Recovery – 3 Reasons You Gotta Do It!
I have recently been reminded that we need to do a better job educating on recovery. There are a number of factors that play into recovery and they are often over looked. We are stuck in this mindset where more is better and that is so far from the truth! More is NOT better. Better is better. When you came to us you not only hired a personal coach, but a training program that is purposeful and effective. Here are three areas that play into your recovery…
1. Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday. Did you notice those are not training days? 🙂 That is purposeful! It is not because we take those days off to eat bon bons and sun tan! It was interesting a couple of weeks ago we had the Rock N Race, so my afternoon friends had training Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I can’t even tell you how many of you came up to me and asked why you are so sore or so tired that week. The answer? Because your body needs to recover. We are not machines and we are not designed to run ourselves into the ground day in and day out. It is not sustainable. Professional athletes don’t do it and you don’t need to either.
2. Eat supportively. If you’re training hard, you must eat to support that. If you are constantly sore, you are not recovering. We are happy to help you figure out what you can do nutritionally to help beat some of that soreness. You should not be sore every single day if you have been training consistently. You need to be fueled to train hard and if you wanna be a fat burner you can’t be fueling with sugar! Lucky for you, if this stuff confuses you we have THE BEST nutrition coaches on hand.
3. Sleep. Sometimes I get emails from you guys that say, “I slept right through my alarm this morning. I am SO mad I missed training!” When I get these emails it tells me that you NEEDED that rest. That you needed a little extra recovery so you could build up and come back stronger. There is a lot more than just dreaming going on when you are sleeping. Your body is still working and making magic happen so when you wake up you are refreshed.
Oh and a little hidden secret to strength training (notice I said STRENGTH training- not cardio- STRENGTH!), even when you are NOT in the gym - yes, when you are sitting there on the couch watching The Voice - you are STILL burning. It takes energy (burns calories) to rebuild muscle. When you are here challenge your strength and work hard. When you are not here (the other 165 hours a week) RECOVER! This is how I train (27 years old) and this is how our clients in their 70s and 80s train. It works, but you gotta follow the plan.
Be consistent. Recover. Be strong.
Coach Meagan