Women's Fitness
If you’re feeling overtrained, under recovered, or are constantly getting niggling injuries, it’s time to back off your training and place more emphasis on recovery and sleep. These are two of the most important factors for performance and injury prevention, but they’re often overlooked.
If you have lost your motivation for training, feel like you’re running on empty, have stopped progressing in your workouts, or are consistently getting small niggling injuries, then it’s probably time to back off your training and place more of an emphasis on stress management. Sleep and recovery (or lack of) are two of the primary culprits that we need to focus on.
Recovery
Recovery is just as important as training. Essentially, it can be as simple as listening to your body, and adopting a common sense approach to your training. Ideally we want to balance out our “yang” or high intensity workouts with “yin” or restorative practices. Go HARD on your hard days, go EASY on your recovery days, and avoid the “junk miles” in between. This will not only help prevent injury, but will also ensure that you perform at your very best when it’s required.
I liken the body to a bank balance. Every training session is a withdrawal. Every recovery session is a deposit. If you’re always training and withdrawing and never recovering or depositing, then eventually you’ll end up overdrawn and injured.
One of the most common conversations I have with clients revolves around their perceived “lack of time”. However, you may think you don’t have time to recover, but do you have time to be injured?
Recovery protocols include foam rolling/trigger point, massage, acupuncture, infra red saunas, ice baths, Epsom salt baths, meditation and yin practices such as yoga, pilates and walking.
When it comes to making efficient use of time, I use trigger point and mobility drills in my workout rest periods, I break out the foam roller in front of my TV at home and I have an Epsom Salt bath an hour before bed which helps me sleep.
Sleep
Recovery also includes sleep as this is where we repair and grow. Sleep is a game changer. If you are well rested, the world is a better place – you’ll eat cleaner, train harder, recover faster, and make better choices in all areas of your life. In an ideal world, we need at least 7 hours of quality sleep, bur sometimes we just have to make the best of a less than ideal situation.
The major sleep disruptor is stress. Stress is not just emotional. It is ANYTHING that stresses the body out – digestive issues, anxiety, poor nutrition (blood sugar management), dehydration and excessive stimulants.
Stress is a normal and necessary physiological reaction – think fight or flight response. When we get stressed, the adrenal glands release the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol stimulates the body to produce glucose for energy so that we can “escape” the immediate threat. We are not designed to respond to threats 24/7.
Blood cortisol levels determine our “normal” circadian rhythm, and this in turn controls sleep. Cortisol should be highest in the morning and lowest right before bed. When we start to artificially tamper with our circadian rhythms, sleep can become disrupted. This includes reaching for a coffee when you hit that mid afternoon slump. Try limiting caffeine to before 2pm, or if you’re a shift worker to 15 minutes prior to starting work.
Magnesium is a fantastic supplement to invest in as it has a calming effect on the nervous system. On an emotional level, it can help reduce anxiety. From a physical perspective, it down-regulates cortisol post workout and helps reduce muscle spasms, both of which improves performance and recovery. Cortisol also regulates the hormone melatonin which controls our sleep/wake cycle. Before bed, I like to have an Epsom Salt Bath (Magneisum Sulphate salts), and use a topical formula on the soles of my feet and below my bellybutton, but if you’re deficient in Magnesium, it can make you wired.
Cortisol is produced and stored in our adrenal glands. The adrenals are replenished between 11pm and 1am daily. Missing this vital window will make it more likely that you will not wake up feeling refreshed or rejuvenated, and this will lessen your ability to handle everyday stress. For shift workers, try and incorporate a 15 minute power nap before your shift starts.
Your bedroom should be your sanctuary, and it should resemble a bat cave. Even the tiniest bit of light or electro magnetic radiation (EMR) is disruptive. Turn off and/or cover the screens of all electronic devices. If you can’t live without your iPhone, switch it to Night Shift. Invest in black out blinds, an eye mask or noise canceling head phones. Try and avoid the TV, computer or social media before bed, and instead try deep breathing exercises to lower the heart rate and blood pressure or meditation techniques for muscle relaxation. I write in a gratitude journal every night which reduces anxiety by framing the world in a positive light.
