Your SLB practice comes with a ton of small perks, like stress management, better sleep, lifted glutes, and an overall healthy body, which add up to a more radiant, gorgeous you. In my opinion, the ultimate outcome of any fitness program is feeling GREAT in your skin. So many of you ask me how I look so “young” (THANK YOU) and I really do have to credit SLB and a healthy diet, of course.
We all know that our overall health radiates from the inside out. Exercise has been shown to not only keeps us fit, and strong but to have a cascade of positive effects that benefit our bodies in many ways:
Exercise Increases Sex Drive, Sex Hormones and Feelings of Attractiveness.
Do you feel sexy? You should - you deserve to! SLB not only makes you look sexy, it also makes you feel sexy by balancing the body's sex hormone levels, which in turn can improve the appearance of hair, skin and muscle tone. The most studied hormones linked to exercise are endorphins, and sex hormones, such as testosterone and human growth hormone HGH — which both get a boost by moving your body. And, remember, testosterone fuels sex drive in both men and women, so this isn’t one-sided.
What’s really interesting is I recently had my hormone panel checked by my friend, Urologist Dr. Joshua Gonzalez here in LA and everything was normal but my testosterone was elevated and I think that SLB could absolutely be why.
You can tailor your workout to produce more testosterone, says C.W. Randolph, MD. cofounder of the Natural Hormone Institute of America and coauthor of In The Mood Again. At SLB we are always doing compound movements and working large muscle groups. Randolph says working large muscle groups — doing things like squats, lunges, dead lifts, bench presses and rows — ramps up testosterone more than single-joint, small-muscle-group movements like biceps curls or triceps extensions. (For more on the sex appeal of good health, see “Faked Fitness”.)
Exercise Improves Skin Tone and Texture.
The Texas Heart Institute reports that a person who exercises vigorously and regularly has lower levels of circulating stress-related hormones, which helps improve the health of the blood vessel lining. Moderate exercise everyday can strengthen the heart and arteries, making the circulatory system more efficient. That improved circulation floods our skin with oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood cells. The results: A healthier complexion with clearer skin with a more healthy coloration. But consistency counts: Researchers at the Institute found that the heart goes back to its baseline strength after just 2-3 weeks off of exercise.
Better Mood
Researchers have been looking into the link between exercise and cognition for several decades. One conclusive and undeniable truth has emerged from these studies: Exercise boosts your mood because it fundamentally changes your brain, both in the moment and over time.
What kind of impact, you ask? For starters, when you exercise, your heart rate increases and your body pumps more oxygen to your brain. That process can affect your overall positivity, as multiple studies have found that a well-oxygenated brain helps manage anxiety and depression. Other studies have found that exercise may help alleviate depression and anxiety overall.
Research has also shown that after 20 or 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins that interact with receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain—meaning you're more likely to feel positive and upbeat during a tough workout. It also releases other mood-enhancing chemicals like serotonin and dopamine that can stick around in your brain for a couple of hours after you exercise (all via Mindbodygreen).
Anti-inflammatory
Breaking a sweat isn’t the only way exercise benefits the skin — it also reduces body-wide inflammation, helps regulate skin-significant hormones and prevents free-radical damage. When you exercise, the tiny arteries in your skin open up, allowing more blood to reach the skin’s surface and deliver nutrients that repair damage from the sun and environmental pollutants. These nutrients also rev up the skin’s collagen production, thwarting wrinkles and help fibroblasts work more efficiently so the skin looks younger.
Better Immunity and Detoxification
Exercise also keeps the lymph system happy. The body has roughly 500 lymph nodes — little nodules of tissue that take out metabolic trash. But the nodes can’t haul garbage to the curb without the help of nearby muscles. When muscles contract during exercise, they put the squeeze on lymph nodes, helping them pump waste out of your system. Result: You look less puffy and polluted.
Less Visceral Fat
Yes, exercise can help you lose your love handles, but it’s the loss of excess fat deep inside the body that boosts your overall vitality and your looks.
The body contains two types of fat. The one you can pinch (subcutaneous) is relatively benign. But the less visible stuff, the visceral fat that pads the abdominal organs like so many packing peanuts, can be a killer. Excess visceral fat fuels low-grade inflammation in the body and is tied to a virtual who’s who of 21st-century ills, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer, breast cancer and dementia. It can also upset the balance of important hormones (more on that to come) that affect your skin, hair and general appearance.
