One area which is grossly overlooked when you are working out is taking adequate recovery time. Why is recovery so important? Simple, if you are not getting sufficient rest and recovery after your workouts you will end up sending your body down a viscous spiral of fat gain, injury and fatigue. I don’t think anyone wants this!
If you are performing very high intensity workouts weekly this advice becomes even more relevant.
With this in mind here are some tips to getting the correct amount of recovery;
Listen to your body
If you are feeling very stiff and/or sore a day or two after an intense workout it is no harm to give your body a bit more time to repair itself. Returning too early to the gym after an intense session can cause more harm than good, especially as you are more susceptible to injury. A lot of people believe that more is better – this is not the case. Quality workouts followed by sufficient rest and recovery is essential to your health & fitness success.
Get enough sleep
I know I have mentioned this one numerous times before in previous blogs, but that’s because it is so important. When you don’t get adequate sleep your cortisol (stress hormone) levels are elevated which generally leads to fat gain and muscle loss – and who wants this??
Eat right
Having the correct calorie intake (relative to your goals) and macro-nutrient ratio’s is vital to achieving optimal recovery. So if you are trying to lose fat you will want to create a calorie deficit (less calories than your body requires) and the opposite for muscle gain.
Think of it this way. Imagine your body is a factory with different departments. You have the fat department, the muscle department, the skin and bone department etc….
Now imagine there has to be layoffs due to a lack of quality business (too many carbs which don’t pay well or too little calories to sustain bodily functions). So your body looks at each department’s efficiency. The muscle department is optimal for business function, however, it costs a lot of money to keep this department running (good quality calories and macro-nutrients such as high quality proteins) so the layoffs happen here firstly, followed by the skin and bone departments. The factory (your body) holds onto the fat department as this is cheap to operate in tough times (extreme calorie deficit and/or poor macro-nutrient intake)
If you feel you are FINALLY ready to make the right changes in your health and fitness, please get in touch to book your free consultation.
To your health and fitness,
Ciarán
