“Hey EarthFITters, this is Coach Sam here today I have my special co-coach with me, a little baby Henley. She’s my wonderful little daughter. Today we’re going to go over an exercise routine you could do with your little one at home. I don’t have much time before she probably gets a little rambunctious, so we’re going to get right into it. Let’s exercise routine we’re going to do five exercises. You’ll do five sets of those as precise as back to back to back, just like in a circuit fashion. So we’re going to start by doing baby squats to chest press or squatting down and we’re pressing out and seeing those big smiles there each time and then standing up. So two presses, one, two and then back up. We’re going to do five to 10 repetitions whatever your child will allow you to do on those.
Then we’re going to do squat to shoulder press. Same thing, squatting down and up one, two… And then back down and one, two. Again, you’re going to continue for about five repetitions there. Then we’re going to get down to the floor. We’re going to do pushups and Henley really likes this one. We’re going to do a push up down to the belly and then back up again, you want to get about 10 reps in there and then the second to the last exercise will be over here on the couch. We’re going to do some squats. We’re going to do pulsing squats though here. So down and up going halfway; they really like this one as well. Again, you want to get 10 to 20 reps on that one and we’re going to finish up some more legs. We’re going to do a walking lunge.
I’ll flip Henley over. So yeah, watching you can see her stepping out for forward lunge switching leg each and every time you want to get about 10 each leg. If you’re more advanced and you have a couch, you could do a split squat with your rear foot elevated there, getting a nice, good leg workout. And again, you’re going to do five exercises, about five to 10 reps on each of those, on pulsing squats your going to want to do 10 to 20 reps. You can get a pretty good workout in with the little one. I enjoy doing this. I think it’s a good bonding experience for me and my daughter. That’s all for today. “Henley, can you say bye?” Thank you for tuning in.”
“Hey EarthFIT fam, this is Coach Sam. Today I’m going to discuss what to do if you’re experiencing some popping or cracking in your knees while performing squats. Before I get into the routine I’m going to show you, it’s important to know that if you are experiencing some popping and cracking in your knees without any swelling or pain, it is perfectly normal. That is a result of those muscles being inactive the majority of the day. So they’ll stiffen up and then when you squat and go to use them, they’re tights when they slide the muscle tissue slide over one another, they’re sticky which results in popping and cracking. So I’m going to go over routine today to show you how to loosen those muscles up before you squat or workout which will alleviate that popping and cracking. As always, before you begin this routine, I’m going to show you it’s important to get a proper warm up, so proper warm up would consists of 5 to 10 minutes of jogging or running outside. Or you could use a piece of cardio equipment for 5 to 10 minutes in here. We have the bike, the elliptical and rower. After you do that, you can get into this routine that I’m going to show you.
So the first thing that you would do in this routine is grab a foam roller and you’re going to roll on the lateral part of the quadricep and the front part of the quadricep here to alleviate some of that tension that you may be experiencing. So just put the foam roller on the floor here. You can get down and it’s important while you’re doing this not to foam roll directly on the knee, you wanna foam roll the quadricep area around the knee, about an inch or two above the knees… So then you get down, you’re resting your elbow, there’s working that quadricep muscle nicely controlled. You’re only moving them on an inch or two at a time. You can go forward or backward. And then you want to do this for about one to two minutes on each leg to work out those stiff spots.
Next thing you’re going to do is stretch out the muscle. If you’re new to stretching, new to exercising, I’d recommend you performing standing quadricep stretch, grab a rack or wall for balance. You’re just gonna lean forward slightly feeling a nice deep stretch from that quadriceps area. If you’re more advanced and haven’t stretching, I would recommend doing the couch stretch. So you’re going to just put your back foot up on the bench drop down. You can also put it up on the bench from when you’re on the ground.
You can also use any wall and proper foot up on there if you don’t have a bench or if you’re at home, you can use a couch and just lean in the couch stretch. So you’re gonna push your hips forward, lean back slightly, and you feel a nice deep stretch in front… Front part of the quadricep there. If you’re not feeling when you lean back, really push those hips forward. You can lean forward slightly and you may feel up there. So pick one, one of those stretches. Do that three times on each leg for about 30 seconds. No more than 30 seconds each leg.
