We know how hard it can be to get into exercise after a long break, or for the first time. It can take some time to adapt to the amount of work that you’re doing. Until then, it’s hard to see why people enjoy getting so sore and tired. So when you put in all that work and see barely any results, it’s very easy to get frustrated with the whole process. But are you looking at the other aspects of your life that might be hamstringing you? Perhaps you should.
The food you eat
It should be no surprise that your diet is going to play a huge role in how effective your exercises are. Though there are a few rules to keep in mind that a lot of people tend not to consider. First, you need to think about the goal of your lifestyle change. If you’re looking to lose weight, then you need to burn more calories than you eat. However, you need to make sure you’re eating enough that your body doesn’t go into ‘crisis mode’. If that happens, it will become super efficient at storing calories, making them harder to burn off. Find out your metabolic rate and adjust your diet accordingly to it.
Repetition, repetition, repetition
You might have some goals in regards to toning and building muscle as well. Unlike weight loss, you should know that muscle building can be targeted. The more you work on certain muscle groups and areas, the more they will thrive. That is true, but only up to a point. If you think of muscle memory, you think of the fact that it becomes easier to do a task the more you do it. The same goes for your body. If you repeat the same exercises, exercising the muscle groups in the same way, the body adapts. The less work it has to put into the exercise, the less result you’ll get from it. As well as adjusting reps and weight conditions, you should be varying it in a schedule of different exercises.
Bad post-workout practices
Just as working out without the right plan slow your progress significantly, so can what you do after your workout. Not only can bad post-workout practices stop you from getting the best out of your efforts. It can also make you take a much longer time to recover.
It can even cause a great deal of damage to your body. So you need to make sure that you’re getting plenty of water after workouts and taking the time to do warm down exercises. Stretch out and even use a foam roller to get some of the stiffness out of your muscles. You’ll find the recovery period goes a lot smoother afterwards.
Poor sleep
The most important part of recovering after a workout is getting a proper night’s sleep. Everyone knows that sleep matters, but you might not know just how important it is to getting the results you need. Sleep can help you get faster sprint times, longer endurance and a lower heart rate during a workout. A lack of it, however, make it harder to recover and gives you a lot more cravings for food. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you need to consider your night-time rituals before bed. For instance, you should be turning off things like the TV, your computer and your phone an hour before bed. Artificial light can do a lot of harm to your internal clock. Relaxing music, a hot bath or even meditation can make it all the easier to drift off into a restful sleep.
Those bad habits
There are some habits that aren’t just the result of passively ignoring behavior that will help you get more out of your workout. Those bad habits tend to be detrimental for your health in their own right, but they can go even further in affecting your workout, too. These are habits like drinking and smoking. Smoking is worst of them all, given the effects it can have on your lung capacity and general stamina. With resources like Vapor Vanity, it’s easy to research the health benefits of switching to safer alternatives. Until then, you won’t be able to get the best your body can offer.
Lack of time
This one is more of an excuse than a real factor that’s hampering your abilities to get fit. It’s easy to think that you don’t have the time to really get fit. You’re probably thinking you would need at least an hour to hit the gym. But you don’t have to hit the gym at all. Instead, you should focus on the ways you’re able to fit exercise into your everyday life. Consider commuting by bike or on foot as much as you can, instead of relying solely on the car and public transport. Do crunches while you’re at work. You can even get exercise done while you’re watching those all-important TV series. There are very few times you couldn’t be getting some exercise done after all.
Your mental health
It’s only natural that your mental and emotional health make it harder to get the results you need from a lifestyle change. Anxiety and stress can wreak havoc on your motivation and your ability to give it your all in the first place. The stress hormones, cortisol, also play a big role in food cravings and how we store that food. Stress eating isn’t just a fancy term for common behavior, it’s real science. Yet exercise can be a part of your therapy, as well. It’s about finding the other methods of getting yourself motivated. Exercise in groups or with a friend. Put on some music that helps you focus. Do it first thing in the morning after meditation. Find the method that works for you.
Fitness is about the whole body. It should be no surprise that just about everything you do can have some kind of knock-on effect. If you really want to get healthy, you should be looking to make changes to your whole lifestyle.
