without break, with the last exhale leading into a timed session of retention without air in

your body for as long as you can hold. Once you reach your max and must breath again, you stop the timer and take a large inhale and hold for 15 seconds before releasing and beginning the next round again. This continues for however many rounds you want and the initial deep breathing can be anywhere between 5-60 breaths.

I had heard about a few benefits of this practice including:

-Stress relief

-Increased alertness

-Better circulation

-Becoming more relaxed

-etc

So I was excited to see if this really was the bees knees or just another fad in the long list and spoiler, it was great!

In doing a little research, I learned that the best way to approach this was to set time aside preferably in the mornings, on an empty stomach. This allowed the breathing and retention to help wake up your body and vascular system to its fullest potential before being introduced to the energy of the day. On days when I could not get to it in the morning, there was a significant difference in my ability to hold in retention. In the evenings, my mind was quicker to wander; I was less focused on the here and now; and just overall felt less mentally strong in the moment so I tried to stick with mornings as much as possible.

After some trial and error, I found that 25 breaths was the sweet spot for me and led to increased retention each day of practice with some interesting physical side effects.

Most days when I would practice, if I was able to cross the 2-2.5 minute threshold, I began to feel tingling sensations throughout my body and even began to experience what I would call, minor tinnitus (ringing in the ear). I never passed out, but a few small muscle spasms of the diaphragm on longer held rounds were not uncommon as I tried mentally to overpower my physical request to inhale.

Aside from these in-the-moment effects, I must say I was pleasantly surprised that the other benefits of the practice as mentioned before were also experienced.

The practice itself through the three phases (deep breaths, retention, recovery hold) increased the flow of the vascular system and the bodies’ ability to transport oxygen through the body while flushing out toxins that may have been held up in various areas. Most notable effects were mental.

The increased flow of blood and oxygen to the head allowed for mental fogs to clear and help me wake up, feeling more alert. A couple of times I had begun my session with a slight headache and found that by the end, the ache was gone. Not only that, but the retention tested me mentally to truly feel my body. Focus on relaxing new areas of the body that I hadn’t paid much attention to. Focus on controlling my heartbeat and keeping my mind on the present moment rather than flittering around on to other things.

Being candid, the increased blood flow and cleansed vascular system has also seen a rise not only in my physical prowess in the gym but has also helped, in conjunction with heavy weight training, facilitate a higher sex drive and stronger and more frequent erections in the bedroom. Something I can’t imagine anyone would complain about.

The vascular systems health and ability to funnel oxygen and blood around the body where it needs to be under any stressor is a fascinating thing and having only scraped the surface of this training, I must say that I am very happy with the results mentally, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually as I’ve tapped into a part of myself I didn’t give much thought to.

If you’ve ever heard or thought about experimenting or trying this, I would highly recommend and would be happy to answer any questions about it that you might have.

As I mentioned, I believe a lot of the benefits I felt with this breath retention were also in alignment with my weight training program which is focused on building maximum strength. Strength training has it’s own benefits for clearing the mind, making the body better, funneling oxygen and blood through the vascular system, balancing and boosting hormones and in combination with breath retention, is helping me reach a new level internally and externally.

4 Secrets to Fitness Success

Posted on June 14, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

Joining a gym or signing up with a trainer is a great start, but if you really want to take full advantage of your fitness journey, there are a few intangibles you need to address to ensure you’re getting the most out of this journey. Too often I hear stories of people “doing everything I can” to get in shape – regardless of their goal – only to hear one of these topics being left unattended, that I know could be the one thing holding them back from launching into success. It would be great to know that all you had to do was workout a few times a week for 30-60 minutes and reach your full potential, but like any project you’ve done before (school, work, home), you know there are always additional pieces that need to be addressed in order for it all to come together!

Only this time, the project is yourself!

So you’ve got your training program and you’re ready to go or already kicking butt, let’s talk about the 4 secrets to fitness success outside of the gym! I’m talking about Nutrition, Rest/Recovery, Hydration, and Consistency! These 4 pillars of fitness, wellness, and health are the driving factors that power any fitness journey from fat loss to muscle gain; athletic performance to just staying healthy for yourself and your family. Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

