How to assist your body in moving better and feeling better, even if only temporarily.
How To Get The Most Out of Working Out From Home - 6 Steps for Success
Let’s be honest, the new reality is that we’re all working out from home these days, whether that’s by choice or state mandate. Take the time to apply these pro tips to make the most of your at-home workouts and build habits that will last you beyond quarantine.
While some of us might always prefer working out at home due to time limitations, schedule, family obligations, the desire for privacy, etc, others might just be making this choice due to the current restrictions and their favorite community facilities being closed. Whatever your reason, the truth is that we all still need to move to keep ourselves healthy, both physically and mentally. And even though working out from home can be convenient and efficient, there are often challenges that arise that we might not have on our radar. Follow these recommendations and you’ll create WoFH (workout from home) habits that’ll leave you feeling like a new human.
Dedicate a specific space for your movement
It might be nice to have a dedicated home gym but realistically, that’s not possible for most of us. Especially if you’re living in a studio apartment in Manhattan. Luckily, all you really need is enough space to lay down a mat and spread your wings. This might mean sliding your coffee table or couch out of the way, and that’s ok! Currently, I have a couch in my dining room ;). Designating a part of your home to use as your dedicated fitness space is a sure way to keep you coming back for more. You’ll waste less time creating a space each time you’re ready to move, you’ll have all that you need in one spot, and your brain and body will begin to recognize this space as a distraction-free zone to move and breathe. Keep this space clean and clear of clutter to help remove any barriers when it comes time for your next workout.
Minimize distractions
Remove all the barriers that may potentially interrupt your workout or ultimately put it to a complete halt. Put your phone and computer in another room if possible, or place them in airplane mode if your workouts are digital so you can be focused and committed without distraction. Let family members know you’ll be taking some personal time to take care of yourself and ask if they can leave you be..
Set a Schedule
Find the best time for you and stick to that routine. Working out from home when you’re working from home might sound convenient, but in reality, this flexibility can often times make it more challenging to prioritize activity. To keep yourself committed, schedule your workouts into your calendar just as you would any meeting, and keep the time consistent. The best place to start if you’re new to working out from home is first thing in the morning. Once your day actually begins, there’s often too many distractions fighting for your attention like computers, iphones, couches, meetings, snacks, happy hour, and the TV. Morning routines can be as simple as a 5-10 minute Morning Breathwork Practice to clear and energize your mind or a Mindful Movement Routine to get your body moving and grooving. If mornings aren’t your thing, schedule a quick lunchtime workout like this 30 minute Feel Good Flow. Getting in quality daily movement doesn’t require a ton of time and if scheduled in during the mini pockets throughout your day, I bet you’ll find you have greater productivity at work and more energy for those other things that are important for your overall health and wellbeing.
Order some basic equipment
While you can get a fantastic workout in using just your body, it can be helpful to have a few staples to enhance the quality of those workouts and to help take it up a notch and make necessary progressions as things get easier. First and foremost, a yoga mat is one of the most widely used pieces of equipment for yoga and stretching and a bonus that it protects your floors and prevents the neighbors below from getting angry in the middle of your high intensity workout. (Manduka Mat Pro is my go-to, but there are plenty of other options). In regards to weights, you can create your own weights and equipment using various household items such as chairs, stairs, water jugs, suitcases, backpacks, and small children, but if you’re looking to pick up a few pieces, I typically recommend one lighter weight for upper body work and one heavier weight for lower body work. Here is a list of my top recommended equipment for home use. (*please note many items are out of stock or low during this time. If there’s something you need or can’t find, please let me know and I may have an additional resource for you). Update: This website still has some kettlebells left in stock or at least the ability to get them soon - order as soon as you can!
Set a goal
Setting a reasonable challenge for yourself can keep you motivated, hold you accountable, and keep you pushing forward each day . This might be aiming to get in 20 minutes of movement five days a week, doing 5 minutes of breathwork every night before bed to help with your sleep, or building your strength up to do a full pushup or pull-up by adding one extra rep of an exercise that complements that goal each day. What’s even more important though, is that we’re setting goals to do things we actually enjoy doing. If you don’t enjoy it, it’s highly unlikely you’ll stick to the plan. Continuously setting small achievable goals of movements that leave you feeling good keeps motivation high as you improve on your journey.
