You train day after day after day, but you just can't seem to get more muscular, leaner, faster or stronger. "How is that possible?" you say to yourself, "I train all of the time!"
Congratulations! If you are one of these people, you just answered your own question! You don't rest and recover properly! OR enough. You may be over trained and possibly undernourished. Quantity of food and proper nourishment do not necessarily correlate. This is not a matter of weight, rather a matter of lacking the important vitamins, minerals and nutrients that our body needs to heal. So, let's take a look, are you getting the proper recovery?
First of all, let me explain to you what happens every time you go to the gym or do your endurance workouts. You are tearing your muscle fibers, thereby damaging them. The more stress you put on them, the more damage. Don't worry! It's not a bad thing! But you do need to fuel them properly in between workouts in order for your muscles to build back up and be stronger. Usually this is the purpose of training. So the harder you train, the more rest and recovery you need.
So, what do you do to help repair the tissues you have damaged? There are several things to help you recover, so we will cover a handful now.
Sleep. If you are always on the go and your body is always tired, it will not repair itself, and this will interfere with your strength gains. There are NO SET amount of hours that anyone needs to sleep. The key is that you wake up feeling RESTED. What does rested feel like? You do not feel groggy when you wake up. You slept through the night. You did not NEED an alarm to wake you up, you were just awake (this may require going to bed earlier). You feel ready to take on the day.
There are many physiological benefits of sleep. The following are two of the most important to your health; a strong immune system and Human Growth Hormone.
When you sleep your body is recovering and generating a lot of white blood cells which improve the strength of your immune system. They help to keep you from getting sick by fighting off the "bad guys" such as viruses and bacteria. Therefore you do not have to stop training and lose your fitness because you are in bed trying to get over a cold or flu. Rather you keep your immune system strong with a good night's sleep and proper nutrition.
The other important reason to sleep that I mentioned above is because of its effect on your Growth Hormone levels. I will keep this short and simple as this is big topic, but here are the basics. Growth Hormone helps proliferation of myoblasts (precursor of muscle) and stimulates the uptake of amino acids (which make up a protein) and protein synthesis in muscle and other tissues. It helps utilization of fat by stimulating triglyceride use. Growth Hormone helps with carbohydrate metabolism by playing a role in maintaining blood sugar levels. How does this fit in with sleep? In children and adults, basal concentrations of Growth Hormone in blood are very low. The most intense period of growth release is shortly after the onset of deep sleep. So your body needs to produce Growth Hormone for muscle recovery and to build Growth Hormone we need a good night's sleep.
The next big factor in your recovery is digestion of the food you eat. CHEW YOUR FOOD. Digestion starts in the mouth, and if you do not digest, what is the point of paying so much attention to healthy food? Good digestion equals better nutrient absorption. This is what truly matters.
There are enzymes in your mouth that start the breakdown of carbohydrates (amylase). Therefore by simply chewing your food into smaller pieces you have improved digestion in the stomach and intestines, as well improving your body's ability to absorb nutrients. Don't simply throw food down the hatchet. CHEW it. Take your time. It will pay off.
The timing of when we eat is important as well. When we have done strenuous exercise we should eat within 30-60 minutes. I suggest eating a carbohydrate source that is easy to digest and high glycemic in nature. The purpose of this is to top up your glycogen (stored carbohydrate) stores which you have depleted during exercise. You can eat a full meal an hour after your snack or whenever feels right to you, but be sure to eat within that 30-60 minute window as it is proven that physiologically the body can uptake more carbohydrate during this time. An enzyme named glucose synthase is most present in the bloodstream 30-60 minutes after intense exercise. Glucose synthase is an enzyme involved in converting glucose to glycogen. Take advantage of this window to boost recovery from training.
Next, try eating live foods. Eat foods with natural live enzymes which help break digestion of the food so that your body can better use it as energy. These foods include mostly fruits, vegetables (starchy ones as well, such as squash and potatoes), whole grains and sprouts. Live foods are full of vitamins and minerals that will help your muscles repair and your body to work optimally. They are "nutrient dense foods." By this I mean that per calorie they have many nutrients to offer. Versus say a chocolate bar that has many calories but few nutrients. Live foods = Nutrient Dense foods.
Along similar lines, eat natural foods that are not refined or processed. Most refined foods have been robbed of their vitamins and minerals and contain a lot of chemicals. We should try to avoid sugar in its refined form and eat live sources such as non pasteurized organic honey, date sugar, or other organic sugar sources.
