Category Archives: Time Saving

Short on time? Kids at home? Work getting in the way of your training? We’re here to help. Make the most of your time and your efforts with our handy time-saving guides.

Exercises, Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Time Saving

How to deal with procrastination in exercise

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Have you ever tried to do exercise and then gave up due to procrastination? When we made an exercise plan and started to do it, many factors would disturb it. Procrastination could be a big hinder. We all know that regular exercising is an excellent way to keep fit and become more healthy, but most of us could not hold on straight to the end.

In general, procrastination is a behaviour that put the things which be done today to tomorrow. It always interrupts our training plan. We might think that we can delay for 15 minutes to browse Tiktoks or somethings else before exercising. Then, after day and day, the whole plan just collapses. How enthusiastic before we were making the plan, how guilty after we were giving it up.

There are some good methods that might help you conquer procrastination to pursue your dream of a good figure.

 

Motivate yourself

If you want to keep a good stature, like strong muscle or a beautiful curve, and you are difficult to start your first step. You need motivation, or you have to give yourself motivation.

All of the advantages of exercising could be your motivation, such as attracting isomerism, keeping healthy, and improving stamina. Also, exercising could be a good option for time killing. When you have a reason for doing something, you are more willing to do that than resist it.

 

Mostly, at the first stage of training, you might feel pain both in the body and mind. And then create a sense of fear before training. The best to conquer it is that remind the reasons for training again and again so that you could overcome your procrastination.

Moreover, listening to good music before and during the training could be a good method to improve your mood. You can also use other ways to relax, such as warming up.

 

 

Keep energy

Exercising is not mental but physical, which means you must have a good energy state before it. If you are exhausted before exercising, like after busy work overtime or stay up late, forced exercise is inadvisable.

However, this situation does interrupt your training plan. If you give up one day of training, it opens a bad precedent. Psychologically, you indulge your procrastination once. Thus, the best way is that as far as possible to avoid this situation. You have to make sure that you are vigorous at every predetermined training time. You have to keep a regular diet and timetable. If you decide to watch movies or play games all night, you have to make sure these will not affect your training.

Once you decide to give up one time of training, you must have a firm reason because procrastination is a mental barrier.

Good plan

Doing exercise needs a good plan. If you do not have a good training plan, you might take a weak result on your body. For procrastination, a good plan could form your daily behaviours as a habit.

Besides, the plan must be specific and achievable. Most people only have targets but none of the actions and plans. For example, you cannot say that I have to lose 10KG this year. It is not specific.

Your training plan must contain “how to do it”, “when to do it”, “how long to do it”, and “what is the target”. There is a good model of plan-making named “SMART goals”, and it might help you.

Additionally, how to carry out your plan persistently is also a big problem. In my advice, you could write the plan in your diary that you can easily see and remind yourself. Hiring a trainer to supervise your processes could be a good way. Also, you could let your friend overlook you. Having a training companion could also improve both of your insistence.

Share achievement

The human being is a social animal. We cannot survive without society. Sharing your achievement on social media, and let your friends know what are you doing now. For example, share a daily moment or sent a Twitter. So you can have a great number of public supervisors and take excellent feedback on your effort. Once you want to be lazy, the pressure from your social circle would remind you and push you to stick to the training.

However, what is most important is that you are training for yourself rather than your Internet expression. Sharing your achievement on social media aims to cure your procrastination, not pursue fame, following or something else. These could be a bonus but not your main target.

As we know, procrastination is a mental barrier. If you set fame or the number of following as your target, you might be persistent in your training. But actually, the problem of procrastination is not solved. It just is hidden. And you might be exhausted by social media, taking a worse influence on your life than procrastination.

Analyse your situation

Just like we told above, procrastination is not always negative. When you try to delay something, it might be an interruption from your subconscious.

When you start to make a training plan, you have to analyse your situation first. For example, if the city you live in is always raining and you do not have any plan for purchasing a treadmill or a gym membership, running could not be a good choice. If you do not have enough time in the day, you might have to move your exercise time to the evening.

Before you make your plan, you have to choose the best time and type of exercise according to your self-condition. So you could have the best experience of it, rather than resist and delay it.

Procrastination is a hot potato not only in exercise but also in our daily life. I hope my advice could help you go further on your fitness journey. But remember, exercising aims to improve our life quality, so do not be excessive.

Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Time Saving

Work-Life Balance: How to use Meditation and Mindfulness as the Bridge.

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To make a mark at work, to have a buzzing social life, learn something new, spend quality time with friends and family and the list goes on- we want it all sometimes but can never quite master the perfect work-life balance. The key to this is to slow down by practicing meditation and mindfulness.  

What do Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Bill gates all have in common? Well, aside from success and wealth, they all swear by meditation and have come forward by explaining how meditating daily has done wonders for their mental well-being. Whether it is to manage stress or simply boost some energy, there is no denying that meditation has become the new go-to wellness ritual. 

Along with meditation, practicing mindfulness also helps with our overall mental as well as physical health. This is when your mind is paying attention to your present-moment flow of experience without commentary, analysis or judgement. Being mindful makes it easier to savor the simple pleasures in life and helps you become fully engaged in whatever you do.   

Here are few tips to help you maintain a healthy mental state of mind:  

  • One-minute meditation  

Meditation in work place

You do not require a certain time of your day to implement a mediation session, you can start by taking one-minute breaks between work by focusing on a calming picture or listening to relaxing music with your eyes closed for a minute while deeply breathing, this will help you reduce your stress levels and help you re-focus on your work.  

 

  • Set boundaries between work and leisure. 

Separating career, work, friends and time

Don’t forget to stop working. One of the hardest parts of work-life balance is defining the boundary between the two. The best way to do this especially when working from home, is to start by creating a designated space for work. Giving a gap between starting and ending work will help you effectively transition from life to work. Adapting these rountines  in the long run will help your brain to be wired for presence in every context. 

 

  • Reduce multi-tasking: 

Believe it or not, one of the most difficult mind exercises to do is to focus on one thought at a time. Research shows only 2% of people who can effectively muti-task. Practice doing one thing at a time as often as you can throughout the day. When you are not working or studying, remain mentally present for other interactions and activities. Mindfulness saves time and helps you focus on what matters in the present. 

Too many list of tasks to do
Source: Unsplash, captured by Luis Villasmil

For instance, if you’ve decided to take an evening off for yourself, be sure to switch off and relax – don’t half-heartedly skim through a book while watching Netflix just to make yourself feel like you are reading. 

 

  • Schedule tech- free time  

Practicing a daily digital detox will allow you to disconnect from work and enhance your ability to pay attention. Have a go at the 30-Day Digital Detox Challenge by Forbes to help you begin! Be mindful of the time you spend on social media and maybe pick one activity or time every day when you can put your devices away for 15-75 minutes. 

Remember to immerse yourself in whatever you do whether it is taking your dog on a walk, playing with your kids, painting, or eating dinner with family or friends. Consider designating a room or zone in your house where electronics are not allowed to facilitate this daily digital detox. 

Social media
Source: Unsplash, captured by Nathan Dumlao

It’s essential that you take time away from your screen each day. Try giving a break mid-way through the day and in the evening to shut down and transition from ‘work mode’ to ‘home mode’. Remember, if you were previously working from a workplace, you would have a bit of down time on the journey in and home and over lunch, so make sure you schedule that time for you if you are currently studying/ working from home. 

  • Take out time to reflect.
Journaling
Source: Unsplash, Captured by Cathyrn Lavery

Journaling can help get all your thoughts out and on paper. Bullet Journalling is a great way to stay organised. It’s worth taking some time to reflect on yourself. Especially since the past year has been so different for all of us, it’s good to pen down how you felt at the start of lockdown, how you’ve dealt with lockdown and how you feel about the next phase.  This will help to ground you, will help to remind you that you are in control of your thoughts and choices, that you can deal with a new and uncertain situation and that you are resilient. To do this, why not arrange a new comfortable place to sit by a window to soak up that sunlight? 

  • Start and end your day for you.  
Reading a book
Source: Unsplash, captured by Callum Shaw

Morning and evening routines are a great way to prioritise your health and wellbeing and give you a greater sense of work-life balance. Save some time for self-care- use the first 15-60 minutes of your day mindfully: exercise, drink water or tea, meditate, stretch, read a book, anything you enjoy doing but just remember to be fully present in the moment. British author, Jay Shetty has some really useful insights on his morning routine video, why incorporating meditation, mindfulness and gratitude is really beneficial.

