And remember: doinganytype of physical activity is a great first step.
Wake up with a cup of coffee before your morning workout.
Walk into the gym with a plan.
@Ann-Sophie Fjelloe-Jensen / Stocksy
“A clear plan is your secret weapon,” Jared Kaplan, founder ofStudio 26, previouslytold SELF.
Know what exercises youre going to do, where youre going to do them, and in what order.
Get motivated with a solid workout playlist.
Put your phone on airplane mode.
Resist the urge to chime in on your group text or check that Snapchat message.
If you dont need your phone for your music or anyworkout apps, leave it in the locker room.
The workout ‘grams can wait.
Start your workout with some dynamic stretches.
Dynamic stretches are a core component of pretty much any warm-up.
With dynamic stretching, youll be moving through different stretches, rather than holding the stretch in place.
Master foam rolling, and do it often.
Embrace strength training.
Strength training also improves your bone density, which is important to prevent fractures and osteoporosis.
Read more about the many benefits of strength training for womenhere.
Maximize your gym time by minimizing rest between exercises.
Strapped for time in the gym?
Cut down your rest intervals.
Here are some guidelines onhow much rest to takedepending on your workout.
Incorporate compound movements to hit more muscles at once.
Compound exercises recruit multiple muscle groups and two or more joints at once.
Thats opposed to isolation exercises, which target one muscle group (like bicep curls).
Check out seven of his favoriteshere.
Amp up exercises by adding weights.
Pick the right weight.
Choosing the right weight can take some trial and error.
If you’re able to finish that final set easily, it’s time to increase the weight.
Here’s more guidance onhow to choose the right weights for strength training.
Make a mental connection to your workout by thinking about the muscles youre targeting during each exercise.
Log the details of each workout so you might track your progress.
Plus, over time, youll get to look back at your progress and see how much youve improved.
Give high-intensity interval training a try.
The main appeal of a HIIT workout is that it’s incredibly efficient.
This is known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).
If youre driven by data, invest in a heart-rate monitor.
Many new heart rate monitors also track your resting heart rate throughout the day.
Try following a specific fitness program tailored to your goals.
If you have a specific fitness goal, consider following a specific program created for that goal.
Heres how tocreate a weekly planthat you’ve got the option to stay consistent with.
Do workouts you actually enjoy.
Finding a workout you actually like is key to staying consistent with your fitness routine.
Try acardio dance classinstead.
Not a yoga person?
Maybe barre is for you.
At the end of the day,the best workout is the one youll actually do.
Commit to getting your zs.
Sleep is hugely important formany reasons, your fitness game included.
Allowing your body to recover properly makes it easier to crush a workout the next day.
Here are a fewmethods for better sleepto consider trying.
Build in active recovery daystheyre important.
When you work out, you create micro-tears in your muscle fibers.
Later, post-sweat session, your body rebuilds those damaged muscle fibers stronger than before.
This is where active recovery days, along with good sleep, come in.
Were not talking about lying still on your couch all day, though.
