When Is the Best Time to Workout?
There is no reliable evidence to suggest that a certain time of the day is best for workout. So, the best time to workout for you is when you have time. So you can workout regularly and make it a habit. Check you daily routine and figure out what time of the day you can exercise without any interruptions.
How Often Should I Go to The Gym?
Consistency is the most important key to achieve anything. It doesn’t matter whether you go to gym for 3 days a week or 7 days a week; but how consistent you are. For a better consistency, you must go to gym for a minimum 3 days a week as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you can manage, 5-6 days a week is much better option.
How Long Should I Workout?
There is no ideal length for a workout because it all depends on person, exercise type, exercise intensity, goals, experience and many other factors. A workout can be last 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes or more. The point here to understand is; finding a balance between undertraining and overtraining. If you workout for a very short duration, you will not get satisfactory results. If you workout for a exceptionally long duration, you will be caught up in overtraining.
A complete gym workout has many phases like warm up, strength training, cardio and cool down, looks like this:
Warm up – 10 minutes
Strength training – 40 minutes
Cardio – 10 minutes
Cool down – 10 minutes
So you can complete your workout within 60-90 minutes easily.
General Suggestions About Nutrition & Supplements
Focus More on Natural Diet
An athlete’s nutrition requirement is much more than a normal person. If a normal person has a capacity to lift 80 kg, he will never lift more than 20-30 kg in his entire life. So he is using his body 30-40% only. If an athlete can lift 100 kg weight, he tries to lift 120 kg. So, he is using his body beyond his capacity. This is the reason an athlete needs much more nutrition.
Major source of our nutrition is our food. So if you want to get results in gym, spend more time in kitchen. Include high quality protein, complex carbs, good fat, fruit, vegetables and salad in your daily diet.
Important Meals Before and After Workout
- 90-120 Minutes Before Workout: Take a full meal, rich in protein, carbohydrates and fats. 20 grams protein, 50 grams complex carbohydrates and 10 grams of good fat are enough.
- Immediately After Workout: Add high quality protein and simple carbohydrates in a post workout meal. 20 grams protein and 50 grams carbohydrates are enough. Don’t use fat and fiber after a workout; as it will slow down your digestion rate.
- 90-120 Minutes After Workout: This is the time to have a complete meal; rich in protein, carbohydrates, fats and fiber.
Use Supplements Carefully
If you are a beginner, you don’t need any supplement. As I said above, focus on your natural diet. If you are not able to complete your nutrition requirements with natural diet, you can go for dietary supplements. But always remember, dietary supplements are just a choice, not a substitute.
As a beginner, a whey protein and a good multivitamin are sufficient for you. You don’t need anything else, but if you really want to add something other than protein and multivitamin, you can add BCAAs, fish oil or glucose. If you think you need a caffeinated pre-workout drink, choose coffee, very mild and effective.
The so-called gym trainers will come to you to sell you different fancy supplements; simply say no to all. If they force you too much to buy any other supplement; ask them the reason.
Never Buy Cheap Supplements
If you don’t have a good budget to purchase a high quality supplement then go for natural sources, but never compromise with cheap supplements. Suppose, if you need a protein supplement and can’t afford a high quality brand, use natural sources like eggs.
Buy Genuine Supplements
In Indian market, almost everyone is selling fake supplements. Fake supplements can be really dangerous for your health. So always buy genuine supplements, with GST invoice, company seal, importer tag and hologram.
Don’t Use Gym Canteen, if Possible
Many gyms provide canteen facility for its members where they sell loose supplements servings. You should avoid them for two reasons. First, they can sell you fake or expired supplements in this way and you can never know the reality. Second, buying a single serving will cost you much more. So, if you can afford, buy your own supplement jar.
Say No to Steroids
So-called gym trainers will advise you to take steroids to get quick results. Steroids are like strong drugs; extremely dangerous for your health. So never use steroids.
General Suggestions About Workout
7 Most Fundamental Exercises
There are countless exercises you can perform in gym with different types of weights and machines. Every exercise has its own pros and cons; but there are 7 most fundamental exercises that everyone should do. It doesn’t matter, you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced athlete; these exercises will give you 100% results. We can put these 7 exercises in 3 categories as push, pull and squat.
Learn and practice these exercises, more and more, to get an optimum fitness. A few more things to remember:
Free Weights Are More Effective Than Machines
You will find different training machines in gym. Machines are easy to use and can assist you to perform different movements; but free weights are always better. Free weights can help you to get better functionality, balance, strength, muscles and size.
Posture Is More Important Than Weight
Posture is more important than weight. Always perform a lift with perfect posture to get full benefits and to avoid injury. A 50 kg deadlift with perfect posture is far more beneficial than a 100 kg deadlift with poor posture. Once you understand the movement, increase weights in small amounts, maintaining your posture and technique.
Focus on Compound Lifts
There are two types of exercises, compound and isolate. Compound exercise can cover many muscle groups at the same time; for example, bench press, deadlift, overhead press etc. Isolate exercise covers only a few small muscles; for example, bicep curls, triceps extensions, leg extension etc. Focus more on compound lifts to increase your strength and size faster.
Say No to Ego Lifting
The biggest mistake one can do in a gym is ego lifting. It means lifting heavy weights, beyond your capacity, with poor posture just to impress or compete someone else. I have seen this many times in gym. Some people just to impress girls, show off or to compete others, lift too heavy weights and finally go to hospitals. So best advice for you is, just focus on your own personal goals and don’t try to outfit anyone else.
Choose Your Workout Partner Wisely
Personally I prefer to workout alone because it helps me to focus on my training, goals, variations etc. Also it helps me to save time. But if you are a beginner, need some motivation and support then you must find a gym partner. A gym partner can be very beneficial for you as he will motivate you, support you during workout, help you to check posture and technique, encourage you to stay on the track. But a bad gym partner can get you in trouble.
Always choose a gym partner who is reliable, have same fitness goals as yours, keeps his mouth shut, someone who cares and have a positive and motivating attitude.
Watch this video for how to build an impressive tricep – Home tricep workout
Guys if you found the info useful follow me Instagram – Piyush8490