Ready to achieve your goals, but not sure how to get started? We asked yoga instructor Christine Yu for her tips on success.

Ask a Trainer Part 3: Love Life Surf

Published: March 28, 2016 | Updated: December 7, 2017

Ask a Trainer Part 3: Love Life Surf

Welcome to our Ask A Trainer series! In this series you will find tips, tricks and ideas to keep you on your goal of getting/staying healthy in 2016. We’re going behind the scenes with trainers, nutritionists and more!

We all know one of the most, if not the most popular New Years resolution is to “lose weight”. I cannot tell you how many times I wrote down this goal as if writing down this thing that I’d always wanted to do, but never actually gotten the guts to commit to would magically give me the motivation and knowledge to make it happen. One of the biggest challenges for people looking to lose weight and get fit is that they just don’t have all of the information. I remember when I began my weight loss journey, I just didn’t have any idea what to eat or, more importantly, why to eat those things. I knew a lot of healthy people chose chicken over red meat, but I had no idea why or what that meant in the scheme of things. Every time I would set out to diet, I would get in this mindset of “OMG EVERYTHING IS BAD FOR ME! I GIVE UP!” Well, we don’t want you to give up! So let’s get some advice from a professional, shall we?

Today we’re talking to Christine Yu from Love Life Surf who just happens to be one of the most influential health and fitness bloggers I know. On her blog, Christine keeps it real without sugar coating her challenges. She shares her journey brilliantly (like, she is a super amazing writer) in a way that makes you want to not just get healthy, but become the very best, healthiest and happiest version of yourself. Her blog is motivation and inspirational, and she just happens to be one of the sweetest people on the planet.

Christine is a freelance writer, yoga teacher, runner and wannabe surfer. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

What does a typical week look like for you fitness-wise?

My workout schedule is still a bit in flux after having shoulder surgery in March 2015 and Achilles tendonosis over the summer. Right now, I run 2-3 times a week (30-45 minutes), Pilates once a week, strength train/core work 2 times a week, yoga 1-2 times a week and 1-2 rest days.

What is your favorite workout?

That’s a tough question! My two favorite ways to work out are running and practicing yoga. They seem like they are on opposite ends of the spectrum but they compliment each other well.

What would be your biggest piece of advice for someone just beginning their journey?

Don’t overthink it. It’s really easy to get overwhelmed by all the latest health and fitness advice, training plans, workouts, what you should do, what you shouldn’t do. It’s a lot of information and makes it really easy to overanalyze and overthink things, leading to paralysis by analysis. And when you’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to just not do anything.

Instead, just start moving. Get out the door and just move. That first step is always the hardest. And remember that there’s no one way that you should workout. There’s no set length of time. It’s doesn’t have to be 30 min or an hour or anything. Just move. Find something that you enjoy and do that. And then the next day, do it again.

Have you always been interested in health and fitness?

I played a lot of different sports growing up so in that sense, I’ve always been active. Plus, I had to do sports in school — it was a requirement. However, I never considered myself an athlete. I was a good team player, but never the star and I never explicitly trained for my sport. I began to become more interested in health and fitness during my senior year in high school and Freshman year in college.

What struggles did you have to overcome to get to where you are now?

Admittedly, when I started to become more interested in health and fitness, it was purely for physical and weight loss reasons. I worked out a lot but wasn’t eating well (or enough) to truly fuel my body.

I’ve struggled a lot with body image. It took me a long time to understand and respect my body for all that it can do for me and allows me to do — experience and explore the world and have adventures.

What’s your favorite splurge?

Ice cream. Or lime tortilla chips!

What would you recommend for someone who wants to get fit, but doesn’t have time to commit to a time consuming training schedule?

Your workout doesn’t have to take a long time to be effective. Try a HIIT workout which you can do in 15-20 minutes. The best part? High-interval training keeps your metabolism high for hours after you finish your workout.

Thanks so much, Christine, for sharing with us! For more from Christine, follow her blog, or catch her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter.