Tag Archives: fitness routine

Exercises, Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

The secret to get rid of your phone and keep motivated during the exercise

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Do you suffer from phone addiction during your sport exercise? Do you check your phone a lot with  curiosity, afterwards you lose your motivation to continue? You answer a call from your friend or text messages and you don’t become ready to take more pressure when you return to exercise?  Is that what’s worrying you?

Already Realizing that you have a phone addiction problem is the first step to getting rid of it. Here are 5 tips for you to get a great workout:

  1. Spend your time with other useful things while you rest:

The dependent person usually suffers from a lot of emptiness and boredom when resting during exercise, so prolonged use of the smartphone negatively affects mental health and increases feelings of frustration and hopelessness, causing the nervous system to have periods of rest that exceed the required duration. The ideal is to keep busy with things that do not exceed the rest period, such as a small discussion with the coach or a colleague to fill the void and pass the time.

2.Use a phone armband during your exercise:

If you want to change a habit you first have to create obstacles that will block you, for example you have to block access to using the phone with simple things like a training armband to get rid of unnecessary uses that make you want to have more, such as social networking sites. Indeed, putting the phone back in the armband after each use is a tiring thing, so you will be lazy to do it and it is an ideal way to get rid of phone addiction. In addition, the cuff is the ideal choice for holding the phone when you exercise with freedom of movement, you need to find a flexible and very comfortable model. The most practical thing is to opt for a armband that does not squeeze too tightly in order to carry out the exercises correctly. It should not be an annoying accessory for you and should also have a sweat-absorbing capacity.

3.The gloves provide complete finger protection:

If you are wondering how to stop this addiction to the phone during your exercise, you must continue to create obstacles to break this bad habit, because getting rid of it starts in the mind before the body, so that you create obstacles, your brain will persuade the body to stop repeating the mistakes. In addition to empowerment, the gloves will also give you a reduction in tiredness, support and help you fight the sweat resulting from your exercise. Moreover, with gloves, it is practically impossible to operate your phone, it is very unpleasant to have to take off your gloves to pick up the phone or consult social networks for nothing. We recommend gloves with full finger protection
4.Keep the selfies until the end of the exercise:

If your addiction to the phone during your exercise is because of the selfies, because you take a lot of pictures and at the end you are not motivated, you shouldn’t blame and judge yourself because all these things seem normal and repeated in our daily life, in order to document happy moments and share them with those we love, to become a group of beautiful memories, but we just recommend that you learn how to take pictures at the end of the exercise and at the end of each exercise, try to give yourself the opportunity to feel the feeling of relaxation, leave everything, relax on the floor and feel the effect of the exercise on your body, and make sure that you only return to this exercise in order to feel this feeling again before you even think about taking a selfie.

5.Desactivate notifications

Application notifications on the smartphone are one of the most important reasons that make you look at your phone’s screen continuously and repeatedly throughout the exercise, which can be classified as addictive phone use, so to get rid of this problem, you need to set or disable all application notifications on your phone. Indeed, if your phone does not ring repeatedly for notifications and updates, it will be easy to ignore it. You can only set an alert for important notifications, such as text messages from your family. The ideal is to distract yourself with anything when playing sports, and in this case meditation exercises are very ideal, whatever sport you do, always try to distract your attention from the pain the exercise causes you, and kill two birds with one stone.

Addiction to the smartphone will not be eliminated between a session or two, but rather requires a bit of patience and will gradually reduce usage, so remember that you need to live your life outside the screen of your smartphone and enjoy the moment of sport, enjoy meeting people with you at the gym, make new friends and accomplish the tasks of the session to the fullest. We recommend that you bring a friend who trains with you, this will ensure that you never give up exercising, it will motivate you and push you to keep going, so we always advise you to choose the right friend, a friend who is a sports fan, to join you and exercise with you, and when we say it’s appropriate, anyone who is full of energy and vitality and loves to spend time with him or her, and in this way you will love to exercise and avoid using the phone at all times out of respect and to spend time with your chosen friend.

 

 

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.

Exercises, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation

Keeping Fit and Healthy as a Busy Student on a Budget

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Being a student it can be hard to get into a routine of healthy exercise, even more so when balancing University work alongside. A look online will bring up a wide range of articles and fitness classes to read and take part in. In this blog I want to offer some guidance as to how you can keep fit and healthy as a busy student on a budget.

