Sometimes the HARDEST part of a fitness routine is finding the time to give your body a break and recover. Yes, you should be finding ways to let your muscle, mind and body just relax but that doesn’t me you have to just lay on the couch everyday. A lack of proper recovery and conditioning can lead to plateaus. If you are having problems that are reoccurring over time,packing heavy weight on a dysfunctional movement can and probably will lead to injury. So what does recovery really mean and what do you do on a recovery day ?
There is active recovery and passive recovery. Passive recovery is the use of fancy rollers, tools, equipment, massage, physical therapy. The types of things we do in class to help with mobility and increase your range of motion. Active recovery refers to the the things you are personally doing to recover from a day of work, poor posture, or a training session. This means you are actively putting your body through movements that are raising your heart rate, increasing blood flow, training a particular skill and will create better movement patterns and prevent injury and inflammation. This is extremely important that your recovery program encompasses this theory. Most people are using passive recovery only.
Recovery relates to goals, and goals mean that everything you do has a purpose to reach that goal.”It is not how hard you train, but how well you recover.” I agree completely. If you don’t recover well, you won’t experience the strength, power, or endurance adaptations you’re in the gym for. Without adequate recovery, your musculoskeletal system, nervous system, and immune system become compromised, which puts you at a greater risk for injury, illness, weak lifts, and your mood will suffer. You should be contemplating how you are going to be moving the next day and set yourself up for success.How well you treat yourself ALL DAY, EVERY DAY is what creates athletes. That relates to sports, fitness, careers, and just being a good human being.
Ponder this:
Sleep = recovery from the previous day stress/training
Morning rituals = recovery from static sleeping and/or prepping for a AM workout
Pre-workout = recovery from demands of work
Post workout = recovery from training session
First step, learn to breath. Breathing creates mobility, it creates stability, allows for a clear mindset and decreases cortisol levels which is our stress response hormone. If you do one thing to recover, lie on a foam roller 2 times a day for 10 minutes and breathe. It can get more complex than that, but for beginners it doesn’t need to. Your body’s hormonal response to the deterioration of these systems is often a state of “fight or flight” which floods your body with high levels of catabolic hormones like cortisol.
Your body is a machine, full of electrical currents and impulses coming from your brain. It needs to be constantly tuned and it has limitless potential. If you are going into a workout and doing a complex lift, your mind and body need to be working in unison to make this happen. Your warm up should be specific to what you are doing to prepare yourself for the work ahead. Your muscles must work in proper synergistic fashion to obtain, maintain, and enhance performance. Corrective exercise can absolutely change the way your body performs and adapts to your workout program. You need to change the movement patterns of poor function to get better results when performing the movement in your strength workout.
Sleep is when your body recovers. You need undisturbed, deep, healing sleep. Your entire system of organs needs it. I’m sorry but if you are not sleeping, then you just won’t recover as well, will not train as well, and will eventually lead to pain and plateauing. You also have to think about what you are eating, every time you eat.your body needs fuel immediately when you are done training. If you want lean muscle gains, and not to let your body go into shock, what you do within 10 minutes finishing a workout is what you need to focus on. If you’re eating fake food all day and expect to have a good training session how can you when your body is in a state of inflammation from the foods you consumed.
If you want to perform at an optimal level, all things need to be in place. A healthy diet, a good sleep pattern, and recovery that helps you to move more efficiently ! You are then on the road to success!