Exercising and keeping fit have some great benefits. Exercise helps to keep you healthy, it helps you sleep better, improves your mood and certainly gives you more energy to tackle the challenges that life brings on a daily basis. However, along with the benefits of keeping fit, there are some habits that we would do better to avoid.
Six of the worst habits that are hampering those gains that you have worked hard for
1. Alcohol
We can all agree, that after a tough race or a game of sport with our mates, often the first thing that we crave is a cold beer or refreshing alcoholic drink. This is great, it has become part of the experience of going out to a sporting event. It helps us relax and certainly makes us feel like we have achieved something. The problem comes in when we start forgetting the reason we are there in the first place, to do some exercise and pursue a healthy lifestyle.
Fitness experts agree that to get the most from cardiovascular exercise such as running or swimming, you have to put in the physical effort. But while your hangover may make a less hectic workout feel welcome, it's harder to build up the head of steam you need to stay in shape when you have a headache, and nausea is beginning to kick in. This is because last night's alcohol leaves your body dehydrated, even before your session starts.
The way in which alcohol is absorbed by the body can also reduce the amount of fat that you are able to burn by exercising. Because your body isn't designed to store alcohol, it tries to expel it as quickly as possible. This gets in the way of other processes, including absorbing nutrients and burning fat. So as well as slowing down the burning of calories, alcohol gets in the way of the nutritional benefits of the healthy meals you eat.
You can still enjoy a drink and maintain a healthy lifestyle, moderation is the key.
2. Inconsistence
In order for you to be consistent I can strongly recommend that you have a well thought out and effective set of goals. Be sure to set goals that are realistic and share these with close friends and family. With these goals comes a plan or training program that will help you to be consistent in your training.
Why not try a coach?
3. Poor diet
Tim Noakes, an A-rated South African professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town, says that you can not outrun a bad diet. However you look at this, the message is clear; just because you exercise a lot, does not mean that you can eat whatever you want to.
It can be tempting to get into the mind-set of being able to eat whatever you want, as you will burn it off in that 20 miler you have coming this weekend. Even though there appears to be some doubt in the diet world, I suggest better to hedge your bets and lean towards a healthy diet, even if you do run a lot.
4. Too much too soon
Exercising feels great and you might feel like you ready to jump a step in the process. I strongly recommend increasing your intensity and duration of training gradually to prevent any unneccessary injuries.
If you do too much too soon, the negative psychological effects can be damaging. You will have a decreased desire to train and as a result less joy from training. Along with this, going to hard early on in your program can also lead to decreased performance when you head out for some exercise.
For a good sustainable training program, I advise that you only increase your load by 10% at a time, this will decrease the risk of injury and keep the enjoyment factor high.
5. Being one dimensional
And I am not talking about the boy band. Variety in your training is important. If you are a runner, make sure you find time to do some weight training or cross training. These sessions have to be added to your program even if you use them as a form of active recovery.
Adding variety to your training will not only build muscles in places you didn't even know existed, it will also make exercising a lot more fun and therefore you will be less likely to drop out of a training program.
6. Running tired
Making sure that you are well rested and recovered is very important. Recovery from a sessions is essential if you are to get the maximum benefits from the subsequent training session. Exercise performance and gains in your fitness has been shown to improve following relative rest.
Obtaining sufficient rest, becoming rehydrated and restoring fuel sources are critical issues for any runner or exercise enthusiast during recovery.
Make sure you get those magic seven to nine hours of sleep every night.
