10 Health and Fitness Tools to Take Into the New Year

Is it really December already? Does it make me sound like a grandfather to ask where the time went?

While I’m 100% looking forward to the new year, there are a few things I’m not willing to leave behind. Below is a run down of the top 10 health and fitness tools that I refuse to give up and will definitely keep as part of my daily routine in 2020 (and a couple of gadgets I’m hoping to add to the repertoire).

10 Health and Fitness Tools Worth Taking Into the New Year

Instant Pot

We got our Instant Pot half-way through 2019 and let me tell you, it’s the most used gadget on our counter top (that’s saying a lot). My husband is a trained chef and I’m a home cook but we both agree that the Instant Pot was a great purchase.

Confession: we haven’t actually made a full, one-pot meal from start to finish in our Instant Pot. However, I’m still obsessed. Cook grains start to finish in 12 minutes? Put a dozen eggs in a rack and guarantee that every one of them comes out soft-boiled to perfection? Fitness fanatics dream.

HOMEMADE YOGURT?? Done. Less exciting but equally as important: brown rice cooked in minutes when you get home at 8 pm, a week’s worth of breakfast protein done before you have time to shower, and a button that makes cooking chili, oats or stew as easy as a minor amount of pressure from your index finger.

Why keep it: the Instant Pot makes healthy meals and meal prep a breeze.

Nike Met Cons

Let me start by saying that I come from a gene pool that knows when the shoe fits. I remember a rack in the garage of my childhood home lined with Aasics in every color of the rainbow because my dad found the king of running shoes.

I got my Met Cons for Christmas last year and I will never go back. These Nike shoes are built specifically for heavy lifting and high-intensity workouts. I work out hard and I want to know that my shoe is going to support my movement. Met Cons get it done.

Thrive Market

I live in a small town in central Vermont. While part of me loves to live here because of the lack of chain business, I got very spoiled when working for Whole Foods Market and dearly miss the insane variety of healthy, organic and sustainable products.

I’m putting Thrive Market on my List of must-keep fitness tools because it 100% enables me to get the job of being healthy, done. Thrive Market carries an enormous variety of high-quality brands and product lines that I just can’t find here! Brands like Kodiak Cakes (Corn Bread Muffin Cups are a must-try), Dr. Bronner’s and Bare Bones Broth. Plus, they ship every product (including organic wine) to your door.

Teknifit Glute Band

The Teknifit Glute Band is undoubtedly in my top 5 fitness purchases for my studio. This is not your average fitness band (although they have those too). This band is made from a elastic-knit fabric that brings fire to your glutes. Glute Kickbacks will never be the same again.

p.s. I use this band during my Boot Camps (to a rowdy chorus of groans and eye-rolling, you know who you are). Try this circuit if you get a band:

1 minute each exercise, 10 seconds of rest in between. Repeat 2-3 times.
Squat to Curtsy Lunge
Side Lateral Walks
Glute Kickbacks

Passion Planner

I’m a rep for Passion Planner because I adore this planner. It’s a calendar and schedule for the Type A organizer. It’s a space for reflection and planning for the dreamer. And it is a tool to help you break your goals down into actionable steps so that you can achieve more.

Plus, they are a young, vibrant company with a mission I can get behind: that everyone deserves the opportunity to dream big and achieve their goals. Their Give One, Get One program has donated over 400,000 planners all over the world.

Foam Roller

Do you stretch or warm up before or after you lift or run? If you don’t, you should. If you do, do you foam roll? See last sentence.

Of all of the fitness tools that I’ve listed so far, this is the only one that I’ve owned since 2011. The benefits of foam rolling range from prepping your muscles prior to a workout to recovering faster to correcting muscle imbalances. I won’t get into it here, I wrote an article for that already.

When I started running more muscles last summer, the only thing that kept me on the pavement and knee pain free was foam rolling. It’s portable – we bring it to the lake, to the gym, to my mom’s house…everywhere. It’s easy to use. And feels ah-maz-ing.

A Moleskin Gratitude Journal

I’m that girl walking around with 5 notebooks from CVS, one for tracking workouts, one for article ideas, one for work…you get it. But my gratitude journal is on another level.

Gratitude is a concept and intention far more important than my rep count. It deserves a notebook with greater heft.

Make journaling part of your healthy, morning routine <<

Funny story about my current gratitude journal…the current Moleskin journal that I use was semi-stolen from my husband. I swept it up into my work bag with my laptop and when I found it at work I thought my husband had secretly stashed it there for me. I texted him with such excitement that he didn’t have the heart to tell me it wasn’t technically for me. Thanks babe =)

High-Waisted Leggings

Was there really a time when we wore low-waist workout pants to the gym? Did we even squat?

Also, anyone else do a squat test in the dressing room to see just how see-through those leggings are? No? You should.

These leggings by Barbell Apparel are my recent favorites. I have them in Rifle Green and Lavendar and they are some of the cutest and most comfortable workout pants I’ve ever owned. Now just waiting on them to come out with more colors…

Hydfroflask

I preach about water consumption and try to follow my own advice by drinking at least 100 ounces of water each day. My problem has always been that unless it’s iced cold water (or water in the form of rose), I’m not interested. Hydroflask = problem solved.

I panic when I leave my Hydroflask somewhere. They are vacuum sealed and stainless steel and keep water (or margaritas), cold even on the beach. Did I mention they make wine tumblers too?

Veggie Noodle Maker

I will ride along on the zoodler band-wagon until the wheels fall off. I’m not a big fan of pasta – it leaves me feeling bloaty and over-full. When I started replacing most of the noodles on my plate for zucchini noodles or sweet potato noodles, I found a whole new love for sauce.

We have a Kitchen Aid so we use the spiralizer attachment (yes, that’s a thing), but you don’t have to own a Kitchen Aid to make zoodles. Hand held spiralizers like this one are highly rated and small enough to store in a crowded kitchen.

And here’s is a list of the fitness tools that I’m hoping santa will bring me:

A Fitness Tracker

If you don’t know where you’ve been of where you are now, how can you plan where you are going to go? I’m not looking for a simple step counter. Some of the higher-quality trackers track sleep, heart rate, and vital signs AND sync with other devices and apps.

Ear Buds

Ya’ll, I lost my blue tooth headphones this year and life isn’t the same! No offense Apple, but those headphones that come with every phone just don’t cut it.

A Peloton

(chuckles). I know, pipe dream. But seriously, who wouldn’t sacrifice square footage in their <800 square foot condo for an international spin class in their living room?