Healthy RGV Issue 103 - What All Men Need to Know

FITNESS & BEAUTY · JUNE 2017
Once you do this you now just have to keep track
of your calories that you consume during the
day. So if the calculator says you’ll lose 2 lbs a
week when consuming 1750 calories per day, this
doesn’t mean drop your calories to 1000 and try
to lose 5 lbs a week.
If you have a workout trainer then they will usually
help get you setup with your suggested calorie
intake and dieting calorie suggestion. There are
also plenty of free tools available now to help you
get an idea of what range you should be at like this
one for instance.
5
REASONS WHY YOU HAVE NO
ENERGY WHEN WORKING OUT
Have you ever been pumped
to get into the gym and after
doing only a few exercises you
find yourself feeling completely
drained of energy?
A lot of people might say, something
like, “Oh you’re just not in shape. It’ll get
better.” While this may hold true for most
people, even the most fit people can find
themselves in a similar situation.
As I constantly went back and forth
between having great full-energy workouts
and dragging after a set or two on another,
I started really comparing my good days
and bad days to see if there was anything
that stuck out to me on what might be the
causation.
NOT EATING BEFORE
#1 YOU HIT THE GYM
One reason reason I found for getting tired so
quickly when I start lifting is that I haven’t had a
pre-workout meal.
Don’t go crazy and get a full stomach with your
pre-workout meal but just eat like a sandwich or a
protein bar, this is just a light meal/snack that you
eat about 45 minutes to an hour before you hit
the gym.
TIP: Bring something easy to carry with you for
easy pre-workout snacks. This can be a protein
bar, bag of peanuts or something like peanut
butter crackers. Most of us are on the move with
work/school/kids before being able to hit the gym,
something simple & quick allows us to get some
sort of food in us.
Editor’s Note: This may not be applicable to
everyone. Some people, such as myself, can
function perfectly well on an empty stomach.
However, when I first started lifting I used to
come close to throwing up if I hadn’t eaten before
working out so it is something to be aware of.
NOT PLANNING YOUR WORKOUT
#2 ROUTINE CORRECTLY
When you work a main muscle group like your
back or chest, you’re also hitting some of the
other muscle groups that are connected to those.
Here’s an example of what I mean, when you do
a chest workout, you’re also using your triceps. It
may not be enough to get them sore but you’re
still working them out.
Try to find a good workout routine that focuses
on hitting muscles groups together like (chest/
triceps) or a routine that spreads those muscle
groups out like chest on Monday & triceps on
Thursday.
GOING TO LOW ON YOUR CALORIES
#3 WHEN DIETING
This can be somewhat related to point number
one but this point is more focused on your calorie
intake as a whole.
What I mean by that is you can have your preworkout
meal and go hit the gym but if you’ve
been in a massive calorie deficit then you can still
find yourself lacking energy even with the pre
workout meal in your system.
The best way to avoid this problem is find out
what calorie range you should be at to lose weight
by using a weight loss calculator to help give you
an idea of what calorie range you should be at.
Editor’s Note: Aim to be on a caloric deficit of
around 400 calories below your maintenance
amount. This varies from person to person so do
your research, but again, this is a very important
thing to be aware of. Especially amongst males
as this sort of low-calorie dieting can effect your
testosterone.
HAVING MUSIC CAN MAKE OR
#4 BREAK YOUR WORKOUT
A huge factor on how workouts go is based on
having music going when working out.
Just look around when you go to the gym, do you
think everyone is listening to music because they
just don’t want to talk to each other? Well that
might be the case for some people, but overall
music has a huge impact on your motivation levels.
Having the energy to hit the gym is much more of
a mental aspect than it is a physically tired aspect
in my opinion.
Try to load up a playlist of songs that gets you
pumped and try hitting the gym while listening
to that to see if you notice any changes in your
overall workout.
As a side note, the music being played at gyms has
gotten increasingly horrible, so this is just another
reason to bring your own tunes to workout to.
THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR GYM
#5 This is something most people do not
pay any attention to on how it affects their overall
mood for working out.
I used to go to a gym that was great. It was small;
great equipment; not very many people but the
owner would always keep it like 65 degrees inside.
This would literally cause me to almost instantly
get tired when I got in there to begin my workout.
Personally I need the gym to be cooler for me to
feel more alert during my workout. I’ve spoken
with enough people throughout my time in the
gym to realize that the temperature does have an
impact on how their workouts go.
By Sterling Greer
42 HEALTHY MAGAZINE