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Whatever your fitness goals, these tips will help you reach them. Personal trainer, Chris Frey tag has rounded up of the best fitness tips that she’s compiled over a decade of helping women look and feel their best. Now, you don’t need to do all 101 (your brain would get a workout trying to remember all of them!), but try incorporating a few into your daily routine each week and watch your health change. Got it? Good. Then, let’s get down to business.
General Fitness Tips for Better Health
1. Strive for at least 150 minutes of exercise per week
Break it down to 40 minutes 4 days a week, 30 minutes 5 days a week, or however, you’d like! Choose what works best for your lifestyle.
2. Cut your coffee calories
Cut calories in your morning cup of coffee by skipping the cream and sugar. Instead, try drinking it black or reducing your amount of each.
3. Keep a fitness journal
Tracking keeps you accountable, and studies show that those who keep journals are more successful at weight loss than those who don’t.
4. Pay attention to your thoughts
Thoughts are powerful; bring awareness to yours. Do you encourage yourself with body positivist or hold yourself back with negativity? A change in mindset could be all it takes to get your health on track.
5. Eat the rainbow
Eat foods that are closest to their natural state as possible. Aim for whole, fresh foods in a rainbow of colors.
6. Avoid processed foods
Watch out, because processed foods have multiple negative side effects. Generally speaking, the fewer the ingredients, the better the food. Taking a quick look at food labels can tell you a lot, but ideally, the majority of the food you buy doesn’t need a label.
7. Make sure you drink water
Most adults need about two quarts of fluid per daily to replace normal water loss or approximately eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Try this hydration calculator to check your personalized H2O needs.
8. Protein up
Add protein powder to smoothies for an added boost. Choose unflavored powders for versatility.
9. Find your “why”
Identify your deeper reason to get healthy other than the number on the scale. Do you want to be able to run with your children or grandchildren?
How about being able to enjoy food without feeling guilty all the time? Staying in touch with a deeper reason for health can motivate you to keep going when things get tough.
10. Do workouts you enjoy
Find a form (or two!) of movement you truly enjoy. It’s easier to stick to things we look forward to rather than dread. Power walking? Go for it. HIT? Do it!
11. Incorporate strength training
Add some muscle-building activities to your workouts. Free weights, resistance band exercises, muscle sculpt classes, or using your body weight with push-ups, planks and squats all work. A personal trainer could help you put together a beginner’s program, or browse our site for tons of strength training moves to try!
12. Set perfectionism aside
Keep in mind that striving for perfection usually leads to disaster. Set small goals and stair-step your way to success by developing healthy habits every day. Celebrate those wins, regardless of perfection.
13. Don’t DIET
One of the best fitness tips may seem counter intuitive, but stop dieting. Reverse the letters in the word and EDIT what you eat. Make it a lifestyle change toward healthier foods, not a deprivation plan.
14. Take recovery days
Give yourself one to two days a week for active recovery. Rest days should be simple. Take a walk. Do a gentle yoga class. Just engage in something that’s less intense than what you do for exercise the other days of the week.
15. Keep healthy snacks on hand
Select healthier choices to have on standby in your fridge when hunger pangs or emotional eating strikes, such as a bowl of fresh strawberries or blueberries. Here are some healthy snacks to try whenever cravings strike.
16. Follow the 80/20 rule
Most fitness wisdom says to eat healthy 80 percent of the time. Indulge occasionally, but make sure most of your choices are healthy.
17. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store
Food tends to be the healthiest and less processed on the outside edges of most grocery stores. Here you’ll find fresh fruit and veggies, raw meat, and fresh seafood.
18. Don’t just focus on the scale
Find different ways to measure success other than stepping on the scale. Instead, pay attention to how you feel after you’ve been working out consistently. Think about the long-term health benefits of exercise.
19. Get an accountability partner
Working out in groups can offer more benefits than working out alone – science supports it! Find your go-to person for exercise and weight loss support. Enlist that friend that says “let’s work out, we’ll feel better if we do.” Exercise together, share tips, and swap encouragement.
20. Try working out in the morning
Get that heart rate up first thing in the morning. While the time of day makes no difference when it comes to results, you may be more likely to make excuses as time goes on. Plus, a morning workout might be perfect for some “you” time.
