Lately I’ve been pondering on how we mostly talk about fashion here, but there are so many other topics that are important and have been popping up in my life. I really want to share some of them with you and create (as I previously mentioned) a small community + support system so we can share important issues. This brought me to the next topic;

When most people think about fitness -including myself to be honest-, we think about physical fitness, right? We’re all concerned with getting abs (I’m really trying to get my abs back!), losing weight, or just generally trying to stay in shape. But while we do all of this, most of us are neglecting a very important thing; mental fitness.

If you’ve never heard of this term, then think of this as a mini guide to mental fitness and why it’s so vital for our overall health!

What is mental fitness?

Effectively, mental fitness is when you keep your mind in the best shape possible. You’re doing all you can to remain emotionally healthy and prevent yourself from burning out or becoming overwhelmed with stress and anxiety (anxiety is the absolute worst so I’m trying everything I can to fight against it).

Why is it so important?

Mental fitness is essential as it plays a significant role in all areas of our lives. If you’re mentally rundown and your mind is not in a good place, then it becomes almost impossible to function properly. You struggle with daily activities as your mind keeps distracting you with negative thoughts. Going back to physical fitness, bad mental fitness will make you feel unmotivated, and you’ll find it tough to go out and actually exercise.

If you’re mentally fit, then your brain is more dialed in, and your mind is clear. Everything becomes easier – from decision making to feeling motivated; your life is far easier to navigate through!

And now, the million dollar question; How do you improve your mental fitness?

Thankfully, there are plenty of things we can do to improve our mental fitness. You don’t have to be a mental health expert, and you don’t need a masters of clinical mental health counseling to understand what might be causing your mental health issues. All you need to do is look inside yourself and assess what’s wrong in your life. Perhaps take a little time before going sleep and go through what’s bothering you/stressing you. Once you have detected the issue, the road becomes a little clearer.

Maybe you’re having issues at work? Or are your studies bringing you down? What’s causing your mind to work overtime and never shut down? Try to find out the causes, and then you can address them.

There are plenty of good practices you should consider to almost train your mind into being ‘fitter’. Don’t worry, I’m not saying you have to spend hours doing brain training exercises – it’s a lot simpler than that! Something as straightforward as reading a book is a great way to train yourself mentally. It calms your mind, takes you away from your regular life, and gives you time to unwind and de-stress. An hour of book reading every night (instead of spending time on your phone) will work wonders for your mental fitness, trust me!

Apart from this, adding more organization to your life can help you as well. This enables you to stay on top of your daily tasks, meaning you don’t have to worry about remembering everything – which often causes stress and anxiety.

Finally, make more time for yourself. Sit down and do something you enjoy, like watching a TV show, listening to music, or just giving your best friend a call. Find time in your day to forget about everything else and focus on you – it helps a lot.

So, if you knew nothing about mental fitness before today, then I hope this has shine some light. If you truly care about your overall fitness, then start taking care of the mental side of things along with the physical. I’m not quite there yet but that’s why it was important for me to share, because it seems a lot easier when we all try together.

Hope you found this helpful and if you have any other topics you would like me to address/research or discuss, leave me a comment!

As a teenager track and field athlete back in the day, long distance running was one of those extremely frightening things I would always beg my coach to leave me out of. I remember the first time I was supposed to do a 1500m race, I literally didn’t sleep the two nights before the race. I was terrified at the thought of having to do long distance running. In hindsight, this fear was completely ridiculous, I mean, all I had to do was run, thats all. A few years down the line, I finally overcame my “fear or running” and on any given day, I go for a casual 8 kilometre evening run, just for leisure.

I understand why so many people have a “fear of running”, or the idea that running is “so hard” and the truth is, the first time you decide to go for your fist long distance run, yes it will be hard!. Your lungs will burn and you will be out of air in no time, so you might be wondering; Why bother? Well I have a few very good reasons:

1) You can do it practically anywhere .
2) It will improve your cardiovascular endurance and obviously health.
3) You will become fit quick and stay fit.
4) Its one of the fastest ways to loose weight.
5)It will help you reduce stress (which is one of the biggest reasons why I do it).
6) Its a good way to help you disconnect from the digital world every now and then. (I love running in the forrest and forgetting about my phone for a little while)

