Nutrition and Fitness Experts Reveal Their New Year’s Resolutions

Eat better, join a gym, drink more water, get eight hours of sleep every night…many of the most popular New Year’s resolutions are focused on living a healthier, more balanced life. But what do those people who are already extremely healthy (in fact, it’s their job to be) want to improve upon? We polled 20 wellness influencers, from nutritionists to celebrity trainers to healthy start-up founders, to find out what their self-improvement goals are for the upcoming year. From being more mindful to carving out time for themselves to working out a little less (if only we all had that problem), here are their resolutions for 2017.

RELATED: Top 10 Healthiest New Year’s Resolutions

Embrace mindfulness and live in the now

“Be even more mindful with the words I use, making sure they are influential in a positive, hopeful, and inspiring way; not just for the clients I train, but for everyone I interact with, including myself.” 
—Tanya Becker, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Physique57

“Furthering my meditation practice. I find that mindfulness not only allows me to react more calmly in stressful situations, but it also helps me feel happier overall and more in the moment, whether I’m eating, being active, or spending time with my hubby and pets.”
—Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, Health‘s contributing nutrition editor

“I resolve to listen closer, breathe deeper, and be more present. I hope to think less and risk more. And while focusing on all these things, I hope to empower others to do the same. I’m very excited for 2017!”
—Olivia Young, founder of box + flow

“My New Year’s resolution is to commit—to be more instinctual and trust my gut. To work harder, and to live in the now.”
—Derek DeGrazio, celebrity trainer and managing partner at Barry’s Bootcamp Miami

“Journal every day. Each day can be a roller coaster of emotions and thoughts. Writing them down is a form of therapy that helps us unwind and re-evaluate situations. It’s an incredible release!”
—Karena and Katrina, founders of Tone It Up

“Slow down and live in the moment more. I’m going to work on spending less time on my phone. In 2017 I’m going to be grateful for the little things and celebrate them when they happen, instead of waiting or even forgetting them.”
—Elizabeth Stein, founder and CEO of Purely Elizabeth

RELATED: 13 New Year’s Resolutions You Shouldn’t Make

Pay it forward

“My New Year’s resolution is to advocate on more result-oriented ways and less social ways to educate and support people’s lives. This is an important year in health and I feel a strong commitment to providing people tools that help them invest in their health and their futures. I feel that the trends in fitness will be taking a backseat to people wanting life-long solutions that pay it forward in a really meaningful way.”
—Tracy Anderson, Health contributing fitness editor, celebrity fitness trainer, and founder of the Tracy Anderson Method

“To do a random act of kindness every day. [It] forces you to think about how you can be more compassionate all day, so you can realize the perfect moment to act on it.”
—Danielle DuBoise, co-founder of SAKARA LIFE

Carve out more personal time

“I want to make sure to spend more quality time with my closest friends and call my mom and sister more often. I’m going to work on improving my cooking skills. Professionally, I’m going to hire an assistant. And physically, I’m going to take more rest days. I’m on my feet working six out of seven days a week. I’d like to change that to five days a week.” 
—Lacey Stone, celebrity trainer and founder of Lacey Stone Fitness

“Put more ‘me’ time on the calendar. It can be difficult to manage the work/life balance when you own a business because you’re emotionally invested. This year, I’m going to make more of an effort to put the computer away and take time for myself.”
—Tracy Carlinsky, founder of Brooklyn Bodyburn

“I am so busy and pulled in so many directions—single parent to twin girls, business owner—I don’t take enough time to decompress. I know doing so will make me more grounded, balanced, and ultimately more productive.”
—David Kirsch, celebrity fitness and wellness expert

RELATED: 7 New Year’s Resolutions That Put Your Mental Health First

Schedule in restorative workouts

“Take it down a notch! As a fitness pro, I often push myself as hard as possible in every. single. workout, choosing the most advanced poses or sequences. Movement is my ‘drug of choice’ and I’m working on sometimes allowing that movement to be peaceful or restorative rather than only the most intense.”
—Amy Jordan, founder and CEO of WundaBar Pilates