Nutrition – You Can’t Outwork a Bad Diet

As much as it pains me to admit, all those cheesy affirmations about “abs are made in the kitchen” and “the best fat loss workout is 3 sets of 10 reps of not eating so much junk.” are true. All the working out in the world is fine, but if you’re not fueling your body with the right things, you’re going to have a hard time reaching your fullest potential. That being said, the aim is NOT perfection. If we aim for perfection and have a minor slip up, chances are that we’ll backslide further down. None of us are perfect as it stands, so to completely change and aim for 100% is just unrealistic. Instead, we need to adapt a “Progress > Perfection” mindset. Taking a minute to look at what you’re eating in a day, a few days, a week can really help open your eyes to the choices you make and better understand not only WHAT you eat, but also WHY you’re eating it. From there, we can start to make better choices. Regardless of your goals, a few rules of thumb include:

-Focusing on lean protein sources; complex carbs; and healthy fats

-Limiting consumption of highly processed foods, sugar, and alcohol

-Increasing the amount of fruits and veggies we take in

-Remembering that a bad meal isn’t the end of the world, but don’t miss more than 2.

Taking time to address your nutrition and make grocery lists that focus on options even slightly healthier than they currently are can be a major step in the right direction. Clean up your nutrition and not only should you see the changes, but you’ll feel them as well!

Rest/Recovery – “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Though that’s true, it will be the “long sleep”, but that’s a horrible position to take in regards to your health. Everyone is different and functions on different levels of sleep, but the generally agreed level of sleep is 7-9 hours every night. If you’re a person who regularly gets the same amount of sleep each night, you can tell a major difference on the days when you get more or less than that median and it’s not typically for the better. Not only will less sleep make you feel prolongingly tired, but the additional time that you are awake and sleep deprived, the higher your chances of faulting on your nutrition, not having energy for your training sessions, and overall just not being your best self. Finding a good sleep routine including turning off electronics; lowering the room temperature; blocking out all light; etc. can help better your sleep behavior and increase your recovery time.

Beyond sleep, rest days from training are crucial for your body to be its best. If you’re training your body every day, you’re not giving yourself adequate time to repair and build into a stronger, healthier version. When we workout – in any capacity – you are creating tiny tears in the micro fibers of your muscle tissue (not a bad thing), but if you’re not allowing the body enough time to fully recover those tears and continually pushing yourself, not only could you be more susceptible to injury, but using fatigued muscles won’t provide for best efforts in the gym. Take your rest/recovery days seriously and you’ll see exponential leaps in your gym performance.

Taking it a step further, todays world is rife with stress. When our stress levels are up, we are in a heightened state mentally and physically. This can wreak havoc on our bodies in a variety of ways, but if we’re able to find outlets or work on how we handle stress to lessen the effect it has on us, the quicker our body can recover – from physical and mental stress.

Moral of this story – rest, recover, de-stress and see how much further you go after slowing yourself down.

Hydration – Now that’s some high quality H2O.

It can’t be stressed enough how important water is to your overall health. If our bodies are made mostly of water, what makes you think that you should cut back on how much you take in? The average person drastically undercuts themselves on how much water they drink daily. And contrary to belief, you don’t need to slug a gallon per day. Even hitting 100oz of water each day can drastically change your body physically and mentally.

Water keeps your muscles hydrated and healthy.

Water keeps your circulatory system clear and healthy.

Water keeps your waste system flowing and healthy.

Water keeps your skin clear and hair strong and healthy.

Water keeps you mentally fresh and healthy.

Water keeps your appetite at bay and healthy.

Water is the best.

It cools you down; it keeps food cravings away; it’s wonderful.

Drink more of it!

This does not include sodas, juices, energy drinks, alcohol, etc. just because “it has water in it!” The amount of every other bit of crap in all of those completely destroys any possible health aspect that water tries to help. Limit or eliminate those from your routine and focus on water (or sparkling water) and you’ll feel healthier in so many different ways. It’s the best supplement that everyone overlooks, don’t be one of that crowd.

Consistency – Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally…

It comes from what you do consistently. It doesn’t matter what your fitness goal is, if you can’t make it a priority to consistently work on it or show up every day, then you’re leaving a LOT of success on the table. Overnight successes or quick turn around stories often lead to rebounding back to the origin or worse because once the goal is reached, the habit disappears. If you want to reach your fitness or health goals, you have to be willing to do the work. You didn’t get to where you are right now – wherever that may be – overnight. It took weeks/months/years of consistent habits and behaviors (whether positive or negative behaviors) to lead to where you are. If you’re trying to lose 30 lbs, but you’re 50 years old; haven’t lifted a weight or eaten a healthy meal in 25+ years, you have to understand that it will take longer than 15 days to reach that goal. That is years of habits and behaviors that need to be unlearned or re-focused toward the new goal you’re working toward. You have to show up consistently and put in work on yourself every day in some capacity. This doesn’t mean working out every day – as noted earlier, rest is an incredibly important aspect to any fitness journey – but you can focus on mindset goals, habit changes, those pesky stress inducing problems, etc. Our health journey is more than physical and by consistently working on a little something every day, it may take months, years, decades even to reach where you want to go, but if you show up every damn day, I guarantee you’ll get there faster than if you yo-yo back and forth between bouts of crazy high and low activity. “The journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step”. Take that step, then another, and another, and when you don’t feel like stepping, take another!

