Exercise Advice and Tips

 

Here are some simple guidelines that will help you get the most from your exercise. They relate particularly to resistance-based exercise.

 

 

Warm up at the start of a workout

 

Get your heart rate up, get your blood flowing.  Take at least five minutes to do it with some aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, jogging or cycling at a moderate intensity.  If you're about to engage in a particular sport, and especially if it's competitive, be aware that new evidence tells us that extensive muscle stretching (as opposed to warm-up) can deplete available energy considerably.   Warm up in a manner consistent with the activity you're planning, for example, slow jogging, or or arm swings for swimmers and golfers.  (See this link for recent information on stretching)

 

Stretch

 

When performing weight training, dynamic stretches in the form of warm up sets (using moderately heavy weights) will extend your muscles in preparation for the actual exercise.

 

Close to Failure, but not Fatigue

 

Unless you’re undertaking a specific body building programme, you’re aiming for tiredness and exertion in your exercise, not the absolute pain of failing to complete the last repetition through muscle fatigue.

 

Don’t Hold Your Breath

 

…during an exercise, as this can put unnecessary and risky strain on parts of your abdomen, and reflects a lack of measured control over the exercise.   Breathe naturally and in general inhale on the weight’s downward movement and exhale on its upward movement (the difficult movement).  

 

Avoid Zero-to-Hero

 

It’s easy, especially for males, to try and set a high mark of attainment first time out (after all, that means you’ll be building on a higher base later, right?)(And there might be people there to impress…e.g. yourself, among others)

 

This is a recipe for injury and disappointment.   There are many people around with chronic pain from injuries that have gradually calcified (not healed to their original condition); and there are similarly many folks who overdid the initial blast, didn’t like the discomfort, and were slow coming back for more.

 

When you start exercise after a long break, do a little less than your maximum.

 

Evenly Pace Your Repetitions

 

Unless you’re performing specific exercises for explosive speed, keep each aspect of the rep even and measured; with typically 2 seconds spend on the weight’s upward movement and 2 seconds on the downward movement, breathing evenly and deeply throughout.

 

 

Control and Form

 

Remember it's precision, care and control that count in your movements, not a heaving or flinging motion which is needed if the weight is too heavy.   Care and control build strength as much as the stress itself.

 

Work Both Sides of the Body and Remember the Push and the Pull

 

Good muscle conditioning and strengthening applies the principle of balance.  To achieve equal strength and toning over the entire body, plan your exercise so that you work both the pulling and pushing movements.  The strength in each will improve and you'll reduce the risk of injury. 

 

Allow at Least One Day of Rest Between Working the Same Part of the Body

 

In building strength or simply toning your physique, it pays to give your muscles between 2 to 5 days recovery between working a particular body part.

 

Don’t Compete with, or Race Against Others

 

As with so many fields of performance, the real competitor is you.  Work on gradual, safe and incremental improvement in your achievements, find pleasure and fun in it, and the results can pile up.

 

Focusing on someone else's performance means you're not thinking about your own.  Relevant, safe and incremental achievements are all you need for the performance that really affects you.

 

Drink Plenty of Water Before, During and After Exercise

 

Under significant exercise, your body continuously uses fluid, so it's good to replenish it on the same basis.  

 

Cool Down and Stretch at the end of a workout

 

The cool down (sometimes referred to as warm down) is the period when the body and mind adjusts from exercise to rest.   When performing cardiovascular exercise , reduce the intensity of the exercise over the last 3-10 minutes to bring the heart rate down gradually and reduce the likelihood of post exercise lightheadedness or fainting and muscle spasm or cramping.

 

When performing weight training, a cool down consisting of light aerobic exercise followed by flexibility stretches whilst the muscles are warm (allowing more mobility) may aid recovery of the muscles.  Flexibility stretches performed during cool down are different to the warm up stretches as they are held longer and may be of a more intense nature.