My housemates have been trying to get me participating in workouts with them however, I have always had the same feelings when asked. There has always been a high financial commitment attached to joining the gym which has always been off putting for me. Even with the more competitive price of the University gym, I still find the gym as too high of a financial commitment. However, the gym is not the only place to effectively participate in a work out, there are many low cost options of staying fit and healthy that can be considered.

With the introduction of lock down last year I soon found myself looking for ways that I could stay active during those times. Home workouts soon found themselves established into my daily routines. Here are a few of the best ways that I have found to start your health and fitness routine!

Stay Hydrated

Glass of Water by Manu Schwendener on Unsplash

Staying hydrated is an extremely important way of keeping healthy. The NHS recommends that we drink around 6-8 glasses of fluid per day.  The easiest way to do this is to just simply have a glass of water with you whilst you’re studying. I have found this to be an extremely easy way of keeping healthy whilst I am at University. If you are not a fan of water on it’s own you can always add no sugar fruit juice or even a slice of lemon.

Water can also be useful in other areas of fitness such as being used in weight loss treatments, more information can be found here.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Keeping a healthy diet has just as much of an impact on your body as exercise can. If you are exercising you need to maintain a healthy diet otherwise all the hard work being put in is being wasted with a poor diet. Here is a link to an article where there is more information about how eating a balanced diet complements exercise.

When looking to change my diet, I found that one of my favorite ways of satisfying my hunger was through snacking. Everyone loves a snack, I probably love them a bit too much if I am being completely honest. To incorporate more of a balanced diet into my lifestyle, I have tried to start swapping out my snacks for a piece of fruit instead.

It is also important for you to eat properly before and after a workout. Here is a short blog on what you should eat before and after a workout. I would recommend giving this a read before attempting any workouts to ensure that training is effective.

Head Out For a Walk

Walking by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash

Walking is one of the easiest and cheapest ways for keeping fit and healthy as a student. Going out for a quick walk has been one of the best ways I have used to stay fit and healthy as a student. A full walking routine does not even have to be implemented into your day, simply walking to the shops instead of driving has the potential for huge benefits to your well being.

I have personally seen improvements to my mood since walking to the shops rather than driving. Being out in open space for a small amount of time is a nice change of scenery which has been a real boost for my mental health. More information on walking and mental health can be found here.  There are other perks of walking too as you get to discover the local area, opening up potential to find new walking routes to try out in the future.

Do not worry if you do not get the chance to go out for a walk. In the next section we are going to look as home workouts as an alternative way to keeping fit and healthy.

Home workouts

Home workouts are another great way that you can stay fit and healthy in your own time. There are an abundance of products that you can try with various workouts that can be used in conjunction with the products. As this blog is more focused on sticking to a budget, products suggested will have multiple uses to maximize the costs of the products.

  • Resistance Bands are a cheap and versatile way of easing into home workouts. Prices start at £15.99 with different prices being found dependent on the resistance of the band. The bands can be used for a full-body workout which I will link here.
  • Dumbbells are another low cost way to start home workouts. Prices start at £13.75 for 2 x 1 kg Dumbbells with prices increasing as the weight increases. Dumbbells can be used for any level too so whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced gym goer, an effective workout can be achieved with dumbbells. I will link a 6 week beginners dumbbell workout here and I will link an arm and upper body workout here.

Dumbbells and Resistance Bands by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

So, here are some really easy and simple ways you can begin to get yourself into a really good healthy routine. Sticking to the new routine will be hard at first, but stick at it! The benefits in the long run are worth it over the initial breaking into the new routine period and you will begin to feel so much better.

Exercises, Fitness, Mental Wellbeing and Motivation, Yoga and Stretching

Staying Healthy And Motivated As A Student On A Budget: The Basics

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As a student, it can be difficult to get into a healthy exercise routine and even more difficult without the proper funds. Personally, I have used money as an excuse in the past for not being able to get into a regular fitness routine.

There have been many times a friend of mine has asked if I wanted to get a gym membership with them and I am faced with the same conflicting feelings. From a money standpoint it can be great value for money if you can afford it. However for me, as much as I would have loved to join the gym in the past, the commitment for me was always too big financially. And I am sure lots of other students feel the same. Besides let’s face it, there are plenty of ways to stay healthy without needing to invest large sums of money.

