Workout & Training Tips

Anyone hitting the gym doesn’t ideally hope for so-so results. You go in to get a 100% out of each rep, alas the saying goes, you don’t count the reps, you make the reps count. Here I present to you some tips in order for you to improve your workouts.

1.     Lift weights!

You will see a lot of people getting those hours in at the gym doing cardio, from spending great amounts of time on that elliptical then switching to the treadmill only to end their work out on a stationary bike, but what you may not know is that they’re only fooling themselves into thinking they had an effective workout when in reality; their metabolism is going down, making weight loss more difficult. Resistance training, in turn helps build muscle to increase your metabolic processes in your body. This is backed by a study of 10,500 adults conducted in Harvard School of Public Health where people who spent 20 minutes per day weight training gained less abdominal fat compared to those spending the same amount of time doing cardio over the course of 12 years.

2.     Drink lots of water

Of course you’ve all heard about the myth that you should consume less water during your workouts to cut down on that water weight. In reality as sweat does its job by evaporating from your skin and removes heat from the body, we are also constantly losing body fluid. Which is why you need to drink fluids such as water or BCAA’s (intraworkout- supplement) to replace the fluids you lose when you sweat. This reduces the risk of heat stress, maintains normal body function as well as maintains performance levels. A person who is dehydrated before a workout will find it difficult to perform in the gym along with reducing his/hers ability to recover after they leave the gym.

3.     Get proper sleep

Failure to get an adequate amount of sleep which is advised to be about 8 to 9 hours per day will not only hinder your performance at the gym including the number of calories you burn but also your body’s ability to recover and come back stronger after every workout. A good night’s sleep ensures optimal hormonal shifts that help the body to recover after exercise.

4.     Switch it up!

Along with keeping you from getting bored, a study from East Tennessee State University in 2015 implied that athletes who performed both deep and full squats managed to get greater fitness gains than those who performed only deep squats.  The goal is to confuse the muscle to activate the most amounts of both slow-twitch (type I) and fast-twitch (type II) muscle fibers. Hitting a muscle group from different angles will engage more muscles and change the amount of weight you can lift allowing you to progressive overload.

5.     Eat carbs before working out

Loading carbs isn’t just something marathon runners do before their race. According to 2013 research published in Sports Medicine. “Carbs are your body’s primary fuel for any high-intensity workout, and when your body is fueled, your body is going to put forth a better effort and get a better value, both in terms of caloric expenditure and muscle growth, than it would if you were in fasted state,” Even for people who like to work out in the morning should include toasts or oatmeal in their pre-workout meal.

6.     Protein before bed

Eating protein before bed enhances muscle growth. While you are asleep, protein is effectively digested and absorbed, which enhances muscle protein synthesis up to 22% and improve whole body protein balance during post-exercise overnight recovery. A research from Maastricht University in the Netherlands shows that a nighttime snack rich in casein, a slow-digesting protein, keeps amino acid and muscle protein synthesis rates elevated all throughout the night.