Forcing yourself to stick with a routine you hate, or over-facing yourself with fitness ‘tips’, could both be contributing factors for why you aren’t achieving your fitness goals, new research conducted by the health and wellness booking app, MINDBODY reveals.
Is it time to start switching up your work out?
What’s more, losing weight (28%) was a top New Year’s resolutions for Britons in 2019; but one in five (20%) have admitted they are struggling to keep up with their goals.
MINDBODY sought to find out why by investigating the nation’s attitudes towards exercising and the obstacles faced when working out.
Alongside the common challenge of committing to working out regularly (31%), the study revealed that not knowing what exercises to actually do to meet fitness goals (16%) what advice to follow/trust (17%), and even how to keep exercise fun (17%) all contributed to both a lack of long-term motivation and ultimate inefficiency to achieve goals.
Speaking about reaching fitness goals, personal trainer at The Luna Hive, Emily Gillian explains: “Turning fitness into a game might seem like a silly idea, but it really can be a game-changer in how you perceive exercise and reaching your fitness goals[...] Children don’t enjoy being bored and neither does your inner child. By occasionally mixing up the exercise you do, even if you have one specific goal like running a marathon, you can keep yourself interested and will find the idea of exercise more enjoyable!”
Commenting on the mental and physical benefits of mixing up your workout routines, Elissa El Hadj, FORM Studios Founder, says: “Variety is the spice of life when it comes to almost everything including your workout routine. For the body to keep improving and evolving it needs to guess what’s coming next, and not predict it.
“Diversifying your workouts will also promote strong and healthy muscles and joints and discourage repetitive injury which can happen when you repeatedly do the same workout as you’re continuously using and putting pressure on exactly the same joints and thus promoting accelerated wear and tear and degeneration. Keeping it fresh and different will also introduce new skills to your repertoire which will not only make for a happier body and mind, but also is key to neuromuscular longevity.”
While mixing up your routine is a clear solution, one in six (16%) said they felt even overwhelmed by the options available to them, and what’s more, if unable to decide on a workout, both women (12%) and men (10%) said they won’t bother exercising at all.
MINDBODY has therefore created the ‘Fitness Fortune Teller’ - perfect for those who want to keep their routine fun and achieve their goals, but don’t want to pick between this class or that workout.
The ‘Fitness Fortune Teller’ is essentially a decision-making game. A printable template, which is now available to download from the MINDBODY website, is folded and with a few thumb and index fingers, the user can pinch their way to a new workout/class to try - decision made!
Charlotte Newton, Senior Marketing Manager at MINDBODY, says: “Today, more and more of us are struggling to make decisions about everyday tasks and lifestyle activities including working out, which is often referred to as ‘decision fatigue’. Our research also revealed that many people lack fun and variety in their workout.
“With all this in mind, we decided to create our Fitness Fortuner Teller to help people switch up their routines and help them hit their fitness goals. After a couple of pinches of this paper game, people will be prompted to try something completely new whether that’s a class or some new moves to incorporate into their current workouts.
“At MINDBODY we’re huge fans of helping people make informed choices about their fitness and wellbeing and we know that mixing up your fitness routine can boost motivation and keep workouts fresh. So, we really do hope people enjoy using the Fitness Fortune Teller and most of all, have fun with it!”
Are you suffering from decision fatigue or do you fancy switching up your workout routine with the help of MINDBODY’s new Fitness Fortune Teller? Then head to: https://mindbody.io/engage/december-wellness
Tagged in Healthy Body