Warm up before training
Do a warm-up . If you have a group or individual lesson with an instructor, he will make sure to include warm-up exercises in the lesson. “If you exercise on your own, never neglect them either,” says Olga Kochetova, fitness manager of a personal training studio for the Planet Fitness network of clubs. — Before training, perform joint exercises (rotations in the main joints, bending and turning the body) and dynamically stretch the main muscle groups. Start your cardio workouts at a reasonable pace, gradually raising your heart rate to your training level.”
Pre-workout nutrition
Eat one and a half to two hours before training. If we are not talking about yoga, then it is optimal to have a snack during this time and something carbohydrate-rich : such food will provide you with energy during training. If you do yoga, then it is optimal not to eat three hours before training - your stomach should be guaranteed to be empty. If this condition cannot be met, let’s have a small snack - say, a glass of kefir, but no less than an hour and a half before class. We talked more about nutrition before and after training here .
Refresh yourself after working out at the gym - the best products
Chicken with rice
It is an excellent source of “clean” proteins, vitamin B, niacin and other beneficial substances that participate in the carbohydrate cycle. In addition, it is worth using dark rice instead of polished white rice, dark rice contains much more nutrients. In general, chicken breast is best, but any other poultry meat can be used.
A similar combination - rice + chicken - will allow glucose to quickly reach exhausted muscles. By the way, it’s also worth adding steamed vegetables - this will supplement your diet with vitamins.
Hummus with whole grain pita bread
Hummus and pita bread are oriental dishes that can most often be found in Turkey. Hummus is a kind of chickpea spread. This is a very nutritious dish that our body very quickly converts into energy. In addition, it is also worth adding whole grain pita bread, which is good for the stomach. Hummus is an excellent source of protein and carbohydrates.
Bran bread and almond butter
A fairly healthy combination, which also allows you to quickly return lost energy to the body. These food products will supply your body, in addition to energy, with useful substances, for example, potassium, which is “responsible” for building muscles. If you combine bran bread and almond butter, you get an excellent option for completely restoring the body without saturating it with fats and other harmful substances.
Dried fruits and nuts
This dessert is not only very tasty, but also very healthy. Raisins, prunes, dried bananas, dates, various nuts - this delicious mixture will gladly replenish your tired body with the energy it needs. The benefits of dried fruits are shouted at every corner, figuratively speaking. But we do not need all dried fruits, but only those that will replenish the body with energy.
Probably, dried fruits and nuts are one of the most pleasant combinations from the entire review.
Tuna and whole grain crackers
Another nutritious and very tasty dish. Tuna is a very tasty fish, and when combined with crispy crackers, it's something special. In addition, tuna and whole grain crackers help restore energy reserves and replenish the body with useful substances, including omega3 fatty acids. Crackers are a good source of carbohydrates.
Salmon with vegetables and herbs
Another delicacy, the effect of which is similar to the previous dish. Salmon will supply the body with the above-mentioned healthy fatty acids, while greens and vegetables, as usual, will replenish the supply of vitamins and other useful substances.
Well, let's leave it at this for now. If anyone tries these dishes, please write in the comments. By the way, it would be interesting to know, what do you eat after training?
Water before workout
Drink some water. "Yes! You need to drink not only during and after training, but also before it, advises Olga Kochetova. - This will avoid dehydration, which deprives us of strength. In total, you should drink 0.5-0.7 liters per workout.” Drink in small portions of 100-250 ml approximately 15 minutes before class and every 15-20 minutes during it.
Dress appropriately. Choose sportswear for reasons of comfort. And you will be comfortable in clothes that suit your type of fitness.
Get ready for the lesson. By being late for training, you not only violate etiquette. You are harming yourself first of all: you will be nervous because you are late, you will not really warm up, you may miss important advice from the coach and simply steal your time. For some activities, morale is also important. For example, ballroom dancers advise just walking around the hall for five minutes before class to get in the mood for work.
For swimming
Your aim. Eat something energetic - enough for a vigorous swim, but small - so as not to swim with a full stomach.
Before. 20 minutes before, drink a cup of coffee or strong tea, eat a banana or peach. Fruits will help you raise your blood sugar to the desired level and keep you alert, while coffee will increase your adrenaline and allow you to train hard with almost no food. However, you will have to drink an extra glass of water, because coffee is also a powerful dehydrator.
During. If you are swimming long distances, drink about half a liter of water during your workout.
After. You need to eat within the first hour after training, and the food should contain both carbohydrates and proteins in sufficient quantities. If you've been swimming long distances, hit up the carbs with snacks like pancakes or sandwiches. And don’t forget about vitamin C and beta-carotene - a glass of apple juice, carrots or orange are good sources.
