Great you heard that exercising is the best thing you can do for your health. So, you invested in a large exercise mat to start with a fitness routine at home. But, before you start, you may already be making three exercise mistakes as doing your exercises safely and adequately helps.

First Mistake: Never Skip a Warm-Up

For flexible muscles, you need to do your warm-up before you can put them to work. Your warm-up routine gently prepares your body for the training you plan to do. It also helps increase your blood flow and heart rate. In turn, it helps loosen the muscles and joints to prevent injury. So fix it by doing some arm circles and jumping jacks to get your blood, oxygen, and heat to the muscles to make them pliable.

Second Mistake: Be More Consistent

Yes, you live a busy life with many commitments and can easily fall off track with your fitness goals. So before you forget to get on your cardio mat, keep an exercise log to keep track of your progress. When you skip training for a week or more, your endurance level lowers and can lead to injuries.

Also, working out once in a blue moon is ineffective compared to working out often. So do not try to cram in weeks of training into one session. So, set up a weekly goal of 150 minutes to get your heart and lungs pumping.

You can do short cardio workouts for 20 minutes per day or do a 50-minute workout over three days.

Third Mistake: Not Keeping Your Body Hydrated

Water is essential to help cushion the joints and stabilizes the blood pressure and your heart rate. But, unfortunately, you lose water when training, and at the same time, you lose your sodium and potassium (electrolytes.) It happens when you sweat and results in a lactic acid buildup in your muscles, leading to cramps. So, never underestimate the power of keeping the body hydrated.

The rule of thumb is to drink about 17 ounces to 20 ounces of water at least three hours before exercise. Then drink another eight ounces during your warm-up or 30 minutes before the time. Lastly, drink another eight ounces after exercising.

Still, the numbers vary from one person to another and depend on how much you sweat. To fix it, most people need up to eight cups of fluid in their day and even more when working out. So keep your body hydrated by drinking coconut water, water, or fresh-pressed juice.

Final Thoughts

When you look at these three mistakes, you might be making and can recognize them. You can ensure to rectify them before you start with your exercise routine. Ensure that you warm up and keep a log of your workout routines not to fall behind. Most importantly, drink loads of fluid to keep the body hydrated to lessen the risk of getting cramps. So grab your large exercise mat and start working on your cardio.