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The vital part is staying disconnected from work and screens so you not only get a great night’s sleep but you will also wake up feeling restored. The next time you feel yourself stressing out whilst studying or at work, try a few of these mindfulness techniques to keep your mental wellbeing on check. Get the most important tasks done first, focus with greater clarity, and ultimately, become more productive at work. Striking a positive work-life balance is possible, you just need to take the first step.  

 

 

Equipment Guides, Exercises, Fitness, Recovery and Prevention, Time Saving, Weight Training

Fitness Accessories to Complement Your Daily Activities

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Every day if we notice our daily activities, some of us may barely going for workout sessions to keep ourselves healthy. We can do the exercises every week, but there is some solution for those who think that is not enough.

Daily activity can be different for anyone, even at lockdown terms. We could choose to go out for some fresh air or stay at home, but for those who are often going to the gym for exercise, this can be a problem.

On the weekend, we have more leisure than on weekdays. The picture below gives us a sample of how a lot of people are conducting exercises on Car Free Day during the weekend.

Workout on Weekend
People exercises at Car Free Day

To keep ourselves healthy, we do not need to go on fitness every day, but we can wear some accessories to keep ourselves trained at all times. Though it may look weird at the office, at least it can compensate for our daily training.

Some accessories are designed to complement our training, but only a few accessories are suitable for daily life. To break it down, two accessories are best to fit in your daily life.

Ankle Weights

Ankle Weights

Ankle Weights is a fitness accessory that allows us to build up some muscles on our legs. When we try it for the first time, we will feel like the walk we normally used to handle at a normal pace becomes heavier than before.

You can pair it with Arm / Wrist Weights, practically if you want to train multiple sections of muscles at once (From Legs to Arms). But we have to take note that the challenges will be doubled when doing it.

A good reference is from Hajime No Ippo, where Sendo trains his legs gradually by adding weight as soon as he gets used to the Ankle Weights training. At first, he got tired by just walking around, but he gradually increases the weight on the ankle weights once he gets used to it.

Sendo advises for Ankle Weights – Hajime No Ippo Chapter 246

As Sendo’s statement, it is better to do this exercise regularly and gradually increase the weight. We may not see the result of the training until we can feel the difference between equipping ankle weights initially and once we add more weights.

Recommendations

Ankle Weights is best used to do daily activities since it was others may not notice it when you wear it, and the length of your pants, such as jeans, was enough to cover it.

Nordic Lifting publishes the recommendations about using Ankle Weights, but the writer wants to expand it further, so we can wear it once we understand how it works.

Anyone can wear it during their daily activities, regardless of where we are. The writer’s advice is to maintain safety when using it, especially if you are doing some important things such as driving. If the legs become too tired to handle, you need some rest and took off the weight to ease it down.

Arm / Wrist Weights

Arm / Wrist Weight
Arm / Wrist Weight

Arm Weights is a fitness accessory suited for any user that wants to train their arm strength, such as biceps and triceps. Unlike the Ankle Weights, the Arm / Wrist Weights are exposed, practically if we did not wear the long sleeve suit.

We can wear it anywhere they like, and Arm / Wrist Weights can be paired with Ankle Weights. However, we must be careful since there are many Arm and Wrist Weights types, and each of them has a different weight distribution. Arm Weights can cover your hand to the wrist, while Wrist Weights focuses on your wrist.

Recommendations

Arm / Wrist Weights are best used if you want to train when doing some job that makes them unable to do an exercise that can train your muscles. Since leg muscles are easier to train than arm muscles, it is best to gradually train your arm.

To make sure you can pick any brand that can suit your taste, it is best to wear arm weights that weigh up to 2 lb or 1kg instead of above it. That’s because our arm is more vulnerable to tiredness than the legs, practically due to gravity as a prime example. While we can take a rest or sit down, use this chance to take off the Arm / Wrist Weight to loosen up some muscles and relax.

Recommended Brand

Some of the products, such as Exercise Fitness, provides an accessory that can help you to train their arms and legs. You can find the exercise Fitness website here:
https://www.exercise.co.uk/fitness-accessories

While some opt to pick a fixed weight, the writer recommends a weight that can increase or decrease according to user needs. Sendo from Hajime No Ippo already gives an example about adding weight gradually, as it will give us the difference between wearing the ankle weights and not wearing them in the long-term.

