Signing up to the gym is a commitment and a promise to yourself to achieve better. With that in mind, you should consider how you can help yourself before and after attending the gym. Here’s some tips to get you started.
Set Yourself Goals And Targets
In order to know how you can help yourself with the gym, you should know what you’re actually trying to achieve. For example, are you trying to lose weight, tone some muscles or just build up some fitness? When you know how to answer these questions, then you can plan ahead for your workout schedule.
Record Everything That You Do
It’s important that you are prepared to record all the workouts that you do down somewhere, as this enables you to keep track of what you’ve been doing. This way, you can focus on what you need to change, or know where you are in terms of your goals.
Pay Attention At Your Induction
When signing up to a gym, you will most likely be offered an induction, where you can tour around the gym seeing what equipment is available, and where the emergency exits are, for example. It’s important that you pay attention to this, as it may be the only induction you get, as gym staff are often busy.
Diet Is Just As Important
Whilst working out at the gym is important to help you build up your fitness, your efforts will be wasted if you are eating poorly both before and after visiting the gym. You should be working on eating meals that are balanced with protein, carbohydrates and even fats. The portions you eat are also important, as you don’t want to be undereating or overeating.
Lowering the amount of food at dinner time removed the temptation of feeling like you have to finish off the whole meal as to not waste anything. If you are sat eating and you feel like you’re starting to get full, but there’s still around half the plate leftover, then consider plating it up into a container to save for another day.
This not only helps not waste the food or cause you to overeat, but it’s planned your meal for the next day instantly. Meal preparation in general is important, as it can save on time for future meals and stop you being tempted to order a takeaway. Consider doing mass batch cooking in one go, such as on the Sunday evening before a new week. This would allow you to fill enough containers for dinners throughout the week.
Of course, you may end up getting bored from the same meals, so consider changing it up by adding different spices, or a different main ingredient into each meal. This helps keep things fresh and not put you off your dinners. Having the right food in your body helps your body recover quicker from workouts, such as at the gym.
What you should attempt to stay away from, is consuming too much unhealthy snacks. You’d be surprised at how many calories are packed into chocolate bars and other manufactured sweets. You should think about swapping to healthier options, such as fruit.
Of course, sometimes you don’t have time throughout the day to make a meal or consume one, that’s where meal replacement shakes come in handy. These shakes enable you to consume a tasty drink that slowly digests over a period of a few hours. You can browse viable shake options with Shake That Weight, who have a number of different flavours and options for anyone looking to improve their weight loss routine.
Rest And Sleep
One of the best things you can do in preparation for a day at the gym, is to ensure you had a good amount of sleep the night before. Better yet, make sure that you have a regular sleeping pattern set up, in order to best support your body. Sleep Is an important tool at your disposal when it comes to working out at the gym.
When you wake up feeling more refreshed, you’re much more likely to feel ready to start your day, as you’ll be highly motivated. There are different recommendations on how much sleep an adult should get, but most agree it’s around 8 to ten hours, but everyone is built differently. Either way, you should aim to go to bed and wake up at the same set times. This helps your body clock tick and set yourself up for the day, as your body knows when to shut down and open.
Stretching Before And After
When working out at the gym, it’s important to know that you can’t just show up and workout instantly. If you do, you run the risk of injuring yourself, as you’re not prepared. You can prepare for a workout by doing a set of stretches related to your workout, in order to wake your body up for what’s about to happen.
It’s the same story for when it comes to your post workout. You should stretch out your limbs, bones and muscles in order to aid their recovery. Overwise, you may find yourself in pain the next day, which will make you immobile, potentially putting back on those calories that you had burned.
Split Your Workouts For Different Days
You should mix up your workout routines, in order to freshen things up and spread the mobility across all of your body. If you only focus on your legs, for example, then you could overstrain exercise on them, and leave other parts of your body alone that need attention.
Work With Gym Employees And Trainers
Within your gym, there will be a number of employees on hand, even in 24/7 gyms, who can advise you on how certain machines work, and how they can help you. Aside from general on-site workers, there will be personal trainers around that you can pay for extra services, although some gyms will offer them free of charge, as part of the subscription.
A personal trainer is useful for a beginner who may be overwhelmed with what they can do or want from the gym. Personal trainers offer useful resources and knowledge for new gym members as they can reassure and advise, as well as offer support.
In most cases, a personal trainer will talk to you about your fitness goals and what you want from the programme. They will then make you a tailored workout plan, and sometimes even a diet, that allows you to have something to work with, whilst being confident.
Sign Up To Helpful Classes
Also at classes, you’ll have the opportunity to join a range of classes, from cardio workouts to yoga routines. There will most likely be something that interests you, that is a great way to get into exercise and working out. It also allows you to workout alongside others, helping you to motivate each other.
Of course, there will be an instructor to guide you about what you should be doing, and the more classes that you take, the more confident you’ll be in the activity. You can always bring a friend with you to classes too, which many choose to do.