Source from Urban Health, Issue 133 MARCH2016|19

Training hard to improve your health and energy? Sports nutritionist and personal trainer Hero Tai speaks on the common

you get from your workout.

Mistake #1: Working Out on an Empty Stomach Hero Says: Eat light, simple mealsOur body’s source of energy solely comes from food. Our body needs extra energy especially when we perform long workouts (longer half an hour). Hence, I don’t think it’s a good idea to exercise for more than half an hour on an empty stomach.

If our body lacks energy for a period, the glycogen in our muscles will be converted into energy, causing a reduction in muscle mass and a decrease in basal metabolic rate. Having a low metabolism means that you will gain weight easily.

So, what and when should we eat prior to exercising? I would recommend simple and easy-to-digest food such as sandwiches, vegetables and pasta taken one to two hours before exercising. If you’re going to work out within an hour, eat fruits such as apples and bananas to avoid adding burden to your digestive system. If you feel hungry when you’re about to start your workout, it’s best to just consume isotonic drinks or protein drinks to avoid having intense hunger.

Mistake #2: Doing Only Aerobic Exercises (avoiding strength training)Hero Says: It’s important to combine aerobic exercise with resistance trainingExercise promotes good health, but not everybody realises that different types of exercise provide different functions to the human body. It’s

exercise has to offer if jogging is your only exercise every day!

Common exercises like jogging, swimming and cycling belong to aerobic or cardio exercise. This type of exercise is very effective in

do not contribute much towards increasing your muscular strength and muscle mass. Moreover, these exercises pose a risk of injury (to joints such as knee and ankle joints) to elderly people or those with weak joints. This is the reason people who don’t work out regularly

tend to hurt themselves when they join an occasion run, or when they exercise according to instructional videos. This is because their muscles lack the strength to support them appropriately when they exercise.

Hence, it’s crucial to do muscle-building exercises, such as push-ups, sit-ups, plank and squats along your cardio workout. This type of exercise falls under

or your own body weight as an external resistance that cause your muscles to contract, creating tiny tears to be repaired with protein from your food. Only then we can build stronger and toned muscles.

Every TimeHero Says: Varying your workout increases your stamina and strengthYour body is only concerned about its condition after a workout. It takes no account of the types of training, the number of reps you did and the weight you used.

For example, the key of cardiovascular workout lies in your heart rate. It doesn’t matter whether you jog, swim or cycle. The important thing is the heart rate achieved and for how long it stays at that level. The higher the heart rate achieved and the longer it maintains at that level, the better it is.

If your muscles are sore due to strength training, it means that they have reached “Momentary Muscular Failure (MMF)” and your workout is effective. If you don’t feel sore at all after your workout, this means your workout is ineffective.

After doing a certain workout for some time, your body will have adapted to it (due to the increase in muscular strength). When this happens, you can modify your workout according to the Progressive Overload Training Principle by increasing your reps or weights. Otherwise, you can consult a professional trainer so that MMF is achieved every time you work out.

“Keep you up to the task anytime anywhere”

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Common Workout Mistakes to Avoid