By Laura Hunter // Fitness // EEW Magazine Online

2022 is here, and you may be looking for a way to take better care of your body this year. Well, you have certainly come to the right place at the right time!

EEW Magazine Online fitness gurus are offering you our best tips and most effective pointers to get you in the best shape of your life. Wherever you are in your fitness journey and whatever you’re trying to improve upon, our list will help you reach your goals this year.

Tip #1 Start small.

Most people aim too high in the beginning and wind up failing. Try instead to build a fitness habit that you can keep up and eventually build upon. Examine your lifestyle and try not to overload yourself when you’re starting out—even if that means only working out a couple times a week for 10 minutes. Star small and build as you go.

Tip #2 Make fitness a lifestyle.

Successful fitness journeys are about consistency, finding movement and identifying eating habits that most naturally fit into your lifestyle. Be honest with yourself about the kind of regimen you can realistically do and commit to. How about a walk? A bike ride? A run? A lift? A salad every day? Cutting out the morning donut and sweet coffee? Make lifestyle changes instead of going for temporary fixes that won’t last.

Tip #3 Strength train at least twice a week.

Some people only do cardio but never do any strength training. This is a mistake! Whatever your age or athletic ability, strength training makes you more flexible, mobile, less injury prone, and more likely to reach your fitness goals.  Strength training will keep you feeling strong and empowered, and it’s great for your heart. Consider things like lifting light weights, squats, planks, pushups, lunges, and abdominal workouts.

Tip #4 Keep cardio in the mix.

Strength training is incredible, and the benefits are even greater when coupled with cardio to get your heart pumping. You don’t have to necessarily get on the treadmill or elliptical. You can dance, follow your favorite cardio routine on YouTube, do a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout which include exercises like high knees and butt kicks, jump rope and kettlebell swings.

Tip #5 Challenge yourself regularly.

Our bodies are highly adaptable. After you do the same workout, after a while, your body gets used to it. And if you don’t change your routine, your body will stop changing too. For example, if this week you do three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions of a certain exercise, next week you might level up to four sets of 12. The idea is to keep pushing yourself. No pain, no gain!

Tip #6 Never neglect your form.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do exercises. Some trainers like to say, “More isn’t always better. Better is better.” When you master your form and technique for doing basic exercises, you can then add more moves and weight without hurting yourself. You’ll get a more effective burn and much faster results when you do things the right way.

Tip #7 Take time to recover.

After a strenuous workout, give your body time to recover. Your muscles need to heal in order to grow stronger. As your regimen intensifies, don’t neglect to take a couple days off from intense exercise to give your body a rest. That doesn’t necessarily mean do nothing and binge want Netflix. No, you can enjoy active recovery days. Just keep it light and stay in motion with something like a walk or a super low-impact routine. Also, don’t forget to incorporate massages, stretches, and foam rolling into your recovery, and eat lots of protein which aids in quicker healing.

Tip #8 Go to bed!

Your body cannot heal up and recover if you are running on no sleep. Proper rest will regenerate your muscles and give you the energy you need to push through your workouts successfully.  If you can, establish quality sleep habits by trying to go to bed around the same time every day and waking up at the same time every day, too.

Tip #9 Stay hydrated.

Try this trick. Keep a 12-ounce glass or bottle of water next to your bed and guzzle it all when you first wake up. This will help you get a jump start on meeting your hydration goals for the day. Water is life! It energizes you and lubricates your joints. Though there are various guidelines for how much water you should drink, once you determine how much you need, stick to it. By the way, thirst and hunger often get confused. If you stay hydrated, it makes it easier to cut out unnecessary snacking and lose a bit more weight.

Tip #10 Try habit stacking.

If willpower was all that was needed to be successful on our fitness journey, more people would have reached their goals by now. Each of us has weak days when our willpower is low. But you don’t have to fail; just become a creature of habit. Habit stacking is a straightforward and effective way to build good habits. All you do is join new habits with the old ones you’ve already got down pat. For instance, if you stretch every morning, add 10 minutes of aerobic exercise onto that. If you want to drink more water, commit to doing that while you check your emails. Link the two habits. If you listen to a certain podcast daily, add another good habit like eating a healthy salad while you play it. Then you will be able to associate those things together. Habit stacking works!

Getting in shape and staying that way is not easy. But these tips, if you follow them, will have you well on your way to being in the best shape of your life!

Here’s to a fitter, happier, and healthier you in 2022.