Health
Best Pre Workout Routines for Every Day
When talking about fitness routines, you may credit your weight loss and muscle development to the gym. However, the gym is only a single factor and the things you do before and after also matters.
If you know exactly what you need to do before heading into the gym and after you get home, you can tweak your routines with the help of a personal training booking software to get the maximum effects and progress.
Experts say that the exercises are the easy part. You may lift some weights, run, jog, walk, or bench press for an hour, and this is only 4% of your 24 hours. The things that you do in the remaining 23 hours also matter. Know more about the benefits of exercise on this page here.
You may want to practice good sleeping habits, customize your nutritional needs and do rituals to ensure that you recover speedily. Some of the things that you can do to prepare and maximize your results are the following.
What to Do Before and After your Workouts
1. Get Enough Rest and Quality Sleep
Before you start anything, you need to ensure that you have appropriately rested and had a great good night’s sleep. This way, you can keep your hunger hormones at their normal levels, and you have more energy throughout the day. After all, you wouldn’t want to spend all of your time exercising only to undo your efforts by overeating afterwards.
It’s essential to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night or 6 if the schedule is very hectic. The body should feel rested, and exercising should give you more energy. Set boundaries and avoid electronics if possible before going to bed. Good sleeping habits are important after work as the muscles will have time to recover.
Many fitness enthusiasts also emphasise that finding the right balance of training, recovery, and daily nutrition can make a big difference in consistency and gains. For those curious about how structured supplementation fits into a holistic routine, resources like Evogen Nutrition offer educational insights into performance-focused nutrition that can complement smart pre-workout habits.
2. Drink Plenty of Water
Water is very crucial to one’s overall health and wellness. Proper hydration is critical in any wellness routine because sweating makes you lose water. Energy levels are also high if you practice adequate hydration. Drink water whenever necessary and avoid sugary beverages if possible.
For semantics, you may want to look at the relationship between a car and gasoline. Vehicles can’t run or function without oil, and this is the same with the body that’s devoid of water.
The amount of water that you need will vary with your body mass index, age, weight, and a lot of other factors. You should check your urine, and if it’s light, it’s a good indication that you have enough hydration.
3. Refuel with the Right Food
Snacks and other forms of nutrition can help you get ready in no time. One of these is CBD or cannabidiol that can act as your workout supplement coupled with protein shakes and vitamins.
Sweating excessively is very taxing to the body and giving it carbs and plenty of proteins can help it go back in shape. Your overall nutrition is very important because the food rebuilds the muscles, and plenty of stored glycogen can give you the fuel you need for your next day’s routine.
It’s also important to remember that not eating sufficiently after exercising will make you very hungry later in the day. You may feel irritable and tired, and you may likely avoid the next day’s routine if this is the case. You can go easy on everything and pack a snack before going to the gym.
4. Do Dynamic Warm-ups
It’s crucial never to skip your warm-ups, even if you’re doing a full 10-minute bench press. Warm-ups allow your body to adjust to your routines, increase your motions’ range, raise your body temperature, and prepare yourself in general. You won’t likely have to experience injuries and decrease your chances of getting sore when you do adequate warm-up exercises.
When you increase the range of your movements, you’ll be making the most of your routines. This is a way for your body to recruit more muscles during push-ups or doing dumbbells. Dynamic warm-ups are found on the internet, and they are the ones where you are not held in place while moving.
5. Cool Showers are a Relief
Immersion in cold water after sweating can be a relief. It’s not a guarantee, though, that it can make you avoid the soreness, or you can recover quickly afterwards. However, ice baths are helpful when your body seems to be overheating. Coldwater therapy may be associated with quick recovery, and this is beneficial to you.
Besides, a cool shower can help your overheated body go back to the baselines. Many people said that they felt a lot better physically and mentally, so you may want to consider it a post-workout ritual. It’s not necessary to jump in ice baths like others are doing. You just have to set a shower temperature that’s comfortable to you and cool down a little bit. Know more about showering after exercises here: https://www.healthline.com/health/shower-after-workout.
6. Foam Rollers Can Help
Experts’ opinions and preliminary studies have found out that foam rolling can help you recover after a vigorous exercise. You can increase your range of motion in the process as well. The foam rollers can minimize your soreness and enable you to adjust better to your new everyday routine. Increase the blood flow in your tissues while you exercise.
Many athletes and fitness enthusiasts have noticed that foam rolling feels better to their muscles afterwards. It can give you better performance for the next week because the rolling motions can reduce onset muscle soreness delay.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
As part of its efforts to safeguard public health in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has strengthened its regulatory framework for blood and blood products.
A statement signed on Thursday by the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed that to achieve its goal, the agency will collaborate with relevant authorities and stakeholders to establish a robust regulatory framework that promotes the availability of safe, quality-assured and efficacious blood and blood products, while strengthening public confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
NAFDAC said it intends to partner with government institutions, healthcare providers, blood establishments, development partners and other stakeholders for the robust oversight.
Mrs Adeyeye disclosed that already, her organisation has received the support of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate.
According to her, NAFDAC has been given the mandate to regulate blood and blood products in line with global best practices and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation that these products be subject to oversight by National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) for medicines.
