Having trouble reaching your peak performance while working out, and you can’t find the cause of the problem? The cause could be something you wouldn’t normally think of, so take a look at this list—maybe the solution is here.

1. Sleep Deprivation

This is an issue that can easily be solved, but hardly anyone thinks about the importance of sleep. A bad workout can be the result of a bad night's sleep. It's also a means of recovering from intense workouts. Many experts even recommend trying to get a 10-hours sleep for a couple of weeks in order to increase performance. It works with many basketball players, swimmers, and tennis players. Also, early morning workouts are great, but impossible if you are lacking sleep.

2. Uninspiring Playlist

Listening to a good song can improve your mood no matter what you are doing, but especially if you are doing aerobic exercises or hitting the treadmill. A good and motivating playlist can get you in the zone and make you endure longer. It also diverts your mind from the feeling of exhaustion and muscle pain, so you can work out longer without feeling too tired.

3. Working Out After a Hangover

Working out after a night out isn't a pleasant experience. Drinking the night before can decrease your performance up to 11%. More precisely, it affects your reaction time, your balance, decreases your capabilities and dehydrates your body.

4. Poor or Wrong Nutrition



Your daily calorie intake has to match your daily activities. It's a usual mistake to eat almost whatever we want just because we work out twice or three times a week - well, it doesn't work like that. On the other hand, some athletes are trying to get lean, so they are avoiding carbs, proteins and fat, which will ultimately result in them running out of energy too soon. The key is a balanced diet.

Also, if you are working more than 30 minutes, it means you need to eat something before the exercise, and not working out on an empty stomach. After the workout, carbs from fruit, vegetables or whole grains are a great source of energy for the muscles to be rebuilt and recovered.

5.  Too Much Training

Yes, it can happen, too. If you don't give your body enough time to recover from intensive or frequent training, it can result in a constant feeling of fatigue, depression and altered appetite. In essence, the problem is not the intensive or long workout—the problem is not giving your body enough time to rebuild the muscles and accumulate the energy it needs.

6. Life Stress

Everything that happens to us in our lives affects our performance. The end of a relationship, pressure at work, financial woes and more. Anything that stresses your mind can stress your body and be a trigger for a decreased performance. Exercise can be a great way to manage stress, just remember to give yourself a break if you aren't feeling your best. 

7. Importance of Air we Breathe

Firstly, the air quality where you exercise can influence your performance a lot. If the air outside where you do your exercises is polluted, it can make you slower. High levels of smog influence your speed and performance.

Also, the way we breathe in oxygen is important, too. It's important to control your breath. If you are running, try inhaling for 3-4 steps and exhaling for the next 3-4 steps. In time, it will help you breathe in even more oxygen, which improves duration and performance. This type of breathing applies to most exercises that burn calories even more than running. Also, whenever you feel out of breath, decrease the intensity of the exercises, so that the breathing doesn't get erratic. It's also important to note that sometimes it's inevitable to perform rhinoplasty to ease the air intake, greatly improving the performance.

8. Static Stretching as the Only Warm-up

Static stretching to warm-up is simply not enough. Not only will you lack the energy, but there is also the possibility of an injury. Static stretching is more effective after the workout, while dynamic stretching is a better option for the warm-up. It means repeating a specific movement 10-15 times, such as arm circles, leg lifts or knees to chest. However, anything with lots of jumping should be avoided.

Final Words

Having a successful and beneficial workout doesn't only mean doing the exercises properly and doing them frequently. A lot of things that we do prior to and after the workout influence the overall performance and the long-term results. Our bodies are complex, which means there are numerous things to pay attention to.