4 Ways to Outsource Your Health | Men's Health Magazine Australia

4 Ways to Outsource Your Health

Thanks to technology we can now outsource everything, from building our IKEA furniture to doing our food shopping. With apps for almost anything making our lives more efficient than ever, we seem destined to be consumed by our own laziness.

In an incredible upside to the catch-22, instead of sitting back while others run our errands (or even while they are), we can also harness this tech to make taking care of our health an easier task. We broke down the areas of our health that require the most time and attention, and did the research for you (see, you’re outsourcing already) to discover the best ways to ensure your health doesn’t lapse in a busy, app-fueled day.

Fitness

There are hundreds of fitness apps out there, crammed full of exercise ideas and workout routines ready to get you moving, but if you’re going to forgo the cost of a face-to-face personal trainer, you shouldn’t miss out on the personalized experience.

Fitness apps are extremely generic, updated rarely, and can be unspecific to your own goals. Instead, get a personalized exercise program delivered direct to your inbox written by a real trainer, not a businessman.

Following a workout program by email not only allows for personalization and progression, but you can gain instant access Australia’s most qualified trainers and coaches without having to pay outrageous gym membership or training fees, and you get direct contact to trainers that many think are out of reach. These are the coaches behind the best athletes, models, and actors, and have shaped some of the best bodies in the world, and they are more than happy to work with you too.

When looking for a trainer through correspondence, we recommend looking for a trainer that other trainers and athletes turn to for their own workouts. After all, if it’s good enough for them, then it’s great for us! In Australia, the man that the pro’s turn to is strength and conditioning expert Andy Ginn. As a former athlete himself, Andy specializes in training programs that go out weekly via email, including constant communication with his clients, tracking their results and constantly evolving their programs, essentially providing you with more bang for your buck than a one off session.

Nutrition & Supplementation

Meal prep is a double-edged sword. There’s no better feeling that having a meal ready to go when the hunger hits, but the actual task of meal preparation can be long, boring and leaves you with a week full of identical meals. When avoiding this, it’s no wonder that Australians pay 51.5 million visits to fast food restaurants every month. Finding a balance between health and convenience is hard when it comes to food. Luckily the outsourcing Gods have now smiled on healthy fast food outlet, bringing us services like Thr1ve. They’ve recently introduced their own at home ready made meals, which you can get delivered straight to your home or office. Meal prep: tick.

Taking supplements to support healthy living and training can be another headache. What do you take, how often, and how many bottles of pills and tablets can you fit in your gym bag? We’ve tried a truck load of vitamins and supplements ourselves, and with so many genuine products available and of benefit, carry 10 bottles around would be a workout in itself. Enter My Vitamin Packs. This service starts by providing a free health assessment (created by actual Pharmacists…. with lab coats) to determine what vitamins you need to supplement your diet. They then recommend the right nutrients, and package them up into a monthly box with individual sachets of pills for each day. Instantly, your supplement shop is reduced to one stop, they’re delivered to your door, and your bag full of rattling bottles becomes a small business card sized sachet. Outsourcing at its finest.

Mindset & Motivation

One thing we still haven’t managed to outsource for you is the daily commute (leave it with us). However this time is prime for topping up on the motivation and getting your headspace right for chasing down a healthy lifestyle.

Without staring at your screen on the way to work, try putting in your headphones and get a dose of authentic self-improvement tips in the form of a podcast. One of the best in the mindset space is Words With Oz, a hard hitting, banter filled, no holds barred podcast produced by professional life coach Michael Puhle. The guests change week to week, with Mike interviewing high achievers in the fitness and business world. Despite being released on a Friday, we recommend downloading it from iTunes and saving it for a listen on a Monday, as the chat will ignite a fire in you that will arm you with the mental fortitude to tackle the week ahead.

If you can’t stay off Instagram during your down time, that’s OK too, but make sure you’re using social media to feed your drive, not your insecurities. A huge amount of followers and six pack abs don’t necessarily equal a qualified professional. Spend some time researching when looking for your fitfluencers, looking for individuals who know what they’re talking about and share your values. We look to authentic hard workers (@chrisfeather), healthy eaters (@lukehinesonline), and mindful leaders (@blakeworrallthompson). Start by giving these guys a follow, read the other suggestions that pop up as a result, and see where the Instagram spiral takes you.

Getty

Getty

Rest and Recovery

One of the most overlooked aspects of health is rest and recovery, and it’s a perfect match for the outsourcing culture. Why should we mess around and stress when it comes to de-stressing?

Luckily there are some entrepreneurs out there who have our relaxation top of mind. Blys is a brand new app offering mobile massages on demand. This means that you can book a masseuse through the app, and have them come to your home. This app has such a good network of professionals, you can even book a few to come to your office, and turn your boardroom into a recovery centre for the afternoon.

Another surprise tool in the quest for relaxation is fitness app ClassPass. Although known worldwide for their ability to book into fitness classes and sweat sessions, the local team have been busy on-boarding infrared sauna studios, allowing those with a memberships to book instantly, and search out the closest venues. Use the tool to sweat out your toxins, and let your muscles recover for a big day of outsourcing tomorrow!

Related: Download the incredible Men’s Health app here.

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