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I love learning new things and I also like sharing them with you, so I am sharing some new information on collagen that I recently learned. As you may know, collagen helps with hair and nails since this is mainly what we see advertised. Studies have shown that collagen can also help with muscle and tissue repair and joint pain, which will help with your recovery after a run or hard workout. Here are my two findings that I want to share with you because I want to make sure you are getting the full benefit of whatever way you are getting collagen into your system. Yes, bone broth is the preferred natural way, but sometimes a supplement comes into play and personally I do take a collagen hydrolysate protein powder daily.
In my opinion, when we are choosing to incorporate certain nutrient and supplements to help our bodies the more information we have the better. Knowing when to implement them and what with will only give you a better chance at achieving the goal you are trying to achieve with that given nutrient or supplement. I love to eat and like to get my nutrients through foods, but at the same time, I know that sometimes I need to supplement too and only have two that I use. Do your research and choose your ways wisely. Check out the link below for further information, it is a long read but if you scan down toward "Nutritional Interventions to Improve Soft-Tissue Function" section you will find the information that I pulled my findings from. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371618/… Train hard, Train Smart, and Have Fun, Deanna   Towards the end of January, I posted about how sleep can help with bone health, in fact here is the link to my blog just in case you missed it, https://bit.ly/2GzEnnN, and my clients and I have also been talking about tart cherry juice as an aid for sleeping. So, of course, it only made sense that I should mention foods that could help.
I mean who doesn’t like to eat, I know I do especially when I know that the nutrients from those foods will help repair my body from all that I put it through, help it function properly and assist in sleeping too. I am not a big tea drinker and many of you already know about warm milk, there is plenty of information out there on those that I am going to skip that one. Check out this list of fruit that contains melatonin to help you fall asleep faster. Tart Cherry Juice or Whole Tart Cherries Pineapples Oranges Bananas Other foods that can help are: Complex Carbs - Can help with your serotonin levels. A Handful of Nuts - Can help to regulate your sleep and wake cycle. Cottage Cheese - Contain the amino acid tryptophan that can help increase your serotonin levels. If you are having problems sleeping and would like to go the more natural route, which I always suggest, give some of these a try. You may have to play around with a combination of things or you may find that just one certain one helps. Also, consider adding fruit and vegetables that are high in antioxidants since they can help counteract the stress from a sleep disorder. If you would like some more information, here is the link I used for my post. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/food-and-drink-promote-good-nights-sleep Train Hard, Train Smart, and Have Fun, Deanna  My last blog I mentioned a couple of signs about overtraining and decided that I wanted to touch on this a little bit more. There are two very important reasons why I wanted to talk about overtraining.
1. Overtraining can lead to injury, which can have you working out differently and the possibility of achieving those health goals at a later time than you wanted. 2. Overtraining can lead to burnout, which can lead to you not working on those health goals. Our training and nutrition are like a tightrope that we are trying to keep our balance on to get to the other side where our goals are. When we don’t make sure we have a good balance of both of those and start going to hard or too much on the training we risk the chance of falling off that rope and having to build back up to it. According to the ACE article below two common ways that get people in trouble are 1. Too much exercise without enough recover 2. Chronic underfueling. I know I have seen clients, friends and even myself fall off that tight rope, get back on, and find that balance again, which affected the goal we were all trying to achieve. If you think you are starting to see a decrease in your performance, your appetite is changing, can’t sleep, or any of the other signs mentioned in the article, step back and review what is going on and get some help if needed by talking with a health professional. I am here to help you anyway that I can, just reach out and let's talk. https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6466/9-signs-of-overtraining Train hard, train smart, and have fun, Deanna Are you really listening to your body or are you allowing your expectations of yourself to speak for it? Do you know when you can push yourself or when you may need to back down to recover? I think it is fair to say ladies that we know when we can push ourselves. We feel strong, energized and have #confidence within ourselves that we can achieve the given workout or run. On the other hand, do you know the signs of overtraining and if you do are you ignoring them? Here are a couple to think about and that I know I am currently dealing with. Don’t act surprised, I am human too. ;) Decreased Performance Chronic or nagging injuries Stress or Depression Metabolic Imbalances Ladies these are all important! Not only in regards to how we perform during our runs or workouts, but also our everyday lives. For example, metabolic imbalances affect not only our weight but can affect our reproductive system, something you should be concerned about no matter what stage your reproductive system may be in. Let me keep it real for a minute. I have found with myself that it isn’t the effort that I have to put into my runs or workouts that I struggle with, I got plenty of effort. It is my own expectations that I place on myself. I should always do better, go stronger, or beat my last time. That is my real struggle, the perfection or near perfection that I feel I should achieve. Who can relate? Who has been there? Who else is shaking their head at themselves right now? Guess what?? I am not perfect, you are not perfect, no one is perfect and we need to remember that! IT is OKAY to not have good days, it is OKAY to fail, but it is NOT okay to run your body down to the point that it isn’t functioning properly. My advice?? Step back, listen to your body and what is telling you and not what your expectations are wanting you to believe. Train Hard, Train Smart, and Have Fun, Deanna  Ask yourself, are you lifting the right amount of weight for your workouts? There are different ways to determine the amount of weight you should be lifting for your workouts and of course one of the most popular ways is by determining your 1-Rep Max and then breaking that amount down my certain percentages to decide how much you should be lifting for a given set and rep range. Which can be motivating but also time consuming and confusing sometimes. I came came across another method last night that I feel will work great in a small group training class, if you are at the gym, or even using your equipment at home. Say hi to the "Goldilocks Method" by Dan John. IMO this is a great method to use for your major and small lifts. Check out my short run down on his method in the video below and if you would like to read his full article for some additional information you can find it at https://bit.ly/2TViYJ7. Make sure that if you give this method a try, you use a weight you are comfortable with but will challenge you at the same time. Comment below and let me know how it goes!! Train Hard, Train Safe, and Have Fun, Deanna |