Tag Archives: Work-outs

Need some motivation for that morning workout? 

Forget the snooze button; it’s time to wake up and get your sweat on! Multiple studies have shown that morning workouts can lead to eating better, feeling more awake, and having an overall healthier day. But let’s face it—working out isn’t always the easiest task to take on, especially when you have to peel your eyes open and be up before the sun. So, how do you change that? There are some painless ways to trick yourself into making an A.M. routine easier. 

HAVE A GOOD PLAYLIST 

Whether you’re going for a run, hopping on the bike, or pumping some iron, a workout playlist is always a must! Studies have shown that energizing music can heighten your performance and keep your energy up. Choose a music genre that will make you forget what time it is and boost those exercise endorphins. 

PREP YOUR JAVA THE NIGHT BEFORE 

Drinking a black coffee first thing is a great way to start your healthy routine. Instead of taking any unnatural pre-workout supplements filled with ingredients that no one can pronounce, coffee is a simple, healthful option. Make it the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight; in the morning, drop in a few ice cubes. Not only will coffee boost your energy, it also speeds up metabolism and helps aid fat loss. This is a cold brew that is sure to wake you up! 

SPLASH YOURSELF 

When the alarm is going off and you have to drag yourself out of bed, there’s only one thing to do before crawling back in bed—splash your face with cold water. This is an automatic wake up that will get you started and ready for the day. 

FIND A BUDDY 

Everything is more fun when you have a friend to do it with! Find someone to go on runs with, carpool to the gym with, and talk about your progression. It’s easier to have a friend helping you become fit by encouraging each other to keep going—especially on those days that you just feel like saying no. Buddying up and getting social is also one of the overall how to be happier in life! 

PLAN YOUR OUTFIT 

Forget the excuse that you don’t have enough time in the morning! Set out what you’re going to wear for your workout the night before (and to work!) and save yourself from all the fuss. Rather than wasting time rummaging through your closet, having an outfit laid out will make it easier to get dressed and go. 

HAVE SNACKS PREPARED 

If you’re the type of person who knows they can’t start a workout without some fuel in them (because then all you’ll think about is food), make a small snack that will satisfy any cravings. This way, you can actually focus on your workout and it will leave you in less of a starvation mode so that you can control your post-workout appetite!  

HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE 

Drink water before you go to bed, when you wake up, and during your workout. Water will keep you hydrated and energized to get you along. Eight 8-ounces glasses are recommended each day; but if you’re getting a good sweat on, that means to eventually drink more! 

GET TO BED! 

Getting yourself to sleep is a major part of the success of your morning workout. You’ll feel a big difference between getting eight hours as opposed to only five or six. Try to keep to going to bed at the same time each night and limiting the number of distractions (like your phone or TV) going on around you. 

MOVE YOUR ALARM CLOCK 

Set your alarm clock (or phone) so it’s away from your bed; this way, so when it goes off, you have no other option but to get up and turn off the alarm. Instead of going back to bed, stretch your body and start your morning routine. Tip: change the tone of your alarm clock to some music that’ll pump you up to get your energy going right off the bat! 

START SLOW BUT STEADY 

If you’re not used to getting up early in the morning for a workout, start slow and go for light jogs or some movement on the elliptical. Get your body used to moving that early so that it starts to feel like you’ve always been doing it. Eventually, you’ll start feeling more awake and ready to challenge yourself. Just like there are lots of bad habits that make you fat, there are good habits that make you thin over time! 

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT 

Instead of sticking to the same routine each day, set up something new to do a few times a week. You can start looking forward to trying out these new workouts—and maybe even find what fits you best and that you can’t wait to wake up and do! 

LOOK FORWARD TO BREAKFAST 

Make a post-workout breakfast that makes the sweat all worth it! Go for something full of nutrients like avocado on Ezekiel toast, a veggie omelet, or a morning smoothie. Avoid a breakfast high in sugar and simple carbs (i.e. cereal), and stick to ones with a good protein intake and healthy fat (eggs and avocado or oatmeal and chia seeds). 

MAKE FRIENDS 

If you start going to the same studio or gym, find a familiar face that you see often. You can catch up on what’s going on and look forward to hearing what’s new the next time you seem them. 

PEP TALKS 

Keep reminding yourself how good you’re going to feel after and how amazing your body will look if you keep it up. You are your best motivation! 

THINK ABOUT IT 

During your workout, keep your mind on what you’re doing and not what you have going on the rest of the day. And when you’re not in workout mode, think about all the amazing benefits that are going to come out of creating a morning workout routine. This could lead to you eating cleaner, feeling more awake, and living an overall healthier lifestyle. 

