5 things you NEED to do daily to improve your performance.

We all want to feel better, have more energy, feel stronger and more capable, look better and be more confident. 

We can achieve all of those things and more in many different ways. 

These 5 things are the 5 most important elements of everyday life that if you implement well, will have you achieving pretty much anything you want. 

Fat loss, strength gains, increase in energy, toned muscles, great skin, more confidence and everything else in between. 

GET A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP

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We all know how good sleep is. 
Not just because we have felt it ourselves, but because there have been a ridiculous amount of research done on the topic. 

And even though there is still a lot more to learn, we know for a fact that sleep is 1 of (if the number 1) most important requirements for good health. We definitely put it up at number 1.

There is plenty of proof highlighting the benefits of getting high quality and plenty of sleep, so let’s list a few::

  1. Our bodies REPAIR themselves when we sleep. Enough high quality deep sleep equals higher level of repair, growth and rejuvenation
  2. Increased COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE. Meaning that after a good nights rest, our brains are better functioning, we remember more and we perform better.
  3. Decreasing risk of HEART DISEASE & WEIGHT GAIN, can be linked to sleep deprivation. So by getting enough, high quality sleep each night, you are decreasing your chances of gaining weight and you’re keeping your heart healthy.
  4. Research shows that athletes who sleep on average less than 8 hours sleep per night have 1.7x GREATER RISK OF BEING INJURED than those who get 8+ hours of sleep.
eep listing benefits of getting more high quality sleep. There is no doubt that we can k
The question is.
ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH?
Track your sleep for the next 3 days and let’s see how much sleep you average and add 30 mins to it each day.

STAY HYDRATED

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When it comes to the importance of hydration, water comes a very close second to sleep. 
For the average adult, our bodies are made up of approximately 60 – 70% water (depending on age and other variables). 

What a lot of people think about water, they know it’s important, they just don’t really know why. So let’s take a look:

  1. It PROTECTS your tissues, spinal cord and joints.
  2. It ASSISTS in waste production and removal
  3. It aids DIGESTION
  4. It is part of the chemical make up of EVERY CELL IN OUR BODY
  5. It assists in NUTRIENT TRANSPORT to tissues
  6. It helps with our body’s ability to REGULATE TEMPERATURE
  7. It makes up approx. 73% of your BRAIN and HEART, 83% of your LUNGS, 64% of your SKIN, 79% of your MUSCLES and KIDNEYS and 31% of your BONES. 

So all of a sudden, when you stay hydrated, you’re not just “drinking 2L of water per day” because it’s healthy.

You’re protecting and lubricating your spine and joints, you’re helping to digest food and remove waste, you’re transporting nutrients around your body to keep you energised and healthy.

And it keeps your body at the right temperature. 

So, why wouldn’t you put the effort in to stay hydrated? 
It would be silly not to.

EAT WELL, EAT OFTEN

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Food is probably the most obvious one, and it sits at number 3 for a reason. 
It’s high on the list because it is vital for, not only our survival, but our ability to grow and be energised. 
It does sit below sleep and hydration, because our bodies are pretty spectacular things. We can survive for a while with little to no food. However, we’re not talking about survival. We want to GROW, THRIVE and CHALLENGE OURSELVES.

And pretty much the only way to do that, is to eat well & eat often. 

It’s really that simple. 

Eating well, is specific to you, your body, your needs, your tastes, your opportunities and your goals. We are all very smart and we know that there are plenty of bad foods out there that we shouldn’t be eating. 

Instead of going into depth on nutrition, here is 1 simple and effective piece of advice to implement into your eating habits. 

Study yourself. 
Don’t just make random excuses to explain why you can or can’t eat something. 
Use yourself as a research project and figure out what boosts your energy, what makes you feel like crap, what makes you perform better when you have it before training and what helps you recover after. 

The most important part of a good research project, is the documentation. 
So choose a part of your diet that you would like to study, implement it for 30 days, and record your findings. 

It is a far more effective way to achieve your goals than doing crazy fad diets and challenges.

And if you want some feedback, send us a message and we’ll either help you make changes to help or pass you on to a dietician we trust that can help.
Good luck

MOVE IT OR LOSE IT

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This one is why we’re here. 
Why we made a decision to get up and start moving again.

The world is littered with the talk of “exercise” and movement for a major purpose.

“WEIGHT LOSS”
It will contribute, but that’s not the only or even a major reason that we need to move.

We need to move because our muscles, bones, ligaments and all of the other tissues that make up our bodies need to move so that they don’t deteriorate. 

When we stop moving, our muscles go through a process called muscular dystrophy, which is where muscle tissue wastes away due to inactivity or disease. 

So the saying “MOVE IT OR LOSE IT” is quite literal and quite correct. 

