Four golden practices to remember throughout your fitness journey

Have you ever felt a sharp pulling pain in the back of your thighs? Or ever felt dizzy and nauseous after exercising? Or felt your stomach cramping up all of a sudden mid-workout? Well, you’re not alone.

It is only common that you would encounter mild injuries every now and then while working out. Whether you’re training for the next international athletic competition or a CrossFit enthusiast, or even following a few simple exercises using your body weight, there are some practices you need to integrate into your daily (or, even more so, occasional) workout routine.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into the 4 golden practices to remember throughout your fitness journey!

1. Warm up, cool down

Fitness, yoga, as well as physio experts around the world strongly suggest that warming up before a workout and cooling down after are crucial components of a successful workout routine. A warm up is a 5-10-minute preamble to your workout which could consist of low-intensity activity like light jogging, stretching, leg swings, and side bends.

The gradual increase of the heart rate improves blood flow. As your muscles require more oxygen during an exercise, this increases the delivery of oxygen to your muscles. Warming up also helps prevent injuries such as muscle tears or twists due to muscle flexibility and joint lubrication. Apart from all of this, it also improves your mood and mentally prepares you for the workout, thus contributing to increased performance.

In contrast, cooling down at the end of the workout lowers the heart rate and blood pressure back to normal levels, which in turn slows your breathing into a calmer rhythm.

2. Drink enough water

Sri Lanka being a tropical country that’s close to the equator, we are almost immune to humidity and heat all our lives. With this comes an increased necessity to constantly keep our bodies hydrated. Then, of course, you should know that there’s no two ways about the importance of keeping the body hydrated during a workout.

There have been many opinions and advice on whether or not one should drink water before, during, and after exercising. Statistics show that around 60% of the adult body and around 75% of adult muscles are water. On top of that, sweat is mostly made up of water. The connection is pretty obvious!

Imagine running an engine without oil. It will not run for more than 30 minutes (at best). The same theory goes to our body. If you start a workout dehydrated – and worse, keep going dehydrated – it’ll be only minutes until your mouth dries, you feel dizzy and thirsty, and experience a thumping headache. The danger of this is that it could lead to a heat stroke, muscle cramping, and breakdown of skeletal muscle.

So don’t wait until you are thirsty. Drink 2 cups of water two hours before working out, half a cup every 10-15 minutes during a workout, and double the amount of water lost after the workout. Other than that, drink plenty of water during the day and stay hydrated.

3. Rest – during and in between

If you’ve been to the gym even for a day, you would know what a rest day is. For those who don’t, it’s a day off from your regular training or exercise routine to give your body a break – or a reward of sorts (still no match to the slice of pizza or donut!).

Rest is as equally important as working out. Why? It’s the time that allows your body to recover and repair any damage sustained while working out. But rest day does not necessarily mean doing nothing. Many experts recommend engaging in light activities like yoga, meditation, and foam rolling, or even simply having some quality time with friends and family.

Meanwhile, intervals in between sets cannot be overlooked if you want to get the best out of your workout. The question as to how long you should rest, however, depends on the goal you want to achieve. For example, if you want to increase endurance, the recommended rest time is 30 seconds. Likewise, maximizing power and strength requires about 2-5 minutes of rest between sets while 1-2 minutes typically to perfect the form.

4. Be mindful of form

Since we were kids, we’ve learned a certain way of doing certain things, like tying shoes, ironing clothes, or brushing teeth. If you don’t brush your teeth right, there’s a chance you’d build plaque, followed by another streak of other oral issues. Apply the same idea to exercising. What if you exercise, but just not in the right form? Let’s just say there could be a streak of injuries.

A proper workout demands proper form, and proper form doesn’t usually come easy to many. It could even be years of practice under the guidance of a professional trainer until you get it right, especially if there are weights involved.

Nevertheless, it is vital that you put the same interest you have to achieve your workout goal to perfect your form, too. That way, you’d save yourself from susceptibility to injury and also achieve optimum results.