Budgeting as a student can be hard – but it’s not an excuse to stay unfit!

Staying fit and active during the last year became one of the biggest challenges for me. With the lack of structure and schedule in my days I started looking for new ways to motivate myself and create some sort of consistent and regular exercise routine to maintain my fitness levels. As a student, it’s important to have alternative ways of staying fit on a small budget, without the need for a gym or much physical equipment.  So lets explore some of the basics!

A Fresh Morning Walk

Free, easy and calming. One of the things I have come to appreciate most is a crisp morning walk. The hardest part of the day for me is the morning. Yes, I know, such a stereotypical student. But lots of people struggle with mornings and for good reason. Getting out of bed and starting a productive day can be daunting at first and the effects of the pandemic have made it harder for some.

Not everyone is a morning person

I have found that the quicker you get yourself up and active, the better. I got into the routine everyday or every other day of waking up, having a quick shower and heading out the door to get some fresh morning air. Living through the pandemic and multiple lockdowns, you really come to appreciate being in large open spaces like parks and the feeling of nature around you.

Scenic and natural environments are best to explore on your walks and jogs

Doing exercise in the morning has many benefits such as making you feel more awake and energized. As well as improving your internal mood it can spark productivity and help with motivation to complete tasks. These are certainly the effects I found, helping me get more done in my day as well as improving my outlook on the days work. If you’re ambitious and well prepared, turn this morning walk into a morning jog. The benefits will be enhanced and you’ll start noticing a difference in the way you feel throughout the day.

A Morning Stretch

In addition to a morning walk, to get your muscles ready and moving before you head out, try doing some light stretches or yoga positions. Nowadays we live in such a digitized world, a lot of students and young adults find themselves hunched over screens all day, attending online seminars or online work calls. All this use of technology can be difficult on your lower back, neck and eyes as well as other areas of your body for long periods of time. It is important to stretch on a regular basis to help improve posture, increase range of motion and also in some cases, help reduce and manage stress. The free act of stretching your limbs and body can have massive benefits on the rest of your day.

  • Simple and easy yoga positions to clear your mind
  • Stretch areas of the body you feel most tense and stiff

By taking the time and listening to your body, you can start stretching away tensions held up in your joints and muscles. Even just a 5 -10 minutes stretch will improve how your body feels, helping you to feel more relaxed and mobile. Take a look through this article to get an idea of how simple a daily stretching session can be.

Whilst there are plenty of stretches and yoga positions that can be done completely for free without additional equipment, if you’re doing floor stretches I would recommend investing in a yoga mat to make the experience more comfortable and prevent possible injury. What’s also great is as well as doing basic tension relieving stretches on the mat, it can also be used in more intense workouts and toning exercises if you choose to do so.

Download a Fitness App

Another great tip for young people looking to stay healthy and motivated on a budget is to download a free fitness app on your phone. Wearable tech is gaining a lot of interest these days, although it’s definitely not the cheapest way to track your health. Whilst a wearable tech more accurately tracks your movement and activity, free fitness apps on the app store are still a great way to manually input and track your fitness data. This way you can keep up to date with all the progress you’re making!

Find the right app for you to track your health and fitness goals

A great side effect to using a fitness tracking app is that it can be used as a source of motivation to continue with your new routines. Personally for me, hitting my daily steps goal and tracking other factors such as my mood and sleeping patterns, really helped me to get myself into a better daily schedule and more importantly, stick to them! My days felt more productive and it was all documented on this app for me to review. If you are someone who struggles with motivation I would definitely recommend checking out what apps out there would best suit your needs.

Some apps focus more on certain fitness routines such as muscle building

There are plenty of apps on the market, finding the right one can be tricky. It all depends on what your fitness goals are. Some apps let you input really detailed logs about diet, different exercises, heart rate, blood pressure, the list goes on! Don’t be overwhelmed by this though. Just stick to the fitness and health areas that you want to focus on. Soon you will appreciate being able to track your long term goals overtime, whether that is just getting into healthier habits or really going for weight loss and muscle gain goals, there is an app for you.

Staying healthy and motivated as a student can be hard, but by trying to integrate some of the activities discussed here, you might find it’s easier than you think!