If you’re a full-time blogger or online entrepreneur then fitness should be a concern high on your radar. Not only will maintaining proper fitness be crucial for your overall performance, productivity and income/turnover; but it’s also important to bear in mind that you can risk health issues if you are constantly working online. Thus it is very important for online entrepreneurs to have a health regime, not only to prevent health issues but also to get the most out of themselves each day.
And while any health regime is certainly better than none, there are definitely some specific strategies for working out that you will find more effective than others for acting as a supplement to this lifestyle in particular. Read on and we will look at what those are.
Stretching and Mobility
One of the biggest issues for those who work online is the damage that this can do to their flexibility and mobility. If you are spending every day sitting in the same position with your legs bent and shoulders hunched, then you’ll find that this can cause severe problems with your posture and your flexibility. Apart from anything else, this position can shorter your hip extensors (quads) and weaken your glutes and hamstrings. This can end up causing an anterior pelvic hip tilt which in turn can harm posture and cause back pain.
As you lose mobility this can also generally hamper your ability to move comfortably and make you feel older, tireder and less exuberant. A good training regime for supplementing the digital entrepreneur lifestyle should at least involve some kind of stretching then – and something like yoga or Pilates is perfect.
Bear in mind however, that studies have actually failed to show a benefit to stretching before a workout. In fact, some research even suggests that stretching prior to working out could make you more liable to injure yourself.
CV
Also very important for those who work online is getting plenty of cardiovascular (CV) exercise. This means things like running, like swimming and like cycling that force the heartrate to speed up and that thus burn fat as well.
CV is important for internet entrepreneurs because it improves VO2 max and the supply of oxygen to the brain. It has also been shown to improve mood by boosting serotonin and it is able to increase brain power by encouraging neurogenesis (the birth of new brain cells) in the hippocampus and other important areas of the brain.
CV also strengthens the heart and helps us to live longer. This is also especially important as studies show us that we actually shorten our lifespans for every minute we spend sitting down. When we sit down, our hearts don’t have to work at all and so they become weakened. Running is the perfect tonic for this.
When performing CV, the best type to use is actually what’s known as HIIT – or High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT has been shown in studies to be more effective at aiding weight loss than regular ‘steady state’ cardio and it also increases the efficiency of the mitochondria in the cells (the ‘energy factories’). To perform this type of training, you need to separate your exertion into bouts of high intensity (70-100% of your maximum effort) and bouts of lower intensity. By combining the two you’re able to put yourself in an ‘anaerobic state’ for longer and trigger more profound changes in the body.
If you are someone who suffers from impact when using CV such as running, then you can instead try using a recumbent bike, or swimming lessons even.
Walking
If you are currently overweight from spending too much time in front of the computer, then going sprinting or punching a punch bag might not be the best thing to do. It’s important to ease your way into exercise gently, so starting out with regular walks is often a better strategy.
Walking is particularly effective as a way to exercise because it has been shown in studies to encourage creativity – especially when practiced somewhere with lots of green scenery. Go for a walk through a green park and you might just find it’s the perfect catalyst for that ‘next big idea’ that takes your blog to the next level.
Fresh air meanwhile will help you sleep better which is also crucial for health and productivity.
Nutrition
Lastly, it’s also important to make sure you eat properly. Again, this won’t only help to counteract the amount of time you spend static working at a desk but will also fuel your brain with more power and energy so that you have better ideas and better productivity.
Most important from a nutrition standpoint is to consume nutrient rich foods. This means vegetables, meats (especially organ meats), fruits, eggs, salad and anything else packed with minerals, vitamins and amino acids. It’s this kind of food that the brain uses to make neurotransmitters and high amounts of dietary vitamins and minerals have been correlated with enhanced brain function in almost every capacity.
So there you go! Eat healthy, go for walks, stretch and try some HIIT workouts. In no time you’ll be healthier and a better blogger!