Getting flexible Arm / Wrist Weights and Ankle Weights can be beneficial in the long-term training instead of the fixed weight. We may also ask the store whether they sell the equipment to adjust the weight they feel fit when they want to. Another thing to notice is the price itself, which can be more worth than what we can expect.

Another is to get an accessory that can fit both the Wrist and Ankle, although it will be difficult to acquire due to equipment complexity. The size of your wrist and ankle could be different.

Why the writer pick these two accessories? That’s because these two are the best accessories suited for our daily life. The benefit is we can go mobile with these weights equipped as we can just travel with these accessories equipped. The con side is if we took it off somewhere, we may realize that we lost something when we get back home.

Furthermore, if you don’t like going to the gym, these two fitness accessories can help compensate for your training.

Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Nutrition, Time Saving, Weight loss

Healthy Plate, Healthy Weight

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Changing your lifestyle and workout routine is always the main focus when trying to become a healthier version of yourself.  How about looking at what’s on your plate, if you want a healthy weight you need to change your plate. 

When, What, Why

When to eat and Why

Timing your meals is as important as what you are eating, you need to make sure you start the day off with a healthy breakfast to get your digestive system working.  This will help to speed up your metabolism, which will result in you burning your maximum amount of calories without doing exercise. Do you eat late at night? Maybe this is why you struggle to fall straight to sleep and you aren’t giving your body the time to break down the nutrients. This will mean the body doesn’t use the nutrients and end up storing them as fats, remember whatever you eat is fuel for the body and it needs to have time to use this fuel or store in correctly.  

Timing your meal around a busy life can be hard but you need to make sure you do this, your body can’t run on nothing and you need to make sure you give your body what it needs to function as normal, this is not just food but water as well.  If you simply don’t have time to make a healthy meal then snacks can be used keep the body functioning, keep your strong with some great ideas here or for some healthy snacks take a look at this and make these in 5 minutes. 

What to eat and Why

Start the day off with a colourful plate, or even maybe a smoothie. This is all about giving your body vitamins it needs to allow your brain to function at its highest level, this will make you feel energised and refreshed.  For some breakfast ideas following the link here.

12pm hits you need to top up your fuel supply, it is a good idea to continue with the light meal theme as this will ensure that you don’t feel like you have over eaten and resulting in you feeling unmotivated for the rest of the working day.  Look here for foods that you can use to keep you energised for the hard afternoon ahead.

its the end of the working day you have been working hard all day and enjoying some light healthy food to get you through the day, now its time to reward yourself with one of your favourite meals. This meal should be a nice balanced out plate, you want to use all the nutritional groups. find out more about how to balance out your diet with the NHS Eat Well guide. 

What’s the Difference

It is easy to eat foods that you might think are healthy for you without knowing what you are putting into your body, follow these links to understand how you can effect you diet, understand carbohydrates, understand fats and understand nutrients.

 

Exercises, Time Saving

Ways to save your time for exercise during the lockdown

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The Covid -19 situation may change our lives completely. We work from home; we buy online; we meet our friends on virtual video. We’ve been urged not to travel or to meet anyone. Most venues have been closed, in line with gyms, dancing classes, shops and attractions. We move less and less, and the time we spend on exercising is declining sharply. The lockdown caught us unprepared. We were not prepared financially and materially, but drastically, the lockdown caught us unprepared mentally. We let ourselves lye down, physically and mentally. We neglected our body and our mind. Ultimately, we failed our health leaving good practices behind. The time flies by, but let’s remind ourselves of good practices. 

