Things You Should Do Before Every Workout

What you do during a workout is obviously important, but so to is how you prep for your workouts. Here are some pre workout habits to get into that will help step up your game.

Eat Something

For most people eating before a workout is going to be important for fueling up. Some people can experience stomach aches from eating too close to a workout (or too much), so it’s important to find what works best for you and stick with it. Most people do well with eating a snack about an hour before a workout. Always go for some blend of carbs and protein to get the most benefit from it. Complex carbs and protein are both foods that provide the sustainable energy that you need.

Drink Water

Being hydrated for a workout is very important as well. How much water you need to drink of course depends on your normal water drinking habits, how much you eat, your body type etc. Being hydrated can help you perform at higher levels and avoid being slowed down by dizziness or feeling lethargic.

Have an Itinerary

Workouts that have some sort of plan behind them are always going to go better than ones that do not, if you have specific goals in mind like losing weight or building muscle. It doesn’t really matter whether you use a high tech app or a piece of paper to log your goals and progress, just as long as you keep up with it. It’s a great way to stay honest with yourself and avoid getting distracted since you know what you came to do.

Warm Up if You Need To

Depending on your workout you might need to do a warmup. Some people benefit from using a foam roller for a minute or two to roll out some of the tighter areas on the body. The bunched up areas of the muscle fibers can be broken down to make your workout more efficient overall.

A dynamic warm up can be helpful to hit all the different body parts before going into any heavy weights. Dynamic basically means warmic up through movement, which will help to expand your range of motion and avoid injury from any tight muscles.

Make a Playlist

Okay adding music to your workout isn’t mandatory, but it makes you feel good than why not? Making a specific playlist can be a lot more motivating once you get to the gym than listening to what they have on or listening to random music on your phone. Some research has shown that music with 120-140 beats per minute (BPM) is the best to listen to for a great workout.

Commit

One of the most important things that you can do before your workout is commit to it. Some days wills always be better than others, but when you make a real commitment to getting there and getting it done you will always come out better than when you don’t place an importance on it.