For people who exercise, be they a professional athletes, stay in shape, or exercise for health benefits, there are many things to keep in mind when exercising. The traditional stereotype of fitness lovers as unintelligent people is slowly being changed due to the increasing awareness of how scientific and methodical exercising is.
But for those having a hard time remembering when exercising, the pre-, mid-, and post-workout worries can be too much. That’s why we made this quick checklist of things to keep in mind to maximize your exercise and get the most out of every rep that you do.
Never Forget to Drink Water
Every doctor on earth will always remind you to stay hydrated, all the more so if you’re a fitness lover. We cannot stress how important it is to drink water, but most people already understand this. But what most people don’t realize is that caffeine-laden energy drinks do not count as proper hydration. First of all, too much caffeine can end up harming you in the long run. Second, it often acts as a diuretic, making you urinate more often than you usually will. Without being aware, you end up being dehydrated because you were under the impression that you’re re-hydrating. Nothing beats water when it comes to hydration, and it’s the cheapest option out there too.
Go Slow and do the Proper Form
Slow and controlled will always beat fast but haphazard. This is even more true when exercising, as doing your exercises mindlessly is just an invitation to injuries and accidents. When exercising, it’s essential to keep in mind the proper form and execute it to the best of your abilities. This not only prevents the repetitive motion from wearing your joints and muscles, but it also stimulates the muscle to grow and become stronger. It’s easy to feel like you need to finish your workout as fast as you can, but steel yourself and remember that slow and proper is the key to maximizing every rep from your activity.
Re-rack Your Weights
Just as you need to put trash in recycling bins because that’s where they belong, you need to re-rack the weights you use because it’s only proper. If you fail to re-rack, your weights can spell trouble for yourself and others, as it’s a tripping hazard, and the heavy weight makes it a pain to hit with your feet. An interesting benefit to re-racking your weights is that it can also act as a form of ‘superset,’ training your body beyond your perceived limitations. In a certain sense, re-racking your weights also counts as training as you need to handle a relatively heavy load, and transfer the weight, all the while in a motion as natural as you can.
Rest Between Sets Are Important
Fitness experts often recommend resting in between exercises and sets. It’s important not to neglect this as your body needs to process all the work you’ve put in before you do it again. Working with fatigued muscles can lessen the effects of the exercise, if not downright detrimental. How long should you rest between sets, though? It ultimately depends on your goal. If you are a beginner, a rest period of 2 minutes should suffice. If you’re seeking to grow your muscles, thirty to ninety seconds is advisable. If your goal is to be healthy and powerful, resting for two to five minutes is suggested. Finally, if you want to improve muscular endurance (and even cardiovascular endurance), a rest period of around 30 seconds (or even less) is recommended.
Switch it Up Now and Then
We usually get tired of doing the same thing over and over. This remains true in working out as well. Doing the same routine over and over can kill motivation and make you not want to exercise. It also allows the muscles to acclimate to the exercises, making it less effective than when you first started. To combat this, you should do new exercises now and then ‘shock’ the muscles and continuously trigger development. You don’t have to overhaul your current workout routine either- you can introduce newer exercises to your everyday line-up. Other options are adding more reps or even increasing the weight. It’s important not to allow the muscles to get used to the load you’re giving them (commonly known as ‘progressive overload’), making changing your exercises now and then an essential part of fitness.
With these ideas in mind, you can adequately control your activities and note how you can go about the training correctly. You can lessen the consequences you might experience while staying healthy.
