Pre-Workout Preparation and Routine

Trainingpeaks asked me to write an article on things to do before a workout, and I thought it was a great topic. I think a lot of athletes just jump into a workout, without proper preparation to maximize the time and investment. Here's what I wrote....

5 Things to Do Before Every Workout

Many athletes start their workout by lacing up their shoes or throwing on a helmet, and getting right into their session. Of course just getting started can be a difficult step at times, but paying attention to a few specific preparation keys before you start a workout can mean the difference between getting the training response you want and possibly taking steps backwards.

Here are five things every athlete should do in this order, before they workout, to maximize the training session.

1. Clear Your Mind

All athletes have stresses in their daily lives that have nothing to do with workouts, training, or racing. Instead, they have life, work, family and other stresses, all which can take away from the quality of a session. If an athlete comes into a session with a focus on the negatives, it can be hard to accomplish positive things.

I have seen a number of athletes quit a session that was going well, change a session entirely simply because of attitude, or fail to execute a session effectively, because they are too distracted with the other aspects of their life. Sometimes athletes want to take their aggression out in a session, which may be the exact opposite of the purpose of the session, such as a recovery spin or technical development session.

A little bit of pause to relax, clear the mind and put 100 percent mental focus into the session will get higher quality and better training response from the session.

Read the rest of the article here: http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/5-things-to-do-before-every-workout


Coach Vance