Recovery: Why you should spend some time relaxing and not sweating
Sometimes we get caught up in being better, going faster, lifting heavier, sweating more and don’t realize we need to take a break.
What does recovery look like?
Setting aside time to stretch and go through a proper cool-down routine after a workout.
Drink enough water! Start with 1/2 your body weight (lbs) in ounces each day, increase based on your activity level.
FUEL YOUR BODY. Eating less is not always best. Take some time to talk to a professional in the field of nutrition. Tell them what you’re eating and how much, how active you are and what your goals are. Make sure you are prioritized protein intake in your diet. *Beware of taking advice from online accounts/sources that don’t list their credentials!*
Get an adequate amount of sleep. Try to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. If you’re constantly running on 5 hours of sleep, you’re progress will suffer among other things.
“What’s the worst thing that can happen if I don’t fully recover from workouts?"
Your progress suffers. You hit a plateau because your body can’t keep up with the large amount of stress it’s dealing with. Exercise is a stressor. Just like you need time to recover after a hard day at work or dealing with sick family members, you need time to recover from a strenuous workout (no matter what that workout is!).
You end up feeling sore A L L T H E T I M E . An indicator that your body needs more rest is experiencing excessive delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). If you experience soreness every week something should probably change in your routine and a good place to start is taking a rest day or an active rest day.
Your digestion gets gEtTInG WeIRd. If you haven’t changed your diet and all of a sudden you’re having issues in the bathroom (yes, we’re talking about bowel movements here), it might be time to reevaluate your exercise routine and how hard you’ve been going. As I mentioned previously in this post, please always consult with a licensed professional on matters of nutrition and health!
You end up getting sick… a lot. Overexercising can lead to a suppressed immune system. Sure, everyone gets a cold at some point…but if you’re feeling rundown on the reg then reevaluate your training schedule and maybe take some time off.
You realize you’ve lost weight, and your current goals are NOT to do so. Most of the time I come across prospective clients whose goal IS weight loss. However, if you’re training for an event or just trying to gain muscle and you see the scale go down without training specifically for that, you may need to take some more time recovering or need to reevaluate your nutrition.
You’re just fatigued. Today we see people pushing the “BETTER, FASTER, MORE” mentality. While it is good to push yourself in your training, if you find yourself feeling exhausted, lacking concentration and becoming more irritable it’s probably time to give yourself a few days off.
Now if you’re thinking, “Wow, that sounds like me”
Give yourself some time off.
If you’re working with a trainer talk with them and explain clearly how you’re feeling! Talk about recovery. Find out what strategies you like most and work best for you.
Take an active rest day.
That means get up and move but stay out of the gym. Go for a leisurely walk or to a restorative yoga class. You can still move on a rest day, but it should be very mild and focused on NEAT, not progressive training. (Not sure what NEAT is? Click here to learn all about it.)
Besides prioritizing taking REAL REST from training, check back to the top of this blog post and think of how you can work on brining good habits into your recovery!
The head and heart behind Cochell Fitness LLC. I decided to pursue online training so I could help ‘ex’ athletes everywhere fall in love with training again.
I’m here to be your coach and teammate.
Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you’re leaving this post having learned something new and understand how it can be beneficial to you on your unique fitness journey. If there’s a topic you’re interested in learning more about, please leave me a message here so I can add it to my list!
CITATIONS
Kreher, Jeffrey. “Diagnosis and Prevention of Overtraining Syndrome: an Opinion on Education Strategies.”
Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 7, 8 Sept. 2016, pp. 115–122., doi:10.2147/oajsm.s91657.
Peake, Jonathan M. “Recovery after Exercise: What Is the Current State of Play?” Current Opinion in
Physiology, vol. 10, 7 Mar. 2019, pp. 17–26., doi:10.1016/j.cophys.2019.03.007.
Vogel, Amanda. “Certified™: April 2018 - Exercise Recovery on the Rise: Is It Part of Your Programming? .”
ACE, American Council on Exercise, Apr. 2019, www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/certified/april-2018/6967/exercise-recovery-on-the-rise-is-it-part-of-your-programming.