WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HATE GOING TO THE GYM BUT STILL WANT TO GET FIT

We’re all stressed out right now!
​​Covid urgh... 
Recession urgh... 
Politics ARGH!!!​

Would you love to have some habits in place that make you handle all this stress better and feel better automatically?

Introducing , reintroducing… EXERCISE! It helps you manage stress by improving sleep, boosting confidence AND relaxing your body, so exercise really is a great addition to your schedule.

Exercise can help with stress but maybe we don’t enjoy what can go down at the gym…

This article explains how exercise counteracts stress, why getting an online trainer for home workouts can be preferable to the gym and how to get the most out of your trainer.

"Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional and mental states.” Carol Welch 

This is how it works:

“ Exercise reduces levels of the body's stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators” ​Harvard

​How Exercise Reduces Effects of Stress

Exercise gives you a break from stressful thoughts by taking your mind off your issues and releasing tension to create a calmer mind. Repetitive movements can even be meditative and a good stretch sequence after your workout works wonders for body and mind.
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Exercise Improves sleep. Stress puts you on red alert, which understandably doesn’t bode well for quality sleep. When you work out regularly you dissipate some of this stress and can fall asleep and stay asleep easier. Sleep is really important for weight loss too and it’s one of my 7 steps to permanent weight loss

Exercise boosts your self-esteem. Stress saps your confidence by, in short,  increasing nervousness. Some of this ‘nervous energy’ can be released during workouts to calm you down. In addition, simply showing up for yourself and seeing progress spills over to other areas of life and helps you navigate stressful situations easier.
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Reduces Overeating. ​

"The most common way that we've learned to turn off the stress response is to ingest food, carbohydrates in particular. ... When our belly is distended, it sends a signal to the brain that counters the stress response, and this is the essence of the parasympathetic response." Stanford

We can dissipate a build up of stress by exercising instead of overeating.

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​Strengthens Immune System. Stress increases cortisol and adrenaline which puts your body in high alert and shut down the immune system. Exercise basically teaches your body to handle these higher levels so you can avoid going into fight or flight and harming your immune response.

​Why Going to the Gym is stressful

IT Takes Too Much Time Driving to and from the gym adds time and frustration to your workout. As does finding or waiting for equipment!

IT Saps Self Esteem Gyms use a business model that promises you the world in order to get you to sign up but do nothing to get you motivated to actually attend. In fact if everyone who signs up attends, the gym will be over capacity. 

So you go a couple of times but you don’t feel comfortable… and you don’t know what to do… and there’s unwritten rules you don’t know about. Then you quit - and believe it's YOU that’s at fault and you feel crap about yourself.

Other People Can Be Dicks OMG. dealing with other people at the gym!  Unsolicited mansplaining and condescension…  being judged… being filmed without permission, arrogant dicks dominating the free weights section making you feel unwelcome…​

​Why Online Personal Training Is Better The Gym

Convenience & Time. Without travel time you can easily fit in exercise at home and reclaim those hours back to spend on what matters to you. And as a bonus it’s easier to be consistent because you don’t have the excuse of having to go anywhere!

It's More Comfortable. Working out with a gym instructor at home is so much more relaxing than going to the gym. You don’t have the stress of travel, and don’t have to deal with onlookers. You can practically roll out of bed and onto your workout mat and chill during your stretches knowing you don’t have to get home afterwards!

You Can Still Get Results If You Travel or don't want to travel. Working out with an online personal trainer means you can train while away from home. Conversely, you don’t have the added excuse of having to leave the house, so you get all your workouts complete! 

​Support & Accountability 
Working with an online trainer gives you confidence: you’ll never be at a loss for what to do and you can ask as many questions as you like. Being online means you can learn to check your own form with guidance too. Booking one on one sessions gives you the ultimate type of accountability. 

​How to Get the Most from your Online Personal Trainer

Have Realistic Expectations. If you don’t change your eating habits and don’t move at all outside of workouts don’t expect a six pack or to get super fit, Especially if you are not doing many workouts a week.

Be Honest. Be honest about what does and doesn't work for you. Your trainer wants you to be happy with your workouts and knows you will make more progress if you are.

Share Your Likes And Dislikes. Before you meet your trainer, think about anything you’ve liked or disliked about exercise in the past so you can share with her and she can create a program that works for you

So we’ve seen how stress can negatively affect us emotionally and physically and how exercise can help. And we’ve explored how going to the gym can add to that stress and how online personal training can be a better option.

​​HEY I'M CLARA!
You can get to know me best on Instagram and Facebook

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