Whether you are a professional or amateur athlete or simply someone who’s trying to improve their strength and endurance, there are plenty of things that you can do to improve how you perform. Sometimes it’s the things you don’t do that matter the most since many of us have internalized bad habits that prevent us from reaching our full potential. In other cases, you could make modifications to your daily routine that could help get over that elusive plateau. Let’s take a look at a few daily habits that will help boost athletic performance.
Rest
This might seem strange as our first piece of advice, but many peopledon’t realize how important rest is for physical performance. Some people may think that jogging every day is good for them, but they may be putting way too much stress on their bodies. The same goes for people who do some heavy strength training. Training too much prevents the muscles from healing. That’s an issue since it’s through the healing process that muscles get stronger.
So, you have to make sure that you get enough rest between rough training sessions. Also, don’t make the mistake of being completely inactive on your rest days. You need to practice what is referred to as “active recovery”.
This is when you perform light activities that still target the area you worked. Active recovery allows blood and nutrients to go to the area without straining it, allowing it to recover faster.
For instance, if you had an intense leg day, you can do some light cycling the next. Swimming is another great exercise for active recovery as it puts minimal stress on the bones and joints and works the whole body.
Breathe Through Your Nose
This one might also seem strange to some of you as you may think this is common knowledge. But a lot of people have the bad habit of breathing through their mouths, which causes many issues and can affect performance as well.
One of the benefits of nasal breathing is that it allows for more oxygen to be delivered to your system. You can already see how this could help someone who needs more endurance. Less blood will be needed to deliver oxygen as well. This means that you’ll be able to do things like running and jumping with much less effort.
Watch Your Nutrition
What you eat will also make a big difference in how well you perform. The only issue is that too many people have no idea what they should eat and when.
For one, some people think that protein is only for recovery when it can be useful before workouts as well. Many studies have demonstrated the benefits of taking protein before exercise and it has been shown to significantly improve muscle synthesis.
You also have to make sure that you use the right type of protein. Whey protein, for instance, is absorbed much quicker by the body than casein. That makes it a perfect option for post and pre-workout, while casein might be a better choice if you need something that will give you a steady supply of protein during the day or overnight.
Another thing that will be very important after your workout is replenishing the energy your muscles have lost. While protein will help repair muscle, glycogen is where muscles get their fuel from. Glycogen is stored in the muscles and burned during exercise, and you need to replenish your stores right after your workouts for better performance.
And, while you want to take complex carbs before workouts, simple sugars are perfect after a tough session. You’ll even see some athletes eating candy after workouts as it is absorbed much faster by the muscles. Keep this for after your workouts only, however,
If you integrate all of these habits into your daily routine, you should see massive improvements in your performance. You alsohave to make sure that you do everything right outside of that, however.