Find a program or coach for guidance
In addition to creating the time and dedicated space for exercise, two of the most common hurdles for maintaining a home workout program are motivation and accountability. We all need someone to hold us accountable for reaching our goals, myself included. Find a friend to schedule virtual workouts with, join an online challenge, or hire a coach to create a customized program just for you that you’ll be more likely to stick to. If you like strength training, download a fitness app like the Nike app, Aaptiv, or Obé for virtual classes. If you’re more of a cardio lover, order a trainer for your bike, hop on the Peloton bandwagon if that’s within your budget, or head outside for a socially-distanced run or ride. Whatever you prefer, just keep moving.
Move anywhere and move often.
Working out from home can be convenient, efficient, and effective, and at the same time pose many challenges. Taking the time to create a designated workout space, minimizing any possible distractions, setting a schedule and a routine you can stick to, ordering some basic equipment, set realistic and fun goals, and finding a program or coach that holds you accountable to those goals can significantly improve your success in maintaining a routine in the comfort of your own home.
Women's Health Week // Lift Heavy and Periodize Your Training
It’s Women’s Health Week and studies show that while women today are leading healthier lives physically, there are still quite a few missing pieces to the overall picture of health and well-being.
Over 6 days I’m sharing scientifically proven biohacking tips on taking charge of your overall health and wellness.
BIOHACKING
Biohacking is the process of making changes to your lifestyle in order to “hack” your body’s biology and feel your absolute best. Everything we put into our bodies — our foods, our thoughts, our physical movement — are inputs to our biology and have an enormous impact on our outputs — how we behave, feel, function, and perform on a daily basis.
If the goal is better outputs such as increased energy, clearer thinking, better moods, happier relationships, reduction in illness, optimum performance, and so on, then we need to adjust our inputs.
DAY 3 // Periodize Your Training and Lift Heavy Weights
As women, we are biochemically different than men so it’s important we adopt different approaches that are designed to work for our unique differences and this includes our exercise.
There is a time and place for short intense workouts, lifting heavy, meditating, and doing yoga and barre classes. And each of these is not how you should work out all the time. It’s important to vary your movement consistently, periodize your strength training, and perhaps even periodize your training throughout the month based on your cycle (though optional). How you workout in the first half of your cycle isn’t necessarily how you should work out during the second half of your cycle.
Think about it…you probably don’t feel like kicking your own ass or catching a Barry’s bootcamp class during your period, nor do you want your trainer barking “5 more!” at you when all you really feel like doing is laying in savasana in a warm yoga room. Listen to what your body needs and mix it up. (note: this is not to be used as a consistent excuse for not working out).
If you’re interested in optimizing your health and wellness and performing and feeling your best, start periodizing your training.
BASIC PERIODIZATION:
Periodization involves systematically planning various aspects of your training program in order to continually challenge your system to adapt and improve while ensuring the body is adequately recovering to reduce the risk of injury and over-training.
Here is an example of the most basic form of periodizing: Think about your overall fitness goal for the next 3-4 months. Now, create 3 separate phases that build on top of each other, each lasting 4-6 weeks, and each with their own goal.
Phase 1 - Work on foundational movements and create your baseline for strength and conditioning
Phase 2 - Progress each of the movements in Phase 1 by increasing weight, intensity, or number of sets and reps
Phase 3 - Continue to progress each of the movements in Phase 2 by increasing the skill needed to perform each movement
Within each phase, create 1-3 strength workouts that you complete every week and program in 1-3 other modalities such as mobility, running, hiking, a yoga or dance class, or anything else active you enjoy.
After all 3 phases are complete, take a lighter recovery week and start back over, but with your new baseline.
Note: For you super active and high intensity ladies out there, it’s incredibly important to rest and schedule in lighter training days, sometimes even weeks. Research shows that individuals can handle around 3-4 weeks of consistent high intensity training and then need a rest, recharge and regeneration week to be scheduled to avoid risk of burnout or injury.
LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS
For the ladies who choose to #yogaeverydamnday…while it might feel good and provide you with the mental clarity (and sanity) you crave (been there done that), your body needs more. I promise. Consider balancing out each week and adding in other types of movements such as strength training, boxing, functional range conditioning, and cardio.
Choose weights that are actually a challenge to your system without allowing your form to breakdown. For example, if you’ve designated 10 reps as your rep scheme, your weight should be heavy enough to just be able to complete the 10 reps, only maybe being able to do 1-2 more.
And if you’re worried about getting bulky from lifting weights, I promise it won’t happen. I’m not saying to go out and go crazy and become a cross-fitter, although, you do you. But research doesn’t lie — lifting heavy will not make you bulky unless you have poorly planned nutrition and you lift with a crazy amount of volume.
