4 tips how to become a morning workout person and start this new year active and H.A.P.P.Y.

It’s mid-January so it’s time for a little reflection on the last two weeks. Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? I can honestly say that I am not the biggest fan of resolutions, mainly because they tend to be so negative. I know that they are aimed at achieving a certain goal in the future, but most resolutions that I hear of always include restriction. Quitting smoking, giving up sweets, sugar, fast food, shopping, whining…you name it.

Seriously, January is cold and dark enough!

Let’s stop restricting ourselves from certain things and let’s start focusing on adding things to our lives that make us feel better.

Instead of saying “I will quit eating sugar this month”, say “I will start eating more fruits and vegetables this week”. For once you now have a positive sentence, and you have a smaller timeframe that makes it seems more achievable than the month-long timeframe.

I know that this may sound silly, but when I completely changed my diet back in 2013, that was what I did. And I changed my diet from one day to the other without ever falling off the bandwagon. I am not saying this to tell you how great I am, but to tell you that a positive mindset is so much more important than you may think when it comes to achieving goals. It is one of the most important factors that enable you to achieve long-term successes this year.

One of my goals for 2017 is to do more Yoga. Since I knew I am not a New Year’s Resolution kind of girl, I already started this last year during the Holidays. My boyfriend and I did a 14-day yoga challenge, and it was the best decision ever as it made us feel stronger and more positive during those stressful days. We always combined it with a morning run with our dog Balu to get our bodies nice and warm for the practice. And we even got a short session in on January 1st 2017, so this positive attitude definitely helped us to achieve this goal.

In order for us to keep it up in the next months, we will use the videos from the H.A.P.P.Y. Challenge* that the sweet Amiena Zylla for Alpro* and sisterMag*. Not only are the Yoga workouts perfect for any level, but they are also filmed in the beautiful sisterMag loft, where I would instantly move in. The H.A.P.P.Y. challenge is a 14-day program for a positive, active and healthy start into the new year. It is a great program with lots of delicious and healthy recipes to make your start into the new year easier and less stressful. I am a true believer of this program as it combines all the important elements of a healthy lifestyle. If you speak German, you may join the H.A.P.P.Y. Facebook-group, and download the free H.A.P.P.Y. booklets. They really are amazing!

Since I am a morning runner, the dark season is not a good season to run so early in the day. That’s why my January routine is a Yoga video in the morning, and then a run in the early afternoon or a visit to my gym at night.

4 Tips to become a Morning Workout Person:

1. Start inside with workout videos.

Instead of dragging your body out in the dark and cold winter mornings, get your workout done inside. I like using workout videos to do this. My favorites are Yoga videos, such as the ones by Amiena Zylla as they can easily be done before work. Amina’s workouts are sadly in German only, so just go to YouTube and find your favorite English yoga instructor. Starting the day with a little bit of gentle Yoga is so much easier than getting your body out in the cold for a run (and also less dangerous!).

If you are not a morning workout person yet, Yoga is the perfect way to get used to the sensation of working out in the morning. Once the sun rises earlier, your body will be already used to some movement in the morning, and the transition to a morning run will be much easier for you.

2. Get motivated by treating yourself with things you love.

If you treat yourself with little things you love after every workout, you might be more motivated to get up early in the morning. Whether this might be a big almond milk latte, a golden milk or some dark chocolate. As long as it makes you happy and motivates you to workout in the morning, it’s a treat!

3. Listen to your favorite new songs only when you work out in the morning.

Now this might sound really strange, but I am one of those people who listen to their favorite new jams constantly on repeat. If I have found a song I love, I will play it all the time. I use this as a motivation to workout in the morning by allowing myself only to listen to the songs while working out in the morning. It may be weird, but trust me, all you will want to do is work out to listen to your favorite music.

4. Enjoy the after-work evenings.

Now, this is more of a result of working out in the morning. If you get your body moving in the morning, you will have so much more time after work to do the things you love. And you get to really enjoy the time you spend at home on the couch, without constantly reminding yourself that you should rather be spending your time in the gym than in front of the TV. Early morning workout people do not know this kind of guilt.

