How To Make Fitness Fun And Stay Motivated To Exercise + A Fun Fit Bodyweight Workout

Finding the fun in fitness isn’t an easy thing to do, but it’s absolutely possible and something that I want to inspire everyone to do. I encourage others to find exercises that they love, activities and sports that will continue to keep them coming back for more on a daily basis. That way, keeping up an exercise routine feels less like a chore that you have to force yourself to do and more like a fun hobby that you look forward to. 

After high school, when I stopped swimming competitively, exercise was no longer a regular part of my routine and it took me quite some time to get back in the groove again. Eventually, I discovered that I love to run. Soon after, I decided to give yoga a try, and to my surprise, found that it was another activity that I really enjoyed. And even though I’d much rather be running or practicing on my mat, over time I’ve grown to enjoy lifting weights in the gym every now and then too. So I create a balance and fit all three into my exercise routine. This way I’m constantly challenging my body in different ways and the chances that I’ll become bored are pretty slim. (And of course, I still try other new exercises every now and then!)

How To Make Fitness Fun And Stay Motivated To Exercise

That’s  what works for me, and it took a lot of trial and error before I figured it out. At first, I didn’t love running. In fact, I hated it. But I stayed consistent, pushed passed that “beginner struggle” that comes with trying out any new exercise, and eventually came to fall in love with the sport.

The key word here though is trial. In order to find the fun in fitness, you have to try new things. And that doesn’t mean deciding that you hate Zumba after just one class. Sign up for something that you think you might enjoy (or hey, maybe even something you think you might totally hate) and stick to it for a few weeks. You might fall in love or you might not. If you don’t, start over again with something new. Eventually you will find your one true exercise love. And the best part is, the entire time you’ll be maintaining an active lifestyle and as a result, improving your health and fitness.

To celebrate finding the fun in fitness, and so that I could test out Puma’s new PowerCELL Tech ACTV Compression Tights, I created a workout that incorporates all my favorite forms of exercise. Running, yoga, and strength training. This is a workout you can do anywhere (even at the beach!) without any equipment, so I want you all to gear up and come get sweaty with me! When you’re finished, you can scroll down to read my review of the Puma tights.

Let’s go!

– Fun Fit Bodyweight Workout-

Repeat each circuit 3 times. Complete 20 reps for each exercise, alternating right and left for exercises utilizing both sides of the body. No rest between exercises. 20 seconds rest between circuits.

If I’m being honest, when I first got my hands on these new Puma pants, I was skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I like my high-tech active wear just as much as the next fitness freak, but at a first glance I wasn’t quite convinced of the benefits that were being touted on the product’s label.

The tights are geared for high performance and endurance sports. They are made of Lycra, an elastic fabric designed to enhance athletic performance by providing muscle support and freedom of movement. The most important feature of the PowerCELL ACTV tights though, is the strategically placed athletic tape on the inside of the garment, incorporated for the purpose of micro-massaging the skin during exercise, which according to the label can “help maximize your workout and energy supply.”

After reading all of the above information on the label, I was instantly reminded of my days as a swimmer. During competitions, I would wear a special suit called a Fastskin. It was also made of Lycra and designed to mimic sharkskin. These suits were tight, extremely hard to get on and off, and were definitely not the most comfortable of swimming attire. I thought that if these tights were going to be anything like that then (at least for me) they would be more hassle than they were worth. Because when it comes down to it, it’s the athletes performance that matters most. If you don’t put in the time and effort, if you don’t work hard, it doesn’t matter what kind of gear you have. You can’t perform well unless you work hard. In other words, you can’t rely solely on gear that promises better performance to do the work for you.

A Fun Fit Bodyweight Workout

Some of my initial thoughts were that they were going to be super hard to put on, that they would feel really uncomfortable (especially while working out in the heat of summertime), and that they would be hard to take off (the tape is sort of sticky) after I was finished working out and had sweat in them.

But all of that was just my skepticism. To my surprise, the tights turned out to be quite comfy. Of course, putting them on isn’t as easy as slipping on a pair of shorts, but the packaging comes with directions to show where on your legs the tape should line up, and I found the process to be pretty simple and straight forward. However, I did need to adjust them slightly to make up for my short stature. I am five feet tall and a size small is about an inch or so too long for me. (Curse my short legs!)

Working out in them was comfortable. I ran in them on two occasions, once during the extremely hot heat wave that we experienced in New York back in July, and again during the evening in much cooler temperatures. I was really surprised at a how light they are. Even in super sweltering heat I felt comfortable running in them despite the fact that they are full-length tights, which is not an option I would typically agree to run in at any time during the summer.

My fist run in them didn’t go so well, but that was because of me, not the tights. I was sore, my left IT band had been bothering me, and ultimately the workout failed. I wasn’t able to concentrate on the tape and how it felt.

But my second run with them was much better. I found that they were actually beneficial in that I could feel the tape moving and massaging my skin in different ways depending on how I altered my gate. I found this extremely helpful because it forced me to pay more attention to my form and reminded me to adjust my body when something didn’t feel in place.

I don’t think that these are a MUST HAVE piece of active wear, you can certainly be a successful runner without them and I’m not 100% convinced of their “performance enhancing” abilities, but they’re definitely helpful and most certainly comfortable. If anything, I would recommend them for more serious runners and athletes who are training for competitions.

Just like I used to wear my Fastskin suit during swimming competitions, I am excited to try these tights during a race. I think they’ll be a great piece of gear to put to use on the day of a big race day that I’ve been training hard for. If nothing else, they’ll at least provide a little bit of a mental and psychological boost.

In addition to the Power Plus compression tights, Puma also sent a pair of Formlite XT Ultra Fluo sneakers for me to test out.

The Formlite XT’s are designed for aerodynamics and flexibility. Despite being super lightweight, they provide a ton of cushioning, stability, and comfort. They are also designed for breathe-ability, which makes for a perfect summertime sneaker. I haven’t tried running in the them because they are a tiny bit too minimalistic for my needs. However, I really like them for walking in and as a cross training shoe for when I’m working out in the gym. I especially like them for summer because I found that they’re comfortable enough to wear without socks!

All in all, this is definitely gear that I will continue to train with. BRB, going to make more room in my closet. 

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