1. Fuel

Ensure you are eating nutritious food to fuel your body properly. Eating processed food, skipping meals, and excessive sugar, reduces the bio-usable fuel for your muscles and other cells and organs, reducing the benefits of your workout. So you could be training your heart out, but getting nowhere because your nutrition is sabotaging your results. And no, you cannot out-train a bad diet! If you need help with what your nutrition, send us a message so we can help you get it right.

2. Hydrate

You need to ensure that you drink water regularly throughout your day and during training so that your body stays adequately hydrated. This helps distribute nutrients to your cells from your food, reduces cramps in muscles, stops you from getting a stitch, replenishes water lost in perspiration during exercise. Water help increase fat metabolism which helps you get leaner, and helps build muscle which also helps with getting lean.

3. Breath

Ensure you breath properly during training. Nasal breathing is the best as it ensures you get filtered oxygen and increases the amount of oxygen you inhale. It also helps regulate your heart rate. This reduces shortness of breath and helps build your fitness.

Do not hold your breath during movement. This increases risk of cramping and also of suffering a stroke or heart attack as it increases your blood pressure.

If you need help regulating your breathing during exercises, please reach out to us.

4. Warm Up Properly

Before you engage in any exercise be sure to warm up properly. This isn’t just walking on a treadmill and doing some basic stretches. You need to active your muscles with some mobility exercises, roll out any tightness in muscles using a foam roller and/or spiky ball, stretch effectively, then gradually increase your heart rate with some dynamic movement. If you need help with any of these, reach out to us for more info. Activation and rolling out should take place even before you attend a group fitness session that include a warm up in it.

5. Technique – Focus on technique

Don’t rush through your movements. Pay attention to your coach’s instructions and take the time to perform the movements correctly. The more precise your movement is, the more benefits you will experience. You are working your butt off anyway, you may as well reap the rewards!

Performing your movements correctly, also reduces risk of injury.

6. Tempo – What is the purpose of your session?

If your session is strength based take your time with the movement and focus on the prescribed tempo. That means if your coach has advised the movement is to be slow then use 3-5 secs to perform the movement for maximum benefits. The increased time under tension for muscles, increases the muscle fiber growth and increase in strength capabilities.

If your session is more HIIT or cardio based, then challenge yourself to complete the movement as precisely (remember technique!) as possible and as quickly as you can, without compromising your technique.

7. Cool Down Properly

When you have finished your training, don’t just stop. You need to prepare your body for recovery post training. You need to gradually slow your heart rate down again, by walking around until it settles so that you are no longer huffing and puffing. This reduces the chance of cramping and ensure your heart is looked after. You don’t want to go from running to complete stop instantly as this can lead to heart problems.

Once your heart rate has settled, complete a stretching routine, roll out your muscles again post workout. This will ensure any built up Lactic Acid (by-product of energy expenditure from exercise; a bit like carbon monoxide is a by-product of petrol being used in a car) is flushed out through the blood stream rather than build up within the muscle fibers. The pain you feel in your muscles the days after training is a build up of Lactic Acid. The faster that flushes away the less pain you feel. Pain causes the muscles to tighten. Tight muscles cannot work efficiently so when you train again you won’t get as much benefit if you haven’t reduced the tightness in muscles. You also increase your risk of injury. That’s not to say you won’t feel muscle soreness; it just won’t be anywhere near as bad, if you cool down properly.

8. Supplement with Magnesium

There are thousands of benefits of magnesium (click here to read more on magnesium). We don’t obtain anywhere near enough magnesium these days from our food, as the soils are depleted of nutrients. Magnesium helps reduce DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness, the pain you feel after training), reduces cramps, and helps you recover post training better.

If you need any help with any of these areas, please end us a message.
    
– Coach Terri