Why you should take a cold shower every day

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 16:21:21 GMT

Taking a cold shower is a critical part of exercising.

It’s tough, and you need willpower.

When you get in for the first time, the first thirty seconds are the Shock Seconds - your body needs to get used to the temperature. However, when this becomes a habit, the body knows, gets used to it, and it becomes easier. The first times are hard, then the moment you go out from an ice cold shower you will find out this feeling of being bulletproof and powerful and full of energy like you could start another workout again… it’s like you go from Tony Stark to Iron Man.

The feeling is so good that I quit hot showers. Even if it’s not super cold, I still keep the water temperature cold enough and never warm. When I can, I also like to alternate and jump from the sauna straight into the cold bath if my fitness center has both.

So except for the after-feeling, what makes a cold shower healthy for you?

- Alertness

According to a meta-analysis of existing cold water immersion research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine , cold showers have many physiological effects on the body, a nervous system reset.

These include:

increased heart rate
higher blood pressure
elevated respiratory rate

It’s better than a coffee!

- Immune system

Research shows that Cold water triggers the body’s immune system, like I said, bulletproof and you will be less likely to call in sick

- Muscle recovery

Of course, it won’t be like a real cryotherapy, but it is the closest thing to it. The principle is that because of the very low temperature, the body will send all the blood into your heart and lungs to keep you alive and when you finish it’s a real Niagara Falls of blood into your muscles and joints, helping you with recovery from the workout, soreness and all the body inflammations.

- Mental strength

Do things that make you uncomfortable.

It’s a difficult thing to do; doing something you don’t like will make you mentally stronger.

- How to start

Do not start straight from artic temperature, let your body get used to it. Cool the water, and slowly decrease the temperature, there is no need to get the water super cold from the first shower; after a couple of showers keep doing the same but now slowly get colder and colder water.

According to medical research, you should get from 60 seconds to 3 minutes or even more if you want. But 2-3 minutes is the most effective length of time to reap the benefits.

Now the choice is yours, it’s about will power and doing what you have to do.

5 reasons Why you should start exercising (and move your ass)

Sun, 17 May 2020 16:27:50 GMT

Let’s make this clear, the less you do, the less you are willing to do, your brain gets into that mood of chronic laziness in which every action seems so heavy, taking the garbage out for example, so I guess going to the gym it’s even harder.

So remember, the beginning it’s always the hardest part, it’s like the foundation of a building.

The foundation requires more time, but once you get that done, then it’s easier, than the skyscraper goes up really fast…

…as Will Smith said: “ you don’t set out to build a wall, you say: I’m gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every single day, soon you have a wall. It’s difficult to take the first step when you look how big the task is..but the task is never huge to me, it’s always one brick”.

Humans are born to move

Humans are born to move and movement affects the brain, if you are regularly active, you have a different brain and nervous system, like more sensitive to pleasure and more resilient to stress.

Your heart

Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions (beats) of the heart per minute (bpm).

Heart rate of a small bird is around hundreds of beats and its average life is about 3 years, the heart rate of a turtle is around 6 bpm and is average life is about 150 years.

So one of the benefits of having a fitness lifestyle it’s decreasing your heart rate because if your heart is trained well it means that its performance is better and it needs to beat less times to deliver its functions, and that also means that by the time you are aging, it will be like having an old car with a younger engine with less km itself.

FAT loss

Probably the most common benefit you heard about, everyone wants to be toned up, better shape, good looking naked (nothing wrong with that).

Fats especially the visceral one it’s dangerous for your health, it increases risks of heart attack, being regularly active in the right way can make you a fat burning machine, and I’m not talking just during your workout I’m talking about the whole 24 hours. The chemical changes that will happen inside your body are going to deliver all the functions way better, burning more calories more fat in every single moment of your day.

Bone health

Have you ever asked yourself, what would happen if the Earth would have had the same gravity of the moon? Bone mineral density decreases... Just like muscles, if you don't use your bones, they will weaken. Bone loss occurs in the weightless environment of the moon because bones no longer have to support the body against the same heavy gravity of the earth.

Starting exercising especially with weights training increases the mineral density of our bones getting them even more solid, reducing the risk of developing bone diseases like osteoporosis.

Confidence

To have confidence is to have faith in your own ability and believe in yourself, because you know that behind the scene you work harder and harder under every point of view and under every aspect of your life.

It’s way different than the ego.

Ego might mean you think you are the best, period. Without having the awareness that each person in the room has something to teach you and know something that you do not know.

So working out not only will change your appearance, getting you more confident on how you look and increasing the self- esteem because of the will power you put into every time you hit the gym, but also research show that physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier, more relaxed and less anxious.

Basically as Nike said: “ Just do it”

So, what are you waiting for? Are you still on the couch?

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