Hey what’s up, what’s up, what’s up?! How’s it going? How are you? Hope you’re staying safe out there. Not sure if I’m alone on this but I hate exercising. Do I do it? Oh yes but do I love it? Nah. However, I LOVE how I feel after working out…The mental and the physical effects. So I do it. With gyms and fitness studios closed, it’s been a tough time to stay on track. That’s why I had a blast during a recent Instagram Live session on how to stay fit at home, with fitness experts: Personal Trainer: Diatta Harris aka Coach D of Femme Fitale Fit Club [Find her on instagram: femmefitalefitclub and Personal Trainer and Nutritionist: Leah Moore [Find her on Instagram: eat2play].
Coach D of Femme Fitale Fit Club is a NASM certified personal trainer and fitness coach working with in-person and virtual clients worldwide residing as far away as Malawi and United Arab Emirates. Her service offerings include 1:1 in-person training, a wildly popular 30-day Cinch An Inch monthly fitness challenge, a 12-week fitness program for beginners and intermediate fitness levels and 8-week immersive coaching which is changing lives for the better 1 person at a time. She was invited and attended First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign event to learn about the various programs the White House was promoting across the country. She has also been featured on Fox45 WBFF Baltimore Morning News.
Leah Moore of Eat2play is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. She offers personalized health coaching to help you with fitness goals, nutrition, health improvement, lifestyle changes and sports training. As you adapt, so does your program. Leah has trained at the New York Sports Club in Manhattan, New York, she’s been personal training since 2003 and has been a nutritionist since 2009.
Here’s a recap of their tips on how to stay fit at home
An easy way to get moving: jump rope
- There are lots of easy ways to get active: walking; running and jumping rope! A jump rope is one of those items you can get almost anywhere.
- It’s easy to use and you can join a jump rope challenge like the one Femme Fitale Fit Club has going this May where you jump rope almost every day and the number increases each day.
- It’s a great way to get that heart rate up!
- Interested? Check out instagram.com/femmefitalefitclub to join.
- Get a jump rope here or here.
How to stay motivated? Get an accountability partner
- Personal trainer Femme Fitale Fit Club says it helps when you have someone to keep you honest.
- Ask a friend, family member or colleague to be an accountability partner.
- It doesn’t have to be super formal, it can literally be someone who texts you to ask if you’ve worked out or moved today.
- You can also join a fitness group or challenge, which come with accountability partners. Check out instagram.com/femmefitalefitclub for more information on her’s.
- Challenge partners usually post in an Instagram or Facebook group acknowledging that they completed the given challenge for the day.
- This helps when you have people cheering you in and encouraging you!
Have a vision and write down your goals
- According to Femme Fitale Fit Club, it helps to write down your goals.
- She also says to keep them visible in a place you frequent. Think dresser mirror or your bathroom.
- To make your goals come alive, you need to keep them present.
- Writing them down and keeping them visible is a great reminder to stay motivated even on days when we don’t feel like working out.
- She says “the people who go from good to great don’t just get there by doing what everyone else does.” Well said!
No equipment at home? No problem, lots of options too
- For folks like me who don’t have a peloton, bike, treadmill or other hardcore fitness equipment, Femme Fitale Fit Club says we can push our bodies.
- To stay conditioned, we need to push our own body weight.
- We can then increase the intensity up or down based on time under tension.
- Essentially, you increase the reps/sets to challenge yourself with your own weight.
- We don’t have to look far for resources.
- There are tons of fitness videos on Youtube, Instagram and you can also find workout ideas on Pinterest.
- Apps such as fiton are also great because you can choose what works for you: the type of workout and the duration.
- You can do tricep dips, push ups, lunges, jump squats, regular squats, dead lifts, reverse lunges, lateral hops, bench hops and more!
Concerned about sitting too much? Here are some tips
- During this crazy period, no space at home is safe from being turned into a makeshift office!
- So whether you are working from your kitchen counter, dining room, basement, apartment, or an office, Femme Fitale Fit Club says you can pace wherever you are.
- Try to pace at least once every hour throughout the day.
