When it comes to the gym, I’m a creature of habit. I stick to the same three machines, say hello to the same group of people and train around the same time of day (I’m A morning workout type of crazy). But with a chronic illness And unpredictable flare -ups, it’s not always easy to stick to my routine, and there is actually much I would love to try. There are also some parts of my routine that definitely deserve a little more attention (rest, recovery, flexibility, upper body strength . . . just to name a few).
I have turned to Pinterest to inspire my life before, usually use it to help visualize my manifestations (a new apartment, a transition to the West Coast, success in my career, etc.). However, according to Florencia Krochik from Pinterest’s programming and original team, Pinterest may also be the perfect tool to help renovate my fitness regime. “There are so many ways to use Pinterest to inspire your workouts,” Krochik tells PS. “You can really use the platform to create a training routine completely adapted for you and your needs in one place.”
Encouraged by her words and seeks a motivation I myself decided to let Pinterest switch up my fitness routine for a whole week. Read on to see what I add to my board, what I did in real life and how I felt about my Pinterest-ed routine in the end.
Building my Pinterest -board
When I tried to build the “Gymspo” board that would inspire my next week with training, I thought of the best parts of my current routine. I had recently started on my yoga sessions after work, but wanted to be a little more consistent with my practice, so I add some home yoga sets to my board. Similar diocese also made me realize that I would like to Work with flexibility and mobility. As a former dancer, this is something I used to take for granted, but now – no way. So I saved some videos with Simple distances for shares And hip opener to get started.
“At Pinterest, our goal is to give our users inspiration to create a life they love, and fitness can definitely play a role in it,” says Krochik. At this point, most of the gymnasters helped me visualize exactly what I wanted my training routine to feel at the end of the week. I attached gym sessions, yoga flows and Food pilatesBut also sunny outdoor walks, early mornings and nightly distances. While Pinterest is full of more specific training plans-so in the form of lists of notes-app style or week-long regimes-to-the-visual elements, I personally most influence.
One thing to note: Body control is real. When I was looking for “Gym Girl” inspiration, several of my searches had less to do with fitness and more to do with physique. Sometimes I made myself feel tempted to attach a post because I wanted to look like the person in the picture – not because I really liked what they marketed. If you find yourself going down in a similar rabbit hole, take a break and try another search or become more specific with your keywords.
“As you continue to search and interact with pins, your home giving will start to change and earn you more content that you may be interested in,” says Krochik. “If you have tried a workout or a recipe that does not work for you, you can simply remove the pin and find new ideas that inspire you instead.”
My Pinterest training
My energy is usually the highest at the beginning of the day, so I prefer to get my workouts early. That said, former experiment I had fallen into a tough bike with staying up late, Death pistonAnd struggles to wake up in time for the gym. One of the elements on my board was to lie down and wake up earlier, and I’m happy to report that I did this successfully.
- Monday: I started the week with an upper body day at the gym, which I usually avoid (or skip completely). But the gymnastics girls on my Pinterest -board inspired me, and I decided to commit. Takes out a side of the many hot girl goes I had attached to my board, I also used my lunch break to get out and walk around the apartment complex before Arizona Heat pulled me back inside. After work I made a hip opening yoga flow and dropped me through flexibility exercises A 35-second Pinterest video. It was a little painful at the moment, but I eventually slid into my split easier than I had done in months.
- Tuesday: Tuesday was Leg Day – my personal favorite. I was referring to A previously attached video About the placement of your feet on the leg press and used this information to make the machine a little more glute focused. I did my afternoon walk and a nightly yog flow, proud to have been compatible with my routine.
- Wednesday: This was my first much needed rest day. I was still taking my afternoon walk, and at this time I felt that I was starting to develop better habits overall. I drank more water, cooked more often, went to bed earlier and gave myself mercy when my body needed time to recover (something I usually struggle with).
- Thursday: I did cardio at the gym and then decided to follow a dumbbell training on Pinterest later in the afternoon at home. I went into the home training with a boat load of trust (53-second video Listed seven exercises in total), but I quickly realized that it was much more difficult than it looked. I took this as a reminder that the aesthetically pleasing training pins are not always representative of the sweaty reality.
- Friday and Saturday: I continued with my legs and weapons regime, made sure to stretch afterwards and prioritize outdoor movement, per my Pinterest board.
- Sunday: On the last day of my experiment, I took my last day of rest and used my lonely yog block to facilitate myself in some restorative yoga poses. At the end of the week, I felt strong, relaxed and proud of everything I had achieved.
My takeaways
Do not go into an experiment like this and try to turn your life into a literal Pinterest board. Take it from me: The reality of your image-Perfect Gymspo is probably much more difficult, sweating and more demanding than it looks online. But that doesn’t mean it can’t motivate you to increase your game.
Having a visual representation of what you want to achieve is massive motivating. It makes you think about what you really value, what you can improve and what you want to try. I did not write about the whole script, but during a clean week Pinterest helped me become more consistent, fine -tune my existing gym routine, try some new workouts and add some new fitness goals to my list. The final regime may not look as beautiful as on my board, but it gave up real Results and honestly? I would squeeze it.
Chandler Plante (She/her) is the assistant health and fitness editor for PS. She has over four years of experience in professional journalism, who previously worked as an editorial assistant for the magazine People and contributes to Ladygunn, Millie and Bustle Digital Group.
