Before diving into any workout, it’s essential to prepare yourself to ensure effectiveness. Failure to prepare for training can sabotage your efforts, cause injury, and in some instances, long-term ailments. Knowing what to do before each exercise helps you organize your workout routine to gain progress and the desired results.
When you plan your workouts and do what you must before each day’s workout routine, your exercises become more effective, less susceptible to injuries, and more likely to deliver the expected results. Below are a few things you should do before every workout:
Table Of Contents
1. Eat 60 To 90 Minutes Before Training
Pre-workout meals are meant to give your body the stamina and energy it needs to push through an entire workout session. It also drives metabolism through protein synthesis contribution, where cells manufacture and build proteins. Eat a pre-workout meal consisting of slow-acting carbohydrates like oatmeal, brown rice, or sweet potatoes and lean protein to boost strength, burn fat, and increase lean mass.
If you plan your workouts for minutes after waking up, meal prepping may not be possible. Consider protein supplements from trusted brands like STEEL or any other easy-to-prepare protein-packed meal. You can also have fruits or smoothies.
2. Get Enough Sleep
When you exercise, it’s because you want your cardiovascular health to boost endurance or gain lean muscle mass and more. Sleep allows your body to conserve energy, recover, repair, and build the muscles worked during a workout. Good quality sleep helps the body produce growth hormones responsible for building lean muscle and helping your body repair after a hard workout. However, if you don’t have enough good quality sleep, all your efforts will be in vain.
3. Hydrate
Water intake is essential for overall body health. Nevertheless, water is especially critical in a fitness routine. When you exercise, your body sweats, causing water loss. Ensuring that you’re adequately hydrated before and during each workout keeps your water and energy levels in check.
4. Warm-Up
Warm-ups increase your body temperature and blood flow to the muscles, ensuring that there’s enough oxygen in the muscles for easy contraction and relaxation. It also prepares your heart so it won’t be strained. Warming up helps reduce injury risks, prepares you mentally, and increases your flexibility for improved performance. To warm up, you can do aerobics, foam roll, or go dynamic depending on the exercises or the muscles you intend to target during the workout session.
5. Prepare Your Playlist
When working out, listening to your favorite playlist distracts you from fatigue and pain, boosts endurance, elevates mood, promotes metabolic efficiency, and minimizes perceived effort. The rhythm from your playlist also helps you synchronize your movements and maintain pace, ensuring energy efficiency. When preparing your playlist, select songs with a BPM that matches the heart rate you want your workouts to achieve. Choose songs that you can positively associate with to maximize your mood.
Endnote
Prepping your body before workouts help you meet your workout goals, ensures heart and overall health, and lowers injury risks. Use the above tips to reference things to do before every workout.