These are my H.A.P.P.Y. tips for you how to start working out in the morning. It will make you feel so much more energized and content during the day, because you will already have completed your workout before you even had breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so my next H.A.P.P.Y. post will be all about breakfast!

Are you a morning workout person? What are your tips?

I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

*This post was sponsored by Alpro and sisterMag and their H.A.P.P.Y. Challenge 2017. Thank you for supporting the brands that make hour-long recipe testings in the Heavenlynn Healthy kitchen possible!

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I’ve been seeing Stand Up Paddle Yoga (SUP Yoga) everywhere this summer, which is why I absolutely had to give it a shot when I was in Austria a few weeks ago. I had no idea what I was missing out on – it was such a great experience! I practice yoga about 2 to 3 times a week, but I’ve never tried something anything like this before. SUP Yoga is a really intense and exhausting yoga class that forces you to use every muscle in your body, especially the ones that you usually do not use. Keeping your constant balance while trying to hold the yoga poses is a real challenge, but once you’ve found you’ve become comfortable on the SUP, there’s nothing more calming and relaxing.

Just imagine doing sun salutation in the middle of the most beautiful clear and turquoise lake like the “Faaker See” where I tried it for the first time. Since I am not a yoga teacher, let alone a SUP Yoga teacher, I contacted my friend Yara from Up Sup Down who happens to be a SUP Yoga teacher in Fremantle, Australia. I adore Yara’s free yoga spirit, and the moves she pulls of on a SUP are insane. Since I wanted to learn a bit more about SUP Yoga, I asked her some questions that will hopefully get you excited to try it yourself soon.

Hi Yara, where do you live?

I live in Fremantle, Autralia.

How did you become a SUP Yoga Teacher?

I did my yoga teacher training back in 2012, which is the requirement to specialize as a Sup Yoga Instructor.
To become a Sup Yoga Instructor you do an additional course, I did mine with a company called ASI on the Gold Coast of Australia, it takes about a week. Its soooo much fun !

Why SUP Yoga? What’s so special about it?

I personally love the outdoors and especially the Ocean, practicing on a Sup is a beautiful way of combining yoga with nature. It is great for developing body strength and balance, to improve blood circulation and digestive function and to increase flexibility. The Sup is kind of a quiet teacher, you have to pay a lot of attention to detail because otherwise you fall into the water. On some special days we are lucky to have dolphins swimming around us!

Is SUP Yoga considered a workout?

It does definitely work your body, but there are different kinds of classes. Some classes concentrate purely on meditation while others also engage into Sup Fitness. I believe the beauty of Sup Yoga is that breath, body and nature flow as one.

Is SUP Yoga for anyone or do you need some yoga experience to do it?

Some may be surprised but I believe that Sup Yoga is especially good for beginners. It is an advantage to be familiar with a few yoga classes on the ground but a Sup Yoga beginner class happens at a very slow pace compared to a normal yoga class.
You only have to be able to swim in case you fall into the water.

What does a typical SUP Yoga class look like?

I teach classes that go for about 60 minutes  at a time. We would paddle about 50 meters out from the shore and find a calm spot in the water and anchor the boards. It takes a bit of time depending on how many people attend. A class can take up to 8 people at a time. We would position ourselves and practice asanas that are Sup Board friendly. Some asanas that are very easy to do on the ground are more challenging on the board.

How do you stay together as a group when you’re on the sub? I imagine it to be really hard. Also, where do you leave the paddles?

Without anchors it is nearly impossible to stay together, especially here in Perth where the wind can pick up anytime. I’ve created bottles that are made out of 3 liter bottles filled with sand. We carry them on the back of the board until we find a good place to anchor the boards. The anchor is attached to the leash and gets thrown into the water. The paddle gets attached to a second leash and will float next to each student’s board in the water.

Ok, let’s be honest. How many times have you already fallen into the water while doing a handstand or other fancy yoga poses?

Oh, pleeeenty of times. Its fun, sometimes I get my students to jump purposely into the water at the very start of the class, to shake off the fear of falling. After all, it is just water and since we get temperatures of up to 40 degrees celsius, it’s so refreshing.

Thank you for the interview, Yara.

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