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Tips and Tricks

Workout Apps

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Workout Apps

Just like there are tons of apps out there for tracking and logging your nutrition and your fitness, there are also a flood of workout apps out there. The apps I’m going to talk about aren’t about tracking, but about actually giving you a workout to do.

When you don’t know what to do

Workout apps are just that. An app that takes you through a workout. I generally recommend you watch the workout through at least once beforehand so you know what to expect, but other than that, you generally just follow along doing the exercise shown on screen. Some of the apps will have a countdown timer showing how long until the next exercise if they have a video of the workout. Others simply list exercises and tell you how many of each to do, and you go from one exercise to the next in a circuit until you are finished (or you can complete the circuit multiple times if it’s too easy for you!) It’s like having your own personal trainer in your pocket.

When you’re short on time

Workout apps are great when you are short on time. Many of the workouts are five to ten minutes in length, letting you squeeze in a workout quickly. Some of the apps are focused on a particular body part, so you can quickly work your arms, and if you find another few minutes later in the day, you can  work your legs next. Others focus on giving you a full body workout each time.

When you are short on space

Workout apps are designed to be viewed on a cell phone, and perhaps because of the small screen size, most of the workouts don’t require a lot of physical space. At most, you generally need the amount of floor space needed for a yoga mat. This means you can generally do these workouts right in your living room.

When you have little to no equipment

Another bonus to workout apps is the workouts they put together are often body weight based, so they require little to no equipment. Lunges, squats, push-ups, crunches, etc. can all be done without a gym membership.

When you are traveling

Because workout apps tend to be designed to be short, space saving, and light on the requirements, they are fantastic for when you are traveling. I travel often for work and know that it can really throw my gym routine way off. Having these little workouts to do can give you something to work on while you’re traveling so that a vacation doesn’t set you way back.

When you need one

There are so many apps out there, it can be hard to make a list. Do a search for “fitness trainers” to see just how many there are! A very popular one is 7 Minute Workout. You can also search for a type of workout you are looking for such as “yoga” or “booty workout” to narrow it down. There is a company that makes a series of apps called “Daily Workout Apps” which has free workouts for butt, abs, yoga, cardio and arms. And if you have more time, YouTube has millions of fitness videos for every level, and of every type imaginable.

Do you have a go-to app for working out? Let me know below!

Nutrition Tracking Apps

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Nutrition Tracking Apps

Tracking what you are doing is the only way to know if what you are doing is actually getting you closer to your goals or not. Logging gives you an accurate picture of what you are consuming. While you can track your food manually using a journal, I have found that using an app is often faster and more convenient.

Apps do the manual work for you

The great thing about using an app is that much of the work is done for you. The apps generally come with a very large database of foods. Look up a food, and all the calories, macros and nutrients are listed for you. No need to do a separate search to find that information. Many apps come with pre-built in graphs as well so that you can get a visual representation of your habits without needing to built a chart on your own. Apps can also give you a big picture view. Many apps that let you track nutrition also let you track your exercise, weight, body fat and even measurements.

Apps making logging food fast and convenient

Aside from coming with a huge food database to make logging quick and easy, apps also come with other features to make getting an accurate picture of your intake as painless as possible. Many allow you to store your own recipes under your profile, so you can easily log foods you make at home. Just input the recipe once, and you can then log that food with one click in the future. Most also include a bar code scanner so that you simply scan the bar code of whatever you are eating and it will find the food and  log it.

Apps can come pre-configured

Many apps have websites associated with them. They can have meal plans on there for you to follow. Just make the foods that they list out for you to stick to the plan. Some can even take into account things like low-carb or vegetarian diets. Plug in your goals, and the app will tell you how much of what you should be eating. I will caution you to calculate your own TDEE using various calculators. For some reason, across the board, apps seem to be really bad at coming up with the right amount for people to eat.

Apps can offer support

Quite a few apps are part of a larger website. These sites often have large communities of people where you can find others with similar goals. There are message boards and groups based on geography, shared interests, and other demographics. This gives you a place you can turn to for support and accountability. (And I’m here for you too!)

Apps that are out there

Here is just a small sampling of apps that you can use to log your nutrition to help keep you on the right track!

What about you? Do you use one of the nutrition trackers listed above? Share your favorite tracker in the comments below!

Setting up a Morning Routine

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Setting up a Morning Routine

In her quest to make the most of her day, Jane has set up a nightly routine to help her fall asleep faster, she has taken steps to make her bedroom into a sanctuary so she can get better sleep, and she has tweaked her alarm clocks so that she is waking up earlier. She still feels like she isn’t quite getting a jump on her day though; she grabs her phone to check social media, and before she knows it, the time she had by waking up earlier is gone. Having a morning routine to bookend the nightly routine we started with can be that jump start we need to make the most of our day. Here are some things you can include in your morning routine.

