How to get started with running (as someone who hates it)

For pretty much my whole life, I’ve hated running. I tried playing soccer when I was young and gave up because the running part was awful. For years afterward, I couldn’t even run a full mile. I could hike for hours, but the act of running was just so unpleasant that I couldn’t go more than a few minutes before quitting and switching to walking instead.

My dislike of running really frustrated me. It seemed like a great cardio workout and everyone kept talking about the health benefits, but every time I tried to make myself run I could only stick with it for a week or two before giving up or being forced to stop due to injury/strain. 

But within the last few months, I’ve finally cracked the problem. I can now run straight through a 5K without stopping and I’m continuing to increase my distance over time. It only took a few small adjustments to get there.

If you are facing the same issue–you want to start running, but just can’t seem to get over your dislike of it–I hope that the tricks I’ve learned can help you out as well!

Here is what I changed.

1. I signed up for a race to give myself a goal to work toward.

[Signing up for a race is a great way to give yourself an external motivator to get running! (Though as you’ll see shortly, this is not necessarily the type of race I would recommend)]

Every time I started running in the past, I did it without a goal to work toward. One day I would just decide “I’m going to start running now” and then I would do it. I never set myself a goal of a distance or mile-time I wanted to achieve, and I never had the pressure of a deadline (the date of an event) to get me motivated to keep running. 

Without something to work toward, the “I hate running” side of my brain took over and always convinced me to quit because I wasn’t really losing anything by doing so–I wasn’t failing a goal of any kind and letting myself down–but I was losing a lot by forcing myself to do something I didn’t like. So why keep going?

Once I signed up for an event, this changed. I had a date and a distance goal set–and since I’d already spent money to hold my spot, I felt pressured not to waste the opportunity. If you are a goal oriented person like me, signing yourself up for an event dramatically helps with concrete goal setting and can give you the push that you’re missing if you just jump into running without any specific outcome in mind.

There are a ton of different events out there, and making the right choice can affect your motivation to keep running and improving. I didn’t just choose something randomly, but made calculated choices to help give myself the best chance at actually sticking with running and being prepared when event day came.

I chose an event that would make running more fun.

There are lots of pure running events out there–a standard 5K for example–but if you’re someone who hates running, signing up for a 5K doesn’t exactly seem like a fun idea. Rather than signing up for a normal running race, I decided to pick something that involved running, but where it was not the sole purpose: obstacle course racing. 

[Obstacle course races are a great way to get into running because they distract you from the actual running part! Highly recommend.]

In an obstacle course race, you run a set distance and encounter fun obstacles along the way–a mud pit, monkey bars, a giant slide, or a jump over fire, to name a few (you can read more about what you might see during one of these races in the article I wrote about obstacles here). The obstacles are the main part of the fun, and running is just a way to get you between them. Races like this help you get your mind off the discomfort of running because it no longer is the only thing you are thinking about during the race. Instead, you’re thinking about the awesome slide you’re about to fly down. I did my first race last year (and wrote about what I learned), and the experience made me so excited to keep going–something I’ve never felt with traditional running races.

If normal running doesn’t sound fun to you, pick a more activity-focused race like an obstacle course that breaks up the running with other things. In my experience, it is way more fun.

I signed up for that event with someone who is a better runner than I am.

To help increase my motivation to prepare for my obstacle course race, I signed up do to it with someone who runs regularly. This provided another external source of motivation–I wanted to be able to keep up with (or at least not completely drag down) my teammate. If I didn’t prepare for the race, I would not just be letting myself down, but I’d be letting someone else down too. This made me try much harder than I would if I were just doing a race on my own. 

I picked a race that was within my ability.

If you’re starting from nothing, like I was, the biggest thing you can do for yourself is set a reasonable goal. If you set your sights too high, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I have seen some people jump from not running at all to saying they’re going to try and run a marathon. Going from 0 to 100 may sound like a fun idea (who doesn’t want to be able to run a marathon?), but for most people, your body is just not going to be able to do that.  

Instead of making a big step, start small and work your way up. Sign up for a 5K before you sign up for a 10K. Then, if you get comfortable with these, you can start considering longer races like half marathons. Starting small helps you start to see your potential. As you complete these smaller steps, you can start to build confidence in your abilities, which will make it easier to complete longer and longer runs. If you start with something big and can’t finish, it is much easier to lose motivation and just give up.

I set myself a reasonable timeline.

When I signed up for my race, I scheduled it for a good 7 months or so away, giving myself ample time to prepare. If you are new to running, it can take you a while to get used to it and push past the discomfort stage, so you don’t want to sign up for a race that is only a few weeks away. 

When picking a race, give yourself a few months to prepare, but not too long. If your race is a year out, you may feel like you have ages to prepare, so won’t feel motivated to get started. 

[Whatever you do, don’t sign up for a marathon next month!! Just don’t do it!!!]

2. I decided to run less often.

This one is perhaps a bit counter intuitive at first. The more you run, the better you’ll get, right? That is perhaps true once you are experienced, but it is the opposite of what you want when you’re starting out. 

Going too hard is the easiest way to burn out and injure yourself. 

This is what happened to me in all my previous attempts to get over my hatred of running. Each time I wanted to try running again I’d try to run every day and I always ended up feeling winded after a few days or developing shin splints or some other pain injury. This then made it impossible to keep running, so I’d quit.  

This time, I decided to run way less often–I only run twice per week, usually about three days apart. This schedule has been much more sustainable. I have plenty of time to recover in between runs and haven’t faced any injuries yet. 

It also frees up my time, allowing me to keep my other days for exercises that bring me more joy, like weightlifting or rock climbing. 

