8 Must-Know Tips to Achieve Your Dream Body

Everyone wants a healthier, stronger and leaner body, but not everyone knows the real thing behind exercise, diet and fitness. If you’re one of the majorities who wishes to get leaner, keep these tips and strategies in mind as you journey towards achieving the body you’ve always dreamed of.

1. Change up your routine every two weeks
If motivation is a big factor, keep your routine as interesting as possible by changing it up every two weeks. Boredom can be your biggest enemy when working out. According to experts, people find variety much more enjoyable.

2. Fuel up after workout
For someone trying to be fit, breakfast is not exactly the most important meal, but the post-workout meal. While you may be tempted to skip refueling, thinking that you might undo the burnt calories, a combo of 15 grams of protein and 30 grams of carb will help restore your energy, promote muscle recovery and help build a leaner physique.

3. Hang on tight instead of pulling up
Can’t do a single pull up? No worries. Simply hanging on the monkey bar for as long as you can is enough to slowly improve your upper-body strength. Keeping your body still will naturally engage your core, hips and lower back, as well as your arms. If you want to bring it up a notch, slowly move your legs up and down.

4. Put on your bikini every so often
Do not pack away your bikinis even if it’s rainy season. Doing so may lead to potential surprises of ‘how did I get these extra love handles?” or “why does this fit awfully now?” Keep your two-piece handy so you can put it on every now and then and make sure you still like what you see in the mirror.

5. Proper execution matters—a lot!
50 push-ups won’t matter if you are not executing the exercise correctly. Before adding more weight or increasing your speed, perfect your form and technique first. This is especially important if your routine requires you to perform as many reps as possible during a certain amount of time.

6. Give your ropes some love
The best exercise tool available is a jump rope. It may seem juvenile until you see perfectly-toned-bodied boxing pros doing jumping ropes every time they train. Not only is this workout equipment inexpensive, they are also compact and portable. Who would’ve thought that this children’s toy can help you burn 200 calories in 20 minutes?

7. Sweat out to your own tunes
Listening to your favorite upbeat music will help you power through an arduous workout. In fact, studies show that people who exercise on machines designed to play music based on their speed and effort exert more energy (without being aware of it) than those who exercise without music.

These are just a few tips to hopefully help you achieve your fitness goals. Now that you’re armed with the right knowledge, you already have a good idea of how you should tackle the quest for better health and fitness.