6 Weeks To Sexy: The two areas of fitness you’re forgetting are sleep and stress release

WHEN it comes to overall health, these two areas are often forgotten or at least severely underestimated in terms of their importance.

Portrait of a young woman on exercise bike in gym. Picture: Supplied

WHEN it comes to overall health, these two areas are often forgotten or at least severely underestimated in terms of their importance.

Not only are sleeping and stress management important for mental clarity, focus, sharpness and health, they also play a big role in your ability to hit your health goals, including fatloss and other fitness goals. Mess with your sleeping patterns or try to function in a state of chronic stress, and you start interfering with the whole body and its ability to function at its best.

I’ve always been a big fan of paying close attention to sleep and stress. For me, the best investment I’ve EVER made has been meditation. Not only does it help reduce and even alleviate stress, it also increases productivity, improves clarity, increases energy, improves sleep and the list is endless.

WEEK 1 FITNESS PROGRAM

WEEK 1 MEAL PROGRAM

WEEK 2 MEAL & FITNESS PROGRAM

WEEK 2 HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED

WEEK 3 CUT BACK ON SUGAR

Outside of meditation, it’s important to have a routine. Back in the day, my mum used to say the same thing every night—“teeth, toilet, bed”—and she was on to something. No matter what age you are, having a routine is really important to help improve the quality of your sleep and lower your stress levels.

Blake Worrall-Thompson says it shouldn’t take you longer than 15–20 minutes to get to sleep.

A great bedtime routine ideally starts by ‘winding down’ earlier in the night in order to make sure you’re as relaxed as possible when it’s time to actually go to bed. This will drastically increase the chances of falling asleep quickly. Everyone is different, but realistically it shouldn’t take you longer than 15–20 minutes to get to sleep.

If that’s not happening, you need to reduce your ‘stimulants’—so look to reduce the light, noise and entertainment factors in your environment at night. If you’re struggling to get to sleep but you’re on the computer until just before you go to bed, chances are you can’t ‘switch off’ and your brain will continue to tick over. For most people to have a really effective sleep they need to spend at least 30 minutes before bed ‘unwinding’.

It’s also important to do some kind of brain dump before you go to sleep. Most people in today’s world have a lot on their plate, so if you can have your ‘to do’ list or piece of paper with you and ‘dump’ everything that is going on in your head, it’ll make it a lot easier to sleep.

Other things you can try in order to help with your sleep include:

• Dimming the lights in the house.

• Introducing a ‘de-stressor’ like light reading, a bath, lighthearted TV (nothing too intense)—things that don’t stimulate you too much or increase your adrenalin.

• Look to exercise at the start of the day instead of the end. (If you exercise at the end of the day it can get you too pumped up and make it harder to sleep.)

• Make sure your room is as dark as possible.

• Turn off all unnecessary electronics and put your phone on ‘flight mode’. (Having too many electronics in your bedroom has been shown to affect your sleep.)

In sync with your sleep is your stress. What can you do to reduce your stress?

One of my favourite exercises to do is the ‘Top 5’. What are your Top 5 stresses and what can you do to either: 1) eliminate them; 2) delegate them; or 3) reduce their impact? If this is done on a monthly basis, within 3 months your life, you will completely transform!

A relaxing walk outside can help you de-stress.

Also look at things like:

• A relaxing walk—ideally outside

• Getting out in nature (whether it’s the beach, the countryside or the hills—anywhere away from the big smoke)

• Getting some sun

• Listening to chilled-out music

• Meditating (as mentioned)

• Massage

• Deep breathing

• Yoga, gentle mobility and/or slow stretching exercises

• Gentle swimming or water immersion (such as in a hot tub)

• Relaxing in a sauna

• Having sex (seriously)

So, what are you doing to improve the quality of your sleep and what are you doing to regulate your stress? I can PROMISE you that your ability to look AND feel sexy will be that little bit harder unless you’re prepared to address these two important areas. And when you do take action on them, sexiness will come a lot easier.

With your sleep and stress taken care of, you will have energy and vitality to take on this workout, which I recommend to do outdoors in the fresh air!

OUTDOOR TABATA WORKOUT

A ‘tabata’ workout consists of EIGHT efforts of 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds recovery. Complete ALL 8 rounds of the SAME exercises before moving on to the next one.

1. Barrier Burpees

Set up a small barrier to do jump over burpees. Begin on one side do a burpee, but instead of jumping straight up, jump over the barrier

2. Bench Dips

Grip the edge of the bench.

Keep your feet together and legs straight.

Lower your body straight down slowly and press back up powerfully.

Keep your elbows pointing back and back upright

3. Deep Pulse Squats

Start with your feet hip width apart and arms stretched out in front of you, perform your squat by pushing you butt back as if you were going to sit down and hold the squat for a few seconds before returning to standing and repeat.

Stretching is a good way to let the tension out of your body.

4. Push ups

Start in a face-down prone position on the floor, keep your feet together and your weight should be on your chest. Placing your hands palm face down on the floor, approximately shoulder width apart and elbows pointing towards your toes.

Raise yourself using your arms and then lower your torso to the ground until your elbows form a 90 degree angle. Keep your elbows close to your body for more resistance

5. Ridiculous jumping lunges

Start in a squat, jump up and land in the bottom of a lunge position. Jump up again and land back in your squat position. Jump again and land in a lunge position (with legs opposite to the last lunge). Jump back to your squat and start again.

6. Side Plank

Lie on your left side with your knees straight.

Prop your upper body up on your left elbow and forearm.

Brace your core by contracting your abs forcefully as if you were about to be punched in the gut.

Raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders.

Find out more information from Blake Worrall-Thompson at www.wellbeingbyblake.com and the online 6 Weeks to Sexy program www.6weekstosexy.com / @wellbeingbyblake