Keeping on track to achieve your health and fitness goals isn’t easy, so take a look at these nine top tips from our expert Personal Trainers that’ll help reach those targets.
1. Be clear on ‘what’ ‘why’ and ‘how’…
Feeling positive about your health and fitness efforts is most often down to whether you have clarity on where you want to get to. You need to have a clear view of where you are now, how you are going to get to where you want to be and why it is important to you. You could say this is goal setting but really it’s more than that, it’s about having a goal with a plan and a reason. All three elements are essential for strong and consistent motivation.
Top tip: Write down your goals and reasons for keeping fit and staying healthy. If you find this challenging, talking to a fitness professional could help.
2. Develop a weekly routine
A weekly routine that you can stick to will ensure good exercise and eating behaviours become a habit. The collection of positive habits you have will ultimately determine success with keeping fit and healthy.
Top tip: Put key exercise plans and eating behaviours in your diary for weeks (and months!) ahead. These reminders will help to keep you on track as time goes on.
3. Balance your programme
There are more ways than ever to keep fit. Boxing, circuit training, holistic sessions, group sports – there are so many options to choose from! At present HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is proving really popular, particularly for those looking to lose weight.
Top tip: The best approach is to include a range of cardio, intensity, strength/resistance and flexibility sessions in your weekly routine. This will ensure your routine doesn’t get repetitive and you’re working your body in lots of different ways.
4. Engage with, and support others
Working out with a friend is a great way to keep motivated. Plus, there is plenty of evidence to suggest those who workout in groups get better results. So, grab a friend and keep each other motivated!
Top tip: Exercise with a friend or make group exercise a key part of your weekly routine.
5. Keep it progressive
Exercise tends to be most effective when it is progressive. Progression can be achieved through developing new skills, increasing volume, intensity or all of the above. Personal Trainers will often achieve this through what is referred to as ‘periodisation’ – if you’re interested in trying a Personal Training session at David Lloyd Clubs you can click here to enquire for more details.
6. Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast!
A study published in the Journal Of Nutrition found that eating a low-carb, high-protein breakfast increased the fat-burning effects of exercise, and kept people fuller for longer.
Top tip: Eat like a Caveman! Have a protein-rich breakfast that’ll keep you feeling satisfied for longer.
7. Switch up your commute
Unsurprisingly, cavemen didn’t spend a lot of time waiting around for buses. ‘It was constant low-level to moderate activity,’ says Dr Tim Ryan, professor of anthropology at Penn State University in the US. ‘Every individual would walk at least 5km a day, and as many as 10 or 11km.’
Top tip: Switch up your commute! If you can, then walk all the way to work, but if it’s a little further away then get off the bus or tube a couple of stops early, or find a parking space that isn’t so nearby. Little changes like this make a big difference over time!
8. Move more!
Our ancestors almost certainly had better posture than us – mainly due to not being stuck behind a desk for the majority of the day.
Assuming you have an understanding boss, try using the Pomodoro Technique – work for 25 minutes then spend five minutes walking around. It’ll make a huge difference!
9. Get enough sleep
Sleeping for roughly eight hours a night is a fundamental part of human physiology – but the idea of getting it all in one go is a modern one. In pre-industrial societies people slept in a way that suited their lifestyle and needs, rather than being governed by a clock or office hours. The key thing is to get good-quality sleep, and enough of it, whenever it suits you best.
Top tip: Avoiding screen-use in the hours before bed. This promotes melatonin production, which in turn improves the quality of your sleep.
Interested in Personal Training?
Personal Training is the perfect way to add structure to your routine. Our expert Personal Trainers can help you reach your goals with focussed and targeted workouts. If you’re interested in booking Personal Training then click here to enquire about it now – someone from the relevant club will give you a call back to discuss booking you in!
Find a club
