Optimizing Your New Workout Routine ...

When you’re starting to work out for the first time or you’re resuming working out after a prolonged period of inactivity, you want to do what you can to give yourself the best possible chance for success. This is particularly true when you’re trying to lose a lot of weight or significantly improve your physique. Here are some pointers on how you make the most of your workouts, avoid injury, and achieve your fitness goals.

1. Spend Some Free Time Working out at Home

While some people find it helpful to make a dedicated trip to the gym to focus on working out, many other people don’t like the environment of a crowded gym. Moreover, when you’re trying to find time to work out several times a week, making that many trips to a local gym may be somewhat impractical for your busy lifestyle. Try a workout regimen that includes some exercises that you can do at home. You can get large gym equipment to use in a spare room such as a stationary bicycle, treadmill, or elliptical machine. Alternatively, you can use very basic equipment such as dumbbells, resistance bands, or a step deck. In addition, there are many effective exercises that you can perform without any equipment at all using only your own body weight.

2. Walk More Frequently

Many people’s daily habits don’t include a lot of walking. They drive everywhere they need to be, and they don’t really make it a point to walk when they can. However, walking at a brisk pace for at least 30 minutes most days of the week can enable you to burn at least 1000 calories every week while raising your metabolism. This relatively low-impact activity can help you to enhance your endurance and also build some muscle tone in your calves and hamstrings. In addition, walking can help to boost your mood and promote mental alertness, possibly inspiring you to feel ready to take on more challenging physical activity either later in the day or the next day. You can monitor how much you’re walking with a pedometer or a smartwatch to help stay on target.

3. Soothe Your Muscles

After a serious workout, a little tenderness may be expected. When you activate and stretch your muscles to build them, they’re slightly damaged. A moderate degree of soreness may come from using muscles that you don’t frequently use or putting some extra strain on the muscles that you do use regularly. Typically, muscles will rebuild themselves after mild strain from exercise. However, more acute pain shouldn’t be ignored. If your muscles are very sore, you need to give them a rest so that they can recuperate. Using a topical treatment can help to address inflammation and pain in your muscles. CBD sports cream from Joy Organics can alleviate fascial and nerve pain in your upper back, arms, and legs. Unlike other topical treatments, it doesn’t contain any manufactured chemical additives or aluminum. One of the benefits of using a topical treatment is that it can help you avoid prolonged use of NSAID pain relievers. A unique advantage of using a topical cream that contains CBD is that it can interrupt your body’s stress response to activity, diminishing the negative effect of stress on muscles as well as joints.

4. Nourish Yourself Well

You need to ensure that your dietary intake contains all of the nutrients that you need to power your body for exercise. If you’re working on building muscle tone and strength, you need to consume a large volume of protein. Lean meats, fish, and low-fat yogurt are protein-rich foods that can help your body to build and repair muscle. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, try eating peas, soybeans, and granola to boost your protein intake. You may be able to enhance the benefits of the protein that you eat by incorporating omega-3 into your diet. This fatty acid has been found to assist your body’s ability to utilize protein for muscle repair. Most people don’t get enough omega-3s in their diet; they’re found mostly in fish and flax. It may be helpful to take a dietary supplement to boost your omega-3 intake. Aside from protein and omega 3, you should also make an effort to include iron, vitamin D, and vitamin B-12 into your diet. These nutrients can also promote healthy muscles and help you maintain well-balanced energy levels.

5. Give Your Body the Rest That It Needs

Not getting enough rest can bring your energy levels down to a crawl. If you feel fatigued throughout the day, you won’t feel like exercising. Moreover, lack of rest can exacerbate the feeling of sore or achy muscles. The right amount of sleep can help you to recover from mild injury and also help to prevent you from sustaining an injury caused by strain or fatigue. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night will give your body the opportunity to repair itself and be prepared for physical activity in the day ahead. In addition to being more prepared to push yourself physically and build your endurance, you’ll have good energy levels and a better attitude towards working out.

Exercising in a way that fits well into your lifestyle and supplementing your efforts with proper care, nutrition, and rest can help make your fitness goals a reality. Dramatic change doesn’t happen all at once, so stay focused on your goals over time to achieve positive and long-lasting results.