TRAINING TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED

1) Have a Cup of Coffee Before You Workout

The caffeine in a cup of coffee (Preferably black) helps stimulate your central nervous system, so you’ll have a little extra oomph in your workout.

2) Start Your Workout With Some Dynamic Stretches

With dynamic stretching, you’ll be moving through different stretches, rather than holding the stretch in place. This gradually raises your body temperature and heart rate and starts to warm up your muscles, priming your body for activity.

3) Master Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is another excellent way to improve your range of motion, so you can get more out of every squat, lunge, and push-up. Foam rolling helps relieve tightness by releasing knots in your fascia (the thin sheath of tissue that surrounds your muscles).

4) Stay Hydrated

Whether you’re an elite athlete or a weekend warrior, hydration is key during exercise. You can lose a lot of fluid when you exercise – as much as a litre or two an hour – mainly through sweating and breathing. If you don’t top this fluid back up, you can get dehydrated. Water helps fuel your muscles, so drinking before, during and after exercise will boost your energy levels, and may help to prevent cramp.

5) Select The Right Weights

Choosing a weight that’s heavy enough (but not too heavy) will challenge your muscles just enough to grow stronger. If a weight is too light, you’ll still get some of the health benefits from moving your body, but you won’t see your strength or fitness improve.

6) Invest In a Heart Rate Monitor

Wearing a heart-rate monitor can give you an idea of your intensity level by measuring how fast your heart is beating. This can help you make sure you’re not overdoing it, and can show you where you need to push a little harder.

7) Take Rest Days

When it comes to building muscle, it’s the time you spend outside the gym when the magic really happens. When you work out, you create micro-tears in your muscle fibres. After your session, your body rebuilds those damaged muscle fibres stronger than before.

8) Get Enough Sleep

Exercise is a physical stress applied to the body, and muscles get stronger in the period after the workout when the body is repairing the damage. Be sure to go to bed 6-8 hours before you are due to wake up the next morning and focus on getting some quality sleep.

Hit the ground running by applying these simple tips into your training routine.