This past year has brought with it many changes, including a major shift in how people incorporate fitness into their daily lives. What used to be a thriving fitness industry in which people attended classes, lifted weights or even hired a personal trainer in a gym have all had to try to accomplish these goals at home. It can be daunting to try and figure out the best way to lose weight, reach your fitness goals or even just maintain your weight loss success. We have some tips to help you along this weight loss journey and continue to see success even from your own home. Here is some advice from our SureFiz trainers:
Depending on the living area of your home, this can be easier said than done. You might need to think outside the box a little to find a space for your workouts. But setting up a space is extremely important for your overall success. By having a dedicated space for working out, complete with equipment and a workout mat or even just a place to set a device to stream online classes, you have a much higher chance of success. If you try to do your workout in the main living area of your home you are subjecting yourself to the distractions of life–including laundry, dishes, pets, children, significant others. Any of these distractions will take your focus and hinder your ability to work hard and burn more calories, thus reaching your weight loss goals. If you have a garage, bonus room or small space you can dedicate, those can be some perfect spaces. For anyone who lives in a warmer climate, your balcony, backyard or patio is a perfect place to get away from your main living area and workout.
Like anything else in your diet and weight loss journey, having a plan for your home workout will help you find long term success. Without a plan you are likely to waste time trying to decide what to do each time you workout. We suggest setting up plans in 4-6 week blocks, then revisiting to make necessary changes. This decreases the chances of workout boredom or muscle stagnancy that can come from doing too much of the same exercises over a long period of time. Changing your plans and your resistance will help your muscles continue to get stronger while helping you efficiently lose weight faster.
HIIT (high intensity interval training) is an extremely effective form of cardio training that gets your heart rate up to a fat blasting level in a short amount of time. Not only is it effective in the duration of the routine, but it has been shown to keep you in a fat burning state for hours after you do it, which will prove to be most effective for your long term weight loss goals. The best part about HIIT is that you don’t need equipment to get the weight loss benefits you are looking for. The calorie burning benefit only works if you push yourself hard, though. A popular form of HIIT, tabata, will only take you 4 minutes but you have 8 rounds of 20 second intervals with 10 second rest periods in between. During the work periods, you have to work as hard as you physically can to truly see the calorie blasting benefits of the work. For more information on how to incorporate HIIT into your workout and weight loss program and some fun HIIT ideas, click here.
Whether in a gym setting or at home, many people forget to take the time to warm-up before their workout or stretch after. And with the many potential distractions in a home environment it can be even harder to set aside those extra moments. But they are of utmost importance in your long term success for your workout and weight loss benefits. If you do not prepare the muscles at the beginning and relax them at the end, you will endure more muscle soreness and risk the potential of an injury at any point. Although life is busy and carving out additional time may seem like a chore, being sidelined for an injury takes far more time for recovery and can really hinder your weight loss goals. Our blog on warming up and stretching has even more information on why it’s important. We also have some great stretching ideas in our blog on yoga stretches in a weight loss program.
An online class or trainer can be extremely helpful in your fitness and weight loss routine. Human nature is to not push ourselves as hard as someone else would, which is why a gym environment can be helpful for people to try and be pushed to their calorie burning limits. In a home environment this can be much harder. Having someone else create a routine, explain the correct form and tell you how hard to work can really be the difference between an okay workout and an amazing workout! Luckily, there are many amazing programs that offer online classes, either live streamed or recorded. The possibilities are endless and you can search online for your favorite style of workout, but some of our favorite programs are Peloton, Beachbody and Apple Fitness+. Each of these programs do require a small monthly membership fee to use their workouts, but if cost is a factor, check out our blog post for details on some great free options to try.
Your weight loss plan doesn’t have to be hindered just because you have to workout from home. Be sure to follow these tips to get the maximum success in your fitness routine. For optimal weight loss, always remember to eat a healthy diet and keep your calories within a low enough range to burn fat and continue on a steady weight loss path. Follow our blogs weekly for more healthy tips, workout advice and weight loss help. And be sure you are stepping on your SureFiz scale daily to track your progress and get help along the way.