It's #NationalFitnessDay and what better way to celebrate fitness, than by talking about rest, recovery and fatigue...
Okay, so possibly not what you were thinking when I first mentioned fitness day. You mention training/exercise and the first thing a lot of people assumes is that in order to get results, you have to train everyday, giving 1000% effort and intensity and if you don't all gains will be lost. But hear me out.
There are certain people out there and quite a lot of well known 'influencers' who love to normalise the saying ‘no pain no gain’. The idea of giving blood, sweat and tears, going to failure on every set and leaving wanting to be sick after every session has been somewhat glamorised. In some ways, yes, you need to put stress on your muscles in order for them to grow and you need to challenge them. BUT, there is a difference between muscle fatigue and genuinely being in pain when doing exercise. There is also a difference between training hard and training smart. You can train hard & smart, but too often, people tend to just do the hard part and forget a lot of other important factors. They'll smash their bodies into the ground but do the other things that are just as important for growth. -Rest
-Recovery
-Sleep
-Proper Nutrition
-Maintenance [through massage, stretching, mobility work]
It’s important to “listen to your body”. If something doesn’t feel right, your body's usually pretty good at letting you know when something is wrong. Soreness is common, especially for muscles that have not been exercised for long periods of time, or when you perform a new movement. These aches are the things you feel most often the day after you've exercised and they're what leave your muscles feeling heavy or like you can't walk properly after training legs sometimes. You have to damage the muscle fibres in order for it to repair and ultimately grow. However, it's important to know the difference between genuine pain/injury and muscle soreness [DOMS].
Swelling, affects on sleep, constant chronic pain/fatigue, change in appetite, loss of your period [for ladies] and joint issues are not normal! Likewise, mental fatigue, losing all inspiration to train, feeling completely demotivated and rundown are warning signs of over-reaching.
Warm ups, cool downs, proper nutrition, rest and recognising when your body needs a break are a crucial part of injury prevention. Scheduling in rest days, de-load periods and just recognising when you’re not feeling 100% are things that come with training experience and important in order to continue progressing. Despite what these ‘RISE & GRIND EVERYDAY’ folk say, that R&R [rest and recovery] are equally as important if not more. Remember that only a small portion of your day is spent in the gym and training- the stuff you do around this is just as essential to improve, progress and grow. Poor sleep, diet and overtraining will negatively affect goals and performance and ain’t nobody got time for that! If you're struggling to find the balance, you're feeling pain when you do certain movements or you're looking for someone to help you with programming and training, reach out now! Let's make this National day celebrating all things fitness and health, the one you make a change!
Comments