Tips for good preparation for sports now that relaxations are in sight again.

Everyone is getting used to the lockdown. Many things that used to be normal are now completely different. You have to work from home as much as possible and you are only allowed to go outside if there is no other option. This means that you spend a lot of time indoors, with the possible consequence that you get little exercise. Going to the gym is not an option and we certainly don't have to think about team sports. Fortunately, there will come a time when the lockdown is over. You may have been sitting still for a long time, so exercising again takes some getting used to. How can you best prepare for sports after the lockdown? Here are a number of useful tips to help you prepare to perform optimally as soon as possible once we are finally allowed to exercise again.

Eat a lot of protein

The following applies to everyone: proteins are an important source of nutrients for your body. Thanks to proteins, your muscles can recover better after an (intensive) effort. If you don't move or move less for a while, your muscles and muscle tissue are broken down by your body. You read that right: your body breaks down your muscles. This is because your body has the property that it does not build anything, but breaks down a lot. You must ensure that you build and maintain muscles and muscle tissue. You do this mainly by exercising, but your lifestyle in terms of nutrition is also important. So are you moving a little less? Then make sure you eat a lot of protein-rich products, so that your muscles are broken down as little as possible. The importance of proteins is underestimated by some people. Proteins provide amino acids, among other things. Your body can produce part of those essential amino acids itself, but another part of those essential amino acids come from food. Your body produces many building materials independently. Unfortunately, proteins do not belong to the category of substances produced by the body. You have to get proteins from food. A large group of foods contain proteins, there are a number of protein-rich recipes that give you a protein boost. Proteins are found in animal (egg, fish, meat and dairy products) and vegetable (beans, tofu, lentils and whole grains) products. Thanks to a protein diet you can maintain the amount of protein in your body. Sometimes it happens that a protein diet does not bring enough protein into your body. To still get enough protein in your body, you can, for example, use nutritional supplements, protein shakes or protein-rich bars.

The effect of proteins on your performance

Proteins therefore ensure that your muscle and muscle tissue is broken down less quickly and that your body recovers better after exercise. If you ensure that the amount of protein in your body is as high as possible, this will have a positive effect on your endurance, so that you can also last a training session longer after the lockdown. In addition, your muscles are much stronger and you can therefore perform better. Thanks to proteins, you can maintain a higher level much longer, while your muscles also recover much faster.

Now keep moving a bit

In addition to nutrition, keeping moving in itself is also an important part of a good preparation for exercising after the lockdown. Exercising on your own is of course less fun than exercising with your teammates or your sports buddy(s). Yet it is important that you keep moving during the lockdown. It is logical that you do not have the same materials at home as in the gym or at your sports club. You also have no one to motivate you when you don't feel like it. Skipping your sports session is therefore much easier, but you should try to avoid skipping a session as much as possible! It is therefore important that you make a schedule in the first place. Do not expect yourself to exercise very intensively every day, because this is difficult to maintain. It is easier to plan a number of exercises every day that raise your heart rate and put a strain on your muscles. For example, you can agree with yourself that you will do a short workout after getting up or that you will be exhausted just before going to sleep by being in motion for 10 to 15 minutes.