When you are just starting, running can feel like a bit of a punishment. Doing it less often dramatically reduces this issue and can help sustain the habit long enough to reach the point where it can actually start to become enjoyable.

3. I found a way to limit excuses getting in my way.

I am someone who is prone to allowing excuses to get in my way of exercise, so to help myself stick with running, I decided to eliminate one of the excuses that was getting in my way the most: weather.

Unlike many other gym activities, running is very weather-dependent. It is very common to run outdoors, and if the weather is bad, you’re not going to want to do it. If you live in a cold or rainy climate, as I do, this can be a huge problem. Who wants to run when it’s pouring rain, snowing, or freezing? If you let those things get in your way, there will be a lot of days when you maybe should run but you don’t.  

[This person has way more willpower than I do. Can they teach me their ways?]

As someone who lives somewhere very cold and snowy, I knew I had to eliminate this issue for myself. I decided to find a gym that had an indoor track and decided to run there when the weather was bad. I would still run outdoors if it was sunny and warm, but otherwise the indoor track would be my go-to. 

After that, I never found myself quitting for weather except for when snowstorms made it physically impossible to get to the gym. 

If you live somewhere with good weather most of the year, this change might not help you much, but it is worth considering other areas where you find yourself regularly making excuses to get out of a run. Perhaps an excuse you use often is “I’m too tired to run after work,” in which case you could try running before work instead. It could be something else entirely–we all have different things happening in our lives–but whatever your excuses may be, it is worth taking time to consider how you might limit their effect.

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Making these small changes has led to a huge shift in how I view running. It is now just a normal part of my workout schedule, I don’t find it miserable anymore, and I genuinely look forward to some of the races I’ll be completing.

If you’ve found yourself hating running and want to give it a try, hopefully my experience gives you some inspiration to get started and stick with it.

10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Working Out

I’ve been actively exercising for about four years now. It’s been a long–and sometimes difficult–journey, full of rough periods of plateau, injury, and frustration. But I’ve made it through, and come out at lot stronger on the other side (both figuratively and literally).

Along the way I’ve picked up quite a few lessons that have really helped me and that I wish I’d known more about before getting too far into my journey.

Today, I’m sharing my wisdom with you in the hopes that it will prevent you from making some of the same unpleasant mistakes that I went through.

So, without further ado, the best exercise tips for beginners:

1. You’re going to fail sometimes. It’s ok. Don’t beat yourself up.

When I first started exercising regularly, I would set myself lofty goals: be able to run a mile in a week or two (starting from nothing), or be able to do a pull-up after only 10 gym sessions–when I could barely lift anything.

When I’d fail to reach these goals, I would get frustrated and think that I should be able to do better, which was often not really the case. Then, as a result, I would lose my motivation and fall off the wagon a bit.

Even when you’re trying your best in fitness, at some point you will probably fail to reach a goal.

It’s just part of working out. You might get hit with a bad injury and be forced to rest, you might have a super busy work week that leaves zero time for exercise, or you might have a bad bout of depression and be stuck in bed. Whatever goal you had set–you’ll fail. But that’s okay.

Failure is bound to happen, and the most important thing you can do is control how you react to it. Don’t be like me when I started, and get frustrated (or like the guy below, give up completely). Instead, just realize that setbacks are a part of the fitness lifestyle. Use the opportunity to come back stronger next time.

[Don’t be like this guy!]

2. The biggest thing you can do for yourself is just start.

Overthinking exercise can stop you from doing it. If you’re trying to get into exercise for the first time, you may find yourself doing some of the following:

• Trying to research the best workout clothes
• Looking up protein shakes and workout supplements that you think you’ll need to succeed
• Trying to find the perfect exercises
• Setting up a full-on calendar for what your training is going to look like

If you see yourself doing these things, stop.

Trying to do everything in advance will just lead you to being overwhelmed, and if you’re like a lot of people–you might actually never get to the exercise part!

I had this problem early on. I tried to research a training plan and totally change my diet at the same time. There were way too many things doing on, and I ended up failing at both.

The best thing you can do for yourself is stop thinking about all the details and just start exercising.

You’ll have time to figure that stuff out later. It’s more important to just build an exercise habit first.

3. You don’t always have to try your hardest. Sometimes just doing something is enough.

One of the biggest roadblocks that many beginners face is turning exercise into a habit. When you’re just starting and it’s something you’ve never done before, it doesn’t come naturally.

And if you are lacking a strong sense of internal motivation, it’s going to be impossible to keep going unless you can turn exercise into a habit.

However, habits can be super difficult to build if you set an unreasonable goal. For example, if you’re coming from no exercise background and say that you’re now going to exercise every single day for an hour, you’re almost certainly going to fail.

A much better way to start is to set yourself a daily goal of just starting. Rather than say that you’re going to exercise for an hour, say that you’re just going to start. That could mean:

• Putting on a pair of running shoes, walking outside, and jogging for a quarter mile,
• Driving to a gym,
• Pulling out a yoga mat and doing a few stretches,
• …or anything else that is a very small goal.

[Just a few sit-ups is enough to get you moving. It doesn’t take much!]

You’ll probably find that once you start, you want to keep going. You’re already at the gym, so why not get in a good workout? You’ve already started jogging–why not go another few miles, even if you walk a lot of it? The great thing about doing this, though, is if you don’t feel like you want to keep going, that’s okay. You still achieved your goal of doing something. And over time, your body will adjust and start to recognize the act of something as a new habit.

Beginning something new this way is much more likely to lead to long term success than setting lofty goals for each day.

To learn more about habit building, I’d recommend reading Atomic Habits.

