Training for recovery?!

This may sound counter-intuitive, but you can (and should) use workouts as recovery.

Yes, a workout can actually help you recover faster than just resting!

It's not all about massages, foam rolling and breathing exercises.

For some people, they never train hard enough for this to be an issue (those people need to start adding in a couple of high intensity sessions per week), but for others, ALL of their workouts are high intensity, and that's a problem.

Not all workouts should be high intensity

"Go hard or go home" is the mantra of the steroid-infused bodybuilder with a lack of blood flow to the brain!

A light workout the day after a heavy/high intensity workout can:

• Help the body shift into a recovery state (that's when the body grows and adapts in response to the hard workouts)

• Stimulate blood flow to the muscles (which will help them recover faster)

• Help build resilience (you need to be able to function after heavy workouts and this will build your capacity to do so)

• Improve breathing and movement quality by keeping you moving and not allowing you to stiffen up as is often the case in the days after a hard workout

• Make you FEEL better - it should give you more energy, not make you feel drained after the workout.

So, how do you do a recovery workout?

Just follow these simple rules:

• Keep it short - a 2-hour run isn't recovery, it's more stress. Aim for 20-40 minutes

• Keep it light - if you're doing "cardio", keep your heart rate reasonably low - about 60-75% of your max HR (think walking uphill at a reasonable pace or a light jog)

• Mix up your movements to work mobility and get every joint mobilised, and get blood flow into all muscles

• Spend a bit more time on any areas that feel like they need it - anything that feels particularly tight or sore

1. Start with some light mobility work and focus on your breathing as you do

2. Then aim for 10-20 minutes of light work - a circuit of easy exercises is probably best, just remember you're aiming for movement and recovery, not as many reps as you can in 60 seconds! Keep your heart rate in the target range and if it goes above, take a rest and dial it back a bit.

3. Then add in 2-3 sets of power or strength work to keep the nervous system stimulated (but not too much). A couple of sets of 8-10 reps per side of something like a standing cable rotation or med ball side throw would be perfect.

4. Finish with a few minutes of breathing exercises - just lay on the floor and focus on breathing as slowly as possible to get your heart rate as low as you can.

If you can alternate high intensity workouts with these recovery workouts, you're setting yourself up for success. Over-training shouldn't be an issue and that means better results long-term.

Don't train hard for days in a row, but you also shouldn't really need any days off - just do something light to aid recovery.

Be smart with your workouts. Use some to stimulate growth and adaptation (i.e. challenge yourself), and use others to aid in recovery, because recovery is where all of those adaptations occur.

No recovery = no adaptations. Which means all those hard workouts back to back are hours wasted and will actually make you feel worse!

The key to progress is to push yourself, then let your body recover. Rinse and repeat.

This will get better results for strength, fitness, muscle gain, fat loss and health.

If you need help getting some structure to your training, get in touch and let's talk.

Mark

Moving throughout the day

After a conversation with a client the other day, I've decided to make this post short and sweet and explain the importance of keeping your body moving throughout the day.

Lots of common problems nowadays tend to be caused by a lack of movement.

Unless you remember an exact time when you got an injury, or know how it came about (i.e. you fell over/twisted an ankle etc.), chances are it's been a long time coming.

Unfortunately, due to modern society, most people spend in excess of 8 hours a day sitting down. They get up, sit and eat breakfast, sit on the train/bus or in the car to get to work, often sit at a desk all day, then drive/bus/train home to sit down for dinner and for a bit of TV.

Obviously there are exceptions, but most people (even the busiest mums) find time to watch a bit of TV.

Well spending this much time seated, means a lot of your muscles are either pulled taught, or left on slack.

Your body doesn't like slack muscles, so if they're like it for enough of the time it will start to "wind them in", pulling them tight (such as your hip flexors when seated).

Then, when you stand up straight, these tight muscles get pulled tighter, so to avoid ripping them, they'll pull your joints with them to avoid being stretched.

Again, using the hip flexors as an example, this means these muscles will literally pull your pelvis forward, causing a tilted pelvis, leading to an increased lumbar arch and general poor posture.

Mix this with all of the other muscles that get tightened due to prolonged periods of sitting down and you've got some major postural problems!

So how can you avoid/counter this?

Well the best way to correct these muscle imbalances is with a personalised correctional exercise programme consisting of strengthening exercises for the weaker, stretched muscles, and stretching exercises for the tight muscles, as well as some mobility exercises to keep the joints moving and healthy.

But that's for another time - consult with your local fitness expert if you're interested in getting a programme written.

For now, you can start to reverse these effects, or at least prevent them from getting any worse by performing some simple exercises throughout the day - avoiding sitting without moving for long periods of time.

The added bonus of this is that it will give your brain a bit of a rest from work too, meaning you'll come back refreshed and able to work better anyway.

So,

Step 1
Get yourself a timer, either use a kitchen timer, a watch with a countdown timer, or go to http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ and get their free countdown timer which you can leave running on your computer while you work. (see below)

Step 2
Set the timer to 50 minutes. You can set it to whatever time you want, but 50 minutes seems to be the best as it's long enough to get a good portion of work done uninterrupted, but you won't be sat still for too long.

Step 3
When the timer goes off after 50 minutes, get up out of your seat and do something!

This could be something as simple as a few full body exercises (Squats, lunges, twists and bends), some stretches for the muscles that are tight, or even just spending 5 minutes walking around the office.


If you can do this consistently every hour, every day, you will be keeping your body moving and prevent further imbalances occurring or getting worse.

I'll be posting some short video clips of exercises you can do in these "mini-breaks" here over the next few days so be sure to check back or bookmark http://www.youtube.com/user/MarkOneFitness and check it periodically.

Again, if you want to use the free online stopwatch like the one below click the link to download it now.




Get a Stopwatch like this or make your own! At: Online Stopwatch