Next thing I have you do is get in against the wall for a wall sit, you want to get your top of your thighs close to parallel to the floor, maybe a little difficult, especially at first, but you need a parallel. I’m going to sit there for about 40 seconds. This is going to really warm up to a quadriceps area to get some blood flowing in there.
And the last thing I’ll have you do is mobilization exercise. So grabbing a weight so you can get a nice deep range of motion or you can grab a plate or a kettlebell and then you’d squat down with it and you’re just going to feel that new deeper range of motion. The weight is going to allow you to go a little deeper than you typically would… hang out here you can go side to side kind of feeling any tight areas. Do that for about 30 seconds and then take your deep rest and you do that about three times. So combining those four exercises and stretches, should alleviate any knee popping or cracking you may be experiencing, especially while squatting. It’s important to know if you are experiencing knee pain and or knee cracking or popping and it’s accompanied with pain or a lot of swelling, your knee gets really swollen, that can be a sign of something more serious, such as a tear. So if this is happening frequently, I would suggest you seek medical consult on that. That’s all for today. This is Coach Sam. Again we went over what to do if you’re experiencing popping or cracking.”
Has the scale suddenly stopped moving downward despite your best efforts towards your weight loss goal? Seeing the same number on the scale week after week is frustrating and disheartening, but also fairly common. In today’s blog I will cover five things to consider if you have plateaued in your weight loss journey.
First things first, it is important to remember weight loss is a journey with ups and downs. Losing weight is not always going to follow a downward linear progression. There will be days your weight goes up and days it goes down, as long as the long term trajectory is on the correct path, success can be obtained. With that being said, here are five things to consider if your journey has hit a roadblock.
Review your goals and where you currently are.
Your short term goal may need to be adjusted for the betterment of your long term weight-loss goal. If you have recently dropped some pounds and are now stuck, it may be time to focus on something else in the short term. Focusing on things like strength and muscle gain may be just what you need. Building strength and muscle boosts your metabolic rate. Countless scientific studies have shown muscle gain is an effective fat burner.
The scale not moving may also be a sign that you have been packing on muscle. Not only is muscle an effective fat burner, it is also more dense than fat, which will in turn make you look smaller and tighter. Checking your body fat and skeletal muscle percentage on an In Body machine will give you a more complete picture of your fitness.
Check your stress.
Stress is a common cause of overeating, but stress itself can also make you gain weight. Cortisol is a stress hormone released by your adrenal glands in stressful situations. Cortisol suppresses bodily functions such as your digestive system and muscle growth processes. A scientific study conducted by Stanford Medicine in 2018 shows a link between chronic stress and increased number of fat cells/weight gain. It may be time to take time to work on balancing yourself out and distress rather than pushing harder or creating more stress by worrying about the scale.
Track all the calories you consume
Tracking everything you consume may surprise you. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed people underestimate the amount of calories they are consuming by an average of about 47 percent. Do not forgot to calculate snacks and beverages in. Fitness apps such as My Fitness Pal and MyPlate make tracking fairly easy. If your weight loss is stalled and you are consuming well over 1200 calories a day try cutting down 300-500 calories a day for a week or two then recheck your weight. It is important not to cut your calories to extreme lows when trying to lose weight as this can damage your metabolism. If you are already under 1200 do not cut any more out.
Avoid alcohol
If you have looked into nutrition at all I am sure you have read or been told that alcohol contains many calories that provide no nutritional value and alcohol consumption lowers inhibition which tends to lead to poor nutritional choices. Those points are true and should be taken into account. However, let’s say you track your calories and left room for a few drinks and promise yourself you won’t eat anything with it. Then that is okay right?
No. Here’s why:
Alcohol turns off your body’s fat burning process. There have been multiple scientific studies showing that alcohol directly prevents muscle gains, fat loss, and muscle recovery due to it inhibiting muscle protein synthesis. A study conducted in 2014 by an Australian Exercise and Nutrition Group states “We conclude that alcohol ingestion suppresses the anabolic response”. If you are at a weight loss plateau and have been drinking, put down the hooch for a few weeks and watch the scale drop.
