{"id":42416,"date":"2014-04-16T08:24:02","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T15:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=42416"},"modified":"2014-04-14T09:27:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T16:27:08","slug":"why-recover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=42416","title":{"rendered":"Why Recover?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Recover?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Guest Post by Suzanne<\/h4>\n

from\u00a0Workout Nirvana<\/a><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m happy to be back on Lisa\u2019s blog \u2013 we go way back! She\u2019s rocked my online personal training program and even demonstrated her squat for me on the streets of downtown Portland. I was excited when she asked me to guest post on the subject of recovery, a subject I feel passionate about.<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent years training my heart out without thinking much about recovery. Even though I had nagging injuries and frustratingly slow progress, I just couldn\u2019t force myself to back off my frequent weightlifting sessions \u2013 I just loved them too much.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until I became a fitness trainer that I realized that we train hard to recover, not the other way around. Since then, I\u2019ve had fewer injuries and better progress. While recovery is a complex subject and varies greatly from person to person, it\u2019s important to understand how it fits into your training routine.<\/p>\n

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Why Recover<\/h1>\n

With any type of training, your central nervous system, muscles, connective tissue, and joints are stressed by exercising. The only way to get stronger, bigger, faster, and better is to let your body recover and adapt while glycogen stores are replenished and muscle tissue is repaired (among many other processes).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, without adequate recovery and rest, two bad things are likely to happen: (1) repetitive stress injuries and\/or (2) stalled progress.<\/p>\n

Repetitive Stress Injuries<\/h2>\n

If you push your body repetitively without letting it recover sufficiently, your body can become weakened and overstressed. If you\u2019ve ever had tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, or patellar tendinitis, you understand this all too well.<\/p>\n

Stalled Progress or Performance<\/h2>\n

When you work out while your neuromuscular system is still in a stressed state, your body simply can\u2019t perform at its best. Your body improves by continually adapting, so if you overtrain there\u2019s no time for your body to build muscle or achieve a higher level of conditioning or strength.<\/p>\n

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How Long Should You Recover?<\/h1>\n

Recovery days should be scheduled into your week just like your workouts. You need to look at ALL your activities as one big picture instead of conveniently forgetting to include that one class or activity.<\/p>\n

Resting Between Workouts<\/h2>\n

How long you rest between workouts depends on many factors \u2013 your age, the intensity of your workout, whether you\u2019re training for an event, your other activities, and more. Generally, the less intense your workout, the less time you need to recover. But since this is subjective, having a set schedule is the safest bet.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you\u2019re terribly sore you may need to add a day in between your workouts (heat and massage can relieve soreness but won\u2019t speed recovery).<\/p>\n

Handling Multiple Activities<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re thinking of increasing your activity level \u2013 adding a class, starting personal training sessions, training for an event \u2013 there\u2019s one rule you should remember:<\/p>\n

When you add something, you have to take something away.<\/span><\/p>\n

You simply can\u2019t keep adding activities without eventually burning out physically. If you\u2019re not already exercising, then add activities slowly and work up to higher intensities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s smart to schedule intense running or cycling sessions and lower-body strength training sessions on different days, otherwise your performance will definitely suffer in one or both areas. In fact, it can take well over 24 hours to from recover from an intense running session, so you might want to think twice about heavy squats the very next day.<\/p>\n

If you lift weights three or four times a week on top of other resistance-based activities else (CrossFit, boot camps, etc.), you might be burning the candle at both ends. All of these activities tax your neuromuscular system, and you need at least 48 to 72 hours between strength workouts. (I talk more about strength-training recovery here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Resting Within a Training Cycle<\/h2>\n

Cycling low- and high-intensity period of training (called periodization) is a must to allow your body to adapt and recover fully and then come back strong in peak condition. All it takes is a little planning. There\u2019s lots of ways to alternate high\/low intensity:<\/p>\n