“Being an athlete—specifically a boxer and a runner—my body is always tight, and I often don’t take much time to stretch and recover, as I’m in a go-go-go mentality. I want to try out new yoga classes a few times a week and get into my own stretching routine so I can feel better doing what I love.”
—Ashley Guarrasi, founding trainer of Rumble Boxing

Stress less

“Learn to only focus on controlling the things I can control. Too often we stress about things we really can’t control, and it just makes us put unnecessary worry and pressure on ourselves.”
—Skylar Diggins, Dallas Wings guard 

Fuel up the right way

“Be more mindful of how I’m fueling my body. Being 38 years old, it’s getting harder to bounce back from eating badly consecutive days in a row. My goal is to incorporate a more Paleo-based way of eating, with lots of chicken and fish!”
—Alonzo Wilson, founder of Tone House

“Most resolutions focus on things to cut out. Here’s what I plan to add more of in 2017: more colorful veggies on half of my plate, more outdoor workouts, and more books (for fun!).”
—Erika Horowitz MS, RDN

“I like to set my New Year’s resolution to be realistic and achievable, so my nutrition plan is based on the 80/20 rule: stick to the Ketogenic diet six days a week, and one day a week splurge with my cheat food of choice (rhymes with “rasta”).”
—Ross Franklin, CEO and founder of PureGreen Cold Pressed Juice

RELATED: 57 Ways to Lose Weight Forever, According to Science

Take a risk and try new things

“Trying new sports and workout classes. I want to break out of my comfort zone a bit more! I’ve never been rock climbing or snow skiing, so I’d like to try those. I would also like to make more of an effort to prioritize recovery. I work out hard and throw around some pretty heavy weights. Somewhere along the line I’ve started to skimp on stretching, foam rolling, and resting. Not okay!”
—Melody Scharff, instructor at the Fhitting Room

“I’m going to find a better balance between my strength training, mobility, and Jiu Jitsu. I tend to hyper focus on one type of training and my body needs the variety to perform and feel optimal. I’m committed to sitting down before the new year and re-structuring my schedule to reach my goals. If you don’t plan, it won’t happen!”
—Ashley Borden, celebrity fitness trainer

“Although I work out (and I’m lucky to LOVE working out), my exercise was all over the place in 2016 and I want to take it up a notch in 2017. This includes getting in a few races, planning a few hiking trips, and being consistent with four intense workouts a week.”
—Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN, and founder of Nutritious Life and the Nutrition School

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3 Common Yoga Poses You’re Probably Doing Wrong—And How to Fix Them

Namaste the right way.

If you aren’t posing correctly, you’re not only depriving yourself of the benefits of yoga, but the misplacement could potentially lead to injury (yikes!). Even if you practice yoga on the reg, you can easily find yourself in autopilot mode, and potentially allow your stances to become less disciplined. Sky Ting Yoga co-founder Krissy Jones is here to demonstrate the right way to nail three common poses you might be getting wrong.

With side-by-side video clips, Jones shows us exactly how to execute the pigeon pose, side plank, and wheel pose so you will look and feel your best while practicing yoga. These poses are great hip openers and allow for increased flexibility of the spine while strengthening your wrist, legs, and core. Use these helpful tips to fix your form and get the very most out of your next vinyasa class.

RELATED: 3 Basic Yoga Poses You’ve Been Doing Wrong—and How to Fix Your Form

Pigeon pose

The fix: Keep hips square.

Side plank

The fix: Make sure your hips are in line with your shoulders.

Wheel pose

The fix: Strongly press away from the floor and bring your feet to a parallel position.

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6 Rowing Machine Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Not sure how to work out on a rowing machine without looking like a total fish out of water? It’s easy to make mistakes when using a rower, officially known as an “ergometer,” the first couple of times. But you’d be crazy to avoid the machine altogether out of sheer embarrassment. Rowing can burn up to 800 calories an hour and is extremely effective in working your whole body from head to toe. Quads, hamstrings, back, abdominals, arms, shoulders and calves are all used in the rowing stroke. Depending on how you train, you can increase your aerobic fitness or focus on building muscle strength and explosive power. 