Increase your Non-Exercise Thermogenesis (NEAT)
NEAT is all the calories your body burns from movements you do without the intent of exercising. Moving like a snail outside the gym may be stalling your weight loss. Putting an emphasis on more frequent basic movement outside the gym such as walking or household chores can burn hundreds of extra calories a day.I previously wrote a blog on strategies to increase your Non-Exercise Thermogenesis which can be found here. http://beaufortpersonaltraining.com/non-exercise-activity-thermogenesis
Remember, weight loss plateaus are very common and plague even the most seasoned fitness enthusiasts. If the scale won’t budge don’t beat yourself up, go through this list, try implementing one change at a time, give it 3-4 weeks, and see how it works.
Try the “G-Breath” which can help put you in a brainwave frequency of gamma which is roughly 40hz-70hz. It is associated with processing visual, auditory and touch stimuli. For the people who practice Wim Hof Breathing, try a round breathing just like I show in the video for a different kind of feeling and effect.
Try the “G-Breath” which can help put you in a brainwave frequency of gamma which is roughly 40hz-70hz. It is associated with processing visual, auditory and touch stimuli. For the people who practice Wim Hof Breathing, try a round breathing just like I show in the video for a different kind of feeling and effect.
“Hey, what’s up? So I wanted to show you a quick way that you can tap into what is called the G-Breath or the frequency of gamma, which is about 40 to 70 Hertz. Um, when I speak about this, not many people hear about it, but this is associated with processing very various stimuli, visual, auditorial and touch and the grouping of various features of a given stimulus, particularly visual into a coherent whole. And that’s what this says in psychology and neuroscience on this website that I’m reading. Psychology.stackexchange.com. And so there is no such thing as the gamma state of mind. Gamma’s gamma waves largely play a supporting role in the brain, right? So if we’re talking about the EEG point of view, where there, you know, testing your brain waves. So, but anyways, so you can tap into this brain wave through certain breaths.
And so here’s a quick way to do it and I want you to test it out and tell me what you think. So you start off with two breaths in the mouth. All right, so I’ll give you how you do it. Two breaths in the mouth, so in through the mouth, out through the mouth. Then you go in through the nose, out through the nose, then in through the nose, out through the nose, then in through the nose, out through the mouth, and you cycle that, right? So it’s going to look like this.
[Breathing demonstration – please, see video] repeat.
All right, so that was two rounds. If you continue to do that consecutively, like right now, I start to feel this sensation in my brain, which I want you to try and feel. Um, if you do that, now there’s people who are Wim Hof practitioners out there. Now I’ve done that sequence repetitively over and over again to get to a point where I feel super oxygenated and then I do the Wim Hof retention hold and it has a totally different sensation. So your breath, this just goes to show. And part of the reason why I’m doing this video is just goes to show how powerful your breath can be. Just breathing through different parts. It activates different parts of your brain. It stimulates different brain centers and can put you in a different frequency of brain. So there you go. There you go with the G-breath. I hope you found this powerful. Test it out. I think you’ll like it.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
“Hey, what’s going on? So now we’re going to determine or do a self-diagnosis. Now, I always want to put the caveat there that if you’re dealing with severe back pain or issues, you always want to consult a medical professional. But for the most part, if you just listened to what I’m about to say, you can kind of determine what the issues are with yourself, right? And then it’s up to you how you want to address it. But the process is always to take the most conservative approaches first, right? And so since pretty much everything we’re dealing with in the body is a movement issue, then doing these movements should get you on the right track. So do you have Sciatica or Piriformis Syndrome. This is what we need to determine.
Well, let’s go through Sciatica first, all right? So sciatica is going to be an impingement or a pinch on one of these nerve roots that lead down into the sciatic nerve, right? So the, there’s four or five areas where the nerve roots come out that could lead to the sciatic nerve all the way down the leg. And if there is an impingement, whether it’s by a herniated disc or maybe some fluid is coming and leaked out onto the nerve, right? So there’s a few things that can happen, but either way it’s an impingement on the nerve. And so you’re gonna feel it from the back down the leg from the lower spine down the leg. It’s usually self diagnosable, right? And again, the pain originates in the spine and then goes down the back of the leg. It typically will affect just one side and you’ll feel pain in the back, the butt, the hips and the lower extremities all the way down sometimes into your calf and your foot, right? So you might have a burning numbness limp or you might get numbness down into your foot… So part of what we’re doing through the program is to break free of that nerve impingement. And we do some of the flossing that helps to break free. The Back Pain Relief4Life program does some of that as well. And it also activates muscles and the body tendons so that you get more nutrients and blood flow to the area and it will decompress that area that is causing the impingement.
