Tips For Maintaining An Exercise Routine In The UAE

Why do so many people in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah or RAK have problems maintaining an exercise routine? Get some tips and advice from experts on the best ways to stay on track.
tips-for-maintaining-a-fitness-routine-uae-personal-trainers

Tips To Help You Maintain An Exercise Routine In Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah

Article Contributor: Andrew

So you’re thinking about starting a new exercise routine in the UAE or perhaps you already exercise but find you have problems sticking to it.

We’ve all been there, feeling less than motivated for that session at the gym. It can be even harder if you exercise at home because life tends to get in the way.

However, there are some simple tips and tricks you can do to make sure you keep up with your training in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah. When you follow these tips you’ll find your training tends to fit in easier with your lifestyle.

Table Of Contents

Maintain Your Exercise Or Training Routine

No matter what your level of fitness is, being prepared and following a well designed exercise and training plan can be invaluable when it comes to seeing and feeling results.

Fail to plan, plan to fail as they say is definitely the truth when it comes to taking care of your physical health. Unless you make a plan (or ask a personal trainer in Abu Dhabi to plan one for you) things will get overlooked, you’ll not train as well as you could and you won’t reap the benefits of making sure your nutrition fits in with your goals.

We’ve created this article as a simple guide which includes some tips on maintaining an exercise routine for the long term. Once you include these tips into your training program you’ll see and feel results much quicker.

tips-for-maintaining-a-fitness-routine-uae-personal-trainers

Start Slowly And Gradually Build Your Fitness

Ever heard the saying ‘don’t try to run before you can walk’?

This is especially true when you start a new fitness regime in the UAE. Yes, you eager to get started, you have a great training program in place but ‘start slowly’

There are a couple of reasons why you need to ease into a workout routine in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah.

 

1. Injuries

Training injuries are far too common for both men and women of all ages. Although injuries can of course happen whenever you train you are more likely to injure yourself when you are new to exercise, especially when using gym equipment. Injuries can include muscle strains, torn ligaments and much more.

Take your time, ease into your new training routine and where possible see the advice of a professional personal trainer in Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah.

Training injuries, especially for those new to health and fitness can put you back by weeks. And, for some it can put them off exercising altogether.

 

2. Burnout

What do we mean by burnout? Well, in simple terms it means you are putting too much stress on your body and yourself which will lead to you literally burning out – a lack of energy or motivation to continue with your new training program.

Yes you’re eager and yes you can’t wait to see results. But often this eagerness can be your worst enemy when training in the gym in Abu Dhabi or at home. Unless you take it slowly, give your muscles time to recover and give yourself a break your body will have problems keeping up with your schedule.

It can be hard to avoid burnout, especially because you’re probably excited about losing some weight or working on building a great 6 pack but take your time. Personal Trainers in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah know how to create the perfect workout and nutrition program which will give you time to relax and recover.

Eat Well & Follow Good Nutrition Guidelines

Any good fitness program starts in the kitchen.

Without fuelling your body correctly the results you want to see and feel will take longer or in some cases will now show at all.

Let’s take weight loss in Abu Dhabi for example. Yes, you can starve yourself (not advised) and you will see weight loss with a good cardio HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) program. But, that weight loss will include muscle loss and more.

Weight loss needs to include a good diet/nutrition program to ensure you lose weight ‘the healthy way’

 

  •  Your body needs fuel to workout

  • Weight loss with good nutrition guidelines will minimise muscle loss

 

The same applies to any form of training, muscle gain and strength for example

 

  • Muscle building means you need to include more protein in your diet

  • Unless you eat well and drink well training can result in muscle loss


As you can see, unless your training program starts in the kitchen you will find it hard to maintain and improve on your personal fitness results and goals.

Keep a record of your workouts and set goals

When you study any subject, either at school or college you keep notes and record what you are learning. If you didn’t it would be difficult to track your progress and see how you are performing.

The same logic should always apply to personal fitness.

 

How does keeping a record of your workouts help you?

When you keep a record of your workouts you are helping yourself in a couple of ways. Firstly, you can see how you are improving over a period of time. For example, if you are doing a certain number of reps and sets using weights you will instantly know from week to week how you are improving by increasing your weights. Secondly, using a log of your training helps you understand what exercise types and methods are helping you and which ones might need changing.

It’s especially important to keep a record of your results for weight loss. Record your weight, your measurements and more and tie this in with your training and your diet.

Alternatively (if this sounds confusing) a professional male or female personal trainer can of course create a training program which includes ongoing monitoring and advice.

