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1. What are fitness tools?
Fitness tools, or fitness accessories, are products that improve and enhance your workout. Most of the time, to have a really good workout, all you need is your body. Take jogging for example. Although much has been made about devices that can track your run, all you really need are your legs. The same goes for classical workouts like push-ups and burpees – all you really need is your body, some space, a drive to push yourself, and you’re good to go.
However, working out on your own all the time can be rather monotonous. This is why it’s a great idea to invest in fitness tools that can enhance your workout experience. There is a range of products that can fall under the category of “fitness tools.” This includes everything from actual fitness devices like a TRX suspension trainer to smaller items like a water bottle. By definition, anything that helps to enhance and improve your workout can be considered a fitness tool.
With the explosion of online shopping in recent years, many fitness tools can be easily purchased online. With a click of a button, you can browse through an endless list of product options available online. For example, just a simple search for “foam rollers” on Amazon will return hundreds of results. It has never been easier to look for a fitness tool to complement your workout, regardless of type. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
With so many options to choose from, how do you decide what’s best for you? Well, a lot of it boils down to the type of workout that you enjoy doing. If you enjoy going for a simple jog, something like a water bottle and a good pair of jogging shoes would suffice. If you enjoy workouts that tone and shape your body, you might opt for an exercise ball or dumbbells. At the end of the day, what matters is that you feel well-equipped when working out and enjoy the experience. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
2. Why is living a healthy lifestyle important?
We live in an age in which everything happens rather quickly. We order food on our phones and expect it to be delivered in a few minutes. In most major cities, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to catch a bus or a train. With a simple Zoom call, we can connect to anyone virtually anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.
However, there is one aspect of modern life that still stubbornly takes time: becoming fit and staying fit. There is no magic button that one can hit to make oneself fit in an instant. Although there are touted surgical remedies and diet pills, the real work of acquiring a healthy lifestyle and maintaining it takes time and effort.
Why is this so important? Well, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can yield tremendous benefits in intangible ways. Most of the time, we feel better and have more energy after devoting time to work out consistently every week. That just means that we go to work in a better mood and have better stamina to meet deadlines. We find ourselves being able to be more present in our interactions with others, thus improving the quality of our relationships.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can also yield physical health benefits that can help you have a better quality of life and live longer. MedlinePlus says that working out can help prevent diabetes, strengthen bones and muscles, and reduce the risk of some cancers. It can also reduce your risk of heart diseases and improve mental health.
This means that the simple act of devoting a few hours every week to exercise can be a huge investment into your own well-being. With the multitude of benefits that maintaining a healthy lifestyle yields, we should all be looking for ways to keep fit and stay fit.
3. How can fitness tools help you to achieve a healthy lifestyle?
As we have established, fitness tools are any devices that help facilitate your workout or improve the workout experience. Anything that helps you push yourself or keep track of your progress can be considered a fitness tool. They are, in other words, fitness accessories.
Different fitness tools help you to achieve a healthy lifestyle in different ways. For example, a food tracker or a food scale helps you keep track of what you eat and the amount that you eat. These tools help you to plan out your meals so that you have full control of your diet. Controlling your diet is often the first step to living a healthy lifestyle. As the saying goes, “you are what you eat.”
Other fitness tools help you keep track of the physical aspects of your fitness. For example, a fitness tracker allows you to track the number of steps that you take in a day. A fitness tracker also helps you to chart your heart rate during your workouts. In winning any battle, it is always ideal to be armed with as much information as possible. Devices like fitness trackers and heart rate monitors help you keep track of the various aspects of your fitness journey. The data you receive from these devices then help you make informed choices about how to vary your workout routine according to your goals. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
Other fitness tools such as a yoga mat and an exercise ball actually help you with working out itself. These tools are great investments because you can use them to do different workouts or a combination of workouts.
Ultimately, any fitness tool that you choose to purchase is an investment in your own health and well-being. You will be able to choose the right fitness accessories once you have established a particular fitness routine. Remember, there is nothing more important than your physical and mental health because of all the good things in life flow from it.
Top 15 Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
If you’re ready to kickstart your fitness journey, here are 15 great fitness tools to help you achieve a healthy lifestyle. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
1. Food Tracker / Food Journal
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One of the best tools that you can have to remind yourself to keep fit is to own a food journal. A food journal allows you to record your daily food intake. This allows you to have an accurate picture of what you’re feeding yourself on a regular basis. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
It is easy for any of us to neglect the role of a healthy diet in helping us to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In our busy world, we can so often be feeding ourselves food absentmindedly while we are busy with some other task. This means that we often are completely unaware of the number of calories that we consume every day. We are often unaware of the percentage of our daily diet that consists of junk food.