Now, Piriformis Syndrome is the piriformis muscle, which this doesn’t show the muscles, but let’s say you have the large gluteal muscles around here underneath that is a piriformis muscle and the nerve roots come down and go either through the Piriformis muscle in a small percentage of the population or they go around it. So when that piriformis muscle impinges on that nerve, the sciatic nerve, that’s called Piriformis Syndrome, so a tight piriformis muscle or an inflamed piriformis muscle, again, usually from not moving correctly or lack of movement can put pressure on the nerve and cause similar symptoms to what we’re seeing in sciatica, but typically you’ll get a pain in the butt and then down the leg. And this is a large, in a large population of 41 to 60 year olds and 60 plus right below that. We don’t see it as often, but it can happen. So determining where does your pain originate? Does it originate in the back or does it originate in the butt? And that would help you determine what you’re dealing with. So Piriformis Syndrome or Sciatica, and then you can determine what programs based off of that would be best for you.
So we have the Piriformis Syndrome program or the Sciatica program in combination with the Back Pain Relief4Life program. So there you have it just based on this information alone, you should pretty much be able to understand where the root cause of your problem is. And if you have Sciatica or Piriformis Syndrome, and this doesn’t mean that if you just do the sciatica program that you won’t help your piriformis muscle and vice versa. Piriformis program is actually beneficial for pretty much the whole population. A lot of times the muscles that can get very tight, it’s an external rotator of your hip. It’s a movement that we’re not often doing. So when we relax it and release it, it helps take strain off the lower back and the hips. All right. I hope this helps you to diagnose on your own what the issues are. We’ll see on the other side.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
“Hey, many people have heard of the Mediterranean diet and how it’s extremely good for the body, for longevity of life and one of the main things that they’re getting a ton of is Omega 3 fatty acids and Omega 3 fatty acids have numerous health properties. I’m just gonna run through the list here. And I don’t have it off the top of my head, but it helps with cardiovascular health by lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, plaque build up in the arteries and the chance of having a heart attack or stroke. That one is pretty big, right? So a lot of people aren’t getting the Omega 3s they need. It stabilizes blood sugar levels, preventing diabetes, reducing muscle bone and joint pain by lowering inflammation. That’s why we give this to a lot of people who have joint issues or feeling joint inflammation, helps balance cholesterol levels, improves mood and depression prevention, sharpening of the mind, it help you concentrate. Remember your brain is almost all fat, right? And this is the fat that it runs on and it boosts immunity. It helps your digestive system. It treats things like ulcerative colitis, reduces risk for cancer and preventing cancer reoccurance, improving appearance in your skin health.
So Omega 3 fatty acids are extremely important. There was a couple of things down here that I also wanted to go over. So one of the things that Doctor Axe recommends and most doctors recommend, this is something that we always recommend is that somebody you should be, or it’s suggested that taking a good Omega 3 fatty acid supplement is necessary if you’re not getting it from the food regularly. Because if you’re not getting a high dose of this, then your health will suffer, right? And especially brain health, if people are using their brain daily and they want it to function better, this is good. And then also the same with exercise. So these are good fats that will help you actually burn more fat. So Omega 3 fatty acids, very good. This one is a high quality. It’s about a thousand IUs of vitamin D3 on top of it because remember those are synergistic. And so a fish oil and D3.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
“Welcome right now I’m going to take you through a series of movements and exercises that will help provide fast relief for any sciatica issues. Okay. We’re going to start off with a couple exercises that are going to be to warm up, getting blood flow, nutrients and oxygen to the area and then move on to some specific exercises that will help the nerve break free of any scar tissue or anything that’s impinging on your sciatica nerve. Okay, so what we’re gonna do now is what’s called the Cat-Camel. And we’re going to start with just by moving the lower back, right? And this is called pelvic tilting. So we’re going from anterior pelvic tilt to posterior pelvic tilt. And this is just allowing us to move the joints, the vertebrae, and just get blood flow and oxygen and just doing the moving actually helps with getting nutrients to that area. All right, so now after we’ve done a few of those, we’re gonna start to move to the mid back and you start to see the mid back push up a little bit more. And this is actually a beautiful stretch for the whole spine. And you’ll see once we start to get to the end of this and remember consistent breathing is very important. You get more oxygen in. So now we’re going to move up a little bit further up the spine.
