Ever have those days where you pull up to the gym and nothing seems to hit right?

Your body just hurts the whole time, you have zero mind-muscle connectivity, and it just feels like nothing you do feels right.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, some days you show up to train and feel absolutely incredible.

You feel like you could set a new PR for every exercise that you do and your body + mind are perfectly synced up.

Everyone who has trained for any time at all has experienced both of these things.

It’s just part of being human.

And while we can’t entirely get rid of the shitty days, today we’re going to talk about 6 things you can do to try and prevent them.

Having a great training session all comes down to prep.

Whether you’re going for a long run or shooting for a squat PR - you’ve gotta prep right to help your body be primed and ready to go.

Here are 6 Tips to Help You Prep for an Awesome Workout.

1) Intentional Dynamic Warm-Ups

Dynamic warm-ups involve active movements that mimic the exercises you'll be doing during your workout.

For example, if you’re going for a run, you’ll be using your ankles and your hips quite a bit.

A dynamic warm-up for this might look like:

Dynamic movements increase blood flow, improve flexibility, and activate your nervous system, priming your body for the movements you’ll be doing and reducing the risk of injury during your workout.

ps: there is no 1 right way to warm up. Some people love to use cardio to get their blood flowing, and that’s great. That said, dynamic warm-ups are better at getting specific muscle groups and joints firing and loose - that’s why I recommend them.

2) Drink some salt water (seriously)

This sounds goofy but it really does help.

Salt helps your muscles replenish electrolytes that you lose when you sweat, helping them stay hydrated and helping you get an awesome pump.

Electrolytes like sodium and potassium are essential for nerve and muscle function, so consuming salt water can help ensure that your body functions well during exercise, preventing fatigue and cramping.

It’s the reason that electrolyte supplements like LMNT are so popular today - give it a shot!

3) Caffeine + Creatine

I don’t recommend a lot of supplements to people, but these are 2 that I recommend to pretty much everyone.

Caffeine: working as a stimulant, caffeine has been shown to enhance focus, alertness, and physical performance during workouts.

It can increase endurance, power output, and the rate of fat oxidation, helping you to push harder to get more out of your training session.

Creatine: helps your muscles produce energy during heavy lifting or high intensity exercise.

Both of these supplements can make a big difference in your workouts, give em a try.

4) Fill your gas tank (eat well before your workout)

How you do this will depend on when and how you train.

Someone who’s trying to build muscle should eat differently than someone training to lose body fat for example.

What a ‘good meal’ looks like will be a little different for everyone, but before a workout I’d personally aim to get some quality carbs and protein in. Here’s a little grocery list I’ve put together to help w this if you don’t know where to start.

If you’re doing a distance workout (like a 20 mile run) - make sure you get some fats in their too. Fat takes longer to digest and is a good long term energy source.

5) Rest + Recover Well

I feel like I say this every week, but proper recovery is such an underrated piece of the health puzzle.

A few things to do here:

You can’t be at 100% all of the time without proper rest. Prioritize rest + recovery to minimize those bad days.

6) Listen to your body

As much as I’d love to tell you if you do all this you’ll be good to go 100% of the time - that’s just not how it is.

You could do everything right and some days your body just won’t be having it.

Maybe you slept funny, maybe you’re sick, maybe you need a nice beer and a hot dog (okay probably not) - who knows. Sometimes your body just needs rest and gentle movement instead of an intense workout, and that’s totally okay.

It’s 1000x better to listen to your body than it is to force it. I can’t tell you how many injuries I’ve seen and heard about from people forcing it when their body was telling them not to.

Trust yourself, rest + recover, and get back to it tomorrow.

Everyone has good days and bad days.

But a bad day of training can lead to injury, and a good day of training can make your week.

So today, we covered 6 tips to prep for an awesome workout:

Have a great rest of your Sunday and talk to you next week,

Dane 🙂