There is no end all; be all plan that will get you to your goals instantly – if there was, you’d bet your ass I would have tried it. But know that when you start your journey and you address more than just your workout routine – dialing in your nutrition; planning rest days and recovery protocols; keeping hydrated; and creating habits that consistently get you showing up every day – you’ll be on the right path to success on your fitness journey, no matter the goal.

Now stop reading and go kick some ass!

Best Self

Posted on April 12, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

Do you have what it takes to create your best self?

I mean REALLY light the fire to become your best self?

Whenever someone asks me what I do (professionally) and I tell them I’m a personal trainer, they immediately go into a spiel about how they have a gym membership and don’t go; or used to go and need to get back into it; or started but then life got in the way; etc. My first reaction (after, “what did I ask?”) is internally thinking that it’s not that these things got in the way or stopped them from keeping up. My first thoughts are that they didn’t approach the situation as well as they should have.

If you want the results, you can’t just say you’re going to do it and never do it. We’ve talked before about scheduling your workouts; prepping your meals; setting goals; etc. but too often this goes without action.

I know you’re as tired as I am of making excuses or continuing the same path you’re on now and want to make a change, but you can’t just want to make it – you have to take action.

Set Your Target – whether it be a number on the scale; a level of strength; a new dress size; etc. you must set your target. A specific end goal that you want to work toward with a realistic time frame of both starting and stopping is the best framework to helping you succeed. It gives you a concrete idea of what you’re working toward and the timeframe in which you’re working to reach it.

Create Your Plan – Including workouts, nutrition, recovery, schedule, etc. This may be the most detailed aspect of the journey, but if you keep it simple and consistent with progressive and challenging phases to reach the goal, you should be on your way to reaching every milestone!

Find the Drive – We have the drive within us, but you must light the fire to become your best self. Watch it rage and build and burn through this challenge. You must build the mindset that during this time, nothing else matters but creating your best self. Everyone will try to derail you, but if you REALLY want or heck NEED it, then they can wait. Happy hours are fun, but so are happy years on your life. Cut out the distractions and keep your mindset here and on your target. Envisioning each workout; meal; the end result; the person you become at the end of this journey; can all help you stay on track and maintain the flame that burns within you.

Though the steps are easy, the work is hard. But everyone is strong enough to take on their mountain if they want to. Set your target; create your plan; light your fire and get to work building your best self!

Need help to light the fire to become your best self!? Comment below on what your goal is and let’s connect to create that roadmap to the top!

Daily Habits

Posted on April 7, 2021April 8, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

Reaching our goals is a product of showing up every day. What we get in life is a direct result of our daily habits One of the hang ups is that our days are filled to the brim with chaos and chores that pull us from what we truly value and want to focus on for our own health and wellbeing.

If you’re tired of running around like a chicken with their heads cut off every day and regularly thinking about how you’ll fit exercise or meal prep into your busy schedule – which creeps into your bedtime routine regularly causing you more exhaustion and frustration, then maybe it’s time to start finding a way to track your day.

Whether it’s daily post-it notes; scheduling tasks on your phone calendar; an actual planner; or some other method of the thousands available in your smart phone store – creating a way to track your daily habits not only alleviates stress, but can help take off the weight of remembering what you need to do for you.

I personally favor the “Power List” and Calendar time-blocking methods and since applying them over the last 2 years, I have seen productivity skyrocket while stresses drop.

Taking 5 minutes either at the end of the day before or first thing in the morning day of, to write out or list the top more important tasks of the day is one of the best ways to set yourself up for success. With my Power List, I write down the top 6-10 things I NEED to get done that day focused most on work with a few personal tasks sprinkled in. In completing each task, I physically cross them out and give myself a “W” or an “L” for the day depending on if I’m able to complete at least 75% of the tasks of the day.

The time-blocking it helps me map out when I will use my day to complete those tasks and allows me to better streamline getting things done – which also allows me to address spontaneous events that arise and decide if I can actually do it; may need to wait until later to partake; or need to say “no” because something else more important is already planned.

There is always flexibility because life is fluid and not black and white, but having some sort of daily task list or schedule is one of the best ways to alleviate stress; keep your mind on what’s important to you; and helps accomplish goals we set out for ourselves.

