3 Smart Ways to Prepare for Your Workout Session
When it comes to your exercise routine, the time you spend sweating at the gym tends to get all the credit, but it shouldn’t. If you know how to prepare for your workout session, you will know exactly how to change your routine to affect your progress and results.
Structuring your workouts can be as important as its duration and intensity. Ensuring pre-arrangement can significantly improve your training.
Things like enough liquid, good nutrition, and good sleep quality are important. However, smart rituals such as light therapy before training can ensure that you prepare properly, fueling your efforts, and overwhelming yourself with each workout.
Enlisted are 3 unique ways to prepare for your workout session.
-
Warm-up and Stretching
Before you get stuck in training or hard training, it is important to do warm-up exercises and brief stretches. Warm-up is the utmost way to prepare for your workout session. Don’t go straight for a static stretch, as it can often do you more harm than good. The best way to do this is to warm-up on the move.
A quick walk, a short run, or even quick on-site exercises that make your limbs move. Once you’ve warmed up briefly and your heart rate is high, stretch and focus on the areas you’ll use the most during your workout.
The last thing you want to do is injure yourself or pull a muscle 5 minutes after your workout. This is often due to a bad warm-up routine.
If you play a sport like a soccer or a rugby, you may want to kick and throw the ball slightly on your warm-up to increase your heart rate and circulate blood to your muscles. If you are preparing for an event, it is advisable to have a more sustained and intense training to prepare your body for a more competitive training in the environment.
-
Use Light Therapy Before Workout
Light toward the red infrared close of the spectrum is able to safely penetrate skin and body tissue. There it stimulates the metabolism of cells. Light helps cells’ mitochondria complete their respiration cycle more efficiently so cells can regenerate more quickly.
The regenerative effects of phototherapy can help prepare the muscles to reach their full potential. Just like stretching before exercise, you can incorporate the use of an LED lamp to prepare for your workout.
A research revealed in the journal Biophotonics concluded that near-infrared and red light, which researchers collectively call photobiomodulation, confer benefits before and after training. The study compiled the results of a series of clinical trials using a range of elite untrained athletes. The trials measured parameters such as fatigue, number of repetitions, torque, hypertrophy, and late-onset muscle pain. For example, there was a study in which infrared light was applied to the biceps before lifting weights. The number of repetitions that the volunteers were able to complete increased “significantly.”
Red and infrared light therapy offer something for all fitness enthusiasts, from casual trainee to professional athletes. If you’re looking for non-addictive pain relief and a boost to prepare for and recover from your workout, consider light therapy at home.
-
Eat Right Food at Right Time
When you’re preparing for your workout session, it’s important to make sure you’re feeding your body the right foods and eating at the right time to provide the energy you need during your workout. Your body needs energy during a workout, and the best way to do this is to eat foods that contain quality carbohydrates and are full of protein.
Fresh fruit and yogurt or some nuts, make a good snack if you’re training. If you are preparing for a game or a long run, you may want to provide your body with a sufficient supply of carbohydrates so that it can slowly release the energy your body needs during training.
Pasta, cereal, and rice are great options here. Add vegetables or lean meat to add protein to help your muscles during your workout.
If you eat a big meal before a workout, you should give it time to digest properly, so try to eat 2-3 hours before your workout. Similarly, if you have a small snack before a session, try to eat it approximately 45 minutes – 1 hour before training because you don’t want to feel full during training.
It is also important to avoid fatty and greasy foods before your workout and not to consume too many energy foods or foods high in sugar, as they will give you a rapid increase in energy followed by a sustained break. Energy drinks and sweets like gelatin babies are a great choice halfway through your workout for a quick burst of sugar and energy for the rest of your workout.
Don’t forget to take enough liquid and hydrate your body during workout!