HYDRATION

Water comprises 60% of the human body and plays a vital role in most of the body’s processes and functions. Even a small amount of dehydration can interfere with these bodily processes, negatively affecting mood, physical and mental performance. The amount of water you need to consume each day depends upon you, as an individual, and your surrounding environment. Hot weather, wind and aggressive air conditioning all increase your need for hydration, as does training.

The guided intake of how much you should drink per day is 1½ to 2 Litres of plain water (as a minimum). Zero calories, maximum hydration.

FUEL

To maximise the best results for your training, your body needs to be well-fuelled with the correct nutrients. Your body needs enough energy so that you are able to complete the workout and then kick-start the recovery process after. This means paying attention to your pre and post training nutrition.

Try and follow this pre-workout and post-workout fuel routine:

Pre-workout: Try to eat a simple carbohydrate and protein snack an hour prior to exercise and consume at least 500ml of plain water. Being hydrated properly before training not only improves performance but can also reduce the chances of injury.

Post-workout: Within an hour post-exercise, make sure you have drunk at least 500ml of water and consumed a protein smoothie and a snack or a whole food meal.

STRETCHING

Warm-up prior to exercising to optimize your performance and help prevent injury. Doing this will increase the flow of blood and oxygen to your muscles, lungs and heart, preparing your body for the training session ahead. Any muscle tightness or soreness from inactivity or previous training sessions can affect your range of movement. This is why we suggest dynamic stretching to warm up as it warms up the muscles and joints, ready for a complete range of motion.

After every training session, we suggest you cool down to let your body start the recovery process and to prevent any risk of injury. For this we suggest static stretching. This entails holding a stretch that targets a specific muscle group for between 20 to 40 seconds without any movement.