In addition, with the craziness of life, feel free to split your list into personal and professional tasks. I started doing my daily habits while working an office job and had separate notebooks – one on my desk at work; and one in my backpack – where I would power list my professional projects and tasks that required my immediate attention and only looked at that notebook; and then my personal tasks that helped me work on myself outside of the office. It was a lot to keep track of, but kept me from overstretching in the office with projects outside of what NEEDED my attention; and also allowed me to focus on what was important to me outside of the office and avoid procrastination and laziness.

Daily habit trackers can be as large or small scale as you want – it can be for your profession; it can be directly for your health/fitness goals; it can be for daily errands – there’s no limit. But keep in mind, the more you list, the more you have to do. Keep your lists to under 10-12 items per day to avoid continuing to be overwhelmed. The best part about this practice is that it should help you identify what things are REALLY important to you, and what things you can do without or be comfortable saying “no” to because they don’t align with who you are or working to be.

Feel free to save the image of this tracker for your own planning or copy the layout in your own way to help get you going in the right direction.

Remember, What we get in life is a direct result of our daily habits. What habits will fill fill up your daily tracker?

Action > Motivation

Posted on March 26, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

Too often we put off starting something new [diet, exercise, hobby, etc] because we feel like we need the motivation to do it. What we don’t realize is that often TAKING ACTION will lead to motivation.

Think about a time when you started a project with intent to only do about 5-10min worth of work, only to look up and see an hour has flown by!

You took action and that action led to more and more and pretty soon you end up 10 steps ahead of where you thought you would.

Here are the 2 best ways to make taking action effortless!

1. 5 Minute Timer — Turning your phone to DND or Airplane mode, set a timer for as little as 5 minutes. As soon as you hit “start” put the phone down and begin working on your task. In this instance – working out. Whether it be 5 minutes of 1 exercise; a mini-circuit of 2-3 exercises or whatever you want – just focus on 5 minutes of exercise. When the timer goes off, take stock of how you feel. Want to do another 5 or even 10 – do it! If you get through the 5 minutes and still feel “meh” about it… that’s fine too. You’re still 5 minutes ahead of where you were when you hit start.

2. Schedule on Your Calendar — There’s a saying that you won’t miss appointments with your boss, so why would you miss appointments with yourself. Every smart phone has a calendar app that you can set appointments on that send reminders to you prior to the event. Take a look at your day or week and put your workouts on your schedule ahead of time and know that you won’t miss that time. You’re a damn boss, so don’t miss an appt with yourself. Plus this is a great way to manage your time and help you say “no” to things and people that don’t align with your goals and help avoid distractions that knock you off track.

It won’t be easy, but even on the hardest day – when everything seems to be going against you, it’s doubly important. Don’t fret about intensity, just make moves; even the smallest.

Take action when motivation is fleeting. Always.

What’s something you’ve been putting off for “the right time” that you’re going to start doing today?

Build Your Ideal Body

Posted on March 24, 2021 by alwayshungrypt

Building the body of your dreams is not rocket science, but there are no true short cuts to the top. It takes hard work and discipline to reach your goals, but everyone is equipped with the ability to do it if they choose. The nice thing is that it all boils down to 3 main things: Training, Nutrition, and (probably most important) Mindset. Let’s take a look at the elements that you should focus on in order to reach the body of your dreams!

TRAINING

Sure, you can simply walk into a gym or buy a couple pieces of equipment and swing them around and if you’ve not done that before, you’ll see some sort of result for a bit. But they won’t be toward anything and it doesn’t make sense and you’ll lose interest and stop pretty quickly. Set yourself up for success by

first and foremost developing a specific plan. Within that plan, you should jot down your targeted goal that you’re working toward. Having a plan and goal in sight will help keep you moving forward, taking away the guesswork of “what am I gonna do today?” The plan doesn’t need to be too crazy, but having a specific start and end date will help keep you on track and keep some sanity knowing there is a scheduled time frame to focus on. Though everyone’s goals are different and yours will change along your journey, the best programs and plans tend to follow an ideology of exercising at least 3-4 times per week and is centered around weight/resistance training. Regardless of toning up, building muscle, losing weight, training for competition, or just looking to prolong your health and activity levels, those 2 staples should be involved in all of your training programs for optimal results. Once you’ve come up with the plan, it’s easy to find the dedication to show up. Taking out the guesswork of what you’re going to do is a huge hack to solving the issue of being dedicated. When you know what you’re going to do, the time frame you’re going to work toward your goal, and the structure is in your hand, all you have to do now is show up and get it done. The final thing to remember – and to me, probably the most important aspect to your training – is to make it fun! Training is difficult and makes you tired, but it also boosts your energy, makes you stronger, healthier, better, more confident, etc. and there are so many different ways to work out, try a few and find what works for you. Lifting heavy things and putting them down is fun to me; for you it might be a boot camp class. Making it fun is going to make it 10x easier to show up than if you go in every day with a negative attitude.