We’re going to start the whole bit at the top and then you tuck the chin. You’re going to start to see my whole spine getting a good stretch here. Exhale at the top, a little push down with your arms. So reach up. Think about your mid back and spine trying to reach the ceiling. You’re going to hold it here. Okay now we’re going down and deep and all the way up extended, and we’re going to do one more rep. So back down last one, all right. So that movement would have gotten your whole spine and now we’re going to get to another important aspect for mobility. We just mobilize the spine. Now we want to mobilize the hips. So if you’ve done the back program before, Back Pain Relief4Life, you’ve probably done a Single Frog Leg. So make sure you’re using your elbows to take stress off the lower back. And the single frog leg is going to be pulling the knee into the chest, circling out to the side and then moving forward. Very slight easy movements cause we’re not fully warmed up now, so we’re just going to ease into it. As we begin to feel the hip mobilize, we’re going to go a little bit bigger circles and we’re going to pull the knee back just a little bit further and again, focus on your breathing. Notice how I’m keeping my foot close to the inner thigh and not kicking out. So I’m keeping it close to the inner thigh, and pushing out a little bit further each time you might feel stretching on the inner thigh. Feel your glute activating and keep your abs nice and tight. All right, let’s do a couple more.
Good and switch. If you hear some cracking and popping that’s okay. It’s more scar tissue and the joints are just finding some more room and we’re going to lubricating the hips. And remember the hips are directly connected with lower back pain. What happens is the hips become stable when they’re supposed to be mobile and the lower back becomes mobile when it’s supposed to be stable. So we’re mobilizing the hips and then keeping the abs tight and stabilizing the spine. So let’s do a couple more, and this is just creating more mobility and stability so that we can get better results for the next two exercises. All right, so we’re going to roll onto the elbow, making sure we get up properly. We keep our back straight. You should feel loosened up in the hips and the spine just from those two exercises, you should start to feel great. Now we’re gonna move on to a specific exercise. All you need is a chair for this one, and this is called Flossing your nerve. If you have specifically sciatica is impinged and so we want the nerve to break free from that impingement and so the nerve can slide up and down and if we do it enough times in the proper way, it’ll break free of any scar tissue and or any impingement.
The key to this or the caveat to that is while you’re doing it, you might feel more pain, but you should feel relief afterwards. So we’re going to do five reps on the affected side. So let’s say if it was on your left leg, we’re going to sit up posture nice and straight. You’re going to extend your left leg out, and then you’re going to look up and then you’re going to repeat stepping the left leg out. Make sure the toe is pointing at the ceiling. You should start to feel this. Tilt the head back. We’re going to get three more reps. Okay, continue to breathe. Last one.
Okay, Now we’re gonna do the same thing, but tilting the head down. So the opposite side, we’re going to floss. So up, repeat, foot up… Three more, tuck the chin all the way down. Two more.
And the last one, still keeping the posture good. Tuck your chin all the way down and relax. While you did that, if you have sciatica, you might’ve felt more pain. Keep in mind we’re breaking free from that scar tissue so that you’re going to feel better later on. The next thing we’re going to do, the final activity or movement, you’re going to put your feet against the wall. I’m going to use this as a demo. All right, so feet flat against the wall. If you can’t even sit in this position, you’re going to keep your hands behind you and gently walk forward. So this is option one. Option one is here, and then tuck your chin and try to crawl a little bit more forward each time. And now push your forehead down and hold it there for about 10-15 seconds and relax. And now we’re going to do option two. Option two is hands behind the head, tucking the chin and moving from your lower back forward. Take deep breaths in and keep in mind you’re keeping your hands behind your head, pulling your chin down and breathe and hold that for about 10 to 15 seconds. You might feel that all the way down your leg. I don’t have sciatica right now, but I still feel a deep stretch and I can actually feel the sciatic nerve engaged in that process. So if you have an impingement, again, you might feel pain, but we’re looking for relief later on. Remember, if this was your nerve and you had impingement while we do this, it’s going to be moving on the thing that’s impinge so it can cause a little discomfort or more pain. And typically the healing process is that it will get worse before it gets better. I’ll tell you a quick story before we end here. We’ve had numerous clients that have come in here with sciatica and we’ve gone through the program and we always have to reassure them that the pain can intensify before they get better.