…BUT DON’T OVERTHINK 

There are some days you’re going to wake up more tired than other days—and that’s okay. Take a day off, if and when you need it. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to injuries, stress, and exhaustion. It’s worth it to listen to yourself and your body’s needs! 

SET A GOAL 

Make a calendar of where you want to be in the next few weeks, months, and years. Not just for your goal weight, but your entire life. Make small changes that turn into big ones as the time goes on. Keep track of it and on the days that you feel down, show yourself how far you’ve come and what amazing things you can accomplish! 

REWARD YOURSELF 

If you’ve been consistently waking up each morning and reaching the goals you’ve set for yourself, you deserve a reward for all the hard work! Buy a new workout top or tickets to a band you’ve been anxious to go see. And if you are eating healthier too—we think you will be! 

Follow these experts’ tips to skyrocket your results. 

You’re serious about looking and feeling great. You’re determined to make your workouts count. You load up a carefully curated playlist, fight your busy schedule to get to the gym, and resist every urge to skip those one or two exercises you never seem to find comfortable. Well done! But an optimal workout doesn’t end there. 

Knowing when and how to fuel your body to meet your fitness goals is the most important thing you can do for your workouts beyond showing up at the gym. With the help of nutrition experts, we created a list of five rules you should follow to exponentially improve your results. 

Run Hungry… 

Whether we want to bulk up or slim down in the gym, looking leaner is a nearly universal goal. According to holistic health coach Seth Santoro, the best strategy for lowering body-fat percentage is to work out soon after waking up. “Hit the gym and do some treadmill sprints on an empty stomach to burn fat,” he says. “Your body is already in a calorie deficit, and it will ignite your body’s fat-burning ability.” Glycogen levels are depleted during sleep, so your body will utilize body fat as an energy source. 

…But Fuel Your Muscles to Give Them a Life 

Although doing cardio in a fasted state is a good plan for burning fat and improving insulin sensitivity, you should pre-fuel before a weight workout. While you can huff along on a treadmill depleted, your body needs energy to get through a more intense session. Dietitians recommends eating 30 grams of carbohydrates before a workout. That’s about the amount you’d find in a large banana. “Without carbs, you’ll get tired in the middle of your workout, and it won’t be as effective. 

For a workout requiring lots of energy, Dietitians suggests eating whole-grain pancakes three to four hours before your workout, and bananas, a fruit smoothie, or oats half an hour beforehand. Santoro recommends protein for pre-workout fueling. “Because you’ll only have 30 to 60 minutes to digest your food, drink a fast-acting protein like whey isolate that’s easily absorbed into your body, adding that egg whites are a good substitute.  

Stay Away from Sports Drinks 

Ever see someone consuming a Gatorade after a leisurely stroll or Vitamin water after a short bike ride? They’re doing it wrong. “Many people feel they need these sugar-dense drinks after short workouts. “The truth is, these drinks often have more calories in them than what’s actually being burned off.” Her advice is not to consume such drinks unless you work out with an elevated heart rate for at least an hour. “Oftentimes these drinks are needed due to the risk of dehydration, but cautions that if you’re working out in mild temperatures or for less than an hour, they’re largely unnecessary. She maintains that it’s best to drink water to ensure you’re not consuming more calories than are being burned off.  

Remember to Refuel 

“Post-workout nutrition is crucial to any fitness goals,” says Santoro, who maintains that pre- and post-workout nutrition are the two most important meals of your day. Why is it so important to refuel your body immediately after a workout? It helps replenish glycogen levels, decrease protein breakdown, and increase protein synthesis and the ability to build muscle. “Immediately following a weight-training exercise is when your body utilizes protein at its best. She recommends following resistance-training exercise with an egg-white omelet or yogurt. “I always tell my patients to consume at least 10 to 20 grams of protein after a weight-training regimen. 

Don’t Out-eat What You Burned 

A whopping 70 to 75 percent of the calories we expend each day is needed for our “basal metabolic functions:” Everything from keeping your heart beating to making your fingernails grow. When we exert a lot of extra energy in the gym, our bodies call out for more fuel with hunger pangs and a rumbling belly. At this point, people tend to undermine their efforts with a superfluous amount of food. “When exercise-induced hunger sets in, only increase your calorie intake up to 20 to 30 percent of what your calorie tracker says you burned,” she says. Jubilee reminds us that we would have naturally burned a percentage of those calorie anyway, just sitting around.  

Now that you know how to triple your workout results, read on to find out the mistakes you need to break during your next gym visit. 