4. Exercise is one of the best ways of fighting off depression. Don’t let it fall by the wayside.

Exercise plays a huge role in mental health. Just take a look through some of the many studies on exercise and depression [For example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

In my own experience, exercise has been the single biggest help in fighting off depressive episodes. When in periods of struggle, right after I’ve finished a workout, I’ve felt the cloud of sadness lifting away. It’s never magically made things disappear, but it has had a significant and noticeable impact.

Even though I knew about the benefits of exercise and depression early on, and had experienced these improvements in my own mental health as a result of fitness, I still went through periods where I let my fitness fall by the wayside–usually when I had a lot of schoolwork to do or stressful exams/presentations coming up.

It was one of the biggest mistakes I made.

Whenever I let exercise slide, depression found a way to creep back in. And that made it harder and harder to fight it off because the more depressed I was, the harder it was to drag myself to the gym. It would have been so much easier if I had prioritized exercise and not let it slip from my schedule.

If you struggle at all with depression, make an extra effort to ensure that exercise is a priority. It will make such a huge difference on your well being.

5. Lift heavy.

While cardio and light weights are okay–and good in moderation–lifting heavy weights is one of the best ways to improve your fitness.

This is counter to what you see a lot of women doing, so it deserves some explanation.

Heavy weights are typically associated with men in the media, but they are great for everyone. This is for a few different reasons.

• If weight loss is your goal, heavy lifting actually helps you lose weight faster. Unlike cardio, building muscle speeds your metabolism. That means that even when you are not working out, you’ll burn more calories (a couple extra per pound of muscle you add)
• It can help you get stronger without developing extreme muscle definition. Lots of women are scared of the bodybuilder look, but the average woman who does strength training will never look like that. Why? Because women have low testosterone, which plays a big factor in men’s muscle growth.
• Strength training with heavy lifting can strengthen bones and slow bone density loss, which is really important for women due to the common nature of osteoporosis.

If you skip the heavy weights, you’ll never see these benefits.

[Aim for a weight where you can complete approximately 7 reps before you’re too tired to keep going. If you can do more than about 12 reps, your weight is too light for maximum strength gain.]

6. Don’t waste time on targeted movements. Instead, focus on compound lifts.

When you’re getting started, it’s easy to get excited about all the different machines at the gym. I know I did!

Ooh, a curl machine! That looks fun! And ooh, a tricep press! Perfect way to build some nice arms…

– My Internal Monologue

But they are not built equal, and some will give you much more benefit for your time than others. You want to focus on machines (or free weights–but those can be scary for beginners) that do compound movements, activating multiple muscle groups at once. That means, if you’re working on a right schedule, no bicep curl or tricep press machines!!

Instead, try some of these:

• Lat pulldown
• Row
• Leg press
• Assisted pull-ups/chin-ups
• Chest press

7. Don’t forget about your diet!

[Eating healthy plays a huge role in fitness! And if you’re focused on strength gain, you’ll need to watch your protein consumption as well.]

At first, I thought health and wellness were all about exercise–that if I just lifted weights and did cardio all the time, I’d magically be super strong, look ripped, and feel better. I was wrong.

Over the years, I’ve learned that the actual exercise bit is only half of the equation. Diet is the rest. You may have heard the saying that “abs are made in the kitchen.” It’s completely true. During periods where I had. abad diet, no matter how much I exercised, I never made much progress. But when I got my diet together, everything came much more easily.

Diet plays a huge role in wellbeing. It controls how much energy you have. It provides the protein your muscles need to grow. It impacts your sleep and your mental health, which both need to be in good shape for your body to get the most out of fitness.

Don’t neglect it. Although I went through many periods of wishing it worked that way, you won’t be able to get anywhere if you just eat cheeseburgers and fries all the time.

For some ideas on healthy eating, you can checkout my blog collection on the topic.

8. Exercise doesn’t have to be done solo.

One of the great things about exercise is how many different ways you can do it! At first, I was drawn to the fact that you can easily do it solo. As an introvert, I like to have lots of alone time and exercise is a great way to build that in, so for the longest time I only ever did it alone.

But exercise can also provide great benefits when done as a group activity! This is particularly true if you’re someone who has a busy schedule. If you do group exercise, you can build social activity and fitness into the same time slot and don’t have to sacrifice one to fit the other in.

Plus, exercise in a group has the added benefit of helping keep you motivated. After trying group fitness, I learned that it can be more effective than solo fitness for really pushing you. In front of a group, you always want to do your best.

I still do lots of solo fitness, but I have integrated some more group stuff into my training. They both have their own benefits and it’s good to try all your options out before settling on something.

[Even though I mostly exercise alone, a group fitness class every once in a while is a great way to keep me accountable for going to the gym.]

9. Exercising more will lead to so many great changes. Stick with it!

The awesome thing about exercise is that it doesn’t just make you stronger. The act of getting fit actually has a tendency to spill over into other areas of your life, pushing you to make improvements in all sorts of things.

After I started exercising for a while, I noticed that I wanted to make new changes in my life that I’ve never thought about before. I focused so much more on my mental health and got into meditation. I became much more interested in food/diet, and started digging into how to eat healthier. And I worked to try to find ways to reduce my screen time, which was causing headaches and adding anxious/depressive feelings to my day.

These changes don’t come immediately, though. You have to stick with it for a while. It probably wasn’t until year two that I really started noticing a difference in how I thought (year one, my exercise was pretty on and off, which could explain why it took so long).

If you’ve just gotten started haven’t found that much benefit from exercise yet, stick with it. In the long run, you’ll start to see big differences.

10. Some results are just unattainable. Set goals that work for you, and don’t base your success on what you see others accomplishing.

