At Edge Fitness we believe that #fitnesshasaGREATERpurpose. And to achieve that greater purpose, whatever YOUR greater purpose is, it takes deliberate and sustainable effort in what we call the 4 pillars. These 4 pillars are Movement, Nutrition, Recovery and Mindset.
Today we will be talking about Recovery. Why it is important to our “deep health” health and talk about a couple of recovery tools, that everyone has available to them.
Before we dive into recovery one must understand stress. Everyone encounters many different types of stress throughout their day that challenges every category of their “deep health”(emotional, physical, existential, environmental, relational and mental) . Emotional stress like worrying about the well-being of loved ones. Mental stress like studying for a test. Physical stress like a gym training session. Environmental stress like converting a home into and office, classroom and gym. Also, Relational stress like missing out on friend and family gatherings. With the pandemic everyone is holding more stress on their plate then they need. Here at Edge Fitness we want you to bounce back from these stressors and be stronger than you were before to handle them. That is why recovery is important to achieve YOUR greater purpose.So lets talk RECOVERY!
Recovery can be a broad subject, but can be best described by our friends at Precision Nutrition as “Being able to effectively and reliably meet physiological and psychological deamands, build resilience in all domains of “deep health”; and repair and rebuild after damage, trauma and/or stressors to be more robust than before.” To achieve that we must use our tools that everyone has available to them. Two primary tools used for recovery are sleep and nutrItion.
SLEEP
The quality and quantity in your sleep is important to allow your body to rest and recover. Your body needs the sleep to be able to take on the stressors of life. If you haven’t got enough sleep you may see signs such as struggling to get through a workout, battlingwith weight, getting sick and struggling to stay focused. Think of your body as your cell phone and sleep as its charger. If you pull the phone off its charger before it hits 100% its is going to lose its power more quickly. Make better sleep a priority to help fight the stressors and build your immune system!
Here are a few tips to incorporate:
-improve your sleep environment; check the temperature, the lighting and comfort of your bed.
-create sleep targets and plan bedtimes; set your bedtime alarm for each day.
-limit distractions; remove electronics from your sleeping area.
NUTRITION
Yes, nutrtion aids in recovery! It allows you to get stronger with the stressors in your life. After reading yesterdays post you got a quick overview of the importance of quality nutrition. Food provides your body with energy and nutrients which allows you to manage stress, continue activity and build your immune system!
Here are a few tips to help aid your nutrition for recovery:
-focus on nutrient-dense eating; whole unprocessed foods.
-improve workout nutrition consistency; build shakes with correct protein, carb and fats needed to recover.
-keep a food journal; record what foods affect you and how.
Recovery has many more tools in it’s tool box (which we will dive into with future posts). Today I just wanted to take the time to hit the surface of its importance and dig deeper into the 2 main tools that you have total control and availability to use!
Evaluate your sleep and nutrition, then try a couple of tips I mentioned to see how it helps in your next training session or improves your focus on a your work project.
Eat well, move often, BE GRATEFUL! And do it repeatedly!
Stay healthy and safe!
Laura & Edge Fitness