Now is the perfect time to condition your senses and your body for summertime’s high heat and activity levels.
Water is trickling from sunkissed snowbanks, the birds are chirping and before long, people of all sorts emerge from their conservative, layered hibernation. Spring is known as ‘shredding season’ to many weathered bodybuilders which can really resonate with any person who has accumulated a little extra insulation over the winter. The cold months are also a time when many runners, cyclists and other athletes take an ‘off season’ which is now over. It is time to condition our cardiovascular systems, our muscles and to shed the fat content that no longer serves purpose for us.
How can we prepare ourselves for the upcoming beach season, athletics and the inevitable high intensity heat?
1. Make the most out of your mornings.
Since today is the ‘Spring Forward’ into sunnier mornings, take full advantage! Meditate in the morning when you wake up to bring your morning, daily and ultimate goals to the forefront of your mind. Invigorate your spirit. Build a great relationship with your intuition and create accountability for what you can, want to and will do.
Use the mornings to work out as well, after a meditation. Running, flowing through yogic asanas or lifting with the newly risen sun is a pearl of divine enjoyment. Also, your daily energy levels will be high due to the mode you set your body into by invigorating the systems and mind. This really is the start to a trend of accomplishment.
2. Eat more organically grown fresh, local and raw foods.
Incorporate a generous amount of fresh, raw foods into your diet. Fruit, and an abundance of vegetables with nuts and cold-pressed oils as well as some other healthy starches such as grains create the pinnacle of balance . Reduce the processed foods as much as possible, and where you can, do the processing yourself (example, making your own burgers, salads/ salad dressings, juice etc). The more fresh and raw you replace processed foods with, the higher your energy levels will be. The sooner you can flush your body of toxins that cause inflammatory response/weight gain.
If I may, the better you will smell also.
Spring and summer are an excellent time to buy locally grown food. Search for farmers markets in your area and try to buy the majority of your food from them. Not only is this food the most fresh, but you are also supporting the growth of ethical food. Many farmers do not have the funds to have their products labeled as organic but talk to the sellers and they will know if anything has been sprayed on the food, what soil is used etc.
3. Stick to a physical activity routine. Sweat.
Create a routine yourself or with your personal trainer that you can stick to. You should be working out at least 3 days a week to really improve your muscular, cardiovascular, bone and mental health. Create goals and set dates of accomplishment. Try to beat your expected date!
The refreshing detoxification that sweating yields cannot be replaced by diet alone (vice versa: exercising and eating unwell will leave gaping holes in the benefits and progress). Push yourself out of your comfort zone and flourish wholly.
It is so vital to properly nourish yourself in order to heal and regenerate post exercise with the right nutrients.
Need help with your nutrition? Taking too much of something, too little of another? How do you nourish my body based on my needs?
Adequate rest will fully synthesize the process.
4. Get your home ready.
This is the perfect time to purge your home of blockages into your active transition. Rid your kitchen of the winter comfort foods such as cakes and heavy meat roasts, box up your winteresque interior decorating books and ‘warm and cozy’ cookbooks for the season. Breathe in the nuances of advertised patio sets and outdoor dinner party ideas. Ladies can put their favourite bikini top into their unmentionables drawer for a daily reminder.
Have reusable water bottles at hand, and keep athletic shoes accessible. These subtle steps will mentally prepare you to dive, or keep swimming, into your active, healthy and fresh spring routines.
5. Plan activities.
Planning activities such as a day with friends and family at the nearest amusement park or beach, playing sports at a local park/field or running a marathon all give affirmative answers the question ‘why’ of bettering our health and physical fitness for the summer- if not all times of year.
Enjoying fun activities with family and friends betters your personal community by promoting light hearted demeanors and healthy accountability. If someone in your personal community needs help with their healthful journey, raise them up with you! Invite them to run with you or introduce them to your trainer or athletic group. The next planned activity will be all the more enjoyable and challenging if there are competitive sport elements.
Take pictures and hang them on your wall. Once one plan is fulfilled, create a new one.
6. Get going early.
Start your preparation routine as soon as possible so that you may enjoy the beautiful, abundant and warm months for all that they are worth!
Experience vigor and intensity in your life, improving your overall health. Your hard work and healthy habits will show at the beach every single year.
Summer is knocking – answer with a readily welcoming smile.
Cassandra McIntyre is the founder of PersonaFitness, through which she intertwines exercise physiology, nutrition and holism into the development and fulfillment of every exercise program.
