EXERCISE TIPS

1. Why drive when you can walk and why walk when you can jog?

Every little counts when it comes to exercise. So, when possible, especially in the spring and summer months when the weather is a bit nicer, ditch the car-commute to work and walk instead to get your steps in. Even better than that, jog if your place of work isn't too far away and you have showering facilities once you get there (no one wants to sit next to a smelly sweaty person lol). I have previously had clients who lost weight really easily without trying just because their car was broken so they were forced to walk to work for a few weeks! Walking is a highly undervalued form of exercise and the cumulative effect of moving more will help your fitness goals and weight loss goals.

2. Arrange a meeting/do it for someone else

Whether this is with a PT or a friend, making an arrangement to meet someone to do exercise is a sure-fire way to help you stick to the plan. It gives you some accountability. Along with this, if someone else needs your help to keep them motivated this shifts the emphasis away from you and whether or not you want to, you are there helping somebody else which I’ve seen can also improve the likelihood of you showing up for them!

3. Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Put your exercise equipment, your bottle of water, yoga mat, running shoes at the front door the night before so you are forced to walk past them in the morning before leaving the house. You may be shocked how much of a positive effect this has on you; believe me I’ve tried it!

4. Make things as easy as possible for yourself

By far the number one determiner of whether or not you will stick to your exercise plans is convenience. If you have to drive 20 minutes to get to your gym or if it is in the complete opposite direction from your home when you leave work, then you are way more likely to skip it. So, my recommendation would be to find a gym that is so close to either your work or your home that you are forced to walk or drive past it every day. Feel the guilt ooze through your veins as you go past without going in for that workout lol!! 

5. Find a time that suits you

There are without doubt ‘morning people’ and ‘evening people’ so whichever of these you are then that's when you should fit your exercise in. There is no point, (even with the best intentions the night before), to book yourself onto a 6am bootcamp if you know that when the alarm goes off in the morning you are going to hit that snooze button! On the flip side, if you know that after work you are always really exhausted and just want to get home, then you probably shouldn't book in with a trainer to do 3 evening sessions a week. No one knows you as well as you do, so work with yourself not against yourself. Put simply, if you are a morning person then get up and do some exercise as soon as possible and if you are an evening person then enjoy a nice lie in and then after work get yourself moving before tea!!

6. Find a sport or active hobby that you actually enjoy!

If you are lucky enough to find a sport or leisure activity that gets you moving, then you've won! Exercise is so easy when you find it enjoyable. I don't even think about football or surfing as exercise (even though obviously they are) because I love doing them so much! This is the best exercise hack of them all! It feels like cheating. It's that effective.

7. Why sit on a chair when you can be balancing on a Swissball!?

These days lots of our jobs unfortunately involve a lot of sitting, it's just a fact of life. We have become more sedentary. If you are lucky enough to have a job that is still somewhat laborious then this obviously helps with energy output. However, if you are someone who sits for 8 hours at work 5 days a week which is a lot of people then I suggest having a Swiss ball (often referred to as an exercise ball) as your seat. This way at least you can have a sway around with your hips and have a bounce and a balance while you sit. Using these balls have been shown to help improve core muscle activation and posture. As I have previously stated, even the smallest changes over time can make a big difference.

8. Every little counts

See that lift/escalator? Ignore it and take the stairs!!! This is as much a mindset thing as it is anything else. Getting into the habit of doing the things that take slightly more effort and energy is a really positive space to find yourself. These days we have so many products, inventions etc that make life far easier for us all. If we want to get food, we can order it and have it delivered. We even have buttons on our car now that will close the boot for us, so we don't have the bother of shutting it ourselves! Fight against this new convenient yet lazy world!

I understand that some of these suggestions won't work for you and I'm not suggesting to try and do them all! But even if just one of these suggestions could be implemented into your day-to-day life that will help you improve your exercise expenditure which is a really positive thing for us all to do for our health and fitness.