Pre-workout Ritual
How can you increase the likely that you will actually do a workout?
How might you set yourself up for a workout that not only feels great, but is more efficient?
I don’t see harm in the use of ‘pre-workout’ supplements that help give you a boost of physical and mental energy to bust through your unwillingness to jolt yourself into physical activity, but the purpose of this article is more than that. I would hope for my clients to be able to eventually get to the point of being self-sufficient and not NEED external help in getting started with a workout.
Let’s begin.
Before you have a chance to think about if you’re ‘too tired’ or ‘not feeling it today’, just commit to the first 5 minutes of exercise. Once you get the blood flowing, you will be in a completely different mindset afterward, and you’ll find that continuing takes very little mental energy. Start slow and just enjoy the gradual buildup.
Then, I have my clients do is ask themselves why they have chosen to sacrifice their time for exercise. Eventually they come up with dozens of meaningful reasons, and it’s different everyday! So why TODAY are you choosing to exercise and be as specific as you can.
Next is to do light movement of their shoulders, hips, and spine. This step alone is what most people think of when they hear the term ‘warm up’. Obviously you’ll get the system going and bring flood flow to those parts. It’s been proven that doing spending a few minutes doing this will increase effectiveness of the strength training, decrease damage done to muscles, and decrease injury. Big arm circles in different directions works for shoulders. Leg swings in multiple directions will do for the hips. Cat/cow on hands and knees and spinal twists while standing is sufficient for the spine.
Also, give a patient, lengthy stretch (1-2 minutes) (20-30 breaths) of muscles that feel tight. Commonly these muscles include hamstrings (biceps femoris mostly), low back muscles (both erector spinae and quadradus lumborum), hip flexors, and side of the neck muscles (levator scapulae and scalenes). Doing this will ensure that they don’t hijack the usage of more underactive muscles that are important, like glutes, and low/middle traps.
Finally, wake up muscles that are probably dormant from sitting and driving all day. Chief among these are your glutes! (See my other article for more on glutes) A quick set of 10 glute bridges will do the trick.
After that, you’re off and set up for a more safe and effective and ENJOYABLE workout at your home gym space or at the gym.