Things You Should Always Do Before Beginning an Exercise Regimen

Starting a workout plan can be an exciting experience, whether it’s your first time or one of many regimens you’ve tried. You can enjoy a successful exercise experience if you plan accordingly. Once you understand the right things to do before exercising, you can tackle your workouts safely and with confidence.

How To Start A New Exercise Regimen

Before beginning any exercise regimen you should always do the following:

• Assess your current fitness levels
• Prepare your body for exercise
• Create a warm up and cool down routine
• Find the right gear
• Take it slow
• Be kind with yourself

Assess Your Fitness Level to Set Goals

Everyone starts a new exercise regimen at their unique fitness level, and it’s essential to understand where you are skill-wise. When you don’t understand your fitness level, you might choose workouts that are too challenging or not challenging enough.

If an exercise regimen is pushing you harder than your body can handle, you’re might injure yourself. Sprains and strains are among the most common workout injuries, and you may end up with one if you don’t understand your body’s fitness abilities.

Understanding your fitness level is essential for proper goal setting. Creating goals for your workouts can guide how often you exercise, what intensity level you reach and what physical results you want to see from your fitness routine. While a goal can motivate you when it’s within your abilities, an unrealistic goal can discourage you.

Using the SMART goals template can help you create achievable goals. SMART stands for:

• Specific.
• Measurable.
• Achievable.
• Relevant.
• Time-bound.

Prepare Your Body for Exercise

Whatever workouts you’re interested in, preparing for an exercise program involves strengthening your body for the work ahead. Your body is a valuable tool in your workout goals. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll have low energy levels that might push you to quit pursuing your goals.

How To Prepare Your Body For Exercise

Before you officially start your workout routine, you need to:

• Stay hydrated: While your body always needs water, the demand increases when you work out. As your body heats up, it produces sweat to cool you down. Sweat comes from your body’s water supply, so the more you work, the more your hydration drops. Dehydration can cause all sorts of symptoms, like headaches and dizziness. Drink water to avoid these issues.
• Sleep: When you’re asleep, your body recovers from all the work done during the day, protecting itself from disease and improving concentration. Much like hydration, sleep is essential whether or not you’re working out. However, exercise works your muscles harder and leads to a higher calorie burn, so you’ll need more energy building and body repair at night. Building this habit before you start exercising can help you keep it after you start.
• Eat hearty foods: Food is energy, and you’ll need it to power your body when you start your workout routine. Having a balanced diet of carbohydrates, proteins and fats can help you build muscle and give you the strength you need to push through tough sessions. You may need specific nutrients depending on the workout you choose.

Building these habits before you start working out can make it easier to maintain them once your routine starts. If you need help keeping track of these aspects, you can start a health journal to record recipes, track sleep and tally your water intake.

 

Create a Warm-Up and Cool-Down Routine

Warm-up and cool-down routines are essential for your exercise regimen. Your muscles need to be warm and loose before you increase physical intensity. Your warm-up can be as simple as walking on a treadmill for 10 minutes. You can also do a series of basic exercises to get your blood pumping, like lunges and squats.

Your cool-down is important for reducing lactic acid buildup that causes soreness, limiting the strain on your muscles and improving heart function post-workout. Focus on stretching different muscles for this routine, and take your time to allow your heart rate to slow.

Find the Right Gear

There are so many types of exercise out there. When you’ve found one that excites you, having the right gear can make the experience even better. While some forms of exercise, like cycling or swimming, have very definite gear requirements to make them work, even basic cardio like running can benefit from the right athletic wear.

While athletic clothing has become a fashion statement, it’s also functional. Finding performance fabrics like synthetic polyester blends offer moisture-wicking properties for keeping you cool. These materials can also have compression characteristics that support blood flow as you move.

You’ll especially want to think about your shoes and how they’ll affect your performance. For example, running shoes are usually lighter in weight than other sneakers, and they have additional padding in the toe and heel. In contrast, weight lifting shoes have a wedged heel to make squatting and driving force upward easier.

Take It Slow

Whether you’re an experienced fitness buff or you’re starting a workout plan for the first time, taking it slow is crucial. Your body is likely adjusting to new intensities and motions that it hasn’t done recently or ever. You need a grace period to adjust to these new functions.

Before you start working out, you might be tempted to go all in on the first day. However, doing so can lead to injury and may even discourage you from trying the activity a second time. Go into your new fitness plan with a slow and measured mindset. If you can remind yourself you’re building to your goals, you’ll enjoy your progress along the way.

Be Kind With Yourself

Being kind to yourself is some worthy advice for new and seasoned exercise planners. If you’ve never executed an exercise plan before, it’s easy to feel like you’re not good enough, but this idea is self-defeating. Remember that you’re stepping out of your comfort zone to try something new, and you deserve kindness as you’re adjusting.

If you have years of experience with fitness, starting a new regimen may not seem like a noteworthy event. However, you might be attempting a form of exercise that’s completely new to you. Perhaps you’ve been a loyal runner for years, and you want to try weightlifting. These drastic changes can still be challenging. Show yourself kindness when your workout is pushing you, and remember to rest when you need it.

Start Your Workout Regimen With 5 Bridges Health & Fitness

At 5 Bridges Health & Fitness, we make workout routines accessible wherever you are with our online workout programs. We also offer fitness classes at our gym in Linglestown, where you can experience a wide variety of fitness activities and exercise support. Whatever your fitness goals are, 5 Bridges Health & Fitness is here to help you reach them.