There’s no question, that to outperform everyone in your field you need to outwork everyone. Can you overdo it? Taking one day out of your week to recover is essential to improve your progress. If you ignore this fact, you’ll burn out in your craft and risk the chance that you’ll take an unacceptable amount of time off from your work. Post workout recovery is not optional.
Put in the work during the week, and rest one day to recover. Do whatever you want during this controlled easy day. Sleep in, take some time for yourself to see where your progress is.
For runners and weightlifters, post workout recovery is essential for muscle growth. When people talk about getting ripped, they actually mean that they’re working out to rip apart their muscles. The post workout recovery period is when the body rebuilds those muscles so that they’re stronger.
If you ignore your rest day, you won’t allow your muscles to grow. You’ll kill your progress and your effort won’t translate to the real results you’re looking for. This’ll lead to injury, and before you know it, you won’t be able to workout.
If you run hard every single day, you’ll burn yourself out and you won’t perform as well as you want to. You can’t expect to attack the week with 125% effort like this.
It takes discipline to remind yourself how important post workout recovery is.
About a year ago I suffered a stress reaction in my right foot because I didn’t take rest days seriously. I walked around with a boot for nearly 2 months before I was able to run again. During this time I lost my summer base training, and I couldn’t improve my fitness for these 8 weeks.
I told myself I’d be able to sacrifice these rest days to try and stay ahead of the competition, but I ended up hurting myself in the long run.
It’s essential to take this into account in all aspects of your life, regardless if you run or whatever. If you’re mentally out of gas, how can you prepare for your upcoming week of work or school?
You won’t. You’ll be swamped up with work, and you’ll be exhausted because you didn’t allow yourself to recovery.
What To Do On Your Recovery Day
Swimming
Swimming is an excellent way to allow your muscles and feet to recover. In fact, a lot of the times when a runner is injured they’ll swim to cross train.
They won’t completely lose their fitness and they won’t have to worry about putting too much stress on their bodies.
An added bonus is you’ll work on your tan and build your back muscles/shred your core if you stay consistent!
Foam Rolling
Purchase a foam roller the next time you visit Target or Walmart.
Foam rolling helps reduce tightness and soreness from a tough week of working out. You can use it to massage out the knots and annoying aches in your body. You’ll prevent yourself from feeling sore the next day.
I’m sure you know what it’s like to feel fine after a workout, but the next day you’re barely able to make it out of bed.
Juicing
I drink carrot juice right after a hard workout in the sun. It’s an excellent way to clear up toxins in your body and prevent heart disease. A glass of carrot juice a day also helps to improve your immune system. You can read more about the benefits of carrot juice here.
Go to the beach
J