Your Ideal Form

Helping you on your journey to your best self!

Audrey D

Improving the Quality of Your Sleep

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Improving the Quality of Your Sleep

Remember Jane? She has a goal of getting up earlier so she can get more done with her day. After implementing a nightly routine, she’s falling asleep faster, but she’s still not sleeping very well. Let’s look at some steps Jane (and you!) can take to improve the quality of her sleep.

Go to bed earlier

The first thing you can do to increase the chances of actually getting up earlier in the morning is going to bed earlier. While this is easier said than done, setting an alarm can really help. Set an alarm in the evening to remind yourself that it’s time to get ready for bed. Give yourself enough time to close out your day and still be in bed by your ideal time.

Cut the caffeine

Ok, I know some this is sacrilege for some of you, but cutting out caffeine can help you sleep better! At the very least, try not to have caffeine after around 2pm. Also keep in mind, that if you’re just looking for a warm drink, decaf is not completely caffeine free, but it is certainly a better option than the full-leaded version. If your caffeine of choice is soda, see if you can stomach the caffeine free version after lunch. (I don’t know why, but caffeine-free sodas taste really strange for some reason) Alternately, you can try flavored seltzer water for a drink that’s fizzy, flavorful, and that is calorie and caffeine free!

Have a nightly routine

Having a nightly routine helps you fall asleep faster, as it signals to your body that it is time to wind down and start getting into sleep mode. By the time you get to bed, your body is ready!

Darken your room

Our bodies are designed to work with the sun. Screens and artificial lights can really mess with our internal clocks. Making your bedroom as dark as possible can help you get really deep sleep. Cover up any small lights from electronics or even your alarm clock. If you can, use thick curtains on the windows to block out light from the outside. Those blackout curtains in hotel rooms are the reason people always seem to sleep better in hotels.

Get cold

There’s a reason many animals hibernate through the winter. It’s easy to sleep when it’s cold. Your whole body just slows down. Make sure the thermostat isn’t set to high when you go to bed. If you are hardcore, you can take a cold shower before bed to really kick start the process. This is why (in a roundabout sort of way) hot baths before bed are common in some Eastern cultures. It heats you up, sure, but then as your body cools, you start getting sleepy.

Make it quiet

Another thing that can prevent you from falling asleep is too much noise. Try to minimize noises as best you can, but if you can’t, you can block some of it out with a white noise generator. There are many apps and websites and even household appliances that will create a light amount of background noise that your brain can just ignore, while simultaneously serving to block out background noises that might wake you up. One of my favorites for white noise is Rainy Mood, which lets you set a time limit after which it will turn itself off, so it can help you fall asleep, but not run all night long.

Get a good mattress

Having the right mattress for you can make a world of difference in your sleep, and how you feel the next morning. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you. Personally, I like firmer mattresses. I find I sleep much more soundly and wake up a lot less sore than on softer mattresses. If a new mattress isn’t in the budget for you right now, try rotating your current mattress, so you’re not sleeping in the same indentations that have formed over months and possibly years.

Use a proper pillow

If you can’t get a new mattress, perhaps you can upgrade your pillow. Depending on if you sleep on your back, stomach or side, you’ll have different needs when it comes to the support your pillow provides your head and neck. A good pillow can prevent cricks in your neck and be the difference between waking up refreshed, and waking up achy.

Hopefully these tips will help you sleep as deeply as Sleeping Beauty, and wake up as refreshed as people in those commercials (who looks like that immediately after they wake up, really?)

Out of sheer curiosity, when was the last time you replaced your mattress or pillow?

I Control What I Put In My Body

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I can’t control everything in life, but I can control what I put in my body

Sometimes, life can get crazy. Life is tough, and it doesn’t take much to feel like everything is spiraling out of control. It is at trying times like these that it is more important than ever to control what you can. You can’t control everything in life, but you can control what you put in your body.Let the constant of eating right and getting some exercise every day be your anchor when the waves of uncertainty are tossing you about.

The benefit of doing this is two-fold. Firstly, having this one constant routine in your day mentally gives you a bit of a break. Your brain has a chance to relax. It recognizes the routine, knows it, is familiar with it. Just like you can make a familiar drive almost on autopilot, a routine gives your brain something to work on that isn’t all that taxing and that can bring your stress levels down.

Secondly, continuing to eat right and exercise helps support your immune system. It keeps your body going strong, right when you really need that extra strength. When things are crazy enough as it is, the last thing you need is to not be feeling well on top of things. Control what you put into your body and you’ll be feeling your best to take on whatever life throws at you.

Setting up a Nightly Routine

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Setting up a Nightly Routine

Let me tell you a tale about Jane. Jane used to use the excuse of “not having time” to explain why she wasn’t working out. But after realizing that she has the same hours in a day as everyone else, and that people busier than she are out there getting their workouts in, Jane makes the decision that she just needs to get up earlier. But Jane runs into a few road blocks. She doesn’t get to bed till late and has a hard time falling asleep. Once she does get to sleep, she sleeps somewhat fitfully. This makes it extra hard for her to get up in the mornings, and she hits snooze multiple times before getting up. Then she finds her mornings to be hurried and frazzled. Just like many other things in life, laying a good foundation is the key to success. So lets go back to the beginning,  and outline some steps that can help us avoid Jane’s fate, starting with a nightly routine.

Here are some steps you can add to your nightly routine to help you fall asleep faster and get a better night’s sleep. You don’t have to do every single one, but try each out for a few nights and see if it makes a difference in your sleep.

Set an alarm

Many of us set alarms to help us wake up, but it can also be very useful to have an alarm to remind us that it is time to get ready for bed. Maybe you’re catching up on episodes of your favorite show, or you’re engrossed in a really good book, or even just mindlessly browsing Facebook or Pinterest. We can easily lose track of the time, and before you know it, it’s late. Set an alarm each night that reminds you that it’s time to start winding down and getting ready for sleep. And set that alarm with plenty of time. If watching TV is your thing, and you’re halfway through an episode when your alarm goes off, you want to have time to finish the episode, do all the rest of your routine, and still get to bed by your ideal bedtime.

Brush your teeth

Aside from just being a good habit, brushing your teeth can help signal to your body that it is time to get into rest mode. I actually try to brush my teeth earlier on in the evening, as it prevents me from wanting to snack on something the rest of the night.

Facial care

If you have a nightly facial routine, you can do it when you brush your teeth, or right before bed. Some of us need toner, others of us need moisturizer. No matter what, be sure to remove any makeup you may have applied that day. A minute or two of care in the evening will leave your face looking that much more refreshed in the morning.

Do some light stretching or yoga

You are about to lay comatose for hours on end. Your body will get stiff. Fend off some of that stiffness ahead of time by doing some light stretching or yoga before bed. The idea here isn’t to tire yourself out, but to just loosen up your body so that you don’t wake up with a strange crick in your neck.

Take some “Zen” time

Immediately before bed, take some time to do something for yourself. This can take any number of forms. You can do some journaling, either writing down what you were grateful for, or just doing a brain dump of the day to get it out of your head so you’re not thinking about it as you drift of to sleep. You could read a chapter of a book, but the stipulation is that it must be fiction. The idea here is to wind down. No reading a self-help book and then thinking of all the ways to apply it to your life when you should be falling asleep. You could knit or crochet while listening to some relaxing music. You can do some meditation. I personally engage in some of that de-stress coloring before bed, and I find that when I make the time for it, it significantly cuts down the time it takes me to fall asleep. Do whatever low-key thing works for you. I recommend spending at the very least a solid five minutes on this activity, but if you can do 15 minutes or more, that’s fantastic!

Brush your teeth, take care of your face, change into your jammies, take a moment to stretch, then check your social media accounts one last time, because…

NO SCREENS

This last one is PARAMOUNT. The longer you can go without a screen before heading to bed, the faster you’ll be able to fall asleep. Our computer, television, tablet and phone screens all emit a ton of light in the blue spectrum. That blue light signals to our brain that it is still day time, throws off our circadian rhythms, and makes it much harder for us to fall asleep. This is why none of the zen items above involved playing games on your phone before bed. It is also why I recommend that the zen time be the very last thing you do before bed as it’ll force you to be without a screen for a bit. If you find yourself using screens far too late (it’s just the way of the world) you can help combat the blue light syndrome by installing certain apps to change the “temperature” of the light on your screen. These apps automatically adjust the color of your phone to more and more reddish based on the sunset time in your location. I use the Twilight app on my Android phone, and I use f.lux on my PC.

Hopefully trying some of these ideas will help you get to sleep quicker, and also help you have a better night’s sleep. I really do like trying to do all but the last thing as early in the evening as possible. It sounds ridiculous, but on nights I don’t do this, I find I go to bed way later because, get this, the prospect of doing all the things to get ready for bed just seems like too much work, so I put it off. Seriously. On the other hand, if I’ve already done almost all of my getting ready for bed things, once I decide I’m tired enough for sleep, I can easily just turn off my phone, sit down and color for a bit, and then go off to bed. No having to make any stops along the way.

What activities make up your nightly routine? What would you add to this list? Let me know below in the comments!

Next up, how to get a better night’s sleep.

Shrink the Size of Your But!

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If you want to reach your goals, you must shrink the size of your BUT.

If you want to reach your goals, you have to shrink the size of your buts. Often, the biggest but we have is “but I don’t have time!” Everyone has the same hours in the day. “But I have kids!” There are lots of people out there who have children and still manage to stay fit. “But I have a condition!” If you do some research, I am certain you will be able to find stories of others with your same condition who overcame it and were successful.

