Daily Fit Tip! 5 ~things you should do after each workout!

A simple five-minute cool-down is sufficient in preventing the pooling of blood in your extremities, which can otherwise make you dizzy and increase your risk of fainting.

Stretch! Once your heart rate is slow and steady, stretching your muscles and joints while they’re still warm helps prevent tight muscles and stiff joints and improves your flexibility. Stretching is often skipped and not done after working out. Make it part of your workout just as you make time to do your abdominal exercises. Pick two good stretching exercises a head of time so you know what stretches you'll be doing at the end of your weight training session. Your body will thank you the next day!

Drink plenty of water. It's important before, during
and after your workout, so don’t forget to water-proof your exercise.


Refuel after exercise. It's the key to improving strength and fitness. But burning off a lot of calories isn’t a valid excuse for eating a double cheeseburger. Instead, fuel up within 30-60 minutes after exercise by eating a carb-rich snack combined with some lean protein such as an orange plus one serving of low-fat yogurt or a banana with peanut butter. A protein smoothie is one of my favorite things to make for my son and I after we do our weight training workout. I add a serving a protein powder for each of us, along with serving of creatine and flax seed oil. I use half sugar free apple juice mixed with half cold bottled water. Add the fruit that I have on hand and make our protein rich smoothie. It's quick and easy, plus you can do it right after your workout to make sure you get what you need in to your body within 30-60 minuets. Then later you can have your meal as planned depending on the time of day you do your training.

Include rest days in your fitness plan to prevent any plateaus. You should always give your body 24 hours of rest in between doing specific exercises. For example, do your weight-lifting routine every other day with cardio sessions in between. Taking your rest days is more important than you can imagine. I learned the hard way after training for days in a row and not taking time to rest. I was paddling for a canoe club here in Hawaii 5-6 days a week 1- 1 1/2 hours of hard training early in the morning or the late afternoon. Plus doing my weight training after or before my padding workouts. I was even competing in body building shows at that time, but I was not getting enough rest. My muscles were not repairing from my workouts and it lead to over-training.


Over training is serious, and more serious if your competing in bodybuilding or fitness shows. It's a subject that I could write more about and will address more on this subject in a separate future post. Rest and repairing your entire body, and your muscles is just as important as the training in it self. If you don't rest you don't grow, repair or make any gains. So listen to you body and take your rest days when you should. Working out 7 days a week doesn't mean you will be better or more fit because of it. It means you will be over-training and there is no time for your muscles to repair to grow. Try a common 3x days on to 1 day off, or at the most 4x days on to 1 day off.  Doing all your muscle groups within those 3-4 training days and then take your rest day. If you train 5x days in a row and rest 2 days it will still be hard on your muscle repair but it's better than no rest at all. 4x days in a row is tops and your body should be given a rest day following 4 hard days of weight training or any other or added training you are doing.


Listen to your body and your muscles. You should know if you need more rest between workouts. Depending on your level of training you may need more than a day of rest between a 4x days straight training. You should know if your just being lazy or you really do need an additional day of rest. 1-2 days of rest in most cases will be enough time to allow your muscles to rest and repair for maximum growth and the gains you are looking and working towards. Not getting the proper rest between workouts will leave your muscles looking flat and much smaller. Muscles need to repair and rest repairs you muscles. Repaired and rested muscles equal fuller more sculpted  and defined muscles. No one wants to spend hours training every week to see very little to no changes to their body and their muscles. So learn to listen to your body and get the most out of your workouts & training!