Investing in good quality workout gear is important and a great investment. Wouldn’t you rather spend more on quality [yoga] pants than $10 sweats at Urban Planet or something that will stretch and pill after a couple washes? Quality materials don’t change shape, will keep you dry, don’t hold odor and can last you years even after lots of washes.

Your workout gear should be:

• comfortable
• non-restrictive
• form-fitting

But I strongly believe that functional AND AESTHETICAL workout clothing is essential; functional— points listed above and aesthetics purely for motivation. It doesn’t hurt to look good at the gym.

Know your body shape:

General rule of thumb: don’t wear baggy, shapeless clothing!

• Banana? Create curves with pops of color [like along the waist line and the side of your waist/hips], interesting cuts, fun details [like scrunching along the side of your waist], padded sports bras, and fitted pants that lifts your bum with some flare to curve you out.

  

• Apple? Tops that are fitted around the chest but looser around the belly, ends a little past the waist [with a A-line bottom] will give an illusion of slimming and fitted pants with a thick or roll-down waist will give an illusion of flatter stomach. Avoid tight-fitting tops and pants with a slim colored waist band.

  

• Pear? Wear a lighter color top to draw attention away from your lower body and slim-fitting, dark-colored pants with slimming vertical stripes and a small flare to balance your body out.

  

• Hourglass? The easiest shape to work with! Accentuate your curves with v-necks and scoop necks, slim-fitted clothing, details around the waist to show it off and flared pants. But really, you can practically wear anything… just don’t cover up too much or else you might look bulkier.

  

Random tips and things I noticed:

• Black is always chic and slimming.
• Dressing in one color from head to toe can make for a longer and leaner silhouette.
• Dress for your activity: layering for the outdoors, flexible fabrics with lycra for yoga, breathable fabrics to soak up sweat for activities like Bikrams Yoga, etc.
• Wearing proper shoes is extremely important, especially if you’re a runner.

  

• Cotton allows you to breathe BUT can weight you down with all the moisture it soaks up so only wear it for low impact activities like yoga. It also doesn’t hold it’s shape, which is why I don’t waste my money on cotton— I prefer synthetics.
• Clothing with breathable materials and moisture-wick technology absorbs and dries quickly (eg. polyester, nylon and spandex). Wear for high impact activities where you may sweat a lot.
• A good sports bra is essential. No one wants to see your nipples, please… or you don’t want anyone to get distracted and drop 100lb weights on their head.
• Tube tops are NOT your friend at the gym.
• If you have nice shoulders, v-necks makes them look even better!
• Flared pants are NOT a good idea for biking; they might get caught in your bike. I don’t like running in them either because the fabric slaps against your legs which annoys the hell out of me.
• If you have a long torso and hips, pants in a single color will only make it look longer unless you’re wearing a long enough tank top to split it up. Look for pants with a different colored waist bands.

  

• Pants with a thick waistband that’s in a different color makes your hip look smaller. Pants with a thin waistband seems to make it look wider.
• Flat-[Asian]-Ass-Syndrome? Pants with stripes on the bum can make your flat ass look less flat.
• Lifting gloves will protect your hands from cuts, calluses and blisters. Trust me, you’ll want a pair if you are going to lift weights.

Great places to shop: Lululemon, PH8, Fit Couture, Athletica, Victoria’s Secret,

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• Write down your routine before heading to the gym. I always draft my workout routine in my fitness journal the day before [after writing the current entry]. I always get excited about my workouts this way.
• Work out in the morning? Sleep in your gym clothes (not the dirty, sweaty ones!!) so you can head straight to the gym as soon as the alarm rings. Getting dressed, especially on cold winter mornings was the biggest barrier for me.
• Eat carbs before your workout. Carbs are your body’s main source of fuel and trust me, you will feel motivated and unstoppable when you feel that rush of energy. My favorite pre-workout snack is a simple banana. Nomnom.
• Challenge yourself everyday. Try to beat personal bests and always push yourself to max out the intensity. That’s why recording your workouts is important so you’ll have a record of your progress.
• Hate long, boring cardio sessions? Increase the intensity and reduce the time! You can get an even better work out in a fraction of the time. Have you tried HIIT or doing hills in the highest intensity or fastest speed possible? Tabata intervals with Plyometrics?
• When doing core exercises and you’re just starting out of course you should look at yourself in the mirror to make sure you have the right posture but once you got the handle on that, I find that closing your eyes to better concentrate on tightening your core helps you to really feel it.
• Get a workout buddy. I like to workout alone but if you don’t, a workout buddy could be fun and motivational. Make sure to find someone who is motivated and will force you do 50 extra push-ups for the session you missed the day before.
• Get in and get out. The gym is NOT a place for socializing. Nothing pisses me more than when I see people lifting 2lb weights and chatting/gossiping non-stop and wasting space.
• Don’t bother people when they’re doing cardio!!!! I still don’t understand why people try to start a full conversation when I’m struggling to catch my breath, sweat is dripping down my face and my headphones are on full-blast. Not to mention, I’m not wearing glasses/contact so I don’t even know who you are (yes I’m that blind)! Sooo inconsiderate and annoying.
• Stop thinking and just do it. Stop thinking about working out (and dreading it), just throw on your gear and head to the gym. Tired after a round of your circuit? Stop sulking, clear your head of any lazy thoughts and just do it again. The quicker you do it, the faster it is over.
• Talk about it. Write about it. I find that when you have an online fitness journal, you don’t want to look like a slacker to your readers so you’ll never miss a workout. Maybe it’s just me though because I have this thing with pride.

