March 2022

‘If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.’ – Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S Navy Retired)

He goes on to explain, ‘if you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better, If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.’

I literally made my bed as I was writing this post, I hope you did as well.

Three exercises I want to encourage you to perform in the mornings are the glute bridge, cobra, and the child’s pose.

Glute Bridge – Starting off on your back with your knees bent to 90 degrees
With the core engaged, drive through the feet/heels until the hips raise

Glute Bridge: Perform 2-3 sets of the glute bridge for 5-10 seconds each. Repeat as needed! Great for strengthening that posterior chain and keep the back and core strong.

Cobra – starting off on your stomach
Progress to performing a sloppy pushup while leaving the hips on the ground

Child’s Pose – Starting off in four point
Progress to sitting back onto heels as you reach forwards for a stretch in the low back and hips

Cobra –> Start off on your stomach with your elbows in the pushup position. Progress to push onto straight elbows while maintaining the hips on the ground. Perform 2-3 sets of 5-10 second holds. Encouraging better extension of the spine as well as the anterior core muscles. Great way to start the day counteracting all the sitting we may be exposed to.

Child’s Pose – Start off in four point and as you sit back onto your heels, reach forward. You want to obtain a stretch on both the glutes/hips along with the low back lats on the sides of the mid back. Pro tip: move both hands to one side to increase the stretch on the side you’re deviating away from. Perform 2-3 sets of 15-30 second holds each.

Mom was born this month. She never nagged me about making my bed, but would encourage me to do so. I realized later in life that this was in order to build my daily discipline and to teach me a lifelong lesson. Mom believed in me to one day change the world, one made bed at a time.

I encourage you to develop a daily routine, even journalling it down.

What is your morning routine?

JZ 03/02/2022