Injury Proof Workouts with a Healthy Diet

During physical activity, we can be prone to injuries. We can lose balance and trip over, fall and sprain an ankle.  We can prevent injuries during workouts by strengthening our muscles before embarking on an exercise program. Strengthening core muscles improve balance and flexibility and enable us to exercise effectively to burn fat and build muscle.

However, muscle strengthening is not all about exercise; it also needs balanced nutrition. The purpose is this article is to identify the types of diets which can strengthen muscles effectively.

High Lean Protein Diet

Protein is essential in your diet to encourage growth of muscle mass. This is because a protein-rich diet can provide you with amino acids needed for your body to recover from stress and injury. Amino acids are also needed to rebuild and strengthen muscle tissues after exercise. However, be careful with the type of protein you should include in your diet. You may include lean protein foods such as eggs, beans, chicken, turkey, legumes and low-fat or nonfat dairy products.

Complex Carbohydrate Diet

Complex carbohydrates differ from plain carbohydrates because they are slowly digested, thus providing a slow but steady release of glucose for energy. Consuming this type of carbohydrate can boost your energy levels, especially during a muscle strengthening workout. Consuming carbohydrates also spares protein from being used up for energy in the body.

A good example of a complex carbohydrate is the type of carbohydrate found in oatmeal. Oatmeal is high in dietary fiber, which in turn releases steady energy while keeping blood glucose levels at a normal range. Oatmeal also helps you control your appetite and prevents hunger pangs by making you full all the time. Other foods with complex carbohydrates are whole grain foods and yams.

Healthy Fat Diet

Fat is not all that bad; in fact, you need a reasonable amount of healthy fat to strengthen your muscles. This is because a healthy amount of fat can build muscle and can help rebuild skin, hair, nails and joint tissues. Choose to include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in your diet such as the ones found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, canola oil and fatty fish like salmon. These fats can help decrease high cholesterol levels in the blood and can protect you against cardiovascular disease.

Frequent Eating

For muscle strengthening, consider consuming a diet that allows you to eat frequently. Eating frequently has been shown to promote weight loss and burn fat. This is because more frequent eating encourages your body to burn calories during digestion every time you eat. The more frequent digestion is, the more calories are burned. Each of your meal portions should contain only 300 to 400 calories.

Frequent eating can also help manage protein stores in the body so that protein is not utilized for energy but only in the building and repair of muscle tissues. There should be six small meals per day to help you shed fat and prevent hunger pangs.

Other useful tips:

Warm up exercises : get your blood circulation going and warm those muscles up. If you're planning to carry weights or just do a couple of heavy exercises, limbering up will be your best defense against muscle sprains or injury.

Get the help of a professional : if this is your first time going to the gym or are planning to seriously get into an exercise regimen, getting the help of a gym instructor is a must. At least get a friend who has experience. Lifting weights in the gym could be dangerous. If you're trying to lift a heavier weight enroll the help of a friend who could assist you if anything goes wrong.