CYCLE SYNCING YOUR WORKOUTS:
Once you understand how your hormones shift throughout your cycle and what phase you’re in, you can begin to maximize (and appreciate) your hormonal superpowers (again, see Day 1) and gain better control of your overall health through the foods you eat (see Day 2) and the workouts you choose.
Menstrual Phase — During this phase, progesterone drops and estrogen rises and then falls. It’s best to let your body be your guide and do what feels best each day. Aim for lighter workouts, yoga, stretching, or walking with a friend. It’s best to avoid high-impact workouts since they can stress the uterine ligaments and you’re more sensitive to pain.
Follicular Phase — hormones are at their lowest point but are starting to rise so more intense workouts, heavy weights, and challenging movements will start to feel good.
Ovulation Phase — estrogen is at an all-time high, testosterone surges, and you’re on an energy high! Get your higher intensity workouts in like running, strength training, HIIT classes, and boxing. You’re also feeling like a social butterfly so it’s a great time to check out that new class or studio you’ve been thinking about.
Luteal Phase — hello rollercoaster. Hormones are waving up and down. Support this phase with making sure you are eating enough to support your workouts and recovery (See Day 2) and individualize your workouts based on how your energy is each day. If you’ve got energy, get your strength in, if you’re lower on energy one day, choose either a lower intensity but longer duration cardio day or a short and quick workout to get in and out.
Here’s my recommendation for being a better functioning human.
Start listening to your body
Periodize your workouts
Ditch the 5 pound dumbbells
Add in heavy weights regularly
Explore what it takes to speak to your joints directly
Consider cycle syncing your workouts
LET ME KNOW…
Do you periodize your training? Do you lift heavy? Have you tried syncing your workouts with your cycle?
What other adjustments have you made to your lifestyle to support your overall health and wellness? Share your favorite tips in the comments below — others in the community might benefit from your recommendations!
Come connect with me on Instagram @running_with_forks
Do you have any questions not answered in this post? Comment below or send me a note so I can continue to add information to answer your questions.
Why train barefoot?
I’m a sucker for a sleek and minimal athletic shoe. After all, the footwear industry claims they’ll make you run faster, lift heavier and crush your next workout.
I choose mine purely based on lightness, comfort, and color (black, just like everything else I own).
My current pair got me stopped in the grocery store. ‘Excuse me, where’d you get your shoes?' (obviously Nike..) After asking if I liked them for my workouts, I felt the urge to expand on why I don’t train in them which led to a conversation around the concept of barefoot training in the middle of the milk aisle.
Have you seen those people in the gym working out without their shoes on and wondered why they would do something so unsanitary? There is a reason.
One of the first things I assess in people is how well their body moves, especially the ankles, feet, and toes and in turn, assess what response happens up the chain as they go through a movement pattern. If you were to poke your head into any one of my training sessions, every single client is doing some sort of work barefoot at some point during their session, if not the whole thing.
WHY SHOULD YOU TRAIN BAREFOOT?
Your feet are the FOUNDATION for your entire body and are rich with 100,000 little nerve endings that are the very first sensory input to the brain for your movement which provides feedback on your alignment and body positioning. It is the one body part that connects you to the ground and transmits force and energy to the rest of the body…all. day. long. Yet, we rarely pay attention to them. We shove (and sometimes squish) them into shoes and go about our day. The majority of shoes eliminate the work that our feet are meant to do which encourages us to compensate in our movements leading to weakness in the muscles, tendons, and ligaments along with a decrease in mobility. You might be surprised at how little connection you might have!
How well do your feet move?
First, try this:
Sit down on a chair or the floor and hold your shin stable with both hands. With your shoes off, flex your foot as much as you can and take your ankle into the biggest, most controlled, slow clockwise circle you can and then reverse directions. Is it smooth? Are there jumpy or crunchy sections? Do the arches of your feet or toes feel like they want to cramp? Try your other foot, too.
Next, try this: Stand up tall with your socks off. While keeping the base of your big toes, base of your pinky toes and heels firmly planted into the ground like a tripod, can you:
Press your outer four toes down and actively lift ONLY your big toe up as high as you can without the other toes following or rolling to the outside of your feet? Be honest.
Press the big toes down and lift the outer toes up simultaneously without letting your big toe lift or letting your feet roll in?
Lift all your toes up and tap and press ONLY the big toe down?
Keep your big toes lifted and tap your outer 4 toes down?
And can you lift all toes up, spread them wide and slowly piano your toes back down from pinky toe to big toe in a controlled manner?
