I've been doing a fairly intense strength training program lately. My goals are to get stronger (I have specific weights and reps I'm looking to hit) and to gain muscle.
Things have been going really well and I've seen tremendous improvement up until last week. Then my workouts were really rough, numbers did not go up, and I didn't feel good at all during the workouts.
Those are all signs that something is wrong. So I thought back over my week and it became obvious right away what had happened.
I did not match my recovery to my training,
If you've ever started an exercise program or decided to pick it up a notch in your program, you have probably got to a point where you feel like you hit a wall. Feeling tired, run-down, workouts seem harder. etc...
You need to start looking at your recovery. And I look at 4 areas to properly recover.
1. Rest/Sleep
This is what most people picture when they think recovery. This was part of my problem. I did not get good, quality or quantity of sleep last week.
But also, I did not properly recover in between workouts. We did a charity boot camp on Leap Day that involved a lot of lower body. I got several "compliments" about that later.
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Then the next day I turned around and did a heavy squat workout. You never want to work the same muscle groups on back to back days like that. The muscles have to have time to repair themselves to make progress.
2. Nutrition
Proper nutrition can help speed your recovery and give you better energy for your workouts. Normally I spend Sunday afternoon prepping meals for the week.
I did not do that last week and it cost me. I was scrambling most of the week trying to piece meals together and felt like I was at the grocery store every day getting one meal at a time.
I just didn't have the brainpower or bandwidth to prep and plan my meals during the craziness of the week. It is well worth your time to trade a couple of weekend hours for several hours during the week.
3.Hydration
Sometimes you think you are tired because you aren't sleeping enough. But the culprit could be dehydration.
If you drink a lot of coffee (like this guy I know) and/or are exercising that day, you need to be even more cognizant of your water intake. 11 cups (88 ounces) of water is a good number for women and 16 cups (128 ounces) for men.
4. Stress management
Prolonged stress can be exhausting. Your body still has a lot of caveman in it.
Your body thinks of stress like you just came upon a saber-toothed tiger. Your body is hard-wired to do 1 of three things: fight, flee, or freeze.
As you can imagine that will wear you out! Look for the signs of being overly stressed:-trouble sleeping-anxiety-overwhelmed-stomach in "knots"
Here is an article about stress relief if you need some help in that area
If you would like to reach your exercise and nutrition goals from the comfort of your own home, you are a good candidate for my Online Coaching program. You can learn more here --->Joe At Home