Podcast - Is Your Morning Routine Serving You?
A robust morning routine is probably the most important pillar that drives health, vitality and longevity. Here I want to share with you my 4-step morning mantra and empower you to make positive changes where you need to your own morning routine.
BTW, the audio is always better than the copy because I go off on tangents and add more value! :)
If you dig into the lives of people who are either super high performers in life or business, or who just exude amazing health, vitality and who never seem to age!
These people inevitably have a consistent, repeatable, dependable morning routine that sets them up for success.
And I always find it interesting to compare my morning routine to that of others in the health & wellbeing, business or personal development space, because it gives me fresh ideas, helps me to stay on track myself and to even make certain tweaks or adjustments that can add value to my life.
You see, what you do in the first 60-90 minutes when you rise impacts not just your day but your life as well.
It has a tremendous bearing on how you show up in the world – your energy, your focus, your ability to get things done, your resilience and your body’s ability to resistant sickness and disease, your outlook on life AND your quality of life no matter your age.
And the good news is, if you feel your morning routine is NOT doing all these things for you – the good news is – it’s never too late to start making changes that will serve you better the longer you embed them into your routine.
So, here I want to share my 4-step morning mantra and how it can hopefully help you inspire you to make positive changes to your own morning routine so that you can look and feel your best for as long as possible.
My personal morning mantra that is the framework for my morning routine is:
Breathe
Hydrate
Stretch
Move
And I want to touch on each of these 4 items in a moment for you.
But before I do that, I want to say this… a great morning routine actually begins when you go to bed. Now what do I mean by that?
Your morning routine will flow much, much better if you wake well rested – which means you need the right pre-bedtime routine that is key for ensuring you get a full 8 hours of quality sleep each night – I’ll do a separate episode soon specifically on pre-bedtime routine, but let’s assume you are getting the right amount of sleep consistently as a gateway to your morning routine.
Step 1, is to wake up at approximately the same time every day.
Now for me that’s 5am – for you it could be something different. But the body thrives on routine because it runs in cycles – the sleep/wake cycle (circadian rythum), the appropriation cycle (play & feeding period), the assimilation cycle (rest and fasting period) and the elimination cycle (digestive period).
And so consistency in terms of when you go to bed and when you wake up, allows your body to optimise these cycles and regulate your body’s internal clock - which ultimately leads to a happy, healthier you.
Step 2, is to Breathe.
Now, obviously you don’t need me to tell you to breathe. In fact you don’t need to tell your body to breathe either because you do it subconsciously in-and-out already about 20,000 times per day. But here I’m talking about intentional breathing – using your breath intentionally to regulate your body and focus for just 2-3 minutes when you first wake up.
A couple of minutes of slow, deep breathwork will help to energise your body, elevate your morning mood and help you move into your day with intention.
For me, it’s usually simply 5 rounds of 5 as soon as I wake up in a triangulated format: Breathe in for 5 counts, hold for 5 counts and then out for 5 counts. And I do that 5 times.
Sometimes, I’ll do what’s known as a BOX breath – where instead of a triangle I’ll turn it into 4 parts which is a Square: In for 5, hold for 5, out for 5, hold for 5.
You choose the number of counts and the shape or format.
But I find this is a powerful way to begin my morning.
Step 3, is to Hydrate.
Now, you already know that you need at least 2 litres of pure water per day, but first thing in the morning is when you’re body needs water most.
When you wake, even though it may not feel like it , you’re actually moderately dehydrated from the metabolic processes that have been going on inside your body while you sleep.
So, pay it forward in terms of your daily water intake by drinking a good amount of water shortly after you rise. At 5:15 this morning after my breathing I prepared a quick lemon water each for my wife and myself. Two mason jars, the juice of a whole lemon squeezed into each, a half teaspoon of celtic sea salt, filled to the top with chilled natural spring water we get delivered from a property in Currumbin – and that’s the first thing that enters our bodys.
So I recommend chilled water because it wakes up the digestive system and activates your metabolism – and the truth is it’s how our ancestors would drink first thing in the morning – from free flowing, cold streams. Now, I know there’s some experts out there that say, drink warm or room temperature water first thing in the morning. I’m not going to debate this. I prefer cold water – you do you, do what I do or do what feels right for you. Just be sure to drink 500ml – 1 litre of water when you rise.
Step 4 is to Stretch.
I like to lightly stretch before I move and exercise to wake up, warm up and activate my muscles and joints before I do some more rigorous exercise.
Of course, a little stretching after exercise is important also…but most people don’t stretch first thing in the morning when they rise which is so important for many different reasons.
It immediately increases blood flow and oxygen into the muscles and joints.
The instinctive act of stretching is known as “pandiculation”, which is periptery – it helps your body and mind prepare for movements and helps fend off niggles and injuries.
It doesn’t need to be over the top. Just some light intuitive stretches is what I like to do; arms over head and side to side to release tension from the back, shoulders and neck. Gentle hanging forward bend to stretch out the back of the legs and hamstrings, lying on my back and hugging knees to chest. Some basic lunge and quad stretches…a few up and down dogs, and then I loosen my fingers and wrists.
All of it takes less than 5 minutes and after the breathing , hydration and stretching I’m ready to go move my body.
Finally, it’s Movement –
This is where it gets personal depending on your goals, your age, your fitness and how you’re feeling in your physical body on any given day. I have a rough plan for my weekly routine which includes every other day doing functional strength training followed by walking, and in between I do more cardio based activate either hiking Burleigh Hill or a session on my peloton stationery bike or on the weekend, a cross country mountain bike ride.
In recent episodes I’ve spoken a lot about different types of exercise and structuring your weekly routine to optimise strength, cardio, mobility and balance.
It’s up to you to get creative but to keep things simple so they’re sustainable for you – things you can do consistently that meet you were you’re at and fit in with you and your health and lifestyle goals.
Remember, even if you choose no other forms of exercise, at the very least try to get in 8,000-10,000 steps per day of brisk walking which should take you 60-90 minutes on reasonably flat terrain in your local neighbourhood. And if that’s too much in one stint, break it into two – morning and night.
And I’d love for you to include some functional movements and strength training into your routine as well – even if it’s a daily 5-10 minutes of 20 push ups, 20 squats and 20 lunges to start with because of the long term impact it will have on your body composition, mobility and strength.
Keep in mind that 20 of anything per day is 140 per week, 600 per month and 7,000+ per year. So doing a little every day will go a long way – so it’s not crazy but it’s consistent… and you’ll really notice a big difference in how you look and feel in 6-12 months from now when you do this in addition to your daily walking.
So, today I just wanted to zero in on the importance of your morning routine.
I hope you got some helpful insights and tips here that you can take with you and apply into crafting and creating your own winning morning routine for boosting your energy, vitality and longevity.
Thank you so much for reading. Until next time, stay strong and live well!
ZT.