The other benefits of movement are:

  • Neural stimulation – The more you move, the more your BRAIN & NERVOUS SYSTEM lights up. And it loves it. 
  • Psychological effects – When we exercise, we produce hormones that MAKES US FEEL GOOD. Endorphins are one that we hear a lot about. It is literally a sign that we have developed through evolution to tell us to keep doing it. 
  • Increase in STRENGTH, MOBILITY & CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS – The obvious ones. 
  • Social effects – We feel better, get rid of excess energy that was making us frustrated and anxious and it helps relieve depression. Basically IT MAKES US BETTER PEOPLE TO HANG OUT WITH. And when we’re feeling good, we tend to make others feel good. So we end up building better and stronger relationships. 

If you have goals (weight loss, strength gains, fitness, flexibility, etc.), then everything that we have said above will contribute to your success. And now that you know more, you have even stronger reasons to MOVE WELL AND MOVE OFTEN.

BUILD & MAINTAIN FULFILLING RELATIONSHIPS

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After we’ve had a great sleep, we’ve hydrated, eaten well & moved around however we choose, we look at the people that are close to us. 

Human beings have survived, thrived and become the strongest and most dominant animal on the planet for 1 main reason. 

We have the ability to create strong bonds between large groups of us.
This means that we have people around us that build us up, love us, protect us and bring certain knowledge and skills to the relationship that we didn’t or couldn’t. 

So, when you have great people around you, who build you up, challenge you and make you feel great. Then you have ticked off the 5th and final element of great health. 

Notice, how relationships (including family) come after the first 4 (you). 
Because, just like the safety procedure on an aeroplane. 
You have to look after yourself first, then you can help others. 

You can’t help others if you’re sick, tired and your body is wasting away. 

If better health and increased performance is something that you want, just focus on these 5 things, in this order. 
1 – Sleep (YOU)
2 – Hydration (YOU)
3 – Food (YOU)
4 – Movement (YOU)
5 – Relationships (OTHERS)

2019-03-14T12:56:48+11:00

About the Author:

Denee Lalouette
A UFT PLAYground is a place that people of all shapes, sizes and ages learn to develop their movement abilities through an infinite learning and development program. UFT PLAYgrounds have been created to re-inspire our natural ability to move, create, adapt, re-act, connect, have fun and of course PLAY. PLAYgrounds have been developed to allow people to feel and explore their own abilities by utilising a multidimensional, infinite, creative and PLAYful approach to training. We live in a world full of specialists and obsessions. At an ever increasing rate, people are specialising more and more, in their jobs, in their businesses, in their sport and in their training. The result, is a backward step in human evolution. By specialising, we limit ourselves to thinking that 1 particular way of doing things is the right way, or the only way. We promote creativity, not only in movement and training methodologies but in thinking in general. A UFT PLAYground is created to provide the general public with an opportunity to PLAY across multiple styles of training and moving, to be able to progress in the training methods that they become passionate about or that excites them and to be a part of a community that promotes more than just fitness. The “fitness” industry above all others has brought about a need to specialise in order to achieve anything, and majority of what we do for “fitness” is for an aesthetically pleasing reason. We understand that aesthetics are nice and we too love to look and feel good. However a UFT PLAYground is developed to allow people to move better than ever before across a broad range of training methodologies and ideas. Aesthetics, therefore are a result not a goal of that system. We know that “If you train to look good, you will not always enjoy what you do, but if you PLAY a lot, and do the things that you love, you will ending up looking good”. Aesthetics should be a result not a goal. For years now, we have recognised that the best movers on the planet are children. They are flexible, mobile & fit, they have better relative strength than a typical adult (and even most adolescents), they are the best creators and innovators, they learn faster, the adapt better, they interact better with other people, they are more connected to nature and most importantly, they PLAY more than anyone else. As adults, we tend to believe that because we are taller and more experienced in “life”, we are better, and then we get to an age that says we are “too old to PLAY”. As we grow taller (and in a lot of cases rounder), we experience things that inhibit our ability to move, think and not think. We allow our experiences to limit our abilities as humans, whether it be a physical injury, a story that we heard or a youtube video that we watched. We also allow our emotions to control our behaviour because of our past experiences. Maybe it was the feeling of humiliation when we tried something new, regret when we failed or heart break when it was taken away from us. Because of this, we allow our experiences to control our future instead of learning from them and creating our own . This is what UFT PLAYground’s are built on. The understanding that we as humans need to go back to the way things were before our negative experiences took over our subconscious mind and body. A UFT PLAYground gives people the ability to re-learn what they have lost, as well as develop new sets of skills that will allow them to follow any particular passion that they uncover in PLAYtime. When we PLAY, we are simply, exploring. Through exploring we become curious and through curiosity we become obsessed or passionate about a particular thing. This is why in a PLAYground we allow people to PLAY across a broad range of training systems (minimum of 3), Through this system they are able to identify 1, their current limitations and be educated on how to overcome them, and 2, identify their passions and learn to develop, grow and excel in them. UFT PLAYgrounds are also a development centre for up and coming entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. Each PLAYground founder will have been trained and will be continuously trained in UFT’s Trainer Success System. This system allows personal trainers, coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. to continue to develop in their fields of specialty (as they play they will find it) and in the philosophy of PLAYtime. They will also be trained in the business systems of UFT in order to have their own successful and profitable business. See UFT Trainer Success System for more details.

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