You Don’t Fuel Your Workout Properly 

You likely already know that what you put in your mouth before hitting the gym can help ward off fatigue, but did you know that certain foods can actually make your workout less effective? Fatty foods like nuts and avocados take a long time to digest, so if you work out soon after eating them, you’re making your body compete with itself for blood supply. This can result in diminished exercise performance and workout-ending muscle cramps. Another pre-workout dietary no-no is not eating enough carbs. Taking in too little of the nutrient makes it near impossible to make it through a long, intense, calorie-blasting workout.  

Your Cardio Plan is Out of Whack 

Yes, cardio boosts heart health, burns calories and, for many, can also be an effective way to zone out and relax, but not all cardio workouts are created equal. Staying on the treadmill or bike for too long, for example, can actually eat away at lean muscle mass, which, over time, slows metabolism and makes it harder to burn fat and lose weight. Endurance training also encourages the body to store food as fat to ensure you have enough reserve fuel for all these extra miles. Exercisers who combine cardio with high-intensity, total-body resistance training programs (like the one we link to above) lose more than twice as much fat as those who follow a moderate-intensity cardio plan, say Skidmore College researchers. Alternatively, cut your cardio workout duration to 30 to 45 minutes and throw in some 60-second all-out sprint intervals every two or three minutes to pump up the intensity. 

You’re Recovering the Wrong Way 

Believe it or not, recovery and rest are just as important as your workout. When you don’t give yourself enough time to relax between sweat sessions, the body starts pumping out cortisol, a stress hormone that boosts fat storage and appetite—a killer combination for anyone looking to lose weight and burn fat. This doesn’t mean you have to take two days off for every day you hit the gym, but you should vary your workouts so you aren’t hitting the same muscles on consecutive days. That means back-to-back full-body strength-training sessions are out; doing upper body one day and lower body the next is fair game, though, as is alternating lighter workouts—like yoga or a spin class—with full-body resistance training. This tactic helps your muscles recover without cutting into your workout schedule. It’s a win-win. 

You Aren’t Sweating Enough 

While it’s true that a bad workout is better than no workout at all, that only holds true when some—not all—of your workouts lack intensity. Deep down you know that coasting along in the back of Zumba class every week, or barely breaking a sweat in the weight room isn’t going to help you achieve that lean look you’re working towards. If you want to see change in your body, you must challenge your muscles. “Lifting heavy weights is the best way to increase your metabolism, sustain long-term muscle growth and stay lean. If you’re doing more than ten reps with ease, your weight probably isn’t heavy enough, so vary your reps and consistently increase the amount you’re lifting. The same holds true when you’re doing cardio—and it’s as simple as turning up the speed or the resistance. Don’t believe it? Consider this: A 150-pound person who bumps the treadmill speed from 5 MPH to 6 MPH will boost their calorie burn by 25 percent, which, over time, can add up to major weight loss. 

You Never Mix Things Up 

Doing the same workout for months on end and expecting to lose weight is a lot like using a cheesy pickup line to land a date—it’s just not going to work. Sure, that barre class may have helped you lose the first five pounds, but after you’ve mastered the moves, your progress is sure to stall. If you want the scale to tip in your favor, you have to vary your workouts and do exercises that you’re not particularly good at so your body stays challenged. To keep seeing results, mix up your intensity or duration every time you hit the gym, then completely switch your workout once a month. That could mean trying a boxing class if you’ve become a hardcore yogini, or simply drawing up new resistance and cardio routines every four weeks. 

You Refuel with Too Much Protein 

You know that consuming protein after your workout aids muscle repair and growth, so the more of it you eat, the better–right? Not so much. Researchers say that for those who weigh about 150 pounds, consuming 20 grams of protein within a half hour of leaving the gym is optimal. Dietitian says women who weigh a bit less may only need about 12 grams. Take in any more than the recommended amount and the protein will likely be stored as fat, while the excess amino acids will simply be excreted, she notes. A 7-ounce Fage Total 2% Plain Yogurt fits the bill and is easy to throw in a gym bag and eat on the go. Mix it with some berries to add some flavor-enhancing, energy-replenishing carbs to your post-workout snack.  

You’re Not Breaking a Sweat Often Enough 

Sure, hitting the gym once or twice a week can boost heart health and even your mood, but if weight or fat loss is your goal, you’ll need to commit to a consistent workout schedule. “When I’m looking to trim down a bit, my rule is three or 30. This means three miles a day of walking, running or cycling, or 30 minutes of circuit or strength training. It doesn’t matter what it is, just get moving every day. To help you stick to your workouts, sit down at the beginning of each week and pencil in your sweat sessions, then stick to them as you would any important appointment. Set realistic expectations, then reward yourself with something healthy—like a manicure or a new pair of running shoes—if you overshoot your goal.