Post Workout Tips

So you finished with your workout session, what to do? Don’t just hop off the treadmill or whichever cardio machine you were using and neglect the cool down. The same goes for fitness classes , do not leave before the cool down/stretch  portion of the class.

Cooling down after exercising is just as important as the warm up. I think of the cool down like dessert. Yes, you heard me, this is the best part of your fitness routine.

 

This vital part of your exercise program promotes recovery as well as preventing injuries and helps to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness.

Always replace the fluids lost after a workout.

Stretch your hard working muscles, hold each stretch for 30 seconds, please, please do not bounce.

Make good use of the foam roller.

Quad Roll

Source
Have a post workout snack, for example, some chocolate milk or a fruit smoothie.

Extra

8 Foam Roller Exercises

 

Link Love And An App

Here are a few interesting articles I have been reading, hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Heard of Fascia? Learn more about it here to keep your body healthy.

If you are trying to green here are a few tips from Martha Stewart.

The Gut Brain Connection. This article states that the brain has a direct effect on the gut.  Read more about it here.

 

We have all heard of journaling you meals for the day/week. In the past we would have a notebook where we would write out what we we ate and drank or snacked on through out the day.  Then came the era of apps! First one that comes to mind is MyFitnessPal, which is a calorie counting app among many others. There is nothing wrong with either formats of food journaling.

But I would like to share with you another app that I use as well as my clients. It is called TwoGrand.   This app allows you to take photos of your meals, ( and really who does not like to pictures of their food), separating them by breakfast,lunch and dinner as well as by snack and drinks.  You can even post your exercise/workout for the day if you so desire.  There is no calorie counting involved but you are given a “play by play” of how you are eating/drinking for the day/week.  This is a great way to see where you may need to improve on. As the saying goes a “picture is worth a thousand words”.   You can also follow people and see how they eat and get some really good recipes in the process. The app has a section where you are asked a series of questions regarding your food choices etc and by answering these questions you are able to personalize the list of people to follow with similar goals or  food choices like you.

You can read more about the app here.  I really like there Nutrition Philosophy. This resonated with me because this is how I feel as well, there is no one size fits all “diet”. What may work for me food wise may not work for everyone else.

Have you read any interesting articles? Have you used a food tracking app before? 

Up on the blog tomorrow: Featuring a Pilates Principle.