How to Stay Motivated to Work Out
We are now two months into 2022, and your fitness resolutions may already be facing a slump. In fact, research shows that 80% of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by February. So how do you stay motivated to maintain your fitness not only through February, but through the entire year? Whatever the reason you decided to get into shape, what will motivate you in the time between initial inspiration and accomplishment? Sometimes it’s easy to spark the desire, but keeping that momentum going can be a real challenge. Here are some tips on how to gain and maintain workout momentum. Make...
How To Create a Fitness Program in 5 Steps
Physical activity is important to living a healthy life, as it can reduce your risk of chronic disease, improve your balance and coordination, improve your sleeping habits, and help with anxiety and depression. However, you may not know how to start working out effectively. As with anything in life, it always helps to start with a plan. Here’s how you can design your own fitness program in 5 easy steps. 1. Assess Your Fitness Level Before you start anything, be honest with yourself. Where is your fitness level? You probably have a general idea of how fit you are, but how do...
What’s More Important For Weight Loss: Diet or Exercise?
So you want to lose weight, but all of your previous attempts have gotten you nowhere. Or you may have succeeded in losing some weight quickly, only to regain it just as fast. Maybe you’ve tried both exercise and dieting, but aren’t sure which is more effective. While both diet and exercise are important contributors to weight loss, cutting calories promotes weight loss more effectively than increasing exercise. It's generally easier to lower your calorie intake than it is to burn more calories through increased exercise. Importance of Diet Weight loss is generally 80% diet and 20% exercise, and the science seems to...
What Can A Personal Trainer Do For Me?
If you’ve never worked with a personal trainer before, the idea of paying someone to help you workout may sound ludicrous. Why pay someone more when you can workout at the gym by yourself for a cheaper gym membership? Or even at home for free? But ask yourself, have you ever really gotten the results you desired from working out on your own? Do you have trouble sticking through with a consistent workout? Do you make every best effort to exercise on a regular schedule, only to find yourself slacking off? Working with a personal trainer provides so many benefits that...
5 Yoga Poses To Improve Your Well-Being
Yoga is a great practice to add to your exercise routine as it provides many benefits. Not only does yoga provide physical benefits, like improving muscle tone, flexibility, and balance, but it also helps you relax and reduce stress. Research has shown that yoga can also reduce anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, improve sleep, and enhance overall well-being. We’ve gathered six simple poses that can easily be added to your workout routines. 1. Easy Pose (Sukhasana) How to do it: On your yoga mat, sit cross-legged with your hands resting on your knees, palms up. Keep your spine as straight as possible. Push...
How To *Actually* Get Motivated To Workout
When most people think about motivation, they think it’s getting yourself “pumped up” or excited to do something. But you may have found that it’s difficult to motivate yourself to do something you don’t feel like doing—especially if it’s something you haven’t tried or succeeded at before. If you’ve previously tried and failed to find motivation to workout, you know that reading inspirational quotes or watching “motivational” videos doesn’t always work. This is because boosting motivation doesn’t work like that. We have the misconception that motivation leads to action, when in fact, taking action is what actually increases motivation. Wait what? This...
Why Core Strength Is More Important Than You Think
When most people hear “core” in fitness, they think that means six-pack abs. And while having a six-pack would undoubtedly be a great fitness achievement, true core strength goes beyond just the aesthetics of abs. When we talk about strengthening the core, we’re not just talking about abs. Those front-facing ab muscles on your lower trunk are just one side of your box-shaped core. We’re talking about all of the muscles that make up your trunk or midsection. Your core includes the ab muscles in the front, the lower back muscles, your glutes in the back, your diaphragm on top, and...
Healthy For Life: Women’s Fitness Goals For Every Decade
Fitness For Life March is Women’s History Month, so we want to dedicate this post specifically to womens’ fitness. No matter what your age is, exercise and fitness should be part of your daily routine. “Staying fit reduces the risk factors of heart disease,” says Jennifer H. Mieres, director of nuclear cardiology and an assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine. “By exercising regularly, you can also control cholesterol, weight, blood pressure, and stress.” Fitness can become a lifetime habit if you develop good exercise habits when you are young. However, it’s never too late to start. While maintaining your...
5 Tips To Prevent Workout Injuries
No one at the gym wants to get injured while working out. Injury prevention is a crucial component of exercise, yet it is one of the most overlooked. Without learning the proper precautions or seeking guidance from a fitness professional, you may be opening yourself up to more injuries that could interfere with your fitness journey. Whether you’re a beginner or a fitness expert, it’s always a good idea to refresh your knowledge of injury prevention. Here are 4 ways to prevent injuries when working out: 1. Get A Good Night’s Rest A good workout can start long before you even hit the...
4 Tips For Keeping Your Fitness New Year’s Resolution
Now that we’re a little ways into January, how are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? You know the drill: hundreds of people make fitness-related resolutions for the New Year, start out strong by working out a lot at the beginning of January, before giving up after a few weeks. The top reasons that most people give up on their New Year’s fitness resolutions are: Setting unrealistic goals Feeling intimidated to work out in public Having no one to hold them accountable Difficulty in forming new habits How can you ensure that you will maintain the motivation to keep your resolutions throughout...