9 Worst Things to do Before a Workout

there are many things that you can do to improve the quality of your workouts but most people don't realize that there are also many things that you should never do especially before your workout these can range from small little mistakes that make you feel a little weaker or lower your rep count to much bigger mistakes that completely ruin your workout so if you want to see optimal results from your workout whether you're trying to build muscle or burn fat you will definitely benefit from this video because i'll be going over the five main things that you should definitely avoid before hitting the gym and the very first one is to never eat a big meal too close before your workout now there are a couple reasons why this is a bad idea first of all when you eat and you start digesting the food your body will naturally direct blood flow to your digestive organs on the other hand when you work out your body will naturally direct blood flow to your extremities specifically to the muscles that you're working this puts digestion and exercise at competing odds so essentially both are fighting for more blood flow and neither gets the amount of blood flow necessary for either optimal digestion or optimal performance so while the food sits in your stomach you can easily wind up feeling bloated heavy and nauseous and you could potentially even throw up but even if you don't fill out vomit it will take away from your ability to perform at your best another reason why you should avoid eating a ton directly before your workout is because digestion itself requires a lot of energy that's why after a big meal at a buffet or at a thanksgiving dinner you feel like all you want to do is go to sleep so you definitely don't want to feel lethargic and tired before or during your workout now unfortunately not everyone digests food at the same rate so there's no one-size-fits-all answer some people will need more time to fully digest their food but in general as long as you finish eating about two to three hours before your workout you should be okay just keep in mind that meals that are high in fat or just contain a really large amount of food will take longer to digest so plan accordingly another mistake revolving around taking an excess is drinking too much coffee or pre-workout before you start working out caffeine is a very common and helpful supplement to take before your workout there's no doubt that it can help give you more energy lift more weight and boost motivation as well as focus that's why caffeine is the main ingredient in pretty much any pre-workout supplement on the market the problem is that taking in too much caffeine can lead to more contractions in your colon and induce more bile production which will increase bowel movements this is why caffeine is known as a natural laxative so you definitely don't want to have too much coffee or pre-workout or else you'll find yourself sitting on the toilet in between your sets on top of that having an upset stomach or feeling more urgency to use the bathroom will just be the beginning of your problems that's because if you have too much caffeine before your workout it can create a whole slew of side effects that can legitimately ruin your day some of these side effects include restlessness insomnia rapid or abnormal heartbeat anxiety heartburn and increased blood pressure and just one of these side effects like heartburn for example is already enough to significantly decrease your performance so don't go having cup after cup of coffee before your workout and if you're taking a pre-workout supplement make sure you're taking the recommended dosage on the back of the bottle the next big mistake that i see so many people getting wrong is stretching before lifting weights and not all forms of stretching are bad before a workout but most people will engage in static stretching and that's something that you don't want to do until after you're done working out now for those of you that don't know static stretches are done by stretching or elongating a muscle and holding it in that stretch position for a given amount of time usually 20 to 30 seconds an example of a static stretch for hamstrings would be the sit and reach dynamic stretching on the other hand is an active form of stretching where you move back and forth through a full range of motion rather than just holding one position an example of this for the hamstrings would be a stretching drill known as frankensteins while dynamic stretches like frankenstein's help prepare your body and your muscles for activity static stretches do the opposite and they tend to have a negative effect on your muscles performance if done before your workout studies show that runners can't run as fast athletes can't jump as high and weight lifters can't lift as heavy after they engage in passive static stretching meanwhile dynamic stretches and exercises don't seem to have this effect so the truth is that contrary to popular belief you absolutely do not need to stretch at all before your workout but if you do decide to stretch go with dynamic stretches that you can incorporate as part of your warm up and save the static stretches for after your workout when your muscles have already tightened up and it's time to get them to loosen up and relax another similar mistake is performing cardio directly before lifting weights this is actually something that many people do as a warm warm-up but there's a good chance that it's hurting you more than it's helping the main reason why is because it'll once again reduce your performance and most likely force you to either lift lighter weights or reduce your reps this is because glucose is the main source of energy that your body uses to lift weights when you eat carbohydrates throughout the day this glucose is stored in your muscles and in your liver in the form of glycogen and it's released and broken down for energy when your muscles require unfortunately if you do cardio before you lift weights you'll burn through a lot if not all of that precious glucose that would have helped you push yourself and perform better with the weights so if you do want to perform cardio and lift weights within the same workout session then it's best that you save the cardio for after the weight training you'll wind up using the glycogen to push yourself while you lift weights and then you'll be able to use oxygen and body fat for energy when performing the cardio keep in mind warming up by walking on a treadmill for five minutes before lifting weights won't really have much of a negative effect but if you do more intense cardio like running and if you do it for longer lengths of time like 15 to 30 minutes it'll definitely negatively affect your weightlifting sessions the next mistake that you want to avoid is drinking too much water before a workout now i'm not going to spend too much time on this one as it goes hand in hand with eating too much food or drinking too much coffee with water the issue that many people run into is that they become obsessed with the concept of staying hydrated and when they don't meet their daily water target they try to slam it all down at once before the workout and of