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As you all know, I live to eat and I workout so I can eat more. Losing weight, toning up or whatever your goals are, is actually really easy but the hardest part is finding motivation (and keeping it). Having the right mindset is the most important so you have to have enough drive to reach your goals even though there will always bumps along the road that’ll make you wander off. Here are some tips that helped me:

• Don’t say “I want to lose weight.” Dieting is intimidating so don’t make it your main goal. Instead, focus on achieving a healthy lifestyle and once you do, you’re going to lose weight and tone up anyway.
• Start a food journal. Weightloss is so simple: eat in a calorie deficit and by recording your food, you’ll see how many calories you’ve eaten and freak out when the numbers get too high which should be some motivation for you to stop [for the day]. Just don’t get too anal and obsessed with the calorie-counting and measuring food; it helps in the beginning but you can stop (or do it less frequently) once you understand your body and your foods overtime.
• Start slow and don’t deprive yourself. Don’t cut everything out at once or you’ll end up binging. If you’re craving for something, let yourself have it once in a while in the beginning but only a little bit (eg. a bite) and then slowly restrict yourself even more. Once you start eating healthy and less junk, your cravings will become less and less because basically, if you’re always eating sugary desserts, your body will always crave for it so once you cut it out, you’ll crave it less.

  

• Invest in cute workout gear that compliments your body. You can’t see your body with baggy t-shirts and your boyfriend’s gym shorts but with form fitting clothes (that aren’t 2 sizes too small), you’ll see your body and the progress you’ve made = motivation will go up! FYI, I think Lululemon and Bebe Sports/PH8 sweat pants are the best.

  

• Load up your iPod. Music, workout videos (you can download from Youtube), fitness apps, take notes, etc. Technolgy is so good to us so take advantage of it; you’ll have everything you need right at your fingertips. There are 3 things I always need: iPod, water bottle and a towel. If I forget one of those, I’ll actually drive 20 minutes back home and to the gym again just to get it. I know that sounds stupid but back in high school if I forgot one of those, I would just not work out… which is even stupider. I’m getting there, okay.
• Read health and fitness blogs and know the science of toning up/losing weight/etc. Knowing how it works will make it much easier instead of just jumping into it and not see results and besides, it’s actually quite simple once you know how it’s done.
• Throw out the scale!! You really only need a mirror and your clothes but if you really need to, only weigh yourself once every two weeks. You’ll get discouraged weighing yourself daily and only seeing minuscule changes in progress.
• Be creative. Change your workout weekly/bi-weekly, do different kinds of cardio (machine, bodyweight, circuits, etc.), learn new ways to lift, take classes… the possibilities are endless and you’ll never get bored.

How do you guys stay motivated?

Anyway, if you guys want the link to my fitness journal, shoot me an email (don’t ask for it in the comments!!) but I’d have to have a way to validate your identity (eg. a blog/social media profile — where I’ll email the link back to an email address I find on there).

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It’s January which means everyone is being packed into the gym like sardines. If you’re just getting started (or just want more ideas and inspiration), here are some of my favorite health and fitness related blogs.

Body Rock – This is my favorite site for work out videos (why spend hundreds of dollars on DVDs?). Zuzana’s work out videos are KILLER, short, effective and leaves me crippled the next day which I love. She’s also proof that you don’t need to go to a gym to get a fit and lean body.

Fitness Spotlight -This is just an overall awesome blog full of tips, facts and challenges. I spent like 5+ hours going through their archives when I first stumbled on it.

Cranky Fitness – Another one of my absolute favorites and is written by women. I love fitness blogs written by women because it’s easier to relate to and less entries on how to get big and bulky muscles.

James Kerrison – Not updated as often as I like but the articles published are absolute gems.

Mark’s Daily Apple – Has very informative articles that are obviously very throughly researched, with lots of statistics and facts. If you really want to get educated, hit up this blog!

Fit Bottom Girls – Fun and lighthearted fitness blog for women (and men) written by women. Has a too many seemingly sponsored posts for my liking but the rest of the articles are worth the read.

What are your favorites health/fitness blogs?

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