One area that I’ve tried to sacrifice in my health?

My sleep.

Over the past decade, I’ve experimented and tested out different strategies with my sleep.

Sleeping less.

Sleeping more.

Taking naps.

Sleep tools.

Yet, repeatedly, I’ve found that balance lies somewhere in the middle.

After coaching 100’s of humans in their health & fitness over the past 2 years alone, I’ve seen firsthand how high quality sleep can impact your weight-loss and muscle-building progress more than anything else.

It’s that important.

Yet, most of us have poor sleep hygiene habits.

Today’s issue is a special edition and sneak peek into our 2.0 Accelerator curriculum.

Enjoy the lessons below. 🙂

Lesson: Small hinges move big doors. What’s one small hinge that can move a big door in your health and fitness going into this summer?

Here's Your 5 Minute Friday:

#1 Create a High Performance Sleep Foundation

Sleep is the basis for all life.

Without quality sleep, creating a lean, strong, toned body is challenging.

Nearly every important function happens when we get quality, deep sleep.

So, how much sleep is enough?

More sleep is usually better for those who work out and focus on body composition and/or sports performance.

Aim for 7.5-9 hours of sleep per night.

However, more sleep isn’t always better if you aren’t getting quality sleep.

Deep, uninterrupted sleep is a key characteristic of quality rest.

This can be hard, especially without relaxation practices in place (like deep breathing or meditation).

Don’t bring your day to bed with you.

Let go of what needs to be released mentally and emotionally before going to bed.

Often, we carry our emotions and thoughts to bed with us rather than doing a daily mental and emotional cleanse.

It would be weird if we didn’t shower each day.

However, many of us carry minds filled with unprocessed thoughts and emotions.

Cleanse yourself mentally and emotionally each night and watch your sleep quality skyrocket.

#2.) Design Your Sleep Environment

So, how can you design your sleep environment for success?

Here's a selection of starter tools.

• Create a pitch-dark environment (blackout curtains are a great investment)
• Lower the temperature in your room so it’s cool
• Use blankets and pillows that retain coolness rather than overly hot
• Reduce your exposure to blue light
• Reduce EMF exposure in your bedroom
• Quiet your mind before bedtime (meditation works great).
• Treat your sleeping environment as a sacred space (which it is)
• Remove your phone and turn off any electronics in room
• Respect your inner terrain

(Tips courtesy of Scott Jeffrey from CEOsage.)

The goal of these tactics above isn’t to change everything at once (although you can if you’d like to).

Rather, choose 1 action step from above.

Then, work on integrating this into your life over the next 2-3 weeks until this becomes a part of your life.

Only after that, begin to introduce new upgrades.

Sustainability > perfection.

#3.) Create Your Sleep Routine

A sleep routine should prime you for sleep.

Many of us are harming our minds, damaging our pineal glands, and exposing ourselves to excessive blue light and EMF before sleeping.

Again, there’s no right or wrong.

It's interesting to see how our minds function, especially in the moments leading up to bedtime.

Sleep is considered a sacred practice in numerous cultures, unlike in the West, where it is undervalued.

We live in a society that values our waking time more than our sleeping time.

But our sleep is valuable.

We can also understand ourselves at the deepest level using our dreams and memories to guide us during our waking hours.

While it's not directly related to fitness, it's important to consider for our overall well-being.

Some ancient cultures even thought that our dreams held a greater truth than our physical world.

There may be more truth to this than we realize.

So, decide on your sleep routine.

A few suggestions:

• Reduce all electronics before bed at least 2 hours before you sleep (start with 30 minutes before if this is challenging).
• Turn off all EMF and blue light exposure (blue light glasses are a great investment).
• Create a sleep-evening routine (5-minute meditation and light journaling are great ways to recenter yourself before you enter the sleep realm).
• Reading in the evening has also been shown to help with falling asleep faster.

Decide on 1 habit for your sleep routine and commit to starting this going into this week. 🙂

One Quote To Finish Your Week Strong

It’s not always about doing more.

Rest.

Relax.

Rejuvenate.

- Gabriel

Whenever you're ready, there are three ways I can help you:

#1 Join our free high-performance fitness FB group to get access to dozens of live trainings recorded along with a tight-knit group of leaders who want to get healthy, lean, and strong.

#2 Are you a high achiever who wants to be lean, strong, and lead by example? Apply for private 1:1 coaching and get in the best shape of your life (2-week waiting list).

#3 Want to fuel your fitness curiosity and follow along with the latest findings, insights, and evidence-based practices? Let's be friends on Facebook and Instagram. :)