Summer is around the corner, and we know most of you will want to get a great summer body and keep it during the rest of the year. Or you simply want to get an amazing body, no matter what season it is.
We know changing your habits to more healthy ones can be challenging and sometimes you will really struggle. But one of the best ways to do it is to start your day exercising.
Yes, you might wonder or ask, why should I wake up earlier to work out? But, believe us, starting your day with a nice workout not only hits differently but puts you in a great mood and gives you different energy to go on with your day.
Sometimes, people will say but it’s easier to go to the gym at night, after work. But is it really? How many times you’ll get unexpected plans that will make you choose them instead of the gym? Or maybe you are too tired and end up deciding you don’t want to go to the gym that day or workout at home, and just go directly to bed.
We know that happens, this is why we want to share our most effective strategies so you can change your habits and move towards a healthier life and of course, so you are able to start your day with exercising, instead of ending it with it.
So, once you have decided that this is what you want to do, the first thing to do is for you to create a plan for the week. And to do so, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. First of all, are you going to work out at home or are you going to the gym? Do you work from home or do you work at an office? And also, what time do you start working?
All of this is because you have to set a specific hour to start and if you don’t work from home and don’t work out at home, you’ll have to take traffic into consideration. How much time does it take you to get to the gym, are you going to your office right after it or back home?
Once you have settled the time you are going to work out, having traffic, etc. into consideration, you now have to decide how many days you want to work out. Will you work out from Monday to Friday, or actually the whole week long… or maybe just three days a week.
It’s important to also know what your body can handle. Meaning how fit you are. Depending on how fit you are and how much you can handle you will be able to work out either once a week, three times a week, five or 7 days a week… and it will also determine if you can work out only ten or thirty minutes an hour or even more. It will be up to you and your abilities to choose what you will be able and want to do.
We know that after the planning part, comes the real part and start exercising. And we also know that it is not something hard to achieve. It’s not easy waking up early, especially if it’s winter, for example, when you just want to stay cozy in bed.
In the end, it is fine if maybe you stay in bed one day, if you feel like you need it, take that day off and relax. You might feel bad if you miss one day, but if you really think about it, it probably meant that you needed that day to relax and recharge your energy. We need to listen to our bodies and also not over-push ourselves, because, in the end, it can end up in injuries.
But also, in order to stay motivated, besides the end goal of having a great body, you can create some rewards. For example, you can get a whiteboard and mark what days you work out or not, and if you accomplish one week or the whole month you can reward yourself with a great meal at your favorite restaurant. Or even maybe a little trip to the beach. Or whatever you feel it’s a great reward for yourself.
We just mentioned getting a whiteboard to mark when you work out to reward you. But this way you are also tracking your progress. You don’t really need a whiteboard, you can simply use pen and paper, an Excel spreadsheet, or even an app if you are following the workouts they provide.
It can not only help you to hold yourself accountable but also can help you realize what routines you are followings and which days you are doing them. Monitoring your workout routines will also help you realize if what you are doing is ok with you and your body and if you need to make changes according to your own needs.
You can also hold yourself accountable not only with the help of these trackers but also with a friend. Let them also motivate you, go with you to the gym, if that’s what you do.
Working out doesn’t always mean that you have to be hours in the gym or work out at home either following a routine by a personal trainer or following YouTube videos. Walking is also a great way of working out, especially for those, who probably can’t do workouts that are more extreme. It’s even a great complement to your workout too.
Depending on where you live, you can, for example, have walks at the beach or follow any trails in the mountains. You can do this with your friends too, which will make the process even more fun.
Enjoy nature and your surroundings if you have the opportunity, because it will better up and boost your mood and it’s also a new view to enjoy instead of the four walls of your house or the gym you attend to. You can always choose a new trail, a new mountain, or a new beach to do so you don’t get bored of the same all the time. Discover your city and its surroundings.
This last strategy is more for those who work out at home. As you simply can’t show up at the gym and move everything around like you own the place. You can choose a specific room in your house that you can choose to be your own workout space and if it’s just your living room, then have fun rearranging the furniture to enjoy the workout.
If you have the possibility of having a specific room for your workouts, then maybe invest in a TV to follow routines, look around the internet so you can get inspired on how to decorate it, and also is never bad to invest in new equipment, whether is a treadmill, weights or whatever you know you need to make your routine better and finally achieve your goals.
And of course, getting new activewear can not only make the process more fun but also motivate you to keep working out and feel great with yourself.
All images are from: https://www.freepik.com/