- Don’t forget to stand throughout the day too!
- They say sitting is the new smoking! So it’s important to be active.
- In addition, Femme Fitale Fit Club encourages us to squat in place.
- She says it’s not about how many squats but how long you’re squatting for. So how many reps can you get in say 5 or 10 minutes?
- How about she says to aim for 50 squats in 5 minutes! lol
- You can try chair squats when you squat and your butt taps the chair.
- She also makes a great point, which is that we’re constantly sitting and standing as we sit at desks or counters to work or when we sit to and when we go to the bathroom. So that motion is natural.
Feel like you gain weight just by staring at food? You’re not alone! That’s me lol Here are some tips
- HIIT [High Intensity Interval Training] workouts are a great option!
- Great way to burn fat very quickly while maintaining muscle.
- Try working out with medium weights and doing high reps of about 15-20 per set of what you’re doing.
- If you’re using a treadmill, as another example, you can walk 3 miles/hour in page for a minute and a half then pick up the pace by running at 8 or 9 miles/hour for 30 seconds.
- Then you bring it back down to the walk then kick it back up to the run.
- You can repeat around 10 times to really feel it!!
- That will help you REALLY get that heart rate up so your body can burn more calories.
- By doing that HIIT workout, you’re going to burn more calories after than if you were to just do the regular steady state exercise.
- And by the way, Femme Fitale Fit Club shared that post-exercise oxygen consumption is the secret to fat loss.
Feeling like you’re not seeing progress? You’ve got this!
- Femme Fitale Fit Club reminds us that weight loss and hitting your goals come with doing very small things consistently.
- And guess what?! It doesn’t require an elaborate 2-hour program.
- Continue to do small things regularly and consistently.
- THAT’S what makes you go from good to great!
- Rome wasn’t built in a day so don’t expect instant weight loss.
Here are some tips to avoid overeating when stuck at home
- To avoid overeating, Eat2play says to ensure the majority of what you eat is healthy.
- She follows the 80/20 rule such that 80% should be Whole Foods, non-processed choices like fruits and veggies.
- Then you can leave 20% for the guilty pleasures aka those snacks you like to indulge in.
- She also says to be mindful.
- Ask yourself you’re actually hungry lol or are you eating out of boredom or just because the food is there?
- She says before you hit the kitchen, check in with your body=ask if you’re actually hungry:)
- Also, when eating, try to eat slowly.
- Make sure you chew your food completely.
- Eventually, your stomach would have had enough food but if eating too fast, you might surpass the signal that you’re actually full!
- Slowing down when eating allows your brain to sync up with your stomach to say, you know what, we don’t need any more food.
Are you getting enough vegetables?
- Eat2play says one way to get enough veggies is to make smoothies.
- Blend up some kale, greens, spinach with fruits and make a delicious smoothie.
- Of course, salads are another option.
- You can also sauté veggies like spinach or greens and roast veggies such as asparagus and broccoli.
- She reminds us that the amount of vegetables needed per day is literally not that much: just two cups per day.
- Plan ahead so you can get it in!
Are supplements a yay or nay?
- Nutrionist eat2play says supplements are just that: meant to supplement your diet.
- You should get your nutrients first and foremost, through food.
- If you can’t get nutrients or the adequate amount, from food, then go to your supplements.
Are frozen veggies good for you?
- Eat2play says yes! Frozen veggies are good for you.
- She says veggies are picked at their peak ripeness and then bagged and frozen.
- This means they pretty much have the same nutrient intake as fresh veggies and sometimes they may have even more than fresh veggies!
- She explains that once produce is picked from the ground or tree, nutrients are lost with each day it stays on the store shelf or in the fridge.
- But when veggies are picked and frozen, the nutrients are actually retained.
Fitness gear to get you going
Pin me for later
Easy healthy snack recipe, courtesy of eat2play
As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are staying safe out there. What are some of the ways you’re trying to stay active?
Missed recent posts? Check out this post about how to organize your closet. And don’t forget to follow Femme Fitale Fit Club and eat2play. Stay safe and fabulous!