Although you can’t spend all day at the gym, you want to get fitter, stronger, and healthier physically and mentally. A study suggests that the average American has less than 89 minutes of free time. This means you only get a few minutes to workout, and it doesn’t seem like a lot to get the most out of it. Well, this would depend on a few strategies. Here are seven helpful tips to get the most out of every workout session.
- Lift weights
You are sabotaging your workout efforts if you are only doing cardio exercises. Research shows that sticking to only cardio will make various fitness goals such as weight loss difficult to achieve. However, resistance training such as lifting weights will build your muscles to enhance your metabolism rate. This was illustrated in a Harvard School of Public Health study, which showed that people who had twenty minutes of weight training each day gained less abdominal fat than those who spent the same period doing cardio.
- Create a playlist
There are so many great things your favorite songs can do for your mood and your workout. A study proposes that music is effective for boosting the level of serotonin and dopamine in your body. Another study suggests that people who listen to music, specifically slow music recover faster. Therefore, you should consider creating a playlist of your favorite tunes to listen to during and after your workout session. This helps restore your heart rate and blood pressure to normal levels, boost your recovery rate, and make your fitness session enjoyable.
- Have a protein shake before and after your workout
Many people assume that protein shakes are best taken post-workout. However, adding it to your pre-game routine is excellent for getting maximum workout results. Protein shakes enhance amino acid flow during muscles during workouts. Shakes post-workout stimulate muscle growth. While a small protein at least an hour before a workout is suitable for your muscles, there are other muscle foods or supplements you can try. Muscle Rage USA offers some of the best premium pre-work boasts and supplements.
- Add some carbs
It is a common misconception that you only need to load on carbs if you’re doing it intensely. However, it is equally vital to eat carbs pre-workout to help your intervals. Carbs are the body’s primary fuel for a high-intensity workout. You will perform better when well fueled to get the best of your calorie levels and muscle growth. While it is easy to skip your carbo-loading for morning workouts, quick oatmeal or toasts can be good before heading to the gym.
- Keep hydrated
It is vital to keep your body hydrated throughout the day if you get the most from working out. While you can lose 2% of body weight in fluids, a study suggests that many people lose between 6 to 10%, making your workout feel harder and affecting your performance and your body’s ability to recover after leaving the gym. Moreover, many people enter the gym already dehydrated. Ensuring you are drinking enough water before and after your sessions is essential to replace the lost fluids. It is almost impossible to triple your workout effectively if you lose more than 2% of your body weight.
- Don’t skip the dynamic warmup
Many people enter the gym and jump straight to lifting and working out without any proper warmup. Skipping warm up can expose you to injuries and counter your fitness efforts. To release bundled muscle tensions, you want to put yourself through some dynamic warm up with mobility drills and stretches. You can quickly notice the difference when you work out without warming up. Dynamic warmups help you feel less resistance when benching and more fluidity deadlifting. You can likewise sink deeper into your squats with a good pre-workout warmup.
- Get a partner
It can be beneficial to get a workout partner if you want to grow in the gym. A workout partner can challenge you to push through your limits to overload your muscles and trigger a growth response. It can be helpful to get a friend or partner to keep you motivated and accountable to keep going and growing. For example, many people are easily discouraged in their opening few weeks when they don’t seem to be getting anywhere, and that’s when a partner can come in handy. There are likewise other after-workout challenges you can try together to keep plateaus away.
Living a healthy life is an excellent choice, but with limited time, it can seem impossible. With these tips, even the shortest workout session can be beneficial.