How to Warm Up Properly and Avoid Injury

Here at Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers we hear a lot of stories about injuries that occur and this can be due to a limited or complete lack of a warm up. If you are a client, a personal trainer, or are considering a change of a career to become a personal trainer then take a look at the information below:

What is a warm-up?

A warm-up is a session, which takes place prior to doing physical activity is commonly know as a warm up. The best personal trainers in Abu Dhabi will focus their warms up on the upcoming focus of the training session. Usually a warm-up will consist of light cardiovascular exercises combined with stretches.

What happens in a warm-up?

Most warm-up sessions will include a combination of cardiovascular exercises, stretching and strength drills. The cardiovascular exercises are designed to increase circulation, increase body temperature and bring the heart rate up, while stretching warms the muscles and prepare them for the movements they will be required to carry out during the activity. Explosive strength exercises, which may include sprint drills or jumps, gently increase the level of intensity and prepare the body for sudden movements in the game which will follow; these exercises should only be done once the muscles are warm; this will prevent injuries.

Effects of the warm-up

The warm-up should gently prepare the body for exercises by gradually increasing the heart rate and circulation; this will loosen the joints and increase blood flow to the muscles. Stretching the muscles prepares them for physical activity and prevents injuries. The warm-up is also a good opportunity for an individual to prepare themselves mentally for the game ahead and for a team to work together prior to the start of the game. Warm-ups can also be used to practice skills and team drills.

How long should a warm up last?

Most warm up sessions last between 10 and 20 minutes. This allows the body plenty of time to gradually get ready for physical activity and gives the client time to prepare them mentally.

Preventing injury

The most important reason for doing a warm up is to prevent injury during exercise; keeping the muscles warm will prevent acute injuries such as hamstring strains and will stave off overuse injuries by allowing the body to prepare steadily and safely.

11 Sources of Plant Protein

How much protein do you eat? What are the sources of your protein? Here at Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers we believe in not only getting our protein from animal sources! Eating fewer animal products and loading up on powerful plant proteins can help prevent and reverse chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. So why not add some of these plant based proteins to your diet today?

1. CHIA SEEDS

2. GREEN PEAS

3. HEMP SEEDS

4. LEAFY GREENS (Spinach, kale, collard greens)

5. WHOLE-GRAIN PASTA

6. OAT BRAN

7. PUMPKIN SEEDS

8. QUINOA

9. SPIRULINA

10. TAHINI

11. WILD RICE

Quick and Unusual Tips on Diet and Health

Below are 7 useful but not commonly known tips on diet and health that we at Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers think you should know!

1. Always try and eat your food freshly cooked or use an oven if possible to re-heat your food. Did you know that a microwave heats your food by oscillating it at about a billion times a second damaging the nutrients, vitamins and minerals in the food.

2. The best time for you to have your post-workout protein shake or supplement is before you stop sweating! This is the best time to ensure that extra protein is used effectively! Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers’ recommends natural protein, not a whey-protein shake.

3. Be positive! Be positive about your workouts, your food and your life in general. Positive people are happier, healthier and achieve more than people who have a view the world in a negative light.

4. Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers’ general moto on diet ie: if it wasn’t here 10,000 years ago, don’t eat it….

5. Get more in tuned with your body and your emotions. This will help you avoid emotional eating which can be disastrous on your health and your waist! Any mind-body exercise will help with this like yoga, breathing exercises, stretching etc.

6. To ensure long term success in any health and fitness goals you need to have 3 things, without these 3 things succeeding will be made either more difficult or impossible. The three things are: 1: Your total movement. 2: The quality of your diet. 3: The quality of your rest/downtime/sleep.

7. Be patient! Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither with your dream body. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, enjoy the journey and have fun!

Good Luck with your health and fitness goals.

If you require any help or you’re looking for a personal trainer in Abu Dhabi then please get in touch. Our personal trainers and health coaches are extremely well qualified and will help you no matter what your goals are!

Everybody has stubborn body fat that we want to lose, but how do we do it?

We asked our Abu Dhabi Personal Trainers for their input in to the topic! The one piece of advice our personal trainers want to make sure you take away from this post is that there are tons of different supplements (think skinny teas, fit teas, pills, shakes etc.) that will tell you that their product will help you move your stubborn body fat, however, if it where that easy why would there be so many products out there and so many people struggling to lose weight? Our personal trainers want to make sure that you do not throw away your hard earned money on products that will promise you the world and not deliver on those promises.

The reality of losing stubborn fat is probably not what you want to hear, but there is not secret to it, there is no quick fix or diet pill that can help you target your fat loss. The only way we gain and lose fat is determined by two factors:

1. Caloric intake
2. Genetic predisposition

We all have the capacity to get absolutely shredded – while this may be easier for some than others we can all reach low levels of body fat. All it takes is a caloric deficit and consistency.

Fat loss is a simple equation and a simple task on paper – it is just difficult to implement and endure!

The second factor is a very important one and we most not forget it – our unique genetic predispositions. Unfortunately, our ancestors have determined our genetic make-up and this is what determines where and how much fat we store in certain areas. Some people store more fat in their abs, others on their thighs.

So don’t waste your money on diet pills, skinny teas or shakes that promise to target fat loss. If you want to get rid of these areas you need to train on a regular basis and induce a calorie deficit with your diet. Eventually it will come off, you just need to be patient and endure the process, because some areas will come off after others but they WILL eventually come off! A personal trainer can help set your calorie needs based on the training schedule they have made for you!