Fitness tips from Instagram’s top trainers

KEEPING fit is hard work for the best of us — so how do the best of us stay in shape? We sought advice from fourteen of Instagram’s finest.

KEEPING fit is hard work for the best of us — so how do the best of us keep fit?

Here is advice from fourteen of Instagram’s finest:

ALEXA TOWERSEY | @actionalexa
Personal Trainer to the likes of Laura Dundovic and Renae Ayris

Train for an objective. Training to lose weight is different to training to put on lean muscle and different again to training for sports performance. If you don’t know what your end goal is, how do you expect to make a smart plan of attack?

ANDREW PAP | @andrew_pap_
IsoWhey Sports Ambassador, Owner of BattleFit Australia, star of ESPN’s search4hurt Season 2

It’s important to be smart with your nutrition and focus on giving your body sufficient fuel and nutrients for optimal performance. Whether you are gaining this from whole foods or supplementation, make sure that you do your research and have the correct knowledge on nutrition and supplementation that suits your needs and personal goals. Remember you can’t outrun a poor diet.

LIBBY BABET | @libbybabet
Owner of Agoga Bondi and bufgirl.com

Glam Up Your Workouts! Give every workout a story, then do your research to bring it to life. When I’m bored and don’t feel like working out, I search the web for inspiration — I’ll find a celebrity workout, or look up things like, “dance workout”, “surfer’s workout”, “bikini workout”, “butt toning circuit”, “abs everywhere”, “ninja workout”, “Beyonce workout”, “300 workout”, the list goes on! Just reading about all the cool sweat sessions other people are doing is inspiration enough but even better, when you’re in the middle of a workout having a visual in mind (like leaping to your feet as smoothly as a surfer, or toning your butt to Beyonce standard) really helps you get in the zone!

TANYA POPPETT | @achieving_balance
Fitness instructor and blogger at achievingbalanceblog.wordpress.com/

I find guilt to be one of the most detrimental things to a person’s health. If you don’t workout or eat as healthy as you would have liked it is definitely not worth beating yourself up over. This can have far worst consequences to both your physical and emotional health. Focus on what you have done that week and what you plan to do the rest of the week. Also if you do make the decision to have a treat or skip a workout than back yourself, you made the decision for a reason now move forward. Remember health and fitness is lifelong and it won’t last if you let it take over your life and control your happiness.

BEN LUCAS | @ben_lucas1
Director of Flow Athletic

Training first thing in the morning is not only a great way to wake you up, but no matter what else happens in your day, at least your workout is done. I start work early, but I will still get up even earlier to get my training in.

CAMERON BYRNES | @cameronbyrnespt
Personal Trainer to top Australian celebrities and athletes and Transformation Specialist on Bring Sexy Back

I am innovative with my own exercise and nutrition so I don’t get bored of a repetitive routine. I don’t have much of an attention span to begin with so having different exercise styles to keep me interested and a heap of recipes on hand to pull out when I get bored has really helped me stay on track.

MATTY ABEL| @mattyabel
Owner of DBA Runners, Professional Ultra Marathon Runner

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people or others on similar journey to yourself. Never underestimate this! They say that you become similar to the 7 people that you hang around the most so if you hang around un motivated people who don’t train and eat crap all the time guess what? You’re likely to do exactly the same. Surround yourself around motivated people who eat well and train often and you will find yourself doing similar things.

LAUREN HANNAFORD | @lozhannaford
Ex Elite Gymnast turned PT and National Gymnastics Coach

I find that running to my local gym and using that as a warm up always gets me revved up to train hard when I arrive. My sessions usually end up better on those days. I also make sure that I spend at least 5 minutes stretching post work out. This is not just because it is good for my muscles, but because it also gives me 5 minutes to reflect on my workout and what I have achieved that day.

BLAKE WORRALL-THOMPSON | @wellbeingbyblake
Star of 6 Weeks to Sexy, Celebrity Trainer

Go hard and then go home! Too often people just start going through the motions when they go to the gym. You don’t need to be in there any longer than 45 minutes if you train smart. Get in and get out — but when you’re in there, make sure you get that intensity right up.

DYLAN RIVIER | @builtbydylan
Personal Trainer for 10 years

I love to train so for me a workout, no matter how hard, is always fun! People think this is weird but ask any trainer and they’ll tell you the same thing! Whether you love to exercise already, or are learning to love it, once you get there it is easier to maintain consistency and to stay motivated.

LUKE HORDER | @horderfitness
Personal Trainer and Exercise Physiologist

To reach your own peak health and fitness, you need to exercise the mind as much as the body. Peak fitness requires making the right decisions, having the discipline and a lot of determination to overcome all the obstacles that arise.

JOHANN RUYS |@johann_ruys
Personal Trainer and Exercise Physiologist

Incidental Fitness can be the best kind of fitness. Going for a surf, playing sport with my mates, going snorkelling; these are just a handful of ‘incidental’ fitness activities that I do every week. Just because it’s not a specific training session doesn’t mean it’s not fitness, and just because you’re enjoying the activity doesn’t mean it’s not doing you good! For a start, you’re more likely to try harder and apply yourself more vigorously to activities you enjoy. Have fun with your fitness and your body!

JESS ROBINSION | @lazygirlfit
Personal Trainer, Health & Fitness Blogger

I believe in working smarter instead of harder, in finding what works for you (and realising that it may be different to what works for others), in doing your best and — perhaps most importantly — in being kind to yourself. Being physically healthy is important, but being physically AND mentally healthy is the ultimate goal. That means ditching the guilt, accepting that we all make mistakes and having a little fun!

CHRISTIAN MIRANDA | @christianmiranda
Owner of One Personal Training Solutions

Logging your results tracking your progress in a daily log book helps keep you accountable and on top of your results. By measuring your improvements, you’re able to look back at where you’ve come from and make the necessary changes to continue to improve.

Tips collated by www.isowheysports.com.au