3 Moves to Improve Your Exercise Performance That You Aren’t Doing But You Should.

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Does your brain feel overloaded with all that you need to remember when it comes to getting and staying fit? We hear you. Research on the field of exercise grows by the day. The health business is a multi-million dollar industry. And with each new product unveiled comes layers of promotional material meant to sell the product.

But is there something we aren’t doing that would vastly improve our exercise performance? Not simply new fads, but moves that are backed by science as being what your body needs? Yes, there are.

Here are 3 moves that you should be doing and the science as to why.

1. Order up that massage.

Did you think an after-sports massage was just for the high-maintenance sports stars and the rich and famous? Actually, you should be getting in on this too because the benefits to your body are huge. Particularly when incorporated into a post workout routine. Massage loosens tight muscles and helps to release trigger points wherever they are found. When muscles remain in a tightened state, your body cannot use those muscle groups to their fullest range of movement. This is bad for your body because it means your body moves on to using other muscle groups to do the job which the tight muscle cannot do. The result? Muscle imbalance, which can often lead to injury.

The good news is that you don’t need to go to a sports therapist for a massage. There are products such as this runners massage tool that provides a medical-grade massage at half the price of going to a therapist. Adding in a massage into your after-exercise care plan is one of the smartest ways to prevent injury from sidelining your exercise times.

2. Snuggle down for a deep snooze.

There’s nothing quite like waking up refreshed after a night of solid, uninterrupted sleep. And now you’re about to get even more reasons to be protecting your sleepy times. Sleep improves your exercise performance and helps your brain master new moves. That’s just the first part. It also helps in muscle recovery. Why and how does that work? Very simply, whenever you have an intense exercise workout, your body tears muscle ligament to keep up with that strain. When you sleep, your body releases a certain hormone that aids in the reconstruction of your muscles.

If you are not sleeping enough, your body is missing out on getting the muscle repair time it needs. If you have put in an intense exercise session, consider going to sleep a little earlier to give your muscles time to repair

3. Green tea, ginger, and berries, oh my!

Some of the most important moves you can be making for your body happen outside of the gym. But that only means you need to work that much harder to establish them as a habit. Eating anti-inflammatory foods is one such habit you should build into your diet. Runners, athletes, and anyone who exercises on a regular basis are all prone to inflammation—which is a sign you’ve had a good workout. Many people leave inflammation alone to run its course. But that’s because they don’t know what steps they could be taking to help shorten that time period.

There are a slew of anti-inflammatory foods that you can be eating. Foods such as ginger, berries, and broccoli will help prevent inflammation, and/or help it to resolve itself quickly. Green tea has also proven to be a top anti-inflammatory beverage. You don’t need to suffer through inflammation when a simple addition to your diet could improve your recovery time.

These 3 simple moves will help you improve your exercise performance. Perhaps the reason people pay little attention to these activities is because they do not occur during one’s exercise hour. But if you want to improve your performance in just a few easy steps, here’s where to start.