Gain Strength
Hopefully by now you have made the commitment to workout regularly, or are at least working on developing that habit. You should be proud of yourself and feeling more confident about your workouts. Now that you have started working out on a regular basis, there are a few things to keep in mind when gaining strength.
During this second week of your workouts, now that you have built some consistency, you want to think about good form and focusing on proper execution of each move in your weight training workout. At this point you should be less concerned with the amount of weight and more concerned with proper form. There are two main reasons for focusing on form. First is safety. To avoid injury you want to make sure you are performing each repetition of each exercise with correct form. Otherwise you put yourself at increased risk for injury. Second is getting the most strength gain from your workout. After all, if you are taking the time to workout, don’t you want to get the most out of the time you are investing? During the beginning stages of your strength training workouts, most of your strength gains are going to come from your muscles learning how to move the weights properly (and consistently!) rather than from increased weight. You can utilize Workout Lab to help ensure you are using good form.
Work Out Food
The other thing you want to give some thought to at this point is proper fueling for your workouts. There are numerous studies and discussions around what to eat before a workout or if you should eat at all. My answer to that is yes, you need to fuel your body for optimal performance. Many people think that exercising on an empty stomach will increase fat burning; however, fueling yourself properly will allow you to work out longer, more efficiently and therefore burn more calories. Morning exercisers in particular need to make sure they have fueled themselves prior to their workout. During the night, glycogen stores in the liver, which are the source of carbohydrates that maintains normal blood sugar levels, can be depleted. That means if you exercise without fueling, you could be running on fumes. When you start exercising with low blood sugar levels, you fatigue sooner than you would have if you had fueled properly prior to the workout.
What to eat, how much and when can vary from person to person. If you had a large snack prior to bed, you’ll need less fuel than if you haven’t eaten since dinner at 6pm the night before. In that case, your blood sugar will certainly need a boost. Experiment with the likes of oatmeal, bananas, bagels, juice, or cereal to determine what works best for you, settles well and doesn’t cause stomach upset. Some athletes prefer to have their morning coffee prior to working out, while others find that it causes inconvenient bathroom stops during their workout.
The length of your workout will also play into when and how much you eat. If you are exercising more than 60-90 minutes, you should eat a meal (400 calories or so) at least 3 hours prior to your workout. However, if you are doing 30 minutes of cardio, a light snack (~100 calories) eaten less than an hour before your workout should suffice.
The most important thing when it comes to pre-workout fueling is listening to your body. Experiment with timing and eating different foods to learn what your body can tolerate and what improves your energy level and performance during exercise.
Focusing on good form and technique as well as proper fueling will certainly set you on the path to success with your workout program! For additional information on pre-exercise fueling, refer to additional articles on Workout-X such as What to Eat Before a Workout.