You don’t have to be a professional athlete to want to maximize your workouts.
Looking good and being healthy are not solely the concerns of professional athletes and models.
Having a beautiful and functional body is something that enhances your everyday life.
Here are 5 easy ways you can start maximizing your workouts starting today.
1. Eat After You Exercise
Gym goers often debate whether it’s better to eat before or after working out.
The misconception in the minds of those supporting the former is that you need the necessary fuel in order to complete your workout.
Those that practice intermittent fasting will tell you otherwise.
The only negative factor to consider when working out on an empty stomach is feeling bogged down or light-headed.
This can occur due to low blood sugar. However, if you maintain good eating habits and do not have any underlying health issues, this won’t be a problem.
Intermittent fasting is the practice of eating all your meals within a predetermined time window.
For instance, you allow yourself an eight-hour period during the day in which to consume all your calories. For the rest of the day, you only drink water or other zero-calorie beverages.
Those that practice intermittent fasting often choose to work out before breaking their fast.
So, if you eat your first meal at 11 in the morning, you might work out at 10. It may seem counterintuitive but this practice boosts your fat burning.
One study shows that this practice elevates lipolysis in your adipose tissue while encouraging the use of fat as your primary fuel.
While you don’t have to engage in intermittent fasting, eating after you exercise will promote the same mechanism.
Eating after you exercise will help you recover quicker. Your muscles will replenish their glycogen stores and you’ll be ready to take on the day with plenty of energy.
2. Eat a Healthy Breakfast
So, you complete your workout in the morning and it’s time for breakfast. What kind of meal will contribute to optimal recovery while giving you the boost you need to tackle your day?
Before looking into specific foods, it’s important to know what a good breakfast should contain.
Your body needs branched-chain amino acids and healthy carbohydrates to maximize your workouts.
However, you don’t want to be wolfing down chicken breasts and legumes first thing in the morning.
Eggs, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt will give you the protein you need.
Oats or bran cereal can provide the necessary carbs. Round off your breakfast by incorporating bananas or berries for their micro-nutrient content.
For variety, you can alternate between pancakes or oatmeal and omelettes or scrambled eggs with toast.
Do your due diligence with counting calories but don’t sell breakfast short. Also, don’t be obsessed with cutting out fat completely.
Specifically, studies show that preferring full-fat milk over skim milk will actually promote muscle growth. It’s better to have a full breakfast and be measured with your other meals than be stingy with your morning grub.
3. Watch Portion Size
Nobody likes to spend time measuring portion sizes.
Luckily, with some basic knowledge on how to structure your meals, you won’t need to walk around with a scale.
If you decide to eat before working out, try to keep your portion sizes in check.
If you’re going to have a large meal, keep it three to four hours before your fitness activity. With snacks, it’s ok to have them an hour or two before hitting the gym.
If you’re like most people, food is on your list of pleasant experiences.
It’s easy to have a few more carbs than you need. To keep your portion sizes from getting out of control, use some simple tricks.
Using a smaller plate will trick your brain into believing that you’re eating more. Save the big dinner plates for a special occasion and use smaller dishes instead.
Another trick to apply so that you don’t consume excess calories is to slow down your pace.
Your body may need up to 20 minutes to message your brain that it is satiated. If you eat at a fast pace, you may wolf down an extra bread roll before it’s too late.
Now, in terms of the actual size of the meal, you accustom yourself to how much protein, carbohydrates and fat you need to include.
High-performance athletes weigh their every meal so as to be precise but you don’t need this level of accuracy.
If your recommended serving size for vegetables is two cups, you should have a measuring cup in your kitchen drawer.
If you consume meat for protein, familiarize yourself with how big a serving size of chicken you need.
It may be a single breast or two drumsticks.
Therefore, standardizing your shopping will help you get the proper portion sizes.
Make your purchases with your weekly meal schedule in mind, making your portion allocation an intuitive process.
Furthermore, mass meal preparation will help you avoid wasting time on getting your portions just right.
If you’re serious about your fitness, you can precook or preallocate portion sizes.
By keeping these prepared meals in the fridge or freezer, all you’ll have to do is throw them in the oven or microwave.
A fully prepped meal with correct portion sizes is a great way to avoid overeating or not getting enough nutrients.
