No one talks about general health, because it’s not sexy. Let’s change that. From here on out, we’re objectifying the immune system.
In this article, I’m going to do something unheard of; bring sexy back. And by bringing sexy back, I mean I’ll convince you why boosting immune function is the sexiest thing you can do in our day and age, as well as how to attain an immune system someone would be crazy not to swipe right on.
Why Immune Systems Are Sexy
We’ve all heard the saying, “The best offense is a good defense.” And, although the KC Chiefs proved that statement false, it still holds merit. Especially when it comes to health.
Let’s say your muscles are your offense, and your internal functions are the offense, it doesn’t matter how much you can lift, how fast you can sprint, or even how many likes your most recent Instagram selfie got, if your defense is subpar then the offense won’t be able to stay in the game.
The immune system is responsible for protecting us against diseases and other foreign bodies. When healthy, it helps to keep us on track for success.
A high-functioning immune system equals bragging rights.
When everyone at work comes down with a cold, those with a bulletproof immune system remain stalwart, plugging away and grinding toward their dreams.
After the others have succumbed to ailments and therefore can’t get in their workouts, you, the vigilant warrior, drink your pre-workout and (responsibly) scoff in the face of viruses. That puts you one step and twenty sets ahead of the competition. And in the life-long game of aesthetics and longevity, every set and rep counts toward a win.
Draft is in session. You’re already stacked on offense. Now it’s time to bolster your defenses. Here’s how:
Sleep and Immune Function
The whole 4-6 hours of sleep routine needs to stop. I touch on just how imperative it is to get quality sleep in our article for Sleep Support, so if you want all the information regarding the many functions sleep plays in our everyday health go check it out.
Sleep plays just as powerful a role in immune function as it does in other areas too. When you sleep, your body produces these nifty proteins called cytokines. These cytokines promote healthy sleep. Your body needs to produce more to help with infection and inflammation. Sleep deprivation might lead to a decrease in these cytokines. Suboptimal, to say the least.
Studies have shown that individuals who don’t get enough quality sleep are more likely to get exposed to a virus, like the cold. Furthermore, less sleep can make it so it takes longer to recover from sicknesses.
I’m not a big fan of the whole “Be a Lion” trends that go around, but when it comes to sleep, well…sleep like a freaking lion. Who knows, you might just have to defend your territory at some point, and it’s not easy to do that when a cold gets you down. Plus, lions are majestic AF.
Immune Health: Eat Right
This should go without saying. But, I’ll say it anyway. Eat the right foods. Junk foods laden with sugar have been shown to have an adverse effect on the immune system.
To go back to my defensive line analogy, think about it this way. You wouldn’t feed your star Free Safety nothing but fast food and pastries, then tell him to go and shut down Patrick Mahomes…okay, you wouldn’t ask anyone to shut Mahomes down because he’s a freak. That’s beside the point. If you want a defensive line firing on all cylinders, you feed it accordingly.
These foods are all great options for boosting immune function:
- Citrus Fruits: Vitamin C. You know how important it is.
- Red Bell Peppers: Citrus Fruits are like Eli Manning; they get more press because of how many super colds they’ve beaten. But peppers are Peyton. Not as much recognition, but ten times better.
- Broccoli: Because what isn’t broccoli good for (not counting taste buds)
- Garlic: Ever heard of allicin? Yeah, me neither. But it contains a lot of sulfur which has a ton of immune-boosting properties. Plus, garlic is delicious.
- Spinach: Not only is it rich in Vitamin C, it’s also packed with antioxidants and beta-carotene. Both of which may improve our immune system’s infection-fighting skills. You know, like a level-up.
- Almonds: Rich in Vitamin E, another potent vitamin when it comes to boosting immune function.
- Poultry: For one, protein. For two (and more importantly), chicken is rich in B6, which plays a vital role in red blood cell health.
Exercise Your Immune System
Good news fellow fitness advocates. Exercise boosts your sexy stat (in nerd circles, we’d call that stat Charisma) in several ways. You know about its effect on your overall aesthetic, but it also benefits brain function, heart function, and all sorts of other functions. But this is about building an immune system worthy of 1000+ IG “likes” so we’ll limit it to that.
- Regular exercise improves cardiovascular system, therefore improving blood circulation. Better blood flow means more efficient transportation of oxygen and vital nutrients to the cells that need them.
- Regular movement is beyond important for what’s called the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, a major part of your immune system, also plays a vital role in blood circulation. Here’s the thing though, unlike your circulatory system, it doesn’t get any assistance from your heart to pump. It relies solely on movement to distribute immune cells through the body. Basically, get up and move.
- Increased blood and lymph flow makes it easier for cells to protect you from infection. It also helps them track down and destroy invading germs that have already infected you, like the difference between having a German Shepherd help you track something down versus a yappy rodent, I mean Pomeranian (same thing, right?).
These are great benefits — you know you need to exercise. But let’s be honest, sometimes the gym can suck. It gets crowded. Waiting for a bench is so boring. If the place isn’t cleaned regularly…gross. And, of course, if someone has a cold or something and coughs over everything. Well, that’s just lame.
Don’t worry. Exercise doesn’t need to be done at the gym. Go on a hike. Get out in the wild. Or do home workouts — we’ll be hooking you up with some killer home workouts. There are plenty of options that don’t include gyms.
Immune Boosting Supplement Stack
None of us have the perfect diet. I consider my own diet to be pretty gosh darn efficient (and delicious), but I’m not nearly arrogant enough to believe it’s so on point that I can neglect supplementation. And I’m pretty arrogant.
That’s where supplements come in. We all know how pre-workout can benefit us in our goals, but as I mentioned earlier, this article is all about objectifying the Immune System. And if you really want an immune system that gets 1000+ “likes,” then adding in the right supplements is even more critical than finding that clever inspirational quote everyone’s already used 100 times.
