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- Prepare food ahead of time- When you cook and prepare meals ahead of time, it means you'll always have a healthy option on hand when its time to eat. It also means you won't need to do so much cooking during the week. Both of these reasons will help you avoid grabbing more convenient food which is usually junk food!
- Eat with purpose- Make sure you really know WHY you're eating a certain food. We need to make sure that every time we put food in our body, it is doing as good and not harm.
- Eat more unpackaged foods- In most cases, unpackaged food is healthier as it is less processed. Unpackaged food like fruit and vegetables are always your best bet!
- Work your full range of motion- When exercising, make sure to take each exercise through its full range of motion (ROM). This will make the muscles stronger and more capable but also help keep you flexible.
- Don’t go too heavy!- Know you your limits- While we want you to train hard, you need to train safely. Using a weight that stops you going through a full ROM or your form starts to falter is only asking for trouble.
- Understand strength-training basics- Take the time to research how and why muscles grow and develop. This will give you a better understanding of your training program and how to do it correctly.
- Find your motivation- You need to know WHY you are coming to the gym to push yourself. If you have no burning reason in mind, you'll simply go through the motions and not do your best.
- Focus on form- As mentioned above, technique is king. If you don't perform the exercise correctly, not only are you more prone to injury, but you might not even be training the muscles you're trying to train!
- Hydrate properly- The body is made up of over 50% water so you can imagine how much performance suffers if you are dehydrated. Take a water bottle with you everywhere!
- Choose supplements wisely- When you are new, it is very easy to get carried away with the supplement hype. Real food is always going to be better for you than supplements. I wouldn't worry about anything more than protein powder, fish oil and maybe a good multivitamin when you are getting started.