  1. Are you waking up at 7 o’clock or earlier? What is the deal? Is a morning routine helpful? Waking up a few minutes before starting work doesn’t help. The coffee or quick breakfast won’t help boost your energy unless you re-energize yourself with some fresh air and exercise. A study done by Massachusetts General Hospital shows that the time you decide to rise and shine could impact your mental and physical health. Waking up early could lower the risk of developing depression and chronic illness. We’re aware that rising early won’t affect body mass index or Type diabetes. However, better planning of your daily tasks could lower stress significantly. You can set up your priorities and never let behind your health. Yet, you do not have to take our advice if you work night shifts. Your rest needs may differ significantly, and you must seek medical advice. But, if you don’t fall into this category, consider waking up earlier, planning your work, and your exercise time, either home or outside. If you need equipment, please visit our shop page. 
  2. Does Social Media rob your time, peace and sleep? Several studies show that time spent on Social Media is toxic rather than useful. Scrolling online in a hunt to see what others are doing has a massive negative impact on us. First, we borrow stress from others. We want to become someone else or to do as others. Mealtime is accompanied by our phone, and we forgot to give time to grow, talk and make real friends. Reading about others online affects our mood in unfavourable social comparison. This leads to anxiety and depression. Lately, our sleep is badly affected. We are not allowed to meet friends at the moment; however, limit your time online. Put your phone apart, and start caring for your mental and physical health. You shall try listening to a book while exercising. Therefore, precious time is used to relax your body and mind. 
  3. How active can you be in lockdown?

Well, you might have reasons not to exercise. The gym is closed; non-essential shops are closed. And who enjoys going out only to grocery shop? We are tempted to buy everything online and skip any kind of exercise. However, you are still allowed to exercise outdoors, spend some quality time in the park. While doing so, you can also take your children with you to keep them active. Check out Top Tips for Keeping Your Kids Active. Everything adds up, plus some time outside it will boost your energy and your ability to think. 

4. Your vision?

Well, take care of it! We may be forced to spend most of our time in front of a screen: working, shopping, talking to our friends. But don’t forget that your eyes will help you as long as you take care of them. There is nothing wrong with wearing glasses, but why should you if you can avoid it? Blurred vision, headaches, disorders are all signs of losing your sight. Facing your computer, you shall remember the 20-20-20 rule for resting your eyes. Every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds to look 20 feet away. Will you forget that? Take a sticky note, write the rule on it and stick it to your computer, or use an app to remind you of doing so. Walking or exercising using this rule every 20 minutes will give you another moment of being active.

5. Movie night?

If you are a person who loves movies and have a computer job, you need to reconsider your practices seriously. You prolong the time in front of the computer may be very harmful to your activity level and health. Plan your movie night for only once a week, especially on a day when you don’t have too much screen time. Probably at the weekend before or after exercising sessions. Or switch it to a movie with gardening or cleaning. These activities not only clean your house but your mind and body also! 

6. What do you do in your free time? It is a lockdown, and our choices may be minimal. However, let’s try making them beneficial; try to ride a bike, some gardening, fitness sessions. Keeping your body active will make you a lot healthier. Besides this, your time during lockdown will not be boring. If you have a spare room or a garage, use it for your exercise. Our specialist helps you transform it into the most precious space for your body in cost effective way. Time and money spent on your health will prove beneficial as you will feel healthier and more confident. 

7. Other ways to help with exercise during lockdown can be:

  • cook instead of ordering food
  • clean your garage/garden/ outside balcony
  • teach your cat to catch the ball
  • rearrange your bedroom
  • run for a few minutes after 2 hours of work
  • Top 10 Best Multi Gym Exercises
  • use one of our indoor exercise equipment

To help you keep active during this time and plan your exercise sessions, we got everything you need to get you started. Visit our shop or discuss with one of our consultants your needs. We are happy as long as we help people get fit and confident in their bodies. 

Nutrition, Recovery and Prevention, Time Saving

Protein Powder – The homemade alternative

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What is protein powder?

Protein powder is one of the biggest trends in the exercise industry  with more and more people jumping on the idea. Protein is important when it comes to maintaining body tissue as it contains amino acids which are the vital ingredients when it comes to muscle growth. Protein powder will give you the same benefits as any protein rich foods such as chicken will provide tense why they are commonly being used as meal replacements, yet are best used as an addition to normal meal routines. Using a protein based drink or snack after  a exercise will help boost your pre workout recovery  so you can get back to the gym sooner rather then later.

Adapting and keeping fit in the current state of the world is a challenge with access restrictions to exercise equipment.  Having to stay inside but staying healthy can be troublesome over extended periods of time especially with access to exercise nutrition. Homemade protein powder is a cheap and stress free way to access nutritional supplements in your own home. The only three ingredients that you need are

  • Milk Powder
  • Rolled Oats
  • Almonds.

