Couch potatoes love to joke that too much exercise is bad for you and while that’s generally just an excuse for avoiding it, they could actually have a point. Exercising effectively basically means preparing the body well, stressing it out of its comfort zone without compromising safety and then allowing it to recover sufficiently. If you skip any of these points, then you are setting yourself up for trouble, often in the form of avoidable injury.
Preparing the body
Possibly the most obvious example of preparing the body for exercise is undertaking an effective warmup. While this is extremely important and should never be skipped, preparation actually starts long before that. For example, you need to eat and sleep properly and make sure that you are appropriately dressed/equipped for whatever you intend to do.
This includes being prepared to cope with changes in your body temperature and possibly the ambient temperature as well. It also includes thinking about situational safety, especially outdoors. For example, if you’re out running or cycling then you want to be seen (and preferably heard as well) both in the daytime and in darkness so you’ll want hi-viz clothing with reflective elements and lights.
Stressing the body safely
If you want to make progress at anything, including exercise, then you need to be prepared to push yourself out of your comfort zone. If you want to maintain the gains you’ve made, at anything, including exercise then you need to keep pushing yourself to the outer limits of your comfort zone. Either way, you want to make sure that you are using the right technique for the exercise and stop at an appropriate point. This is where it can be very helpful to have a coach or at least a training partner.
Always make sure that you maintain proper hydration during exercise. This means drinking enough water (or proper sports drink) to replace what you are losing in sweat – and no more. Remember the overhydration is a real issue with medical consequences, so just take what you feel you need as slowly as possible.
Last but by no means least, remember to be prepared for situations where your body will cool down rapidly unless you cover up quickly. This is a particular risk when undertaking high-intensity exercises outdoors, for example, practising sprints, but can occur in many situations. Layers are your friend.
Allowing the body to recover
As before, probably the most obvious example of allowing the body to recover is performing a proper cool-down after the main exercise. Again, this is very important and should never be skipped, but again, it’s only a small part of the overall story.
If you were pushing your muscles (as is the case with most forms of exercise), then you might want to show them some love in the form of protein. Protein shakes are the classic option and many can be made with milk or water. These days, most of them are based on whey protein (and/or casein) but you get a few which use meat-based protein and a few vegan options.
You also want to allow your muscles effective rest, preferably in a warm environment, which can be anything from a hot bath or shower (preferably a steam shower) to a sauna (including an infra-red sauna). Ideally, you’ll give them regular massages as well. If you can’t afford visits to a human massage therapist or just want an alternative for your home, there are various tools you can use for self-massage.
Try to target different muscle groups as much as you feasibly can. This can be difficult if you’re training for a specific sport, especially if you compete, but if you’re just exercising to keep fit, then try to work-out at least all the major muscles and balance your muscle training with cardio training.