I wrote about this idea more in depth in my first ever post on this blog. When you get started in fitness, your main inspiration is often whoever you see doing fitness on the internet. At least that’s who it was for me.

But those people are not average. Fitness is often their day job–whether it be as an influencer or as a top athlete. They spend hours at the gym every day, have personal trainers, and are paid to be as fit as possible (which can sometimes mean that they take unhealthy steroids). Some were just born with incredibly good genetics.

Most of the time, their bodies are not attainable to the average person. With my schedule as it is right now, for instance, I’ll never look as muscular as someone like Simone Biles, whose entire job is to focus on gymnastics. No matter how much I try, it’s just not going to happen.

This can be hard to realize at first, and it can lead to setting unhealthy expectations. You can’t expect to go to the gym a few times per week for a year and suddenly have 10% body fat. It’s a multi-year process that takes a huge amount of effort, and some factors may be outside your control.

So don’t base your goals on what you see on the internet. Base them on what works for you–what makes you feel good, or what’s reasonable based on your rate of improvement.

It will help you feel so much more confident in your fitness!

[Tip: Spend a few minutes at the beginning of each month planning out what your goals will be for that month. This will help make sure you’re keeping on top of things. Base them on your current abilities and interests, keeping in mind that they should be realistic! Don’t base your goals off of anything you see on social media.]

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So there we go! My top 10 tips I wish I knew when I started to work out.

I hope they can help you out! If there’s any other tips I missed that I should consider, please share!

Are Electric Skateboards Worth It? – Reflections From 1 Year In

If you’re reading this post, you’ve probably been asking yourself questions like: Why are electric skateboards so expensive? Is it really worth it? What’s the best electric skateboard if I’m not looking to break the bank? I went through the same thing a year ago and wanted to share my reflections on the journey since, in the hopes that it can provide you some guidance at the start of your e-skate journey.

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About a year ago, midway into the Covid-19 pandemic, I was looking for a change–a new hobby to keep me entertained and help fight off the ever-present challenge of isolation, anxiety, and depression. So one day, I decided on a whim to buy an electric skateboard.

Why? I thought it would provide a fun activity while I was bored, something to focus on and get better at that was purely for personal enjoyment and not school or work, and potentially would be useful for short-range transportation. While I thought I’d probably be satisfied with my purchase, I wasn’t ready for just how much it would change my life for the better.

One of the things that scared me away from buying an electric skateboard at first was the price. The brand I was most familiar with was Boosted–a company made famous in part by YouTube star Casey Neistat, who featured it as his main form of transportation in many of his videos. Their boards cost more than $1000, which to me–a student at the time–was just too high for a purchase I was not 100% certain I’d get the value back out of. On a school job part-time salary, the board would cost pretty much my entire semester’s pay. It seemed crazy to me, so I hunted down a way to make getting a board more affordable.

I went on Google and started researching the best budget electric skateboards on the market, looking for high quality construction and good customer service at an under $500 price tag. After reading into it for a few weeks, I settled on the Backfire G2 Black. It only cost a little over $400–although not inexpensive, pretty much the lowest price I was able to find for a board that was actually of decent quality–and everyone online seemed to be raving about the quality to price ratio, so I figured why not?

About a week later, my brand new board arrived and my life changed for the better. I didn’t really know what to expect at first, but one year after getting the board, I can say with certainty that it’s the best purchase (of a physical item) that I’ve ever made.

There are a few different reasons for this, which I’ll go through one by one:

First up, transportation and cost savings. One of the initial reasons that electric skateboards were so enticing to me is that they come with a pretty long battery range, which makes them great for short range transportation. On the budget end, the Backfire I bought promised about 10-12 miles, but some of the higher end boards can go for more than 30 before their battery dies.

On one charge, that meant that I could commute about 5 miles either direction (or more if you pay for that feature) before my board died, or 10 miles either way if I had somewhere I could charge in-between. As someone without a lot of disposable income who wanted to minimize any unnecessary costs, this provided me with a perfect solution to one of the things that was going to take up a big chunk of my income each month: car bills.

At the time I was thinking about buying my board, I was planning on moving to a small town where everything would be within a few miles of me. I’d originally thought that since I was finally living on my own and commuting to work and school all the time, I’d have to buy a car. That thought was a little overwhelming, considering that it was going to cost a few hundred dollars a month in car payments plus insurance and gas. After looking at the board range, though, I realized that if I strategized well, I could use the board as a replacement. By spending only $400 on one single purchase, I could save myself $400 per month for at least a year.

So that’s what I did. Ever since I bought my board, I’ve been living car-less and just getting around with my board, a bike, or the bus. It’s saved me thousands of dollars already, and will only continue to save me money as long as it does enough to me to serve as a car substitute. Instead of driving, I now go to friends’ houses on my board, to the grocery store, to the gym, and to all sorts of errands.

Electric skateboards are also an excellent transportation option for those who cannot drive–either because they are too young, the traffic is too bad for it to be feasible, or because the cost of owning a car is simply too expensive.

Although this has worked great for me, I do want to provide a warning that this is not a solution for everyone. An electric skateboard will likely only be an effective car replacement for people who meet the following general profile:

• Commute fewer than 10 miles per day (total).
• Have enough time to travel only 15 miles per hour (or less) on their commute.
• Live somewhere with roads that are safe and accessible to skateboards, meaning they have a smooth sidewalk or a wide bike lane and do not have a high level of fast-moving and/or reckless traffic.
• Live somewhere where it is not constantly raining, snowing, or freezing. Electric skateboards cannot be ridden in water and perform poorly in cold conditions, leading to risk of severe battery drain
• Have decent public transportation around them or access to an inexpensive car share service. Sometimes electric skateboards will not be enough. You may need to run an errand where you have to carry more than you can easily fit on your board or want to go on a hike somewhere it’s just not convenient to carry your board. In this case, you’ll need a good backup you can rely on.