One in particular was increasing pain throughout the month of training, but he had some blips of hope and relief and we continued with the program and after about three to four weeks, he no longer had any sciatica pain, which he had for nagging, nagging pain for over 10 years. So keep that in mind. We’re doing short term, more intense pain, possibly, not always the case for longterm relief so your nerve can be broken free from any impingement and any direct root cause of pain. All right. This is Ian Hart. I hope you enjoy and I sincerely hope that you are free from sciatica after continuing with the Relief4Life program.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
“Hey, what’s going on? So the next supplement is amino complete. Now Amino Acids are the building blocks of the protein. So these are the subunits to create the protein. Most people don’t know this, but besides water, protein or amino acids are the second most weight mass in our body, right? So this stuff is helping to build the lean muscle, ligaments, tendons, all that connective tissue, right? It’s also going to help with weight loss because you’re stimulating the muscle. And the muscle is what consumes calories, especially in training. So to recover from training, this is a great source of nutrients. Amino acids. This also has whey protein involved with vitamin B6 cause vitamin B6 is essential for helping build amino acids or you know, getting them active in the body. And so amino complete is perfect for before training for energy and after training for recovery, you’ll recover faster, you’ll be less sore. Let me just run down and make sure I’m not missing anything on my, so this provides a balanced blend of amino acids. It includes whey protein like I mentioned in… healthy for building lean muscle. And that’s why this is really important. The goal of this is for strength and mass building, but it has other benefits but that’s the main goal. So anything like athletes looking to improve endurance or reduced respiratory exchange ratios. So improving your cardiovascular health, people looking to reduce the impact of stress on the body. Um, anyone looking for further for support of synthesis of protein and proper body functioning. Even vegetarians who are not getting enough protein or don’t know where to get their source of protein from, this can help tremendously.
So amino acid complete, just think of it like this. When we talk about eating protein, we’re essentially talking about amino acid. There’s 11 essential and then there’s about 10 non essential amino acids. There’s some that you get from your food and there’s some that the body makes. These are the ones that you need to get from food. And if you’re not getting them… You’re going to be missing out because we want to get all amino acids at the same time. And called that the complete amino acid that’s going to help the building blocks of your body and build the muscle mass, make you stronger, make you faster, make you feel better, have more energy and a recovery. So numerous benefits from Amino complete.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
Having previously worked night shift for 5 years, a common question I get asked is, “How do I intermittent fast while working the night shift?” I believe this question is prevalent amongst night shifters because of the difficulty to access healthy food in the middle of the night. So to many, skipping meals seems like a viable solution.
Of the five years I worked the night shift I incorporated intermittent fasting (fasting for 16-18 hours a day) for about three years. In the beginning I struggled being consistent, but after a little practice I was able to lock it down. Before I get into more detail about ways to incorporate intermittent fasting on night shift, let’s take a quiz.
Just answer yes or no to the following questions:
Are you new to fasting?
Do you stay up after your shift on your days off?
Do you exercise in the morning after you work out?
Would you consider your job stressful?
Do you consume large amounts of caffeine (more than 1 cup of coffee) to stay awake?
If you answered yes to three or more of the questions it is not necessary for you to continue reading this blog after this paragraph. The above questions all relate to having stress. Working night shift and not having any sort of connection to your body’s natural circadian rhythm is alone very stressful. Fasting is an additional stress you would be putting on your body and the benefits you would receive from intermittent fasting would not outweigh the cost of the additional stress added. The APA (American Psychological Association) published a report in 2011 indicating a list of frequent health issues for those working night shift. Based on scientific studies the APA concluded Metabolic Syndrome was frequent amongst those who work night shift.
