Are you terrified of cold water in the shower? Yeah, so was I. Just like the rest of us, everyone all over the world who has access to good water and a bathroom to bathe in likes to be in warm to hot water. I’m absolutely positive that there are some parts of the world that do not have access to hot water and they are stuck showering with cold water so believe me it is possible to get through it. And, my friends and fellow readers, we will be talking about intermittent showers today and what effect that has on fat loss, muscle toning and all-around detoxification.
A while back I read a good book that talked a lot about the different things we can do to achieve a healthier lifestyle. This included losing weight, if you were not already within the weight guidelines for your height and body build, as well as many other factors that contribute to being fit and healthy with the help of exercise and healthy, nutritious food.
If you like to exercise, chances are you like to take a cold shower once in a while to get the edge off after a really good workout. There’s nothing like the shooting cold water hitting your boiling skin that’s completely beaded up with sweat. This is particularly good for the recovery of your muscles and serves as a great post workout activity. It’s recommended that you don’t jump in the shower directly after a workout that way you can breathe it out and bring your heart rate back down to a normal pulse. I used to think it was perfectly fine to jump directly into a cold shower right after work out without even taking a breath. From my experience, I feel much better if I wait 10 to 15 minutes after a workout to hop in the shower. As I increase my activity and read through this book, I find myself craving a cold shower more often than not.
With that being said, I got to the part of the book that discussed the benefits of switching up the temperature every few minutes while in the shower. Switching from hot to cold water and cold to hot water in timely intervals. It doesn’t have to be timed and you don’t need a stopwatch, you can just do it off the top of your head spending a couple seconds with one temperature and a few seconds with another. In the beginning, it was extremely hard for me to get accustomed to it. Especially for the times that I was showering unrelated to work out.
When your body is not worked up, getting sprayed down with freezing cold water is not particularly appealing or fun it can actually be a bit dreadful. Little by little, I increased the amount of time I spent with each temperature. I began with just a few seconds because I could not handle the cold water hitting my skin. It made me uncomfortable and it made me swell up with goosebumps. Of course, any average Joe or Jane would say that that is absolutely normal because our bodies are not meant to be an extreme weather’s. But I wanted to test myself and see how far I can push my body’s limits.
The same way it’s important to increase each workout to push your abilities, I genuinely feel the need to do this in all aspects of my life. If you push yourself to do something you would never think you could actually do, you would be surprised with all you can actually accomplish on your own. Something as simple as intermittent showers can be absolutely life-changing! It’s a habit that all should strive to have because it actually brings a sense of peace mentally after taking a shower. I would not recommend laying in a bathtub full of ice cubes and cold water because, hey, that’s just not my thing. Some people love to do that after a good run but I’m just not that type of runner or that type of whatever you’d like to call it. Just don’t ever expect me to get into a bathtub full of ice cubes and freezing cold water. Ever. That’s why intermittent showers works for me because it’s alternating the temperatures while in the shower and if you start to freeze to death, you can always switch back to hot water and burn for a little bit till you need to desperately switch back to the other temperature.
It’s pretty cool to see my body change overtime of having started to incorporate intermittent showers into my active and healthy lifestyle. I have noticed three things that have been extremely life-changing and beneficial to my overall health while in the process of becoming a habitual intermittent shower believer. Can I call it that? Yep. I’m calling it that.
Fat Loss
I’ve been working on losing weight since made 2012 and, thus far, I have lost approximately 116 pounds of filthy fat. I think I can officially say goodbye to it forever and hope to God that I never end up where I was before. Actually I can guarantee that I will never end up where I was before because my relationship with God has taken me to new levels as it relates to my health and fitness. Cutting out sugar and flour is one thing but following through with healthy habits is another one. It’s been a long-standing battle to lose the weight. I’m still pushing forward, too. Sometimes you got to push harder and when it comes to pushing harder you have to be willing to break down barriers. In order to break down barriers in my life, I had to stop focusing solely on the no sugar and no flour part of my life and work on my activity level because I had none. I was not getting as much exercise as I should have been throughout the beginning portion of my weight loss journey. It slowly but surely came to me that although I have been hearing for years that 80% healthy food and 20% fitness was the absolute only way to lose weight, I needed to be even more active and include more exercise in order to achieve my goals at a faster pace and keep the weight off. I incorporated essential oils and running. I’ve also made habits such as drinking a morning detox tea, which I will be talking about a little bit later this month. It’s fresh and wholesome and it doesn’t come from the store or an online website. I truly believe in everything homemade and all-natural. When it comes to something as simple as switching the temperatures in intervals while in the shower, what the hay! What do you have to lose? I started incorporating the intermittent showers in my daily life only for the days that I would work out. I started working out once a week and going out for a run. I would come back inside the house sweating bullets and I would always crave a cold shower. Little by little, I begin incorporating higher temperatures in my post workout showers. I could feel the difference in my muscles directly after a shower and even for several days after. I could swear I was losing more weight than usual and I was. With all things considered, I attribute my fat loss to my entire lifestyle but there are pieces of the puzzle that must go together and I believe fully that intermittent showers is a piece of that difficult puzzle.
Clear Skin
As time went by, I lowered the temperatures more every day showers regardless of having worked out or not. I felt like my skin was getting tighter and became brighter right out of the shower. I use my ultimate face cleanser each day to clean my face. You can read a little bit more about that here where I talk about how I do not wash my face with soap anymore and haven’t done so in the last 2 to 3 years. That keeps my face pretty healthy and clear but the intermittent showers have really cleared up my pores both on my face and my back, which used to have the occasional blemish or black head. There’s just something about sealing the pores at the end of the shower, as well as during, that cleans your pores so well that he can keep it shiny, bright and cleaner than ever.
Shiny Hair
I’m absolutely obsessed with my hair and I’m sure you can tell if you read my blog on a daily or weekly basis. Even if you read it once a month, I can assure you you’ll hear something about hair care. Intelligent showers have made my hair much healthier! Sealing the cuticle of my hair with really cold water has done miracles for my scalp and my hair. I get compliments all the time now that my hair looks shiny, healthy and soft rather then greasy, oily and dull. You bet I can attribute these extra benefits from having incorporated intermittent showers into my every day life.
This new custom in my life has brought three wonderful benefits that I didn’t expect or foresee one again switching up the temperatures for bath time. I have smoother and healthier skin, my hair is less or oily, softer and shinier and the best part of all is that it has increased my ability to burn fat all while taking a shower.
How can those three benefits I just discussed improve your overall health and lifestyle? I’m sure that sucking it up and putting on your big girl panties to add some cold water to your shower here and there won’t be all that bad after all. Sometimes you need to see the bigger picture and not see the short-term discomfort that life can bring you. Sometimes that moment of pain can bring years of wisdom and achievement.
Don’t sell yourself short for being unable to do things you didn’t know you were able to push through and accomplish. Intermittent showers have been one of those battles in my life. It’s helped me understand that my body can do much more than I believe it to. I can push past fears such as freezing to death for me a few minutes.
Are you willing to take the plunge? Will intermittent showers be a game changer for you? It certainly is for me and I’m sure it will be for you, too. Don’t forget to let me know your progress if you’ve chosen to try out intermittent showering. I just can’t wait to hear all the testimonials of the benefits that intermittent showers can provide.
If you’ve noticed any other benefits other than the three that I listed here on this post, please feel free to leave that in the comments so that others may see optimal benefits, as well as my family.
XO
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