19 Feb 2021

How to build healthy habits from home with Fiit Master Trainer Adrienne Herbert

FiiT Master Trainer Adrienne Herbert, named the ‘British Vogue face of wellness’, and the host of the hugely popular Power Hour Podcast, was joined for a chat by YuLife COO and co-founder Sam Fromson.

This article offers some top tips from Herbert that can be shared with employees on making small healthy changes and sticking to them whilst we spend more time at home.

Separate your work and home life

Fromson kicked off the conversation by talking about how building healthy habits start with small steps: “You need to ask yourself, what are the little things I can do to change to make today a bit better? How can I redefine what already works?”

Herbert said that “there’s currently this work-life blend where your office is your home and it’s hard to separate the two. Having a quick conversation around creating some non-negotiable things that you aim for every day is important.

“If you have a workspace, then try to keep it there. If your work just bleeds into every part of the house, it's very difficult to feel like it's the weekend or the evening. Set non-negotiables around work time and attach a habit that helps the transition. A really basic example is having a shower at 6pm to mark the end of the day and that you’ve ‘left the office’.”

Consider the right timings for you

With the “pandemic workday” stretching an average of three hours longer than a day in the office, people are struggling to carve out the time to focus on their own wellbeing. Herbert acknowledged that there will be disruptions to creating a routine with this huge change, and shared that “you need to look at all the factors in your life that could impact when exercise, eating and sleeping is best for you”.

She continued by recommending getting your workout in early: “I'm a big advocate of mornings; there are so many benefits to it. Getting outside, seeing daylight and getting vitamin D really help with your circadian rhythm. If you're having trouble sleeping right now, mornings are when you want to do the most high energy movement when, in the afternoon and evening, you should be doing low impact activities like pilates, yoga and walking.”

However, at the moment, you’re potentially dealing with kids, work calls and even time-zone shifts in international workplaces. If that's the case, then you could potentially fit in exercise at lunchtime and “walk and talk” during calls to get your step-count up.

Aim to move for at least 60 minutes each day and make sure it’s something you enjoy. If you achieve your exercise in three lots of 20 minutes it doesn't matter, just do something you know you can repeat every day.

Get plenty of sleep!

Exercise can help with your circadian rhythm, but there are other things that could be affecting your sleep: “thought processes can trigger anxiety in a time with lots of uncertainty, so that's one reason that you might be waking up in the night,” Herbert says.

Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time each day. If you're having trouble sleeping right now, try journaling before bed to empty your mind and try a breathwork class.

“There's also the fact that our lifestyles have changed” Herbert continues. “If you're at home, you might be more sedentary right now and you might be less able to metabolise the amount of coffee you’re drinking. People understandably don’t want to be told to give up their lattes, but I think it's important to try to reduce consumption to one coffee a day.”

The past, present and future of fitness

At the ukactive event in 2019, Herbert was already talking about how digital fitness is disrupting the market and how the online fitness trend will continue to climb in the coming months and years – this has accelerated rapidly due to the current pandemic.

“There will always be boutique gyms and yoga studios,” Adrienne said. “But at-home and digital is really going to mould the future of fitness because it's personalised, affordable and accessible. You can expect to see more of a blend in the way people workout in both doing it at home and still getting training in at the gym or studio so it fits around their schedules, not the other way round.”

This article is provided by YuLife.