How to get back into shape as soon as you start school

The start of the new school year in September is an opportunity to make good decisions about your physical condition. No more procrastinating, every day counts!

Physical activity: cardio and bodybuilding, the winning duo

If the sports halls were rather deserted during the month of August, it is time to resume a healthy and intensive physical practice (not too much anyway). There remains the age-old question: cardio or bodybuilding? Well, in itself, one cannot go without the other. If cardio allows you to “dry” while training your cardiovascular system, strength training increases the level of high-density lipoproteins (commonly “good cholesterol”), improves flexibility, prevents disease and much more.

Depending on the objectives of the sport, the proportion of this or that training can vary. There is little chance that a bodybuilder will spend hours on an elliptical trainer or that a budding Phidippides lingers on the bench press. The start of the school year is also an opportunity to take courage in full force and create a suitable program on the good advice of a sports coach.

Sport and timetable

It remains to organize your workday while leaving generous space for physical activity. A sports session in the morning stimulates the metabolism and allows you to face your day more serenely, but is not strictly speaking ideal for advanced training. The end of the afternoon is more suitable for an intensive session. Sports coaches advise training at 6 p.m. In any case, it is better to avoid engaging in physical activity in the evening, otherwise, you will disturb your sleep cycle.

As for the frequency, playing sports once or twice a week is not very beneficial except to relieve consciousness. For convincing results, setting a goal of 3 or 4 workouts per week, alternating on and off days to allow time for the muscles to regenerate, is much more reasonable. Obviously, good resolutions also require diligence: we do not skip the session and therefore do not miss the leg day.

Rebalancing food rather than a diet

Back to school often rhymes with a lack of sleep. The spirit still wanders in nostalgia for the holidays as the pages of the agenda fill up at a frantic pace. Difficult to make good and long nights complete. However, skipping the 7 hours of statutory sleep reduces the leptin level (more commonly called satiety hormone) in favor of the ghrelin level, which stimulates appetite and therefore promotes snacking. This is also what happens in the body when we adopt a low-calorie diet and, in September, they are popular. To banish therefore. Better to focus on rebalancing food.

To function well, the body needs macronutrients (lipids, carbohydrates, proteins) which represent 98% of the diet, but also micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). They are found in bananas, spinach, nuts, and lentils, etc. Yet the remaining 2% of micronutrients that are so important are often overlooked. The goal of a balanced diet: reintroduce them. Foods too rich in sugar, salt, saturated fatty acids and flavor enhancers such as glutamate are also avoided.

The rebalancing is done over time and gradually. It aims to achieve a healthy weight without at all costs trying to slim down. And when we talk about weight form, we avoid making a fixture by calculating its BMI. Finally, in a fitness routine, you must get enough hydration. Remember, the body is 65% water. It is therefore advisable to drink at least 1.5 l / day water and the thermos of coffee, this does not count!

When the smartphone becomes an effective coach

The main difficulty with good resolutions is to keep them. If the motivation for the first few days is often there, it tends to run out of steam quickly. Using a sports coach or being followed by a nutritionist remains an effective solution, but in the 2.0 era, there are also mobile applications adapted to take care of your body. Only one rule to respect: choose them well.

Apps to decrypt your plate

We avoid applications that focus only on calories because it has very little interest. For example, a meat steak can contain as many calories as a serving of chocolate bars. When it comes to nutrients, it’s something else entirely. A good nutrition application is one that decrypts what is on the plate.

We recommend the Seasonal Fruits and Vegetable app which allows you to revise your botany and thus adopt a healthy diet, but also Kwalito which is a precious help for all those who follow a precise diet (gluten-free diet, lactose intolerance, etc. .) or Yuka who offers real documentation about food additives, while simply scanning the barcode of a product.

A virtual sports coach?

To practice sport version 2.0 you can opt for a bracelet or a connected watch – 5.5 million Fitbit watches and bracelets sold in 2018, this is not negligible. If for some, they are gadgets, for others they are real training tools. As for mobile applications, Nike Training Club30 days fitness challenge or 8fit are particularly appreciable because they include diagrams or exercise videos for those who are not very keen on sports reading.

A little help to motivate yourself and face the turmoil of the start of the new school year is never too much!

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