Bad Habits You Need to Stop While You’re Exercising

Bad Habits You Need to Stop While You’re Exercising

A Hard Habit to Break

Since taking the first steps towards improving your health and wellness you’ve made strides both inside and outside of the gym. From dropping unhealthy snacks to getting in a good sweat dripping workout a few times a week, you’ve been on a roll, trading in bad habits for good.
You’ve switched your sodas for water, junk food for fruits and vegetables, and traded your Netflix marathons for satisfying workout sessions. Perhaps you even picked up some new exercise equipment from your local Metairie Fitness Expo Stores.

But even though you’ve been working hard to fix your bad habits, there are a number of bad habits you may have that during your workout can quickly sabotage all your efforts.

Ways you might Be Sabotaging Your Workouts:

1. Skipping Warm-Up & Cool-Down

Your muscles aren’t always “on and ready” and primed to work all day long. Sitting all day at desk jobs, sitting for your commute instead of walking, and relaxing in front of the TV can cause muscles and tendons to stiffen up.

This means that your body needs to get warmed up and ready for each workout session prior to going at full force. But when you’re in a hurry to get that workout in during your busy day, it can be tempting to skip warm-ups and cool-downs altogether. And let’s face it, warming up and cooling down is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

However, making this mistake means you’re not giving your muscles enough time to get accustomed to the physical activity before really jumping into it, which can easily lead to injury. And skipping a cool-down can lead to increased post-workout soreness, injury, and lack of motivation to workout next time around.

Do yourself a favor and take a few moments before each workout to walk briskly and do some dynamic stretching. Once you’ve finished all that hard work, take a few minutes to slow your pace and stretch out all those sore, tired muscles. You’ll feel better after your workout, be less likely to hurt yourself, and may even start looking forward to your workouts.

One of our favorite modes of warming up is by utilizing Metairie stair stepper exercise equipment such as the Stairmaster Treadclimber 5 or the Stairmaster 8 Gauntlet.

2. Relying on Steady-State Cardio

Finding a workout you love and feel comfortable doing is great; it’s part of the key to long-term success in exercise. But only doing only one type of workout over and over weakens the muscles you aren’t using, which can lead to injury. Not only that, but your body gets used to the exercise and can even hamper your progress.

While you may love those daily runs or that time spent on the elliptical, you need to switch up your routine to engage new muscles, keep your system guessing and burning more calories, and prevent exercise boredom. Consider a stair stepper exercise equipment and variable intervals and programs to keep progressing without hitting plateaus.

One option to consider is adding in some weight training. Weight training can help you burn calories more efficiently and improve your steady-state cardio performance. Rather than filling your house with racks of dumbbells or spending a ton on a home gym, consider investing in affordable wholesale Precision fitness equipment in Metairie from Fitness Expo Stores.

Options such as the Powerblock provide impressive performance while not breaking the bank. These adjustable dumbbells allow you to have a variety of weights all in one compact package.

If you absolutely can’t give up your running habit, mix in some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with your longer runs to increase your heart rate and improve your overall fitness. Getting a great treadmill, such as the Horizon Adventure 3, allows you to balance those long run days with days you want to pick up the pace and try a HIIT workout.

3. Not Eating Enough

If you’re trying to lose weight by exercising, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of severely calorie restricting at the same time. However, if you’re not eating enough calories to fuel your workouts, you could be doing more harm to your goals than you are doing good.

Your body needs a certain amount of fuel each day just to function. When you add in extra-hard workouts, especially if you’ve just started a workout regimen, you need more fuel than you think you’ll need. Underfeeding yourself can lead to you being tired and sluggish, meaning your form suffers and you’re more at risk for injury. Additionally, your muscles won’t receive enough nutrition to properly function during your workouts, leaving them more susceptible to damage and strain.

It’s all right to have some moderate calorie restriction along with working out, but eating too little is dangerous. Discuss your goals, workout plan, and nutrition needs with your doctor or a nutritionist. These professionals can give you guidance on how much you should be eating, when you should be eating, and what foods are best to fuel your body.

4. Not Using Proper Form

Getting into a new weightlifting routine can be exciting. You’re all ready to start squatting, deadlifting, and bench pressing, upping your weights as you get stronger. But hold up – If you’re not using proper form, you could easily injure yourself and completely stall your progress.

Getting on top of proper form for each exercise, and maintaining form throughout your routine is an essential element of a successful, safe exercise plan. If you can, hire a personal trainer for a few sessions to teach you the correct way to execute each exercise before you strike out on your own. Take things slow and steady, and never rush your workout regardless of how little time you have. It’s better to do a few reps really well than to do a bunch of reps where you’re risking injury.

Precision Fitness Equipment in Metairie, LA

At Fitness Expo Stores, we want you to get your workouts in whenever, wherever you need them. We offer a full line of fitness equipment, including stair steppers, elliptical machines, ab machines, and more, for home or commercial use. If you’re in the market for new exercise equipment in Metairie, Louisiana, check out our online stores or stop in to see us!