June Tips: Keep cool and happy

Bring back the basics, and take them outside!

It’s nice out, who wants to be in a sweaty gym?!

Hey, we run a gym and agree-- take advantage of the beautiful weather! But, of course, don’t neglect those fitness #gainz that you’ve been making.

Lucky for you, your body is made to move-- it doesn’t need any special equipment to get a good workout and keep improving your fitness level… which means that you can keep up with your fitness routine ANYWHERE at ANYTIME with just a few of the basic movements:

Squats
Push-ups
Lunges
Running

To maintain your fitness level, aim for at least 2-3 workouts of 20-30min of hard work each week. For ideas, you can check out our past “workouts of the month”, or try your hand at our 3-day running program!

If you’re around the West Island this summer, keep an eye out for TriForce’s Park Fitness or community outdoor workouts (like this month’s walk and squat!) so that we can keep our #gainz going this summer together!

Make a happy list

If you’ve been online for a while, you’ve probably seen the flow chart below...

Seems simple enough: if you’re not happy, keep changing things in your life until you are.

However, identifying why you’re not happy can be tough. Instead, take out a good ol’ pen and paper and make three columns: things that make you happy, things that make you unhappy, and things that do neither but are necessary to do anyways.

From there, take a look at your “happy list”. Scratch off the items that you feel that you are doing consistently. Highlight ones that you would know you can do more of in a week.

Then, look at the other two columns: which things are absolutely necessary to keep doing? Which things are not necessary or can be reduced? Highlight the actions that you want to change or remove.

Your highlighted list represents the actions in your life that you can change. Now comes the fun part, how to change them!

For us, we numbered the highlighted numbers and wrote one sentence for each, all with a similar structure:

“I want to do/ I feel best when I [insert “happy habit”] but [insert perceived obstacle], so I will [insert a solution that will move you towards your goal] to avoid [insert part of obstacle you’re solving].”

Here are some examples from our “Happy List”:

I feel best when I work out consistently workout but feel strapped for time and lack energy at the end of the day, so I will wake-up 30min earlier to workout as soon as I get up to prevent any pop-up “to-dos” or long work days from replacing my workouts.
OR for you TriForce goers: I feel best when I work out consistently workout but feel strapped for time and lack energy at the end of the day, so I will find a TriForce gym partner and we will decide on two classes to go to together each week to help keep me accountable to my goals.
I want to go to bed early and get up early, but find myself scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed or watching TV late at night, so I will set an alarm for 9:30pm each night to remind myself that it’s time to unplug and start getting ready for bed.
I feel best with a clean house, but don’t like to spend hours cleaning the house each week, so I will try to put things in their place each night before going to bed to avoid the stress of living in a cluttered house and the need for a long clean-up time each week.

As with any lifestyle change, it’s usually best and most sustainable to choose one habit to work on first. Once you feel you’ve mastered that (give yourself 1-2 weeks), look for another habit that you have confidence that you have the tools and motivation to change next. Keep repeating this cycle as needed until you can reflect and smile with your life.

Leave the heat out of the kitchen

Humid, hot summers days are upon us.

This increase in temperature tends to zap folks of energy, which can create two types of issues for folks looking to stick to a healthier diet:

Don’t feel like cooking, will grab whatever is convenient or eat out
Don’t feel like eating, will skip meals

You can avoid these pitfalls with a little bit of planning:

Having lots of fresh fruits and veggies washed and ready to go, so all you have to do is grab and go! Plus, fruits and veggies have a lot of water per weight, so you’ll be helping your body stay hydrated and feeling refreshed-- all the while getting in important nutrients! We’ll be posting about how to keep produce longevity during the summer next month.
Choose meals that won’t use the oven/ stove
Go for “light and refreshing” when you eat out too-- try a new loaded salad or wrap. No one likes feeling that familiar fast food heaviness, especially when it’s tiring enough already to move around in the heat.
Try a thick protein smoothie instead of that hot bowl of oatmeal or eggs and bacon in the morning, or instead of an afternoon snack-- super refreshing!