Using electric skateboards as an alternative transportation method to cars has had the additional benefit of dramatically reducing my carbon footprint and making me feel much better about my impact on the environment.

The average car emits around 4.6 metric tons (a little over 10,000 pounds!) of CO2 annually. Per mile, electric skateboards emit only about 1/50th what the average car gives off (primarily through the efforts required in charging). Given that total annual mileage should be a lot less for a skateboard due to its short range and lower flexibility for transportation conditions, real world emissions are likely close to 1/100th or lower that of owning a car.

If you are concerned about global warming and want to take action to reduce your own impact on the problem, an electric skateboard is a really easy way to do so. You can have fun riding, while also feeling good about what you’re doing for the world! It’s a win-win.

One of the more unexpected benefits of investing in an electric skateboard was the impact it would have on social life and community.

I used to ride my skateboard around a local park most days and would have people regularly stop me to ask about my skateboard. It was a great conversation starter, helping me feel more connected to my community. It also served me really well for friendship building. At this point I’ve taught more than 10 people to ride, and it’s been an easy way of bringing people together. I’ve offered free lessons and people have always taken me up on it and loved the experience. Every single time, whomever I taught came away excited and ready to learn more, which provided good opportunities for continued friendship (you could probably use this tactic to get people to swipe right dating sites, too, if you were really invested).

If you live in a big city, electric skateboarding can provide an even bigger community. Many cities have Facebook groups where riders get together for skate meetups and group rides. Through participation in those events, you can meet others who share your hobby and make new friends. This is an especially great option if friendship isn’t something that comes naturally to you, since bonding through shared experience is a lot easier and less stressful way to make connections than just walking up to someone and starting a conversation cold.

Although the money and environmental protection are great, what’s most important in the long run is your own mental health and happiness, and that’s the area where I think buying an electric skateboard gave me the most benefit.

Skateboarding gave me a way to escape the stress of life. When I cruise down the street on my skateboard, I get into a rhythm, zooming back and forth in a repetitive pattern. It’s very calming, but it also requires focus to dodge sticks or rocks that might cause me to fall. This combination has proved really successful at getting me out of my own head and into a sort of flow state. When I skateboard, I’m not thinking about a frustrating work problem or homework assignment, I’m just cruising and relaxing.

Making it even better is the fact that skateboarding is an activity done outdoors without the need for a screen of any kind. I’ve always found excessive usage of computer screens to be exhausting and excessive time spent indoors to be a trigger for increased feelings of depression. With skateboarding, you have an opportunity to be outdoors, enjoying the wind, the birds, and the greenery, and a chance to take a break from screens–helping both with mental health and with eye strain and headache.

Participating in active transportation–skateboarding instead of driving–also has the benefit of getting you a small amount of exercise, waking you up in the morning, and giving you a hobby to think about while traveling to and from school or work instead of thinking about those places. While bikes can do this for you as well, electric skateboards have the particular benefit of being incredibly fun. Biking–one of the most popular forms of active transportation–can feel monotonous after a while, but for me, electric skateboarding has never gotten old. It’s always a thrill to hop on the board and always makes my day better.

Takeaways:

So would I say my board was worth $400? Absolutely. Before I bought one, I didn’t know if it would be worth it, but a year later, I think it was an absolute steal. Electric skateboards are absolutely worth it if you make the right choice. The board I got has brought me thousands of dollars of benefit and has improved my life in so many ways, and I’m so grateful that I decided to take the plunge and get one.

While I think that the budget board I chose was a great purchase for me, I don’t think that all electric skateboards are great deals, nor do I think they are right for everybody. Some come with incredibly hefty price tags––topping at multiple thousands of dollars––and that is likely not worth it for the average individual. Even a budget board may not be worth it if you live in a location that’s not conducive to electric skateboarding. However, if you live somewhere where skateboarding is convenient and have enough disposable income to afford it, a budget or mid-tier board could be a fantastic investment in the long run. Just make sure to do your research and pick an option of high quality. My Backfire has been fantastic, but it’s not the only great brand out there, so you should do your research and choose what’s right for you!

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Let me know your thoughts on electric skateboards in the comments! Do any of these points sway you? If you have been looking for a while but haven’t bought one yet, what factors are limiting you?

How Do I Start Eating Healthy? Prioritize Balance, Not Extremes

One of the things I find so frustrating about a lot of lifestyle and health influencers–and health culture in general–is the focus on extreme diets or non-science-backed cleanses.

Consider the Keto diet–a high fat, low carb diet plan that attempts to put the body into a fat-burning state. It’s everywhere. The ice cream section at your local grocery store probably has a subsection of Keto. There are hundreds of books explaining the diet and providing recipes. And if you google “I tried keto”, you’ll get seemingly endless results of people trying the diet and promoting their results. But it can actually be really unhealthy to the average person if done long term.

Keto tends to be heavy in animal products, like steak, which aren’t great if consumed in large quantities.

• Keto can lead to kidney stones. Eating too many animal products (often necessary for high fat/high protein/low carb) can produce acid and lead to increased calcium output, which increases kidney stone risk.
• It can be really difficult to get enough fiber, since fibrous foods often tend to be higher carb (think whole grains and fruits). Fiber is really important for proper bowel health, and not having enough of it can lead to blockages and other unpleasant problems.
• Keto may lead to decreased bone mineral density, which means weaker and more brittle bones.
• Animal products tend to be unhealthy in large quantities due to their high amount of saturated fat. Higher carb, vegetable-forward diets, rather than animal-focused ones, are much better for long term health.

