Thriving Through Movement: 7 Fitness Habits for Your Wellbeing

The Transformative Power of Fitness Habits

In today’s over-embellished corporate world, creating and maintaining healthy fitness habits is challenging and requires conscious efforts. This article navigates the essential habits you need in order to maintain your physical and mental health. Such habits will help you follow a routine for exercising regularly, which will further transform your life by improving your: 

1- Physical Health: Regular exercise can enhance your digestion, hormonal balance, and immune function.

2- Mental Health: Exercise boosts your mental health by promoting your sense of well-being and reducing stress as it stimulates your body to produce endorphins. Natural hormones that can relieve pain and elevate your mood.

7 Fitness Habits to Boost Your Wellbeing

Adopting healthy habits is not just about losing weight, it’s about creating a sustainable lifestyle that enhances your overall quality of life and helps you live fully. From adopting healthy eating habits to prioritizing self-care, let’s discover the habits that can transform your life.

1- Healthy Eating Habits

Healthy eating isn’t just essential for losing weight but also for enhancing your well-being. Up until a few years ago, we considered eating healthy as depriving ourselves of the foods we love. However, today, with the advancements in trends, there are many delicious and nutritious recipes we can try at home. Below are some steps you can take to start eating healthy with small steps:  

1- Prepare Your Meals Ahead: Planning your meals every week will help avoid ordering unhealthy food and try creative ways to cook food as well. 

2- Eat Whole Foods (Healthy Plate, Whole Grains: Replace refined grains with whole grains such as whole-wheat flour, bulgur (cracked wheat), oatmeal, and brown rice. This will keep you from overeating processed foods and simple carbohydrates. 

3- Eat More Proteins: Focus on eating lean sources of protein such as Greek yogurt, chicken breast, lentils, and salmon.

2- Maintaining Consistency over Intensity

Consistent and small-scale exercise is more effective than infrequent and high-intensity workouts followed by long breaks. To create your fitness routine, it’s recommended to begin with small, steady steps and gradually increase the duration over time. Even if just starting with a few minutes per day. This will help you healthily build your body muscles and avoid sores and injuries. 

 

3- Planning Ahead

Planning and structuring a routine for exercising will help you save ample time and beat procrastination. Including physical activities in your daily life will help you reach your fitness and health goals in the long run. Some modern day steps for planning a modern day gym routine include:

1- Prepare your gym outfits a day before to avoid excuses. 

2- Keep a water bottle handy to replenish the fluids you lose when you sweat, therefore maintaining your performance levels.

3- Prepare healthy snacks the night before to keep your body’s energy throughout exercising.

4- Warm up before exercising to become more efficient and safer during your workout.

4- Explore Activities You Enjoy

When exercising, prioritize activities that you enjoy and find worthwhile. This could be Zumba, yoga, or strength training. This will help you stay consistent with exercising, especially if you do it within a group that’s passionate about the same activity you love. Furthermore, this will also help you stay on track. With that in mind, explore various activities to discover which ones you enjoy most and would like to incorporate into your daily fitness routine.

5- Take Time to Rest and Recover

Resting is an essential fitness habit for your well-being. This is because it prevents injuries, heals soreness, and boosts your muscles’ growth and recovery. When we think of resting, we often picture simply lying in bed doing nothing. However, who says resting can’t be enjoyable and engaging? There are plenty of activities you can do that allow you to relax while still have fun and help your body recover, including:

1- Yoga and meditation

2- Hot baths

3- Cold plunges 

4- Massage therapy

The most crucial aspect of resting is getting enough sleep to support your body’s restoration and recovery while reducing fatigue.

5- Prioritize Mobility Exercises

Mobility exercises are a set of movements and activities that fosters your joints and muscles ability to move comfortably and efficiently. This includes improving the range of motion, flexibility, strength, and coordination necessary for daily activities. Some examples of mobility exercises include: 

1- Arm and hip circles 

2- Squats 

3- Butterfly stretch 

4- Standing arm swing 

Building healthy habits requires accountability and discipline. You can cultivate your fitness habits at New Orleans Athletic Club to support you on your journey to strength, flexibility, and balance

6- Embrace Real Self Care

According to psychotherapist Leah Marone, “Real self-care is about simplicity and intention. It’s about finding small, meaningful ways to check in with yourself regularly, even amid your daily responsibilities.”

Most of the time we think that self-care is about luxury and fail to recognize that real self-care is also taking time out of your day. Even if for just 5 minutes to breathe deeply and relax, eat something you love, and spend quality time with your family and friends. This can tremendously improve your overall wellness.

Real self-care can manifest in many different ways. This includes taking time for self-reflection, getting enough vitamin D through sun exposure, and making sure you treat yourself with love and compassion.