By now you have probably heard or read about over one thousand things to do during your workout, but did you know there are things that you absolutely should not do after a workout as well? These little tips could indeed help you move forward with your workout plans and help save you from making a costly mistake to both your health and body. So if you are starting to get into your workout groove or even if you have been working out for some time, make sure you take the time read this list of things not to do after a workout just to be sure that you are absolutely safe.

Forgetting to do your cool down – After a great workout, you really need to do a cool down stretch or something. This will make sure that your muscles can relax a little and heal up. Don’t skip the cool down phase, make sure to always, always include it in your plans for the well-being of your health and body.

Pigging out on junk food beats the purpose of your workout and good health habits

Over doing the cardio – Cardio is great but if you overdo it, even that can turn bad for you. While again a lot of people tend to mix working out and doing cardio altogether, again it is fine but if you over exhaust yourself you open up the door to a lot of injuries. So once more it is safer to just split your cardio and workout if you can because your body too, has its own limits.

Skipping a proper meal – Of the things not to do after a workout, this could be one for the books. A lot of people want to lose weight, and while that is a great idea in general, skipping meals and denying your body the nutrients it sorely needs is a bad idea for your health and body. Make sure to eat a proper meal as your body needs nutrients badly after being worked out. Don’t skip meals, plan it out and eat something healthy.

Over eating – On the opposite side of the spectrum if you can skip a meal you can over eat as well. The thought comes up: “I just worked out, I deserve to pig out.” Well alright once in a while this is fine I suppose but doing it on a regular basis is a bad idea, especially if you are eating a lot of unhealthy fats. Doing this is not only one of the things not to do after a workout, but it is very detrimental to both your health and body if you over consume these bad fats. It is true your body needs nutrients but it needs the proper nutrients and not any old junk that is lying around, the ideal set up is a balanced meal after a good workout.

Skipping sleep – Please do not do this, as I have stressed before and continue to stress some more, sleep is super important to your body. Among the things not to do after a workout, I think this should be the easiest to avoid, assuming you can plan your day out properly or assuming that your health and body is important to you, which it should be. Get a full night’s rest before and after a good workout to make sure your body can heal properly, maximize the results of your workout and diet, otherwise you could really be negating all the hard work you are going through.

Neglecting water intake – While food is indeed important, don’t forget that you had a really good sweat going and need to replenish the liquids in your body. There is nothing more cooling than a tall glass of water or in this case, water bottle. Among things not to do after a workout, ignoring your thirst is one of them and quite frankly, it seems silly to not drink more liquids after doesn’t it? For your health and body, you really need to replenish what you used up and for me the best thing is a glass of water, if it has some fruits infused into it all the better, any which way, make sure to drink a lot of fluids. Make sure however to avoid sports drinks if you can, unless you’ve thoroughly done some research. Those are usually full of sugars that you really don’t need or want in your body after working out so hard.

Neglecting proper hygiene – After a trip to the gym, where sweat, blood and tears have been spilt, it is best to get really squeaky clean after for the safety of your health and body. Make sure you avoid touching your face or other sensitive parts before you shower as you can spread the bacteria and among the things not to do after a workout, this is the easiest one to do, as we tend to wipe our brows or rub our eyes after working out. Make sure you get a good shower in before doing all of that or at the very least wash your hands before you can hit the shower.

Keep a proper hygiene not only after working out but all the time.

Forgetting to record your progress – Keep a diary of your accomplishments, this will really help you push forward for slumps and there is always a way to really share with yourself the success of a great a workout. Within things not to do after a workout, forgetting to input everything in your journal is a major no-no. You really want to keep track of all your progress and forgetting to journal it is a big shame, you worked that hard and only to not jot it down, don’t do it!

Going out in gym clothes – This is super unhygienic and should not be done at all. It can really spread the bacteria all over your body and even to others, you don’t want to do that or be that person would you? For both health and body, this is one of the things not to do after a workout, it’s simple, makes sense and shouldn’t be too difficult to avoid altogether, all you need to do is shower and change clothes.

As you can see these are some simple tips on what not to do after a workout, they support pretty much your health and body plus promote a healthy outlook. You’ve come this far and worked so hard, why let yourself slip up from working out by doing anything on this list? I know I wouldn’t and quite frankly, you shouldn’t as well. Take the time and read this list after working out, so you can be absolutely sure that you are not doing any of them at all.  Stay healthy!