Keto can be a good option for people with certain health conditions, but it’s not really that good of an option for the average person.

It’s easy to see all these flashy diets and think they’re the answer to all of your weight loss problems, but in many cases, they’re not. In some cases that’s because they’re genuinely unhealthy, but often, it’s because they’re unsustainable.

The best diet for you is one that you can stick with!

The problem with a lot of restrictive diets that are promoted today is that they’re nearly impossible to actually stick with if you’ve come from a totally different background.

If you’re a big animal product consumer and you suddenly decide that being vegan is the way to finally lose those extra pounds, if you cut out all the meat and dairy cold turkey, it’s not going to go well at all.

The human body does not do well with extreme and sudden change. You’d probably experience really unpleasant gut problems, have a serious difficulty finding enough recipes you like to suddenly replace all your old meals, and find yourself unsatisfied with the new tastes. After enough frustration, you’d just abandon ship.

That’s not healthy at all! It’s the same with extremely calorie restrictive diets. If your body needs 1800 Calories per day, but the internet tells you to go for only 1200 so that you can burn a bunch of fat, you’re going to be starving. You’ll be constantly hungry, feel weak and tired, and probably will cave and eat a snack, meaning the diet got you nowhere. Plus, you’re more likely to be stressed trying to meet your calorie goals.

This is not a meal! But it can sometimes feel like all you’ve got if you’re restricting calories.

If you’ve been frustrated by challenges like this, you’re not alone! I’ve experimented with calorie restriction and sudden diet changes, and it’s never worked out well. I was left with all of the problems I just described and felt miserable. But over time, and with a lot of experimentation, I have finally started to find a solution that works: balance.

There is no universal best diet. The best diet for you is whichever one that you can stick with–so long as it promotes some balance and stays away from extreme and unhealthy habits.

How does this balance look in your day to day life? No two individuals will have identical plans, but my diet strategy looks as follows.

I try to incorporate both healthy behaviors and less healthy behaviors, but weigh them in favor of the former. The occasional unhealthy activity helps me feel satisfied and fulfilled, without being so often as to negatively impact my health in any non-miniscule way.

On the healthy side of things, I try to use the following guidelines in my week:

• Cook my own food most of the time, so that I can control what’s going into it, rather than rely on guessing how healthy something is.
• When cooking, I try to make plant-forward meals and limit my consumption of animal products, except the occasional item low in saturated fat (such as turkey breast or low fat greek yogurt) or a small dash of cream in my coffee. I don’t commit to full on veganism or any other restrictive diet, but just try to make informed choices to ensure that I get enough vitamins and minerals, enough protein, and enough fiber, without consuming too many unhealthy fats.
• I try to minimize added sugar in both the food I prepare and the food I purchase. If I make banana chocolate chip muffins, for example, I’ll rely only on the sugar from the chocolate chips and bananas, and skip any additional sugar the recipe calls for. And if I get a sweetened drink from a shop, I’ll go for a less sugary option (such as 25% sugar at a bubble tea place).
• I try to buy in-season products from the local farmers’ market, which tend to be more nutritious than out-of-season supermarket items and also lower in dangerous pesticides.

However, I also allow some flexibility in my week and don’t only eat health foods 24/7. This has a few benefits for me:

1. It helps me ensure I can fit in social activities where food is involved without being stressed about what I’m consuming.
2. It reduces the overall amount of brainpower and emotional energy I spend on food because I get an opportunity to eat unrestricted and don’t need to feel bad about my choices.
3. I get to enjoy a delicious treat every once in a while, which brings me joy!

A little more specifically, I try to allow the following:

• A dessert or fun sweetened drink a couple of times in a week (typically limit this to about two, but it can be flexible). I try to choose healthier options, like frozen yogurt over ice cream, but if I’m feeling like ice cream no one’s stopping me!
• I will go out to a restaurant 1-2 times per week, but typically just at dinner (this could be lunch, too, if you prefer that–I just like using dinner as a social time). When I’m there, I can get whatever I want! Sometimes I’ll eat a burger and fries, sometimes a healthier dish. It depends on how I’m feeling, but whatever I’m feeling is fair game.
• If I’m going on vacation for a few days, I drop any self-imposed restrictions on eating. One of the most amazing parts of travel for me is being able to taste new and delicious foods, and limiting myself to only plant-based foods means I miss out on a lot of options–plus it can be a lot more stressful trying to find really healthy restaurants, especially if traveling with friends and family who don’t share the same health focus in their dining. On vacation, I’ll still eat healthy sometimes, but I also allow myself to try whatever looks good.
• I don’t work off of a calorie restriction. Calorie counting is very popular in the weight loss community, but I’ve personally found it to be way too time consuming and also detrimental to my mental health by forcing me to spend all my free time thinking about food. Rather than restricting myself to a set amount of food per day, I work on eating primarily healthy and nutritious foods (which, it turns out, tend to be lower in calories) and stop when I start to feel full. If I eat a ton one day, that’s okay. Rather than stress about failing a daily goal, I can think about the fact that I enjoyed my food and maybe later in the week I’ll try to make healthier choices to balance that out.

I probably eat something like this bad boy once per week! It tastes great, but in moderation is not all that bad for my health!

Getting yourself to a healthy diet is not easy. A lot of the steps I’ve achieved by now are the result of years of hard work, and it took a lot of frustration and mistakes to get here. If you’re struggling, the most important thing is to not beat yourself up. Physical health is incredibly important, but so is your mental health. It’s not worth throwing one down the drain to get the other.

