Gym Memberships for Nurses: What to Look For?

Before we give our two cents on the best exercises for nurses and what to look for in a gym membership, let us just get this out of the way:

Nurses are superheroes – just with better, more comfortable outfits and a greater understanding of chemistry.

At Fitness World, nurses, and healthcare workers as a whole, deserve their own ultimate guide to achieving their fitness goals as they selflessly do so much for society. This blog is designed to not only give you our best tips for maintaining your fitness journey, but to also serve as a reminder to take time to focus on your mental health and physical health so you can be the best person and nurse!

So, if you’re ready to jump back into fitness or get that little boost of motivation you’ve been looking for, keep reading! We’re breaking down exactly what to look for in a gym membership as a nurse and how to best achieve your fitness goals.

How to Achieve Your Fitness Goals as a Healthcare Worker

As a healthcare worker, your work day most likely doesn’t look like the typical 9-5; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the same results or simply engage in a fitness activity you love!

Here are our top three tips for achieving your fitness goals as a healthcare worker.

Tip 1: Create a Realistic Fitness Schedule

Creating a realistic fitness schedule is our first, and arguably most important tip when trying to achieve your fitness goal. Your working hours vary, which means that you might have to adjust your schedule as you go.

For example, if you work three 10-hour shifts on a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, you might want to have your fitness schedule be Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Tip 2: Meal Prep

We can’t stress this enough – meal prepping is SO important! As a healthcare worker, you’re constantly on the go, with patient care, charting, vital checks, and more! When breakfast, lunch, or dinner time comes around, you might be more inclined to just stop and grab a quick bite of food, but if you’ve already meal prepped your food, you’ll have a satisfying meal that is healthy, delicious, and will keep you going!

At Fitness World, our personal trainers can help with meal prepping ideas, creating a customized plan that fits your unique lifestyle.

Tip 3: Don’t Forget Recovery

As a nurse, being on your feet all day is nothing new. Recovering from long shifts is just as important as recovering from a hard workout. Stretching, massage, and even a quick 10-minutes in a Hydromassage chair or slipping on compression socks can give your over-worked muscles the relaxation it needs to avoid strains that will keep you from doing your best work.

Easy & Fun #FitnessExercisesforNurses

While healthcare workers are on their feet for most of the day, there are a few other key areas of the body that require specific attention in order to see the best, day-to-day results, including upper body (arms and shoulders), core, and lower body (thighs and glutes).

To keep it simple, we’re focusing on our favourite, easy-to-add-in exercises that fit perfectly with any type of fitness routine.

Exercise 1: Dumbbell Shrug

A dumbbell shrug is the perfect, easy exercise for toning upper back muscles and improving your posture – which, let’s face it, we all need.

Incorporate 3 sets of 10 dumbbell shrugs (using 5lbs to 25 lbs., depending on your individual capability.)

Exercise 2: Planks

Planks are another easy exercise that help so much with building core strength, something that most people tend to lack. Incorporating a 30 second – 1-minute plank session into each workout can help work the often-neglected muscles in the core, giving you better posture and support.

Exercise 3: Lunges

Finally, lunges – our favourite and highly underrated leg workout that can be done practically anywhere! Lunges are a great exercise for toning the hamstrings, calves, quads, and glutes – basically an entire lower-body workout.

Add 3 sets of 12 lunges (12 on each leg) into one of your workout days and start to see the difference in flexibility and stability.

What to Look for in a Gym Membership as a Nurse

Whether you’re looking to start a brand-new fitness routine or you want to kickstart your previous one, you’ll first want to find a gym membership that offers the top amenities for your unique work and personal life schedule.

To help you find the perfect gym membership, we’ve put together a helpful list of our personal must-have amenities/features to look for when shopping for a gym membership. These are uniquely curated to match the needs of our healthcare heroes.

Cost Savings

When looking for a gym membership, the first thing you’ll want to explore are the prices. We understand that everyone’s budget is different, but a good gym will offer a variety of gym membership options that include multiple amenities for every type of gym-goer.

Time Flexibility

As a healthcare worker, finding a gym that is flexible enough to work for your schedule is a must. A gym that is only open for 8 hours a day is probably not the one you want to go with if you want to head to a workout early or after the sun sets.

Options, Options, and More Options!

Finally, we recommend a gym membership that gives you options – from access to multiple gym locations and online fitness to recovery solutions, fitness classes, and more! You’re the one paying for the membership, after all! You should be getting all of the fun, flexible amenities that come with a well-rounded gym membership.

Get Started on Your Fitness Journey at Fitness World!

Calling all nurses and healthcare workers! If you’re ready to focus on your health, improve your posture, get back into fitness, or simply find a community that supports each other, Fitness World is the gym for you.

At Fitness World, we make searching for the perfect gym membership easy because we truly have it all: the amenities, the community, the professional support, and the best pricing options!Join today to start your fitness journey or give us a try with our free 3-day pass!