The day is ending, you had no time or chance to make it to the gym and you’re needing to get a quick one in before bed. Happens to all of us. Most people just call it a day and hope the next day will provide a better opportunity. But not you, you want to get the heart rate going even if its only for 10 minutes.
But doesn’t getting your heart rate going before bed disturb your sleep? That was a theory at one time, however, that has been officially debunked. As long as you aren’t doing an extreme workout an hour before bed, studies have found that a small workout in fact IMPROVES sleep and allows for calorie burn through your sleep.
If you’ve had a stressful day, getting your heart rate and breath going can actually create a calming effect and your stress levels decrease, allowing for a relaxed and deep sleep.
In fact studies have shown improved quality of sleep helps reduce body fat.
Here’s a quick 10 minute workout routine you can do before bed to get the heart rate elevated and increase oxygen to calm the nerves.
- Air Squats
- With your arms out in front of you and back straight, squat down until your butt is slightly below your knees, hold for one second and back up.
- Reps 30
- Bridge Ups
- With your back on the ground, arms at your side, legs bent so that the heels are vertically in line with your knees, use your heels to press into the ground to raise your torso off the ground until your torso and legs are in a straight line. Squeeze the butt for 1 second and slowly drop the torso back to the ground. Reps: 15
- Stationary Lunges
- Standing in one spot, back straight, step 1 leg out far enough that when you squat down on that leg, it ends at a 90 degree angle. Squeezing your butt, for 2 seconds and step back to the start position. Alternating legs as you go.
- Reps 15 each leg.
- Sit ups
- Back on the ground, arms crossed with hands touching opposite shoulders, legs bent at 90 degrees, concentrate on using your ab muscles to pull your torso up until your elbows make contact with your hips and slowly return to ground.
- Reps 20
- Planks
- Hands on the ground, put yourself at the top of a push up position, with your legs, spine and head in straight aligned position, using the your glutes and core to hold for 20-30 seconds.
- Reps. 2 with a 1 minute rest in between.
COOL DOWN stretch to calm the mind, breath and heart.
Sit Indian Style and take some slow, long winded breaths. After about 10 breaths, staying in Indian style position, push your torso forward and reach as far forward with your arms as you can on the ground to stretch those glutes. Hold for 20 seconds. Return to Indian style. Then with arms and hands straight in the air, bend your torso to the left, hold for 20 seconds (while breathing through it), return to starting position, and then bend your torso to the right for 20 seconds. Back to Indian Style. Take some calming deep breaths for 20 seconds. Then stand up and stretch as tall as you can for 10 seconds….
And RELAX….
Enjoy a great night's sleep, and know that you’re burning extra calories while you’re at it!