We all know how hard it is to start working out. Once you actually have your training schedules planned out, signed up to a gym, worked up the motivation (seemingly from nowhere) to get to the gym every day, you then have to find the will to be persistent, to change daily exercise from a habit into a lifestyle.
Making progress in the gym requires a lot of time and since time is so valuable, you don’t want to waste one second of it on a suboptimal workout.
It’s vital that you take the necessary steps to optimize your training regimen to ensure that the sweats you break is effective and essential worth the work.
Below are a number of factors to take into consideration to get the best results from your workout:
Eat Correctly
What you put in is what you get out. It’s an age-old adage that contains more than a grain of truth.
The food you eat has a direct effect on your body, energy levels as well as the gains you expect to see at the gym.
It’s the fuel you require to keep your body running efficiently, and it should be as healthy as possible if you expect to get anywhere.
A good rule of thumb is to cut down on processed foods, trans fats, sugars, alcohol and carbohydrates, and increase your intake of fresh vegetables, fruits, healthy fats such as avocados and nuts, and proteins.
You’ll also need to monitor your calories – if you’re looking to gain mass, ensure you have a surplus; if you’re looking to lose weight, ensure you have a deficit.
Get the Right Amount of Sleep
Sleep is always treated as an afterthought when it comes to training, when it should really be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Sleep ensures that you wake up feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and restored.
It’s vital for reducing the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. It’s therefore of the utmost important that you get at least seven hours of a sleep a night – the average requirement for an adult – and this means optimizing your sleep environment to ensure you not only get the correct quantity of sleep, but also the best quality.
The easiest way to do improve the quality of your sleep is by buying a mattress that is firm, temperature regulating and comfortable. There are a number of online retailers that offer these kinds of mattresses,
such as Eve Sleep that can be sent to your home, tested and returned if the quality isn’t satisfactory. This convenience means you won’t have an excuse for sleeping poorly again.
Stay Consistent
For your workouts to be as effective as they can be, you’ll have to stay consistent. This means sticking to your exercise schedule and putting all other commitments after it.
It won’t do you any good to go to the gym twice a week with five days in between. If you want to see steady improvement you’ll have to be dedicated, sticking to your exercise regimen religiously as well as remembering to take rest days in between.