No screens

Checking Facebook and email can be an enormous time drain, so avoid checking your phone until after your routine is done. If you absolutely must know something right away, say, what the weather is going to be like, add it as a notification to your lock screen, so you don’t even have to unlock your phone to get that information.

Make the bed

Making your bed is a quick small thing that can have huge returns. It doesn’t have to be hotel style fancy or anything. Just straighten out the covers and arrange the pillows. It takes less than a minute, and it starts your day off with a sense of accomplishment. It makes the bedroom look nicer, and reduces the background stress that comes whenever something is out of place or cluttered.

Do some exercise

If the whole point of getting up early was to give yourself time to work out, then do it now! If you just wanted some more time in your day, do a little something, even if it’s just 10 push-ups or 20 jumping jacks or something. Yoga sun salutations are another great way to get in some movement in the mornings. The idea here is to get the blood flowing and get you from a state of merely having your eyes open to actually being awake.

Start the day with journaling

Another reason to get up early is to have time to write in a journal. You can make this as quick or as in-depth as you wish. If you don’t have much time, but would like to start your days on a positive note, consider keeping a journal handy and simply writing down three to five things you are grateful for each morning. If you have more time, you can plan out your day a bit more. I keep a bullet journal, and while I normally prepare for the day the night before, if I forget, it’s something I do first thing in the morning. List out the day’s appointments and tasks you’d like to accomplish, and then get do it! If you truly have time on your hands in the morning, you can try morning pages. Morning pages is basically taking a notebook and writing three pages every morning. It doesn’t matter what you write. It’s basically just a brain dump, and it really helps to get your mind clear of clutter so you can focus on what you really want to accomplish that day.

Add in some meditation

Taking time for meditation before you start your day can really help bring your focus to the here and now and on what you want to get accomplished. It will help clear your mind of distractions so that you can be your most productive self. This doesn’t have to take long, just a quick five-minute session can be enough to help you get  going.

Grab a magic potion

Now is the time for your morning power potion of choice. Whether that be coffee, tea, orange juice, a power smoothie, red bull or what have you, gulp down some of that rocket fuel (bonus points to doing so while listening to your own personal power anthem) and seize the day!

 

How to Wake Up Earlier

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How to Wake Up Earlier

Our saga of Jane and her quest to get up earlier so she has time to workout and get more done in her day continues. Jane set up a nightly routine and is now getting much better sleep, but her sleep has gotten so good, she has a really hard time getting out of bed in the mornings. Here are some suggestions to help you actually get out of bed earlier.

Go to bed earlier

Set an alarm at night so that you know to start prepping for bed and don’t lose track of the time. Be sure to give yourself time to do your nightly routine which will help you fall asleep faster! It’s really hard to get up early if you haven’t had enough sleep.

Wake up at the same time each day

This one is tough, especially on weekends. But waking up the same time each day gets your body into a routine, and our bodies love routines. This helps in two ways: one, it teaches the body what time to wake up, so you start to naturally wake up at that time, even without an alarm; and two, it also makes you start feeling sleepy at the time your body needs to go to bed in order to get the optimal amount of sleep. How much sleep you need is different for everyone, but if you make it a habit to wake up at the same time each day, your body will let you know when it’s bedtime!

Avoid hitting snooze

The snooze button is insidious. It seems like your friend, but it’s really not. You aren’t going to be able to get any quality sleep between when you hit that button and when the alarm goes off again, so you might as well just get up. Also, going in and out of sleep like that lengthens your “sleep inertia” making it harder for you to fully wake up and be alert enough to get on with your day. Another option is using an alarm app like the Rock Clock which has no snooze function at all, so you have no choice but to get up. (Also, who doesn’t love The Rock?)

Try an alarm clock hack

To avoid that snooze button, try moving your alarm clock to the other side of the room. This requires that you actually get up to turn it off. You can also get an alarm clock app for your phone that is trickier to turn off, such as one that requires that you solve a math problem (or several) before it will turn off. That forces you to get your brain working and gets you to “wake up” before turning the alarm off. Another helpful tip is to use an alarm clock app that works with your body’s sleep rhythms to wake you when it thinks you are at the lightest part of your sleep cycle. The idea here is that instead of shocking you out of a deep sleep, the app monitors your movement patterns (requires that your phone be under your pillow or on your mattress somewhere) and will wake you up anywhere up to half an hour before your “must be awake” time based on how much you are moving about. More movement = lighter sleep and thus not as much of a shock to wake up.