This is where food trackers come in. If you keep a food tracker, you’re committing yourself to record the types of foods that you eat on a regular basis. This allows you to clearly evaluate whether you’re consuming enough healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. You are forced to confront any unhealthy eating patterns that you harbor. Ultimately, keeping a food tracker gives you the opportunity to reassess your diet choices and commit to eating more healthily. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
2. Water Bottle
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If there’s one common denominator in any workout that you engage in, it’s that you need water. Without water, you’ll get dehydrated pretty quickly. When that happens, you can become disoriented and your performance drops. Therefore, it’s vital that you have a water bottle around before you begin any workout.
Although having a water bottle around when working out might seem like common sense, many of us have experienced forgetting to bring one along. Also, sometimes we carry around water bottles that are too small and the water gets used up pretty quickly. If you’re going for a workout that takes a longer time to complete, such as a hike, it’s important that you stay adequately hydrated throughout your workout. This might necessitate a bigger water bottle.
There are many high-quality water bottles that are available for purchase in-store or online. The best kinds of water bottles for workouts are the ones that are functionally designed, meaning that they are easy to grasp and the cap is easy to open, even with sweaty hands. Look out for water bottles that are BPA and toxin-free, which are better than traditional plastic water bottles. Also, some water bottles have motivational quotes etched on them to remind you to push yourself in your workouts.
3. Blender Bottle
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If you enjoy working out regularly, you might find that drinking a protein shake once in a while can help improve performance. This is because our muscles consist mainly of protein, and your body needs protein in order to repair, build, and maintain muscle. A protein shake can aid in muscle recovery and make you feel less fatigued. Many athletes take a protein shake for these reasons.
Of course, the choice of protein powder that you use in your protein shake is really important. There are more established brands that provide high-quality protein powder, while some lesser-known brands are known to use lower-quality ingredients. The ingredients used in the protein powder should be prominently displayed on the bottle. Protein powders often come in different flavors, so you can pick one that’s to your liking.
In addition to picking the right protein powder, it’s also important to have the right blender bottle to mix the powder with water. You want a bottle that won’t leak when you shake its content. You also want a blender bottle that is designed in such a way that it can be easily washed. A good blender bottle allows you to make a protein shake without any residual lumps and allows for easy cleaning afterward.
4. Food Scale
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We are all familiar with a weighing scale that we step on to keep track of our weight. If you have a weighing scale at home, you can easily keep track of any weight gain or loss. A food scale is very similar to a weighing scale, except that it’s smaller in size, and is used to weigh food.
There are many reasons why you might find a food scale to be a helpful addition to your kitchen. First, they can be useful if you need to weigh your ingredients for cooking or baking. This means that the next time you’re following your favorite cooking recipe, you don’t need to guess the number of ingredients to an add-in. You can simply put the ingredients on the food scale to get a precise amount.
Secondly, a food scale can also come in handy if you’re trying to limit the portion of food that you eat. There are many diets out there that suggest the amount of food that you should consume based on gram or ounce. If you’re following along with this kind of diet, a food scale would be really helpful in helping you portion your meals perfectly.
5. Meal Prep Containers
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We all know that a healthy diet is essential to leading a healthy lifestyle. There is no point in hitting the gym every day if you’re going to binge on fries afterward all the time. Eating healthy foods must be done in tandem with working out if you’re to see real results.
However, in the busyness of life, we often find ourselves without the time to plan our meals in advance. Instead, we might just grab a quick bite at the nearest fast-food restaurant.
When eating becomes an absent-minded activity, there is a danger of consuming far more calories than we wish. This is where meal prep containers can come in handy. Meal prep containers are containers that allow you to pack food. Meal prep containers allow you to plan your meals in advance, portion them correctly, and eat them later. They are essentially lunch boxes.
Meal prep containers are valuable tools to help you build discipline when it comes to your dietary choices. This is because you can see exactly the kind of foods that you’re going to be consuming. This gives you the opportunity to opt for healthier options that will provide adequate nutrition.
6. Grocery List
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An activity that is certain to be a weekly occurrence for all of us is grocery shopping. Grocery stores are so popular because they contain almost everything you might need or want on a regular basis. With the rise of remote shopping, some of us even do our grocery shopping through a grocery app.
If you shop for groceries on a regular basis, you might notice the importance of having a list of the items that you would like to buy. This is because it is all too easy to miss one or two items, which creates further hassle. A grocery list ensures that you buy all that you need or want in a single trip.
