Get Motivated with 3 Practical Fitness Tips from Trainer Sydney Miller

No days off. Rise and grind. When it comes to fitness, there’s no shortage of motivational one-liners. But a catchy slogan can’t actually get up and do the workout for you. And when you’re juggling work or school obligations and your personal life, some days it just feels like an impossible task.

Alas, fitness is one of those healthy habits that requires consistency to work. So how do you find the get-up-and-go when it feels like you’re just too busy (or just too blah)? If you really want to know how to create a workout routine and stick to it, ask a fitness instructor.

Meet HOUSEWORK Founder and Trainer Sydney Miller

When Sydney Miller was living in New York City after college, she found herself feeling burned out and uninspired by her career in advertising and public relations. It was her regular SoulCycle classes that made her feel like the best version of herself, so she decided to turn her passion into a job, auditioning and eventually becoming a Master Instructor. From there, she branched out into teaching Pilates, but while she loved the results, in class, the spark just wasn’t there. 

So in 2017, Miller created HOUSEWORK, a full-body sculpting and conditioning workout that takes the best elements of Pilates and kicks it up a notch with HIIT (high-intensity interval training), driven by a bombastic house music soundtrack. “HOUSEWORK was the workout I wish I had,” Miller reflects. “It challenges your mind and body through beat-based choreography, all to super energizing music.”

Miller teaches in-person HOUSEWORK classes in Miami, where she lives, and at pop-ups in different cities. Her newly launched HOUSEWORK app makes it possible for anyone to do her high-energy workouts wherever they are. (Thrive Market members can get 30% off a three-month subscription to the HOUSEWORK app by using the code THRIVE.*)

While she can spin, squat, and sprint with the best of them, Miller’s outlook on healthy living is level-headed, and totally attainable for the average person who’s simply trying to stick to a regular fitness routine. “Healthy to me means feeling like myself and having enough energy to live my life,” she explains. “I want to be able to crush my workouts, have fun on the weekend seeing friends, have a lazy Sunday, and then get back to my sweaty Monday morning class feeling like a million bucks. I’m all about balance and I don’t have any restrictions for myself.”

3 Tips to Reset Your Workout Routine

“I love getting back into a routine after summer,” Miller says. We asked for her advice on hitting the reset button on your fitness regimen, in the fall or any time. Here are her three top tips:

If your problem is motivation: Just show up.

It sounds too simple to be true, but it’s probably the most important tip on this list. Any amount of movement is better than none at all, and you’ll never regret doing it (only not doing it). “I know that I’m always more energized after a workout, no matter how tired or unmotivated I am,” Miller says. “I like to remind myself that it doesn’t have to be my best workout ever,” she adds. “I just need to show up.” (If music is a motivator for you, check out Miller’s HOUSEWORK Spotify playlist, updated weekly.)

If your problem is time: Add in a buffer.

If you feel too crunched for time to work out regularly, give yourself a little extra. “I always lay my [workout] clothes out the night before, and set my alarm 10 minutes before I actually need to get up,” Miller says. “I’m typically a morning workout person, and I find that I need a little bit of time to actually come into my body before I can get up and start the day.” Of course, it’s ok if mornings aren’t your thing; if you prefer working out in the afternoon or evening, you can still use these tips to keep yourself accountable and remove barriers. 

If your problem is energy: Nourish your body—but keep it simple.

Food is fuel, and a healthful, balanced diet will help give you the energy you need to feel up for working out regularly. It doesn’t have to be complicated—in fact, the simpler the better. “I try to eat pretty simple, healthy foods during the week because for one, it takes the thinking out of it for me which makes my life easier, and two, it keeps my body feeling good so I can wake up feeling energized each morning to teach,” Miller says. For her, that means focusing on protein (usually fish or chicken) and vegetables (often sweet potato and a green vegetable like spinach or broccoli). “I always have a banana and peanut butter or cashews as a quick easy snack,” she adds.

Missed our IG Live workout with Sydney Miller? Click here for a 20-minute, no-equipment-required sweat sesh.

*Offer valid for new HOUSEWORK subscribers only.