Workout ready
Happy Tuesday!
To Gym or Not Gym…seems to be a question lately.
Gone are the water-bottle challenges of the 110+ days ago & whether you’ve decided to go back into the gym, keep doing driveway workouts with your new home-gym stash or take on parkour at the parks, there’s still some fundamentals you need to stick to:
1. Don’t forget your warm up/cool down.
Notice I didn’t say “stretch.” You might feel looser after stretching, but some studies show that your muscles are weaker & slower to respond immediately after stretching. If you love to stretch before a workout, add some slow technique activities if you Oly lift, play with breath strategies with lower weights (if you’re working on pressure management) or start with a light jog to get the cobwebs out.
2. Your workouts don’t have to last forever.
Got 20 minutes? You’ll need to plan ahead- this is the key. Plan 3 exercises for a circuit, have a timer on-hand & have the equipment ready to go! Time-block your workout & you’re more likely to do it than if you just try to fit it in during your workday. A 3 minute warm-up; 15 minute high intensity interval (HIIT) workout & 3 minute cool down (ok that’s 21 minutes!) & you’re good to go. The important thing to remember is your heart rate & effort have to be high for this to have the desired effects. Not sure what that means? Many tracking devices like the Whoop have a “Strain Coach” to let you know in real time when you’re in your target effort! I’ve had mine for awhile now and love it (see last week’s IG post for more info & a discount code).
3. Rest days aren’t cheating. Let’s be honest, it’s still not normal out there. We’ve become more used to the constant stress of the world right now & you might feel like you need more sleep to recover in the same way you used to. Honor what you body feels like it needs (the Whoop & other devices are awesome at confirming sleep/rest with data & what you think you might be feeling).
Need to get back on the workout train & don’t where to start or need some accountability? Reply to this email for some suggestions or DM me on IG!
Have a great workout!
-C