4. Snack Well
People often associate snacks as being counterproductive to their fitness goals.
This happens primarily because of what popular culture considers a snack.
Choosing a healthy alternative can maximize your workouts. Snacks can supercharge your metabolism while curbing the cravings that result in overeating.
Opt for some Greek yogurt with fruit or a peanut butter sandwich.
Reprogram your brain to look at snacks under a different light. Instead of guilty pleasures, you should look at snacks as tools to help you maximize your workouts.
This mentality should carry over to how you view desserts.
Rather than a decadent post-dinner setback, learn to craft desserts that will boost your fitness gains further.
After all, a dessert should be delicious, not necessarily sweet and fattening.
By integrating protein-rich desserts into your nutrition, you can encourage a speedier recovery and turbocharged muscle growth.
Puddings and smoothies are options that combine a pleasant texture, pleasant scents and great tastes that satisfy your sweet tooth.
Spacing a couple of snacks throughout the day will keep your energy levels high enough and promote post-workout recovery.
5. Hydrate
The importance of hydration cannot be overstated.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends two to three cups of water in the two hours before working out.
Although there are no rules for how much water you should consume during your workout, it’s good to keep hydrated in the gym.
Body size, the rate at which you sweat and the heat and humidity in your workout environment all play a role in determining how much water you will need.
You’ll also have to consider the intensity and length of your workout. Sipping some water throughout your session should keep you functioning at an optimal rate.
Avoid gulping large amounts which could cause you bloating and discomfort.
An important factor to consider is the role of sports drinks in hydration. Some gym-goers see their sports drinks as a necessary staple while others avoid them completely.
Sports drinks can be useful for long cardio sessions or prolonged high-intensity sessions.
With these kinds of activities, you lose electrolytes which are essential to your body’s biomechanics.
Electrolytes are chemicals that conduct electricity and regulate your muscle and nerve function.
They are important for keeping your hydration levels adequate and aiding with your recovery.
A good sports drink will contain electrolytes like calcium and sodium while having low sugar content.
Not all brands are created equal.
Spend some time looking through the contents to find a drink that suits your body’s needs.
Make Your Workouts More Efficient
To maximize your workouts, you need to take advantage of the way that your body works.
The recovery and muscle building mechanisms of your body offer room for improving your results.
Whether you focus on building muscle, cardio, conditioning, functional fitness or a combination of these elements, modulating your habits outside the gym will enhance your results.
You can achieve life-changing improvements by taking care of your nutrition, hydration and by getting plenty of rest.
Start by keeping a journal of your nutrition and hydration.
Just as you would record your workouts so as to monitor your progress, your behavior outside the gym is no different.
In order to improve anything in life, the most important factor is measurability. If you’re not one to count calories, at least keep a journal of your meals.
Finally, build habits that last. Preparing for success and turning best practices into rituals will go a long way. Good habits make failure virtually impossible as you leave no room for error.
Putting together your meals beforehand, having a water bottle to accompany you in your workouts and minimizing distractions are a few of the tips that will lead you to achieve your goals.
You will be surprised to know that many of your favorite athletes and celebrities don’t spend countless hours in the gym.
On the contrary, they combine smart workouts with ample hydration, healthy diets and adequate rest.
Start Today
Getting the most out of your fitness regimen is a matter of playing the long game.
Every change you make in your daily routine today will start to take effect immediately.
The results, however, will compound over time and people will start to notice over the coming weeks and months.
The sooner you take action, the quicker the changes you implement will translate to what you see in the mirror.
Don’t wait another day to get started. Take the first step on your journey to better results today.
Final Thoughts
Aspiring to get the most out of your workouts is very much about your quality of life.
With a busy schedule, it makes sense to take all of the necessary actions to get the best results.
By changing the way you look at your physical fitness, you can boost efficiency and achieve optimal health and aesthetics.
Being strong, toned with a stellar physical evaluation from your doctor should be the goal.
To maximize your workouts, you have to work smarter, not harder.
Progressively increasing your intensity never hurts, however, there are things you can do beyond that.
Structuring your habits outside the gym differently can lead to measurable fitness gains.
The actions that maximize your workouts have to do with what you put into your body.
Furthermore, the time of day that you consume your food plays an important role. With proper eating habits, you will be more efficient in achieving your goals.