She said blood and blood products are classified as essential medicines and must be consistently available with assured quality, safety and affordability, stressing that the aim is to protect patients throughout the blood transfusion chain.
Effective regulatory oversight will support the quality and safety of blood products from donor assessment and collection through testing, processing, storage, transportation and use, the NAFDAC chief noted.
Several African countries, including Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Rwanda, have already established regulatory oversight of blood and blood products by their NRAS, she added.
Mrs Adeyeye pointed out that NAFDAC’s renewed regulatory preparedness builds on its broader transformation into a modern, science-based regulatory authority.
Already, it has attained WHO Maturity Level 3, completed WHO Global Benchmarking ML3 re-assessment, obtained WHO prequalification for its drug laboratory, and established internationally accredited laboratory and quality management systems. These capabilities provide a strong foundation for the effective regulation of blood and blood products.
As part of its preparedness, NAFDAC has established a dedicated Vaccines, Biologicals and Medical Devices Registration and Regulation Directorate to oversee the registration and regulation of these products.
The agency established a Vaccines, Biologicals and Medical Devices Laboratory Services many years ago, but became a Directorate in 2024, responsible for quality control, including laboratory testing and lot release, while the Directorate of Evaluation and Research provides oversight of Good Manufacturing Practices. An ultra-modern laboratory facility is also being developed to further strengthen its capacity for the assessment and quality control of vaccines and biologics.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An organisation known as GoMed Nigeria is offering free reproductive health services to Nigerian students through a digital self-care platform.
This is being delivered through a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Lagos State Government.
The pilot scheme will be available to students of the University of Lagos. They will enjoy easier and more private access to essential health products, accurate information, and professional support.
Young Nigerians face some of the highest rates of unintended pregnancy and unmet need for contraception in the world.
Cost, distance, stigma, misinformation, and fears about confidentiality routinely stop students from seeking the products and guidance they need, with consequences that include unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted infections and interrupted education.
The self-care platform is designed to remove each of these barriers. Through the platform, students receive free contraceptives and other sexual and reproductive health commodities provided through the Lagos State Ministry of Health and UNFPA, exclusive discounts on health essentials, and fast, discreet delivery directly to campus and student hostels.
Students can also access trusted sexual and reproductive health information and services through UNFPA’s SoftLife 247 and U-Plan platforms. Through U-PLAN, they can chat directly with qualified Family Planning Service Providers to receive accurate information and address their concerns. They can also confidently engage with GoMed’s registered pharmacists for confidential, judgement-free guidance on medicines and other health products.
“Students should be able to get reliable health information and essential products without cost, distance or fear of judgement becoming barriers.
“This platform brings free sexual and reproductive health commodities, other affordable health products and professional guidance together, with discreet delivery directly to students on campus,” the chief executive of GoMed Nigeria, Mr Anthony Edeki, said.
Also speaking, UNFPA in Nigeria Resident Representative, Muriel Mafico, said, “As the UN agency mandated for “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”, we are committed to reducing preventable maternal deaths and addressing the unmet need for family planning, including by providing and overseeing access to life-saving commodities worldwide.
“Working alongside our partners, we’re helping roll out the digital Self-Care Platform—so that vital, life-changing information can reach more people, more easily. Together, we want to empower Nigeria’s next generation to make informed health choices and achieve stronger health outcomes and a brighter future.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A financing framework to accelerate the electrification of health facilities nationwide has been approved by the federal government.
The approval was announced at the third meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) of the Nigeria Power for Health Initiative (NPHI), a presidential programme jointly coordinated by the Federal Ministries of Power and Health and Social Welfare.
The committee was constituted to ensure reliable electricity in at least 30 per cent of Nigeria’s health facilities by the end of 2027.
At the meeting, chaired by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Mr Isiaq Salako, and co-chaired by the Minister of Power, Mr Joseph Tegbe, members of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) presented the recommendations under consideration.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Salako said the Steering Committee approved a financing framework to mobilise investment for healthcare electrification, alongside a facility energy management framework requiring participating hospitals to build sustainable systems for managing their energy infrastructure.
He said the committee also cleared eight (8) private sector proposals for further engagement, drawn from about 70 submissions received during the National Healthcare Electrification Investor Matchmaking Week in Lagos.
The Health Minister added that Energy Management Teams are already in place at federal tertiary hospitals, with state governments being encouraged to set up similar structures. The initiative will now be institutionalised through dedicated budgetary provisions and a full-time Project Coordination Unit to oversee implementation.
On his part, Mr Tegbe declared that the initiative must now move from announcements to actual project delivery.
Describing the NPHI as one of the President Bola Tinubu administration’s flagship programmes, he said the emphasis should shift towards commissioning completed projects that Nigerians can see for themselves, rather than further groundbreaking ceremonies and public messaging.
He emphasised the need for teaching hospitals, state hospitals, and primary healthcare centres to be fully energised, noting that the Rural Electrification Agency has already energised 5 Federal Teaching Hospitals and several other health facilities nationwide.
He also tied the initiative directly to patient outcomes, arguing that dependable power would end hospitals’ reliance on emergency generators, and pledged that the Ministry would continue to prioritise the initiative’s funding needs while ensuring value for money.
