Whether your new year's resolution is to get fit, get healthy, or lose weight—your new workout routine needs to be realistic, or else it's much less likely to last past January 30th. And in 2021, we can all use the mental and physical boost that working out gives us!
In addition to improving our physical strength and stamina, studies have shown that maintaining a consistent exercise routine has the ability to improve our mental health, focus, and mood. It can even help us live longer. Working out is a truly important aspect of your general wellness routine, and vice versa. Practicing self-care and wellness in all areas of your life can help boost your energy and fuel your fitness routine!
We humans are built to move and use our bodies on a daily basis, but that can be difficult when so many jobs require sitting at a desk for long periods of time. That’s why building a sustainable and effective workout routine that pays attention to your entire body’s holistic wellness is one of the best things you can do for your health—and there’s no better time to start than at the beginning of a new year.
Check out our essential wellness tips below for building a balanced workout routine that will keep you healthy and motivated all year long!
Diversify your workout routine.
Lifting weights is great, but just doing one thing all the time will leave your body unbalanced and lacking in other areas. A balanced workout routine requires different types of exercise, including cardio, strength training, and flexibility training.
Running and cycling are popular cardio workouts that help get your blood flowing and warm up your muscles. Strength training, like weight lifting or HIIT exercises, encourages your body to build muscle mass and burn calories. Flexibility training, or stretching, is essential for supporting those muscles and enabling your body to reach a full range of motion. Ideally, every workout will include each of these three elements, with some sessions focusing more on one area over the others.
Another important aspect of a balanced workout routine is active recovery, or light exercises that help keep your muscles loose and your body moving without pushing too hard. Yoga, jogging, pilates, swimming, or any activity that has you working at about 70% capacity are perfect for active recovery days. There are a ton of different ways to do this, so think of active recovery as an opportunity to have fun with your workout schedule!
Last but not least, your routine needs to be, well….routine. Studies have shown that working out consistently is more important than having high-intensity workouts. Start where you’re at and make sure you can commit to working out on a regular schedule before trying to go for high-intensity, high-gains workouts right away. Remember, the goal is to keep your new year’s resolution, not to burn out!
Remember to rest.
When you’re thinking about your exercise schedule, don’t forget to schedule time for rest. At least one full rest day per week (with no active recovery) is essential for muscle repair.
Strength training and other intense workouts cause microscopic tears in our muscles and fascia, which can cause soreness, inflammation, and pain. Our bodies naturally repair these tears while we sleep, which grows our muscles and makes them stronger. But in order to do that, our muscles need to take breaks. In addition to scheduling one day off from working out each week, it’s important to make sure that you get a good night’s sleep, too.
Try establishing a nighttime wellness routine to slow down your nervous system at night and encourage deep and regenerative sleep. For those who have trouble getting to sleep and staying there, a fast-acting HOLISTIK sleep STIK with all natural CBD Wellness, chamomile, and melatonin can help ease you into dreamland.
Support muscle recovery and regeneration.
In addition to rest and a well-balanced workout schedule, you need to support your physical health in other ways too. Light massage and other natural post-workout recovery practices are key, and one of the biggest ways we can impact how our body feels and performs is through what we eat.
Sticking to a healthy diet is about more than just losing weight and staying fit, it can also help us live longer, be happier, and help our bodies recover faster from workouts or injuries. That doesn’t mean you can’t ever enjoy a slice of pizza again, it just means being mindful of what you eat, when you eat it, and how it will ultimately affect your body.
Inflammatory foods like dairy, sugar, carbohydrates, processed meat, caffeine, and alcohol can exacerbate pain, soreness, and irritation in the body. This means that if you’re looking to help your muscles recover from a particularly intense workout, it might be best to avoid eating too much of these types of foods for at least a day or two.
Anti-inflammatory foods, on the other hand, are ideal for muscle recovery, and they’re delicious! Foods like turmeric, ginger, chia seeds, avocados, salmon, olive oil, leafy greens, and more are packed with compounds that not only nourish your body, but help soothe soreness, swelling, and irritation from within. And if you need a quick boost of anti-inflammatories during your workout or while you’re on the go, our HOLISTIK recover STIK has got your back.
High-protein and hydrating foods are also essential for muscle regeneration and overall recovery from an intense workout. Your body needs to replenish protein stores in order to rebuild and repair muscle mass, while hydration is key for fighting inflammation and keeping blood flowing to your muscles. Drinking small sips of water throughout your workout and ensuring that you get at least 8 glasses per day will help your body recover faster, stay energized, and perform better overall.
In Conclusion
While these practices may seem simple, they are crucial for establishing an effective and healthy workout routine. Our bodies are capable of amazing strength and endurance, but in order to achieve our fitness goals, we need to be supported by a holistic wellness routine.