Get a sunrise alarm clock

Just as it was important to darken our bedrooms to prepare our bodies natural rhythms for sleep, having some natural light in the mornings can help to wake us up. Getting an alarm clock that has a sunrise feature can help bring you out of sleep slowly, while also signaling to your body that it is time to be up and about. This is especially important the further you live from the equator, as in winter time, it can stay dark out for a long time, and you need that fake sun to help you get going. Some of these lights can even do double duty as light therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder. (For more ways to combat SAD, check out this infographic over at Positive Health Wellness)

Try feeding pets earlier

Not guaranteed to work, especially if you have pets that are content to cuddle. That said, try feeding your pets earlier. Once they get used to a routine of eating at a certain time, they’ll start waking you up expecting their breakfast. And how can you say “no” to that face?

 

Now that you’re up, let’s make sure you start this day off on the right foot!

Improving the Quality of Your Sleep

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Improving the Quality of Your Sleep

Remember Jane? She has a goal of getting up earlier so she can get more done with her day. After implementing a nightly routine, she’s falling asleep faster, but she’s still not sleeping very well. Let’s look at some steps Jane (and you!) can take to improve the quality of her sleep.

Go to bed earlier

The first thing you can do to increase the chances of actually getting up earlier in the morning is going to bed earlier. While this is easier said than done, setting an alarm can really help. Set an alarm in the evening to remind yourself that it’s time to get ready for bed. Give yourself enough time to close out your day and still be in bed by your ideal time.

Cut the caffeine

Ok, I know some this is sacrilege for some of you, but cutting out caffeine can help you sleep better! At the very least, try not to have caffeine after around 2pm. Also keep in mind, that if you’re just looking for a warm drink, decaf is not completely caffeine free, but it is certainly a better option than the full-leaded version. If your caffeine of choice is soda, see if you can stomach the caffeine free version after lunch. (I don’t know why, but caffeine-free sodas taste really strange for some reason) Alternately, you can try flavored seltzer water for a drink that’s fizzy, flavorful, and that is calorie and caffeine free!

Have a nightly routine

Having a nightly routine helps you fall asleep faster, as it signals to your body that it is time to wind down and start getting into sleep mode. By the time you get to bed, your body is ready!

Darken your room

Our bodies are designed to work with the sun. Screens and artificial lights can really mess with our internal clocks. Making your bedroom as dark as possible can help you get really deep sleep. Cover up any small lights from electronics or even your alarm clock. If you can, use thick curtains on the windows to block out light from the outside. Those blackout curtains in hotel rooms are the reason people always seem to sleep better in hotels.

Get cold

There’s a reason many animals hibernate through the winter. It’s easy to sleep when it’s cold. Your whole body just slows down. Make sure the thermostat isn’t set to high when you go to bed. If you are hardcore, you can take a cold shower before bed to really kick start the process. This is why (in a roundabout sort of way) hot baths before bed are common in some Eastern cultures. It heats you up, sure, but then as your body cools, you start getting sleepy.

Make it quiet

Another thing that can prevent you from falling asleep is too much noise. Try to minimize noises as best you can, but if you can’t, you can block some of it out with a white noise generator. There are many apps and websites and even household appliances that will create a light amount of background noise that your brain can just ignore, while simultaneously serving to block out background noises that might wake you up. One of my favorites for white noise is Rainy Mood, which lets you set a time limit after which it will turn itself off, so it can help you fall asleep, but not run all night long.

Get a good mattress

Having the right mattress for you can make a world of difference in your sleep, and how you feel the next morning. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you. Personally, I like firmer mattresses. I find I sleep much more soundly and wake up a lot less sore than on softer mattresses. If a new mattress isn’t in the budget for you right now, try rotating your current mattress, so you’re not sleeping in the same indentations that have formed over months and possibly years.

Use a proper pillow

If you can’t get a new mattress, perhaps you can upgrade your pillow. Depending on if you sleep on your back, stomach or side, you’ll have different needs when it comes to the support your pillow provides your head and neck. A good pillow can prevent cricks in your neck and be the difference between waking up refreshed, and waking up achy.

Hopefully these tips will help you sleep as deeply as Sleeping Beauty, and wake up as refreshed as people in those commercials (who looks like that immediately after they wake up, really?)

Out of sheer curiosity, when was the last time you replaced your mattress or pillow?