In 5 minutes you will have your very own homemade protein powder, so accessible to even the busiest of people. All you need is a blender and you’re fit to go. Yet what’s even better is all 3 of these ingredients have extended shelf lives so are easy to store for a rainy day.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups or 240G of skimmed instant milk powder
  • 1 Cup or 80G of Rolled oats.          
  • 1 Cup or 142G of almonds

 

Method:

  1. Set up a safe clean and organised workspace, for this recipe you will need something to blend/pulse the ingredients together. Any blender or food processor will do.
  2. Place 1 cup of rolled oats, milk powder and almonds into the blender/ food processor.
  3. Blitz all 3 of these ingredients together in the blender.
  4. Once the contents have reached a powder like consistency add 2 more cups on milk into the blender.
  5. Blitz the contents again to ensure contents are fully blended.
  6. Scoop the powder into an airtight container suitable for storage.

Video:

Additional information:

You now have homemade protein powder in under 5 minutes ready to help you recover from your next workout. This will last for 2 weeks if stored in a cool dry place, if you require this for longer it is recommended to store the finished product in the fridge.

Now you have your protein powder your ready to work out so why not check out  how to get back into exercise from the lockdown break here:

Returning to exercise after a break

Why not make something tasty with your protein powder with things like protein bars or shakes. Find out more here:

Homemade peanut butter protein bars

Fitness, Nutrition, Time Saving, Weight loss

Ultimate Meal Prep Guide: Weight Loss, Maintenance & Bulking

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Did you know when following any type of healthy diet plan to fulfil a healthy lifestyle the 80-20 rule is an important rule to follow by? This rule consists of 80% nutrition and 20% fitness, both in which compliment each other and are not effective unless they are fulfilled together. This rule highlights to us how important nutrition and our diet is hence meal prepping being key to maintaining this rule of thumb. For more detailed, prep planned aimed at specific needs check out our up and coming blog explaining what macros are and how to implement them.

 What is Meal Prepping?

The answer is in the name …meal prepping literally means prepping your meals in advance, this could be through choosing a free afternoon to pre-cook and portion your food out for a few days or even for the week. The goal is to help you stay on track through controlling your nutrition and calories to meet desired dietary needs and goals.

Why Meal Prep?

The beauty of meal prep is that it allows you to be ahead of yourself for a few days or a week. This is perfect for people with busy lifestyles or if you just simply need a little motivation, structure and a plan to follow. It also allows you to reduce your time and food shopping cost whist reaching you desired goal such as losing weight, maintaining weight or bulking.

How to Meal Prep?

Firstly you need to determine your end  goal, this will allow you to start your meal prepping journey in terms of making your nutrition and training plan personal to your desired goal.

Tips when Meal Prepping:

There are several useful tips for meal prepping… our top three picks have to be:

  1. Making a meal plan (set a day to cook every week)
  2. Weekly shopping list
  3. Exercise at least three times a week (this will help you maximise your visual results and see the real benefits of your meal prep journey).

Remember.. consistency is KEY.

Food Ideas

We have you covered with our quick and easy meal prep ideas for three different goals:

  1. Weight loss
  2. Maintaining Weight
  3. Bulking

Here is an example day of Meal Prepping for three different goals: 

Who said you can’t have fun when Meal Prepping ?

Weight loss

Breakfast: Egg Muffins – Eggs,Courgette, Spinach, Turkey Rashers.    Lunch: Tropical Salad – Quinoa, Tuna, Papaya, Mixed Leaves, Peppers,Grated Carrot, Feta Cheese.                                                                       Dinner: Nando’s Fakeaway- Nando’s Sauce, Chicken Breast, Sweet Potato, Broccoli.                                                                                                                     Snacks: 2 Dark Chocolate Rice Cakes, 1 Protein Bar.

A days Weight loss Meal Prep:

  • This meal prep example is very high in protein. The benefits of protein being a big assistant in helping the process of changing your body’s composition resulting in overall weight loss.
  • The most suitable exercise to complement your weight loss journey is cardio,  also interval training  is a good fun way to incorporate into your fitness regime. This type of training is when you alternate periods of high and low intensity activity. An example of interval training could be alternating between  sprinting and walking on a treadmill.

