14 Healthy Lifestyle Changes Philly Fitness Pros Want to Make in 2019

Yoga is one of the healthy lifestyle changes fitness pros want to make in 2019. Photograph by Theresa Regan.

New Year’s resolutions are fine. Maybe they work for some people. But the thing is, deciding you’re going to make some kind of huge change in your life based on an arbitrary date isn’t what we’d call setting yourself up for success.

That’s why, instead of polling Philly fitness trainers for their 2019 resolutions, we decided to ask them the things they wanted more of and less of in the year ahead, for the sake of their health. Here’s what they had to say.

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Self-Care

“More flow, ease, and following my intuition. More meditation and pranayama [breathwork]. More water.” — Adriana Adelé, yoga instructor 

“I would love to do more meditating and yoga in 2019. It’s necessary when serving others that you find ways to serve and restore yourself both physically and mentally. Yoga and meditating fulfill that for me.” — Alanna Gardner, SLT and Flywheel instructor and therapist at Philadelphia MFT

“More yoga! I’m working towards slowing down and staying in each individual present moment. Yoga is a great way for me to calm down my mind. In addition to that, with teaching 12 Flywheel classes and week and running Rhythmlab, it’s important that I spend time working on mobility and recovery so my body can be at its best!” — Jackie Dragone, Flywheel instructor and Rhythmlab founder

“More of ‘me’ time. After the first year of business, it is really hard to find some work/life balance. So right now, I am working on giving myself permission to have time at home in the evenings or taking a Saturday off. I let guilt creep in all too often, and I need to give myself permission to take some time for me!” — Shoshana Katz, BPM Fitness owner

Using Time Well

“I spend a lot of time power walking, running, or jogging to my next location or meeting, and while doing so I tend to listen to music. In 2019, I’m going to put the tunes away when not training clients or teaching classes and listen to less music as I’m shuffling throughout the city and make a concerted effort to listen to more audio books and podcasts.” —  Jayel Lewis, Fitler Club director of Health & Wellness 

Meal Prepping

“Something I’m planning to do more of in 2019 is meal prepping ahead of time (my goal is for every Sunday) so I’m not caught hungry with nothing to eat. This will help me to eat healthier and save money from buying too much healthy ‘quick-prep’ food.” — Crystal Widmann, Y2B Fit owner

Mental Health

“Mind sweeps. A few months ago I discovered a podcast called ‘Getting Things Done,’ and it has changed my life! I do a mental ‘mind sweep’ weekly, which allows me to actually clear my mind so I can better focus on the tasks at hand (and get more done in less time).” — Amandah Povilitus, Flywheel and Solidcore instructor

“I want to balance out and cultivate my emotional and mental health for 2019. More reading, praying, and meditating.” — Leroy Mapp, Rumble Boxing instructor

LESS:

Saying “Yes” to Everything

“I would like to spend less time being overly committed in 2019. I said yes to a lot last year and while it led to amazing opportunities, being overly committed was draining and it’s not good for my own mental and emotional well-being!” — Alanna Gardner

“Something I’m planning to do less of in 2019 is over-committing myself to way too many things so I have more time to focus on important projects and family time.” — Crystal Widmann

Making Comparisons

“What I want to do less of is worry about what other people are doing or what they think. I want to stay focused on my own goals and know that I’ll achieve them when I’m supposed to. Comparison is truly the thief of happiness and I don’t want it to take mine.” — Jenna Stern, fitness instructor and Athleta community coordinator 

Screen Time

“Mindless social media. I say ‘mindless’ because I do utilize social media for my work, and I love nothing more than connecting with my clients outside of the studio! However, the mindless scrolling and comparing has got to go!” — Amandah Povilitus

“Less of — and I feel like this is something we are all striving for — screen time! We are all addicted to our phones. I actually set up my phone to go into do-not-disturb mode starting at 8 p.m. I also set up a report to keep me accountable and show me my screen time usage for the week.” — Shoshana Katz

“Less screen time on my phone. It takes away from my creative thinking and makes me feel stagnant.” — Leroy Mapp

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