For yoga and meditation teacher Kenny Ferrer, routine is the anchor for healthy living.
“My routine acts as a foundation for the habits that are important to me,” says the New-York-City-based high performance coach and mind and body trainer. “It’s my stabilizing force. I know that I have these notches to hit on a day-to-day basis and I don’t have to overthink when I’m going to get these things done because they’re all ingrained habits.
“But rather than focusing on perfectionism, I try to recognize the essential tasks of the day and centralize those,” Kenny adds. “If I get a little bit too caught up and can’t complete everything, then I recognize the need to let go and be OK with what is.”
Here, Kenny shares the key parts of his routine that help him stay sharp for the demands of his day.
Kenny’s Morning Routine
I usually get up between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. and drink about 16 ounces of water to start my day. I’ll then have a little sip of coffee and get right into a meditation. I start by focusing on my breath and posture, then move into a meditation style called “preliminaries,” which is a set of foundational meditative and contemplative practices. Depending on the day, I meditate for 10 to 30 minutes.
From there, I get up and make my bed — it’s the first small win of the day! After that, I do my skincare routine before packing up all my stuff and heading to Life Time for my first movement session of the day.
I fast until after my morning movement session, however, I like to take LTH Pump Pre-Workout before a strength or yoga session to get really amped up before lifting or flowing. During a cardio session, I’ll mix a scoop of LTH Rally Amino Recovery into my water to sip on to replenish BCAAs.
My morning workout depends on the day, but I practice mindful movement every day. Sometimes it’s a yoga and strength day and sometimes it’s a yoga and cardio day. I make sure to get in five yoga, strength, and cardio sessions and aim to take one full day off exercising per week.
After my workout, I drink a mixture of greens powder, LTH Prime Collagen Peptides, and LTH Whey Protein. I then continue with my day coaching or teaching classes.
Kenny’s Midday Routine
My midday meal is generally a balance of complex carbs from vegetables and quinoa, protein from chicken, eggs, or fish, and sweetness and simple carbohydrates from a little bit of fruit. Depending on what I’ve got going on throughout the day, I’ll also munch on some protein-rich snacks — Barebells Raspberry Cream protein bars are my favorite. I have a large Hydroflask water bottle that I sip water from throughout the whole day.
I’m big into my journaling practice, and I usually do it in the middle of the day as a pick-me-up — I call it “grip, gratitude, reorientation, intention, and prayer.” I usually list three to five things I’m grateful for right there in that moment, and I try to really let myself feel the feelings of gratitude.
Reorientation has to do with recognizing where I’m at during that point in the day and reconnecting to whatever intention I have. For example, if things aren’t going exactly as I want them to go, I forgive myself for that and reset.
Kenny’s Evening Routine
Dinner is usually some combination of greens, assorted colorful vegetables, and protein from chicken, fish, or eggs. I also add in a bit of dietary fat from olive oil or avocados in the evening.
To wind down, I usually engage with my end-of-day gratitude practice. I write down five things I am grateful for from the day and read them out loud to myself. This practice helps me stay connected to the good things in my life.
Then, I typically try to be in bed between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. I love to read before bed to relax and prepare for a restful night.
