WINTER IS COMING!

Do you want to make your body feel like its always summer? Do you want transform your mindset back into the younger you that loved winter time when you were a kid?? If the answer is yes, then I urge your to please read the following.

That time of year is right around the corner. 20% of Americans suffer from seasonal depression, especially here in the Northern Hemisphere and New England in particular.As the old saying goes prepare to prepare or prepare to fail. Now is the time to prepare.

The winter months are Times of Darkness, less sunlight on our bodies, Depression, Cold, more sedentary lifestyles, Snow, Ice, Grey, bone chilling mornings are approaching fast.

Into the cold we go. This is a blog post around methods and actions to implement in your daily lives to beat back seasonal depression, build body armor, harden your mindset even in the dead of January and live in a state of eternal summer. The goal being to thrive physically and mentally and never feel seasonal depression again. Fell like your body is living in an always summer climate.

I for one have to be honest, I have liked winter less and less over the past 10 years. So writing this is a guide for myself as well. As a kid I really enjoyed winter from going outside to play in the snow, to going skiing to it being basketball season to being "tough" and not wearing a jacket ever, all the while getting yelled at by mom that your going to catch a cold. As i look back, at my thought towards the colder months have changed I have to admit so have my behaviors and mindset. So this changes for all of us NOW! Here we go, the 4 daily methods to enjoy the winter, to thrive and to make your body live in an always summer state. FIT BODY, HEALTHY BODY, CALM MIND , THE NATURAL ORDER

1. Sleep

A major aspect of our health and the state of our body and minds centers around our sleep habits and our circadian rhythm. Now in the winter days are shorter and night are longer, we have to align our sleep to this natural order. So the goal here is to go to sleep and wake up at the same time as often as possible. I recommend 930pm-630am.

Now we wake up naturally because our bodies are at there lowest core body temp and we get a cortisol spike that wakes us. So the first hour of the day and the actions we take can either set us up for success or failure. Here is what we will do this winter and in our first hour to win the morning, every morning.

Get out of bed, don`t linger. The quality of our sleepwear matters also. Make sure you are dressed warm enough, ideally cotton or wool, no synthetic clothes. and pop on some layers once out of bed. The synthetic clothes are proven endocrine disruptors and just not worth it to be your best, and thats our goal. So now are up, we went to the bathroom and now we get to work!

• The goal is to raise core body temp and increase blood flow, we do that by.

• Drinking a hot cup of tea or hot water with lemon and local honey

• Then we hop the Sauna or get Red Light on your body for 20 mins, or a hot shower for 10 mins. The benefits here are numerous: from raising body temp, to anti aging, to healing to cardio and heart benefits to studies showing increased longevity.

• If possible this is also a great time to do some pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks or go for a walk.

• If your core body temperature stays lows you will feel sluggish and have a lower blood flow which can be hazardous to your performance.

This takes all of 15-20 mins and is a great way to get ready for your day both physically and mentally!

2.Breakfast and overall Food Choices:

We are out of bed we have gotten some light and heat on our body and a little movement. Now its time to add some fuel to warm the body and soul and get out engine primed for the day. I advise against fasting in the winter because it lowers our core body temp and this is the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish.

So breakfast food choices and foods throughout the day are whole eggs, meat, raw dairy, rice, potatoes, yams, squash, carrots, banana, stews and broths are good as well, and add a warm drink to as any meals as possible. EAT AS LOCAL AS POSSIBLE! The food we choose is the lifeblood of our health, especially nowadays, Choosing foods higher in good fat is good for the winter. Another key behavior for to stay on top of your game for the winter is meal prep. Put in the time to prep and you will never have to make a bad food choice out of necessity.

3.BODY COMPOSITION AND TRAINING

This is the time of year where its healthy and necessary and natural to add some bodyweight. Body mass can be increased and should be in the winter months. A nice 5-8lbs from men and 3-6 for women is ideal, this will add a slight layer of fat and muscle again to raise body temp. If it works for bears it will work for us. Now the way we alter our training needs to accommodate this. With the outside temps we are usually moving less so the weight gain shouldn't be as hard as in the summer months with the excess sweating. For this season of training we will focus on strength and hypertrophy 4-5x per week. Pick 3-4 exercises per body part and do them with intention in the 8-20 rep range, adding more rest between sets. Its highly advised to do both compound lifts and isolation movements. Again our goal isn't a chiseled 6 pack its gaining muscle and body armor to deal with the elements.

Your training environment matters as well, its best to get out of the climate controlled globo gyms and get in the Garage or CrossFit type gym environment. A hard winters training isn't supposed to be comfortable. But with that being said if you are training in those environments make sure you dress in layers to keep your body temp up and strip if needed.

The last part of our physical training in the winter is exposure to the outside elements. I like to do this by adding increasingly longer walks outside post lifting sessions. The reason for these are two fold. One its that cold exposure to build body resilience and two it gets us outside in some capacity, who knows you may enjoy it.

4. Supplements

The goal with supplements in the winter is to keep our immune system up, blood flow up, and replace what we are not getting in our seasonal diets along with aiding our sleep cycles.

Vitamin D- unless you can get 20-30 mins of sun a day

Vitamin K2

Bison Liver

Black Seed Oil- helps immunity and the lungs

Magnesium at night - relax , we are all deficient in ths

Glycine with tea at night- sleep kings and queens

Beet Root - blood flow

Arginine- blood flow

Creatine - adds a little bodyweight and show to fight depression

5. Winter Fun

And lastly , if all the above boxes are checked going outside and enjoying some winter sports and actives should be something we do a few times per season. From skiing to ice skating to hikes to sledding to going full Rocky 4 training scene and run up a mountain. Again this exposure will just make you harder and ready for anything and the chemical release from the activities will make you enjoy winter even more. Hell you may not want to move south or west again???? Or at least for a few more year! Now go kick winters ass!!!