HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR RESULTS THROUGH THE RECOVERY PROCESS
If any of you have ever worked out with me, you may have noticed me laying on the floor between rounds and most definitely immediately after the workout. It may look like I’m struggling but actually I’m doing this very intentionally.
I do this to accelerate my recovery process and signal my body to initiate the adaptations I’m trying to achieve with my hard work.
I’ve talked many times about putting adequate stress on the body in order to create adaptation. In order to promote change, be it increased strength, or hypertrophy and body composition, your muscles and/or nervous system has to be pushed to that point where your reps are unintentionally slowing down during lifts, or you give 100% all out effort in a timed metcon.
BUT that effort HAS to be met with the same recovery execution: high peak in performance effort, to a sharp, immediate, and intentional recovery.
Sure you can do a hard workout and walk away and maybe feel “ok” but you will get much more optimal results by creating this high sympathetic state (aka exercise) and immediately regulating the body back to a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state as soon as possible.
One of my favorite, FREE, easy to do, and powerful tools to aid in this is simply: BREATHING. So simple, how can it be so effective (spoiler alert- most things are, and we make life complicated)?!
After finishing a workout, take anywhere from 3-10 minutes (at least 3 minutes but 10 is amazing) and focus on recovery breathing. This can be accelerated by lying down with your feet propped up- knees bent. Listening to slow paced music can really help, and/or covering your eyes (getting in the dark). *In fact, Jason used to program a specific breathwork cooldown, and I’m sure some of you even remember the breathing “chants” we practiced a few times putting a cadence to our inhale and exhale!
There are numerous down-regulation breathing methods, but here are two of my favorites. Ideally with these you are breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth:
Box breathing 3-8 seconds- Example: 5 second inhale, 5 second hold, 5 second exhale, 5 second hold, repeat.
Physiological breathing- deep inhale and then an extra sip of air on top of that to completely fill your lungs and expand alveoli, followed by a LONG slow exhale. *Side note: I use physiological breathing all the time when I’m in a stressed state or my emotions are heightened so I can “calm down”, and regulate myself in real time.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE NEUROTIC ABOUT EXACTLY HOW IT’S DONE! JUST LAY DOWN AND CHILL OUT!!
I hope you can see how true this is in life in general- the quicker we can learn to “self-regulate” and return to homeostasis after a heightened state, the better! In fitness it maximizes our results, and in life…well, same. -Coach Tish
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