 

How does setting fitness goals help you maintain a fitness routine?

It has been proven in studies like the one found here (Fitting in Fitness: The Science Behind Goal Setting (ubc.ca) ) that setting goals can help you both physically and mentally.

Physically, setting a goal can help you see results faster because you are working towards something and taking physical actions in order to achieve that goal. Let’s say your goal is to become more flexible. There are plenty of ways to reach this goal but physically taking a Yoga class in the UAE will be a great start.

Mentally, setting a fitness goal puts you in the right frame of mind to achieve that goal. Being in the right state of mind can do wonders for your self-esteem and motivation too.

Ideally, when you first start out on the new health and fitness journey you want to break down goals into smaller, more achievable ‘mini goals’ These are much easier to manage and much easier to fit into your daily schedule.

Let’s say for example you want to lose 30lbs in Abu Dhabi as part of a weight loss training program. Once you have a good personal training for weight loss program in place split that 30lbs of weight loss into a number of months and try to reach that ‘mini goal’ within that time frame.

A word of warning about goal setting. Being human we often make goals that can be unrealistic. It doesn’t mean you’ll never reach that goal but your time-frame might not be realistic.

For example, it would probably be impossible to get a great six pack in a month or lose 50lbs in six weeks. Try to be as realistic as possible with your training goals because doing so means you won’t be disappointed or even worse ‘less motivated’

Exercise at the same time every day

Maintaining a workout or training routine takes commitment but with time and dedication the way you look and feel is worth it. There will be the odd day or two when you don’t feel like training or have other things you need to do. But, unless you maintain some sort of routine when it comes to your training times it can be all too easy to let things slip and missing training days become routine.

 

How does setting aside the same time everyday for your training help?

  • Habit – It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic. Although the automatic part doesn’t really apply to a fitness routine the habit part is important. Doing something habitually means it’s less likely to be overlooked.

  • Time management – Many men and women in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah have fairly busy lifestyles. What with work and family commitments it can be difficult to fit a new exercise routine into their busy schedules. However, if you set time aside everyday (or plan to) for your workouts it become much easier to manage your time.

 

Training with a PT in the UAE can also help you exercise at the same time. The reason for this is that you are made accountable. You’ve paid for a service and sometimes cancelling it can cost you money you therefore will do you best to stick with a pre-agreed day and time.

Vary your route if you walk, run or cycle for exercise

Whether you love to walk, run or cycle, being in the great outdoors is a great way to exercise.

When it comes to any of the above adding variety by varying your routes really does help with maintaining an exercise routine. You’ll not only find more difficult routes but also you’ll be seeing new locations too which in itself is great for mental health.

Healthy Isnt A Goal But A Way Of Living - UAE Personal Trainers
Take Care Of Your Body - UAE Personal Trainers

Warm up, work out, cool down

We discussed habit above and how that can help you maintain a fitness program. You need to also make sure your exercise routine includes the following elements:

 

  • Warm up. This is a critical part of training and should definitely not be overlooked. Even more so for novices. Warming up helps prepare your body (muscle, joints, ligaments) for the workout ahead and reduces the risk of injuries like muscle strains.

  • Work out. Do your working for as long as you feel you need to. Depending on your goal some workouts and training programs take more time than others so don’t forget to factor this in when planning your time during the week.

  • Cool down. Just like a good warm up a good cool down that includes stretching and breathing will really help your muscles recover quicker. To maintain your exercise program don’t forget to do this crucial step every time you workout.

Include Music In Your Exercise Routine

Have you noticed that nearly all gym fitness classes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharah play background music?

There is a good reason for this. Let’s looks at an example.

Zumba for fitness in the UAE. Zumba is a type of aerobic exercise routine that can help with weight loss and cardio fitness. However, can you imagine a high energy Zumba class without music? The routines are done to music for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Zumba moves need some kind beat and secondly doing a dance routine ‘to’ music is fun.

The same applies to cardio classes like spin and step. Music is used to keep a steady pace and then the pace increased in tempo with the music.

Including music in your fitness routine can really help. Depending on the exercise type it can help with focus (helps you avoid distraction) and you can use the music to keep in sync with your moves.

So, whether you work out with a male or female personal trainer in Abu Dhabi or you exercise at home on your own, add some music and see if it helps you with maintaining your focus and goals.

In Summary.....

There are many ways to maintain a fitness routine or program and this article will hopefully give you some tips and advice for your own personal situation.

Find the best male or female personal trainer in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman or RAK to help you plan and maintain a fitness routine

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