5 Secrets to Train More Effectively & Efficiently

Training is fun when you see results. But what happens when we are not making progress?  We all have been at a point in our lives where we think giving 100% of our energy and time towards exercise will pay off. Month after month, we wouldn’t really see any change or any progress, whether your goal is toning up or losing weight. Sooner or later, you might go down the road of just quitting altogether. Before you even think of giving up give these 5 Secrets to Train Better a try.

Safety First

Before doing any sport or fitness routine, it is important to know the basics. These basics include proper gear, foundational knowledge, posture, and the probability of knowing first aid (potentially for yourself or to help out a random stranger). Even knowing the game or the sport would give you the advantage of playing the game better. Getting to know your weaknesses is just as important as your strengths. Posture and balance play a big role in fitness and sports. Knowledge of how to properly position yourself for that swing/ kick will save you lots of pain and possibly hurting yourself in the short or long run. Get a posture/ balance scan, and have someone help you improve it.

Good quality safety gear is always a bonus. This gives you a higher percentage of not falling over yourself or even breaking a couple of bones. Safety gear isn’t the only thing to think of regarding physical damage, but also what you as the player need to do so that you don’t end up hurting yourself even further. Taping is a good example of taking precautionary measures not to worsen the sprain or strain of a particular limb. But let’s say you did push that wall a little further, of course, keep off of it. For minor sprains & strains, rest the limb. When we say rest, we mean don’t put extra pressure on it. Walking around with it, if it’s tolerable, would be beneficial to help the healing process as well as icing the injury. Local Cryotherapy is known to help decrease inflammation and help with increasing circulation. Compressing the limb will also help with draining out the fluids pooling in the limb and decrease the swelling at the same time. Last but not least, be sure to elevate your leg for a few minutes each time after walking around. This will also help with recirculation and drainage. Pay attention to how long you do it too – too long isn’t always beneficial.

Limber up and Cooling Down

So most people would probably warm up with some cardio before hitting the weights. But don’t skip on stretching even for a few minutes! Try to “Target Stretch” out the part your about to work out on. It sounds easy, yes, but also easy to neglect. Skipping on warming-up often leads to cramping or sometimes even worse. But nowadays, a lot of people see the benefits of incorporating rolling in their workout routines. Just think of it as like a workout and stretching at the same time! The Cooldown sessions are just as important as the startup. The importance of cooling down is to gradually decrease your heart rate, core body temperature, returning muscles to their optimal tension and length relationships, decrease blood pooling to your lower extremities, and breath rate. Not cooling down properly will often leave you dizzy and or possibly fainting. After workouts, it’s also important what you do after. You need to give your body time to rest and recover from the strenuous activity it’s been through. Inflammation is good to some extent but having excess inflammation can result to more pain. Whole Body Cryotherapy and a step into an Infrared Sauna can help with body recovery and have you back in the game in a shorter amount of time than just lying in bed.

Train Smarter not Harder

It’s not realistic to be spending more than an hour at the gym, neither will it be that beneficial. You shouldn’t spend 2 hours at the gym thinking if you do 2 hours of working out you will get more out of it than doing a 45 minute to 1-hour workout. It’s all about what you are doing consistently over time, rather than how long you do a single routine. There are a lot of new fitness trends and information on how to get more out of your training to reach your goal. One very popular training is “High-Intensity Interval Training”. HIIT training is as intense as it says it is, but it is for short period intervals. This type of training helps increase your metabolism, it’s quick and convenient, and can be done anywhere. So keep your eyes out for any HIIT workout routines, as you might wanna give it a try.

 

Supplements are only a portion of an Effective Program

As the word implies, supplements are only there to supplement what concerns you have with health & nutrition. Our health and nutrition play a big part in our goals, it’s usually 80% nutrition and 20% working out. It’s best to get your diet in check before going all out with working out. Seeing a nutritionist will help you assess a nutrition plan right for you and your goals. Nutrition isn’t just supplements and food, it caters to hydration, sleep, mood, and more. If you want to try out a nutrition program, Recovery Science has an in-house Degreed Nutritionist. Fill out the assessment form on our website and contact us to schedule a consultation.

“A Dream Without a Goal is Just a Wish, A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Dream”

So this step isn’t actually fitness-related, but without a fact, it will help you stay on track with your training. It is your mindset on why you’re doing your diet and exercise. Often falling in and out of your training leads to an ineffective program. Think about a reason why you need to be doing these types of training. The more superficial the reason, the more you cheat. But if you have a concrete reason, like it’s your sense of livelihood, a competition, health purpose, etc, you will have a greater chance of reaching and sticking to your goal. After getting the right mindset, setting up better habits and a plan or routine will make the rest a piece of cake.