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With summer in full swing, it’s time to enjoy more sunshine, warmer temperatures, and extra time with family and friends outdoors. Yet, with so many vacations and barbecues on the books, it’s easy to take a detour from your fitness goals and resolutions (remember those?) for those more ‘fun’ options.
If you want to breathe new life into your exercise goals and find meaningful strategies that help you feel motivated to make health changes all year long, you’re not alone. Katy Neville, head of fitness programming for Amazon Halo, wants to help by sharing her top tips for re-committing to your wellness journey.
Try a program with a path in mind
Working towards a new fitness goal can be exciting, but knowing how to kick off and actually sticking with it can be more challenging. Picking a program that progresses with you each week will help you avoid burnout and stay consistent so you can hit your goals.
Explore programs with themes and specific challenges. For example, Amazon Halo offers 4-week “Beginner Cardio” and “Yoga Foundations” programs. After a month, you’ll have launched into a new movement routine and gained a new sense of confidence to tackle a broader range of classes.
Mix it up while getting outside
Trying something new with your fitness can bring new energy to your day. Research shows that mixing up your routine can increase your motivation and results, according to the journal PLOS ONE. Try incorporating a program that uses equipment indoors to help benefit your activities outdoors.
Halo offers a new program, “Ready Set Hike,” that will prepare you for a long successful hiking season. Not only will you be able to flex your muscles indoors, but you will reap the benefits in the warmer weather on the trails. Get excited by creating a list of parks and trails you want to tackle after the program is complete. Work out in your hiking boots for an added challenge!
Prioritize mobility in the hips
Mobility is a big buzzword these days, and for good reason. People live in a sagittal world, meaning everything is forward — you walk forward, move forward, sit forward — and all this movement centers on the hips. Regardless of what your routine looks like, you should be adding time into your week to focus on hip mobility. That will keep your body healthy and mobile in the long run. The Halo Movement Health feature allows members to measure their mobility and stability, and then offers a personalized set of corrective exercises, which is a really valuable jumping off point as you focus on making mobility a priority.
Stay motivated while traveling
Traveling doesn’t mean you should shelf your fitness goals. No matter how small your suitcase, you have room for a mini-band. Bringing this mini-band on the road is a physical reminder of your goals and an easy way to add resistance into your routine while on the road.
Bodyweight-only exercises can become routine, but when you add the resistance from a band, you’ll not only take your workout up a notch, you’ll achieve more burn in less time. Halo offers tons of effective body weight workouts including options from Aaptiv, Orangetheory Fitness, and their own Halo coaches. With tons of options that are under 20 minutes, you can sneak in a workout between your vacation adventures.
Propel your results with live feedback
Using real time heart rate feedback during a workout has been shown to increase motivation and result in higher levels of exertion, according to the journal Frontiers in Psychology. This can be done by using a heart rate monitor or fitness device that pairs with your exercise program of choice. Try syncing Halo with some of your favorite fitness devices and services, like Tonal, MapMyRun, and Echelon, to view your live heart rate as an overlay in real time.
“I hope these tips will reenergize your mindset and inspire you to move in new ways so you can look and feel your best,” Neville said.
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