When it comes to taking steps to make yourself healthier, it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in the “tomorrow” syndrome and end up doing nothing. To help you avoid that, here’s 15 of the best websites that give practical advice, share experience and knowledge on what it takes to become healthier, and even some that help you stay accountable, motivated and inspired the whole way.
1. Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a place for medical and other professionals to share their expertise and help you improve your general health. With information on everything from diets and nutrition, to vaccination, to original research, to reporting the latest clinical trials on new drugs, it is truly a go-to-website for almost any side of health The only downside with mayo clinic is that it can seem a bit overwhelming to navigate. But fear not, using the integrated search bar at the top, or even a search engine, quickly gets you were you want to go.
2. Health.com
Who would have thought this website was related to health?!? Health.com is the website of Health Magazine, with a large focus on diet and nutrition as well as educating people on how to exercise. There is a large focus on practical information, like recipes for healthy eating or information on how to do particular exercises.
3. Nerd Fitness
Steve has received a fair bit of attention because of his quite original approach to fitness. His approach, the way he writes, and what he does can be an inspiration for not only self-identified nerds/geeks, but the casual gamer and even a completely normal person. And there is of course plenty of practical information for people who are just starting to break into fitness.
4. Gain Fitness
Actually it’s not only a website, but also a great app to help you get healthy. The app focuses on bringing you practical “interactive, customizable workout packs that guide you to your goals” as they would say. Basically, they provide you with a variety of different workouts depending on your skill level and what you want to achieve. That way, not only do you get expert advice on what workouts to do for free, but you don’t have to stick to the same ol’, same ol’ until you die of boredom either.
5. Born Fitness
Born Fitness is the website of best-selling fitness author Adam Bornstein. On his blog, he only points out common fitness mistakes and tells you how to deal with them; he also shows you routines and recipes you can use to get in better shape. If you feel like you’re more of an intermediate when it comes to fitness, it just might be the blog for you.
6. Athletic Foodie
In 2008, Olympic gold medalist Garrett Weber-Gale started writing at Athletic Foodie, with a focus on delicious healthy food. These days the site has expanded to a team of doctors, trainers and some truly motivated individuals. If you consider yourself a foodie, and you’re not willing to give up delicious tasty treats for health benefits, then this is right up your alley. Personally I don’t buy into the idea that all the best foods are unhealthy, so this is one of my personal favorites as well.
7. The Fitnessista
If you want to experience and get inspired by a more personal approach, but you would prefer it to be written by a woman rather than a man, this is a great choice for you. Gina herself says she “likes to share some daily happenings, as well as quick, effective workouts and healthy recipes”. And that’s what she does. Not only do you get helpful tips and recipes, you get a look into what her life is like and how she manages to balance fitness with everything else.
8. Roman Fitness Systems
I think his own bio says it best: “John Romaniello runs Roman Fitness Systems with a tongue-in-cheek approach to fitness–and himself–that shows a genuine love/hate relationship with both. Equal parts narcissism and self-loathing, Roman writes with passion and humor, show-casing his belief that training doesn’t need to be the serious, stern, science-laden monotony that is pervasive in the industry.” If the serious, overly scientific, repetitions and using self-discipline to push through kind of approach is not really your cup of tea, this blog is a nice change of pace. It’s also good for a laugh‒actually, many laughs.
9. The Great Fitness Experiment
A blog where a mother and fitness enthusiast writes not only about fitness, but also general health concerns, generosity and living life in general. She also helps her readers out from time to time, and guides them through troubles they have with training, information overload or anything else.
10. Mark’s Daily Apple
Here, Primal living enthusiast Mark Sisson writes about what it means to be healthy, interesting research about nutrition, practical advice for you who want to turn your life around, along with, you guessed it, primal living. The core idea is that our modern diet is unhealthy because we simply haven’t adapted to it yet. Diet wise this means going back to a much more liberal consumption of fat, and cutting back on the modern carbs.
11. Heart.Org
This website is about preventing heart disease and maintaining a healthy heart through diet and exercise. It’s abundant with not only diet tips and recipes, but also suggested exercises, as well as suggested medical practices and advice about when to get check-ups, etc., making it perfect for someone who is worried about, or has an increased genetic risk of heart disease.
12. Psychology Today
But all health isn’t physical. Psychology Today deals with many of the psychological troubles and problems that could be causing real physical problems in your life. For example, if you have a mental barrier that prevents you from taking action and changing your life, psychology today would be a good place to start.
13. RunKeeper
Run Keeper helps you keep track of your running by using your phone’s GPS. This way you can keep track of how close you are getting to your distance goals, without always having to run the same lap over and over.
14. Fitocracy
If you’re not exactly the type that enjoys jogging and lifting on your own, and your friends always ditch you when you try to arrange something fun but physically demanding, fitocracy is for you. It can help you connect with people who are interested in fun, healthy activities, making it possible to meet new people, hang out, have fun and get healthy all at the same time. It also adds a social component to your solo workouts, as you can keep track of and share your progress with friends.
15. Stickk
A Mayo Clinic study showed that a monetary incentive made people lose more weight. Stickk is a way to give yourself a monetary incentive, where the money goes to charity if you fail to reach the goal you set for yourself. What makes it a little different is that the money specifically goes to a charity whose views you disagree with. You also get social accountability through the referee, and you can even add friends to keep track of your progress and root for you.
When it comes to the personal fitness and health blogs, I would recommend that you stick with the one, or a few, that you feel inspire you the most, or best speak to your character. Just reading about how to become healthy and looking at healthy people all day won’t make you healthy, And reading about fitness all day won’t make you fit.
Instead, go back to these websites when you’re uninspired, need new workouts or need some new healthy recipes. Knowing is only half the battle, if that. You have to follow through to see results.
