7 Fitness Things You Will Actually Use That Will Actually Change Your Body
#1 is life-altering.
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by The Candidly Team
Whatever our health goals may be, losing fat, gaining muscle, living longer, not sinking into a puddle of perimenopausal fatigue at 2:48PM, actually achieving those goals is pretty much a matter of one thing.
It isn’t a “hack.” It isn’t sexy. But it’s the truth.
It’s discipline.
But wait, wait! We promise it gets more hopeful.
We have been on a years-long quest to find things that make being disciplined so much easier. And there are 7 fitness things that changed our lives overnight. And after mere weeks, they changed our bodies.
We use them almost every day, and let us tell you, they absolutely do feel like hacks.
1. Walking Pad
We have driven home the point that sitting is a silent killer, contributing to almost every health problem under the sun. But let us tell you, we did not think a walking pad would work for us. We weren’t convinced that we would really be able to work or watch TV or order groceries while getting in our steps. But compared to most fitness machines, walking pads are not a monumental investment. And since we figured some steps had to be better than no steps we gave it a try, springing for THIS* affordable machine.
Day 1, we walked for one hour at 2.5 MPH while answering emails at our (also inexpensive) standing desk, and we DID. NOT. EVEN. NOTICE. The first time we glanced down at the time elapsed, 63 minutes had passed. We now aim for at least a 3MPH pace so it counts as “brisk walking,” which is magic for health and weight loss and every goal we’ve set for ourselves. And when we’re tired, we slow it down.
Working from home, we routinely walk 15-20k steps a day without batting an eye. But we also hop on in the mornings or evenings, capitalizing on our random bursts of energy and using it to wake up a bit when we’re sluggish.
Our Managing Editor Carolyn’s work station
Knowing that we’re hardcore about it, we’re now ready to upgrade to THIS* foldable version, and if you want one with incline we’ve heard great things about THIS* one.
2. Oura Ring
This slim little ring tracks over 20 biometrics of your health. It’s easy to remember and so non-intrusive, and yet, it opens up a world of insight into practically everything, our sleep, our steps, our heart rate. Having this kind of daily picture of our health is wildly effective at inspiring small tweaks, like breathing through a moment of stress, another (less silent) killer, taking that one extra walk in the evening, and just knowing where we’re at physically rather than disassociating from our bodies and forgetting what actually goes into making them “well.”
3. Weighted Vest
Lifting heavy things is critical for women, especially in midlife. And since we’re walking anyway, strapping this on beforehand is so mindless and easy, we’ve had no trouble adding it to our routine.
The added weight helps build more muscle, burn more calories, improve bone density, and strengthen the core - a bunch of bonuses added to work you’re already doing.
4. Beyond Yoga Matching Set
This sounds silly, but hear us out. Dressing the part inspires action. And yes, obviously anyone can sit around in workout clothes all day, but this set from Beyond Yoga is like our own personal super suit.
First off, it has the softest, butteriest fabric that’s so breathable, and yet it smooths all bumps and holds you in like nothing else we wear. When we put on the full set, we feel a pulse of readiness that propels us to move more. We feel like people who work out. And weirdly, we look our best, which also sparks our confidence to get going. It’s a head game, but it works.
And we think we understand why…
So much of exercising is that first little step that flips the switch from “I’ll start tomorrow” to “I’m doing this now.” Ours is putting on this set.
As of now, we have it in no fewer than 5 colors.
5. Hoka Clifton 10 Shoes And Bombas Socks
Similar to the set but even more dynamic is owning the kind of shoes that feel like they’ve been blessed with the power to make you instantly more agile. Hokas are the shoes we credit with actually making us walk and workout every single day. They’re cloudlike (of course) and so supportive our feet feel energized.
If we put them on in the morning, we notice that we take more steps, stand up more, and just move more overall.
Now, a word about socks. We put all our research and faith into our workout shoes then spent $5 at the Old Navy counter on our socks. No more. We finally invested in the good socks (which are incontenstably THESE* from Bombas), and the difference it’s made has been jarring. 95% of our workouts start on our feet, so having them be comfortable makes us “go harder” as the fitness people say. We’ve go harder every day we pluck these socks from the pile instead of our sad ones.
6. Bala Bangles
Once again, wearable weights just seems like one of those obvious yet ingenious hacks that makes us actually do something we say we’re gonna do. Strength training, as we said, is a MUST for over-40 women, and whenever we remind ourselves of that reality, we also remember to strap on these weights and add a little oomph to our workout. It doesn’t hurt that they’re visually very pleasing as well. Just saying.
7. Apple Watch
We know it’s a spend, and might seem redundant when we have a phone already, but making it so we don’t have to lug our phone with us every time we exert ourselves is a real perk! And as our Editor-in-Chief, Audie, rightly pointed out, tracking your stats on your Apple watch is like playing a literal video game, except unlike in a video game, every health goal you meet has tangible results for your real-life body. She tracked her way to her own 50-lbs weight loss journey, using many of the things you see on this list actually, but the Apple watch was game-changing. Instantly.
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