The good new is that others who are in your shoes have gone before, paved the way, and been successful. That means that you can do it too! Shrink the size of your but, and you will find your goals that much closer in reach! (Even if your goal is a bigger booty!)

Getting Started with Lifting Weights

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Getting Started with Lifting Weights

So you’ve got a good cardio routine down, but you’re really curious about the other half of the gym: the weights. It can be a bit intimidating over there if you don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m here to help you ease into it!

Let’s start by getting some facts straight: increasing your muscle mass is the only way to PERMANENTLY increase your metabolism and burn off more calories while you sleep. Don’t fall for the myth that lifting weights will make you bulky. If you want to get bulky, you will need to eat at a calorie surplus, eat a lot of protein, and for most women to get supper ripped, you will also need to take steroids. Lifting while eating to lose weight will give you the lean body you are looking for. “Toned” just means “having low body fat and showing some muscle definition.” If you want to get toned, you will have to lift weights. And you might be surprised just how much you’ll have to lift to start seeing that definition. If your purse weighs 10 pounds (some of us feel the need to carry whatever we might possibly need in case of any eventuality) or your toddler weighs 20 pounds, then toying around with five pound weights isn’t going to get you anywhere!

As always, consult a doctor. If you can, consult a trainer. Doing things incorrectly can hurt you, and we don’t want that. One session with a trainer to nail down your form and make sure you are lifting correctly can save you from a world of hurt and injury down the line.

Machines

Weight machines have you use levers to move a stack of weights. Working with a trainer will help you overcome the “I don’t know what I’m doing feeling” when approaching some of the weight machines. Some of them seriously look like medieval torture devices, and having someone show you how it works rather than figuring it out on your own can really make a difference. That said, newer weight machines at newer gyms will often have a diagram on them explaining how to use it. Weight machines tend to only work one way, so there is less chance of injury, since the machine forces you into a particular plane of motion. Whether with the help of a trainer, the guide on the machine, or asking the person who just hopped off the machine (people are generally happy to help if you just ask!), get into the proper position on the machine, use the pin to set a weight that’s good for you (start light, you can always increase later) and then work through as full a range of motion as you can.

Cable Machines

Cable Machines use a steel cable attached to one or more pulleys to move a stack of weights. Because the end of the cable that you hold can move around freely, cable machines let you work with a wider range of motion and exercises. Especially ones where you can adjust the height of the pulleys so that you can work different muscles. For example, you can attach a bar attachment to the cable, set the pulley low, and use it to do bicep curls. Or you can use that same bar attachment, set the pulley up high, and push down on the bar, working your triceps. By adjusting the pulleys and what attachments you use, you can easily get a full body workout in from just this one machine! Since the cable gives you a bit more freedom to move around somewhat, it is important that to get the most out of your exercises that you be sure to practice good form. Keep your core nice and tight, and for most exercises, you’ll likely want to keep a straight/flat (not rounded) back.

Dumbbells

Dumbbells move us into the realm of free weights. There is nothing restricting the movement beside your own muscles. Free weight exercises often require that you use auxiliary muscles for stabilization, giving you a better full-body workout. Dumbbell exercises are very versatile, and you can find them in most gyms, including hotel gyms if you tend to travel often. Depending on the exercises you are doing with dumbbells, you may want to consider using wrist wraps for extra wrist support. You may find that your arms can lift a certain weight without a problem, but your wrists end up being the limiting factor. If you’d like to get started with dumbbells, check the the end of this post for a free workout!

Barbells

Barbells are the next step up from dumbbells. Once you get into barbell lifting, form becomes VERY important. Olympic weightlifting and  power lifting use barbells for lifts such as: squat, deadlift, clean, jerk, snatch, and press. Many of these movements are complex, full-body movements and can give you an amazing workout. As they are complex, I do not recommend working on barbell lifts without a trainer or very experienced lifter to check your form. That said, once you get into barbells, it is hard to go back to lifting any other types of weights! You get to realize just how strong you are, and it makes you feel unstoppable!

If you have any questions at all about weight lifting, please ask in the comments below!

 

Change Requires Action

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Don't Be Upset by the Results You Didn't Get with the Work You Didn't Do

Don’t Be Upset by the Results You Didn’t Get with the Work You Didn’t Do

So many people out there really want to get fit. They think about it. Dream about it. Wish about it. They watch videos, they read motivational books and quotes, they pin to vision boards. But they don’t actually workout. They read up on diets, they seek out recipes, they debate the minutia of Paleo vs. Raw Vegan. But they don’t change their eating habits. They go to the gym for one week, then stop, complaining that they haven’t yet lost 10 pounds. They eat a salad for lunch, then use that an excuse to drink an entire bottle of wine with dinner.

Don’t be one of those people. If you are truly serious about attaining your goal body, make a plan, and stick with it. Don’t just pretend that you’re putting in the work, and then get disappointed when you see no improvements.