Need help maintaining workout motivation? Staying in the zone? Losing weight or gaining muscle effectively? Even the best personal trainers were in your position at some point - but they have developed fitness hacks to help them stay on the ball with their fitness goals.
Read our list of fitness hacks and training tips from our own personal trainers - learn how to stay healthy and fit from the best trainers in North York.
1. Choose Music That Gets You in The Zone
Music has the power to move you - so create a playlist that makes you want to push it to the limit and give 110% when you’re moving your body. The right music will allow you to tone out all the noisy brain chatter and lose yourself in your workout - so invest in a good pair of workout earbuds or headphones and immerse yourself in your jams while you work your cans off.
Need some playlist inspiration? Check out Spotify’s Best Workout Playlist 2020.
2. When you can’t make the gym, have a home workout plan
We’re big gym advocates (particularly when you have a personal trainer helping you excel), but there are always days when the gym isn’t an option. Rather than skip your workout, make sure you have a home workout routine in your back pocket.
We’ve outlined a few different home workout routines you can try for both cardio and strength, and with or without equipment. We even have a routine to try at your local playground!
3. You Can Find Weights Anywhere
Don’t have dumbbells at home? No problem...
Full grocery bag? Check.
Canned food? You bet.
Bottle or jug of water? Absolutely.
When you’re creative you can make deadweights out of anything. Have you seen the videos of people squatting while holding their dogs?
4. Use a Fitbit or other tracking tool
Did you get your steps in today?
Having measurable goals helps all of us succeed, and today’s fit technology such as FitBit or Vivosport allows you to gamify your fitness. You can use the milestones provided on devices and related apps to push yourself just a little harder next time and try to set a new personal best.
5. Netflix and Chill? How about Netflix and Workout?
Hey, we all enjoy a little downtime on the couch with our favourite programs. But if you find you’re spending a little too much time there and not enough time moving your body, you can try incorporating a workout into your TV-watching time.
If there’s a show you like to watch that you don’t need to pay full attention to, like a re-run of an old sitcom, put on an episode and perform a workout circuit until the episode ends.
Alternatively, if you’re in a Netflix binge mood, try doing a 5-minute mini-workout between each episode. Then you get all the TV without the guilt!
6. Always take the stairs
Tried, tested, and true. If you have a choice between an elevator and the stairs - take the stairs! Live on the 15th floor of a condo? Even better!
7. Stretch daily
Those of us in our 30s and beyond know that the body isn’t as naturally limber as it used to be. If you’re not keeping your body moving and stretching properly, you’ll soon succumb to soreness and stiffness.
Stretching needs to be a daily activity, whether you work out or not. Without stretching your muscles will shorten and become tight, and you lose your flexibility and range of motion.
So try our 10-minute stretch routine to help make sure your body stays young even as you age (it’s just a number!).
8. Use a calendar? Schedule your workouts
Are you the type to be constantly thinking of what’s coming up in your calendar for work and your social life? If so, try scheduling your workouts. Having a concrete record of a planned workout helps you stay accountable, and block off the time to make it happen.
9. Have a workout buddy
Having trouble staying motivated? Finding a workout buddy who works at the same level as you is a great option. You can workout together, or workout separately and cheer each other on. Apps like Strava allow you to form workout communities with friends and log your workouts so you can keep up with each other’s progress.
10. Commit to 10-minutes every day
Listen - we know you’re not going to be feeling it every day, and your body needs to rest between intense workouts. That being said, that doesn’t mean you should be a couch potato on your off days - your body needs to move daily to stay in prime condition and help reduce your cortisol levels. If you can move your body at least 10 minutes a day and work up a light sweat, you’ll be amazed at how much happier and stronger you feel overall.