course it is good to stay hydrated throughout the day and to ensure that you're drinking enough water but it's usually not a great idea to drink a ton of water either directly before or even during your workout the reason why is because once again your blood flow will be directed to your extremities when you're working out and if you fill your stomach up with a ton of water you can wind up feeling nauseous and experiencing cramps throughout your workout your best bet to avoid the situation is to simply drink small amounts of water here and there in between your sets as your workout progresses and then make sure that you're drinking water consistently throughout the day so you don't have to take in a massive amount all at once moving on the next one is pretty obvious but it is worth mentioning that you shouldn't drink alcohol before a workout now i know at one point or another you've probably felt like superman after drinking some alcohol this could end up motivating you to hit the gym or do a calisthenic workout at home but i highly recommend that you don't one reason for this is because alcohol is a depressant this means that it's going to slow down things like your reaction time your coordination and your balance not only will this make your workout less effective but it'll also make it much more dangerous and you can wind up with a serious injury if you're not careful another big problem is that if you work out right after drinking alcohol your blood alcohol content will still be elevated so imagine that you're breaking down your muscles and you're creating tiny microscopic tears in your muscle tissue as i mentioned earlier your body will direct blood flow to those muscles that you're working and normally that's a great thing since the blood will carry in nutrients and energy into your muscles and carry out the byproducts that create fatigue like lactic acid for example but when you drink alcohol and work out afterwards that alcohol you drank is then carried by your blood cells to your torn up muscles just imagine how great that is for not only your workout but also for your future recovery and your overall results not too great finally the last issue with alcohol is that it really dehydrates your body quite a lot so if you combine that with a workout that makes you sweat a lot it can lead to all kinds of negative side effects next we have core training that's right you should never train your core directly before a weight training workout you see your core is involved in almost any weightlifting exercise even if you don't think it is even an exercise like the bench press where you're laying down it still requires a lot of your core strength not only for stabilizing your body but also for transferring the strength from your lower body to your upper body your core connects your upper and lower body so if it's shot from a hard ab workout even exercises that are done seated or laying down will be negatively affected in terms of performance there are also plenty of other upper body exercises like pull-ups for example that are highly dependent on your core strength and you may not consider it but your performance will definitely drop if you stick pull-ups after abs on top of that if we look at lower body exercises not only do we create performance issues but we also create safety issues that can easily end up causing an injury exercises like squats and deadlifts are highly dependent on your core strength to stabilize and assist your lower back if you compromise your core strength with an ab workout and then you go on to do heavy barbell squats there's a good chance that you will round forward and hurt your lower back sorry pete never ever ever perform exercises like squats and deadlifts directly after training your core and if you're looking to make improvements with resistance training in general you're always better off hitting your core after you finish lifting weights or simply leaving it for a separate day entirely another common mistake is taking some sort of pain reliever before a workout these can range from tylenol to advil to full out muscle relaxers the truth is that none of these are a good idea to take before your workout regardless of how sore you are or how sore you think you'll be in fact studies show that exercising while on ibuprofen can lead to gut problems and even full out intestinal injuries also it doesn't make much sense to take a muscle relaxing pain reliever before lifting weights as this can lead to an injury since your body will be slower to respond when you're pushing past your threshold so if you happen to be so sore before your workout that you can't even imagine exercising without taking a pain reliever then it's probably in your best interest to skip that workout for that day if on the other hand you're more so afraid of future soreness my best piece of advice is to just suck it up because it's not worth creating gut issues just to decrease soreness that will naturally get better over time anyway as you adapt to your workouts finally last but not least you don't want to take a long nap before your workout even though there's nothing wrong with taking a short nap sleeping for too long can have the opposite effect of what you're probably looking for when you take a short 20 to 30 minute power nap research shows that it leaves you feeling more energized and refreshed however sleeping for too much longer than that will most likely leave you feeling more lethargic and tired than you were before taking your nap so if you are tired before you hit the gym feel free to take a nap just make sure you keep it short that about wraps it up guys i really hope you enjoyed this video if you have make sure you subscribe to the channel and hit that bell icon also aside from these tips that teach you what not to do there are plenty of things that you do in fact want to do during before and after your workouts to get faster results whether your goal is to burn fat or build muscle so if you'd like to skip all that trial and error that you may even be going through right now then visit my website and start one of my fat loss challenges or muscle building programs you'll get a complete workout plan a full video exercise library a recipe book a customizable diet plan based on your preferences and of course a coach will be there to guide you through the entire process and the best part is that you can get all of it for free just by sticking to the plan to find out more you can click the link below in the description or you can visit my website directly at gravitytransformation.com see you guys [Music] soon you

Channel: Gravity Transformation - Fat Loss Experts

Views: 5,634,415

Keywords: things to never do before a workout, things you should never do before running, things you should never do before your workout, workout mistakes, gym mistakes, biggest workout and nutrition mistakes, worst muscle building mistakes, don't do this before a workout, workout mistakes to avoid, workout mistakes that are killing your results, beginner workout mistakes, common workout mistakes, things you should never do at the gym, beginner gym mistakes to avoid

Id: mUJJDSv5Vlg

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2020