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The Importance of Rest and Recovery To Boost Your Fitness Results

Rest and recovery is essential in your fitness journey and are often overlooked.
While exercise helps to break down muscle fibre and stimulate growth, rest and recovery is where this progress takes place.

Rest and recovery allows the body to repair and build muscle, regulates the stress hormones and improves your athletic performance.
This can be achieved in the form of sleep, rest days between your training sessions and most importantly your nutrition. 

What Is Rest and Recovery?

Rest and recovery refers to the time it takes the body to heal after physical activity.
This includes everything from your nutrition, to the hours and quality of sleep you get each night as well as the rest between your training sessions.

For a well rounded fitness routine, rest and recovery also comes from an intelligent training program and ensuring you are following a periodised plan that takes into consideration your reps, sets and prescribed weight lifting loads.

Active vs. Passive Recovery

Active recovery involves things like walking on your rest days or performing lower impact and less strenuous forms of movement like yoga or light swimming. Active recovery can help to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness and reduce inflammation in the body.

Passive recovery is true rest. Taking a day where the body is not under any stress minimising time spent on your feet. On passive rest days you can use a foam roller, get a massage or sit in a sauna to enhance recovery. This allows the body to recover without a physical catalyst. 

Effective Ways To Incorporate Rest and Recovery Techniques Into Your Routine

The type of rest and recovery that is most effective, varies on the individual and their preferred training and recovery methods.

You may have scheduled rest days from your workouts. You may opt for active recovery to promote circulation and reduce muscle tightness.
Others may like foam rolling or stretching after a workout to reduce soreness and improve flexibility.

The one thing we do recommend everyone takes into consideration is their nutrition. Ensuring you are getting enough protein to support muscle growth, carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores and eating healthy fats for overall energy balance and hormonal regulation.

Rest During Workouts

We are often explaining to our clients that rest during your workout is just as important as the exercise itself.
It allows the body to recover and prepare for the next round of activity, which contributes to the weight you may be able to lift, how well the set is performed and it will also help to reduce the risk of injury when training. 

As a general rule of thumb, when it comes to strength training, the stronger you are the more rest you need. Between both sets and training sessions. This is due to the fact the loads you are likely lifting are more substantial, put more stress on the body and therefore require more time to heal and recover from. 

In saying that, with a periodised plan that takes these things into consideration, you may be able to train consecutive days back to back, provided you are utilising best practice. Such as; training different muscle groups, optimal loads  and exercise variation to still allow the body to recover whilst working towards your goals.
We like to encourage 24-48 hours rest between the same muscle groups to enhance recovery and allow for the following session of those muscles to be as beneficial as possible using progressive overload. 

Stretching and Mobility Exercises

Incorporating a combination of stretching and mobility exercises into your routine is known to have many benefits for your flexibility, joint health, and injury prevention. By including dynamic stretches before workouts to warm up muscles, and static stretches and mobility work after workouts to aid in recovery, you’ll help keep your muscles and joints in optimal condition.

Foam Rolling and Massage

Massage therapy can help to alleviate muscle soreness by improving circulation and breaking down the build up of lactic acid which occurs after a training session.
There are many tools on the market now such as foam rollers, therapy massage guns, trigger balls and stretch bands which you can use at home and is a convenient way to aid in your post workout recovery.

Nutrition’s Role in Recovery

It is essential to stay hydrated and eat a diet rich in protein and anti-inflammatory foods to assist in building and repairing muscle, aiding in recovery and replenishing your energy stores.
Eating protein helps to add extra amino acids to your body in order to repair and build new muscle tissue. Pair this with hydration which is crucial for recovery as you lose fluids through sweat. Staying hydrated will help to transport the nutrients around your body and regulate your body temperature.
Incorporating anti-inflammatory foods that are high in antioxidants and omega 3s will help fight oxidative stress and reduce inflammation in the body.

Here is an example of a post workout meal that will aid in recovery and re-fuel your body:

Grilled Salmon with roasted sweet potato and charred asparagus.
Cook this with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Salmon is both high in protein and omega 3 fatty acids whilst the sweet potatoes are a good source of carbohydrates and asparagus is full of antioxidants.

The Role of Sleep in Recovery

Sleep is essential in the recovery process.
During sleep, your body goes through a number of processes to promote muscle repair, cognitive function and energy restoration.
All of which are essential for recovery and optimal performance.

It is important to note that both sleep quality and duration are essential for optimal recovery.

Sleep duration refers to the time you spend asleep each night. It is good to aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. This will ensure you have enough time to go through the full sleep cycle.

Sleep quality refers to how restful your sleep is. Good quality sleep involves spending sufficient time in deep and REM sleep, both allowing one to recover physically and mentally. 

How Many Days of Rest Should I Have After Workouts?

The amount of rest you need between workouts depends on a number of factors, including the intensity and type of exercise you’re doing, your fitness level, and your recovery needs. Rest days are essential for allowing your muscles, joints, and nervous system to recover, so you can train effectively and continue making progress.
Incorporating 1–2 full rest days each week is a great way to ensure you’re recovering effectively. Additionally, listening to your body and adjusting workout intensity based on how you feel will help you avoid overtraining.

Here is an example of our workout routine with rest days included:

Monday – Squat focus and lower body accessories

Tuesday – Bench focus and upper body accessories

Wednesday – Light stretching and a walk

Thursday – Deadlift focus and lower body accessories

Friday – Overhead Press focus and upper body accessories

Saturday – Steps and a sauna session

Sunday – True passive rest

Signs You Might Need More Rest and Recovery: Fitness Burnout

Common signs of needing more rest or recovery can vary from failing your lifts when training, constant muscle soreness post session, injury, poor sleep and a weakened immune system.

 

It is important to rest and recover well when you are lifting weights or training regularly to avoid these things and minimise burnout.

Listen to your body and address the signs of overtraining. Take a step back and evaluate your current training and recovery routine and modify what you can to allow the body time to heal. Making early adjustments by recognizing signs of overtraining will ultimately lead to better performance, fewer injuries and more sustainable progress over time.  

Find The Right Routine For You With The Base Body Babes Free Trial!

The Base Body Babes would love to help you plan out your workouts and provide you with a periodised plan that you can follow with ease.

Rest and recovery is an integral part of your fitness routine and can be incorporated into your week whilst still working towards and achieving your goals.

Join us on Base Body – The App or at Base Body Studio and learn how to lift weights, rest and recover and become the strongest, healthiest version of yourself.

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