Eat good quality food, grown in organic soil without pesticides or fertilizers. Your local farm market and many grocery stores now sell fruits and vegetables from rich soil. These soils are rich in vitamins and minerals, as are the foods that grow in them. Soils with pesticides and fertilizers are not as rich in vitamins and minerals, nor are the foods that grow in them. On top of the lack of rich nutrients you are ingesting the chemicals used in the soils. So try to stick with fresh grown, organic fruits and veggies.
Eat 3 meals a day and snacks. You want to keep your body fueled with energy. Eating once a day causes blood sugar fluctuations and muscle breakdown.
Don't drink a lot with your meals. Drinking a lot with food can dilute your body's digestive enzymes and you will not benefit as much from all of that healthy food you are eating! Try drinking within half an hour before or after meals. Sipping to clear your throat during a meal is okay. Most people who chew their food and eat slowly don't find the need to drink with meals.
Eat protein, depending on your size there are many recommendations, the general one being to eat.8g per kg of body weight. This varies depending on your size, activity level and goals. Protein contains amino acids which help rebuild that damaged muscle tissue that I referred to earlier. Remember that complete proteins are only found in meat and dairy. You CAN make complete proteins from combinations of legumes, grains, nuts and seeds if you are a vegetarian. Some combinations include beans and rice, cereals and milk, nuts and grains or whole grain breads and legumes. Yes you can still be a superb athlete without meat.
Take digestive enzymes. If you have been eating a lot of processed food for years it is likely that your digestive system has become lazy. Digestive enzymes help to break down your food so that your body can use it as energy. If you are a big meat eater the enzymes are especially helpful with tough proteins such as steak.
If possible, don't eat within 2-3 hours before sleeping. The benefit of this is that your body can recover while you sleep rather than focus on digestion, which requires a lot of energy from the body. If you have to eat late eat fruit as it digests quickly, usually within 20 minutes. The body only likes to do one thing at a time. When you sleep you detoxify your body, and this is very important to recovery. Don't interrupt that quality sleep with a big meal.
Drink lots of water. Water is the means that nutrients are transported throughout your body for use. Water helps to detoxify your body and helps to clean your liver. The rule of thumb is to take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2, this is how many ounces of water you should drink a day. Divide that by 8, this will give you how many 8 ounce glasses per day. Everyone is a different size; everyone does not drink the same amount of water. If you exercise very strenuously, consider that you should increase the amount of water you drink. You can get up to a liter of water into your body from eating fruits and veggies! Water makes up 60% of your muscles and is important to their recovery. A hydrated muscle is stronger muscle. A hydrated muscle is said to be more resilient to lactic acid build up.
STTRRREEETTTCCCHH! There is much controversy over whether stretching helps you recover. My opinion is, yes it does. When you work out and contract your muscles you are shortening them every time they contract. They stay shortened for hours after you workout. By stretching you can bring your muscles back to a lengthened state. There are physiological and psychological reasons why this is important. Physiologically a long muscle is a strong muscle. If you take an elastic band and stretch it as far apart as you can and then let it go...you get a fast strong SNAP!!! Now take it again and only stretch it half way, look at the difference in strength in that elastic popping back into original form. Your muscles work the same way. So keep your muscles long and strong. Stretching, especially yoga, also promotes circulation. Good circulation is very important to recovery because blood supply has oxygen and nutrients, promotes healing and transports toxins from metabolism away from the body. Psychologically, if stretching makes you feel better, well that is half the battle. Feeling good, you work out harder, bottom line! The mind is a powerful tool.
Lastly, try a massage. Massage therapy helps to move a lot of toxins in your body out through the lymphatic system. Post massage drink lots of water to flush your body of toxins and get rid of them! Massage also helps to relax the muscles that are always in a contracted state. Active release massage therapy helps to stretch your muscle fascia which can twist, shorten and contract and inhibit circulatory and nerve processes. This can be very good for recovery. Massage also helps to get blood flow to the muscles so that your muscles are brought the important nutrients and oxygen they need to recover.
These are some of the tools you can use to help with your recovery. Surely you have found some of your own over the years that already help you feel better and stronger, so keep on with what you already know works too!
Until next time, put your legs up and let that hard work settle in while you REST WELL.
Written By: Anne Guzman.
