Prepping your body before a workout is a must. Doing so ensures that you’re fueling yourself before a heavy and hectic day at the gym. Moreover, it allows your body to prepare before lifting those heavy weights or building muscle, lessening the chances of strain or physical injury.
With this, you’d need a solid pre-workout routine that will turn into positive habits that will ultimately benefit you in the long run. Nobody wants a sloppy pre-workout routine, so here are the five necessities of an excellent pre-workout regimen. Breaking a sweat means maximizing your gains even before your gym routine per se.
Eat and Fuel Up
You can’t expect a good day at the gym with an empty stomach, so it’s always best to eat and fuel yourself with food. Having adequate energy by eating is your priority before hitting the gym. Moreover, you could always start with easy prep meals like toast and fruits like bananas or apples or fuel with vitamins or protein powders if you don’t want to prep meals.
Since there are people who get an upset stomach when they eat heavy meals before a workout, starting with a protein-powdered shake is a good alternative. With this, you get the proteins and vitamins to prep your muscles during your pre-workout and promote protein synthesis during exercise.
You could even try the Barbend protein powders that target your specific goal or lifestyle. Here, protein powder varieties exist, ranging from gaining muscle, losing weight, or precisely when you want a powder targeted for men or women.
Nonetheless, it would help if you never skipped your stomach in your pre-workout routine. This decreases the chances of injury since it energizes you to start your routine. It’s even better for you to start practicing this habit atleast 15 to 20 minutes before your workout.
Don’t Forget to Hydrate
Sweating it out in the gym means you need to hydrate more often. With this, drinking water before your workout is essential to be appropriately hydrated. You can’t expect to perform your best at the gym if you’re dehydrated, can you?
Moreover, your cells need water to create energy – especially crucial if you’re working out. If you’re dehydrated, you’d feel more tired than usual. Additionally, your skin would have difficulty cooling down since your body can’t meet all the demands needed to remove the heat and regulate your body temperature.
In the worst-case scenario, dehydration could even lead to heat stroke. Exercising intensely in a hot environment without drinking your water increases the risk of dizziness, confusion, and fatigue, which could pose a significant health concern.
It’s always best to drink water to prepare your body to regulate temperature and create energy.
Review Your Workout Routine
You should always have an expected set of reps, weights, and rest periods to lead you to your goal. You could focus on your glutes today and arms the next day or the day after. Since people have different goals, creating yours and reviewing it prepares you mentally, checks your progress, and makes your workout more efficient.
Reviewing your routine also allows you to be honest with yourself. Since you’re tracking your sets, it’s easier to look at the stats and understand how fast or slow your progress is. Your exercises are already planned; you only need to prepare and execute them.
Warm-Up Exercises Are a Must
The final step you need for your pre-workout routine is your warm-up exercise. You warm up your body by performing and mimicking the same movement during your exercise, reducing the risks of muscle injury and spasms.
You prepare your muscles for a rigorous routine, too, so you shouldn’t only run on the treadmill for ten minutes, as aerobic and dynamic exercises are essential.
It would help if you first opened your warm-up with an aerobic exercise to increase your blood flow and core strength. It also awakens your muscles and makes you sweat, optimizing your muscle power and strength. You could always start with low-to-moderate levels on the treadmill or stationary bike.
Additionally, dynamic warm-ups allow you to maximize your movement. Here, it would help if you went through the muscle groups you would use for your workout per se. Doing so allows you to execute the full range of motion and ensures you hit the same muscle group.
For example, swimmers circle their arms multiple times before entering the water. Whatever your planned routine is, your dynamic warm-up should prepare you for such.
Prioritize Your Sleep
Your sleep is the most crucial part of your pre-workout routine. Having an adequate sleep means you’re well rested, and your energy and hunger hormones are balanced. Moreover, good sleep allows your muscles and body to recover from the gym the day before, so it’s best to get a good night’s sleep.
Not only this but your mental condition is also influenced by sleep. When you don’t get enough shut-eye, you’d feel irritated most of the day, affecting your mental attitude during the workout.
Final Thoughts
Your pre-workout routine is just as important as your actual workout. Moreover, these five steps will ensure such. Ultimately, these steps will become a habit, ensuring a positive physical wellness and lifestyle change.