If you take one thing away from this article, have it be the following: don’t obsess over perfection in your diet. That’s a recipe for stress, depression, and poor results. If you want to be healthy, work on finding a diet you can stick with, one you enjoy, and one that prioritizes balance and flexibility. It will take a while to get there, but you can do it if you take it slow, plan carefully, and forgive yourself when you struggle.

You can do it!

How Do I Start Eating Healthy? – Prioritize Balance, Not Extremes

One of the things I find so frustrating about a lot of lifestyle and health influencers–and health culture in general–is the focus on extreme diets or non-science-backed cleanses.

Consider the Keto diet–a high fat, low carb diet plan that attempts to put the body into a fat-burning state. It’s everywhere. The ice cream section at your local grocery store probably has a subsection of Keto. There are hundreds of books explaining the diet and providing recipes. And if you google “I tried keto”, you’ll get seemingly endless results of people trying the diet and promoting their results. But it can actually be really unhealthy to the average person if done long term.

Keto tends to be heavy in animal products, like steak, which aren’t great if consumed in large quantities.

• Keto can lead to kidney stones. Eating too many animal products (often necessary for high fat/high protein/low carb) can produce acid and lead to increased calcium output, which increases kidney stone risk.
• It can be really difficult to get enough fiber, since fibrous foods often tend to be higher carb (think whole grains and fruits). Fiber is really important for proper bowel health, and not having enough of it can lead to blockages and other unpleasant problems.
• Keto may lead to decreased bone mineral density, which means weaker and more brittle bones.
• Animal products tend to be unhealthy in large quantities due to their high amount of saturated fat. Higher carb, vegetable-forward diets, rather than animal-focused ones, are much better for long term health.

Keto can be a good option for people with certain health conditions, but it’s not really that good of an option for the average person.

It’s easy to see all these flashy diets and think they’re the answer to all of your weight loss problems, but in many cases, they’re not. In some cases that’s because they’re genuinely unhealthy, but often, it’s because they’re unsustainable.

The best diet for you is one that you can stick with!

The problem with a lot of restrictive diets that are promoted today is that they’re nearly impossible to actually stick with if you’ve come from a totally different background.

If you’re a big animal product consumer and you suddenly decide that being vegan is the way to finally lose those extra pounds, if you cut out all the meat and dairy cold turkey, it’s not going to go well at all.

The human body does not do well with extreme and sudden change. You’d probably experience really unpleasant gut problems, have a serious difficulty finding enough recipes you like to suddenly replace all your old meals, and find yourself unsatisfied with the new tastes. After enough frustration, you’d just abandon ship.

That’s not healthy at all! It’s the same with extremely calorie restrictive diets. If your body needs 1800 Calories per day, but the internet tells you to go for only 1200 so that you can burn a bunch of fat, you’re going to be starving. You’ll be constantly hungry, feel weak and tired, and probably will cave and eat a snack, meaning the diet got you nowhere. Plus, you’re more likely to be stressed trying to meet your calorie goals.

This is not a meal! But it can sometimes feel like all you’ve got if you’re restricting calories.

If you’ve been frustrated by challenges like this, you’re not alone! I’ve experimented with calorie restriction and sudden diet changes, and it’s never worked out well. I was left with all of the problems I just described and felt miserable. But over time, and with a lot of experimentation, I have finally started to find a solution that works: balance.

There is no universal best diet. The best diet for you is whichever one that you can stick with–so long as it promotes some balance and stays away from extreme and unhealthy habits.

How does this balance look in your day to day life? No two individuals will have identical plans, but my diet strategy looks as follows.

I try to incorporate both healthy behaviors and less healthy behaviors, but weigh them in favor of the former. The occasional unhealthy activity helps me feel satisfied and fulfilled, without being so often as to negatively impact my health in any non-miniscule way.

On the healthy side of things, I try to use the following guidelines in my week:

• Cook my own food most of the time, so that I can control what’s going into it, rather than rely on guessing how healthy something is.
• When cooking, I try to make plant-forward meals and limit my consumption of animal products, except the occasional item low in saturated fat (such as turkey breast or low fat greek yogurt) or a small dash of cream in my coffee. I don’t commit to full on veganism or any other restrictive diet, but just try to make informed choices to ensure that I get enough vitamins and minerals, enough protein, and enough fiber, without consuming too many unhealthy fats.
• I try to minimize added sugar in both the food I prepare and the food I purchase. If I make banana chocolate chip muffins, for example, I’ll rely only on the sugar from the chocolate chips and bananas, and skip any additional sugar the recipe calls for. And if I get a sweetened drink from a shop, I’ll go for a less sugary option (such as 25% sugar at a bubble tea place).
• I try to buy in-season products from the local farmers’ market, which tend to be more nutritious than out-of-season supermarket items and also lower in dangerous pesticides.

However, I also allow some flexibility in my week and don’t only eat health foods 24/7. This has a few benefits for me:

1. It helps me ensure I can fit in social activities where food is involved without being stressed about what I’m consuming.
2. It reduces the overall amount of brainpower and emotional energy I spend on food because I get an opportunity to eat unrestricted and don’t need to feel bad about my choices.
3. I get to enjoy a delicious treat every once in a while, which brings me joy!