I know the effects of night shift stress from personal experience. As previously mentioned I fasted for about three years while working night shift. Eventually, I could tell my overall health and quality of life was on the decline. I stopped fasting and felt a little better. When I focused on my health and got down to a 1 or 2 on the about quiz (previously a 4 out of 5) I felt a substantial positive difference. If you were someone who said yes to three or more, focus on the quality and quantity of your nutrition rather than when you’re eating. Cooking your meals a few days in advance so you have them ready to go when you wake up, or looking into the services of a meal prep company, may be some things that will help.
Alright, so if you said yes to two or less on the quiz, feel healthy, and want to intermittent fast I will break down two strategies.
Find a time you can be consistent when working or not.
Typically the best times to begin eating for this schedule are somewhere between 1p.m.- 5 p.m. In my experience this strategy was the easiest to be consistent with and is the one I used. I would eat around 2:30 p.m. and typically 8:30p.m. every day.
Fast Longer or Shorter the day before schedule flips.
Typically, if you are working night shift a day you are not working will be less stressful than the day you work. Therefore, if you were to extend the fast doing it after being off for a few days would be the way to go. To make this process simple you could ease into it by fasting for a few hours longer the day before you work then a few more the day you go into work. If you are looking to eat at more reasonable hours on your days off ending the fast a few hours early on your first day off will be the easiest option. I will provide an example template below that should be adjusted according to your schedule.
Saturday (Day Off Normal) 1p.m.- 8 p.m. feeding window
Overall, anyone who has worked on night shift knows it presents many challenges. Although intermittent fasting may have some health benefits I would caution night shifters on implementing fasting strategies. For the majority, consistently bringing in a balanced meal of whole foods will be most beneficial. For those working nights who still wish to intermittent fast utilizing the method by eating at the same time everyday may be the way to go.
“Hey, what’s going on? So we have vitamin D-3. Now, most people don’t realize that the vitamin D is one of the most essential properties. It’s not actually a vitamin. It’s actually a precursor to a hormone, right? So, it’s extremely powerful for everything in the immune system. Like it is so powerful. It’s hard to even go into the details because it can be endless, right? This stuff helps kill off viruses. It boosts your immune system. It helps with cancer. This has been proven in studies, right? Colon cancer, et Cetera. We need vitamin D to live, right? If we’re not getting it, then we’re going to have a hard time, we’re going to have low immune system, we’re going to feel unenergetic, we’re not going to feel good. And so what’s the best source of vitamin D?
The Sun… and it always will be, but most people are deficient in Vitamin D. And a lot of times people aren’t spending out as much time as they should out in the sun. And so a vitamin D supplement is very powerful.
So we have vitamin D-3 here. It’s a high potency 2000 IU and that’s typically, some people need more than that daily. So it helped maintain strong bones. A lot of people think calcium is what you need for osteoporosis. It’s actually vitamin D and magnesium and those two will help build your bones along with other minerals. But those are the, the big factors, right? So, this helps certain hormones be produced that help with the overall body and especially the bones. So vitamin D three is very powerful. Um, there were a couple of things that I wanted to go over here from you. It’s fat soluble and stored in the liver and fatty tissue. So that’s why you see like cod liver oil is high in vitamin D. A lot of people had been told that milk is one of the best sources.
That’s like brainwashing that we’ve heard, right? Milk is the best source, Sun is. And then there’s a bunch of other foods that are very good. There’s a difference. This is D-3, there’s D-1one D-2 et cetera. And deficiency symptoms show up usually in people who start to turn like, you know, don’t have the tan color, but you’ll start to feel, um, low feelings, your mood can change. That’s why people have sunlight therapy, right? So depression, again, sicknesses, reoccurring viruses, et Cetera, are linked to vitamin D. Um, so if you’re not getting sun, if you’re using a lot of sunscreen, especially the kind that are chemical, that’s not good. According to research with Vitamin D, deficiency, symptoms can be linked to the following health problems, osteoporosis, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, autoimmune diseases. I forgot to mention that. Depression, insomnia, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, autism. Right? So it goes on and on and on and on. Um, so vitamin D three is recommended pretty much for everybody to take it daily, right? It’s recommended you go out on a Sun daily, some people can’t, so they get it through vitamin D.”
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
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