What you do today for yourself both mentally, physically and physiologically has a huge impact on your life tomorrow.

In the wise words of Zac Efron from his new series, Down to Earth he says; “We don’t like to think we are growing older even though we are constantly doing it”. When we are in our twenties and even thirties, we often feel a little too invincible to the real world and the happenings within us. We often neglect to remind ourselves of the importance of healthy aging which begins while we are young. Although our metabolisms are in it’s prime and we may not pick up weight as quickly or feel the effects of what we put into our body immediately, it is important to remember what we put into our body today will have an impact on it tomorrow. 

This is a topic that resonates with me and has been on my mind for a while now, too often I see friends or people I know of neglecting their health for which I can assume 4 reasons; 1. They are unaware of the importance in healthy eating and living 2. They are somewhat too lazy to try and make an effort on doing so 3. They think just one more won’t hurt (200 times over) 4. They don’t really believe the impact it will have on their life in a few years time.

In just over three months, I will officially be a qualified Sport Scientist and with that comes all the amazing knowledge I’ve learned over the years about health and wellness, the importance of exercise, eating well and the disadvantages of doing the opposite. Although it would be nice, we youngsters unfortunately don’t have a free diet pass, a healthy diet is so crucial at every age and if there was one thing I want this post to do, it is to to urge you to be mindful of the food you put into your body and maybe think twice before you have to decide between a cheesy pizza or a chicken salad! Living a disease free life is what the goal should be and this is how its done..

Your future self will thank you for it

This is probably the most important point I want to get across to you. We all know the saying  ‘prevention is better than cure’, If you are mindful of being healthy both mentally and physically now, you’ll be putting your body at less risk for health problems and diseases later on. Working out and eating healthy is more than just losing weight and ‘looking’ a certain way, if you are purposefully introducing healthier habits into your life your body will be able to function at it’s best and in turn, it will feel so much better in the long run. 

Eat right to have more energy

I am sure somewhere along the road you have heard of the term ‘brain food’. The brain is an organ that uses energy and takes about 20% of the body’s calories in order to function, that’s why it is so essential to ensure you are fueling it with the necessary foods. It also needs good whole foods to remain healthy, just like the rest of our body. 

Consuming foods that are full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals is vital in ensuring health whether it be brain health, gut health, heart health – it is all relevant and they are all interdependent, meaning they influence one another. Eating the right kinds of carbohydrates, fats and proteins will provide you with more energy throughout the day, you will be able to function for longer periods of time before feeling fatigued and your overall mental health will improve too.

You’ll feel better about yourself and attract healthier habits and people

It is no doubt that when you eat healthy, you feel healthy. When you are putting the right nutrients into your body and working out a bit more often than usual, you will begin to notice that your body will be able to perform efficiently and function a bit more adequately then usual.

Another part of your body that will thank you for it is your skin, remember what you put inside your body will show on the outside. If you are eating wholefoods and saying no to extra greasy and cheesy foods, your skin will start to relish. You will glow and in a few years time, your skin will reflect the healthy habits you began when you were younger.

Stretching

I don’t want to limit looking after yourself to just the foods you consume, simple things such as moisturising after the shower or doing 5 minutes of stretching every morning will all have a huge impact on you in the years to come.

Stretching has a wide variety of benefits for both the younger generations and older populations. Stretching when you are young can help prevent many injuries from occurring as you get older, and is also known to help prevent or minimise the risk of certain diseases such as arthritis. It helps maintain mobility and balance which are crucial the older you get, as it’ll prevent you from falling.

So as you can see, there are so many important reasons as to why you should look after yourself from a young age. Don’t do it for me, or your friends, you should do it for you because you love your body and you want to look after it so it can look after you the older you get.

I’ve never done a post like this, I thought it would be interesting for someone who is just starting out their fitness journey and isn’t sure how to plan their workout days.

Essentially it is up to you and your body. I usually go by how my body is feeling, if my legs are still sore from the previous leg workout then I wouldn’t necessarily train them again even if it is my next leg day. Listening to your body is crucial when wanting results.

Before my workouts I always like to do a 5-10 minutes slow warm up, whether it be cycling or an incline on the treadmill just to make sure that my body isn’t cold when I start my workout, then once my workout is finished I do a 10 minute cool down stretch. Stretching is so important when workout out so make sure to always integrate it into your sessions (even though it can be a little tedious sometimes)!

On Monday’s I like to focus on my legs. It’s one of my less favoured areas of my body so I usually put more time and effort into planning and doing those then I would my other days. I train legs twice a week and then usually a full body session at the end of the week depending on how my body is feeling, however Ive recently been enjoying taking Saturday’s and Sunday’s off and using them as rest days.

My workout split at the moment looks a little like this:

Monday – Legs

Tuesday – Back and bis

Wednesday – Chest and tris

Thursday – Shoulders

Friday – Legs

Saturday & Sunday -Rest or Full body

I like integrating back and bis together because you’re essentially using your biceps when you are training back. It just so happens to work out that way depending on the exercises being done but I always do exercises during the workout that focuses mainly the specific areas and then I enjoy integrating supersets for both, back and biceps.

Chest and tris are definitely my least favourite thing to train, but I think it’s important to train weekly especially when trying to keep your body in proportion. A lot of girls think that only boys can train chest because they will get “man boobs” but that’s not the case at all. There are actually a few benefits from training chest, such as improving your posture, making your breasts perkier etc. So don’t neglect your pecs, your future self will thank you for it!

I definitely enjoy getting a little shoulder pump in the gym, it’s not my strongest point but it’s something I enjoy working on and challenging myself so I like to focus mainly on shoulders on a thursday.

As for full body, because it’s weekend and usually getting to the gym is a struggle I like to keep it short and simple and high intensity. If I don’t end up getting to the gym, i’ll opt for a run or a walk on the beach.

I’ll do abs at the end of every workout day that isn’t leg day, just because you need to activate you core a lot of the time when you are doing legs and it’s usually a hardcore session I personally don’t see the need for me to do abs as well but I do love doing 10 minute challenges as a burnout!

Depending on the day and time I go to gym, if it’s too busy for me and there aren’t many machines open for a specific workout I want to do – I would just swop days around to make my life a little easier (TIP: This also helps prevent a little bit of gym anxiety!) This workout split has been working for me and my schedule for the past few months, so hopefully it will inspire you to create a schedule that works well for you and your lifestyle.

If you would be curious to see some of my workouts, please let me know in the comments below or send me a dm on instagram – I would be happy to film some clips!