So… do you have access to the intrinsic muscles of your feet? These muscles affect how the rest of the body moves. It’s all connected.
Start small.
Don’t just go get rid of your shoes and do all your activities barefoot. There IS a time and place for them and I recommend you start small. Gradually increase your intensity and duration of being barefoot. That may mean you start simply with spending more time barefoot around the house.
Depending on the amount of time you currently spend barefoot, your feet may be sore as you introduce this work and they start waking up. And depending on the mobility of the nearby joints (ie: ankles), you may need to wear shoes in certain loaded exercises while working on improving that particular joint mobility before attempting barefoot while load bearing.
Start with just the warm up or perhaps just a few of the exercises in your workout and gradually build from there.
Keep your shoes ON for high intensity work, running, jumping, etc, unless you’ve already built your way up to that.
And when you’re home, always go barefoot or wear socks, and avoid solid-soled slippers or shoes.
When you can begin to engage your feet actively with the floor, you’ll start to see a greater connection to the rest of the body, improved body mechanics and injury mitigation.
Note: training barefoot all the time is not for everyone. I encourage you to get familiar with the strength and mobility in your feet, ankles, and toes and go from there. Start slow and listen to your body. Begin with movements where both feet are planted and continuously monitor your form and alignment.
Let me know…
Have you tried training barefoot? What other adjustments have you made to your training to support your mobility and mind-body connection? Share your favorite tips in the comments below — others in the community might benefit from your training tips!
Come connect with me on Instagram @running_with_forks
Do you have any questions about barefoot training not answered in this post? Comment below or send me a note so I can continue to add information to answer your questions.
Stepping into the New Year, A New Way
5 tips towards living a healthier lifestyle
The start of a new year can feel like a clean slate, and at the same time, incredibly overwhelming. Don’t let January run you over with overwhelming pressure to make drastic changes right away. If you’re someone who’s finding it hard to get started, know that you’re not alone. Some people get a surge of motivation on January 1 and go all-in with their Whole30, Dry January, and intense workout plan, and others need to take their time. And believe it or not, most of the time, taking your time is more beneficial for maintenance in the long run.
So take a deep breath. Set small goals and simple to-do lists that lead to a bigger focus for the year as a whole. Let the changes be gradual — not too big, and not too small. There is absolutely no rush when it comes to self-improvement, only consistent dedication, over time.
So instead of hitting it super hard all January only to burn out come March 2nd, I’ve got a few thoughts on how to step into the new year, in a way that sets you up for success, long-term. Whether you’re already in your groove and crushing your goals or just putting pen to paper, apply these 5 tips to help ease you in towards being a healthier you, every single day.
START SMALL
Choose one or two small changes at a time to help set yourself up for success like drinking a full glass of water every morning before anything else, choosing one movement you enjoy and doing that for at least 20 minutes a few times a week, getting 6-8 hours of sleep every night, drinking one less serving of alcohol per week, ensuring you get protein in at every single meal, cooking one more dinner at home and bringing leftovers for lunch. Reminder: choose one or two at a time only.
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE / NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE BASICS
Choose basic workouts focusing on basic movements like mastering a squat, hinge, push, and pull or hire a trainer to help you create a program designed for your body; eat healthy-ish 85% of the time; visually balance your plate for nutrition vs counting macros and calories; choose simple and achievable habits that you can maintain and build upon over time. Again, one or two at a time only. Make one a habit and then add on.
3. PLAN FOR THINGS TO GO WRONG
Remind yourself that you are human and you are fallible and you do not have to do everything perfectly. Think gradual and continuous improvement through the normal, busy, messy, chaotic, and complicated ‘real life’ that happens to us all.
4. COMMIT TO DOING THE BEST YOU CAN IN EACH SITUATION
No healthy options at your work lunch? — attempt to balance as best you can with a protein, fat, carb, and veg. No time for your workout because your meeting ran late? — take 10 minutes to just move your body, stretch, etc and plan to get up early the next day and tackle your workout first thing.
5. BE CONSISTENT, CHECK IN, AND JUST SHOW UP
Remember, this is purely for you and your life. And REMIND YOURSELF it’s OKAY to be exactly where you’re at right now, in this very moment. Take it one day and one step at a time.
BONUS TIP: JUST BREATHE.
Everything is going to be just fine.
LET’S CHAT:
I’m curious: what’s one thing you need help with? What’s your biggest obstacle in living a healthier lifestyle? I’m refining content for you and want to know how I can best support you. Feel free to message me if commenting here is'n’t for you.
xx
Kirsten