You are likely familiar with the term over training, but what about under recovering?
As fitness coaches, we’re typically more concerned about getting our clients to work harder, as opposed to worrying about them working too hard. However, it’s not uncommon over train. Over training can result in a plethora of issues that along with making you feel fatigued, also inhibit muscle growth.
Resistance training results in hypertrophy (growth) of the muscle. Hypertrophy is a physiological adaptation from micro tearing the muscle fibers. As the body repairs muscle fibers, muscle fibers grow in size and increase in strength. Not allowing adequate time for the body to repair the muscles, prevents the muscle fibers from growing and limits the strength that can be gained. In addition, over training can result in fatigue, hormone imbalances, and metabolic issues…especially if your nutrition is not coming alongside your training regimen.
Let’s face it though, unless you’re spending over an hour in the gym six plus days a week, odds are you aren’t over training. But, you could be under recovering!
Over training and under recovering have some similar negative effects, including: excess soreness, movement dysfunction, and increased risk of injury. And regardless of whether you’re a professional athlete, a body builder, or a stay at home mom trying to lose a few extra pounds, under recovering can be detrimental your health and wellness. But what is under recovering?
Under recovering can be summed up like this: devoting insufficient effort and time to recovery from your training program. I’ll be frank here, people don’t like to spend time or devote the effort it takes to recover from their workouts. This is because they don’t associate recovery with the aesthetic benefits that result from training. Recovery is as equally important to your fitness level as training.
Here’s the deal, recovery requires proper nutrition, adequate rest, soft tissue work (i.e. foam rolling, myofascial release) and other restorative modalities. Without including these elements in your training regimen, your workouts will lack intensity, your form and movement patterning may fail leading to a higher risk of injury, you’ll move with lower energy and efficiency in the gym and in day-to-day life…and you will not actualize optimal results!
Regardless of whether you’re a professional athlete, a body builder, or someone who’s just trying to look and feel better, devoting time each week to proper recovery is an absolute must. While you may not be at risk of over training, we’re all at risk of under recovering.
Talk with your assigned Actualize coach about how you can recover better!
Coach Blaine
Resources
Self- Myofascial Release: http://www.actualizesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Self-Myofascial-Release.pdf
8 Great Static Stretches: http://www.actualizesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/The-Great-Eight-Static-Stretches.pdf
The High Performance Handbook: http://www.actualizesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/TheHighPerformanceHandbookNutritionGuide.pdf
All About Sleep: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-sleep
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