Water
Water is essential when working out. Drink small amounts every fifteen minutes if you can. It will replace fluids lost through sweating and help fuel your metabolism to breakdown food and turn it into energy. If you don't drink enough, you won't burn as many calories.

Breathing
Don't hold your breath when you exercise. As a general rule, you should exhale when your muscles contract (on the effort or exertion), and inhale when they lengthen, and as you return to the starting position of the exercise. Sometimes the confusion over when to breathe out comes from not knowing which phase (contraction or lengthening) we are in when we exercise. Here is a breakdown of how to breathe. Correct breathing patterns will become second nature with a little experience.

Warm-up and cool-down
Before you start a strength training or cardiovascular workout, it's vital that you warm-up for 5-10 minutes. This process will gradually increase your heart rate and body temperature, get your joints ready for activity and prepare your body for the upcoming workload.

After your workout, you should stretch in order to cool down, lower your heart rate and help prevent injury and muscle soreness.

Training tips

• Perform each exercise with controlled and slow movements. Quality is more important than quantity. You should feel every point of the movement.
• Each repetition should take about four seconds to complete: two seconds to lift the weight (or stretch the band) and two seconds to lower it. Moving any faster uses momentum rather than muscle power, and it makes the exercise less effective.
• Start with 90 seconds rest between sets. You need enough time to allow your muscles to completely recover, but not too much time that you lose focus on the workout. The fitter you get, the less rest time you will need. Gradually cut your between-set rest periods down to 30 seconds, then 15.
• Always listen to your body. It'll tell you loud and clear how and when to proceed. Never overdo it.