Setting up a Nightly Routine

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Setting up a Nightly Routine

Let me tell you a tale about Jane. Jane used to use the excuse of “not having time” to explain why she wasn’t working out. But after realizing that she has the same hours in a day as everyone else, and that people busier than she are out there getting their workouts in, Jane makes the decision that she just needs to get up earlier. But Jane runs into a few road blocks. She doesn’t get to bed till late and has a hard time falling asleep. Once she does get to sleep, she sleeps somewhat fitfully. This makes it extra hard for her to get up in the mornings, and she hits snooze multiple times before getting up. Then she finds her mornings to be hurried and frazzled. Just like many other things in life, laying a good foundation is the key to success. So lets go back to the beginning,  and outline some steps that can help us avoid Jane’s fate, starting with a nightly routine.

Here are some steps you can add to your nightly routine to help you fall asleep faster and get a better night’s sleep. You don’t have to do every single one, but try each out for a few nights and see if it makes a difference in your sleep.

Set an alarm

Many of us set alarms to help us wake up, but it can also be very useful to have an alarm to remind us that it is time to get ready for bed. Maybe you’re catching up on episodes of your favorite show, or you’re engrossed in a really good book, or even just mindlessly browsing Facebook or Pinterest. We can easily lose track of the time, and before you know it, it’s late. Set an alarm each night that reminds you that it’s time to start winding down and getting ready for sleep. And set that alarm with plenty of time. If watching TV is your thing, and you’re halfway through an episode when your alarm goes off, you want to have time to finish the episode, do all the rest of your routine, and still get to bed by your ideal bedtime.

Brush your teeth

Aside from just being a good habit, brushing your teeth can help signal to your body that it is time to get into rest mode. I actually try to brush my teeth earlier on in the evening, as it prevents me from wanting to snack on something the rest of the night.

Facial care

If you have a nightly facial routine, you can do it when you brush your teeth, or right before bed. Some of us need toner, others of us need moisturizer. No matter what, be sure to remove any makeup you may have applied that day. A minute or two of care in the evening will leave your face looking that much more refreshed in the morning.

Do some light stretching or yoga

You are about to lay comatose for hours on end. Your body will get stiff. Fend off some of that stiffness ahead of time by doing some light stretching or yoga before bed. The idea here isn’t to tire yourself out, but to just loosen up your body so that you don’t wake up with a strange crick in your neck.

Take some “Zen” time

Immediately before bed, take some time to do something for yourself. This can take any number of forms. You can do some journaling, either writing down what you were grateful for, or just doing a brain dump of the day to get it out of your head so you’re not thinking about it as you drift of to sleep. You could read a chapter of a book, but the stipulation is that it must be fiction. The idea here is to wind down. No reading a self-help book and then thinking of all the ways to apply it to your life when you should be falling asleep. You could knit or crochet while listening to some relaxing music. You can do some meditation. I personally engage in some of that de-stress coloring before bed, and I find that when I make the time for it, it significantly cuts down the time it takes me to fall asleep. Do whatever low-key thing works for you. I recommend spending at the very least a solid five minutes on this activity, but if you can do 15 minutes or more, that’s fantastic!

Brush your teeth, take care of your face, change into your jammies, take a moment to stretch, then check your social media accounts one last time, because…

NO SCREENS

This last one is PARAMOUNT. The longer you can go without a screen before heading to bed, the faster you’ll be able to fall asleep. Our computer, television, tablet and phone screens all emit a ton of light in the blue spectrum. That blue light signals to our brain that it is still day time, throws off our circadian rhythms, and makes it much harder for us to fall asleep. This is why none of the zen items above involved playing games on your phone before bed. It is also why I recommend that the zen time be the very last thing you do before bed as it’ll force you to be without a screen for a bit. If you find yourself using screens far too late (it’s just the way of the world) you can help combat the blue light syndrome by installing certain apps to change the “temperature” of the light on your screen. These apps automatically adjust the color of your phone to more and more reddish based on the sunset time in your location. I use the Twilight app on my Android phone, and I use f.lux on my PC.

Hopefully trying some of these ideas will help you get to sleep quicker, and also help you have a better night’s sleep. I really do like trying to do all but the last thing as early in the evening as possible. It sounds ridiculous, but on nights I don’t do this, I find I go to bed way later because, get this, the prospect of doing all the things to get ready for bed just seems like too much work, so I put it off. Seriously. On the other hand, if I’ve already done almost all of my getting ready for bed things, once I decide I’m tired enough for sleep, I can easily just turn off my phone, sit down and color for a bit, and then go off to bed. No having to make any stops along the way.

What activities make up your nightly routine? What would you add to this list? Let me know below in the comments!

Next up, how to get a better night’s sleep.