Maintenance

Breakfast: Overnight Oats- Protein Powder, Oats, Water.                         Lunch: Skinny N Spicy Salad- Chicken Breast, Sweet Chili Sauce, Rice, Mixed Leaves, Peppers, Grated Carrots, Cabbage.                             Dinner: Bangers N Grains – 4 Beef Sausages, Rice, Green Beans           Snacks: Handful of Mixed Seeds & Nuts, 1 Protein Bar, 2 Dark Chocolate Rice cakes.

A days Maintenance Meal Prep:

  • This Meal Prep example day shows the importance of balancing protein, carbohydrates and fats when following a maintenance diet. Protein is used for both energy and building muscle, Carbohydrates are important for energy and fats are used for energy after been broken down into fatty acids.
  •  When following a Maintenance Meal Prep plan to maintain your overall body weight, a balance of both strength training and cardio is the best to do this, as it allows you to strengthen muscles as well as keeping your fitness levels up too. Exercises for both cardio and muscle strength, could be sprints using the rowing machine.

Need a little more inspo and motivation? why not take a look at our guide to 20 Minute HITT Rowing Machine Workout.

Bulking

Breakfast: Peanut Butter Overnight Oats- Protein Powder, Peanut Butter, Oats, Water.                                                                                                           Lunch: Power Plate- 2 Tins of Tuna in Olive oil, Quinoa, 1 Avocado.   Dinner: Omega Loaded- 2 Salmon Fillets, 2 Sweet Potatoes,Broccoli Snacks: 2 Chicken Breasts, 1 protein bar, Bagel with Peanut Butter & Banana

A days Bulking Meal Prep:

  • There are several  key factors when Bulking such as feeding your muscles with enough nutrition. It is important to include fatty foods, this is to ensure muscles can be repaired as quickly as possible after heavy training. It is essential when bulking  to radically increase the calories consumed beyond your bodies needs. This provides fats to be a good way of getting your calorie intake up, as they’re over double the amount of calories per gram than carbohydrates and protein. For more advice see our guide to Why a high-calorie breakfast is good for weight gain. 
  • To maximise your  results, you need to be doing intense weight training, bulking is all about packing in those heavy weighted workout routines. The bulking process acquires you to have a lot of dedication, patience and commitment with your training, even at home there are no excuses weight training can still be fulfilled…. check out our resistant band workout  guide.

Change in Mindset

Meal prepping allows you to have structure, as it sets you up for the week, changing your mindset from your old bad habits to new good ones. This therefore motivates you to reach your goals. Along with Meal Prepping and training,  meditating a few times a week will allow you to completely detox your body with any stress or worries. All of these factors can have a knock on affect in your new regime of meal prepping; getting into a new routine to better yourself.

Before beginning any exercise or nutrition program, consult your physician, doctor or other professional. This is especially important for individuals over the age of 35 or persons with pre-existing health problems. Exercise.co.uk assumes no responsibility for personal injury or property damage sustained using our advice.

If you experience dizziness, nausea, chest pain, or any other abnormal symptoms, stop the workout at once and consult a physician or doctor immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercises, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Time Saving, Workouts

How to Schedule Exercise into University Life

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Sticking to an exercise routine at university can be difficult. You may be juggling assignments, revision, society activities, ever-changing lectures and seminars, socialising and maybe even part-time work. This can all become overwhelming and you may start to notice fitness becoming less and less of a priority.

Worrying about when to exercise, how and where can become a stress in itself, and may be an added pressure to your university life. However, this can be easily solved with the right information. In fact, exercise is incredibly effective at reducing stress and releasing mood-boosting endorphins. It improves your quality of sleep, promotes self-confidence and can provide a sharper memory and thinking. All of which are important to creating a positive university experience.

Here are 4 ways you can incorporate exercise into university life:

1. Set Aside One Hour Everyday

Firstly, this full hour doesn’t need to be completely dedicated to exercise. For example, you may complete 30 minutes of exercise, but it is important that this one hour is dedicated to you and you alone. Make it a peaceful part of your day.

  • Set aside your phone.
  • Take yourself away from external stressors.
  • Exercise knowing you have an hour to yourself without distraction and there’s no rush.

This may be easier to plan ahead on a calendar if you have an irregular schedule. You will also be more motivated to complete your goals if they are written down!

2. Find Exercises that You Enjoy

You will find it much easier to stick to a routine when you are doing something you enjoy!

