Fitness Performance Recovery Techniques

Last month was a killer. We jumped from being devilish in the party season... and feeling a bit guilty... To an angelic fitness and nutritious lifestyle. We hit the workout sessions hard. Striving to get in shape. With our mind's eye on our summer bodies.

But January always feels like the longest month. And with our inspired exercise push, we're feeling it physically too. It's no wonder most health and fitness resolutions dwindle away this month. It just feels too hard to keep it up. Even though we feel good right after a workout. Actually getting there's the real killer. Motivation dies.

In all honesty, if this is what it takes to get fit, to get the body we want, then it's not surprising people quit.

Nature's Response is Opposing your Goal... So work with it!

Actually, there's a good biological reason following the dream ends. It begins with a lie. An urge. Created by a notion that's propped up by affirmations we see and hear. Typically, a picture of a glowing fitness model with the phrase "Go Hard or Go Home". The idea we have to put in 100% effort all of the time.

When in fact, this idea leads to overtraining. I've been there myself. I've pushed sessions too hard. I've worked out too many times. And I've paid for it. Emotionally and physically. My body was clearly trying to tell me something. I didn't listen so it fought back. Completing my workouts felt more difficult than they should. I wasn't reaching my goals. And life felt like a drag. Everything took more effort. It actually felt like I was carrying another me.

Eventually, I had to take a step back and have a look at what I was doing.

It turns out, overtraining wasn't the real problem. I'm doing more now than ever before. The problem was I needed more recovery. A period of R&R added to my routine. I needed to strategically plan for some rest and relaxation and recreation - some active recovery sessions to recuperate. What's more, our bodies can manage an enormous amount of exercise… if you fully recover correctly.

For me, this spins the whole idea of "eat less and do more" on its head. I ended up eating more and doing less! My body still needed nourishing even though I wasn't doing the kick-ass workout sessions.

In the end, I learnt two things. The first being that we need more recovery time... increased training demands more recovery time. And that can come from two different directions. The obvious one comes from increasing training sessions. As you do more classes or workouts, you will need to increase your recovery sessions too. While the other way creates a greater need for recovery when your intensity increases.

With exercises that work muscle fibres harder, such as squats, and crank up the intensity, you will need more time to recover. As low-intensity exercises that engage slow twitch fibres do not require much recovery time, however, fast twitch fibres will need a longer recovery time. It's because they are designed for short use. So, work harder and you get tired quicker, then you'll need more time to recover.

The second thing has to do with our metabolisms. At present, most believe it goes up and down in line with exercise and food. And yet, our metabolisms are extremely fluid. We end up compensating and doing less than we need. Your metabolism is not a straight line. It partly curves downwards to accommodate. An active hunter-gather has the same metabolism as an inactive person. That flys in the face of what most believe. And what many professionals tell us.

Even though it's a commonly known phenomenon seen in the fitness scientific data. Such as, a sedentary person's metabolism will tick over throughout the course of the day and night. Where an active person will use more doing things but then sit down for longer periods. And as the intensity increases, the greater the drop in movement. In the end, both people will have very similar metabolisms. This can also be seen the day after exercise as they often do a lot less than normal.[1,2]

So pushing your body to do more and more without giving it time to recover can send it spiralling into a bad place. In contrast, active recovery is just as important as your workout. Working with nature must be better than fighting it.

Particularly, the aim is to allow your body to repair the damage you cause while exercising. However, doing nothing is not the way either...

...Active Recovery Speeds Up Repair Process

By gently engaging your muscles you'll stimulate them to be restored. You'll loosen them up and get the blood flowing. An active recovery session will help to reduce any stiffness or soreness or fatigue. In fact, fitness professionals are increasing active recovery time over and above intense exercise. There's a change happening. From as many all-out crazy sessions as possible to strategic training with incremental improvements.

Here's an idea of how some of the best coaches might balance an weekly exercise routine:

• 20-180 minutes - Weight/Resistance training
• 10-45 minutes - Circuit/Interval training
• 1-4 hours - Active Recovery
• 1-7 hours - Fun & Sports activities/Low-intensity training

With this in mind, it's important to listen to your body. If you’re feeling achy and run-down, lacking motivation, anxious, depressed, or fatigued then you might need more time to recover. Consider changing your routine or even scrap it for a week. Some professionals take a week off their difficult activities and concentrate on their recovery before gradually increasing their training again.

Anyway, here are some ideas of what you can do during your active recovery sessions:

• Walking Workout - A great exercise that gets your blood flowing and loosens up your muscles and joints.
• Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi - These can help to lower stress levels, improve oxygenation and stimulate your recovery.
• Swimming - A great full body exercise. Plus, the water supports up to 90 percent of your body’s weight so you can take the weight off while stimulating recovery.
• Massage therapy - Give your body a little help detangling. A deep tissue massage is a typical solution. Or you can go for Self-myofascial release to relax contracted muscles and improve blood and lymphatic circulation so your body can heal.
• Cold therapy - It can help speed recovery by shocking your system causing a positive effect on your mental and emotional being. It's thought to reset your muscles metabolic activity back to resting levels. By getting into 10 ºC to 15 ºC water for five to ten minutes is believed to do the trick.

Weave activities like these into your fitness routine to recover and increases your performance.