Whirlwind travel. A long list of errands. Fun parties. Crappy weather. And a whole lot of tasty treats. With all that, it’s no wonder the holiday season makes it hard to keep our healthy habits and exercise routines on track.
The last thing you need in November and December is the added worry of whether or not you’re undoing your hard-earned progress. That’s why the Future app has plenty of features to help you plan ahead, monitor your progress, and maintain your momentum, no matter what’s on your schedule between now and January 1st. When you pair all that with a coach who’s standing by to offer accountability and a flexible, actionable plan, you have everything you need to not just survive the holidays, but thrive during the most wonderful time of the year.
Plan to succeed anytime and anywhere with Travel and Events.
The best plan for a hectic holiday season is to plan ahead. Using Future’s Travel and Events tool helps you and your coach keep track of your trips, so you can keep your eyes on the prize no matter where you’re headed or what your travel entails.
Beyond specifying where you’ll be when, there’s plenty of room to incorporate travel details that clue your coach into how they can help you best. If you mark certain vacation days as rest days, they’ll come up with a plan to push you hard before that well-earned R&R. To exercise efficiently while on the go, you can make note of logistics like the different equipment you have access to or what kind of hotel gym you’ll be using, and your coach will adjust your exercise accordingly. Whether you’ll be lounging at home or enduring a long layover, smartly scheduling your events keeps your goals in sight no matter what’s on the agenda.
While advanced knowledge is powerful, things don’t always go as planned. Travel snags happen. Last-second plans come together. No matter how things change, your coach is standing by to help you adjust to the unexpected. No matter what comes up, a simple message explaining your situation is all it takes to shift gears and take any situation in stride.
Powerful performance data across any type of workout.
If your hectic holiday schedule finds you doing bodyweight workouts in your childhood bedroom, it’s only natural to wonder how the intensity of your improvised exercise compares to your usual routine. Thanks to Future’s heart rate tracking, you won’t have to wonder how hard you’re working across any workout, you’ll have the data to prove it.
Having this data makes a real difference, because it gives you and your coach instantaneous feedback about the intensity or difficulty of any exercise. When paired with a detailed breakdown of the movements in your workout, heart rate data contextualizes your effort and performance across any activity, and arms your coach with the data they need to make adjustments from day to day and moment to moment — well into the new year.
Keeping an eye on your heart rate can aid with recovery as well. Your body will require varying amounts of rest depending on what heart rate zones you’re in and for how long.Your coach can provide guidance on how best to recover based on your heart rate data which can also be used to adapt subsequent workouts to ensure you are not just training hard, but training safe and smart. Each heart rate zone provides health benefits. Knowing how much time you spend in each zone, can help your coach further tailor your workouts and overall program to match your goals. All you have to do is connect your bluetooth enabled device and press start.
Here’s how it works: connect to any bluetooth-enabled wearable device, and you’ll start to generate heart rate data as you move. At the end of each workout, you’ll see a breakdown of how much time you spent in each of the five heart rate zones, which range from the low-BPM warmup of zone 1 all the way up to exhaustion-inducing zone 5.
In addition to heart rate zones and connecting with your bluetooth enabled device, we’ve also improved the accuracy of the calorie counting you’ll see in the Future app. Regardless of whether or not you’re wearing your Apple Watch, you and your coach can feel more confident tracking your workouts. Whether you’re getting a jumpstart on weight loss before January or you’re bulking up for the winter, having heart zones and improved calorie tracking can only lead to better results.
See the difference to stay on track.
Heart rate tracking and calorie counting are great for getting the most out of each individual workout. But how can you keep an eye on the greater impact those efforts make during the hustle and bustle of the holidays?
Thankfully, during this season of gratitude and good eats, there are three key ways you can both quantitatively and — just as importantly — qualitatively assess your progress. When you and your coach incorporate one (or more) of them into your routine, you can end your year on the right note.
Assess for success.
Fitness assessments are an extremely useful tool for measuring performance over time by tracking how well you perform specific movements that are relevant to your goals. And at this time of year, they’re an especially useful way to check in with where things stand before, during, or after the holidays.
The most important step is to get started by chatting with your coach about your goals. Whether you want to lose weight, gain endurance, or lift heavier, it’s easy to align on a few movements that will generate the right sort of metrics for measuring improvement. From there, it’s just a matter of adding a few minutes of those assessment activities into your next workout.
Whether the holiday season finds you setting a baseline or reviewing your growth, the end of the year is the perfect time to assess where things stand. By A/B testing before and after the holidays, you and your coach can either celebrate how well you’ve kept your efforts on track, or correct your course to create positive results in 2023. While you might fear the worst after indulging in stuffing, Christmas cookies, and eggnog, checking in with a fitness assessment also might help you realize that you didn’t do as much damage as you assumed.
A progress picture is worth a thousand weigh-ins.
When weight loss is your goal, it’s all too easy to obsess over what the scale says while ignoring the less-quantifiable physical improvements you’re creating. That’s why progress pictures so often tell the real story of your fitness journey.
If you’re comfortable with it, snap some progress photos to share with your coach. Especially if numerical weight loss stalls over the holidays, creating these visual reference points may reveal longer-term progress you might miss when you look in the mirror every day. Set a sharing cadence with your coach, and agree on which muscle groups it makes the most sense to spotlight. Then, give yourself the gift of documenting exactly how strong and toned you’ve become.
Count and close the rings.
With an Apple Watch, you can give yourself the gift of counting all of your movement and exercise automatically, even when you’re not doing a proper workout. Talk to your coach to align on a calorie goal for your move ring, a time goal for your exercise ring, and even a goal for your stand ring.
Once everything’s set up, your ring activity will automatically be sent to your coach, and you can also configure your watch face to show your daily progress every time you glance at your wrist. Together, that creates a powerful source of accountability, and an easy sense of accomplishment that shows how even lighter, low-impact workouts like a morning yoga session or an afternoon walk can positively impact your overall health. Of course, you’ll also get ample credit for the days you’re pushing your heart rate into zone 4 or 5.
Give yourself the gift of staying on track.
Whether your holiday season is merry and bright or one giant stocking stuffed with stress, Future makes it easy to plan ahead, push yourself, and measure progress no matter if you’re home for the holidays or as far away as the north pole. Regardless of your plans, remember that the right frame of mind also plays a role in staying on track. No matter what the weather, travel, or your in-laws throw your way, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. Just focus on showing up however you can and controlling what you can control: your effort and your attitude. With that approach, you’ll gain the freedom to enjoy your favorite holiday traditions and a head start on a healthy new year.
For all the useful tools you’ll find in the Future app, the relationship you form with your coach is what you’ll be most thankful for. If you need someone to hold you accountable when holiday travel makes it tempting to fall back into old habits, they’ll be standing by. If the approach of a new year has you thinking about new goals, they’ll devise a strategy to chase after them. No matter where you’re headed or where you want to go, your Future coach is all about understanding how to put you in a position to be your best. They may not work for Santa, but their know-how, dedication, and motivation are the gifts that keep on giving.
We’re spreading some holiday cheer with special deals to make sure your first month of Future doesn’t bust your gifting budget. Sign up here and get moving.