Reclaim Your Body
When you’re in your twenties, your body is capable of sustaining many of the hardships you throw its way. Junk food, lack of sleep, excessive alcohol consumption, insane exercise challenges. In essence, your body follows along with whatever lifestyle you choose and deals with whatever you throw at it. However, as you start to get older, you need to actively think about how you treat yourself and reclaim your body. You need to respect it and listen to it. You might need to adjust to a new way of thinking, and a new way of daily living, so that you feel more in control of where your body is at. So, what are some key ideas to think about here? We list our 3 top tips below for you.
Train with your menstrual cycle
This is a training tip that makes A LOT of sense for women. Nonetheless, it’s not something that has often talked about. You probably already know at which points in your cycle you have the most energy and when you most want to get some extra zzzzzz’s. Listen to this input from your body. In the first half of your cycle, you will probably feel good focusing on strength training with weights and HIIT workouts. In your second half, lower intensity may feel better. Think swimming, power walks, yoga, resistance bands.
This is a very brief overview of training with your menstrual cycle. However, it gives you an idea of what you’re focusing on and when. For further information, Dr Stacy Sims offers fabulous, informative advice.
Lose those bad habits
Those dietary bad habits can creep up on you and are definitely food for thought if you want to reclaim your body.
From your thirties onwards, it really is time to lose the all-nighters. The negative effects of a heavy night of drinking or lack of decent sleep last a lot longer than they once did. As you hit your forties, you’ll probably still be feeling tired on Tuesday if you had a late Saturday night! Key words to keep on repeat in your mind- moderation and rehydration.
You might also find that your body starts to show negative reactions to unhealthy junk food in ways it never has before. You might develop issues that you thought were way behind you, such as acne. Your body can only withstand so much stress before it starts to struggle. We’re not saying never have a takeaway again, but as with your alcohol intake, moderation is vital. Make sure you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need to be thinking about for your age group, on a regular basis. Take supplements if needs be. Don’t ignore the fact that you are getting older, it happens to all of us!
The importance of resting
Listen to your tiredness
As much as we’d all like to be bouncing around full of beans every day, the truth is, we get tired. This might be due to the time of year, the time of the month or your change in hormone levels as you get older. Are you working too hard? Are you going to bed too late? Whatever your reasons for feeling tired, don’t ignore it. Make sure you’re scheduling in rest days from exercise and proper time away from your phone and laptop.
Don’t underestimate the importance of a holiday! It will give your body time to recover and relax, and your mind space from your daily life to feel reinvigorated. If you don’t get off the treadmill once in a while, you may start to feel like you’re struggling to get anywhere.
Written by Becky Barrett.
Becky Barrett is an international talent manager and personal fitness coach with over 15 years’ professional experience and a 1st class Honours degree in Business & Law.
Driven by her unique values of compassion and a holistic approach to talent management, Becky has devised an innovative solution to take on the fitness industry with a brand-new personal fitness concept that aims to inspire and boost ‘new normal’ approaches to exercise routines.
Features include: Health & Wellbeing, Natural Health, Arden University, The Telegraph, BBC, Time & Leisure, Bdaily News, The Stage.