Making the most out of your workout: maximise weight loss, increase muscle tone with these simple steps
posted in Exercise Science |Making the time to fit a workout session into a busy work/family/social life is not always an easy thing to do. To make the most of the time that you have managed to put aside and maximize the benefits of your exercise session, pay attention to these few things during the course of your workout.
1. Hydration Status
An old classic, and one you’ve probably heard to the point of boredom, but it is so important in so many ways that you just can’t put it off any longer. One thing you may not have realized is that during hydrated exercise, the rate of fat burning potential increases. If you exercise in a suitably hydrated state, you will burn more fat during your workout than if you turn up to your session dehydrated.
It is usually recommended to take in around 1.5L of water daily to be adequately hydrated. This should be achievable if you’re exercising in the afternoon. If you are training in the morning, keep in mind that you have effectively been fasting all night while you’ve been sleeping so it’s even more important to try and take in some fluids. In this case, try to manage at least a few glasses of water when you first get out of bed, and again before your workout. If plain cold water is just not enticing enough, try green tea, hot water with lemon or mint or fruit juice if all else fails.
2. Taking your time
You were late to your session, you have to leave early, you want to finish your session quickly so you get away from the nasty person who makes you exert yourself repeatedly…whatever the reason, there is more harm to be done by rushing through your workout. Not only are you increasing the risk that you will injure yourself, but by rushing through an exercise, you are cheating yourself out of the benefits.
The amount of time that the muscle is contracting determines to an extent how much it will develop and get stronger.
Generally slow and controlled movements are the way to go, making sure that the movements you make are initiated from muscle force, not from the momentum of the prior repetition or from letting the weights fall due to gravity. And don’t forget that movements comprise both an up and down phase, and both of these parts are just as important as the other for keeping your muscle constantly working.
3. Resting
Rest periods throughout the session are just as important as the weight and type of exercises that your Exercise Physiologist has prescribed for you to do. Without giving the muscle enough time to rest in between sets means that it just gets tired quicker and is less able to do the work in order to get bigger or stronger.
Without rest, substances which are by products of muscle contraction continue to build up and can interfere with the ability of the muscle to continue to work until the muscle is given a chance to recover.