Post-workout nutrition
Don't forget to eat. Yes, it's necessary. But taking into account the intensity of your activity. “Within 20 minutes after energy-intensive workouts (strength, cardio, swimming), you need to close the protein-carbohydrate window - eat a small portion of protein-carbohydrate food,” says Olga Kochetova. “This could be a piece of fruit, some dried fruit, plain yogurt, a granola bar, part of a protein bar, juice, a protein shake or a mass gainer.” A full meal, again with an emphasis on protein foods, is acceptable an hour and a half after class. If the workout was low-intensity (stretch, Pilates, yoga), there is no need to close the protein-carbohydrate window. So it doesn’t matter whether you eat immediately after it or after some time. You can read more about what and when to eat after a workout here . You can read about nutrition when gaining muscle mass here.
Don't get too cold. After training, don't rush home - you need to cool down.
Take a shower at the fitness club or just sit for a while after class. Dress warmly. Warm muscles can easily get cold: ballerinas wear leg warmers not for beauty, but so as not to harm the muscles.
How to get rid of pain after a workout
Of course, a headache is quite an unpleasant and painful phenomenon, but it can be easily dealt with, the main thing is to start on time. If you are not opposed to medications, then you can take a tablet of Citramon, Analgin or Spazmalgon, they will help you quickly relieve spasms and forget about the pain. But, if you are not a fan of medications, then you can cope with the pain on your own, for example:
• lie down, relax and try to sleep;
• take a warm, relaxing bath (it’s very good to add sea salt or essential oils to it);
• rub your temples with menthol ointment and massage thoroughly, but gently;
• contrast shower (it’s very good to take it immediately after training, this will help you quickly switch and tone up);
• apply lemon slices to your temples and hold for 15 minutes;
• brew herbal tea (herbs such as St. John's wort, mint or coltsfoot are good);
• You can also eat something sweet (for example, 1-2 spoons of honey or a slice of dark chocolate).
Such simple and easy methods will help you get rid of headaches and relax after a hard workout.
Bath and sauna after training
Be careful with the bathhouse or sauna. We noted above: try not to get too cold after training. But this does not mean that after class you need to immediately go to the bathhouse to warm up . “Visiting a bathhouse or sauna is a load on the cardiovascular system,” reminds Olga Kochetova. — Therefore, after intense physical activity, you should not sit in the steam room for a long time. Take a separate day for this or combine it with low-intensity exercise.”
As you know, not everyone can fall in love with sports. Sometimes awareness of the obvious benefits of physical exercise does not help. However, in addition to losing extra calories, there is another advantage of “physical education” - doing it helps improve your mood.
How is this possible? According to scientific research, physical activity is essentially stress, to which the body responds by producing the protein BDMF, serotonin and endorphins. An increase in the amount of protein helps to strengthen the body’s defense response and activate the development of neurons; in general, the effect of this substance leads to a feeling of lightness in the body. Proteins for female athletes in Kyiv will help enhance this effect. Endorphins reduce pain after exercise, promoting euphoria. Serotonin has a similar effect - it leads to the emergence of new strength, a “second wind” during training. It is thanks to the production of all these substances that we feel physical lightness and moral satisfaction even after very hard training.
However, in order to get a good mood and a surge of strength after sports, it is important to accustom yourself to it. And for this, in turn, you need to find the right motivation. One of them is the psychological attitude and reward system. For example, it is useful to praise yourself after a full workout, since going to the gym means overcoming your laziness, which is the cause of most of our “I can’ts.”
Proving to yourself that physical activity leads to improved mood is within the power of each of us. To do this, you need to spend just a minute: stand in the plank position, that is, rest your toes on the floor and your arms bent at the elbows. After just a minute of this “standing,” additional energy and vigor appear, and your mood lifts itself.
If just a minute of physical activity gives such a result, what can we say about a full-fledged cardio workout in good company and with driving music! Sports nutrition from www.minotaur.com.ua will also be useful.
Sometimes your mood is so bad that you don’t want to do anything, let alone go to the gym. In this case, you can “cheat” - start doing easier and seemingly frivolous exercises. Often, during such activities, the mood rises on its own. For example, you can replace your workout with a long walk.
If you are in a bad mood, it is also recommended to do pranayama - breathing exercises according to the yoga system. The first thing to do is sit comfortably, cross-legged, with your back straight, and breathe deeply and calmly for a couple of minutes, paying attention exclusively to your breathing and forgetting about everything else.
Sometimes you can diversify your sports activities - do a lighter workout, reducing the number of repetitions and the weight of dumbbells. It is useful to take 30-second breaks between sets.
For such light training, regular ab training in a reduced mode is also suitable. It is only important to follow all the rules.
If your mood is completely bad, you can “fool around” - jump or dance for about 3 minutes. Often, such “exercises” distract you from unpleasant thoughts and after a few minutes the body is ready to start training.
It is very important at such moments not to reproach or blame yourself for not getting a full workout. After all, we managed to lift our spirits – and that’s the main thing! www.minotaur.com.ua
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