Take a Breath

 1/31/2025 Issue #5 Take a Breath



            Fit Tip: Have a Plan.     

I will be the first to praise you for doing any kind of activity. Doing something, even walking, is so valuable for your health. But, if you are heading to the gym without a plan, you might be missing out on some gains. If you want to get more bang for your buck, have an effective workout plan. What gets measured gets managed. In other words, it is a good idea to write out a plan that includes what exercises and how many sets and reps you should perform; then use this same plan to track how much weight you used and how many reps you performed. If you rely on memory it is too easy to gravitate towards the same weight you have done before and not try a little more. Also, if you walk in with no plan at all, you may default to what you like to do (often the easy thing that you are already good at.)

“Just last week your advice was to be OK with an imperfect workout, and now you say to build an effective workout?” Yeah, yeah, yeah, I still want you to be OK with the occasional imperfect workout, I’m just saying at least have a plan. Have a plan and a plan B if that perfect plan doesn’t workout that day. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. 


           Podcast: Managing Stress & Anxiety Tools for Managing Stress & Anxiety | Huberman Lab Essentials . 

Andrew Huberman is recognized by scientists and gym bros alike. His podcasts contain loads of information, often more than you want or need. Recently he has started putting out shorter episodes called Essentials that are worth checking out if you have a particular topic you want to learn more about. In this case, stress and how to most simply manage it in real time all on your own. 

He hails a simple breathing exercise, known as the physiological sigh, as the fastest and most studied tool for controlling stress. Of course the respiratory therapist/personal trainer was drawn to this episode. 

The breathing exercise can be performed as follows: take a double breath in (deep breath in and an extra sniff in) then gently and slowly exhale. The key is making the exhale much longer than the inhale, because exhaling slows down the heart rate. Simply perform this 1-3 times to calm down. Huberman goes on to describe several other methods, but this was the simplest and fastest-acting method. 

Wait… this gives me an idea for the challenge for the week…




            .Challenge for the Week: Breathe Bro.

At least once in the next week, do some breathwork for 5 minutes. Do nothing but breathe. You can try out the physiological sigh described above or perform some slow resonant breathing: 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out, all gently through the nose. 

If you want a great, free app to help time your breathing and keep your mind from wandering try this one out: 




Win the weekend!


Brad


Durable Dad Training

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