Get the most out of your workouts using these life hacks.
If you're just doing cardio, you're torturing yourself. Your metabolism will actually decrease, making it harder to lose weight. Weight training, however, builds muscle mass to increase metabolic rate.
Listen to music
Everyone knows that your favorite tunes can light you up before a workout. Music increases the level of serotonin and dopamine in the body — hormones that are known to promote recovery. Try listening to some of your favorite, most relaxing tracks as soon as you finish your workout. This will help your blood pressure and heart rate to return to normal, and recovery will occur as soon as possible.
Replace stretching with a dynamic warm-up
Do not stretch in vain - warming up the limbs will allow you to lift heavier weight, and the body will become more stable. Do a warm-up with a resistance band. However, dynamic movements with your own weight, which mimic the workout you are going to perform, increase blood flow and improve the range of motion without compromising the elasticity of muscles and tendons. So, for example, if you are going to run, it is a good idea to perform lunges, knee lifts and leg swings for five to ten minutes before starting on the treadmill.
Start your workout with carbohydrates
You can think of a carbohydrate "refueling" as something you do to better handle your workout. Carbohydrates are your body's main fuel for any high-intensity workout, and when your body is fueled by carbohydrates, it will put in more effort and get a better return, both in terms of calorie consumption and muscle growth, than it would be without carbohydrates. Therefore, even if you like morning workouts, be sure to eat toast or oatmeal before you start exercising.
Drink water
The loss of only 2% of body weight due to fluid (some gym-goers secrete from 6 to 10% sweat) can complicate training, reduce the effectiveness of exercises and reduce the body's ability to recover after leaving the gym. To make sure you drink enough water during your workout to compensate for the lost fluid, weigh yourself both before and after your workout. You should not lose more than 2% of your weight.
Use free weights
Strength simulators are great for helping beginners in the gym to master the right technique, but once you master them, it's time to move on to free weights. Exercises with free weights, such as dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells, lead to a greater reaction compared to similar exercises performed on simulators. This is largely due to the fact that free-weight exercises involve a wider range of muscles. Whenever you need to move a free weight and you don't have anything to guide or support you like a fixed exercise machine, all your muscles have to work to help you hold on.
Sleep well at night
Quality sleep is vital for getting the most out of the time spent in the gym. And so every night for the whole week. Poor sleep reduces not only your physical performance (and the number of calories burned), but also your body's ability to become stronger after each workout. Sleep causes hormonal shifts that contribute to the recovery of the body before exercise. Without proper sleep, symptoms of overtraining appear, including a fitness plateau. Try to sleep from seven to nine hours every night.
Change exercises
This will not only keep you from getting bored. Doing several variations of the exercise changes the muscles involved and the weight you can lift, which leads to greater gains than if you performed the same movement month after month. Although you can include multiple variations of the same exercise in one workout (for example, planks and planks with a raised leg), changing these variations monthly will also force your body to prepare for any challenge you want to throw it.
Eat protein before going to bed
Protein helps your muscles recover after a workout, and to achieve optimal fitness results, it should not stop when you doze off. A night snack rich in casein, a slow-digesting protein, maintains an increased level of amino acid synthesis and muscle protein throughout the night. To get the necessary casein protein, eat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese after training and before going to bed.
