Everyone knows that exercise is a healthy thing to do, and that it can boost mood, energy levels, and well-being.
All the same, just because exercise has all these benefits and then some, that’s not to say that every exercise routine will make you feel great. Often, for one reason or another, people actually end up getting into exercise routines that cause them to become stressed, injured, and exhausted.
No one wants to hurt themselves with an overzealous training routine, to the point where they need to visit a physiotherapy clinic. Likewise, no one wants their workouts leave them feeling zapped of energy and jaded for the rest of the day.
Here are a few bits of exercise advice to help you feel your best when you train.
Train, don’t strain
In recent times, “high-intensity training” has become all the rage – partly thanks to the popularity of CrossFit, and partly because of the shorter workouts that you can engage in when you are training all-out, at the fastest possible pace.
According to some research, there may be certain unique benefits to high-intensity training. But there are also certain unique downsides, and a series of risks associated with it, too.
Whenever you train with maximum intensity, to failure, your risk of experiencing injury rises dramatically. You also risk overtaxing your central nervous system and messing up your hormone production among other things, leaving you feeling exhausted, weak, and moody all the time.
Interestingly enough, some of the biggest strength and “physical culture” gurus of the past – including Charles Atlas – were big fans of the slogan “train, don’t strain.”
The idea was that you should work train until you feel tired, but not completely demolished – and that you should be able to walk away from each workout feeling good, energised, and strong, instead of like you’ve just been beaten senseless.
At the very least, adopting this training ethos will probably make you enjoy your workouts a lot more.
Whatever you’re doing, be sure to complement your routine with full body stretching
Whenever you engage in physical training, certain muscles will get worked out, and others won’t – and the muscles that do get trained will tend to tighten up over time.
It’s very common to see people experiencing muscular imbalances and tightness in certain areas, as a result of workout routines that emphasise particular movements, but not the counterbalancing ones.
Among other things, a great way to reduce the risk of aches and pains from your exercise routine is to be sure to complement your routine with full body stretching on a regular basis – whether that’s a yoga routine, Pilates, or something else.
Always support your workout routine with good sleep and nutrition
If you’re training hard, you simply need to have good nutrition and plenty of sleep, otherwise your body will be overtaxed, your nerves, muscles, and tendons won’t get properly refuelled, and you will be in a miserable state.
According to some fitness and diet experts, the recent trend in low-carb dieting may be especially detrimental here – as carbs are responsible for fuelling your muscles with glycogen and helping to reduce excess stress hormone levels, among other things.
