Between the Sheets

If you’d told me that some of the best advice I’d get about what to do between the sheets would come from my grandma, I probably would’ve called you crazy! But that was last week.

This week I know better. What was this advice Granny gave me, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you: sleep with your feet outside the blanket.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like an old-wives’ tale. But it turns out Granny and those Old Wives knew what they were taking about. According to Natalie Dautovich of the National Sleep Foundation, sleeping with one or both feet uncovered may very well allow you to not only fall asleep faster but also to get a better nights’ rest.

Why? Well your feet (and your hands) are biologically designed to help dissipate body heat. So uncovering your feet can channel your body’s heat right out of your body. Dautovich also suggests a warm bath before bed, after which your body will rapidly cool, which in turn primes you for a more restful slumber. Warm beverages tend to have the same effect— which means warm milk before bed really is a good idea.

So get a good night’s rest tonight, and tomorrow call your grandma and thank her!

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Polarized Training

healthy trail running
Attention all endurance athletes! Wanna get more from your cardio? Don’t give it 100%. Instead, give it about 20%

Athletes who repeatedly stress the same energy systems (by using as the common tempo and steady-state runs) generally experience excessive fatigue, hormonal imbalances, appetite loss, and tissue and bone damage.

This is why most elite endurance athletes use polarized training. In polarized training, only one-fifth of total workout time is spent at very high intensity. The other 80% of the time is spent at much lower intensities.

Studies have shown that polarized training leads to greater muscle adaptation as well as a greatly reduced risk of short term and chronic injury to the body than steady-state training.

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Bare Beefcake

So here’s a sexy — and strange— new yoga fusion that you would never have thought of: Yoga meets pro wrestling. Aptly titled “Beefcake Yoga,” this fun new fitness craze was developed by former W.W.E. wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. This fast, ferocious new hybrid, which Page originally called “Yoga For Dudes” was especially designed for men who want all the healthy benefits of this revered Eastern tradition without, as he puts it, “all the namaste bullshit!

Page ditched the flowy music and the fruity Sanskrit names and modified a number of the poses. He added some strength building exercises, stirred it all together and voila, Beefcake Yoga was born. But don’t get it twisted.” This ain’t your Grandma’s yogi!

Exercise Buff can’t wait to bring you our ‘Sexy, Fit, Fun and Naked’ on-line workout version of this workout. So grab your yoga mat and Dare To Go Bare!

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