In addition, grocery lists can also be great fitness tools. When you’re shopping for groceries, it can be so tempting to purchase a few more desserts and sugary foods than you intended. After all, grocery stores are designed to sell you more stuff. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
Keeping a grocery list – and sticking to it – will ensure that you don’t excessively purchase foods that won’t be friendly to your health in the long term. Instead, you can focus on purchasing the foods that will help keep your weight in check and ensure optimal nutrition.
7. Foam Roller
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If you work out a lot at the gym, your muscles might get sore from time to time. This is especially true if you’re determined to push yourself hard in every workout. Having sore muscles might be an indicator that you’re making progress in your fitness. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
When your muscles feel sore, nothing feels better than a nice massage. A massage works by releasing the knots and tension in your muscles. Although painful at times, you always end up feeling rejuvenated and more relaxed. This is especially true if you’re getting a sports massage. Professional athletes have trained masseurs that give them massage therapies to ensure that their bodies are at peak performance.
However, not everyone can afford a massage, and certainly not after every workout. A foam roller is a great fitness tool that can be used to relieve muscle soreness in a way that is quite similar to a massage. Healthline says that “foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. It can help relieve muscle tightness, soreness, and inflammation, and increase your joint range of motion.”
The way you use a foam roller is by gently pressing your muscles onto it and rolling it a few times until you feel your muscles relaxing. It is similar to a massage, except that you act as your own masseur.
8. TRX Suspension Trainer
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There are so many different workouts you can try out, from swimming to boxing to martial arts. A great workout system that is gaining popularity across the world is the total resistance training (TRX) system.
TRX employs the use of suspension bands for you to sculpt and shape your body. These suspension bands are usually fastened to the ceiling. They are very strong and should be able to support your entire body weight. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
When you’ve installed your TRX suspension bands, you can then complete 7 different moves: push, pull, plank, squat, lunge, hinge, and rotate. You can learn these moves by watching online tutorial videos or by getting help from a fitness instructor. Once you have mastered these 7 moves, the possibilities are endless. This is because you can mix and match these different moves to create a unique workout every time.
The TRX suspension trainer makes for an excellent fitness tool because you only need to install the suspension bands once. You don’t ever need to join a gym or worry about unfavorable weather making it difficult to exercise outside. Additionally, you’ll also find yourself among a global community of fitness enthusiasts who use TRX regularly for their workout routines.
9. Yoga Mat
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Yoga might appear easy if you’re observing it from afar, but anyone who loves and practices it can tell you that nothing is further from the truth. Even though yoga may appear to be merely a series of body positions, it can be very difficult to perform correctly. This is because each yoga pose is intended to stretch your body and hold your muscles in tension.
If done correctly, yoga makes you sweat and helps you to burn fat. It is similar to pilates, another form of stretch-based workout. Yoga allows you to work out at your own pace, making it suitable for all fitness levels.
Yoga is a workout that you can perform anywhere because all you need is a yoga mat. This is what makes a yoga mat such a fantastic investment. A yoga mat can be rolled up and carried around easily. It allows you to perform yoga moves anytime and saves you the hassle of finding a gym to get a good workout.
To make the most of your yoga routine, all you need to do is to find a quiet spot and play some relaxing music. You can also find plenty of online yoga tutorial videos that you can follow along with. After a good yoga session, you should feel relaxed and replenished.
10. Mini Exercise Bands
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When we think of exercise equipment, many of us tend to think of bulky gym equipment that costs thousands of dollars to purchase. We imagine that working out at home means setting aside an entire room just for fitness purposes. At the very minimum, we expect to invest in purchasing weights in order to tone and shape our bodies.
However, there is a whole style of workout that requires minimal equipment, yet still delivers stunning results. This workout uses mini exercise bands, which can easily fit around your arm. These exercise bands come with different levels of elasticity, meaning that some stretch more easily than others.
All you need to do with these exercise bands is to use them to stretch different parts of your body. This requires some training to get right, so you might need to attend an exercise bands class initially. The way the exercise bands work is that you use them to stretch your muscles. This then causes your muscles to contract to hold the position in place. This in terms causes you to sweat and gives you a good workout.
This may seem so simple, but it does give you an excellent workout when used correctly. Exercise band workouts are similar to yoga and pilates, which also employ body stretching to achieve fitness results. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
11. Exercise Ball
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If you frequent a gym, you’re sure to notice an exercise ball or two tucked away at a corner. Unless you have some insight to how it is normally used, it may seem like a gym oddity. After all, most workout machines have instructions on how to use them; the exercise ball does not. So how is an exercise ball meant to be used?