Maybe you already know what exercises you prefer but for those who don’t, trial and error may be your first experiences. Here are some good places to start:

  • HIIT
  • Pilates
  • Yoga
  • Barre
  • Body weight
  • Running

If you have specific goals in mind begin there! Decide what it is you want to achieve and what can help you achieve it best.

Here are some articles that can help get you started:

3. Use YouTube

There are thousands of free videos on YouTube that make exercising much more enjoyable and hassle-free.

The video platform takes the thinking out of exercise, you press play and follow the instructions, like having your own personal trainer without the price. You may even find a content creator whose personality is your main reason for coming back the next day. They can motivate you and make difficult exercises much more manageable and fun.

Some good start searches could be:

    • ‘20-minute HIIT workout’ (add ‘no noise’, ‘no impact’ if you live above neighbours)
    • ‘Cardio and Abs’
    • ‘Dance workout’
    • ‘Yoga for beginners’
    • ’No equipment barre workout’

However, be aware, social media isn’t always a positive space, especially when it comes to fitness. Make sure to read our guide on the pros and cons of social media in your fitness journey.

4. Avoid Putting Pressure on Yourself

University life is busy. Don’t stress if you don’t manage to exercise every single day.

To help avoid the pressures of exercise guilt, you can promise yourself a set number of days in the week that you are going to exercise. Therefore, you know you don’t have to exercise everyday and you can be more flexible.

For example, as long as you have exercised on 4 days during a week you have completed your goal. If on Monday you don’t feel like it, you have 6 more days to fit it in!

There is one important rule that you can live by to help avoid exercise guilt:

Do one thing every day that’s good for your body.

This could be as small as going for a walk around campus, meditating for 10 minutes or eating a healthy meal. As long as you have done one good thing that day you can relax knowing you have taken care of your body.

Exercises, Fitness, Time Saving

Want to get fit for free?

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How to save yourself some time and money whilst improving your health and fitness!

A lot of people think getting fit can be hard, expensive and time consuming, but guess what…

IT ISN’T!

You can improve your health and fitness for FREE and save yourself some time too. You actually don’t need expensive gym memberships or any equipment, all you need is your legs!

You might be asking yourself now, how active would I need to be? and how much physical activity I would need to do?

Your first step on your fitness journey would be to minimize your ‘sedentary’ time. ‘Sedentary’ applies to lying down/sitting down for long periods while being awake.

Now is the time to limit the time you are sitting down or laying down for long periods of time.

By starting your fitness journey you can help to prevent and manage over 20 chronic conditions and diseases, including cancers, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression!

The UK Chief Medical Officers (CMO) Guidelines recommend each week adults do:

At least 150 minutes (2 and half hours) of moderate intensity activity

Moderate intensity activity increases your heart rate, but you are still able to talk whilst doing it allowing you to socialize.

Examples include:

 

  •  Brisk walking                                     
  • Dancing                                                 
  • Gardening                                            
  • Housework & domestic chores   

And 75 minutes of vigorous activity (breathing fast and difficulty talking)

    Vigorous activity involves heavy breathing and a higher heart rate. If engaged in vigorous intensity activity, you could not carry on a conversation. 

    Examples include

     

    • Running                                               

    • Cycling                                                 
    • Swimming                                         
    • Competitive sports                        
    • Circuit weight training                 

     

    Or a mixture of both

    Available apps

    Both of those apps are user friendly and available on App Store and Google Play for downloads for free 

    Couch to 5K app

    The Couch to 5K app can help you get vigorous activity into your routine

     

    Active 10 App

    The Active 10 app can help you with moderate intensity activity

    All you need to do is keep your phone with you and the app will track your activity for you! You can also check back in to track your progress.

     

     

    Moving forwards…

    Once you feel like you want to challenge yourself even more on your fitness journey you can try and fit in two days of strengthening activities on top of the recommended guidelines.

    As the gyms are still closed due to national lock-down, it can be difficult to find the motivation and ideas for workouts, the lack of equipment and weights and not having a change of environment can have an impact on everyone. To help you with those issues there are fitness apps available to make exercising at home easier as well as NHS free ideas. Those will allow you to get an idea of what kind of activity you can do to benefit your health further on your fitness journey whilst the gyms are still closed and to help you during those challenging times. 

    If you require any other medical advice contact your GP or any other healthcare professional who will be able to help you.