Here at AdMac Fitness we’re in the business of improving lives through personal training. Our team of personal trainers use their expertise to design and deliver the most effective workouts to help people achieve their heath and fitness goals.
Whilst we can uphold our end of the bargain, what can you as the personal training client do to ensure the success of your workouts?
In this article we’re going to share three tips that we believe can help you improve your training sessions…
Sleep well ahead of the session!
Our first tip starts the night before your training session… get yourself to bed early and have a decent night’s sleep. There’s no pre-workout in the world that can match the impact of a great night’s sleep.
When you sleep well you do so much more than arrive mentally fresh for your workout session. You give yourself the best possible chance of great performance. In 2017, Dr Adam Watson performed a review into ‘Sleep and Athletic Performance’. He concluded through his review that…
‘Improvements in sleep duration and quality appear to improve reaction time, accuracy, and endurance performance’
These findings support later research by Knowles et al, who noted in their 2018 study titled
’Inadequate sleep and muscle strength: Implications for resistance training‘ that...
‘Inadequate sleep impairs maximal muscle strength in compound movements’
The science therefore is really clear - a lack of sleep impairs your exercise performance across a wide range of measures. You can’t get around this with a couple of coffees or a pre workout. Ahead of a workout, make sure you get some great quality sleep, so you can show up to the gym physically and mentally ready to train as well as possible.
Be present in your session!
In an age of constant distraction, the ability to clear your mind of work, stress etc is a superpower. The gym is a perfect place to practice being present - you’ve got a constant task at hand (next rep), and you’ve got a focus (making sure your form is correct).
By concentrating on your form in the gym, you’re going to exercise more effectively. When you’re exercising more effectively, you’ll improve your fitness. Improved fitness means better results. It’s the domino effect, and it all starts from being more present in the gym.
One of the best ways to stay present in your session is to leave your phone in your bag. By not bringing your phone into the workout, you’re not distracted by the alerts. You’re not tempted to check social media, or answer a phone call that could easily wait.
Keeping your mind focussed on the task at hand will do your fitness the world of good. It’ll also give you that fixed time away from your phone and the distractions it brings with it.
Eat well beforehand. Be fuelled and hydrated.
This links into our first tip about sleep. Your preparation for the session extends to your nutrition as well. By making sure you’re fuelled and hydrated, you’re ready to give the session your maximum.
There has been a lot of debate over the years about what you should or shouldn’t eat before training. The reality, as with most things in fitness, is that it depends on what you’re going to do. How your body responds to certain foods. How long you have before your exercise bout.
All of these points mean the ability to just say ‘eat this or that’ are wrong. We do have research that gives us a decent framework of what you should be eating…
In research on pre-exercise nutrition strategies from 2020, Rothschild et al concluded that…
‘Performance is improved following pre-exercise carbohydrate ingestion for longer but not shorter duration exercise’
These findings are supported by later work from Henselmans et al in 2022. They researched the effects on carb intake on strength and resistance training performance. Their conclusions were that…
‘our findings indicate conventional high-carbohydrate intake recommendations of 4–10 g/kg/day may be excessive for the performance of strength trainees, such as bodybuilders, powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters. Based on the inconclusive evidence and potential for benefits but not harm, strength trainees are advised to consume at least 15 g carbohydrates and 0.3 g/kg protein within 3 hours of their training sessions.’
This suggests that for resistance training, you don’t need to arrive on a full stomach of carbs! There’s a suggestion that post exercise is more important, where protein ingestion helps to build muscle and repair tissues.
A small meal before training will be OK, with the bulk of the protein coming after training.
Hydration is easier - drink until your urine is clear. That’s a rule of thumb that seems to work for performance in most people!
Let the AdMac Fitness Personal Trainers help you reach peak health!
With personal training studios in South Woodford and Bow, let the best personal trainers in East London help you to look after yourself…
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness Bow: 153-159 Bow Rd, London E3 2SE
AdMac Fitness South Woodford: Unit 4 Marlborough Business Centre, 96 George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1AD