Well, an exercise ball also employs stretching to help you work out. If you lie down on the exercise ball, you can stretch your back muscles. If you proceed to do sit-ups while lying down on the exercise ball, you’ll be able to work out your abdominal muscles.
An exercise ball is also an accessory that can be used when taking part in pilates or yoga. Because the exercise ball is so flexible, it can be used in stretching exercises to strengthen your core and improve your balance. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
In other words, the exercise ball has more fitness uses than meets the eye. The exercise ball call be used for you to hold a number of stretching poses and can even be used for a cool-down. Like all new gym equipment, it is best to employ a fitness trainer who will be able to brief you on how it is used.
12. Device To Track Workout And Daily Activity
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If you’re determined to see results in your workouts, you’ll want to have a device that can easily track your progress. It is much easier to evaluate the effectiveness of your training if you have a device that can give you an objective analysis of your progress. This is why it is worth investing in a fitness tracker that allows you to track your workout data.
Nowadays, fitness trackers have largely replaced traditional watches because they are so much more practical. For example, fitness trackers help measure your heart rate, so you know just how intense a workout you’re doing is. It also helps measure the number of steps you take in a day. This allows you to decide if you should be walking more for the sake of your health.
Fitness trackers sometimes also have pre-programmed workouts that you can use to switch up your exercise routines. They sometimes also come with sleep tracker settings, which allows you to track your sleep throughout the night. In other words, fitness trackers are little devices that can tell you a lot about your current fitness state. They are a valuable accessory to have if you want to keep close tabs on how well you’re performing physically in key parameters. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
13. Heart Rate Monitor
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If you find a fitness tracker to be too expensive an investment, you can always consider getting a heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor tells you your heart rate at any given time and allows you to track your heart rate throughout any workout that you engage in.
Why is knowing your heart rate so important? Well, in cardio-based workouts, you want to achieve what is known as a “cardiac peak”. This is the part of the workout when your heart rate is pumping at a maximum speed. When you hit this state in your workout, you’re burning maximum fat. A heart rate monitor allows you to review your heart rate progress to see if you’ve hit a maximum peak in your workouts.
A heart rate monitor is also useful for general health purposes. For example, if you’re not engaging in strenuous exercise, your heart rate should fall between the normal ranges for your age and sex. If you find that your heart rate is consistently high without working out, or if your heart rate is irregular, it may be a good idea to see a doctor to get that checked out.
14. Headphones
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If you’re doing a workout like running, it can become boring if you’re not doing it with a friend. This is especially true if there is no music to keep you going. In fact, any workout can become boring after a while if there is no motivational music to keep you company. This is the reason that most gyms have loud, upbeat music playing when you enter them.
A simple way to chase the workout blues away is to have a pair of great headphones that can play you music that you love while you work out. Having a pair of headphones means that you can enjoy your favorite music without disturbing others in the process. Many of the headphones today are specially designed for users who work out. For example, many headphones are wireless, waterproof, and designed to withstand high-intensity exercise.
You may be surprised by how much difference a good pair of headphones can make to a workout. There are many music playlists that are designed to keep you motivated during your workouts. A pair of great headphones may be just the investment you need to bring your workout to the next level.
15. Essential Oil Diffuser
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When you’ve had a great workout session in which you have given your all, you want to be able to rest your body and relax. Some people opt to go for sports massages to untie the knots in their muscles. Others enjoy a warm, hot bath. 15 Best Fitness Tools For A Healthy Lifestyle
A great way to create a relaxing ambiance is to have an essential oil diffuser. An essential oil diffuser releases the scents in essential oils and this has a naturally calming effect on the body. It is a form of therapy known as ‘aromatherapy’, in which your body and mind receive healing through scent.
There are many different types of essential oils that come with their own scents, such as lavender, nutmeg, orange, and jasmine. All you need to do is to pour a few drops of essential oil into your essential oil diffuser, and in no time at all your room will become infused with the wonderful scent that you’ve chosen. The aromatic scent of essential oils will help you relax, sleep better, and as a result become more energetic for your next workout. Remember, working out is not all about effort and exertion – relaxation and rest are equally important.
Other related topics you might like to read:
- 15 Best Instagram Fitness Influencers Worldwide
- Foam Roller vs Theragun Massager: Which One is Better?
- 15 Best Brands For Home Fitness Equipment
References
- MedlinePlus (2020) Benefits of Exercise. https://medlineplus.gov/benefitsofexercise.html
- Healthline (2019) What Are the Benefits of Foam Rolling? https://www.healthline.com/health/foam-roller-benefits#appearance-of-cellulite