A little more specifically, I try to allow the following:

• A dessert or fun sweetened drink a couple of times in a week (typically limit this to about two, but it can be flexible). I try to choose healthier options, like frozen yogurt over ice cream, but if I’m feeling like ice cream no one’s stopping me!
• I will go out to a restaurant 1-2 times per week, but typically just at dinner (this could be lunch, too, if you prefer that–I just like using dinner as a social time). When I’m there, I can get whatever I want! Sometimes I’ll eat a burger and fries, sometimes a healthier dish. It depends on how I’m feeling, but whatever I’m feeling is fair game.
• If I’m going on vacation for a few days, I drop any self-imposed restrictions on eating. One of the most amazing parts of travel for me is being able to taste new and delicious foods, and limiting myself to only plant-based foods means I miss out on a lot of options–plus it can be a lot more stressful trying to find really healthy restaurants, especially if traveling with friends and family who don’t share the same health focus in their dining. On vacation, I’ll still eat healthy sometimes, but I also allow myself to try whatever looks good.
• I don’t work off of a calorie restriction. Calorie counting is very popular in the weight loss community, but I’ve personally found it to be way too time consuming and also detrimental to my mental health by forcing me to spend all my free time thinking about food. Rather than restricting myself to a set amount of food per day, I work on eating primarily healthy and nutritious foods (which, it turns out, tend to be lower in calories) and stop when I start to feel full. If I eat a ton one day, that’s okay. Rather than stress about failing a daily goal, I can think about the fact that I enjoyed my food and maybe later in the week I’ll try to make healthier choices to balance that out.

I probably eat something like this bad boy once per week! It tastes great, but in moderation is not all that bad for my health!

Getting yourself to a healthy diet is not easy. A lot of the steps I’ve achieved by now are the result of years of hard work, and it took a lot of frustration and mistakes to get here. If you’re struggling, the most important thing is to not beat yourself up. Physical health is incredibly important, but so is your mental health. It’s not worth throwing one down the drain to get the other.

If you take one thing away from this article, have it be the following: don’t obsess over perfection in your diet. That’s a recipe for stress, depression, and poor results. If you want to be healthy, work on finding a diet you can stick with, one you enjoy, and one that prioritizes balance and flexibility. It will take a while to get there, but you can do it if you take it slow, plan carefully, and forgive yourself when you struggle.

You can do it!

[FAFQ] How Do I Get My First Pull-Up? Easy Strategies for Strength Gain

Welcome to Frequently Asked Fitness Questions [FAFQ], a series where I answer common questions asked by women embarking on their fitness journeys!

This week: the dreaded pull-up. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably spent a lot of time frustrated that you just can’t seem to get this seemingly simple move. It looks so easy, right?

Well you’re not alone. I spent years grappling with this too, unsure of the best strategy to get from point A to point B. But guess what? With enough time, effort, and dedication, I got there––and you can too!

To save you some time and struggle in your journey, I’ve compiled a list of recommendations on things that worked well for me and things that didn’t (and you should probably stay away from).

Try These Strategies (Pick Your Favorite)

• Watch this excellent intro guide by Meg Squats, which gives some useful practical tips for progressing toward pull-ups.

• If you go to a gym and it has an assisted pull-up machine, try doing 3 sets of 6-8 pull-ups each time you’re there, and decrease the assistance by a little bit each week until you can lift your own weight. In my experience, if you do this for a couple of months, then try to do a normal pull-up, you’ll realize it’s suddenly way easier than the last time you tried!

• Hang a bar in a frequently used doorway of your house and set yourself a requirement that you have to do x amount of any pull-up related exercise (pick one from the video above) every time you pass under it. I typically did 30-second hangs or a set of 3 negative pull-ups, but this is totally up to your preference. (Note that this step is optional, but the more frequently you practice your moves––which is really easy when the bar is right there and not at a gym––the faster you’ll get there). You can find a helpful list of the best home pull-up bars here.

• If you’re feeling burned out with standard pull-up progression techniques,  one way to keep progressing is to do a fun fitness activity that is heavy on back and shoulder strength. This will help you build muscle without even realizing you’re doing it, and you might have a lot more fun than if you just hang on a pull-up bar! Some of my favorites in this area are rock climbing (particularly bouldering, as it focuses more on big strength moves than other forms of climbing) and martial arts (with kickboxing––not the cardio kind, but the real martial art) being my sport of choice here. If you do these for long enough, you’ll go try a pull-up again one day and realize it’s suddenly super easy! However, a word of warning for rock climbing: be very careful, as it is easy to injure yourself if you don’t use proper technique. Learn how to safely fall first, slowly work your way up in climb difficulty, and watch a few simple technique videos before getting too far into it. The YouTube channel Movement for Climbers is a great place to start!

Me at the bouldering gym, building some back muscles!

Don’t Do This

In addition to things you should be doing, you should be careful to avoid some behaviors, as they may hinder your progress:

• Don’t put your pull-up training at the end of every workout. You’ll be exhausted and feel defeated! Do it earlier rather than later so you have maximum strength (or as a separate activity with the bar in your house).
  
• Don’t sag and just let yourself droop from the bar! Pull-ups are all about tension, and one of the reasons you’re struggling might be because you haven’t mastered this yet. While you’re doing your pull-up training, regularly review videos about proper form to make sure you’re following it.
  
• Don’t give up! You may end up getting stuck at a “plateau”, where you feel like no matter how hard you try, you’re not getting anywhere! This happens to everyone and you’re not alone. You can get through it and make progress again, but you can’t give up in the process. If you feel like you’ve gotten stuck and aren’t progressing anymore, the best thing I can recommend is to try a different technique from what you’ve been doing. If you’ve been doing assisted pull-ups, on a machine, switch to an active sport like rock climbing for a little bit. If you like the standard pull-up progressions but are slowing down, try to jump to the next step up. Your body sometimes needs a jumpstart of something new to be able to get you over the hump!

Have you or your friends tried any of these tips? What worked best for you? Share your thoughts in the comments so we can help everyone get their first pull-up!