BLACK SERIES Pre-Workout
By now, you’ve all tried our Bucked Up and our WOKE AF. If you haven’t, then where the heck have you been? Our BLACK SERIES pre-workouts have the same key ingredients to provide you with:
- Energy: For Bucked Up, it’s 200 mg of caffeine.
- For WOKE AF, the stim is a crazy 333mg of caffeine, along with Synephrine and Dendrobium
- Pump: Citrulline, AstraGin (to improve Citrulline uptake)*
- Focus: AlphaSize GPC has been clinically shown to increase mental sharpness*
- Endurance: for Bucked up, it’s 2.5g of Beta-Alanine*
- For WOKE AF, it’s 3.2g of Beta-Alanine
- Hydration: Himalayan Rock Salt and Taurine, because believe it or not, hydration plays a critical role in athletic performance,* focus,* energy* and the pump (humans are 70% water, after all)*
What makes the BLACK SERIES truly stand out is that we added a Humic/Fulvic Mineral Blend into the formula. Together, these mighty ingredients can aid in detoxification as well as improve nutrient absorption.*
Why this matters for immune function: I told you what nutrients to intake to improve immune function. But what happens if your system isn’t making the most of those nutrients? I’ll let you guess on that one.
And as far as detoxification goes, we live in a world filled with heavy metals, free radicals, etc. which can all negatively impact your immune system. I don’t know about you, but the only heavy metal I want anywhere near me is IRON…get it? Because lifting and…whatever.
Fish Oil
If you’ve been around anyone who’s into health and wellness for longer than five minutes without having them tout the benefits of Fish Oil, I’d be surprised. But, in case all your friends are vegans who refuse to believe any animal product has utility, then let me introduce you to your new weapon in the battle against all that is evil — poor immune function, inflammation, lost gains, weight gain.
Rich in Omega-3 Fatty acids, here are just some of the benefits of Fish Oil
- May support heart health: studies have shown that those who ingest lots of fatty fish have lower rates of heart disease.* Not saying correlation equals causation but also…
- May reduce inflammation: Inflammation is your immune system’s way of fighting infection and healing injuries.* It definitely has its place, but chronic inflammation can lead to a whole host of other undesirables. The omega-3 fatty acids found in Fish Oil may help to reduce inflammation.*
- Promotes Healthy Immune Function: Containing a powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin, the fatty acids in fish oil in conjunction with astaxanthin encourages an efficient, sexy immune system.*
Organic Greens
Like mother always said, eat your greens to grow big and strong (Yes, I just used that cliche). Only problem with what mother said is that getting all the benefits from veggies would require more time and energy than any of us have. Which is why no healthy supplement stack is complete without the sweet goodness of greens. We’ve included everything. Except for, you know, that one green that so many of you love (blame the system, not us — we tried).
Organic Greens is packed with a variety of compounds, such as broccoli, wheatgrass, spinach, spirulina, and more. The combination of these ingredients delivers potent health benefits:
- Can help regulate cholesterol,* blood pressure,* and blood sugar levels* — all of which can hinder weight loss goals
- Packed with antioxidants to help fight free radicals to keep you looking and feeling young*
- Natural detoxification agents*
- Has anti-inflammatory properties*
- May help improve strength and delay muscle fatigue* — by combatting oxidative damage to muscles
- Promotes a healthy immune system:* If you aren’t sold on the importance of a healthy immune system by now…you’ve either never turned on the news or have interests in self-sabotage. Just saying.
Whether you want to be a shining example of health and wellness, strive for summer/spring shreds (laws of seasonal physics dictate that winter shreds are impossible), or need to beat your friend in the eternal competition for who can bench the most, Organic Greens can set you on the right path toward achieving those goals.
Multi-Vitamin
The benefits to our Stag (and Doe) multivitamins are well… Stag-gering. (Sorry I couldn’t resist.) Aside from being a full spectrum multi-vitamin, with real dosages of what you need, it is also incredibly bioavailable.*
You won’t find penny-pinching oxide forms of trace minerals here. We only use chelated versions to help promote the body’s uptake of the minerals. However, we’re not here to talk about any of that. We are here to discuss how our multivitamins can help support your immune system during these times of dire straits.
- Zinc: Not just any zinc, chelated zinc, at 100% of your body’s daily required dose. Zinc is crucial in t-cell division. Which translated (by me) in layman’s terminology, basically means more front line soldiers to help protect your body from invasion.*
- Copper: Bioavailable copper (like the kind in Stag!) has been shown to minimize oxidative stress;* which in turn, promotes your body’s ability to deal with real stressors like infectious disease!*
- Selenium: Wasn’t just the name of my industrial steampunk band in high school, but also a trace mineral that loves to fight free radicals (also the name of one of my short-lived bands), especially the free radicals that attack cell membranes.* The cell membrane is like the night club bouncer to your cell. A strong and protected cell membrane promotes a healthy immune system by keeping the rift-raft out. Sorry. You’re not on the list.
Stack this with your foundation of vitamins, iodine, and other minerals. Make Stag a cornerstone in the Immune System Stack. See how well this works by reading Jordan Brooks’ transformation.
Look At That Sexy Immune System!
Nothing is sexier than beating your competition with a rightly streamed Defense — how you like them apples, eighth round Jacksonville drafters?!
Head over to our site and bolster your defense (ahem, click here). And, for a limited time, enter code: MARCHGIFT at checkout to receive some sweet deals.
- Spend $50 receive a variety sampler pack.
- Spend $100 receive variety pack + free hat.
- Spend $200 receive variety pack + Deer Antler Spray
P.S. In case you haven’t heard, all our products are manufactured here in the U.S. So yeah, that’s pretty cool.
IG: loganlpeterson