Rowing’s efficiency and effectiveness, plus its reputation for being a low-impact workout for all ages and body types, has made it increasingly popular in gyms and fitness studios across the U.S. CrossFitters are getting on board with rowing, too; numerous boxes incorporate the rower into WODs (Workout of the Day) and there are several CrossFit Games rowing events.

Row Like A Pro: Technique 101

“Learning to row has often been made way too complicated and intimidating,” says Josh Crosby, rowing world champion and co-creator of the IndoRow machine and ShockWave, an Equinox class that combines rowing with circuit training. To simplify the exercise and help you learn the stroke, Crosby and Patrick Larcom, head coach at Renegade Rowing and coach at CrossFit Boston, share the lowdown on the best ways to correct common newbie mistakes. Use these expert tips to confidently strap in and get your heart racing!

Mistake #1: Forgetting to check the damper setting.

Lots of newbies will sit down and not adjust the damper setting, the lever on the side of the air-resistant flywheel on a Concept II rower. If the lever is set to a higher setting, the rowing machine will feel more like a heavy rowboat and might exhaust your muscles before you’ve gotten a solid cardio workout in.

The fix: Practice your form before you set your sights high. “The damper setting is like gears on a bicycle,” says Larcom, noting that the higher the gear, the heavier the feel on the body. He recommends starting somewhere between a three and a five if you’re new to rowing because it’s most similar to the feel of being on water.

Mistake #2: Rowing with only your arms.

You’ve seen rowers with built upper bodies, so you’re ready to pull the handle with all your might, right? Wrong! Putting too much pressure on your arms, shoulders and back can cause serious injury to your body.

The fix: “Roughly 60 percent of your power should come from pushing with the legs, 20 percent from bracing the core and 20 percent from pulling with the arms,” says Crosby. It’s important to use the power of your legs for each stroke by pushing against the panel (foot stretcher) where your feet are strapped in.

Mistake #3: Mixing up the order of operations.

Firing the arms and legs at the same time might feel like the right thing to do when you sit down, but if you’re all systems go, you’ll put unnecessary strain on your upper body.

The fix: There’s a three-step process to the rowing stroke: Focus on pushing with the legs first, next pivoting backward at the hips so your shoulders pass your pelvis (you should be in a slight lay back) and then pulling the arms into your chest. A good target for your hands, according to Larcom, is the place on your chest “where you would bench press or the bottom of the sports bra,” below your ribs. Once your hands are pulled into your chest, reverse the order to go back to starting position, and repeat.

Mistake #4: Hunching your back during the stroke.

If you’ve got a bad habit of rounding your back when concentrating at a desk, odds are good that your body will naturally assume that same position when you sit down at a rower.

The fix: “You want to sit tall with a stacked posture,” says Larcom.  He recommends focusing on “turning on” your abdominal muscles, or engaging your core, and relaxing your shoulders so they are pulled back and down. Your spine should always be in neutral.

Mistake #5: Banging your butt into your heels or rushing.  

You’re in the zone, taking strokes as fast as possible towards your imaginary finish line. Problem is, your seat keeps slamming into the front of the rower and your body is jerking forward uncontrollably.

The fix: To regain control, pay attention to timing of your strokes. According to Crosby, the stroke’s ratio should be a 1:2 count, meaning that the body should expend lots of energy quickly at the drive, when the legs are pushing and arms are pulling, while the second half of the stroke should be more relaxed and controlled. Having a calm and collected recovery will prevent your seat from smashing frantically into the front of the rower.

Mistake #6: Shooting your butt out and having to jerk your upper body back.

If your legs are pushing quickly and causing your rear to shoot out ahead of the rest of you, your upper body will have to awkwardly catch up. Doing extra work to jerk your top half around will make your stroke less efficient, and can cause injury.

The fix: “Make sure your abs are turned on, so the hands and feet stay connected,” says Larcom, stressing that engaging the core is key to smoothly connecting the movements of the upper and lower body. For efficient rowing, you want to be able to stop at any point during the stroke and be in a “strong position,” meaning your entire body has a deliberate and controlled posture with muscles activated.
This article originally appeared on Life by DailyBurn.

 

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