FloTown Fitness: Eat. Sleep. Move

EAT. SLEEP. MOVE.

story by Brock McCallister, Owner Flo-Town Fitness, Certified Firefighter, Crossfit-L2

Flo-Town Fitness

612 S Irby St, Florence www.flo-town-fitness.triib.com

The three most vital things every person needs are to eat, sleep, and move. Without these three things, we will never be able to have long-lasting success when it comes to our health.

The prescription is very simple, eat unprocessed (fresh) food, sleep 7+ hours per day, and move your body in a way that helps you perform better in your life. The importance of what we eat and drink cannot be overstated. It would be more beneficial for someone to spend 1 to 2 hours each week prepping their food than 4 to 5 hours in the gym. Without the right fuel, our bodies will not perform well, they will not recover, and eventually, they will break down. It is easy to get caught up in diets and calorie counting, but the first box you must check is QUALITY.

We need protein and fats from eating meat, eggs, fish, and legumes (beans). This helps us maintain a healthy amount of lean muscle and is what will tide you over until the next meal.

We need carbohydrates from potatoes, rice, veggies, fruit, and oats. These are the fuels that we can run off of throughout the day. They Are easy for our body to digest and will give us quick energy that if used will not be stored by our bodies. Also, we get vital vitamins and minerals from all of these sources.

If I were to have someone pick one thing to get right, it would be what they eat. This will have the most drastic and longest-lasting results. Now to tackle sleep, most people do not get enough of it. We need 7+ hours of sleep and depending on what you do for work, lifestyle, and age, you may need more! When we do not get enough sleep it has very adverse effects on the body. It causes memory issues, trouble concentrating, mood swings, poor motor skills (clumsy), increases risk of diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, and low sex drive. As you can see sleep affects almost everything that we do and depending on your age you may need even more sleep. Someone seventeen or less needs 10+ hours, eighteen and over needs 6 to 10 hours. Plain and simple, we need sleep to recover and be ready to be at our best, day in and day out. Lastly, we have MOVE. Everyone's life requires different things, if you work at a daycare, you need to be able to focus on multiple things at one time and pick up kids without injuring yourself. If you are a firefighter, you need to be able to go from 0 to 100 very quickly, carry/drag heavy loads, and be able to recover, so you can do it all again. If you are 70+, you need to be able to get on and off “the pot”, change your clothes, carry in the groceries, and do all of this safely. Your exercise should reflect these demands, which for most people it is similar. You need to train to lift things properly and gradually get stronger, you need to maintain or improve your flexibility, and improve your coordination/balance. All of these carry over to LIFE, not what you see in the mirror. Perfect these things and you will set yourself up for success. Eat fresh food, sleep 7+ hours per night, and move to improve your ability to to perform work.