Optimizing Your Work Out

If you are already making an effort to work out, you might as well make sure you are optimizing your chances for maximum results. Here are a few tips our specialists have compiled for you

Load Up On Protein & Carbs Beforehand

In order to work hard and perform during an intense workout, we need to be properly fueled. The first choice of fuel during intense exercises are simple carbs. Once the body has burned all the simple carbs, it opts for complex carbs. Therefore it is better to ensure the body is fuel with enough simple carbs so that complex carbs is not relied upon because the body will have to use extra energy to convert the complex carbs into simple.

Good sources of simple carbs you can implement in your pre-workout snack/meal are fruits such as bananas, dairy products such as yogurts or nuts. Most importantly, we need to make sure our pre-workout snack is digestible otherwise our body will have to pull a lot of energy to break down the food.

Foods that are difficult to break down require more blood to the stomach to aid the digestion process. And when the blood is in the stomach it cannot be elsewhere delivering oxygen and removing waste products, tasks that are necessary while exercising.

When we workout, we place a lot of stress on our muscles undergo stress which causes them to deveral micro tears. In order to repair these tears, our body will recruit amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.

This is why it is very important to have enough proteins in our system post workout, in order to help speed up the process of rebuilding our muscles and repairing those micro tears. If that is not done, it will take longer to recover and build up strength.

Keep Up Your Water Levels

Our bodies are made up of 60% water, so it is logical that we should be properly hydrated in order to perform our best, whatever type of workout we are doing. When we excersise, we can lose up to 8% of our water through sweat production and faster breathing; so we need to make sure our water tank is full.

However, it takes 2 hours for our body to actually absorb the water we consume, so it is very important to not just chug your water bottle right before your workout - but rather make it a habit to drink water regularly throughout the day.

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

Indeed, contrary to what most people think, muscle growth doesn’t happen at the gym but when you rest and that is predominantly when you sleep. When we sleep, our bodies produce growth hormone which enables us to recover from our workouts and build muscles.

So it is vital to have a good quality sleep in order to achieve peak performance and increase our strengths and muscles. To do so, it is recommended to have regular sleeping pattern, avoid stress and remove screens before bedtime.