Hello, I am that lazy girl, and I thought I hated exercise! This is probably not your first “fitness journey” (although that’s great too!) Usually we start, hoping it will work out, but knowing it may fizzle in a few months. So how can you make sure that this time, it’s going to work for you? Welcome, to the Lazy Girl’s Guide to Working Out!
The absolute, number one, MOST crucial factor is your mindset. That needs to be different for this time to be different. As a former exercise hater, I wrote an entire post dedicated to all of my wrong motivations, fails, and eventual successes. Please take a look at that because the information there is the ONLY reason that I can stick with anything today!
Okay, so we’ve changed the way we think, now what?
Try Something New
I never tried lifting weights because I hated other forms of exercise (besides yoga) and it seemed harder. It’s not! If you hate running, elliptical, and pilates, you might like weight lifting! My favourite part about weights is that there is only about 30-60 seconds of work, followed by rest. So your workout might be an hour long, but it’s nothing like an hour of jogging. So yes, I started lifting weights out of laziness I suppose.
If you hate strength training, try some HIIT, yoga, or dance. You will stick with the exercise you enjoy.
Make Fitness As Easy As Possible
Luckily working out at home is tres covid-chic, so there are lots of resources out there for home workouts. My absolute favourite is the world of Instagram workouts and what I lovingly refer to as “Fitfluencers.”
I only ever use Instagram workouts or occasionally string things together myself. Why? Instagram carousels happen to be the perfect format for sharing workouts, and it’s all free! Fitfluencers post a swipe-through post of their exact workout in a series of short video clips. You can very quickly see how each exercise is performed and with what equipment, and you can follow along and copy their form without having to pause or rewind ANYTHING. In the caption they usually recommend a number of reps and sets, and you’re good to go!
View this post on Instagram
Serious fitness people will shake their heads “what about a program??” If you decide after a while that you want to get extra serious, you can follow just one person’s workouts and they usually post things in a natural order. You could purchase one of their paid apps or programs, of which there are many to choose from. Or, you could do the research yourself to see what kind of exercises you need to do on what days. However, if you are just getting started, I don’t think any of that matters.
I am a monster, so I typically alternate between lower body day and upper body day, rest when I’m sore, and do an ab circuit 2-3 times a week with another workout. You don’t have to follow a program to get decent results!
I care about having a good relationship with exercise more than sticking to any one program, because I know if I don’t like it, I won’t stick with it.
I definitely have days where even this lax approach isn’t enough to motivate me, so I scroll through Instagram and choose something that looks interesting. Any exercise is beneficial. That is my whole mentality in a nutshell. I’m not training for the Olympics, I’m just trying to not have a mom bod.
If you don’t use it much, this is the time to really start using the IG “Save” feature. I have an album for workouts that I save for later and it allows me to keep track of my favourites.
Favourite Instagram Accounts
Without further ado, some of my favourite follows!:
@whitneyysimmons Also on Youtube, this is the first Instagram workout gal I ever followed. She is delightful! A variety of weight workouts and HIIT.
View this post on Instagram
@makaylaanisa Second favourite for workouts. Really easy to follow.
View this post on Instagram
@veronicaleea I love this account because she is a fit, full-figured woman. She doesn’t post AS many workouts, but she does have a highlight bubble of them.
View this post on Instagram
@madfit.ig All home workouts!
View this post on Instagram
@neyu_ma Something different! This is an account I head to when I’m sick of weights and I want to do something fun. She does yoga-type circuits, band exercises, and other stretchy type stuff.
View this post on Instagram
@fit.with.iulia More strength training! I just like this spunky lady.
View this post on Instagram
These are mostly #chickswholift because that’s what I like to do. So the more you search around the more you will find of what you like to do!
Basic Equipment (that you don’t need before you start)
- A variety of dumbbells (5lb, 7.5lb, 10lb, and 15lb are a good place to start! You can always buy heavier as you get there)
- A mat (I prefer one that is extra sticky, for my sweaty paws)
- Resistance bands – both long rubber loops and fabric ones for around your legs
Don’t wait for the equipment to start though! A lot of bodyweight workouts are out there, especially if you scroll back to the beginning of the pandemic when nobody could get weights for at home. I have also filled milk jugs and orange juice jugs with water, and they can be quite heavy. You can also fill containers with sand.
Amazon has all kinds of resistance bands available with quick delivery, so you can also modify lots of exercises for bands, or find band-only workouts.
Diet
My least favourite word.
I really don’t believe in restricting my diet, so I never focus on what I can’t eat, but rather what I should eat. Something that has long helped me eat better is to choose one thing to focus on and try to get the right amount. For weight training, that has been protein. At other times I have tried to get my sodium or fibre in the recommended range. What happens is that you will automatically have to eat pretty healthy to meet these goals, but you won’t feel restricted.
The recommendation for protein is 1 – 1.5 grams per kilo of body weight. This means I am supposed to get about 100 or more grams of protein every day. This is pretty difficult, and rather than feeling restricted, I tend to cut crap because if I fill up on things that have no protein, I simply won’t have enough room to meet my goal!
Get Enough Water
This is basically the same concept as protein. I mean, you should try to drink enough water anyways, but you won’t have room for soda or other useless things if you only have two hours left in the day to drink 4 cups of water!
Get Enough Sleep
These three things, nutrition, water, and sleep, will make the difference between good results and injuring yourself. My most recent fitness break was brought on not because I wanted to stop exercising, but because life was crazy and I knew I wasn’t eating properly or getting enough sleep to continue exercising and not hurt myself. Even if I had and didn’t get hurt, I can guarantee I would just be sore and tired all the time and not be getting good results.
Sleep habits are something that I realllyyyyy struggle to improve. I’m a night owl, and unfortunately this is not conducive to parenting young children. Lately I have struggled to fall asleep more than usual because my brain is so busy. Some things that have helped: adding the “nightlight” (blue light reduction) setting to my phone, sleeping with a weighted blanket, having a notebook beside the bed for those late night thoughts, and trying to spend a little more time on my bedtime routine. Typically I watch TV right before bed to unwind, but I’m going to try reading for the last little bit instead. I am also trying to get into bed a littler earlier, so that if I have a series of “rememberings” I have some cushion before I really need to be sleeping.
Along these same lines:
Consider Your Mental Health
Exercise can be a powerful mood booster, but you won’t be able to sustain it long-term, or focus on your nutrition and sleep if you don’t address your underlying mental health concerns. It’s one of those catch 22’s where you know exercise will make you feel better, but if you can’t summon the energy to get started, or to feed yourself, you need to take care of that. I’m not here to push pills on anyone, I’m just saying I need them.
(I have also made a post about coping tips – you can read it here!)
Break Up With The Scale
I address this in vivid detail in my other post, that I really hope you read. But truly, the scale has jack to do with fitness. It’s a toxic relationship and it needs to go. I don’t even care if your doctor said you should lose X amount of pounds. What they mean is that you should take care of your health. They can weigh you in the office, your home scale can beat it.
So in a nutshell, here are the goals you can set today!:
- I’m going to stop weighing myself.
- I will save 5 workouts that look fun and interesting to me
- I will find some things around the house to improvise with
- I’m going to eat X amount of ___________
- I’m going to drink ___ glasses/litres of water
You can do this!!
Pingback: The One Secret To Fitness Success - Klassen it up
Comments are closed.