Rest and recovery

Let’s get something clear right away. Rest and Recovery are two completely different things……way different.

Just because you may have rested does not mean you have recovered. If you continue to train when you have not recovered properly then quite simply you will get injured.



The key to optimal recovery requires 5 major factors:

• Rest
• Quality Sleep
• Nutrition
• Knowing your body
• Recovery training (active rest).
  

Would a body builder train his/hers chest 2 days in a row at maximum poundage for their 8-10 rep range? NO.

However they may perform some much lighter chest exercises the following day to provide blood flow to the chest muscles in order to aid their recovery and muscle growth.
OR
A long distance runner may run hard for 20 miles one day, but a nice light 30 min recovery run the next day will relieve tightness, create blood flow and again aid their recovery.

Let’s go back to the 5 key factors to your recovery:

Rest:
So you have gone hard at it for 2 days solid in the gym, chances are your body could do with a rest. But I don’t mean sit on your ass and do nothing. Ease off on the intensity; go for a light run, stretch. It is so important to keep your body moving and create a good flow of blood. After all it is your blood that carries the nutrients to your hard worked muscles.
However there are days when your body does need a complete rest, this falls in to the knowing your body area which I will cover soon.

Quality Sleep:
Notice how I say quality sleep*? This is because everyone sleeps, but most certainly do not get enough quality sleep.
By quality I mean, 7-8 hours a night, in a dark room, no electrical appliances all over the place and no broken sleep.
Think about how much better you feel when you have had a good night sleep. Now think about how beneficial that is to your hard worked muscles that need to recover to perform at their best.
*Blog coming soon on quality sleep.

Nutrition:
So you have just finished and hour long full body workout, you feel great. On your way to work you grab a croissant, a pack of crisps and a tea with 2 sugars to have for your breakfast. Because you deserve it right? Wrong.
After your workout your body needs nutrients for recovery and repair. It needs good quality protein and carbs and it needs it now.
Please refer back to my blog on post workout nutrition for some ideas on this.
Remember you are what you eat. The food you consume is your fuel like petrol is to a car. For example if you tried to run a petrol car on diesel then it would break down as you are providing it with the wrong fuel in order to function.
The same rule applies to your body. Do you think the Manchester United squad has a Cornish pasty, mars bar and a can of coke before a game? You know the answer.
So in order to maintain energy levels, recovery and repair make sure you eat right, your body will thank you for it.

Knowing your body:
This bit is the hard bit as most people really don’t know their body when it comes to not having enough or having too much rest.
It is so important to know the difference between things like muscle fatigue and injury or my favourite, people who don’t train legs because their chest is sore from the day before.
Learn to listen to your body and make the right decision. Does your body need a genuine rest or are you just tired because you have not been eating right? See where I am going with this?
Also never ignore an injury, it’s not big and it’s not clever.

Recovery training/active rest:
Here’s a scenario, you have just woke up the day after a challenging kettlebell workout and you are sore all over and tight everywhere. Surely the best thing to do would is to have a complete day off from training and just sit at your desk all day. NO my friend, this is probably the worst thing you could do.
Get your gym kit on and go for a light 20 min run followed by a full body stretching session. This will provide your sore muscles with the blood flow they need to recover, loosen up and most importantly become less sore. Don’t believe it? Try it, works for me every time.
If running not for you? No worries, row, cycle or quire simply just move and get the blood flowing.
I promise that not only will you recover quicker but you will feel more energized and raring to go.

So the truth is just taking on one of the five things listed above just won’t cut it. All of the above have a knock on effect to each other. For optimal recovery assess all of the above and ask yourself “Are their changes I can make?”

The answer is yes, as it is for us all. The truth is it is not easy to compliment our lifestyles with what I have listed but let’s at least try as I promise you; you will be a better person for it.