NUTRITION

This is probably the hardest aspect of working toward your ideal body but following these guides can make it a lot easier and more manageable. It doesn’t matter what your goals here either, these elements will help you reach whatever goal you’re aiming for. Regarding nutrition in accordance with training, there’s no debate that protein centric nutrition is key. High quality protein helps fuel the body and the muscles to keep working and re-build after a workout session. They also help mitigate holding onto fat cells which throw off our goals. Beyond protein, nutrition should be focused on whole food sources – not just labelled organic, but whole/organic sources as much as possible. There’s an unwritten rule that if you want to be healthy, only shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where all the fresh produce, meat, and other foods can be found. The middle aisles are all the processed foods full of added sugars, fats, and garbage you don’t need. To that, avoiding added sugars and alcohol can help catapult you toward your goals in whatever direction it may be. Sugar causes inflammation and affects your immune system and hormone responses throwing off your hunger and ability to heal/grow. Plus, booze is basically poison with no benefit whatsoever except adding extra calories. If you have difficulty feeling full, try increasing your vegetable intake as they’re nutrient dense, take up more space, and can help you feel fuller for longer periods of time than sugary snacks and carbs.

It can be hard to keep all of this in mind, so the easier the food is to prep and manage, the easier it will be to adhere to. Like your training, keeping a simple plan can help you stay focused on your goals and make a typically difficult aspect of our health much more manageable. And if you fall off the wagon, remember that without its driver, it’s going to stop right next to you. Forgive yourself for indulging a sweet tooth or craving and make sure to hop back on at the next meal instead of throwing in the towel. One setback won’t end all your progress until that one becomes more. And if you’re worried that you’re not actually hungry, remember that staying hydrated with roughly 100oz of water a day can help stave off cravings and make you feel full longer. Plus, with a body made mostly of water, staying hydrated has a TON of other benefits.

MINDSET

Yes, having a training plan and approach to nutrition are incredibly important and going to be the building blocks of your journey to the top of the mountain, but the things you do to keep your mind on task are probably the most important aspects of this climb. Having climbed my own mountain, these things have helped me more than having a plan or easy to prep meals ever could and they should not be taken lightly! As I mentioned earlier, if you’re going to stick to a plan, one of the best things to do is to make it fun. You must remind yourself that exercise and nutrition are different than what you’re used to, and it is hard, but you’re rewarding your body for being so magical, not punishing it. The time before this journey was the punishment – now we’re nurturing and rewarding. Things that can help you feel rewarded are to keep a daily journal of the tasks you have set ahead of you. I like to list the top 6-10 items for the day that will move me forward including blocking time for my workouts or stretching. Journaling can help you let off steam as much as keep your eye on the prize of what you’re working toward. On top of that, it can help with envisioning the success you’re working toward. Seeing yourself in that future state can help keep focus and dedication going when the motivation is fleeting. Beyond those longer term plans, don’t ever forget to appreciate the small victories. Setting aside time every day or every week to look back and appreciate the small victories and steps forward remind us of how far we’ve come and help us avoid the pit of thinking we have so much further to keep going. Not only will these things help keep you focused and dedicated to your training and nutritio

n, but they are really beneficial ways to help mitigate stresses in life that try to pop up and derail you from your goals. Having a routine; keeping your eye on the prize; focusing on small victories and prioritizing your schedule can help keep stresses at bay or allow you identify if it’s a real stress or just an inconvenience that can be dealt with later. The final piece of the mindset puzzle is to make sure you prioritize sleep. We think we function well on 6hrs or less, but study after study proves otherwise. Do what you can to get 7-9 hours regularly per night to optimize your mental health that will set you up for great physical health. The body needs rest to recover and calm down from life. This is the time when your body repairs itself and when you cut down on the amount of rest, we tend to also let other habits slide that can throw us off from our fitness and nutrition goals we’ve been working toward.

Like I said, it’s not easy to work toward your best self, but making a plan, making it easy, and keeping a positive mindset and focus on your goals can help set you up to succeed better than you ever could have imagined.

What area do you feel like you would like to focus on and what’s one thing you could do RIGHT NOW to work on it? Drop a comment below and let’s start working toward our best dang selves!