1. Start slow and with short distance but START somewhere!. (Don’t go for a long distance the first time you run, it’s not a good idea. Build your endurance over time, so run a distance and speed you and your body are comfortable with.)
2. Build yourself a killer playlist to listen to while you run!. (You would be surprised as to how much difference it makes when you listen to upbeat music while you run. It really helps to push you to keep running!) -I have my own Spotify running playlist which you are more than welcome to follow as well >> RUN!
3. Try to find a running buddy. (I normally run by myself because I am comfortable with my own pace and I like having that time to think, but it does help a lot to find a friend who is equally enthusiastic about starting to run and who makes you feel like you are not alone in this. Try to keep the chit chat to a minimum though, you need to keep your breath!
4. Try to keep your progress on an app on your phone, this way you will be so motivated to see how much you have improved -time and distance-. (I use the Nike+ app where I keep track of all my runs, times, distances and the best part, you also have the maps of the routes you follow).
5. Think of the end goal!. ( While you are running, when you are getting all sweaty, your lungs start to burn and you think to yourself; why the hell am I doing this? Remember how good you will look in that bikini on your next trip to the beach, but not only that, how cool will you feel when you start reaching your distance and speed goals. Theres nothing cooler than overcoming the fear of running and start to become faster and stronger).

Are you convinced already? what are you waiting for? get your playlist and Nike+ app going and lets go running!

This is a great workout to make your core stronger and even though it was never one of my favourite exercises, the stronger I get, the more I like the challenge of being able to do more reps.
Try to make your elbows and knees reach, not literally because you aren’t a contorsionist (or maybe you are?), just get them as close as possible, hold for a second or two and repeat 10 times if you can. do 3 sets of 10 reps (or start with 5 reps if you are a beginner)

Trying to tone my shoulders is a constant work in progress, so I try to do all different kinds of shoulder exercises. Using a resistance band, keep your arm at a 90 degree angle, tuck your elbow in and do a circular movement outwards. Do 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps on each arm and feel those shoulder muscles burn!

I love doing angled pull ups because it targets your chest, upper back and lads, and since I am not really upper body strong, I’m trying to put more focus on getting that part of my body fitter. You can either do it with rings as I did, but if you don’t have those laying around (who does right?) , you can pull yourself up from the metal bar itself. This workout is a bit tough if your upper body strength is low, so start easy and work your way up as you get stronger. 3 sets of 5 reps is a good start, then build it up to as many as you can handle.

Squats are my favourite workout, believe it or not. Being a high jumper made me have complete focus on my legs on trainings and that’s why my leg muscle memory is a lot better than the rest of my body. Squats by themselves are great but if you add a little more weight, you can boost up the speed of how much faster you can see results. I have 2 kettle bells at home, one weights 8kg and the other one 12kg, so I alternate between the two, depends how strong/lazy I feel that day.

Please make sure that you first know how to do a proper squat to avoid any injuries. Squats are extremely efficient but you have to do them right! (You can check this youtube video for guidance). Now that you have it covered, add the kettle bell to the equation. My squat was more of a sumo squat which also targets your adductor muscle (which is that muscle in the inner part of your legs).

For these I really go nuts and target the muscle until it burns, Try doing 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps (if you are more advance do 20 reps).

I have a love hate relationship with push ups, I love them because they are one of the most effective workouts to tone your arms, I hate them because they are hard!. I think I’ve made it clear that my upper body strength is close to null, so doing a proper push up is almost impossible, thats what I normally tend to go for half push ups (with the knees on the ground), or a full push up using a resistance band. You would be surprised as how hard it still is using the elastic band but it make it a lot easier to do the full motion.
Make sure that you get a resistance band strong enough to hold you and most importantly, wide enough so it does dig under your arms while you are doing the exercise. This exercise isn’t pleasant, but if you get your 10 reps, you will feel like a superstar and your arms will be shaking like crazy, which is really what you want ;).

Do 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps. (15 or 20 of you are more advance)

Last but definitely not least, this is one of my favourite shoulder exercises because its simple and its effective. Make sure you keep your elbow straight the whole time and raise at a 45 degree angle with the ending position behind your back like you see in the gif.
Do 3 sets of 15 reps. (on each arm)

Even though most of the time I am on the go and constantly trying new workouts that require nothing but my own body weight ( I have already posted a few here ), I also like to make time to work out outdoors at the parks playground and take some equipment with me – even if it only include some elastic bands and a kettle bell-.
These are some quick workouts I used to do with my trainer back when I was training for the Nike #WOTN race and I have carried on doing, at least most of these.

Don’t forget to check my leg and abs workouts!

-3 sets of 12 reps on each leg.

Try to keep your bottom lifted the whole time and tighten the glutes while you are lifting each leg.

-3 sets of 15 reps each.
Think of this exercise as the plank version of a simple jumping jack but on a plank position. Try to keep your hips engaged (do not sag them down), that way you are also working your core.

-3 reps of 10 lunges on each leg (20 in total per set).

This is a crossover lunge which is basically a variation of a normal lunge but crossing your legs side to side. Amazing workout for your hamstrings and glutes!

Have fun with these 3 leg workouts and check out these 3 easy moves to get your ABS toned!. Lets get fit!